Monday night with NBC (Me likes Journeyman, me hates Chuck)
There'll be a full blog about Heroes but I just want to make some quick comments on "Chuck" and probrably donate this some blog with "Journeyman."
First off..."Chuck." At the Twenty minute mark...I'm not overly impressed and will probrably find another show at 8'oclock to hold my interest before "Heroes" on Monday. Maybe it'll get better...
Here are the highlights...thus far...
The version of the "Geek Squad" is the "Nerd Herd." For those of you who don't my clique of friends in highschool for four years called ourselves the "Nerd Herd." There were six of us. And four of them were in the top five of the class. I was number 20 with a 90.3 GPA.
In hindsight, if we were really nerds we would've copyrighted it in 1994 and gotten a piece of this pie.
Jane from Firefly is in it as a black-ops G-Man.
Although the story sucks and the dialogue is poor, there are occasional bright spots, like quoting Batman.
Also since he works in a Best Buy, there were moments of retail v. customer dialogue.
One of the big things working against is that McG is the producer for it. And we all know what happend with McG's last show Fastlane. Yeah it lasted two years...but it was a long two years.
Also the guy who played Candyman is in it. Which I'm pretty sure like Ted McGinley is the death of anything on tv.
Just saw a commericial for Journeyman. I want to like it. It looks like Quantum Leap, meets Early Edition, meets Frequancy. The problem with timetravel shows is that it needs to have a strong first week and keep building in momentum, like any pilot, this is really banking on Heroes fans sticking around for Must See Geek TV.
Aw Chuck and the Blonde spy have something in common, bad past relationships. And does she geniunely like him? Or is she just pulling a fast one on Chuck. This is so on the season finale they kiss...it's foreshadowing, and Dawson's Creek was better at it.
His cellphone was "Anyway you want it." Being that it's one of my favorite 80's songs, I might give the show another week based just on that.
But overall I'm not impressed and give it....maybe six weeks...but then again I didn't like the Heroes aired pilot...and I was really wrong about that. But this is genuinly not good.
Journeyman
Already I like it. He's a journalist and he said, "It's the age of blog get it up and then get it right."
And it seems to be utilizing the "slider" method of time traveling...which I can support. The problem with time traveling shows is that it needs to be believable for undorks like myself.
The upsides to being a journalist is that he has the methods and knowledge to affect past and future events ...in theory with his ability to deduce and reason...unless he knows some of the moron reporters I know who don't write news at all.
I'm a sucker for anything with journalistic integrity.
The plot thickens....his disappearing for days on end coincides with perhaps a possible history of drug and alcohol abuse.
It's particurly interesting, because these can be symptoms of abuse...and evidently time traveling too.
Apparently, the force that drives him also drives him to specific people during troubling times, and he uses his background in journalism to talk and learn information. Which....gotta say, I'm liking the premise.
Plus there are brothers at odds. Sibling rivalry is always good for driving stories.
Another thing I'm digging is the detail accuracy. With the change of year there is a an appropriate news capsule and song playing. Along with ancient technology like rotary phones and big bulky PC's.
Plus the other love of his life who he died also exsists in this floating time stream....I might've been very very wrong with Journeyman.
Even with a not completly storybook ending...it's for the greater good...it's a great concept and one of the things that made do-gooder shows not work. There is conflict...and a lot of it.
Fuck you Buttefly Effect, this is the real deal.
In fact I was very wrong on Journeyman. And, I'm hooked. Good job NBC, rockin' a great sci-fi angle. Let's keep it up with Bionic Woman on Wednesday eh?