By Kenn Gold
Kevin Falls, Executive Producer and creator of NBC’s time travel drama Journeyman, recently visited the Talking Journeyman segment of BlogTalkRadio.com’s Shaun O’Mac Radio to answer questions about the series for Host Shaun Daily, and MediaBlvd Magazine’s Kenn Gold.
Best known for his work on The West Wing, and Shark, Falls is enjoying the challenges that go along with exploring the new-to-him science fiction genre. However, the series may be best described as an in-depth emotional drama with a science fiction/fantasy background. Journeyman airs on NBC on Monday’s in the post-Heroes timeslot.
You can listen to the full, unedited interview on at blogtalkradio.com/shauonmacradio. Excerpts from the interview are below.
Kenn> I have to say, as a SciFi fan, casting Joel (The 4400) as the Vassers father was a great call. Was that someone you intentionally sought out?
Kevin Falls> Wasn’t he good? Didn’t he look like somebody out of that era with that mustache? I think he came in like that, I’m not so sure the mustache and sideburns weren’t there when he came in! He almost has that seventies swagger. We’re using him again in the Christmas episode.
Shaun> Even down to the scene when his wife called, and he blew her off- like his job as a journalist came first.
Kevin Falls> Those are the kind of details we like to do on the show, and I’m glad you guys recognize that.
Shaun> What episode are you shooting right now?
Kevin Falls> We’re shooting the ninth episode to air. It’s very, very dark, and it’s the second of a two parter. It’s very cool and dark at the same time.
Shaun> So how do you think it’s going so far? Maybe we’ll try to pull some spoilers out of you.
Kevin Falls> It’s such a wonderful experience working with this cast and crew, and even the network and studio. Twentieth Century Fox, and NBC love this show, and Kevin McKidd basically puts the show on his back. I don’t want to tip what happens in that episode, but it’s very grueling episode to do. And yet he comes in and just loves doing it. We’re a little disappointed in the numbers, and it has everyone worried. Or it has everyone scratching their heads, because we feel like we’re doing something really special, and the fanbase that we have kind of knows that. And we’re puzzled why more people haven’t come to the party. Our best stuff is ahead of us, and we haven’t even hit our stride yet.
Kevin Falls> Next weeks is a great episode, then we’re into the stretch run. I’d love to hear what you guys think about those episodes.
Kenn>One of the things that I’m so impressed about is that it’s really a show about the dramas set in a Sci Fi world. The previews for this weeks episode with him disappearing while with his son in a big crowd is every parent’s nightmare.
Kevin Falls> NBC marketed it as if it would be all about that, and that was kind of just a jumping off point. But you really are right in that it is character driven. My background isn’t in Sci Fi. I think even the smartest and most ambitious shows talking about what’s going on in the world are really from Sci Fi. I’m from West Wing and we were doing that there, but no one is really doing that anymore except for the Sci Fi shows. Because I didn’t have that background, Alex Graves and I are two guys who don’t believe in time travel, but we have a great respect for that genere. And Sci Fans didn’t turn their nose up at it. We’re really encouraged by the response of guys like you who really know that genere.
Shaun> I like it that Sci Fi doesn’t dominate. It’s in the background with him going back and forth and dealing with his marriage and his son. That scene last night where his son saw him disappear was just something. That kid is a great actor- I’d like to see him when he gets older. You’d swear, Kevin McKidd and that boy are father and son in real life.
Kevin Falls> He’s so damn cute. He’s also playing a young Brad Pitt in a new movie. The camera just loves him. He’s just learning his craft right now, and he’s only seven.
Shaun>How are you going from the mindset of West Wing to Journeyman? It’s got the human drama of a West Wing, but you have the time travel aspect.
Kevin Falls> Certainly that look…Alex is brilliant, not only in working with actors and the story, but he also delivers a beautiful, glossy, cinematic look that I wanted. No matter what you do, you want to tell stories that are compelling and you feel compassionate about with interesting characters. That’s universal for me. You couldn’t be talking about two more different generes, but there are similarities in the passion that we bring. Some shows like the big hook in the beginning with the audience, but that’s how we finish. We you are going to brush your teeth, but are still thinking about later that night.
Kevin Falls> By the way, this is something I’ve told NBC, but no one ever listens to me. It’s pronounced Journeyman, and NBC insists on calling it Journey Man. I was in a marketing meeting, and I said “I know there’s red on the man, but it’s journeyman” And they said, “well we’ve done some testing and it’s better if it’s Journey Man.” So if you guys really want to be on the inside, it’s Journeyman.
