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Television

Journeyman (NBC) TONIGHT

Kevin McKidd as Dan Vasser in NBC's Journeyman

Journeyman (NBC)

Starring: Kevin McKidd as Dan Vasser

Premieres: Monday, Sept. 24th at 10 p.m.

Airs: Mondays at 10 p.m.

Viewed: Via free advance download offer from NBC and Amazon UnBox for Tivo.

My rating: 4 out of 5

I reviewed two of NBC’s other new science fiction offerings last week. Even though I’d also downloaded Journeyman through the same offering at Amazon UnBox, I didn’t review it with the others because, simply, I hadn’t watched it yet.

I corrected that oversight this weekend, and now, although I’ve already posted to this blog today, I want to tell you about Journeyman. Because it premieres tonight, and I don’t want you to miss it. It’s that good.

Journeyman caps off a full Monday night of science fiction on NBC that begins with the new series Chuck, followed by the returning favorite Heroes. This placement is a good decision - Chuck gives us a humorous, high action beginning to the evening. Heroes ups the intensity and drama, and delivers mind-blowing special effects and action. At the end of the night, Journeyman will now offer a drama that’s still intense, but somewhat quieter, and with lots to think about.

Kevin McKidd stars as our title character, Dan Vasser. He’s a newspaper reporter in San Francisco, with a wife and kid, a brother who’s a cop, and a backstory. Dan was once engaged to Livia, but for reasons I can’t reveal without spoiling the story for you, they are no longer together.

One day, Dan starts traveling in time. This happens a few times before he starts to understand why. In the process, he crosses paths with his old life again - including Livia. And because he disappears in the present time for the same period that he spends in the past - 2 days then equals 2 days gone now - he begins to have troubles with his editor for missing deadlines, and his wife, son, and brother for disappearing without explanation.

Journeyman is a well-crafted story, with excellent performances by all the cast. We’ve been offered hints at the larger concept behind Dan’s time voyages, and intriguing glimpses at his past life. I’m eager to find out what happens to him next, and that’s why, based on only a single episode, I’m rating this show 4 out of 5, for “I hate it when I miss an episode!”

It’s my fear that Journeyman won’t find its audience. It’s high quality science fiction, as well as an engrossing human drama. But it requires that the viewer pay attention to what’s going on. The story isn’t handed to us on a platter - rather, we are shown events and objects, we listen to discussions, arguments, and dialogues, and we must observe the ways that people interact. Sometimes the clues are as subtle as seeing the same event we were shown a few minutes ago, but from a different perspective on a different time trip.

On the surface, Journeyman most resembles Quantum Leap. But beyond the concept of a man traveling into the past to help troubled people, the two shows are completely different. Journeyman is a personal story of a man dealing with a huge transition in his life, and how it affects him, and the people around him.

Watch it, please. Journeyman is the sort of quality programming we want to encourage. If you miss the airing tonight, it’s available at Amazon UnBox to download to your Series 2 or higher TiVo, or to your computer.

Posted: September 24th, 2007 under Television.
Comments: none

Chuck (NBC); Bionic Woman (NBC)

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Chuck (NBC)

Starring (l. to r.): Adam Baldwin, Zachary Levi as Chuck, and Yvonne Strechowski

Premieres: Monday, Sept. 24th, 8 p.m.

Airs: Mondays at 8 p.m.

Viewed: Via free advance download offer from NBC and Amazon UnBox for Tivo.

My Rating: 3 out of 5

NBC found a massive hit last fall in Heroes. Now, a year later, the network is building a solid block of science fiction series on Monday evenings, with Heroes anchoring the same 9 p.m. time slot it held last year, and the new series Journeyman bringing up the rear.

The opening number at 8 p.m. will be a new series called Chuck. Chuck is a hyrid show - part sci-fi, part comedy, part espionage. Anytime you try to mix genres, there’s potential for disaster. If you don’t do them all well, your show will likely fall flat.

The good news is, Chuck seems to have gotten it all right. The show simultaneously skewers our modern, consumer culture and our high-tech espionage films, while still providing exciting action and interesting mysteries. And on top of it all, we have the average daily life of Chuck, a 20-something nerd who still lives with his sister and has no girlfriend.

I found the entire package fun to watch, and I’m looking forward to the next episode. It’s hard to give a rating to a show based on a single episode, but so far, Chuck has itself firmly on my list of programs worth TiVo’ing, making it a 3 out of 5. I wouldn’t be surprised, though, to find it quickly rising to a 4 within a few episodes.

Related Links:

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Bionic Woman (NBC)

Starring: Michelle Ryan as Jamie Sommers

Premieres: Wednesday, Sept. 26th, 9 p.m.

Airs: Wednesdays at 9 p.m.

Viewed: Via free advance download offer from NBC and Amazon UnBox for Tivo.

My Rating: 3 out of 5

Not on Monday evenings, but continuing NBC’s venture into more science fiction programming, is Wednesday evening’s Bionic Woman. If you are thinking fondly of the Jamie Sommers you grew up with, as played by Lindsay Wagner, think again. The series has been given the same sort of reinvention that brought Battlestar Galactica back to great accolades on the Sci-Fi channel.

The new Jamie has a troubled teenage sister who lives with her; a boyfriend doctor who hasn’t told her everything about what he does; and a bartending job that seems to do well for her. Everything changes one day when a tragic car accident leaves Jamie at death’s door - until her boyfriend has her med-evac’d to the secret lab he works at.

The bulk of the initial episode is spent introducing us to the characters, and shows the beginning of Jamie coming to terms with a reality that turned upside down on her very abruptly. The world will never be the same for her again, and she knows it. But she also, by the end of the episode, starts to feel a sense of what her new abilities can do for, and to exercise some of that power.

The tone of the new series is dark. There was at least one giggle thrown in to lighten the mood of the pilot, but for the most part, we’re watching a more defnite drama than we did with the original series in the 70’s. No Sasquatch here, folks! The drama, the evil, and the secrets are all human - making them even more threatening.

I won’t tell more, because that would spoil the fun of watching the premiere for yourself. Except to say that Jamie isn’t the first Bionic Woman in this version of the series. There are many backstories to all the characters, many secrets hinted at, little tidbits of information given to us that intrigue and draw us in because we want to know more.

At least, I know I want to know more. Which is why I’ll be watching Bionic Woman every week.

As with Chuck, I think it’s early to give more than a 3 out of 5 rating. But, just like Chuck, I suspect that Bionic Woman will be rising in my estimation quickly.

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Posted: September 20th, 2007 under Television.
Comments: 1