Timeless: Back In Time

By: Darryl Ley

“When a group with nefarious intentions attempts to change the world as we know it by altering the past, Lucy, a historian, Wyatt, a soldier, and Rufus, a scientist, unite to form an unlikely partnership, traveling through time to save history.”

“Timeless” has done something few other shows have managed in the last twenty years in coming back from the dead with an amazing fan led campaign. Many, many shows have tried in fact we can clearly see that some enterprising showrunners and cast do quite a lot to encourage their fans. The show started with an uphill struggle. For those not knee deep in how TV works, “Timeless” was produced by Sony Pictures Television, a production company independent of NBC. Often shows that networks buy are much less likely to get renewed when they are “on the bubble” (the line between success and cancellation). There are a lot of costs that can be recouped when a show is produced in house as those networks can then get income from international distribution or national deals like Netflix or Hulu.

The success of the NBC show is perhaps indicative that networks are finally looking further than the TV ratings to measure the success of their shows. Social media reach is something that is much more easily measured in a time when people access their TV in a variety of ways, apps, digitally, VOD, streaming and the rest. There are probably more than a few shows you could name that would probably would have gotten a second chance if networks could have seen in real time the feedback from their viewers.

I can’t be the only person who worries that this second season of the time travelling drama might sink under the weight of all the expectation that comes with such a high profile reversal of fortune. I think; however, the extra time afforded by the late renewal might help the writing team focus down on what worked so well about the show.

What’s So Great About Timeless?

I think the two factors at the core of “Timeless” and its success are the character and the cast and crew. The central three characters Lucy Preston (Abigail Spencer), Wyatt Logan (Matt Lanter) and Rufus Carlin (Malcolm Barrett) as well as the supporting cast are amazing. That may seem like hyperbole, but the sixteen episodes of the first season painted those characters and those around them in living colour. They are three-dimensional in a way that plenty of characters on successful shows that are five seasons or more in aren’t. Throughout all the crazy plot twists, of which there were a few, the characters go on a real internal journey. The show somehow managed two work in two ‘ships that were handled in a way that didn’t come across as forced.

Lucy Preston is the reluctant leader at first and the sense of wonderment she feels (at least in the beginning) definitely infects the audience. We feel her horror over the loss of her sister and her desperate need to get her back. And the things she learns over the course of the show should definitely have an effect on her moving forward.

Wyatt Logan is someone we really don’t learn a lot about until well into the show, but he too has something that he is haunted by the murder of his wife and we see exactly how far he is willing to go in order to try to save her. We see him thaw in his relationships with both Lucy and Rufus and he opens up to them, especially in the trip to the Alamo when we learn more about his life as a Special Forces Soldier.

Rufus Carlin occupies an interesting place on the team as the tech expert and the crew member least enthused about time travelling, which is understandable given the recent nature of the time travelling involved (most trips went back 60 years or less) and the fact it was generally in the US. The show didn’t sidestep the issue of race throughout America’s modern history and seeing it through Rufus’ eyes was fascinating. It is also interesting to see a person of color in the role of scientist. Needless to say, he also brings a beautiful mix of humor and heart to his role.

Fan Interaction

The cast and crew did a great job of interacting with the fans and getting their messages out there. Lots of shows have actors who do “tweet alongs” during the airing of their shows and somehow the “Timeless” cast managed to capture that magic in a way that other shows haven’t. It is probably equal parts down to necessity in terms of looking at their viewing figures and realizing that social media reach might be the deciding factor in a renewal.

That and the fact that the cast and crew of “Timeless” acted first to solidify a following compared to other shows where the push has come from the fans. A show like “Wynonna Earp” that came out of nowhere to inspire several fan conventions across the world by the second season is probably the best example of this. “Timeless” gave their fans a fandom name “Clockblockers” and got them involved with lots of interaction over social media, especially by Malcolm Barrett who plays Rufus on the show.

Also, it was great to see how appreciative and invested the cast, creators and crew were/are in seeing a Season Two! Check out the tweets below to see the rollercoaster ride we followed on our journey to get to tonight’s return:

Where & When To Next?

Now that we know the show is back it will be interesting to see where the show goes from the events of the last few episodes with that little view of a dark future we saw and the effect that all this time travelling has had on people around the “Time Team.” One thing that I think we can count on though is that we will see the capsule heading off on more great adventures and the only question would seemingly be what era they would be heading to.

I would like to see the crew head back to the Civil Rights movement and interact with some of the lesser known activists. There is no reason that entertainment can’t be educational too and I feel like audiences worldwide would be interested to see what really went into the movement.

Seeing an episode that deals with The Cuban Missile Crisis could also be interesting to see though we have been in that timeline before. I am not sure how our team could get involved though, but I am sure it would be a fun episode to watch. We’ve been in the 60s before and even have reference to President John F. Kennedy, but I feel like we could do so much more with the potential fallout of a proxy war fought by America and the USSR via Cuba.

Where and when do you want to see the “Timeless” crew head to?