“Almost Human” is a sci-fi / detective story set 35 years in the future which centers on a detective named John Kennex (Karl Urban) who is partnered with a “synthetic,” an android designed with human-like emotions who shows more empathy at times than his human counterpart. The synthetic Dorian is played by Michael Ealy. Together, these two fight crime in a not-too-distant future where the criminals are all very tech savvy but Kennex has an edge because Dorian is not only a badass cop but he’s also really handy being that he is equipped with the ability to access databases and analyze chemical compounds from wherever he is. With an executive producer like JJ Abrams, one would expect a show like this to have some amazing effects and in this respect, “Almost Human” does not disappoint.

Seeing Karl Urban on TV was a bit of a surprise for me at first, since he appears in some of my favorite films like Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Riddick, and Doom. But he translates to the small screen very well lending the show a full-length feature film feel. “Almost Human” is a little bit Robocop, a little Dredd, with some Terminator and “Criminal Minds” thrown in.

The first episode, which was actually the pilot, aired Sunday to 9 million viewers and the next episode aired last night. With Reality TV and contest shows seemingly saturating TV, “Almost Human” is a welcome breath of fresh air. It’s got it all: action, suspense, drama, sci-fi and humor. It strikes a nice balance between the heaviness of the storylines with a light-hearted repartee between the characters. Definitely one of the best shows on TV and will be for a while, I predict.

“Almost Human” airs Mondays on FOX at 8pm and also stars Minka Kelly, Lili Taylor and Mackenzie Crook.

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