Kyle XY

Remember Starman? It was a movie and subsequent TV show about an alien who takes over the body of a recently deceased man, and then learns all about the world. He spends most of the series (which didn't last long) trying to figure out who he is as a human, wandering around the country discovering new things about humanity, and evading pursuit from the Government.

Certain concepts from this idea have been adapted into a new show, Kyle XY. As my friend Vic said when I reminded him of Starman: "Found without a memory, fostered out, doesn't really know who or why, just that he is, and he's supersmart". Having never seen anything of Kyle XY, he got the premise 100% right first time.

Kyle wakes up in a forest, alone and naked, and possessing no navel. He has no memories, and no knowledge of who he is or much of anything at all. He possesses some rudimentary human skills, because he seems to understand and adapt rapidly. After a foster family takes him in, it is discovered he is incredibly intelligent and super smart, with mathematical abilities manifested in such ways as predicting weather, counting time, and being able to draw images almost photographically: pointillism as pixels.

It plays on a channel in the US called ABC Family, so it has a slightly "family friendly, moral-of-the-week" nature to its episodes, which is a little bit sappy, but it's not as heavy handed as was common in the 80s, and it is tempered by some nicely played characters and a compelling story arc as the mystery of Kyle unfolds.

So far I've only watched the first six episodes, but a complete second season has already been broadcast, so there are thirty-three in total so far, with a third season planned.

There have been a lot of geek-friendly SF or Fantasy TV series lately, some gaining more attention than others (Lost, Heroes, Middleman, Journeyman, Day Break, Galactica, Chuck, Reaper, Sarah Connor Chronicles) and it's great that, through means that isn't technically acceptable but nevertheless is ubiquitous and not illegal, I am able to watch these shows without having to wait for the unlikely time when they may air locally. I get to see a lot of cool entertainment that way that I would normally risk missing out on.