Journeyman canceled

Television, Movies Games and Books Other Science Fiction
#1

I know alot of people didn’t see this NBC show, so I am probably a minority in my opinion. I just finished watching the second to last episode of Journeyman, the last episode airs this wednesday Dec 19th. It is a smart show, it doesn’t hand hold its audience, it doesn’t explain every little detail every week, so if you missed it you really can’t just jump in. My problem is that it is a good show. Some people have claimed it is alot like the book The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. Long story short it’s about a guy who travels back and forth in time over the last twenty years. Bad explanation, he doesn’t control the travel, he appears in peoples lives and sort of helps them through chapters of their lives, when he is done he returns to present day where he is married and has a young son. The story is basically about him trying to figure out why he is doing this and if he can stop it, but perhaps the best part is a storyline about his wife and son who both have to live with what their husband and father is going through. They have to explain to people why he is not around alot, and why he seems out of touch so often.

Tonight it really struck me that this show didn’t have a chance. The story tonight involved Dan (the main character) going back in time to save a mother and son from an accident, that done Dan accidentally leaves his digital camera in the early eighties. When he returns to his own time he is met by his wife and his son has been replaced by a daughter. The show then goes through it’s story of how he changed time by leaving technology in the past, and how he must go back and fix it, which he does.

I tell you all that story so I can tell you all this. It is my honest opinion that we should not get invested in scifi shows on network TV. They never get a chance, maybe on cable this show’s ratings would have been great, but on NBC it’s ratings were considered poor. We have seen this time and time again Firefly to name the one that everyone knows. I am sorry if this seems like a rant but I invested in this show from the first episode, like I did with Firefly, BSG, Stargate SG-1, Atlantis, and many other Scifi shows we all get invested in. Sometimes we get a few seasons and sometimes we get slapped in the face. I guess some people just like having a dozen Law and Orders and CSI’s to watch. From now on maybe networks will learn to use their cable stations for some of these shows.

Rig

#2

I should clarify, it wasn’t canceled, the network just let the deadline pass to renew the show. while that leaves a slim chance of a pickup, even the show’s creator isn’t betting on returning.

#3

The problem I found with Journeyman is that it turned out to be a poor copy of Quantum Leap.

In broadcasting as in BSG, “It has all happened before and it will all happen again”

#4

I had meant to watch this show because of Kevin McKidd, whose work in “Rome,” one of my favorite (now defunct) shows, was really terrific. Alas, I never found the time to watch it.

Isn’t “Bionic Woman” (a show I wanted to like, I really did. I just couldn’t) also being allowed to go gently into that good night?

#5

I too started watching Journeyman because of Kevin McKidd. The really unfortunate part for me is that my husband and his best friend over in Iraq are LOVING it and can’t wait for me to send the next episode. They’re gonna be pissed.

#6

The show started off kinda slow, but really picked up about 7 episodes or so in. I really wish they’d have continued with this show, I was looking forward to exploring more of Livia’s time traveling and she and Dan were connected.

Well, they made more episodes than they did of Firefly, so I guess that’s a small victory for science fiction on network TV.

#7

I have to vehemently disagree with this… but only because I like to use the word vehemently any chance I get…

I don’t think that this is a poor copy of Quantum Leap… it is a MUCH better concept then QL was in my opinion… He does not “become” other people (I always thought that was bit foolish), and has to be conscious of his actions in the past, although they have let this go a bit off a few times.

I also like the fact that time continues to pass in his time line while he is in the past.

I will mourn the loss of this show, and will chalk it up to another piece of evidence that the masses rarely have two brain cells to rub together between them…

#8

I 2nd that!

#9

I did not think anyone else would care, but it just goes to show, Sci fi fans really do like good content. The next thought I have is what will happen to the next shows that are coming, we have a new one on Fox in Jan for those of us with a Terminator fetish, of course being on Fox scares me a little, they could cancel it after the first commercial. Who knows what else is coming up in the new year as far as network TV goes, our good content is being replaced with gladiators, and other “reality” TV.