Prey - William Schmidt - (1998) DVD

Overwhelmed by the brutal murder of her mentor and friend, Dr. Ann Coulter, young bio-anthropologist Dr. Sloan Parker continues Coulter's secret DNA research at Whitney University in Southern California. Coulter believed global warming spawned a brilliant new species of human that is determined to eliminate Homo sapiens, just as Homo sapiens has, in its perception of manifest destiny, killed off competing species.

Prey is one of the many great shows that ran way shorter than it should have. It only ran for one season on ABC in 1998. A group of scientists, Sloan Parker [Debra Messing from NYPD Blue, Ned and Stacey, Seinfeld and Will and Grace], Ed Tate [Vincent Ventresca from The Invisible Man, Friends, Boston Common, The Twilight Zone, Las Vegas and CSI Miami], and Walter Attwood [Larry Drake from Tales From The Crypt, L.A. Law, The Outer Limits, Stargate SG-1, Star Trek Voyager, Darkman, Dr. Giggles and Paranoia] find out that a genetically advanced humanoid species lives among us.

They have advanced abilities that make them far better predators than regular homo-sapiens. Plus, they are organized and are working on an agenda of destroying us before we destroy them. They first discover this new race when they capture serial killer Randall Lynch and discover that his DNA is different from ours. The rest of the show follows the escalating war for control of the planet. The main weapon that the humans have against this enemy is a defector from their side, Tom Daniels [Adam Storke from The Stand, Crossing Jordan and Law & Order: Criminal Intent]. He gives them help and information they use to hold their own as the war revs up. Also great in the show are Frankie Faison [from C.H.U.D., Maximum Overdrive, Silence Of The Lambs, The Langoliers and The Wire] and Roger Howarth as the cold blooded killer Randall Lynch.

Unfortunately, Prey was killed after only one season and it ended on a cliffhanger. After seeing Debra Messing do such a great job here, it's too bad her most famous work is the awful Will & Grace. Prey is a lot like the fantastic 2005 show Threshold - which was also stupidly killed after one great season.

Episodes:

1. Existence
2. Discovery
3. Pursuit
4. Origins
5. Revelations
6. Infiltration
7. Transformations
8. Veil
9. Collaboration
10. Sleeper
11. Vengeance
12. Progeny
13. Deliverance: Part 1

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