The Breakdown

Title: Timeless

Network: NBC

Premiere Date: Monday, October 3rd

Cast: Abigail Spencer, Matt Lanter, Goran Visnjic, Malcolm Barrett, Sakina Jaffrey

Creators: Eric Kripke & Shawn Ryan

Wait who?: Scotty from Suits, Liam from 90210, Luka from ER, That Guy from at least 1 episode of every show you watch, Linda Vasquez from House of Cards. Created by the creators of the immortal Supernatural and very mortal The Shield.

The Lowdown: A soldier, a scientist, and a historian team up to stop a time traveling criminal from altering history and messing with the time-space continuum.

My Thoughts:  As a proud fan of Supernatural, when I heard its creator Eric Kripke was making another genre show, I knew I had to tune into the pilot.  Kripke created a show back  in 2005 that changed my life for the better; the least I could do for the man was bump up his Nielsen rating.  But truly, knowing that he had the ability to create a believable world and lovable characters within the context a of belief-suspending story already, I had a whole lot of trust that this pilot would not be a waste of my time.  And I was right.

Timeless is an exciting tale of adventure led by Spencer, Lanter and Barrett who make you want to join them in their historical journey.  The differing perspectives of their characters Lucy, Wyatt and Rufus, respectively, along with their primary antagonist, Garcia Flynn, will undoubtedly breed unique and intertwining storylines that could span (knowing Kripke’s track record) many seasons.  Supernatural’s brand of humor was infused into the premiere, which, as it does so on SPN, grounds the show in reality.  Lucy’s line “He’s Dr. Dre, I’m Nurse Jackie…We’re from General Hospital” was an ode to the Winchesters and a beat that allows the show to not be pigeonholed into a single genre.  Time travel is as sci-fi as it gets so lightening the show’s tone as well as establishing the trio’s interpersonal relationship are two vital elements that will keep viewers coming back for more.  The theme of destiny versus free will (I’m trying to stop mentioning SPN but c’mon guys: they’re totally Team Free Will, right?)  have already arisen and will surely continue as this season progresses.  The push and pull of these two ideas are a promising conflict that I personally am excited to see explored.

Many new shows from the Fall 2016 season have left me wondering: Where will this go?  Will this die out after the first season? Was firing on all creative cylinders in the first two episodes a bad decision in the long run? (*cough* Fogelman *cough*).  I however had none of these thoughts after completing the pilot of Timeless.  As horribly cliche as this will sound: Timeless feels timeless.  That is, if they play their cards right.  If Kripke & Ryan can dole out historical moments slowly and widen the conspiracies surrounding all three main characters (Lucy and Ritehouse, Wyatt clearly isn’t sharing something about his past, Rufus informing on his teammates) I believe this show will be a captivating long-term success.