In fact, it’s not just the biology, it’s the sociology that makes no sense in this new, terribly serious (and just plain terrible) TV series from Lifetime.

The basic premise is cocktail-party thin: what is every single woman, all around the woman, suddenly became infertile at the very same moment? (In this case, in the near future: 2019).  And what if, six years later, a scientist was able to suddenly fertilize a hundred embryos? What would the world be like, and what would happen to that scientist and those embryos?

Whatever it is, it wouldn’t be like this.

First the science of the sudden universal infertility is, well, ridiculous. It’s not even clear from the narrative if it’s because of bad sperm or bad ova – or both, somehow. There’s gobbledegook about radiation or an unknown virus or pollution or something, but never mind: it happened, shut up. It’s Evil Magic. Then this one scientist –one scientist, working alone, in some anonymous corpo-government complex, gets one hundred eggs to fertilize. And only after they do, do they start to think about rounding up surrogate mothers. What’s more, she’s not really sure where the viable eggs came from or if she can do it again (which implies it’s the eggs that are at fault, but again: not clear). And what does the corpo-government do with this scientist? The fire her. Shut down the operation, throw her out in the street, almost literally. They’ll take it from here.

Whaaat? Wouldn’t they be far more likely to lock her in the tower, like Cinderella with her spinning wheel, to fertilize more and more eggs? No – they got it covered. They also don’t shut her up; they just let her loose to go talk to people, steal records, contact egg donors, etc. etc., while sinister members of the “Fertility Commission” and the “Department of Humanity” play catch-up and clean-up.

Which leads to the other absurdity: the speculation on how society might react to all this. Because apparently, they take it in stride. Oh, there are protests about women being forced to harvest eggs, but other than that, and some side-mentions of the last of the kindergartens closing, we seem to be getting alogn pretty well. Not even any mention of the devastating economic effects of an End to Children – the ducational system, the pediatric and healthcare system, the clothing, entertainment, and toy industries. We’re talking worldwide Depression here, folks, and then some. But…nah.

What’s more, it seems the fertility came on fast, but not that fast: there are six – count ‘em, six – six-year old in the whole world. And until now – six years later – they’ve let the parent(s) of those kids raise them apparently without any supervision at all. As if they’d be allowed to even keep them, much less be unmonitored.

And finally: the Lottery itself. The President announces to the world that there are the 100 fetuses, and they’re going to hold a lottery to choose the surrogate mothers. After which – what? The mothers will be left to raise these kids by themselves? Or put in a camp? Or what? And what about fathers? None of them? Did anybody on The Lottery even think about the ugly sexism and prejudice behind this whole concept? That anyone with a womb is as good a mother as anyone else, and men don’t count at all? Or the sheer impossibility that people would stand for this nonsense – of gambling for motherhood, when a few bad ‘draws’ could jeapordize the entire future of the human race. (Oh, and here’s a bit of post-millennial cynicism: the President doesn’t do this because he thinks, however wrong-headedly, that it’s the right thing to do. He does it because he’s about to be ‘recalled.’ Somebody should tell the writers that the President of the United States can’t be recalled; it’s not in the Constitution. He has to be impeached, tried, and removed from office – and none of that’s mentioned.)

Here’s all that matters: if the basic premise of a show is so flimsy and unbelievable that you don’t believe it, then you don’t believe in the characters that inhabit that world or the challenges they face. It just doesn’t matter. And there’s nothing about The Lottery that matters even a little bit. It doesn’t make sense; you just don’t care.

Towards the end, the President says, “The most fundamental human need is hope.” Maybe it’s not. Maybe it’s reason. And this silly little show has not one gram of that.