21 posts tagged “journeyman”

I didn’t see that one coming. And there are major spoilers in this blog post, more than usual. Try not to even scroll down if you don’t want to know because the caption in the photo below will give a lot away.
   Last night’s US Life on Mars was a huge departure from the original. This is the third-to-last American episode, so the makers might well be trying to tie up loose ends. Or, we might begin to see if there is a way Sam Tyler can change the past—in that Journeyman sort of a way.
   Scriptwriters for the 15th episode were Sonny Postiglione and Tracy McMillan; McMillan, of course, had scripted a few of the more imaginative episodes this season as well as one of the Journeymans.
   Before we get to the surprises, it was a neat in-joke to have Sam go undercover as an Irishman from Dublin which, of course, is where actor Jason O’Mara hails from. There was a comment about how authentic his Irish accent sounded. Though for a second I thought there was another Doppelgänger as with last week’s remake.
   New Jersey-born actor Peter Greene always plays a good villain, and this episode was no exception. (Folks might remember him from The Mask.)
   The first big departure was answering a question I had of the original: why did Sam Tyler so fear confronting his younger self? Here, he explains that he fears turning himself into someone darker. But, as the episode closed, Sam does indeed speak with his younger self in 1973 and there is an understanding that he has not affected himself negatively.
   The second huge departure happens in the final scene. Greene’s character, Jimmy McManus, shoots Ray and Chris, each with four rounds. It’s going to be remarkably hard for the two of them to survive this, unless the final two episodes get very supernatural or cosmic. And if they don’t, I guess there’ll be no American Ashes to Ashes.

   As to the crime of the week, it wasn’t particularly strong—but they weren’t that clever in the original series sometimes, either. The joy, for me, was always trying to find out why Sam was in 1973 and the character development that went with that. This was present here, and it is a shame there will only be 17 US Life on Mars episodes just as the show hits its stride.
   I can’t see it going beyond 24 comfortably, admittedly, but 17 do seem a tad too few.
   Without Ray and Chris, will there be more Gene Hunt next week? And as the original series’ final two were quite impressive, will the Americans be able to match the quality?

I see how the Americans will stretch out their Life on Mars: stick in non sequitur episodes where the mystery of why Sam is in 1973 is not advanced much. While it started off well, with something looking like a UFO abduction, and with guest star Cheyenne Jackson (Xanadu on Broadway—and playing a singer, Sebastian Grace, here), it wasn’t long before it went back to the personal relationship and dramatic stuff: Sam and Maria’s affair, Annie gets told off by Gene, and a big yawnfest just like the eighth episode. This is getting dull—Gene, in a very minor role, is not enough of a cheeky cad but a father-figure, Ray was not enough of a bastard, Annie spends most of her time talking to a prisoner, Sam has made no progress figuring out why he is in 1973, and about the only guy who seemed to have any depth was Chris.
   They do find an FBI agent specializing in the paranormal, who says some UFO abductees experience a time shift, but the writers missed out a perfect opportunity for Sam to say, ‘What, the X files?’ There was very little to indicate that Sam Tyler had come from 2008. I think ABC is counting on people being absorbed by the characters, but if they do not sufficiently advance Sam’s inquiry of ‘I don’t know how or why I got here’ (as opposed to ‘Am I mad, in a coma or back in time?’) it might not be good viewing after all.
   There were good bits—when Sam is in the field searching for his UFO, David Bowie’s ‘Starman’ is played—a song that was used in the original series. For a few moments there the possibility of alien involvement looked real.

   Meanwhile, also in the US, I notice Knight Rider’s script got better this last week after the crap that came out for about 12 weeks. Sadly, the late change is not enough to save the show on NBC which was still promoted heavily (unlike Journeyman). (This illustrates that regardless of the heaviness of promotion, if it’s crap, people won’t switch on.)
   Kidult TV never goes far from the ‘a car, a stud and an old man’ formula, as I wrote before, and the new Knight Rider, originally being about ‘a car, a stud, an old man and his really hot daughter’ in the pilot had a chance. When the series started, it was about ‘a car, a stud, an old man, his really hot daughter, two Feds, and two nerds—one of whom is also hot’—and not as easy a concept to grasp. The network realized this and the show was retooled again to two male–female pairs, ridding themselves of the Feds (including Sydney Poitier, daughter of Sir Sidney Poitier) and the old man (by killing two and retiring one, with Dad-of-Fed, John Shaft, I mean Richard Roundtree, delivering the bad news). Last week they thought they may have gone too far, so Fred Williamson makes a guest appearance as the DEA director and might be the new old man.
   What we might need is Dad-of-hero, the Hoff himself, to come in—where has he been all these weeks? Write him in a story on why he has been absent, and why he needs to be absent again.

