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Recipe for success: take the two biggest trends in turn-of-the-millennium entertainment (teen shows and alien shows), throw in a blender, add a few imaginative writers and some talented-but-unknown actors, and voila! You have Roswell, the WB's latest hit. Let's assume you know the whole lore about a spacecraft crashing in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947. It's kind of Sci Fi 101. The government insisted it was a weather balloon, everybody denies an Area 51, yadda, yadda, yadda. The premise of Roswell is that there were three alien survivors aboard the flying saucer (or geodesic dome, or whatever). Somewhere in the early 1980s, they assumed the form of human children and decided to try and assimilate with this culture Earth. They managed to keep their 'secret' not only from friends, but also from their adopted families until… One day in 1999, Max (Jason Behr), the cutest little alien with the big ears and earnest eyes, saved the life of Liz (Shiri Appleby), on whom he'd had an all-too-human crush since childhood, by waving his hand over a gunshot wound. Faster than you can say "special powers," Liz figured out their secret. The trick now is to keep anyone else from figuring it out… especially those evil investigators posing as school guidance counselors and teachers. As on all WB shows, the cast is young, hip and reasonably attractive. In addition to Behr and Appleby, who really are the main attractions, there are the other two aliens, Max's 'sister' Isabel (Katherine Heigl) and his best buddy, bad-boy Michael (Brendan Fehr, the breakout heartthrob of the show). The show's creators have said frequently that they chose to set Roswell in the Southwest – not just because Roswell is in the Southwest, but because of the cultural diversity of that area. Though the main characters are all white, the Latino and Native American communities of New Mexico are reflected in the supporting and guest casts. Rumor has it a fourth survivor will emerge, and I'd be willing to bet that s/he will be a person of color. Sure, Roswell is campy. And granted, there are some serious loopholes in the premise. For example, if Max and co. were 'deposited' in 1947, and they were already eight years old at the time, how come they're only in high school now? And doesn't this really make Max just a dirty old man in a cute boy's body? And why is a geodesic dome so central to the story – that hideous architecture wasn't invented until the 1970s. Well, folks, this is why Roswell is a "fantasy" show. Just relax, remember it's television, and enjoy.
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