The Mystery Plane of ‘Manifest’ Flies to Dullness

There are worse crimes in the TV world than being unoriginal. And “Manifest,” a new drama on NBC premiering Monday, is decidedly unoriginal. But worse than that, it’s just so boring.

The premise certainly sounds cool: Flight 828 takes off from Jamaica, has a brief bout of turbulence and then lands — except somehow 5 1/2 years have past back on the ground, even though only a few hours have transpired for everyone on board.

A mysterious-plane-incident show immediately conjures memories of “Lost.” There are also obvious strains of “The 4400,” a show that ran on USA from 2004 to 2007, in which 4,400 people who were missing and presumed dead for years reappear en masse, not having aged at all, and now all have subtle supernatural powers.

Neither “Lost” nor “The 4400” is flawless, but they were both always trying to make interesting choices. “Manifest,” on the other hand, makes the least interesting choice possible and decides to be a generic, joyless cop show.

Our entry point is Michaela (Melissa Roxburgh), a police officer still processing some tedious personal trauma when she, her brother (Josh Dallas) and her young nephew (Jack Messina) — who has cancer, dear lord — agree to be bumped from their original flight and wind up on 828 instead. Her parents, sister-in-law and niece take the earlier flight.

Post-flight, the niece (Luna Blaise) is now a teenager, while her twin brother is still a little kid. Michaela’s mother has died. And her boyfriend (J.R. Ramirez) has made detective, but he has also married her friend. We all thought you were dead! Life had to go on! This would be sadder or more emotional if anyone had any living chemistry or apparent bonds. As it is, it plays like a to-do list, not a story.

That’s when the supernatural stuff kicks in. Michaela starts hearing a voice, urging her on in vague ways: She insists a bus driver slow down, and that saves a child who runs out into the street. She frees some dogs, which leads to a bigger revelation, though not in a fun way. And, hey, there was a cancer doctor on the flight too, and maybe her research is going to save that little nephew after all.

Is everyone from the flight developing superpowers? Is everyone connected in a quest for the greater good? Is the number 828 — which keeps popping up — meaningful in ways that surpass human understanding? Probably. But also, who cares?

“Manifest” has a frustrating lack of propulsion, a central dullness whose force field is so strong it bends all the interesting parts toward itself. The cancer doctor, who has missed five years of research, is amazed to learn her hypotheses have led to revolutionary new treatment — it’s an intriguing concept that could make for a compelling subplot. Instead, an older colleague just lectures her and tries to protect the study. “We can’t save everyone,” he says, as if that isn’t a miserably overused line and conflict on any dozen doctor shows.

NBC only made one episode of “Manifest” available to critics, and it’s possible the show will blossom into a spiritually engaging and action-packed drama. I’m skeptical about its long-term promise, though, because whatever premise, whatever mystery, whatever saga a show tries to create still rests on the viability of its characters, on how much they seem like people worth spending time with. And no one here feels like a person in the first place.

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Broadcast Notes:

‘Manifest’

Mondays on NBC