Dead at 21

1 9 9 4 (USA)
13 x 30 minute episodes

On his 20th birthday, Ed Bellamy (Jack Noseworthy) discovers he has been an unknowing lab rat since birth in a medical experiment where a microchip has been implanted in his brain.

The chip has made him a genius but will also kill him and his fellow Neurocybernauts – or “cybs” for short –  by their 21st birthdays.

Ed sets off on a quest to find the scientist who created the chip, so it can be removed before it kills him.

After crashing his birthday party, dark-haired beauty Maria Cavalos (Lisa Dean Ryan) becomes his sidekick in trying to save his life. They are pursued by Agent Winston (Whip Hubley), a rogue government assassin.

Ed’s mother and her boyfriend, meanwhile, come across as Baby Boomer idiots.

Heavy on style but short on plot and dialogue, Dead at 21 looked like MTV, sounded like MTV and had the tiny attention span that MTV asked of its young viewers.

Those who viewed music videos as high art probably made it through all the episodes. Everyone else simply found it amateurish and laughable.

Ed Bellamy
Jack Noseworthy
Maria Cavalos
Lisa Dean Ryan
Agent Winston
Whip Hubley
Heisenberg
William Morgan Sheppard
Ken
Mark Haining
Karen
Clare Salstrom
Sasha
Maxi McCoy
Brooke
Andrea Roth
Susan Bellamy
Patricia Healy
Floyd
Stephen Quadros