“Journeyman”: Pilot
posted by Don Z on September 15, 2007 at 7:51 pm in Reviews
Kevin McKidd from HBO’s “Rome” stars in this one in the Scott Bakula role. I kid the McKidd. (”Quantum Leap” was awesome though.)
“Journeyman” is set in San Francisco, and McKidd plays a newspaper reporter who one day accidentally time travels… all the way back to 1999!!! He watches in horror as his fellow San Franciscans engage in such confusing wayback behavior as watching the Niners win that playoff game on an awesome Terrell Owens catch a few years ago. Again I McKidd, although it is sort of lame that they only have Journeyman going back a few years at most. I want to see him do absinthe with Ambrose Bierce or save Willie McCovey’s marriage. Or maybe an awesome sweeps week two-parter where Journeyman goes back to the 1906 earthquake.
This is a good show, however. McKidd has an awesome face and is incredibly likeable here as he was on “Rome.” San Francisco is the most beautiful city in America and it will be a great character on this show as well, with the hills and the bay and the possibility of seeing hippies. One of the gutsy parts of this show is that Journeyman’s dilemma is that he can try to rekindle something with a dead ex-fiancee…he’s married now, though…although in the middle of the pilot the dead ex-fiance (played by Moon Bloodgold, the awesomest TV actress name in the biz) actually shows up in real time, implying some sort of answer as to why Journeyman is having his little time trips. I think it’s gutsy because unlike most romantic triangles where the hot guy is torn between two hot women, Journeyman is torn between his younger (she died 10 years ago) approximately attractive ex-fiancee and his current more homely wife.
The basic procedural portion of the show is that Journeyman has to save somebody or keep something from happening. In between trips to the past he uses his reporting skillz to … look stuff up on the interweb about the person he’s trying to save. In the end of the pilot he watches a video on his iPhone that confirmed success in his wayback mission. I really hope every episode doesn’t end that way…
NBC could have a hit on their hands with this one. Especially with the “Heroes” lead-in.
Comment by Tony posted September 24, 2007 at 8:07 pm:
Did you catch the Steve McQueen/Bullet hommage? Mustang, steep SF road, plus dude, especially when he’s wearing his sweater, looks more tha a bit like SMQ.
I wish the producers were a bit more creative in their unstuck-in-time segues….Slaughter House 5 the movie is the gold standard.
I’ll keep watching,
Comment by Tony posted October 9, 2007 at 2:41 pm:
Good call on the earthquake, Don. Wrong one, sure, but who could have guessed they would put SF and an earthquake together in an episode? Brilliant.
On another note, Dr. Greg Jarrettt PhD, proffessor of philosophy LMU and former BEHOLD WYOMING keyboardist would (or at least did, a couple of decades ago) argue that JOURNEYMAN got time-travel all wrong.
One would not go back as one is, but would actually meet who one was. Think BILL AND TED’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE.
Comment by Don posted October 9, 2007 at 10:46 pm:
Dude, this is a pretty good show. Although didn’t they mispronounce Scott Garrelts? I always said ga-relts, they said gahr-elts