Journeyman Cancelled?

(Updated 12 December 2007, 11 August 2008): NBC will air the twelfth, final produced episode of Journeyman on Wednesday 19 December at 10.00 pm ET/PT in the US. It's currently screening on Sky One in the UK.

Broadcast reported 12 December that the US network had until 11 December to give a full-season pickup to time-travel drama but has allowed the option to lapse, which means it has all but cancelled the 20th Century Fox-produced series.

This terrific show, which centres on a man who unexpectedly finds he can time travel but has no control over when or where he goes (but it is generally to help people, drawing comparions with Quantum Leap and, perhaps, Early Edition). If you aren't watching, give it a try -- it's really good!

Produced by Kevin Falls (also producer and writer on legal drama Shark and the The West Wing, interview here on Premium Hollywood), the show stars Kevin McKidd as the time travelling reporter Dan Wasser and Gretchen Egolf as beleagured wife Katie, coping not only with Dan's disappearances but an eight year old son who thinks his father can do magic and the knowledge that one of Dan's fellow timespirits is his believed-dead fiance.

Sadly, ratings have not been strong in the States and NBC has opted not to pick up the series for any additional episodes, although a fan campaign is underway to try to convince NBC otherwise. (It looks as though NBC may also have cancelled Bionic Woman starring former Eastenders' actress Michelle Ryan). Over 1500 people have signed a campaign petition and one campaign group also tried to boost the show's chances by organising a mass buy of the episode Blowback via iTunes in the US.

"All indications are that NBC doesn’t want to cancel this show," say campaign organiser. "They love it. They just can’t justify keeping it on the schedule."

They're urging people to send letters in support of the show to NBC's president and chief executive officer Jeff Zucker c/o NBC, Re: Journeyman, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10112 USA - and even send him Rice-a-Roni, the San Francisco treat, which you can buy by the case from Amazon and attach a short message using their sending options. (The length will limit your creativity, however).

"Orders trickling in over several days or weeks at 30 Rock might be even more effective - it’ll keep reminding Jeff Zucker that Ben Silverman, co-chairman of NBC Entertainment and NBC Universal Television Studio, has an order to place.

• Details on the fan campaign can be found at http://savejourneyman.net

Postscript, August 2008 (with thanks to Ian Cullen): Journeyman was not saved as we all now know, but in August 2008 AintItCool News published an interview with the series creator Kevin Falls about what would have happened on the show if it had continued: read the interview here

New ways to order comics?

With 2000AD going digital (see information on our new comics page), here's another interesting use of new technology.

MocoNews reports UK tabloid Sun has rolled out a quick response (QR) mobile barcode service that it hopes will enrich print ads by giving readers a quick way to access mobile web sites and their content.

Readers must first download the QR reader from software firm i-nigma on to their phones (some 150 handsets are supported), though some of the latest Nokia handsets have it pre-installed. (That's a plus, as I know from experience that the vast majority of web users don't like to download additional software to make a web site work, and I expect this will be even more the case for mobile, with their still limited memory capacity).

Once they have the reader on their phone, the service enables readers to send a photo of the QR code found in its paper in a print ad to launch them directly into its mobile sites where readers can download content such as videos, film trailers, and music.

There are of course other applications beyond providing connections to the mobile web: imagine taking this one stage further than downloading electronic content and being able to take a photo of an image, send it off and voila, you've just ordered a comic or magazine, the cost charged to your phone bill (the price of an item may admittedly might be higher than buying it in the shop, but I suspect publishers will set the prices to encourage usage at first). Fulfillment is a doddle: no filling in addresses as the seller simply uses the billing address for the mobile.

NMA.co.uk reports that News International, the Sun’s owner, is watching the take-up of the service closely, and may roll it out across all of its titles (which include The Times) if it proves successful. For its launch yesterday, the tabloid splashed the service across an eight-page pull-out supplement.

QR codes have proven highly popular in Japan since their introduction in 2002, where they have allowed people to download content as dense as mobile novels (and, I expect, mobile comics). Almost every Japanese phone ships with a built-in barcode reader that can decode both QR Codes and standard barcodes you find on retail items.

The potential cost savings in terms of advertising are enormous: publishers could run ads with a number of simple images for subscription deals for their entire stable of titles, enabling them to promote many more titles or products in a smaller space - a poster? a beermat? - than they could through traditional advertising.

This system could surely combine an electronic download with a real world item very easily. It will be interesting to see how this develops...

Londo in 2008?

It seems there aren't a lot of candidates Americans can agree upon in the US presidential elections. Fortunately, Babylon 5 creator and Amazing Sider-Man and Thor writer J. Michael Stracyznski (pictured right) has kindly solved the problem as a public service to all Americans, "providing a slate of candidates that will bring the country together in common cause and preserve many of this nations' finest electoral traditions."

With election posters now on sale via thejoestore, the first slate is Londo/G'Kar (or, for those who wish to be contrary, G'Kar/Londo is also available.) "They bring a combination of military training, a love of freedom, and sartorial excellences," the store advises as it offers election posters for sale. "They are also excellent public speakers and true patriots who put their people ahead of their own interests. Should the electorate find themselves not happy with the slate as elected, whoever is in second position will gladly assassinate the other in order to bring about a referendum."

Similarly, we're told the ticket of Zathras and Zathras "promises the best in crisis management at a difficult time for our nation. Their wisdom is inscrutable (also incomprehensible), their dedication to detail is almost frightening, and in times of economic belt-tightening by electing one Zathras you elect all Zathras, nine for the price of the One."

So, American readers, the future is here. You're so lucky. We just have Mr. Bean...

Tin Man breaks viewing records in the US

Three nights of The Wizard of Oz-inspired SciFi Channel US' Tin Man, produced by RHI Entertainment, has earned the miniseries "most watched miniseries in Sci Fi history" status with 5.3 million viewers over the three nights, 2.7 million A18-49 and 2.9 million A25-54, according to Nielsen's live and same day data.

The SFTV blog points out that considering SciFi's regular shows have been struggling to get much above a 1.0 rating, drawing a 4.2 Household rating is pretty significant. "It looks like if SciFi puts together something that catches peoples interest, they can still find the channel."

The series is an epic re-imagining of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz that gives the story a heavy science fiction fantasy emphasis and gives only allusionary references to most of the original story.

In total viewers, Tin Man surpassed both Dune (4.6 million viewers) and Taken (5.0 million viewers).

There's no word yet on whether SciFi UK or any other UK channel has accquired the rights to the mini series, but I'm sure it won't be long before there's an announcement. Both Hallmark and Sky One have screened RHI series in the past.