Journeyman creator says chances of being renewed are “better than average”

Entertainment Weekly has an article about how episodes 12 and 13 would explain Dan’s time traveling abilities.  The article goes on to mention that Kevin Falls, creator of Journeyman, thinks that with the writer’s strike still going on, the chances of returning for a second season are favorable because this is the time when pilots for the upcoming 2008-2009 season are being developed.  Falls did go on to say that he wouldn’t want the show to return under these circumstances though, because the strike is obviously not a good thing for anyone. 

My advice to everyone?  Keep sending in those letters and boxes of Rice A Roni.  I just mailed mine earlier today!

Are we too late to save Journeyman?

Just yesterday I urged all of you to send in boxes of Rice A Roni and write letters, but Watch With Kristin had a new post this morning……..

http://www.eonline.com/gossip/kristin/detail/index.jsp?uuid=a210f827-8ffc-4882-834d-8fc1af7eb40c

According to this article, Journeyman is shut down, and the final episodes might not even air.  It’s one thing to cancel a show, but it’s quite another to cancel the show and not air the final two episodes, especially with the writer’s strike making for very repetitive television programming.  It’s a slap in the face to Kevin Falls, Kevin McKidd, and the entire cast and crew of Journeyman.  Why wouldn’t NBC air the final two episodes?  It’s not like they have a lot of new material that is filling up the winter schedule. 

Anyway, I am not giving up, and I urge all Journeyman fans to continue with their plans to send in letters and Rice A Roni.  Visit Save Journeyman for all the latest news, and what you can do to help!

Save Journeyman!

 

It’s that time of year again….and I’m not talking about Christmas.  It’s the time of year to save your favorite shows that are in danger of being cancelled.  Don’t let NBC cancel Journeyman!  There’s a campaign to send Rice A Roni to NBC, and you can find all the info at this website:

http://savejourneyman.net/2007/12/05/send-rice-a-roni-to-nbc-to-support-journeyman/

Additionally, E!’s Kristin posted about it on her column:

http://www.eonline.com/gossip/kristin/detail/index.jsp?uuid=76893ef0-8467-4c9d-a274-18f3f030a0cb

Amy in Novato, California: Please help with Journeyman. The Save Journeyman site is doing a campaign to send Rice-A-Roni to NBC to hopefully stop them from canceling the show. Can you help us spread the word? Thanks! You are awesome!
No, you are awesome for helping keep Kevin McKidd on my TV.

Spread the word!!!!!

Is it curtains for Journeyman?

There’s alot of buzz about Journeyman being cancelled because NBC aired Life last night in Journeyman’s usual 10PM time slot.  Ok, there’s never ALOT of buzz about Journeyman, but it’s still worth mentioning that it was mentioned.  Could it be the end for Dan Vasser and his time traveling ways?  I think the show has been picking up steam lately, and if anything, it’s stronger than ever.  What do you think?

Dan in real life vs. Dan in real life

This is not about the new movie, Dan In Real Life, starring Steve Carell.  I have heard lovely things about it, though. 

The latest episode of Journeyman started out with, you guessed it, Jack snooping around little brother’s house again.  To be fair, he did go over there with the intent of babysitting Zack, but he didn’t exactly keep his nose out of his brother’s affairs when he all too willingly followed Zack to the closet in his parent’s bedroom.  It seems that little Zack gets a kick out of the duffel bag full of money, and he just had to show Jack, who by the way is a cop.  I know he’s only 7, but come on.  I feel like at the age of 7, I was smart enough to know that my parents shouldn’t be keeping money in a duffel bag, and that if they were, chances are I should keep my big mouth shut.  Jack, being the meddlesome person that he is, takes a bill and has it traced.  Of course the bill is found to be one of the ones that the hijacker from the previous episode stole, so the naturally the FBI is interested.  Jack, naively and stupidly, believes that a few lies about following up with some sensitive matter is enough to keep the FBI at bay.  I asked Gregorb if the FBI can just demand information because they are the FBI, and he said that the FBI has no jurisdiction over state matters.  I continued to say, “Yeah, but they’re the FBI.  They can do whatever they want.”  As it turns out, I was right because ultimately the FBI came back and demanded all of Jack’s case files, or the source of the bill.  Jack, realizing he’s at a dead end, gives up his brother just like that. 

