Eleventh Hour follows Dr. Jacob Hood (Rufus Sewell), a brilliant biophysicist and Special Science Adviser for the FBI who is brought in to investigate crimes of a scientific nature that other agents may be unable to solve. Hood is the government's last line of defense, and it is his mission to keep scientific advances out of the hands of those with nefarious intentions. Special Agent Rachel Young (Marley Shelton), of the FBI's executive protection detail, is assigned to protect Hood. Both Dr. Hood and Special Agent Young are assisted by Special Agent Felix Lee (Omar Benson Miller), towards the end of the series.
Cast and characters
Rufus Sewell as Dr. Jacob Hood – a science adviser to the FBI, called in to investigate crimes that may have a scientific explanation. Even though Hood is extremely brilliant, he sometimes gets lost in his own thoughts, and this, coupled with his low attention span and poor social skills, causes him to be viewed as odd. He also has few instincts of self-preservation or danger, causing him to often do things that put his life in jeopardy, such as standing in front of a fleeing suspect's car to get the license plate, something that frequently annoys Rachel. Additionally, he does not know how to drive well, leading Rachel to insist she do all the driving. Hood appears to be an atheist and is knowledgeable on a number of scientific, mathematical and philosophical topics. He nursed his wife, who died of cancer, throughout her illness.
Marley Shelton as FBI Special Agent Rachel Young – Hood's handler. Though she is employed to protect his life, she has also said that her job is "to protect him from himself" – something he makes very difficult for her. Hood might annoy her from time to time but she does care about his well-being, viewing his many techniques with a kind of exasperated affection, though she is frequently embarrassed by and for him. Rachel mainly gets annoyed when he gets too caught up in an investigation and does something stupid, or when he does things like accidentally sit on his panic button. It is noted throughout the series that Dr. Hood is her only friend, though male characters frequently flirt with her. She is the latest in a line of Hood's protectors, but she refuses to let him "drive her away like he did those others."
Omar Benson Miller as FBI Special Agent Felix Lee (episodes 14–18) – introduced later in the series when he asks (although it is later discovered that he begged) to help Jacob Hood on a case. After solving the case, he asks to work with Hood full-time, stating that the work they do is amazing. Felix is given the job and works as somewhat of a scout, helping out the team with heading to the location and gathering the material they need by the time Hood and Young get there. Though he likes the job, Felix feels underappreciated due to the lack of praise for the amount of work he does.
Production
Development
The original ITV version ran for four 90-minute episodes. Before the American remake series premiered, CBS ordered 13 one-hour episodes.[2] The pilot episode was produced with a budget of four million dollars, and the remaining episodes were given approximately two million dollars each.[2] Despite shooting "Agro" as a second possible pilot, CBS premiered the series with its original $4 million pilot, "Resurrection", instead.[3]
Cancellation
The show was canceled on May 19, 2009, due to its inability to hold the CSI audience lead-in.[4][5] Upon learning of Eleventh Hour's cancellation, a small core group of fans banded together to form the Eleventh Hour Resurrection Campaign. They were unsuccessful in convincing another television network to pick up the show.[6]
Local police in Seattle find 19 aborted fetuses in the course of a crime investigation. Dr. Hood and Agent Young arrive to investigate the possibility that the fetuses have been cloned, a fact which is proven by finding all the fetuses have identical DNA. They discover a young woman has been impregnated with fetus #20, and a plot possibly funded by a billionaire business man who lost his only son years before. The man who was hired to get rid of the aborted fetuses finally shows Dr Hood and Agent Young the warehouse where the women were taken to be impregnated in a small temporary procedure room but they find it abandoned. He also tells them that the woman in charge called "Gepetto" on the phone to talk about what was happening and receive instructions. The young pregnant woman ends up in the hospital bleeding and they discover she has a condition that will cause her and the baby to die if she goes into labor. The hospital reports this to the police when the woman escapes and disappears from the ICU. Dr Hood confronts the billionaire with one of the fetuses and forces him to realize that he can't bring his son back and they finally learn the young woman has been taken to a recently abandoned clinic. They arrive to find another woman performing CPR on the pregnant woman and Dr Hood starts to assist while Agent Young goes to find blood to transfuse into the dying woman. The woman who works for Gepetto attacks Agent Young but ends up being knocked out. Meanwhile, Dr Hood discovers that the woman who is performing CPR actually is Gepetto and she walks out, leaving him to try to save the young woman alone.
A helicopter pilot goes blind during a live televised traffic report and dies when the helicopter crashes. Hood tracks down the mysterious poison before other people go blind. A new member of the team helps with the investigation. Omar Benson Miller joins the cast as Special Agent Felix Lee.
15
"Electro"
Nick Gomez
Story by : André Bormanis Teleplay by : Heather Mitchell
Eleventh Hour debuted after CSI at 10:00 but at 11.6 million viewers retained only 50% of CSI's audience. The show came in second in its timeslot after the premiere of Life on Mars. Although Life on Mars lost 27% of its audience in its second week, Eleventh Hour gained numbers and saw a further gain in its third week, leading CBS to increase its script order. On December 2, 2008, TV Guide reported that CBS has ordered five additional scripts bringing the series’ total number of episodes to 18.[10] On Rotten Tomatoes, Eleventh Hour has an aggregate score of 35% based on 6 positive and 11 negative critic reviews. The website's consensus reads: "A cardboard cut-out drama that fails to wow, Eleventh Hour relies too heavily on formula and not enough in its star power."[11]
The Biotechnology Industry Organization launched a blog, EleventhHourFacts.com, which features subject matter experts discussing the scientific basis of each episode through video interviews, live episode blogging and posts.[12]
