I Killed Journeyman
If Lemont knew the whole story, he'd probably quit the strip. I know he wouldn't want to work with me ever again.
The truth is: I killed Journeyman. I've concluded that's the only logical explanation. Nearly every show I love ends up canceled by the end of its first season. "Space, Above and Beyond," "Firefly," "Odyssey 5," etc. The television landscape is littered with the corpses of Shows Darrin Loved.
According to someone close to production who e-mailed me today, "Journeyman" isn't dead yet. It's sitting frozen in the driver's seat of an RV that's dangling over a cliff, and NBC hasn't decided whether to save it or let it plunge to an early death. Maybe if I apologize for admiring the show's sophisticated writing, its surprisingly (for network TV) moving acting, and the sense that it's all leading to something big -- maybe if I promise not to watch it anymore -- NBC will save Journeyman. After all, broadcast TV is filled with shows I would never watch, and I'm sure you'd agree that it's no coincidence those shows are successful.
Maybe you never tried Journeyman, or maybe you gave the first couple episodes a try and thought it wasn't going anywhere. If you thought Journeyman started slowly, or you missed the last couple episodes, watch them right here, right now. And then tell me you wouldn't like to see where the next few seasons might have taken us.
Or better yet, tell NBC.
4 comments:
Journeyman was a great show that really built up, episode after episode. I'm glad they brought some closure with the last episode. If you haven't seen the creator's blog, he did write a note of thanks to the fans on December 13. NBC did not pick up the option in December so it looks like we've had all we are going to get. I posted a link to your Jan. 1 strip over at the Home Theater Forum's thread on Journeyman. http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/tv-hdtv-programming/262519-journeyman-season-1-thread-17.html
I read your comic strip in the Washington Post every day.
Neil
I'm still pleasantly surprised when networks come up with good sci-fi or fantasy series.
If you'd like to read an interesting book that addresses the go back in time conundrums, read Orson Scott Card's "Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus," available at fine used book stores everywhere. "A compelling portrait of Christopher Columbus with the story of a future scientist who believes she can alter human history from a tragedy of bloodshed and brutality (slavery and genocide) to a world filled with hope and healing."
A tag onto the Dec 20 segment: I generally tell people that if I want to find out about the Democratic Party I don't ask the Republican National Committee for information. Same principle.
I'm not sure what the last part means. Weren't those clips taken straight from Fox? Unless Foxwatch (or whatever they're called) CGI'd them, you can't argue with them. If I showed that much thigh on the street, I'd get arrested.
I didn't know about Journeyman, but after watching those two shows you posted, I got the rest from i-Tunes. Very good stuff and I'm sorry to see it go so soon.
Hi Tiffany,
What I meant was going to the source - not an opponent - especially for the initial evaluation.
I saw a similar episode on o'Reilly - theme was "Natalie Holloway parties, gets drunk, goes off with people she doesn't know, ends up dead. New Jersey coed gets drunk at a bar, leaves with a guy she doesn't know, ends up murdered. Parents - do you know what your nearly adult kids are doing?" Another segment was on the guy who exploited the girls on the Girls Gone Wild videos - and how many girls, after sobering up, regretted their participation.
Laurie Dhue did a segment criticizing o'Reilly for excessive repetition of the clips - I don't recall other networks airing such segments.
Other shows - I don't know about. Don't watch them.
As far as taking something straight from the source - context is important. In a similar discussion I noted I'd seen an interview with Sen Inouye (D-Hawaii) in which he said he once saw a guy leaning against a doorway and shot and killed him. He said what amazed him was he felt no remorse, no nothing. Another time he said he was in a fight and smashed in (literally) a guy's face with some wood and didn't feel anything. I said, in effect, what a terrible person he really is in spite of what people think, etc etc.
A responder was irate - he noted the comments were from an interview from the PBS series "The War" and were his recollections as an infantryman fighting Germans in WWII. I said I wrote the post the way I did to show what happens when there's no context - as the earlier discussions followed just that theme. Saying "it's a quote, he said it, case closed" is not enough.
Accurate? Yes. Honest? No. Just like much of what passes for analysis in making partisan points.
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