"Journeyman" is an American science fiction television drama created by Kevin Falls for 20th Century Fox Television. Falls also serves as an executive producer alongside Alex Graves, who also directed the pilot.
09/15/2007 - Kevin McKidd - Entertainment Weekley's 5th Annual Pre-Emmy Party - Opera and Crimson - Hollywood, CA © Chris Hatcher / PR Photos
The show is currently scheduled to air on Monday nights at 10:00/9:00c, premiering on September 24, 2007 following Heroes on NBC. The series stars Kevin McKidd (Rome) as the lead, Dan Vasser, a time traveler.
The early reviews are a mixed bag:
By Doug Elman, Chicago Sun-Times:
"Time-travel fiction is almost always romanticized, since love is not bound by time yada yada, so there's romance afoot here. Dan loves his wife Katie (Gretchen Egolf), and he tries to convince her of his newfound oddity.
But when he goes to the past, he runs into his ex-love Livia (Moon Bloodgood), whom he once mourned after her plane crashed. This makes Dan feel strange and gives him that sad-bastard sensitive thing the ladies allegedly love.
What's good: McKidd (last seen as Lucius Vorenus in HBO's "Rome") commits nicely to the role, and there's a pleasant payoff to the plot. There's promise here."
By Mary McNamara, Los Angeles Times:
"Time-traveling journalist played by British native McKidd -- it certainly looked good on paper. Alas, like some seductive Internet suitor, "Journeyman" seems perfect until he actually shows up, weedy and uncertain, at your door. In an effort to keep things grounded in "real life," as opposed to groovy sci-fi counterculture, writer-producer Kevin Falls ("Shark," "The West Wing") relies on an earnestness that grows irritating. Obviously, non-consensual time travel would be a bit unnerving at first, but Dan refuses to have any fun at all...
Because Dan is on a mission. Every week it would seem. He must tinker with the past to improve the future. Make sure little George Bailey doesn't fall through the ice so he can save all the men on that transport. Or something like that. Which he does with none of the haunting ripple effects, or suspense, evoked in Bradbury's "The Last Butterfly." No, Dan sees a problem, whether it be a guy about to be hit by a bus or a woman giving birth on a plane -- and he fixes it. ..McKidd, so effective in "Rome," is lost here -- in going for an everyman persona (with strange "I, Claudius" hair), he is much more convincing as a man cursing a "no-signal" message than one stepping in at odd moments to save the day.
By Robert Bianco, USA TODAY:
"Spend an hour with Journeyman and you'll wish you knew how to time-travel.
Alas, no one does — including, it seems, the actors and writers who founder through the season's most "huh?"-inducing premise. A guy suddenly starts zipping through time via powers unexplained, to do things he doesn't understand, for reasons that, when finally presented, make no sense."
By Mark A. Perigard, Boston Herald:
"What a criminal waste of time.
Short of karaoke, Kevin McKidd does everything he can to make the new NBC sci-fi drama “Journeyman” entertaining.
But a good actor can carry a show only so much."
New York Times, Ginia Bellafante:
"At the center is Dan Vasser (Kevin McKidd of “Rome”), a San Francisco newspaper reporter who lives in an expansive Victorian house with his small son and his wife, Katie. Though on the precipice of early midlife, Katie still has the stamina — and the indented abdominals — to put on sexy black lingerie for the couple’s 10th anniversary. But it is just at this time that her husband discovers he possesses the ability to journey back through recent history.
One minute he is frantically trying to meet his deadlines and complete his errands in 2007 Northern California and the next he’s turning his head to spot a newspaper headline that reads “Ford Cabinet Shakeup Continues.” (We know Dan has landed in the 1980s when we see a movie poster for “Less Than Zero” and a copy of Spy magazine. The cleverness of “Journeyman” begins and ends with its period signifiers.)
The “Rome” star is the best reason to tune into “Journeyman” (premiering tonight at 10 on WHDH, Ch. 7), but he’s hobbled by poor writing and lousy execution."
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