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Time travel TV shows for the 2016-17 season

Aragorn

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Three different networks, three different types of time travel shows. What say you?

Timeless (NBC)
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From Eric Kripke ("Revolution," "Supernatural"), Shawn Ryan ("The Shield") and the producers of "The Blacklist" comes this thrilling action-adventure series in which a mysterious criminal steals a secret state-of-the-art time machine, intent on destroying America as we know it by changing the past. Our only hope is an unexpected team: a scientist, a soldier and a history professor, who must use the machine's prototype to travel back in time to critical events. While they must make every effort not to affect the past themselves, they must also stay one step ahead of this dangerous fugitive. But can this handpicked team uncover the mystery behind it all and end his destruction before it's too late?

Time After Time (ABC)
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Based on the novel and movie “Time After Time,” executive producer/writer Kevin Williamson (“The Vampire Diaries,” “Scream” franchise, “Dawson’s Creek”) delivers a fantastical cat and mouse adventure through time when famed science fiction writer H.G. Wells is transported to modern day Manhattan in pursuit of Jack the Ripper. Once H.G. arrives in New York City, he finds a world he never thought possible and a young woman who captivates him.

Making History (FOX)
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Three friends from two different centuries try to balance the thrill of time travel with the mundane concerns of their everyday lives.
 
Time after Time looks better then I thought, so I will definitely give that a chance. The other two, not so much.
 
Time after Time looks better then I thought, so I will definitely give that a chance. The other two, not so much.

Hmm. Judging from the trailer, the TV show is very much taking it cues from the original movie . . . which works for me.

Kinda a shame, though, that they felt obliged to "update" Wells's look in order to make him look like a more conventional leading man. Couldn't they just have him pretend to be a steampunk enthusiast? :)
 
Time After Time is an underrated movie. One that I loved growing up. Not too sure how it could be an entire series.

Making History looks hilarious. It's the only trailer of any of the new shows on any network that has piqued my interest.
 
All three of those look good to me. After The LEGO Movie and Last Man on Earth, I'm open to trying anything from Lord and Miller.
 
:bolian: To the OP, I think it is interesting and a little surprising that "Time Travel" is such a focus of the Networks, and that all three are fielding such shows. I am also very excited and encouraged, as TT is a genre I am particularly fond of. I would, however, LOVE to see the Testing or Screening Data the consultants/network people gathered that told them airing shows on traveling in time would be advisable!

Gives me hope for our Species!!! :bolian: :lol:
 
Timeless (NBC)
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From Eric Kripke ("Revolution," "Supernatural"), Shawn Ryan ("The Shield") and the producers of "The Blacklist" comes this thrilling action-adventure series in which a mysterious criminal steals a secret state-of-the-art time machine, intent on destroying America as we know it by changing the past. Our only hope is an unexpected team: a scientist, a soldier and a history professor, who must use the machine's prototype to travel back in time to critical events. While they must make every effort not to affect the past themselves, they must also stay one step ahead of this dangerous fugitive. But can this handpicked team uncover the mystery behind it all and end his destruction before it's too late?

I liked that one better when it was called Voyagers!...
 
My gran used to have a clock where the numbers moved like the timeless logo.... But alI I think of looking at that, is Wheel of Fortune.
 
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They all look like they have potential. It looks like the Time After Time pilot is pretty much a faithful remake of the book/movie, aside from changing the setting from San Francisco to Manhattan and replacing Amy with a character called Jane (don't tell me, she's a homicide detective). No way to know where it'll go beyond that. The lead actors are underwhelming, though -- neither one seems to be in McDowell & Warner's league, though Genesis Rodriguez has possibilities. (She was Honey Lemon in Big Hero 6!)

EDIT: No, turns out she's an assistant curator at the museum. But -- but -- how can you do a TV series about an eccentric lead character with unusual abilities or background if you don't team him up with a sexy female detective who draws on his special skills to solve murders? It’s just not done!

As for Making History, I'm not much of a fan of modern sitcoms, and revisiting the American Revolution yet again seems a bit redundant after Sleepy Hollow, but the trailer was pretty funny. Might be worth a look. As for the NBC one, it could go either way.
 
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My ranking of the three would be:
Timeless
Making History
Time After Time
I like how the controls for the time machine in Making History look like the ones from the Delorean in Back to the Future. I'm kind of surprised they could get away with that.
 
Speaking of revisiting the American Revolution, whatever happened to that show which would have done exactly that, but on an Earth colony in deep space?
 
To me, Timeless feels like the one that's the most likely to have its episode order reduced and then pulled early from the schedule.
 
Well, it is on NBC...

ABC has been just as guilty of quick cancellations in recent years. Really, contrary to popular myth, the network that's done the fewest early cancellations of genre shows in recent years has been FOX. They haven't pulled an SF/fantasy show with episodes unaired since Tru Calling over a decade ago (although they've done it more recently with a non-genre show, I forget which).
 
All networks have TV shows that bomb and they pull from the schedule. Except maybe The CW, because they can't afford to replace the show with something else so they just let it run until they're out of episodes.
 
All networks have TV shows that bomb and they pull from the schedule.

Usually, yes, but as I said, FOX has done that much less in recent years, especially with genre shows. I think that, as a response to the fan complaints about Firefly's handling by the FOX execs of the time, their successors have tried to avoid repeating the same mistake, and as a result, FOX has become the network least likely to pull a genre show midseason. They've even made an extra effort to keep shows that have struggled in the ratings, like Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Dollhouse, and Fringe. Which is why it's so unfair that the "FOX kills genre shows" cliche is still so widely accepted even though it's been more than a decade since Firefly and the responsible execs left the company a long time ago.
 
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