'Journeyman' Is Fun but Needs a Sidekick
Chicago Sun-Times, Sep 24, 2007 by Doug Elfman
'JOURNEYMAN' Rating 2 out of 4
NBC's new "Journeyman" is about time travel. I don't think I'm alone with this thought, but if I could travel back in time, I'd buy stocks and lottery tickets. I'd gamble on Super Bowls. I'd punch a few people in the face. And I'd probably track down women before they became famous, and give them a shot.
I'm just sayin'. I'm sure you're a much nicer person than me and you wouldn't do any of those things.
Of course, maybe the universe would force me to be altruistic somehow. That's certainly the case with "Journeyman," which debuts tonight after the season opener of "Heroes."
This newspaper reporter named Dan (Kevin McKidd) suddenly starts transporting to moments in the past, and he is confused, naturally. Dan does figure out he's being placed at hairy scenes in his native San Francisco, and he tries his darned-tootin'-est to stop someone from dying.
The basic premise is a cousin of "Quantum Leap" (some compare it the romantic novel The Time Traveler's Wife) except Dan can travel back only to years when he was alive. And he doesn't have a sidekick telling him what his mysterious mission is.
Dan faces dilemmas. He can't control when he leaps, so he'll be driving a car and, poof, he's gone, and the driverless car goes careening into a wreck.
And if Dan visits 1987 for six hours, he is absent from the present for six hours. It's nice to see a time-traveling fiction, for once, where people essentially disappear, leaving others to think: Hey, have you seen Dan? I wonder if he's off on a bender!
Time-travel fiction is almost always romanticized, since love is not bound by time yada yada, so there's romance afoot here. Dan loves his wife Katie (Gretchen Egolf), and he tries to convince her of his newfound oddity.
But when he goes to the past, he runs into his ex-love Livia (Moon Bloodgood), whom he once mourned after her plane crashed. This makes Dan feel strange and gives him that sad-bastard sensitive thing the ladies allegedly love.
What's good: McKidd (last seen as Lucius Vorenus in HBO's "Rome") commits nicely to the role, and there's a pleasant payoff to the plot. There's promise here.
What's bad: The dramatic structure is overorganized around the linear detective-ing, and the show's too Dan-centric without a "Quantum Leap"-like partner to spice things up. It's always Dan, Dan, Dan -- looking forlorn, looking confused, looking determined. It's rare when one guy can carry a whole dramatic fiction like this as, say, Terence Stamp did in Steven Soderbergh's li'l classic, "The Limey."
That's why "Back to the Future's" Marty McFly had Doc, and the most excellent, adventurous Bill had Ted. Buddies keep heroes in line. And as we all know by now, if I had been Marty without the moral voice of Doc, my bank account would be swollen with riches. And I'd have taken yoga classes with Naomi Watts.
That's just me.
A FEW WORDS FROM STAR KEVIN MCKIDD
On what he'd change if he could visit the past: "Some of those hairdos I had in the '80s [as in 'Trainspotting']: That wavy long hair is not a good look."
On HBO's "Rome": "It was never meant to last beyond a few seasons, I think, because it was a special show. If it had gone on five seasons, it would have diluted itself. ... But they are talking about a movie version to say goodbye to it. We all felt there was one more story to tell, so we're keeping our fingers crossed."
On being a Scot in an American show: "A lot of [non-American] actors say they're going to stay in the accent all the time. For me, I can't do that. It's too much like hard work. I don't feel like I need that. I feel like I can jump in and out of the accent."
ALSO NEW
"Chuck" (7 p.m., WMAQ-Channel 5): "Alias" meets "The Spy Who Knew Too Little" in this new **** hourlong comedy where a Best Buy-type employee becomes an accidental super-brainy spy. Cute, creative and slick, this is one of the best new shows of the fall season. Charming lead Zachary Levi could become a breakout star. There's a hot woman in lingerie. And Adam Baldwin is typically strong as the heavy.
