Fall TV: the "Journey" Begins

As I've said before (see my previous article about the NBC show "Chuck"), every year the networks have a slew of new shows to showcase in the fall and lots of ways of trying to get us to watch them. Some will survive, many will fall, and a select few will become THE shows we love to watch. The critics try and influence this list by touting the shows that have the talent and the writing that we SHOULD appreciate (or that the networks tell them they want us to appreciate - I haven't decided which). But as Americans, WE decide what we like to watch! That in mind, I am not here to tell you what to watch, just what I will be watching and why I like it. And one of the new shows that I plan to follow this fall is NBC's "Journeyman."

By way of Blockbuster Total Access, I managed to get my hands on an NBC Fall Preview DVD that includes full premiere episodes of "Chuck", "Journeyman", "Life" and a 2-minute look at "Bionic Woman" (read my article about "Chuck" and stay tuned for articles on the others shortly). After watching "Journeyman", I was definitely left with my curiosity piqued. The show opens to Dan Vasser, a man comfortable in his place in life - he has a good wife, a son who loves him, and a busy but enviable job as a reporter at a reputable newspaper. Then one day he went to bed and when he woke, he was somewhere else - 1987. After trying to rationalize this 'leap' as a dream, he finds that he has legitimately been gone for two days and his family and colleagues aren't taking it lightly. After a few more of these seemingly randomly occurring temporal displacements, he starts to figure out that he is supposed to be helping the right series of events to occur. Unfortunately the more he gets these things put together, the more his present day life is falling apart.

"Journeyman" can be best compared to "Quantum Leap" but without the Sci-Fi tech (or holographic helper/comic foil). It also tends to stick to him jumping within his hometown and within a time frame of his life that he can pass as himself if he needs to. The show also brings up some of the ethical dilemmas that many time-shifting shows may have misses out on - e.g., Is it cheating if you sleep with your late fiancée in a time frame before you were married to your new wife? This show has a lot of potential and I look forward to watching this character develop further and how these events will further effect his life. It is too early to say that this will be a one of the great shows of the season, but it is certainly a contender and I'm planning to watch and see how it fares.