An Ode To Timeless

In a time when there are countless options for a television buff to choose from, it is equally as difficult for a show to stand-out from the rest during this Peak TV era.  You have favorites across all the genres – be it your choice in doctor shows, lawyer shows, cop shows, horror shows, science fiction shows, “case of the week” shows, or even familiarity in one of the current reboots/revivals.  The true question is how many of these time investments regularly leave us with something of more substance or something that rises above the clutter?
     You’d probably be looking for something that can at times be simple, but at other times be complicated.  What if it could also be funny, sad, sweet, exciting, sentimental, romantic, mysterious, adventurous, inspirational, and it promised to put its multi-layered characters in impossible situations that continuously strengthens their appeal?  It will even avoid cheap tropes by coming up against them and then taking a creative and sometimes unexpected turn.  And it will do it all in a tasteful, grounded, heart-warming way.  The never-say-die series Timeless puts that all together before even adding their refreshing genre elements and a social significance to the equation.  The show is something different, but important, amongst the television landscape and its unique connection with its fan base begins with the fact that it has something for everyone.  Think of your favorite aspects from the shows that do it best - the action, the adventure, the drama, the humor, the family, the love, the surprises, the twists - and blend it with the exploration of some of America's most historic events and most heroic figures through the unique lens of time travel.
     To co-creators Eric Kripke’s (Supernatural) and Shawn Ryan’s (The Shield) credit, time travel is merely a tool that is used as a story-telling device that allows bigger themes to play out in situations that continuously find creative ways to ask the question, "Do the ends justify the means?" It's endearing to watch different characters struggle with this in different ways, like during a debate on whether to stop the assassination of Abraham Lincoln (because they know it is coming) or to let history play out the way it had because there’s no way to understand the ramification that such a change could have on everything else that would come to follow in the world.  Cue well-crafted monologues about destiny, fate, sacrifice, and whether things are meant-to-be, then compound that drama with a steady parade of impossible choices.
     Timeless may have partially set out to use time travel as a necessary hook to differentiate itself to potential viewers, but something interesting happened along the way.  As the show's brain trust continued to tell compelling, engaging, exciting stories from all different time periods, they began to parlay the good will they were building with tales about some of the most important, but socially underrepresented, events and figures from our nation’s history.  Take the somewhat untold tale of the woman who created the first X-ray in 1819 or the story of Wendell Scott, a black race car driver in the 1950s who won a significant race but was kept out of the record books because they “didn't give black people trophies back then”.  Then there is "The Day That Reagan Was Shot" which is an inspirational and heart-warming story that brings forward a woman’s internal struggle with her sexuality and how embracing the truth would impact her family, all unfolding over the course of that infamous day. 
     With each new time jump comes the need for each locale to feel real, genuine and authentic; which unintentionally serves as a showcase of the talent on the costume and set design teams.  Their tireless efforts produce a full-blown “period piece” week in and week out that makes these temporary worlds feel real.  The production value with each episode gives a definitive feature film feel to each mission, making each episode a self-contained event that is still able to be part of a larger story.
     Balancing the grandness of it all is the light-hearted humor, mostly on display when the “Time Team” name drops people, places, and things from current pop culture that someone from history would clearly not know of.  There’s something amusing about watching the team work references into their conversation with someone who clearly wouldn’t have heard of Budweiser beer, Neil Armstrong, an iPhone, or the Beatles because these things haven’t come to be yet.  Other times, some of the make-you-smile moments come from historical cameos - like Muddy Waters dropping by in an Blues episode about “Crossroads” singer Robert Johnson or the excitement of a waitress when she brought over the brand new "Pabst" beer that just won a "Blue Ribbon".
     When you package these dynamics with the writing, the directing, the actors’ delivery, the music, the lighting, the look and feel, and the genuine chemistry amongst the cast, you get an entity that has created one of the most avid fan bases in recent memory.  Fans have connected with the show so intimately for one, some, or all the reasons mentioned.  Some of them have even found a sense of purpose in a full-blown, multi-faceted campaign to get more episodes made, not only for their entertainment but because they believe in the societal significance that these stories have and how much they need to be told the way they are being told.  The Timeless fan base (aka ClockBlockers) has always maintained that the show itself is bigger than the sum of its parts and have even created Lucy's Lifeboat Drive to donate to children in underfunded schools, who are incarcerated across the U.S., and minors separated from their families at the border.  In a similar way, The Smithsonian has recognized the show for the honest and fresh way it showcases such significant moments in our history and how sincere the story-telling is.    

Past fan campaigns have included direct gift mailings to executives at major networks and streaming outlets, distribution of #SaveTimeless lifesaver rolls to hotel rooms at the Television Critics Association Awards, and awareness events/stunts where fans of the show have shelled out tens of thousands of their own hard-earned money to promote the show.  None of this compare, though, to the fund-raising efforts that yielded a two-helicopter flyover at this past year's San Diego Comic Con asking networks to pick up the cancelled show.  Now, they’ve purchased two different digital billboards in Times Square promoting a rewatch campaign on Hulu and the "final chapters" coming up at Christmas time.  The hope is that with additional traffic driven to the existing episodes archived on Hulu and with enough live (or live+delayed) viewers on December 20th, a new network will give the show a full third season.
      Fan outcry brought the show back after the cancellation at the end of its first season and it has been widely cited that the forthcoming two-part wrap-up is a direct result from their continuous effort – an ode to the fans, if you will.  As executives continue to look for a new home to continue the Timeless story, a rumored $4M cost per episode assumes to be one of the biggest challenges to overcome.  And it doesn’t help that after the first cancellation and fan-driven revival, the ratings were only about on par with those that led to its original cancellation.
     While Timeless began by setting up a grand mystery (with its fair share of twists and turns) and slowly unraveling it across its 16-episode first season, the show expanded the scale/scope with a whole new dynamic in the second season premiere and then again in what served as the series finale (at that time).  There is no doubt that the Season 2 finale left everyone wanting more and two more hours may not be enough to give fans complete closure.  The shame is that when evaluated on its merits, Timeless has a little bit of the best elements from every type of show, often in the context of just one forty-five-minute episode.  It may never get the full run it deserves, but in the meantime, its created a fan-base that has found unity in their battle to get the show the recognition and voice that it merits.