Journeyman

'Journeyman' is one of those shows which was slow to start but did eventually find its feet and deliver an interesting idea that posed many possible stories to explore. As it was, morons at NBC (the American television company which produced it) decided to cut short the endless possibilities that the show never had the chance to portrayed by cancelling it after the first season. Yet another potentially good show cancelled to, no doubt, make way for more rubbish reality shows which seem to be endlessly churned out these days.

The show revolved around Dan Vasser, a journalist who lives with his loving wife Katie and their young son Zack. He lives a busy but normal life until the day when he steps into a taxi and ends up suddenly finding himself back in time, circa the 1960s. As the show progresses we learn that Dan has the ability to jump back and forward in time, with the goal of altering events for the better. He is guided slightly by Livia, his thought-to-be dead former girlfriend who he finds out faked her death because she too has time travelling abilities.

Initially, it was hard to like anyone but Dan and Livia. While these two came across as fairly likable characters who carry the show well, Katie Vasser came across as a nagging irritation who seemed to think preserving her precious normality was more important than saving people's lives while Dan's cop brother Jack was depicted to be bitter and childish to allow his jealousies to cloud his realisation that there was something else going on with Dan rather than believing him to be unhinged. However, towards the end of the season, Katie and Jack were fleshed out and became easier to relate to as they accepted Dan's abilities.

'Journeyman' walked a fine line between being a time travelling sci-fi show, the 2007 version of 'Quantum Leap', and being a drama that portrayed the difficulties in maintaining a normal family life in the face of a troublesome, hectic 'job'. It would have been interesting to see how Dan and Katie preserved their life as the years passed or even how their son coped if he found out the full truth when he was older. The show also dealt with interesting story lines such as Dan accidentally changing his own future so that he had a daughter instead of a son, leaving him with painful dilemma of having to erase her to get his son back.

As I said, this show had much potential and could have explored many issues if it had the chance. It certainly deserved more than one season to prove itself and to build a fanbase. Here's hoping someone with sense at NBC will reconsider and give 'Journeyman' that chance.

Why was this canceled ?? Great series , hope they do a good remake one day , have watched it 3 times over the years , gets better with every watch .

I don't understand why the ratings were so low , and there are some series out there that are terrible but go on for years , what is wrong with the public are they just dumb !!? There not enough time travel series or movies out there!! , I mean how come CSI is still going on? Same old boring police stufff!!

Everyone was up in arms when the show started about what a rip-off it was of The Time Traveler's Wife (and yes, I read it, and yes, I loved it)--but the fact is, the only thing it has in common with the book is that it's about a dude who travels, and, oh, his wife happens to know about it. The similarities pretty much end there, and as the show continues, it has taken on a fabulous life of its own.

(Honestly, will every time travel tale hereafter be compared to TTW, if it happens to include a traveler who can actually make other people believe that's what's happening? It's like comparing Moonlight to Buffy just because they both had a scene where the woman allowed the vampire to drink from them. There are so many sci-fi tales that can be interpreted in so many different ways; there's no need to compare everything.)

AND YES, it is fabulous. The characters are well-drawn and interesting and complex; the writers are doing a wonderful job with continuity (hello, $20 bill!); and there's a new mystery introduced with each episode. But, as happens with most of the better shows that are undiscovered gems, word on the street is that an axing is in the near future. But of course. Why waste time nurturing it when there's a plethora of reality TV to be scheduled?

It's 2021 and I'm still bitter that this show was cancelled.

Thank goodness for my DVR. After having recorded the first 10 episodes of Journeyman, I thought I better take the time to check this series out. I loved the series Quantum Leap and was eagerly anticipating Journeyman. I was not disappointed. I watched the first five episodes back to back. I couldn't turn the television off. I took a few days off and then watched the remaining episodes. Again, I'm really enjoying this series and can't wait to see the episode on December 13th. The story lines are wonderfully thought out and the acting is superb. If you've read any other comments that speak unfavorably about the comparisons between Journeyman and Quantum Leap (two totally different plots), Kevin McKidd's accent (I detected none...but I am not a linguist by profession!), or a perceived notion the successive episodes do not relate to each other (they absolutely do tie in together), please take them with a grain of salt. Each episode keeps me at the edge of my with the anticipation of what's going to happen next. I urge everybody to give Journeyman a chance.