Found premiered on NBC this week, and it becomes the second show on network television to deal with finding missing persons before times runs out.
The other is Alert: Missing Persons Unit which premiered last fall and has been renewed for a second on FOX (I reviewed the entire season, you can read those HERE).
This post isn’t going to judge which show is better. I’ve got one episode of Found and an entire season of Alert. Instead, I’m going to point out the differences and similarities between the two.
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Found is lead heavy, Alert is more ensemble driven: In Found, Gabi Mosely (Shanola Hampton) is the story. As the leader of a crisis PR firm and a kidnapping victim herself in flashbacks, the story revolves around her. In Alert, Dania Ramirez and Scott Caan are co leads, and the show jumps back and forth between them. Other members of the cast have also gotten backstories as well.
Found champions consultants, Alert features cops: Found’s team works out of well furnished and trendy consultant offices. The Alert team works in a police station. Worth mentioning that both shows look great. Alert has one of the better wardrobes on television. In Found the cops are often getting in the way.
Both shows have harbored dark secrets: Found has fears and dark secrets for days. Those might be the strong points early on. Alert’s season wide mystery also dealt with skeletons (both figuratively and literally) but answered their questions during their first finale.
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Both shows have acting vets for viewers to attach to: Alert fans love Scott Caan from Hawaii Five-0 and the Ocean’s Eleven films. And while Mark Paul Gosselaar is a long way from Zach Morris in Found, playing a kidnapping monster, both of these actors have enough pull to get people to put down the remote control.
We’ll see where Found goes. And we’ll see how Alert comes back after its freshman year. Depending on where it lands, both shows could air on the same night, giving fans of the missing persons genre plenty of content.
What do you think of Alert: MPU and Found? Let me know in the comments below.
Plus: Checkout the other mystery show to recently premiere on NBC HERE
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