Haven quick review.

So...

You know a show has problems when actor Eric Balfour (pictured above) is the best thing about it. You see, based on his track record (Hawaii, Conviction) Balfour is known as something of a pilot killer in the TV industry, and judging by the look of his new show, that trend seems destined to continue. Only this time, surprisingly, Balfour is not the one to blame.

This week, SyFy premiered "Haven," about a pretty young FBI agent (of course) who is sent to catch a fugitive headed to a small coastal Maine town called Haven, only to discover some of the town residents possess superpowers. Sounds like an interesting concept. Too bad the show goes nowhere with it.

Word is that all the town residents actually have super-abilities, but the pilot fails to inform us of this. It also fails to give us a purpose for the show to continue, as it basically ends, spoiler alert, with the main character (the cute FBI chick) taking some vacation time to stay in Haven. She does this because she stumbled upon a picture of a woman who looks just like her, though taken some fifty years in the past, and she wants to investigate this mysterious photo since she knows so little about her own past. I suppose we can assume that the FBI girl will also get caught up in various town supernatural events, but since the pilot fails to make that clear it's only a guess.

There's actually a similar show on SyFy right now called Eureka, about a town inhabited by people who are all geniuses that invent various cool gadgets, which often get the town's sheriff into trouble. On paper Haven basically takes that concept and swaps the super-smart with the super-powered, only in the later's case it's a whole lot more boring.

While Eureka has it's moments of charm and spunk, Haven plods along with bad dialogue and listless storylines. For example, the fugitive plot is muddled by a mediocre thread about a boyfriend out to kill his girl for a very small sum of money, which, when you think about it, doesn't make sense given the time and effort he put into their relationship. There's also the start of a love triangle between the federal agent, the town's deputy and the laconic drifter played by Eric Balfour (the aforementioned pilot killer). While the deputy and the FBI agent (actress Emily Rose) sputter together, the few scenes between Balfour and Rose offer just about the only source of spark in this otherwise dreary place.

Visually, sitting through Haven is like observing dull paint dry. The cinematography is drab and gray, as if the cameraman decided to turn out all the lights and then put a tarp over the camera itself. The locations all feel confined, in a cheap sort of way, rather than the claustrophobic look I'm sure the director intended. Stopping into Haven gave me the same sense I imagine you have when driving along an old highway and you encounter engine trouble, thereby forced to pull off the road and into the kind of run-down, one-star town where you just can't wait to get the car fixed and get the heck out of, never to come back to again. Thankfully, with Haven, I can just change the channel.

Verdict: Save yourself the trip.