After a duffer last week, the latest US Life on Mars was, for a change, brilliant.
   There was no British equivalent to this ninth episode, which continues from the cliff-hanger of the seventh. We discover Ray Carling has a brother and the plot appears to be an inquiry into his disappearance.
   But Sam was hearing a strange message from someone who seems to know he is in 1973. Considering he came up, in the seventh episode, with the address at 35 Stewart Drive from printer’s codes at the bottom of forms, it’s too coincidental for him to find a dead body there. Someone is pulling the strings.
   The great thing is that there were good Sam and Annie scenes, one of the things that worked with the original series.
   However, as with last week, we no longer hear his life-support machines or any sign of the present.
   Annie is puzzled by Sam’s ability to predict her close call at the hands of Vic Tyler in the seventh episode—a remake of the original eighth. In the American version, Sam shares his visions of a woman with a red dress with Annie, which his British counterpart did not. She also reveals some of the things he has told her about 2008—Sam’s knowledge of “the future” was another entertaining element of the original, which this episode had.
   I think we can write off the coma theory. The mystery caller appears at the end of this episode, though his face is not shown. He takes the tape of Sam’s interview from the FBI agent leading the inquiry, smashing those of Gene Hunt and Ray Carling. (Does smashing the plastic spool do anything to magnetic tape? Clearly this chap is not from 1973!) He places the tape into a folder marked ‘Aries Project’, clearly connected to the CCCP—the Soviet Union. (If it is top secret, why would this be marked? Why would the logo even have English lettering?) Inside the folder are plans of one of the miniature “toys” that US Sam has been seeing.

   This is a great departure from the original, and sets up a great mystery—I am getting the same buzz I did as the second series in the UK came to a conclusion and the fan base was speculating like crazy over what was happening to Sam.
   I can also say this is the first totally original script—the third aired so far—that has the same level of intrigue as the British episodes.
   Remember, as with Ashes to Ashes and Alex Drake, there are scenes in US Life on Mars that do not feature Sam Tyler, so Gene, Ray, Chris and Annie have their own lives independently of him—which means this is not of Sam’s mind’s making.
   So, what has happened to American Sam Tyler? Because I do not think Aries is a red herring and the original script is penned by one of the story editors, Bryan Oh, along with Tracy McMillan (Journeyman). Last week there was a mention of nanobots and a Soviet scientist.
   If there are Journeyman shades here, then who else knows about Sam? Is he a Soviet agent who is part of an experiment in remote future projection, someone who has believed so much in the visions that he does not believe he is back in his own time? But that the experiments left him in New York, and his Soviet masters are trying to learn about his experiences? That during the height of the Cold War, the Soviets used this method to get future technology (hence Sam is a cop, in a position of authority) and that one of the few things that can get sent back are nanobots? That the Mars Rover in US episode 2 actually was sent to space as part of this experiment? Does the USSR have stations scattered through time rather than space? Is there an astrological significance to Aries, the first sign of the zodiac? How does this tie in with the Cataldo Houses?
   It sounds way-out to anyone who has only ever seen the original series, and I certainly never heard this theory bandied about chat rooms back in 2006 when Life on Mars neared its end.
   If US Life on Mars continues on this path, with this depth of writing, I will be very pleased, and ABC should be as well.

Kevin Falls, the creator of 2007’s Journeyman, gave an interview to Ain’t It Cool News about some of the secrets behind the series’ premise. The condition was that the interview would not be published until it was absolutely certain that Journeyman would not return. In August, it was published. (Kevin McKidd is now on Grey’s Anatomy; Moon Bloodgood is on the new Terminator film—why does she always get stuck with time travellers?; Gretchen Egolf I recently saw on Knight Rider.) The interview is here, and Mr Falls reveals other potential stories and the season finalé’s ideas.

