The Following: One Degree of Kevin Bacon

One of the TV shows I am watching this season is "The Following" on Fox. It's a twist on catch me if you can, pitting the FBI against a serial killer with a following of murdering acolytes.

After each episode I am left shaking my head at how stupid the good guys are, as well as at how a guy behind bars with next to no outside contact can amass scores of followers -- many of whom are in positions of power or authority. But, like a watching a train wreck, I can't avert my eyes.

If there was ever a team of more inept FBI agents, it would have to be Howard, Howard and Fine: "Hey, Moe!"

It stars Kevin Bacon as Ryan Hardy, a washed-up and washed-out former FBI agent. He's a drunk and someone you wouldn't invite over for Thanksgiving dinner. He's recruited back into service because a serial killer he put behind bars managed to escape.



Somehow the bad-guy serial killer recruited scores of followers sitting here.

 How does a convicted serial killer escape? Why he has the prison warden, who engineered a prison transfer, in his pocket. What! It has been down hill from there.

Of course Hardy had an affair with the serial killer's ex wife, which has made Hardy a target for the killer's escapades since escaping.

The FBI managed to let the killer's ex get kidnapped by the gang after it kidnapped the killer's kid. Maybe they should have had more than one guy watching her; ya think?

I have no reason beyond the ridiculousness of the plot to watch this turkey. I'm not a big Kevin Bacon fan. I don't dislike him; I'm just not a big fan. There is no one else in the cast I can get excited about either.

Well, there is Valerie Curry, the character Emma, who is a Squeaky Fromme-like key player in the killer's cult. If you were looking closely, you might have noticed her as one of the good-guy vampires who gathered to help the Cullens battle the forces of the bad-guy vamps from Italy in the last installment of the Twilight saga. She didn't utter a word, but was on camera a couple of times.

There is just something kind of compelling about her.

Otherwise, it's a rather ho-hum cast making the best of a far-fetched story.

I believe there is only one episode remaining. Unless the FBI somehow lets this killer slip through its fingers again, I can't imagine what season two might look like.

I don't know that I'd invest another 20 hours of my life into the thing even if there's a next season, but who knows?