While Jack is busy tracing bills and dealing with the FBI, Dan is in the past (1999 according to the Ricky Martin song that played in the background and the subtle nod to boy bands), and he saves a man from being shot by some gang members.  It turns out that the man he saves was about to testify in court to put these gang members away for previous drug-related crimes.  The problem is that Dan unknowingly drops his newspaper badge, and the gang members pick it up and think that he knows enough to put the gang members in jail too.  They begin to go after 1999 Dan, and he must save himself this time!  Of course, right on cue Livia shows up to help.  Together they manage to save 1999 Dan from dying, but the only problem is that now 1999 Dan can’t make it to a poker game because he’s just been beat up by himself.  Future Dan has the brilliant idea of posing as 1999 Dan, but just as he is about to do that, he realizes that the money he kept in his apartment has been stolen.  Here’s where Livia actually does something helpful.  She travels to the present day and retrieves the duffel bag full of money that future Dan and 1999 Dan need to buy into a poker game.  Why is making it to this poker game so important?  If he doesn’t make it to this poker game, he and Katie might never get together, and consequently, Zack will cease to exist.  It is imperative that Dan and Livia keep everything the same, otherwise the future will change. 

Of course they are successful in 1999, but back in 2007, Dan and Katie are in for a real surprise when the FBI bust down their door about that one hundred dollar bill. 

Journeyman: Nosy People

Monday’s episode of Journeyman was another good one.  This has to be the most consistent new show of the year.  Don’t get me wrong.  I think Pushing Daisies is good and very creative, but in terms of having consistently interesting shows week after week, it could learn a thing or two from Journeyman. 

I know that various reviews of Journeyman have the same complaint–that the show puts obvious hints and clues as to what year it is almost everywhere to make sure the viewer gets it.  I don’t know why this is such a big deal.  I like the fact that you automatically know what year it is (approximately) based on the song that is playing.  Using a Spin Doctors song for the year 1992 is so much fun!  On Monday they used a Third Eye Blind song (Never Let You Go) for the year 2000.  It’s a good way to reminisce, also.  It’s not like we listen to these songs very often or like them enough to download them, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t want to hear them every once in awhile. 

The latest installment of Journeyman found Dan again disappearing and reappearing randomly leaving everyone but his wife (and now his son) wondering where he keeps going.  His brother is so concerned that he uses his police connections to put a hold on his credit cards and to dig into his bank account history.  I get that Jack is the older brother who is supposed to look out for his younger brother.  Just in case no one picked up on that, we were shown a flashback involving younger Jack telling Dan that their father isn’t coming home.  At a certain point though, looking out for your brother turns into an invasion of someone’s privacy and illegal (I might add) even if you are a police officer.  To what time is Dan traveling to?  He’s traveling to the 80’s and the year 2000 to help two brothers who have a tough family situation.  They have a father who treats them poorly and doesn’t care about them, so basically these two brothers have to fend for themselves.  Sound familiar?  The older brother is a typical thug who wants to steal cars.  He has no direction.  It’s the younger brother that seems to have a good head on his shoulders.  He appears to be the stable one.  As it turns out, the younger brother is the unstable one who is also a genius (the older brother turns out well, despite earlier hints that he would lead a life of petty crime).  In the future (or our present day) he is responsible for several bombs that have killed a large number of people.  It’s Dan’s job to make sure that he gets the younger brother to confess to the first bombing so that he doesn’t ruin his life or the lives of others. 

