ON THE COVER
Nothing but the truth
By Kevin D. Thompson
Cox News Service
Imagine for a minute, that you're Tucker Burns. You're a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism. You interned at the Washington Post. You have a student Pulitzer plastered on your resume.
So, where do you land your first gig?
The New York Times? Newsweek?
Try the World Chronicle.
The what?
The World Chronicle, a tabloid rag that writes bizarre stories about demon babies, Elvis sightings and Siamese triplets. Yes, the World Chronicle makes the New York Post look like the Washington Post. It's the kind of paper you read only when you're standing in a long line at the supermarket. You have 30 minutes to kill, so you have to do something, right?
The twist with the World Chronicle however, is that every "There's a Demon in My Toilet" story is actually true. Aliens, monsters and the like live among us. But if you watch "The X-Files," you knew that already.
"The Chronicle" is yet another entertaining series from the emerging Sci-Fi Channel. It's part "X-Files," part "Men in Black" and all fun. Well, it's not all fun for Tucker (Chad Willet). Matters look pretty bleak after a career-killing mistake got Tucker blacklisted. He's received 47 rejection letters in five months. Things are so bad, his girlfriend suggests working at Old Navy.
But when Tucker spots an ad for an investigative journalist, his interest is piqued. That interest wanes the moment Tucker discovers the paper is housed in what looks like a dilapidated warehouse. Oh, but beyond that seemingly dreary exterior is a sleek, high-tech newsroom. Tucker's first assignment was finding what the World Chronicle has dubbed "The Brooklyn Bloodsucker." Along for the ride are ace reporter and multiple alien abductee Grace ("Melrose Place's" Rena Sofer) and hip photographer Wes (Reno Wilson).
"The Chronicle" joins the already impressive stable of smart Sci-Fi Channel shows ("The Invisible Man," "Farscape," "LEXX"). It's a breezy, lighthearted hour that wisely doesn't take itself too seriously. Neither should you. And the next time you read a headline about a two-headed alien baby, you might even think twice and wonder if the story's true.
—"The Chronicle," 9 p.m. Saturdays on SciFi
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