Blackout is an American action television mini-series produced by RHI Entertainment in association with Power in which a wronged man kidnaps a computer hacker to hack into Los Angeles' power grid, holding the city and eventually the whole West Coast hostage as he cuts the power, creating a disaster type scenario as he goes about his own secret plot for profit and revenge.
The series was released in pre-sold foreign territories in 2012, including the UK, New Zealand and Latin America. There are four hour-long episodes in the series.
Blackout premieres in South Africa on SABC3 on Monday 11 March 2013, at 22h05. New episodes broadcast weekly.
Synopsis
All it takes is a glitch in the system of our lives to expose our deepest fears. What happens then? The answer comes in shock waves when an unprecedented conspiracy pitches the West Coast into total darkness.
Record heat waves are pushing citizens closer to the edge. The limits of the city's electrical power grid are reaching a breaking point. And tensions among the population are boiling over, following a controversial verdict in a police brutality trial. This is one hot summer in Los Angeles.
After being charged with hacking into the Pentagon security system, computer-whiz Josh Martin is kidnapped during house arrest and delivered to a shadowy criminal known as Charles Keller.
Requested to hack into the state's highly advanced electrical system and shut it down, it's clear what Keller wants — total chaos. When California goes dark, he gets what he wants.
And tonight, no one will be prepared for what's about to happen.
Agent Strickland of Homeland Security's Cyber Terrorism Division fears the worst. So does Beth, a news director sticking dangerously close to the largest disaster the country has ever faced.
City by city, the West Coast is blacking out as looting escalates and the worst impulses of man are unleashed. As bedlam reigns, an expert squadron must determine the conspiratorial source of the blackout while civilization fights to survive the night.
Featuring an ensemble cast that includes Eriq La Salle, Anne Heche, James Brolin, Billy Zane, Sean Patrick Flanery, Bruce Boxleitner and Haylie Duff, Blackout is not just a miniseries event that strikes at our deepest and darkest fears — it's a cautionary thriller for a paranoid age.
The series was produced by RHI Entertainment in association with Power. The executive producers are Marcel Golding, Herbert G. Kloiber, Larry Levinson and Robert Halmi, Jr. and the series co-executive producers are Randy Pope and Matt Fitzsimmons.
The teleplay was written by Brian Katkin, Ken Miyamoto and Dan Fitzsimmons, with story by Brian Katkin. The first episode was directed by Bradford May.