NBC’s New Action Hope: My Own Worst Enemy

My Own Worst Enemy is about a man. Actually two men–well, one man, two personalities, er, well, you’ll see.

Christian Slater plays a man plagued by an interesting problem: by day he’s Henry Spivey, an efficiency expert who lives in the suburbs with a wife (Yara Martinez) and the obligatory 2 children and a dog. His other personality is that of Edward Albright, a super-spy operative of the Janus Headquarters who speaks 9 languages, can run a 4 minute mile and is a trained killer.

The division between the two alter egos starts to break down when a chip implant in his brain malfunctions. The two different personalities start finding themselves fighting for control of the one body they inhabit.

I like Christian Slater. He brings an energy to the roles he plays that just agrees with me. He’s got the perfect steely glare that cuts to the chase as an operative. Watching him play a suburban husband is going to be a twist. Watching him play two completely different personalities is also going to be pretty interesting.

Even NBC’s My Own Worst Enemy website has fun playing up the dual identity theme. If you click on Edward, you get a preview of the show and it’s basic premise. If you click on Henry, the preview shows him opening up a video message left for him by Edward. You watch Henry getting confused and panicky as Edward tells him there are men coming to kill him. Edward says that he needs to listen very carefully, his life depends on it.

Because I like Slater and the previews look pretty interesting, for now I plan on tuning in.

My Own Worst Enemy is brought to us by executive producer Jason Smilovic, (this worries me a bit since he was the producer and writer for NBC’s failed Bionic Woman, and before that, Kidnapped,) and is directed by David Semel. It looks like he has a sporadic background of single episodes in his past. This will be his longest running job. He’s produced the The Cleaner’s only episode, Life, Six Degrees, Studio 60 and “Chapter One Genesis” of Heroes.

There’s a report floating around that the co-executive producer of My Own Worst Enemy, John Eisendrath, is possibly going to be put in the position of executive producer/show runner. Eisendrath was consulting producer of K-Ville. I really thought that was a good, gritty cop show based in post Katrina New Orleans, but it was ill-fated to be chopped. (You’ll never guess what network it was on: Fox.) Eisendrath was also the executive producer of Alias. (Now we’re talkin’!)

The cast of My Own Worst Enemy consists of:
Christian Slater as Henry Spivey/Edward Albright
Saffron Burrows as Dr. Norah Skinner
Madchen Amick as Angie Spivey
Mike O’Malley as Tom Grady/Raymond
Alfre Woodard as Mavis Heller

I’m still a little worried. Should I be? I guess I’ll toss out one of my own favorite sayings: “Time will be the telling factor”. OK, onward with some enthusiasm: If one remembers their classic books, is it coincidental that Henry and Edward are also the first names of Dr. Henry Jekyll / Mr. Edward Hyde?

And another quick quiz: Does anyone else think of the planet Mars when you read the show outline in this article? If no one gets the reference, I’ll fill you in a bit later in the comments!

Regardless, I look forward to watching the 13 ordered episodes on NBC and hopefully it will last.

My Own Worst Enemy starts on Monday, October 13th at 10 PM. (Yes, the ill-fated Monday at 10 time slot that killed Journeyman, if I’m not mistaken.)

Sources: NBC, Hollywood Insider, IGN

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