"The Big Bang Theory" (7:30 p.m., WBBM-Channel 2): This is one of the only traditional/quippy new sitcoms. The ** show finds two young physicists living together, trying to impress their dumb blond neighbor in front of a studio audience. As far as junk like this goes, it's not heinous and has moments of OK-ness. But yeah, you're better off watching "Chuck," which is much cooler.
My full reviews of these shows ran Sunday and can be seen at suntimes.com.
SEASON PREMIERES
"How I Met Your Mother" (7 p.m., WBBM-Channel 2): Robin gets a new lovah, as played by Enrique Iglesias. Ted goes for a woman who looks just like Mandy Moore, since she's played by Mandy Moore.
"Dancing With the Stars" (7-8:30 p.m., WLS-Channel 7): The new "stars" include Mel "Scary Spice" Brown, Jennie Garth, Marie Osmond, Jane Seymour, Wayne Newton, Sabrina Bryan and Mark Cuban. My money is on ... Scary Spice. She can dance.
"Heroes" (8 p.m., WMAQ-Channel 5): The reason for the season of sci-fi at NBC begins its second year. We'll find out what happened four months after May's season finale, when it appeared the super brothers blew up in the air, saving New York from exploding, and evil Sylar seemed to die (sorta). Hiro begins in feudal Japan. I'll let you discover the rest for yourself.
"Two and a Half Men" (8 p.m., WBBM-Channel 2): Can you believe this show is starting a fifth season? And it's the best-rated comedy on TV? Craziness. Jake starts junior high. I know you won't believe this, but Alan and Charlie will attempt to be helpful, yet they actually will make things worse.
"Rules of Engagement" (8:30 p.m., WBBM-Channel 2): As the second season starts, Jeff and Audrey deal with snoring in their relationship.
"The Bachelor" (8:30-10 p.m., WLS-Channel 7): The 11th single bachelor who has never been married, at age 34, is a business dude from Texas. Tonight, he dumps 10 of the first 25 women looking for love in definitely the wrong place, after ABC shows us which ones make asses of themselves the most.
"CSI: Miami" (9 p.m., WBBM-Channel 2): Sixth season starts. Horatio takes off his sunglasses. Puts them on. Takes them off. And he thinks a suspect is his son.
'JOURNEYMAN' Rating 2 out of 4
NBC's new "Journeyman" is about time travel. I don't think I'm alone with this thought, but if I could travel back in time, I'd buy stocks and lottery tickets. I'd gamble on Super Bowls. I'd punch a few people in the face. And I'd probably track down women before they became famous, and give them a shot.
I'm just sayin'. I'm sure you're a much nicer person than me and you wouldn't do any of those things.
Of course, maybe the universe would force me to be altruistic somehow. That's certainly the case with "Journeyman," which debuts tonight after the season opener of "Heroes."
This newspaper reporter named Dan (Kevin McKidd) suddenly starts transporting to moments in the past, and he is confused, naturally. Dan does figure out he's being placed at hairy scenes in his native San Francisco, and he tries his darned-tootin'-est to stop someone from dying.
The basic premise is a cousin of "Quantum Leap" (some compare it the romantic novel The Time Traveler's Wife) except Dan can travel back only to years when he was alive. And he doesn't have a sidekick telling him what his mysterious mission is.
Dan faces dilemmas. He can't control when he leaps, so he'll be driving a car and, poof, he's gone, and the driverless car goes careening into a wreck.
And if Dan visits 1987 for six hours, he is absent from the present for six hours. It's nice to see a time-traveling fiction, for once, where people essentially disappear, leaving others to think: Hey, have you seen Dan? I wonder if he's off on a bender!
Time-travel fiction is almost always romanticized, since love is not bound by time yada yada, so there's romance afoot here. Dan loves his wife Katie (Gretchen Egolf), and he tries to convince her of his newfound oddity.
But when he goes to the past, he runs into his ex-love Livia (Moon Bloodgood), whom he once mourned after her plane crashed. This makes Dan feel strange and gives him that sad-bastard sensitive thing the ladies allegedly love.
What's good: McKidd (last seen as Lucius Vorenus in HBO's "Rome") commits nicely to the role, and there's a pleasant payoff to the plot. There's promise here.
