Timeless (NBC)

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by HGN2001, Oct 3, 2016.

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  1. HGN2001

    HGN2001 Mystery picture member Thread Starter

    This new time travel show premieres tonight, Monday Oct. 3rd at 10 PM Eastern. I'm usually a sucker for time-travel stories so I'll be watching. The annoying thing about it is that it's on in the exact same time slot where NBC's last time travel series, JOURNEYMAN, failed. I liked that one too.
     
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  2. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    The teaser trailer looks very good:



    On the bad side, the show was co-created by Eric Kripke, whose previous show was Revolution, and that one made no sense and totally fell apart at the end. :sigh:
     
    Last edited: Oct 3, 2016
  3. agentalbert

    agentalbert Senior Member

    Location:
    San Antonio, TX
    Interesting premise, but I imagine one will have to get past some very dodgy effects. The first episode has them going back in time to the Hindenberg disaster. I can't imagine on a TV budget they're going to be able to have everything look good. I hope it comes off better than the horrible green screen scenes on Once Upon A Time.
     
  4. HGN2001

    HGN2001 Mystery picture member Thread Starter

    One does wonder why an NBC show would use a concept from an old ABC show (TIME TUNNEL) and have the machine look like a CBS eye:

    [​IMG]
     
  5. Deesky

    Deesky Forum Resident

    The premise doesn't sound very original. I'm sure they;ll hit all the big historic events, as per Time Tunnel. I can see this being mostly fluff, but I'll keep an eye out in the comments and elsewhere just in case the show surprises.
     
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  6. rockclassics

    rockclassics Senior Member

    Location:
    Mainline Florida
    Watching it now. Too soon to tell much of anything. But it is an interesting premise. I'll waste an hour to see what it is like.
     
  7. HGN2001

    HGN2001 Mystery picture member Thread Starter

    Interesting parallels and contrasts to two different TIME TUNNEL pilots:

    TT'66 - pilot goes to Titanic / TT'16 - pilot goes to Hindenburg
    TT'02 - team member Doug Phillips recruited to project because he's a historian / TT'16 - team member recruited because she's a historian
    TT'66 - Tony tries to help young lady on Titanic / TT'16 - military guy tries to save reporter who historically dies
    TT'02 - team member notes changes to family in current day / TT'16 - team member notes changes to family in current day
    TT'02 - black woman team member infiltrates military in WWII seamlessly / TT'16 - black man team member faces many racial objections in past
     
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  8. gener8tr

    gener8tr Senior Member

    Location:
    Vancouver, WA USA
    I liked the pilot and look forward to subsequent episodes. But unfortunately I foresee a bleak future as it's necessary viewers have at least a moderate knowledge of history, and or an interest there-in (in order to maintain viewership). Ingredients not normally found in a hit television recipe.
     
  9. gener8tr

    gener8tr Senior Member

    Location:
    Vancouver, WA USA
    I liked Revolution a lot, but that one should have been limited to a specific number of episodes. One full-circle season would have been perfect. Too few would have been better than too many as it didn't seem the creators had a clear vision past one season.
     
  10. Lonson

    Lonson I'm in the kitchen with the Tombstone Blues

    It was formulaic and lightweight and yet entertaining. I like Abigail Spencer, loved her when I first saw her in Mad Men and then again in Suits, she can act and she's lovely. So I'll watch for a while to see how it develops.
     
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  11. guidedbyvoices

    guidedbyvoices Old Dan's Records

    Location:
    Alpine, TX
    I have low expectations for the show but plan on watching it with my daughter as something that touches on history in a fun way.
     
  12. Maseman66

    Maseman66 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Westchester, NY
    Previews didn't do much for me but I thought the first episode was better than I expected. I'll tune in next week.
     
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  13. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    Looked horrible from the previews. Pass.
     
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  14. Paul Saldana

    Paul Saldana jazz vinyl addict

    Location:
    SE USA (TN-GA-FL)
    Except for some hokey dialogue and the very questionable decision of casting Matt Frewer as a scientist, it was all right last night.
     
  15. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    One of the worst trend of these modern-day dramas with an overriding "secret" is that they withhold a lot of information from the viewer in order to build up the mystery. Several times in Revolution, they'd ask one of the key characters (Elizabeth Mitchell), "what's really going on here? Why is this happening?" And she'd shrug and say, "it's complicated," then refuse to elaborate.

    The correct answer in the case of Revolution was: the U.S. government created a powerful weapon intended to cripple its allies by releasing microscopic nano-technology particles that would instantly disable all forms of electricity. Unfortunately, the weapon got out of control and permanently affected every country on earth, and not just the middle-eastern nature that they intended. And the scientists don't know how to turn the nanites off. That's the entire plot.

    In the case of Timeless, I think they're setting up the potential for all kinds of causal loops and massive logistical paradoxes. I'm not confident that the writers and producers they have are good enough to make these problems entertaining and solve them in a way that's dramatically satisfying.
     
