Well, I'm sure it only took this long because of the writer's strike, but apparently Journeyman will be the first casualty of the 2007 Fall TV season among the shows I like. I'm really disappointed because it is a really well done show - however, it apparently hasn't been taking advantage of the coveted Heroes lead-in as well as the NBC execs wanted.
I don't get it. Why kill a quality show like Journeyman, when that slot killed TWO very high profile NBC shows last year? Both Studio 60 and the Sunset Strip and The Black Donnellys failed miserably at 10pm Monday after Heroes last year, despite being two of the most heavily hyped shows in recent TV history. Maybe people just don't like to watch TV at 10 p.m. on Mondays, NBC. I know that conventional TV wisdom says that a popular show with a loyal audience will help the ratings of the show that comes on after that, but let's stop and think about that with respect to Heroes and Journeyman.
First of all, Heroes is a show that appeals to young, geeky demographic... exactly the same demographic that has flocked, en masse, to the DVR. In the age of the DVR that we've begun to enter, does lead-in really mean anything? I think pretty much everyone I know that watches Heroes has a DVR or get it through "alternate" means. Most people watch Heroes the night it airs or soon thereafter to avoid spoilers, but still... how many of those people actually watch it live? A lot less than the TV execs probably think. I may only time-shift by about 20 minutes so I can fast forward through all the commercials on my Tivo, but that means that I'm not actually tuned in to NBC live to see what's on after it.
Second, Heroes is an adrenaline show. It's a show that, when it is at its best, hits the ground running starting from a previous episode's cliffhanger, accelerates the action, and drops another cliffhanger right at the end. It's exhausting, action-packed TV watching, and I usually wrap up my Monday TV with it so I can digest it all. After the mile-a-minute action, I'm sometimes just not ready for another serious hour-long drama.
Third, while on the face of it, Journeyman may look like a good fit following Heroes, with its sci-fi theme of time travel and X-files style slow unwrapping of a larger picture, weaving with interesting weekly stories. However, the tone is all wrong... I've already talked about how Heroes appeals to a young geek (and probably male) audience. Journeyman isn't like that. At its heart, Journeyman is a romance and family drama tinged with some sci-fi, as opposed to, say, Chuck, which is another geek adventure show tinged with some romance and family drama. Chuck is a great fit for Heroes. Journeyman, not so much.
The good news in all this is that NBC is happy with Life, which I consider one of the best shows on television. Great concept, great acting, great characters, and an engaging overall story arc, with bonus points for giving Damien Lewis another high profile show. He was fantastic as Dick Winters in Band of Brothers and I'm glad to see him continue to do well. Do yourself a favor and find the first couple of episodes on the intergoogle and give them a watch... they're a great introduction to Charlie Crews, and Charlie is what the makes the show tick.
4 comments:
I'm also disappointed by the cancellation of Journeyman. I agree that it wasn't a great fit with Heroes, and I would've preferred if they tried changing timeslots before canceling it.
I've read that fans are trying to get it resurrected, like what happened with Jerricho. So perhaps not all hope is lost. Who the hell knows what's going to happen to TV with this damn strike. We're already burning through our Netflix movies like crazy. I guess maybe 2008 will have more quiet reading time?
January is going to be grim TV-wise. Lost, Psych, and the new Terminator TV series are the only things I'll probably watch, and I don't even know how many episodes are going to be aired of each.
Have you ever watched The Wire? That comes back on sometime soon as well. I haven't watched all seasons, but the last one was ridiculously good. I'd recommend the DVDs if you're interested. Or try out Battlestar. You've got enough time before the new season starts in March.
No, I've never seen the Wire... but it is on my list of things I need to see while the writers' strike ruins TV, as you can see above!
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