Of course Dan is successful in doing this, and his travels once again prove useful and necessary.  One thing about this particular trip is different though.  He uses his ability for personal gain, in the form of spying on his wife (in the past) in a meeting with his brother (in the past).  While I was watching this, I couldn’t help but think that it was about time.  If I had the ability to time travel, I think I would completely neglect my civic duty to help stop whatever disaster of the week is about to occur because I would be too busy spying on people I know.  Based on the conversation his wife was having with Jack, it appeared that she was having second thoughts about marrying Dan.  I thought it would be much juicier than that and perhaps involve his wife cheating on him with his brother.  I didn’t give his wife enough credit.  Oh well.

Lastly, is it me or is Jack’s new doctor girlfriend overstepping?  She has been on a total of 3 dates and all of a sudden she is expressing concern over Dan’s constant disappearing?  Also, saying things like, “Well, in the ER, we see alot of people like this and usually….”  Ok, we get that she’s a doctor, but why is she being so nosy?  That really annoyed me. 

Defending Journeyman

I feel like Journeyman isn’t getting the credit it deserves.  In a season of uninspired new shows, Journeyman is one of the standouts (along with Pushing Daisies).  I have heard this question asked time and time again:  Isn’t this show just like Quantum Leap? 

The answer is: Yes and no.  Yes, the show has the same basic premise of time travel, but that is where those similarities end.  I was not an avid watcher of Quantum Leap (mostly because I was only 7 when it premiered in 1989), but upon further investigation, the similarities end at time travel.  Sam, the main character of Quantum leap (played by Scott Bakula), is a scientist who is knowingly and willingly time traveling.  In fact, he is one of the scientists working on a time travel machine that is supposed to allow a person to travel back to different times in his/her life.  However, something goes wrong with the machine, and Sam leaps from time period to time period, while helping people along the way.  In Journeyman, Dan has no idea where he is traveling and more importantly, why he has the ability to travel.  He is just an average guy with an extraordinary ability that is thrust upon him.   Another major difference in the two shows is that Journeyman explores Dan’s relationship with his current wife (who just happens to be his brother’s ex-girlfriend) and his supposedly dead fiancée (Livia) who also time travels inexplicably.  We are left to wonder why Dan travels and if there is any connection to why Livia travels.  These elements do not exist with Quantum Leap.  To my knowledge, the show’s primary focus is on helping those he encounters.  Getting home is always an important and overarching theme, but it becomes secondary. 

Furthermore, just because there have been shows about time travel, it doesn’t mean that there can’t be new shows about the same topic.  The creators/writers/producers just have to put a fresh spin on it, which I think they have done in the case of Journeyman.

An Intelligent Conversation About Time Travel

Me: So Livia isn’t really dead? 

Gregorb: I don’t think she is.

Me: So, where is she then?  Like, where does she go when she’s not traveling.  She has to go somewhere…

Gregorb: Maybe she’s not from the present. 

Me: WHAT?

Gregorb: Maybe she’s from the future, and that’s where she returns…..

Me: WHAT?

(Note: Livia is not actually from the future)

So that was basically our conversation during a commercial break of Monday night’s new episode of Journeyman.  I have said it before, and I will say it again.  Time travel makes my head spin!  Dan traveled back to 1989 and helped a lawyer named Alan fend off some people who were very angry with him (bookies).  It turns out that Alan has a gambling addiction, just like Dan used to.  Without much warning, he’s back in the present trying to figure out why he traveled back to that day.  Meanwhile, at his real job, he has to get an article written done to keep his job, but he’s having trouble getting in contact with a source.  After doing some research, he and his wife, Katie, discover that Dan has traveled back to the day of the massive earthquake of ‘89.  They check the newspaper for people with the same name as Alan, but instead they find that Dan’s boss at the newspaper, Hugh, had a sister (Charlotte) who died in the earthquake.  Dan assures Katie that there is no need to worry though, because he never travels back to the same time twice.  I found it kind of amusing that Dan is now acting like an old pro all of a sudden.  To my knowledge he’s only been time traveling for a few months at the most, and now he knows the rules inside and out.  Of course, Dan goes back to the same day (which leads to confusion) in 1989 and runs into Livia.  She doesnt know why they have traveled there either, but honestly, I am convinced she doesn’t actually do anything when she time travels.  She seems to just hang around aimlessly.  Anyway, she lends Dan the watch he gave her while they were still together because his is broken.  The only reason this is significant is because Katie finds the watch later and finds out that he’s been lying about not running into anyone he knows.  Believing that the only reason he is in 1989 is to save as many people as possible from the earthquake, he calls in an anonymous tip from a bar payphone to the police about some extreme protest group to say that they have planted bombs in all the major bridges and tunnels.  Bad idea, Dan.  The bartender overhears and calls the police to report Dan.  He is chased into a corner by the police, but he gets transported back to the present just in time. 

