There has been an inexplicable rise recently in TV shows centered on time travel, from Hulu’s genuinely intelligent Stephen King-inspired “11/22/63” to The CW’s genuinely rubbish “Legends of Tomorrow.”
Perhaps a room full of grizzled network heads realized the transient appeal of remakes. (leave “Rush Hour” alone.) Or, perhaps the Hunger Games-esque image of a certain orange-haired individual’s potential presidency prompted a return to time travel fantasies.
Either way, NBC’s recently launched “Timeless” justifies this drastic yet subtle shift in television land.
The premise is rather simple: Fugitive Garcia Flynn (Goran Višnjić, “ER”) has stolen an experimental time machine and kidnapped a leading scientist from the labs of Mason Industries, a company fronted by Elon Musk impersonator Connor Mason (Paterson Joseph, “Æon Flux”).
In order to stop Flynn and his associates from going back in time and rewriting American history, the government enlists the help of Lucy Preston (Abigail Spencer, “Suits”), a historian/anthropologist, Master Sergeant Wyatt Logan (Matt Lanter, “90210”), who is coping with his wife’s death, and Rufus Carlin (Malcolm Barrett, “Dear White People”), a scientist who helped develop the machine and can operate the prototype version the trio uses.
Aside from an experienced cast that has the nous to deliver the most grandiose of lines with humbling realism (“I’d think someone who loved history would want to save it”) and a thankfully high production budget (even though the time machine resembles, as a Hollywood Reporter review so eloquently phrased it, the CBS eye logo), the simplicity of the show will help it dodge the cancellation axe that will befall its counterparts.
Chase Flynn to a past time, stop the perversion of history, attempt to capture Flynn, repeat.
But with this comes the show’s greatest drawback. Although schmoozing with Abraham Lincoln and serving alcohol at a Rat Pack concert do have their charms, especially when portrayed as realistically as on “Timeless,” the moments that suck breaths away and make hairs stand on end are not incorporated in the time spent in the past.
Viewers can safely assume that the past stays intact, even if in a roundabout way at times. Rather, the “I-did-not-see-that-coming” instances are limited to the characters’ personal lives and present realities.
That’s not to draw away from what the show really is though —a goofy adventure with pretty people playing dress up in various time periods in order to save the world as we know it.
There are enough plot twists to make George R.R. Martin proud, and lines like “this is Dr. Dre, I’m Nurse Jackie and we’re from General Hospital,” help maintain comedic undertones.
The show, though, does not want to be in the same bracket as “Game of Thrones” or “Stranger Things.” While those shows have fantastical premises, they strive for plausibility. To its credit, “Timeless” recognizes that, while its depictions of historic events are realistic, some of its dialogue is over-the-top and its comedy is rooted in wit and anachronism.
If it is embraced for what it is, 45 minutes of damn good Monday night fun, then “Timeless” will certainly entertain.
