WITH all the possible ideas there must be for TV shows, it seems hard to believe that NBC has gone and developed a drama about time-traveling.
And yet, seeing must be believing because I just watched two episodes of this new series called “Journeyman,” in which a San Francisco journalist suddenly, and without warning, begins zipping between the present day and the past.
This newfound ability confuses our journeying hero mightily – and he’s not the only one.
If you watch tonight’s premiere of “Journeyman,” and you think you understand what happened, feel free to write to me with an explanation.
The biggest question you’ll be left with after tonight’s premiere is a big, fat “why”? No explanation is given for why Journey Guy has begun to make these trips. And I’m not referring to the reasons for the trips; those have to do with helping various characters he meets and whose life courses he attempts to alter in order to change the outcomes.
The question that lingers is: Why this guy in particular?
For one thing, these sudden trips back in time don’t exactly fit into his lifestyle. He’s a family guy with a wife and small son, plus a job at a newspaper, where he seems to be something of a star.
So when he starts disappearing, sometimes for several days, both his career and his marriage become threatened because everybody thinks he’s insane or drunk or addicted to drugs and, of course, lying about what’s been happening to him.
I have a feeling that there’s some nefarious reason why this guy (who’s played by Kevin McKidd, who played Lucius Vorenus in HBO’s “Rome“) was chosen to time-trip, and it’s a reason that is likely to be so complicated that it will probably take all season to reveal.
That’s been the pattern lately with network dramas. It’s not enough to just concoct some new story each week. Now, every drama has to contain some story thread designed to tempt viewers into coming back week after week – no matter how far-fetched or implausible.
It’s not that I’m closed-minded when it comes to the topic of time-travel.
Take “Journeyman.” While watching this show, I actually felt like I was traveling back in time too, back to the early 1960s, to a place where I thought I’d seen this story once before – a place called “The Twilight Zone.”
“Journeyman”
Tonight at 10 on NBC/4