Watch and discuss: Do these 12 minutes of Fox's "Virtuality" pique your interest to see more?

Gene Farber and Jose Pablo Cantillo as Virtuality's newlyweds Val and Manny

I've been pretty interested in Fox's Virtuality for a few reasons first, it comes from Battlestar Galactica producer Ron Moore (which is still one of my favorite sci-fi TV shows, despite a less-than-stellar final season), second, it's about the filming of a reality show (the "peek behind the curtain" still makes me want to check out Big Brother every season) and, most excitingly, it's one of the few science fiction shows to include a gay couple in the cast.

Unfortunately, prospects for the series haven't looked good. First there was talk about the pilot getting re-edited to make it less "dense", then the show wasn't announced as part of Fox's upcoming season. Thankfully the pilot will be airing this Friday, June 26, with the hopes that viewer interest turns out to be strong enough to merit more episodes.

WIth the premiere coming soon, Fox has released twelve minutes of Virtuality. Check it out, with my reaction below.

Val and Manny in an "Edge of Never" confessional

Unfortunately, it turns out that the 12 minutes isn't the first 12 minutes or any 12 consecutive minutes from Virtuality, but 12 minutes of short clips. Usually, by the time I got my bearings in one scene, it was over and I had to try to figure out what was going on in the next scene. It wasn't enough to leave me with much of an impression.

What I liked better could be found at the Facebook page for "Edge of Never" (the faux-reality series at the core of Virtuality's premise). Among the videos includes a profile of Val and Manny, Virtuality's gay couple.

Val and Manny certainly have my attention. I don't get the feeling that these two would last as a couple if they weren't stuck with each other in a claustrophobic space station. Just looking at what it took for Manny to propose suggests that these two men are at different places in life, the kind of thing that can slowly eat away at an otherwise-compatible couple. If Virtuality doesn't become a series, I hope Moore will discuss where the series would have taken them. I really want to know how the pressures of the mission affects their relationship.

All in all, it's an interesting premise (though, unfortunately, that premise is also too complex to describe simply) and if the other characters are as intriguing as Val and Manny, I'll be engrossed in this one on Friday night. What do you think? Will you be tuning in?