What's bad: The dramatic structure is overorganized around the linear detective-ing, and the show's too Dan-centric without a "Quantum Leap"-like partner to spice things up. It's always Dan, Dan, Dan -- looking forlorn, looking confused, looking determined. It's rare when one guy can carry a whole dramatic fiction like this as, say, Terence Stamp did in Steven Soderbergh's li'l classic, "The Limey."
That's why "Back to the Future's" Marty McFly had Doc, and the most excellent, adventurous Bill had Ted. Buddies keep heroes in line. And as we all know by now, if I had been Marty without the moral voice of Doc, my bank account would be swollen with riches. And I'd have taken yoga classes with Naomi Watts.
That's just me.
A FEW WORDS FROM STAR KEVIN MCKIDD
On what he'd change if he could visit the past: "Some of those hairdos I had in the '80s [as in 'Trainspotting']: That wavy long hair is not a good look."
On HBO's "Rome": "It was never meant to last beyond a few seasons, I think, because it was a special show. If it had gone on five seasons, it would have diluted itself. ... But they are talking about a movie version to say goodbye to it. We all felt there was one more story to tell, so we're keeping our fingers crossed."
On being a Scot in an American show: "A lot of [non-American] actors say they're going to stay in the accent all the time. For me, I can't do that. It's too much like hard work. I don't feel like I need that. I feel like I can jump in and out of the accent."
ALSO NEW
"Chuck" (7 p.m., WMAQ-Channel 5): "Alias" meets "The Spy Who Knew Too Little" in this new **** hourlong comedy where a Best Buy-type employee becomes an accidental super-brainy spy. Cute, creative and slick, this is one of the best new shows of the fall season. Charming lead Zachary Levi could become a breakout star. There's a hot woman in lingerie. And Adam Baldwin is typically strong as the heavy.
"The Big Bang Theory" (7:30 p.m., WBBM-Channel 2): This is one of the only traditional/quippy new sitcoms. The ** show finds two young physicists living together, trying to impress their dumb blond neighbor in front of a studio audience. As far as junk like this goes, it's not heinous and has moments of OK-ness. But yeah, you're better off watching "Chuck," which is much cooler.
My full reviews of these shows ran Sunday and can be seen at suntimes.com.
SEASON PREMIERES
"How I Met Your Mother" (7 p.m., WBBM-Channel 2): Robin gets a new lovah, as played by Enrique Iglesias. Ted goes for a woman who looks just like Mandy Moore, since she's played by Mandy Moore.
"Dancing With the Stars" (7-8:30 p.m., WLS-Channel 7): The new "stars" include Mel "Scary Spice" Brown, Jennie Garth, Marie Osmond, Jane Seymour, Wayne Newton, Sabrina Bryan and Mark Cuban. My money is on ... Scary Spice. She can dance.
"Heroes" (8 p.m., WMAQ-Channel 5): The reason for the season of sci-fi at NBC begins its second year. We'll find out what happened four months after May's season finale, when it appeared the super brothers blew up in the air, saving New York from exploding, and evil Sylar seemed to die (sorta). Hiro begins in feudal Japan. I'll let you discover the rest for yourself.
"Two and a Half Men" (8 p.m., WBBM-Channel 2): Can you believe this show is starting a fifth season? And it's the best-rated comedy on TV? Craziness. Jake starts junior high. I know you won't believe this, but Alan and Charlie will attempt to be helpful, yet they actually will make things worse.
"Rules of Engagement" (8:30 p.m., WBBM-Channel 2): As the second season starts, Jeff and Audrey deal with snoring in their relationship.
"The Bachelor" (8:30-10 p.m., WLS-Channel 7): The 11th single bachelor who has never been married, at age 34, is a business dude from Texas. Tonight, he dumps 10 of the first 25 women looking for love in definitely the wrong place, after ABC shows us which ones make asses of themselves the most.
"CSI: Miami" (9 p.m., WBBM-Channel 2): Sixth season starts. Horatio takes off his sunglasses. Puts them on. Takes them off. And he thinks a suspect is his son.
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