The federal goverment has issued a press release detailing that season 2 of sci-fi sinkhole drama, La Brea, will pump $118 million into the Australian economy when it is filmed in Victoria.

In terms of ratings it seems to have been a big hit in the US and was renewed for a second season before the first had finished airing.

Critically it's a dud, with a 38% critic and 35% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and 5.7 score on IMDb.com.

In this case the intriguing disparity adds curiosity value.

NBC released the first five minutes of the premiere and it's not excellent.

The dialog feels very recycled - sadly often true - and none of the performances are stellar.

We particularly enjoyed the LAPD officer in the middle of a rapidly cracking open road just casually looking around, totally steady legged, as she's swallowed up by the sinkhole.

Bit sad.

But it opened to 6.4 million viewers in the US and closed to just under 5. That's not bad for a sci-fi show on a US free-to-air network.

Does it improve? Have other redeeming qualities?

It's one we are very keen to see.

And we don't have long to wait.

Season 1 of La Brea premieres on free-to-air 9 Now at 9pm on February 7.

[ Main Image: La Brea poster. Credit: NBC via IMDb.com. ]

References

IMDb.com. La Brea. (viewed January 27, 2022)

NBC (September 13, 2021). First Five Minutes of NBC’s New Drama | La Brea. YouTube.

Office for the Arts (January 25, 2022). La Brea returns to Australia for second season. Australian Government.

Quinn, Karl (January 24, 2022). A hole lot of cash: La Brea returns to Australia for $118m second season. The Sydney Morning Herald.

Rotten Tomatoes. La Brea. (viewed January 27, 2022)