'Journeyman' Is a Time Traveler on Deadline

By Jacqueline Cutler, Zap2it, Zap2It.com | September 24, 2007

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Kevin McKidd of 'Journeyman'
Kevin McKidd of 'Journeyman'
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Time travel entices most people, as they consider what they would do over or how they could have made scads of money if only they had known that people would pay for bottled water.

For journalists, however, time travel is absolutely seductive. Going back in time to check events as they happen would clear up so much confusion. And the concept of stretching time to meet a deadline is beyond glorious.

In theory, at least.

Dan Vasser (Kevin McKidd, "Rome") is a San Francisco newspaper reporter on NBC's Monday drama "Journeyman" (premiering Sept. 24), who inexplicably winds up in different decades. He gets a severe headache and vanishes, only to find himself in new circumstances.

This is a problem when it comes to his editor, the curmudgeonly Hugh Skillen (Brian Howe, "Evan Almighty"), who expects stories to be filed on time. It's also a problem with his wife, Katie (Gretchen Egolf, "The Namesake"), who becomes worried and peeved whenever Dan goes missing.

Dan is completely flummoxed when he runs into his ex-fiancee, Livia (Moon Bloodgood, "Daybreak"). Understandable, considering she's dead.

To complicate matters, Dan's brother Jack (Reed Diamond, "Homicide: Life On The Street") is a cop who used to date Katie and clearly still loves her.

McKidd, who suppresses his Scottish burr to play an American, says he sees some of himself in Dan.

"He's a guy who isn't perfect," McKidd says. "He had a gambling addiction in the past. He is pretty much a stand-up guy with a bit of a checkered past. He has a complex mixture of emotions. He's not a saint."

Making things even more intriguing, Dan seems to be bouncing around recent decades, rather than the distant past.

"It could be a Godlike figure pulling the strings from on high," McKidd says. "It could be some deep psychological trauma that makes this real."

And it could be a while before he knows why, but by then he may have exhausted his wife's and editor's patience.

"This guy is an old-school print guy," Howe says of his character. "Dan's the bane of his existence."

"Journeyman" definitely comes into its own more after the pilot, and it appeals to those who are not necessarily science fiction fans.

"It's a human show with that sci-fi element in it," Howe says.
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