‘Manifest’ Review: The Biggest Mystery of This Unconvincing Pilot Is, Seriously, What Is This Show?

[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for the pilot “Manifest.”]There are very few universal truths about television, but the most important thing about pretty much any show is this: You have to care about the characters.

And that’s the biggest obstacle facing NBC’s “Manifest,” which sets up a massive mystery and a mild family melodrama with its first episode, focused on what happens when a plane containing over a hundred souls goes missing for five years, arriving on the ground as if no time has passed.It’d be nice to write about “Manifest” without bringing up ABC’s “Lost,” especially since in the years since “Lost” premiered no shortage of series have attempted to capture that same magical blend of genre and drama elements.

It’d also be nice to write about “Manifest” with an understanding of how this functions as a series.

However, this show begins with some weird stuff happening to a bunch of

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