Journeyman

Who'd have thought this year's cult hit, like last year's Jericho, would have a one-word title starting with a "J."  Indeed, Journeyman has earned a die-hard base of supporters, actively campaigning to save the show before it's even been canceled.  The fans have plenty to be thankful for, as the final three episodes filmed before the writers' strike will air, starting with tonight's episode at 10pm on NBC and continuing next week at 10pm on Monday and Wednesday.

BuddyTV spoke to one of the shows stars, Brian Howe, who plays newspaper editor Hugh Skillen.  Howe spoke to us about his theories on time travel, his inspiration for playing a hard-boiled newspaper editor and his appreciation to the dedicated fans the show has amassed.  Howe also clarified some of the finer points in the perceived struggle to keep Journeyman on the air.  Below you will find the transcript as well as the audio file of the interview.

Hi, this is John from BuddyTV, and I'm talking to Brian Howe, one of the stars of NBC's Journeyman. Hi Brian.

Hey John, how are you man?


I'm doing good. Now what initially attracted you to Journeyman?

I got a copy of the script for a pilot audition back in February and read it. I was told about the concept and it sounded a little strange, but then I read the script and it was just so smart, and so much more complex than the logline description lead you to believe. I was just instantly attracted to it. When they said we're going to send you in to play the editor, I was in love already. It was a no brainer for me.


Were you a fan of time travel as a genre beforehand?

Yeah, I'm a big time sci-fi fan. I was a big Star Trek fan, and the Alien movies, Back to the Future, I mean the whole thing. I just love the whole genre, so I was very curious to see what they were going to do with it, what this new variation was going to be.


Do you have a personal belief? I always say that there's two basic theories of time travel: there's Back to the Future and then there's Bill and Ted. Back to the Future is more the Journeyman model, where by going back into the past you can alter the future and everything's not certain. Whereas with Bill and Ted there's a fixed timeline, and no matter where you go back and do anything, everything is just a fixed point. I'm wondering which one of those two you go with.

I was going with one requires a car and the other a phone booth. That's interesting. I like the approach that they take with the show, that by simply appearing you're not creating this massive ripple in history. I kind of like that, that you can gently bump a life back on track or in a slightly different direction, and any ripple that you cause is not so significant as to wipe out future generations.


Exactly, although we have started to see as of late more serious effects in Dan's own personal life.

Oh, and you ain't seen nothing yet. Wait until you see next week's show.


Going into that, there's three episodes left that you filmed before the writers' strike. Are things going to be resolved? Are there going to be more issues raised?

Actually it's gonna be a little bit of both, but there will definitely be questions answered. We're coming to what Kevin Falls, our creator, kind of calls a soft ending. In case NBC puts its head back in the sand and forgets about us, it could be interpreted as an ending, but we're not going there in our energy thoughts. There will be a lot of questions answered, and the most major ripple occurs in next week's episode. Tonight's episode he has to save the paper.


OK, well that's good. You mentioned earlier that you play the editor-in-chief of the newspaper. That's sort of been an iconic role in pop culture, with your Perry Whites and your J. Jonah Jamesons and your Lou Grants.

That's right, and not once do I get to say "great Caesar's ghost."


Do you have any inspirations then for that? Are you a newspaper man at heart?

I love the paper, and one of my favorite editor characters is Jason Robards in All The President's Men, which is a real guy, Ben Bradlee. I love the way he kind of delivered the essence of that character and that type of guy. I wanted very much to be as much an anti-TV kind of character as I could. I didn't want to be a fashion plate. So I said I want to roll up the sleeves, have the tie undone, and just run a hand through my hair. This is a guy who is hands on. He could have every reporter e-mail the story to him at his desk, but I want him to be up on his feet, walking around, and interacting. I think he's old school that way, and they were so cool to let me do that.


Journeyman right now is in a little bit of danger. I don't want to go too much into that, but more so than any other show in recent memory, other than maybe Jericho, there's a real internet campaign to save this show. I'm wondering how you, the cast, and the creators are responding. Are you interacting with these campaigns?

Well, we're totally aware of them. We check the boards, we read them, and so do the producers and the network I think, up to a certain extent anyway. We're very much aware of the fans' interest. All you bloggers out there, all the fans out on the net, and these grassroots efforts to keep us alive, we're on to you, we're aware of you, and we so appreciate you. Keep swinging, by all means. One of the main reasons that NBC is hesitant is because they have a producing partner in the show in 20th Century Fox. The other shows, Chuck and Life, those are in-house shows. What industry outsiders might not realize is that it doesn't take any commitment on their part to give those shows a back nine, because they can then decide not to. Or they can give them back nine, and after two episodes cancel them. But when there's another large entity involved they have to really commit.

I think they're anxious, because of the writers' strike and because of the current atmosphere, they literally don't know what to do. I don't think it's a lack of support for the show, I think it's how do we order more episodes when there's no one there to write them? So it's on the bubble so to speak, and we're waiting. We have not been canceled, and we have not been picked up, so we're kind of in a limbo. I think the reason NBC is showing the last three episodes the way they are is first of all because of you guys, and because of the fans. There was pressure from fans to show all the episodes. Tonight was going to be the last one aired, then they were going to save episodes 11 and 12 for the new year. Now they've decided no, we'll show them all, because they don't even know what they're doing. That's the main thing.


I'm a huge fan, so I'll be rooting for you and hoping in sort of a backwards way that if the writers' strike continues long enough, and it effects the pilot season for next year, there may be a chance that NBC doesn't have any new shows, so they have to pick up their current ones.

That's exactly right. They'd be foolish, if they're really the number crunching guys that they have the reputation of being, the numbers for Journeyman have trended upward in the recent past. It'd be crazy not to give it another shot.

-Interview conducted by John Kubicek
(Image courtesy of NBC)