Not a bad American Life on Mars, but I was wrong about which episode served as the inspiration last week. While there were elements of other episodes, it was similar to series 1, episode 5 in the UK, but instead of a Manchester United football fan being killed, the story was changed to a Vietnam veteran. As the show develops, the Sam–Gene relationship is very different here: Gene Hunt acts more as a father figure. When it is discovered that the victim was homosexual, there was no ‘fruit-picking sodomite’ crack; in fact, Ray is berated by Gene for his homophobic attitude.
   The Windy character does seem slightly mythical, sort of a combination of the original Nelson and the Test Card Girl. And she seems to know that Sam is from specifically 2008.

   Football is replaced by basketball and the scene at the end of episode 5 in the UK, where Sam sees his younger self, with his hand held by his Dad, is repeated here. Instead of going to a United game, they are going to a Knicks’ game. (Apparently, this scene was not favoured in the original series by co-creators Matthew Graham and Ashley Pharoah, but was insisted upon by the third co-creator, Tony Jordan.)
   Much of this episode was original, written by Tracy McMillan, who had worked on Journeyman. As with last week’s episode, the ‘Written by’ credit is deserved. McMillan wrote ‘The Hanged Man’ in Journeyman—the one where Dan dropped his digital camera in the 1980s.
   The social commentary is present, as is the humour; if I had to be picky, it is the Sam–Gene relationship that the remake has changed. It’s no real surprise, since Harvey Keitel is older than Philip Glenister. And some Americans have written on the ’net that this is still their favourite series of the new season; based on what I have seen, it is still very, very good. There were plot holes in the original, and we are kidding ourselves if we thought it was perfect. And thank goodness the remake isn’t a continuation of the horrid Kelley pilot.

Someone has seen American Life on Mars already: Kelly West at Cinema Blend, who gives it 3½ stars. A lot more photographs on the page as well. Ms West makes no comparisons with the UK original and gives away nothing we don’t know already, but for American viewers, she does evaluate how suitable the show is airing after Grey’s Anatomy. There is, interestingly, one comparison to Journeyman, my favourite American show last year.

NBC has announced its new schedule for 2008 and, Journeyman fans, our fave is gone.
   In its place is an American remake of Australian sitcom Kath & Kim.
   You poor, poor bastards.
   Well, let me rephrase that. I like Kath & Kim but I only think it works in Australia. And as the first Aussie sitcom I can think of to get the American remake treatment, I just can’t see Molly Shannon and Selma Blair pull off, ‘Look at me. Look at me.’
   Maybe I am wrong as the Americans managed to make more episodes of Three’s Company and The Office than the original British producers could thanks to larger budgets, and keep them reasonably funny in their own way.
   I just get visions of Joey-style writing and direction rather than anything inspired like Flight of the Conchords or Extras.
   What the heck, here’s a YouTube video. Can this work as an American sitcom, in a Trailer Park Boys vein? What accent will Shannon and Blair adopt?

   For a country that puts out good, original sitcoms like My Name Is Earl, Americans are creative enough to come up with their own ideas—though having said that, I hope Kath & Kim creators Jane Turner and Gina Riley make a ****load of money from the adaptation, which they will also executive-produce.
   On the plus side, Knight Rider is back. Great! No story arcs or all that complicated plotting that US shows are known for of late. Just a good ol’ fashioned American TV show with plenty of cheese and a talking car. Let’s hope Val Kilmer comes back as KITT.

Before I blog about Ashes to Ashes, a link to a Podcast featuring an interview with Kevin Falls, creator and executive producer of Journeyman, the NBC series that the network under-promoted in 2007. He’s still under contract with the network, so he has to moderate his words, but he is very grateful to fans for supporting his series.
   The interview is about half-way through the Podcast, so zoom ahead if you are not interested in other sci-fi stuff.

http://www.sliceofscifi.com/podpress_trac/web/7562/0/Slice_145_012608.mp3

I’m glad someone’s still reporting on Journeyman, even if Kevin Falls is picketing with fellow writers these days.

http://www.forbes.com/media/2008/01/08/television-nbc-journeyman-biz-media_cx_lr_0108fans.html

What was the best blog post you wrote this year? What was the best post or blog you read?

Hard to say. Of mine, I thought the observations about the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial were pretty good and provoked a good and polite comment from the other side of the argument. I also started the year with what I thought was a succinct one on luxury at the Janus Thinking blog. Then there are all the private ones here on Vox that only a select few got to read.
   Of others’, there is no way of picking one that stood out. I probably spent more time than I could have predicted mid-year at the Journeyman Blog during the fall 2007 TV season. Who knew I would find a show to obsess about after Life on Mars finished?