Timeless: Good Riddance

So… The NBC television show “Timeless” aired it’s last produced two episodes.

I know that for some folks this was big news. When last we saw the show, there was a cliff hanger ending, all to set up the next season of the show. Unfortunately, the network just didn’t see viewer numbers worthy of that third season and announced the show was among those going “on hiatus.

TV is indeed a funny thing. All kinds of great shows get pitched by some very talented people to the various networks and new media outlets. Rare is the one that actually has a pilot show produced, let alone aired for the viewing public. And the odds to get a full season pick up? Even higher against. The fact that “Timeless” managed to get two seasons worth of shows aired is pretty good, when you come right down to it.

But the fact is, television is an expensive proposition. If the stories are to be believed, Timeless cost $4 million an episode to produce for broadcast. The days of episodes for under $100,000 are long gone. Advertisers may not even cover today’s costs, so the production company hopes that a show will bring forth a profit at some point.

I’m am unabashed fan of time travel television. From CBS’s “You Are There” to ABC and Irwin Allen with “The Time Tunnel”, to Fox and “Sliders”, to NBC and “Quantum Leap”.

But “Timeless”? Call me a curmudgeon, but I just never got involved as I had with those other shows. And the whole Rittenhouse/bad guy thing never really seemed worth investing time in. Although, the “putting right, what once went wrong” had been a big part of why I enjoyed “Quantum Leap”.

After everything “Timeless” had been through, it all came down to killing one conspirator at a point in time to save another character, with the brave death of another. Author Gladys Taber said that she felt killing off characters was a cheap writers device when they couldn’t think of anything else. And in this case, I heartily agree. It was all too easy and all too neat, wrapped up tightly to get the heroes home and safe.

Good story telling always takes unexpected turns. Audiences need to see the thing they don’t expect. Think of a “wild mouse” roller coaster. Some of what makes if most fun is the unexpected sharp turns, especially when you don’t anticipate them.

In the case of “Timeless” what we got was everything we expected. And that was a problem for me. I would have much rather seen the team have to work for a solution. It just wasn’t as satisfying an ending as it deserved.

Rarely does anything end up clean and neat.

Maybe audiences can get better in the next television series that treads into the alternate universes of time travel.