The next time he travels to 1989, he is convinced that he has to keep Charlotte from dying.  He goes to her office and gets her to agree to come meet him for a drink.  He sees Livia again at the bar and he lets it slip that he is now married to Katie.  She is obviously hurt by this, and they don’t even notice when Charlotte arrives.  Charlotte turns to leave, but Dan grabs her arm to stop her which scares her off.  People in the bar are holding him back because of his intense reaction to her leaving.  Back in the present, he does some research about Alan and reads in a newspaper article that he commited suicide a few days after the earthquake.  With no warning, he is back in 1989.  Determined to help Alan, he pulls him out of the poker game he helped him find in an earlier meeting.  As they are walking on the street, the earthquake hits and Alan is buried under debris.  Dan pulls him from the wreckage, and goes back to the present.  He finds out that Alan’s life was changed by the earthquake.  He worked hard to get out of debt and ends up working to help innocent people wrongly convicted of crimes–the helpless (like he once was). 

I am really enjoying the show so far, but my only complaint is that I want to know how Dan ended up with his brother’s girlfriend.  Why are there no hard feelings?  How long were they broken up before Dan and Katie got together?  Why didn’t Livia travel when she was with Dan?  It almost seems like this time traveling is contagious because Dan only started traveling after he knew Livia.  I am assuming all of these questions will be answered soon, but if they aren’t and only more questions are raised, I might threaten to boycott.  Of course, this is an empty threat because I threatened to boycott Lost 10 times, but I could never do it. 

time travel makes my head spin

which is why Journeyman is so cool.  i don’t know why i put myself through such turmoil b/c anyone who knows me will tell you that i hate time travel.  it just isn’t true.  i dont hate it; i’m just confused by it.  being confused, however, isn’t a bad thing.  i like certain aspects of time travel and only certain time travel movies and shows (donnie darko, tru calling).  journeyman happens to be a time travel show that i like.  the plot is simple really–a reformed gambling addict (dan) travels back to random times to save people from ruining their lives or the lives of people who later go on to do something significant (ex: doctor saves the lives of 6 students; man does relief missions to Darfur).  the time travel in this show doesn’t confuse me as much as it does in other shows because for one thing, life goes on in the present day.  dan’s present wife and son continue to live their lives while he is off being teleported through time to help people.  i always get mixed up when they don’t explain what is happening while other people are time traveling.  i was worried for a bit though because i didn’t think dan’s wife would believe him about his time travel, but he takes care of that nicely.  during his trip to 1997, he buries a box in the backyard with a newspaper (1997 headline) and the wedding ring he was having updated in the present day.  he digs it up for his wife (in a powerful scene–mostly because it’s set to the music of the fray, and i am a sucker for montages or sequences that include a song by the fray) who is dumbfounded because she realizes that he is telling the truth.  he had to have traveled back in time because they had the patio done years before (meaning there’s no way he dug it up just now), and the wedding ring has been with his wife up until recently.  

another noteworthy part of the show is that dan keeps meeting his supposedly dead fiancée, livia, in the flashbacks.  he discovers in the pilot that livia time travels as well.  is she really dead or is she alive and well in the present?   she doesn’t know why she travels back and forth but based on the tips she gives him (carrying old currency, old cell phones, etc), he guesses that she has been at it for awhile.  i will definitely be keeping up with this show regularly–through recordings though…there’s no way i can stay up until 11PM!