Forty thousand years ago,
the most advanced species on Earth
was wiped out by a powerful new life form.
Us.
In January of 1998 ABC aired a series it called science-"fact". Based on the premise that a new species of human had evolved and that they were preparing to take over as the dominant life form, this series was properly titled
Prey. This new species had advantages, they had stronger visual,
auditory and
olfactory senses; they were physically stronger and faster; they were more intelligent; and, their females matured younger and equipped with
the ability to carry four fetuses to term. They were the ultimate predators.
The show opens with
Dr. Ann Coulter doing research with the
DNA of criminals. In her work she makes a discovery but before she can tell anyone what that discovery is she is murdered. The evidence points toward
serial killer Randall Lynch but the problem is that he is sitting on
Death Row. Upset about her coworker's death and curious about the discovery, all trace of which have gone missing,
bio-anthropologist Dr. Sloan Parker begins
her own investigation into Coulter's murder and Lynch's involvement. Sloan’s efforts are spurred onward when she suspects that the
FBI agent who is supposed to be investigating Coulter’s murder has in fact deleted important files from the victim's computer.
It turns out that FBI agent Tom Daniels is a member of the new species, as is Randall Lynch. They are everywhere and they are watching Sloan Parker, prepared to kill her if she gets too close to the truth. The twist is that
Daniels is able to feel emotions, something the others in the new species don't appear to have or encourage. His compassion for Sloan causes him to aid her and save her life. Sloan decides to trust him, what choice does she have when
he is the only link to the truth, but her friend and would-be boyfriend, Dr. Ed Tate, doesn't.
From here on
the show involves trust between these three characters and
the uncovering and attempted thwarting of the new species' plans. They are hindered by Daniel's involvement as much as they are helped because his species is also able to sense when another is near, and they don't like that he is helping her.
The main characters of this series are Dr. Sloan Parker, played by
Debra Messing and perhaps best known for her role as Grace on the tv show
Will and Grace; Tom Daniels, played by
Adam Storke; and, Dr. Ed Tate played by
Vincent Ventresca, most notably known for his role as
Darien Fawkes in the SciFi channel’s series,
The Invisible Man. Interestingly
William Schmidt, the show's creator, only wrote one episode, the first one.
This show ran for 13 episodes on ABC but got very little attention and was therefore cancelled.
I suspect it obtained more attention when it was in reruns on the SciFi channel and would have been more successful if it had been picked up by them. Unfortunately it wasn't and the show remains locked in the SciFi vault, with no DVD release and no downloadable episodes that I can locate, awaiting its next round of airtime.
References
My memory primarily.
SciFi Reviews, http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue61/screen.html