Syfy's 'Warehouse 13' still pretty much empty

A year ago, the Sci Fi Channel relaunched itself as Syfy. And, in honor of the occasion, premiered the series "Warehouse 13."

In the 12 months since then, Syfy has set a number of ratings records. Its audience has grown, and shows like "Warehouse 13" have been pretty successful for the network.

As a matter of fact, the network is thrilled to tell us that "Warehouse 13" is its "most successful series ever" in terms of audience, averaging 4.1 million viewers per episode.

And viewers who actually like quality science fiction have been consistently disappointed.

"Warehouse 13" returns for its second season on Tuesday (7 and 9 p.m, Syfy). And, after watching the first couple of episodes, there's nothing to indicate that my original review of the show no longer holds:

There's no sense of wonder, nothing to spark the imagination — not even anything that's entertaining — in the premiere of "Warehouse 13." ... At best, "Warehouse 13" is silly. At worst, it's stupid.

If anything, the second season of this series is worse than the first. In the first five minutes of Tuesday's episodes, the manipulative script tries to make us believe that not one, not two, but three of the main characters are dead.

It's not much of a spoiler alert to tell you that none of them dies.

If you missed the first 12 episodes, "Warehouse 13" follows the adventures of two Secret Service agents — the dopey Pete Lattimer (Eddie McClintock) and the driven Myka Bering (Joanne Kelly) — who have an unusual assignment. They're assigned to Warehouse 13, a South Dakota facility stuffed with weird, otherworldly/supernatural/really weird artifacts.

It's a lot like that warehouse where the Ark of the Covenant is stored at the end of "Raiders of the Lost Ark." Only odder.

With the advice and assistance of warehouser caretaker Artie Nielsen (Saul Rubinek), Pete and Myka go on various assignments to retrieve artifacts and battle bad guys.

(The cast also includes Allison Scagliotti as Claudia Donovan, a techno whiz who works for Artie; CCH Pounder as Mrs. Frederic, the boss; and Genelle Williams as Leena, the proprietor of the bed and breakfast where the agents live and possessor of psychic powers.)

The premise of "Warehouse 13" is not necessarily a bad idea, but it's very poorly executed. Frankly, it's not so much exciting as just plain dumb.