There were plenty of choices for The Arrested Development Award, a.k.a. The Show Least Deserving of Cancellation Award. Among them, Las Vegas, New Amsterdam, Miss Guided, Aliens in America, and Women's Murder Club. The Readers Choice Award goes to Moonlight, the vampire-themed crime-drama-romance that amassed an insane amount of fans during its short run. And it still might come back on another network, so we'll keep our collective fingers crossed on that.
The TV Squadders' pick is Journeyman. Here's why:
1. Time-traveling is cool. The idea of time-travel is always intriguing, as evidenced by other shows like Quantum Leap and Sliders. What's cool about Journeyman is that Dan Vasser, played by Kevin McKidd, is just a normal guy who could be any one of us. At first, he hates the time-traveling. It interrupts his life and causes undue stress, both at home and work. But later, when given the opportunity to make it stop, he chooses to keep time-traveling. He knows he's been chosen for a reason, and feels it's his calling to help people right the wrongs of history. Never mind that every episode made me wonder how much of history he changed by leaping into the past. I can only imagine that even the smallest of events might drastically alter the space-time continuum.
2. The show is mysterious. Dan's former girlfriend, Livia (Moon Bloodgood) never reveals much about her time-traveling. Whenever Dan asks her about it, she keeps mum on the subject, which makes me wonder if 1) she doesn't know much, or 2) she knows and isn't allowed to say. Likewise, the mysterious Elliot Langley (Tom Everett) knows more than he's saying, too. Who is he? Does he have a connection to the time-traveling network? Is he in charge? And why does he try to avoid Dan in the final episodes? I guess we'll never know.
3. Everyone is interconnected. Dan's most-patient-wife-in-the-world, Katie (Gretchen Egolf), used to go out with his brother, Jack (Reed Diamond), who worries that his brother's crazy disappearing act is evidence that he's gambling again. Dan tries to explain, but it's not until Jack sees the presumed-dead Livia in the elevator that he's a believer. Even Dan is connected with his former self, whom he sees on more than one occasion when he travels back into the past.
4. The shoes, what about the shoes? There's something about the time-travelers' shoes that plays into the story, but we'll never learn the secret behind this phrase uttered by a few characters: "It's always the shoes." What's the deal with the shoes? Why are they important? And more importantly, will this mystery drive me nuts for the rest of my life? If I find anything out, I'll report back.
Anyway, there you have it. Moonlight might be resurrected on another network, but despite the best Rice-a-Roni efforts of fans, Journeyman appears to be lost forever in the ether of white light.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-06-2008 @ 2:11PM
fangler said...
In case you weren't just kidding about the shoes comment, imo, the shoes reference is that in time travel the shoes are a dead giveaway for an actual traveller, because not many people think about putting on period shoes. So they my fit in in how they look with the exception of their shoes.
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6-07-2008 @ 2:43AM
Lilly said...
Besides Journeyman being great all around they also actually filmed in San Francisco, and when they didn't they made it seem pretty accurate. One of the reasons I couldn't watch Women's Murder Club was because their writing about San Francisco sucked, "THE bart"?!?! Also one of my biggest problems with Eli Stone is that it is so innacurate with SF geography. They said that you could see the bay bridge from Golden Gate Park! Journeyman actually researched the city it was taking place in!
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6-07-2008 @ 7:25PM
Katy said...
I loved Journeyman so much for everything mentioned in the article and also because of Kevin McKidd. I think the show deserved another season to sort out some mysteries, and am glad the Tv Squadders gave it this atterntion. By the way, I agree with fangler about the shoes--I think the T.S. read too much into the comment "it's always the shoes"--it just meant they were the giveaway to anachronistic dress.
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