Fall TV Pilot: Journeyman

Initially when I saw the synopsis of Journeyman and read about the show, I thought it seemed like just another Quantum Leap filled with its infamous awkward moments where the star of the show argued with his family members over why he had disappeared and what he had been doing. The cast didn't strike me as anything special, yet I very excited for it to come out.

The show stars Kevin Mckidd, a relatively unknown actor, as a Dan Vassar who travels back in time to help people. Reed Diamond plays his by the book cop friend Jack who thinks Dan has turned to drugs in an attempt to escape from lunch. His wife is played by Gretchen Egolf and his supposedly dead ex-girlfriend is played by Moon Bloodgood.

The first episode follows around Dan Vassar as he gets thrown back in time at various points for time periods ranging from 5 minutes to days at a time. He keeps running into this one guy at various bad points in his life and in this he happens to notice it is all intertwined with his dead in a plane crash ex-fiance. To make matters worse, his current wife is also his brothers ex girlfriend so either there is a lot of tension between Dan and his brother over that, or his brother really is just a hard-nosed cop everyone loves to hate.

In the first scene, Neil Gaines is trying to kill himself and Dan saves him, while in the process running into his ex-girlfriend who he did not know at the time. As it turns out, and I would encourage you to stop reading if you don't want to know, his ex is also a time traveler and they ran into each other during one stop where she encouraged him to follow this guy and go with his instincts, but not to worry because everybody makes mistakes.

What really stuck out to me in this situation is that Dan will disappear at random times, while he is in bed, or driving his car. Basically, time travel screws his life over, puts his job in jeopardy, totals his car, and makes his wife hate him.

Finally, what won me over while watching this show was that his wife was convinced of the truth within the first hour of the show. After several trips to the past, and a family intervention, Dan takes his wedding ring and goes to the house he currently lives in and buries the ring in a place he wouldn't be able to easily reach. It was a sweet moment, which will allow for his wife to support everything he does in terms of this and always stand up for him. I expect him to do the same for his boss and his brother in future episodes.

Overall, this show was a pretty decent time travel drama with decent acting and a good plot. I give it a B- and hope that the Heroes audience will appreciate it as much as I did.