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  16. guidedbyvoices

    guidedbyvoices Old Dan's Records

    Location:
    Alpine, TX
    I just figured they me to the quantum leap / voyagers route of just having episodes in different time periods for as long as they're not cancelled
     
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  17. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Kripke and the other producers have the problem of "how long can we drag this out?", which was another problem of Revolution. There's a long list of other shows with sci-fi elements that tried to do the Lost thing of having a vast story arc of a big, major plot, while doing smaller individual stories in every episode that would eventually lead to the climax. Revolution, Believe, Awake, Heroes, Touch, Flash Forward, The Whispers, The Event, Zero Hour, Almost Human, No Ordinary Family, Terra Nova, Alcatraz... there were quite a few of these fantasy/sci-fi shows that all failed spectacularly. Terra Nova had Spielberg as an executive producer, and it was a huge flop; Alcatraz and Believe were J.J. Abrams shows that bombed.

    In fairness to producer Kripke, his CW show Supernatural has been on the air for 11 years with no signs of stopping.
     
    Last edited: Oct 4, 2016
  18. gener8tr

    gener8tr Senior Member

    Location:
    Vancouver, WA USA
    Alcatraz was another that I enjoyed quite a bit... and it was just starting to get good when they pulled the plug.

    The problem with many of the aforementioned television programs (IMO) is that "most" viewers do not have an attention span long enough for these types of shows to succeed. You need to not only watch, but pay close attention to each and every episode or you'll be completely lost.

    I think that's why shows such as Seinfeld (apart from the great characters, of course) was so successful. You could miss three or four entire seasons and pick right-up where you left off without skipping a beat. Dare I say America has become "attention deprived?"
     
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  19. rjp

    rjp Senior Member

    Location:
    Ohio
    i liked the premiere, and i will keep watching, but....i hope this doesn't get real old real fast with the 3 of them chasing him through time and never ever catching him or solving anything.

    the whole thing with the mother and sister was very intriguing i must say, that aspect of the show (how their travels affect history) could get very interesting.
     
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  20. Jack White

    Jack White Senior Member

    Location:
    Canada
    I enjoyed the show. By the end of the first episode I wanted to see the second episode - right away. There could some very interesting questions to explore regarding time-travel and the effects of changing things in the past - the mother in perfect health and the sister whom no longer exists is a good example. Is there a balance, a trade-off or a price for any good changes made to the past? How can a time traveller not change the past, doesn't his or her mere presence affect something that is amplified in the future? Is there such a thing as 'fate'? Are things meant to be despite any efforts to change them?

    I find 'time travel' shows/ films/ books the easiest to poke holes in. So, I generally just accept the premise, sit back and enjoy.

    'Period' television shows tend not to last. I've decided to enjoy this show until its cancelled.
     
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  21. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    I think it can be done, but you can't insult the viewer, you have to have stories that make sense, feature characters that are interesting and engaging, and a production that looks classy and well-done. Game of Thrones would be an example of a big, sprawling epic fantasy show with a very complicated cast and lots of characters, and it's done extraordinarily well. But for every success like that, there's a half-dozen sci-fi or fantasy shows that are just utter crap.

    The Walking Dead shows are also examples of a fairly huge epic series with casts of 20-25 speaking roles, and plots so complicated and convoluted you'd go crazy trying to dive in the middle and understand what's going on. But... they're getting 17 million viewers a week, last time I checked.

    What I see in Timeless are some of the same elements of Revolution, and that was a show that went off the rails very quickly with a lot of bad science, plot holes that made no sense, and inconsistent characters (is Mr. X a villain or a hero this week? Is Miss Y dead or alive this week?). You can't do a show this complicated and have it feel like you're just making things up as you go along.
     
  22. Drew

    Drew Senior Member

    Location:
    Grand Junction, CO
    I'm offended by some of the remarks in this thread about people not having the attention span for a modern television series. The truth is that after their jobs and maintenance on their personal relationships people don't have the time for a TV program that doesn't push the story along every week and have satisfying payoffs every episode.

    Every season I pick one or two series and hope that they don't wind up with unsatisfying endings like Lost. I'm gun shy after that debacle. I doubt if I'm the only one.

    I've never watched Game of Thrones. Its probably the greatest series in the history of TV but I don't have the time to get wrapped up in it.

    Timeless looks derivative of 10 other series I've seen. It's not even on my priority list.
     
  23. My problem is, among others, WHY they are in such a hurry to capture him. They are going in a time machine and into the past it's not like there's a deadline in their reality as long as they arrive before the event that is changed and prevent it.

    It seems like the bad guy has either gone to the future or came from the future. It's obvious to me that the story of him killing his wife and child is BS.
     
  24. jpelg

    jpelg Forum Resident

    Location:
    The Elm City
    Well, they've already killed the notion of "fate" & Time essentially always righting itself regardless of the player's actions.
     
  25. Scott222C

    Scott222C Loner, Rebel & Family Man

    Location:
    here

    All good and valid points, for me the main thing that can make or break a show is the cast - TWD for example, battered, desperate, unkept, very different and flawed people played believable by the actors - it fits the show to a T. Same with Supernatural (two perfect leads with unbelievable chemistry) or The Sopranos or Dexter or Breaking Bad or The Knick.

    It's all those shows with perfect looking actors trying to play imperfect people and failing miserably that I can't stand anymore. Or the super smart twentysomething girls looking like models and fighting like Bruce Lee.
     
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