Chuck And Journeyman

premier week has officially begun on nbc and monday night (last night) we got two new show premiers: Chuck and Jouneyman.

Chuck: i was looking forward to this one and it was exactly what i expected. it was funny and quick and had some action all in a nice fun package. i really want to see where this one goes however. i'm hoping for an interesting through story for the series, as opposed to the more episodic type stuff where each episode is its own individual thing and the grand story arc isn't as important (ala CSI). from what i could tell from the pilot, i think that the through story could be there.

Journeyman: this one, however, looks to be episodic which is disappointing. i wasn't looking forward to this show at all. some guy takes trips back in time, and there is an ex-love-of-his-life, blah, blah blah!! it sounded corny and didn't interest me.

then i watched it and as it was coming to an end i had changed my mind. the relationship thing wasn't corny and he spent a bunch of his time dealing with this other guys life that he had changed on his first trip back.

then it ended and he had done what he had had to do in that guys life (make sure he didn't kill his family so that his son could become a boy genius doctor and safe a bunch of lives) and that was it for that story line. the way it ended they make it seem like each episode will involve him going back and effecting some change or fixing something so that things can work out well in the future. hmmmmmmm, can you say Quantum Leap?????

Quantum Leap was a great show, and yes it was very episodic in that pretty much each episode could be watched without having seen the one previous, but they were interesting and focused on the fixing of the past. at Journeyman it seems like they can't decide what they are doing. there is what seems to be a through story about the ex-lover (and the fact that she might not have actually been killed in a plane crash is an interesting development) and i expect they will get into how, and why, he is doing the time travel thing. however, because of all that, the actual fixing the past part felt very superficial and to easily accomplished. there was no drama or real conflict there.

now, they can also go the route of making the grand story arc the focus and the each-episode-travel-fixes secondary. they just have to pick one, because they don't look like they can have both. but, i like to give shows a chance, so it will remained tivo'd for at least a couple more episodes and we shall see how it develops.