This last week the new show “Manifest” premiered on NBC.  Maybe people missing on an aircraft, with some abnormal or science fiction explanation sounds familiar to you—you might be thinking of another series a few years back that ended up becoming pretty popular.  Of course I am talking about “Lost”.  And although, there is a group of a passengers in “Manifest” that goes missing on an airplane for 5 years and reemerges without aging at all, in just about every way the premise of show is actually different than “Lost”.  These passengers are not trapped on a island.  Their plane did not crash.  In fact, quite the opposite.  They don’t realize they have lost any time at all.  They simply experienced some paranormal turbulence for a few minutes, and when they landed the plane it is 5 years later and all of their loved ones think that they perished years ago.

The show centers around two siblings, Ben and Michaela Stone.  Both of whom were returning from a family vacation, when they decided to take a later flight for some cash vouchers.  Ben, who has a son with Leukemia, was just looking for some extra money. While his sister Michaela was just postponing getting back to her life and the guilt she felt from a previous tragedy (that we have yet to learn about).  Either way, both siblings return to find that not only have their family members aged five years, but that their mother has passed away and that Michaela’s fiancee married her best friend instead. But its more than that.  They have come back with some new abilities that not even they are aware of at first.  It seems to be just a voice in their head–their voice–telling them things they don’t quite understand.  At first Michaela hears a voice while riding a bus that helps her to stop a young boy from being hit and killed.  But later, these strong voices help her to rescue two young girls who were kidnapped.  And while Michaela and Ben debate whether or not they are the only two to be experiencing these symptoms they head back to the airport to check out their aircraft.  Upon their arrival, not only do they notice that all of the other passengers from flight 828 have also been drawn back, but their former aircraft spontaneously combusts right before their eyes.

I found the pilot to be quite entertaining and exciting.  Partially because of the casting of actors such as Josh Dallas, Athena Karkanis and J.R. Ramirez, but also because the mystery of their circumstances does leave the viewer wanting more.  I am not sure how this story line will carry on further than one or two seasons–much like a Quantico-type show that comes in with a bang and quickly fizzles out–but I do think that it will be a fun short ride while it lasts.