The UPN Friday night lineup packs a sci-fi punch

By Melissa Gollob

Daily Arts Writer

The UPN network brought two new shows to its line up on Friday nights, "Freedom" and "Level 9." "Freedom" begins with Air Force One missing and all aboard presumed dead, including the President. The United States military gains control of the country by declaring a temporary police state. Then all the branches of the military round up thousands of soldiers for insubordination because they refuse to live in peace without freedom. Four outstanding soldiers band together in the William Jefferson Clinton prison to find their way out and join The Resistance, which is the underground group fighting to restore the country back to an elected government.

Holt McCallany stars as Captain Owen Decker, a marine with a personal vendetta against the wanna-be dictators because while they were

arresting him, they shot and killed his wife. Before he is able to kill his wife's murderer, he learns that his presumed dead son is being held captive. Decker's search for his son is sure to be an on-going theme throughout the season. "Freedom" also stars Bodhi Elfman (husband to Jenna,) as a sarcastic Special Forces soldier, Scarlett Chorvat as a gymnastic Army Ranger and Darius McCrary ("Family Matters") as the hard-nosed Navy seal.

This show has tremendous marital arts scenes that are reminiscent of

"The Matrix," which makes sense since both are produced by Joel Silver. The story finally sorts itself out but it's hard to bond with most of the characters. However, "Freedom" does have a message demonstrating how much we take our rights as citizens for granted and what might happen one day if they were suddenly taken away.

Continuing the evening is "Level 9," a secret division in the government that specializes in solving crimes through the Internet. With an office full of hackers, they solve crimes with the same computer technology

that the criminals used to commit them. There are several cast members

that say very little and seem only to be used to fill the office with people. Although they do have a catchy motto, "We're more secret than the NSA but we can still kick your A-S-S."

The head of Level 9 is Annie Price (Kate Hodge) who stands out from all the other characters. She coordinates all the movements and in an

introspective scene, she tells a guest detective that she made the mistake of not taking a terrorist threat seriously so the government had to quietly pay them 100 million dollars so that they would not shut down the JFK traffic control center.

At times "Level 9" will probably increase computer anxiety for some but for this network demographic it is a show that should be watched. This

show could really expand our awareness of computer crimes and entertain

at the same time. UPN has at least one decent show that is worth watching on Friday nights.