Does The Future of Television Lie In The Past?

By: Stacy Miller

The past and time travel. One of the questions often pondered by mankind is what if we could go back in time and change the mistakes of the past using what we know now? This idea is an unattainable dream as we don’t have the ability to travel back in time, but that doesn’t stop the “what ifs” and fascination with time travel – one that is alive and well in the entertainment media. This interest in time travel isn’t a new one. There have been movies in the past focusing on this theme. Back to the Future is one of the notable ones. And in the history of television, time travel has been a theme of such shows as Quantum Leap, Life on Mars and Journeyman to name a few. However, in recent years, television has jumped on this band wagon again with a keen fascination for the past. Currently, there are several shows featuring the idea of time travel. Notable series are NBC’s Timeless and The CW’s DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. Although not specifically about time travel, NBC’s This Is Us and The CW’s Frequency feature story lines relating to the past. So, why have the past and time travel recently become so important to writers, particularly those in television?

In Timeless, we have a team consisting of historian Lucy (Abigail Spencer), soldier Wyatt (Matt Lanter) and engineer Rufus (Malcolm Barrett) traveling in a time machine to stop criminal Garcia Flynn (Goran Visnjic) from changing the events of US history that can result in terrible consequences. Although it hasn’t been fully explained, Garcia Flynn wants to change history for a reason he may deem noble, but his true motives may be less than such. In DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, there was another criminal Vandal Savage (Casper Crump) who sought to change the past in order to gain world domination in the present and future. We have a group of heroes – no, legends – who will risk everything to stop him to save the universe. In our everyday lives when we fantasize about time travel, our goals aren’t as sinister as global domination. We wonder how our lives and those of our loved ones could have been better if past events hadn’t happened. In order to not make the same mistakes, we need to learn from the past. This also helps us to have a better understanding of ourselves as we strive to become the people we want to be. Case in point, the critically acclaimed NBC series This Is Us. When I first read about This Is Us, I thought the show was about a group of random people who shared the same birthday that meet one day. But, of course, before the conclusion of the pilot viewers learned that Jack (Milo Ventimiglia), Rebecca (Mandy Moore), Kevin (Justin Hartley), Kate (Chrissy Metz) and Randall (Sterling K. Brown) don’t just share the same birthday – they were all related as Jack was the biological father of Kevin and Kate and the adoptive one of Randall. Episodes feature both the past and present as viewers learn more of these characters’ lives and history.

So, why are we as human beings so obsessed with our pasts? Shouldn’t we just enjoy our present and the current life we are living? And if the past was so great, why were we so eager for our future? Everyone has a different answer to this question. Mankind is restless. We are constantly searching and wondering, never being content with the here and now, always wanting something better. But when that something better doesn’t come, we get saddened by our lives and missed opportunities and wish we can go back to “when life was simpler.” For some, it’s not just a longing for a better life based upon unfulfilled dreams. There are those who may have suffered an unspeakable tragedy or family loss and the thought of being able to travel in the past and change the circumstance is more than appealing.

On The CW’s Frequency, Detective Raimy Sullivan (Peyton List) experienced the tragedy of her father Frank’s (Riley Smith) murder when she was a child. However, through a mysterious old ham radio, she is able to communicate with him through time and space while she is in 2016 and he is in 1996. Knowing the events that led to Frank death, Raimy saves her father’s life. However, now the past has been changed in this new timeline her mother been murdered. Carnal rule of time travel: Don’t change any past event for it will have a ripple effect in the future.

The subject matter of time travel opens up much material for storytellers. It is the closest that anyone gets to the ability of changing history. Writers are the masters of fate and those who write time travel stories can manipulate the fate of their characters with the added advantage of reinventing historical events for entertainment purposes. In 2016, we’ll never have the opportunity to experience what our forefathers did or meet people like Abraham Lincoln, but when we watch shows like Timeless we can live these moments through Lucy, Wyatt and Rufus. When we see the stars of Legends of Tomorrow through the magic of television we CAN time travel.

I believe that the recent changes in the climate of the country have re-sparked the interest in the past and the notion of time travel. As I previously mentioned, we long for a time when the world was a happier and safer place. By watching series like Timeless and Legends of Tomorrow, we have the chance to see people do what we can’t: stop wrongs and evil to make the world a better place. We can be heroes through these characters. We can have control, instead of feeling helpless as we may in our real life when we watch the news or read an article about a senseless crime or political upheaval.

I have a recurring dream. It is one I’ve had for over thirty years. It’s not the same dream each time, but a variation in which I find myself in the past interacting with various historical figures. I tell them about the state of the modern world and ask for their help in stopping some of the bad things that have happened. Of course, because this is a dream, I never worry about the negative repercussions of changing history as there is never any. And to add to the illogical aspect of my dream, I’m always wearing my modern clothes and pulling out my tablet to show these historical persons all the tragedies that the world has seen to aid in my quest for their assistance. And don’t laugh, Abraham Lincoln is better at using the internet in my dream then I am! So, a show like Timeless definitely speaks to me on many levels. Then, there’s the dream in which I meet my mom during her youth in the 40s and my various childhood dreams of my own past. I’ve had these dreams more often since the premiere of This Is Us. I know that I’m not the only person out there with dreams like these and thoughts of the past and a curiosity for time travel. The popularity of time travel shows is due to this universal longing that we all have. And entertainment writers know it.

Does the future of television lie in the past? With the recent crop of shows pertaining to time travel it would seem so. Timeless, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Frequency and This Is Us give us comfort and hope. They allow us an hour of escape from the uncertainty of our lives in a changing world. They inspire and encourage us to have faith. The main characters are flawed like you and me, but they refuse to give up the fight in order to make the world better. They don’t care how far they have to travel as space and time aren’t obstacles for them – just part of their journey. In order to have a bright future, we can’t forget our past. And whether that past is decades or centuries, it’s just as relevant as when it was happening.

To the creative minds behind the time travel themed shows, you are giving viewers a gift. You’re allowing us to believe in heroes, people who risk it all by going back in time. So, yes, I believe that the future of television lies in the past and this trend of shows like these doesn’t appear to be ending any time soon. I wonder what television will be like in the future, will future generations make shows about our lives now? Will our current lives and the public figures in our present day history hold enough significance to warrant shows about time travel a century from now? That’s an interesting thought. What impact if any will Timeless, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Frequency and This Is Us have on our descendants? Will they be remembered as good television shows or something more? We don’t know what the future will bring but can take comfort in television that explore the past.