Kenn>So where does the name come from? Is it kind of like a traveling apprentice that goes around learning his skill?
Kevin Falls> Yeah, very much. I didn’t want it to be like, “Here’s this superhero”. It’s kind of like this guy who is grinding it out day by day doing these things. It’s like a job, like a traveling salesman. It’s the ultimate traveling job, then you come home to a family. It was really almost a temporary title, then it kind of stuck.
Shaun> Now Dr. Langley, he showed up last night, and was very creepy. You could tell he was not all he seems to be. Will he show up in future episodes?
Kevin Falls> Yes, he will play a big part, as will a character who…was the FBI agent Garrity in it last night? He’ll start playing a bigger role as the antagonist coming up. But it’s not going to be what you think it is. Let’s put it that way. I know there’s some speculation that isn’t necessarily correct.
Kenn>So how long is it in the arc before we find out why he’s traveling or how he’s traveling? Is that mapped out yet?
Kevin Falls> It is, and I think we owe it to the audience to find who Livia is, and who Dan is. I mean they were dating, and they are time travelers- why those two? That’s what we’re going to address in sweeps. You’ll know by episode 9, or actually 7 or 8 who Livia is. Then we’ll get into Langley and who he is up until episode 12, then god willing, towards the end of the season we’ll get into what this is all about in a global sense.
Shaun> You know, the fans have started up a campaign for Journeyman, we’re sending aspirin to NBC.
Kevin Falls> Oh, that’s great! You’ll have to send me a couple too.
Shaun>You know, Dan gets all these headaches, and so we’re going to send all of these travel packs.
Kevin Falls> laughs) I don’t even know if I’m supposed to condone it, but I’ll wink and say go ahead. Thank you, that’s clever.
Shaun>That $20 bill that Jack wound up with in 1 or 2. Now is that going to dovetail into something else later on in the season?
Kevin Falls> Very much so. That will play a big part in whats coming later in the season. The $20 bill will come back in a big way.
Kenn>Let me just ask about exploding citrus. Shaun and I were talking about it, and that has got to be a big clue about something, it can’t just be a throwaway line can it?
Kevin Falls> Well, I have to confess, it was a throwaway line. I feel like everything else is so planned out, that the citrus thing just became a joke. You can’t take pictures back there and bring them back, because they just come back as static, because there’s a kind of electrical field, But I just thought it might be nice to give her a sense of humor. But just because we said it was a throwaway line, that doesn’t mean you won’t see something with it.
Shaun>The Luna café seems like it’s a hub, and scenes revolve around it. Is that planned, or just the way it is?
Kevin Falls> Well, it is Brigadoon. There certainly is something there and to be honest, Luna is my daughters nickname. But there is something about that place, because production dictates it. BUT we decided to embrace it as something they gravitate towards. There will be something mythologically that will play out down the road.
Shaun>Is Journeyman the first series since Streets of San Franciso to embrace the town?
Kevin Falls> Well, Nash Bridges and I’m sure there are some other shows. San Francisco would love for us to move production there, but Fox wants to keep production close to them. What we do, is we’ll go up there 3 times a year, and we’ll grab scenes for 4 or 5 episodes. If we go over budget, or if the numbers don’t hold out, it makes it difficult to go back there for another trip. But we shot a lot in downtown LA, which you’ll see in the 6th episode, and I thought Alex did an excellent job of giving the feel of San Franciso in downtown LA, which is getting hard to shoot in, because it’s been through a resurgence. Now there are so many residents, it’s difficult to shoot downtown.
caller>So do you give thought to the serialized nature of the show, and how that will affect raitings.
Kevin Falls> Do you have tivo by chance, or DVR? Just turn that thing on as a night light, and watch it in the first 3 days because it’s measured. If you wait it week, it’s not going to mean as much. That’s just one of those little tricks there if you really are passionate about the show, you want to watch it in those first 3 days.
We’re really passionate about serial shows, but with the audience, if they miss the first 3 or 4 shows, they feel like they’ve missed the boat. That’s one of the problems I had with Heroes. I missed a couple, and I didn’t go back, and I fear that could be happening with Journeyman. We had a stand alone core to each show. You can watch the 5th or 6th episode and still be entertained. But we want to reward the audience that watch every week. But we’re different than the serial shows like Lost and Heroes in that we will have these stand alone shows.
caller>What do you think of the comparisons to Quantum Leap.
Kevin Falls> I never watched Quantum Leap. I read the first 50 pages of Time Traveler’s Wife, which is the other work for which we get questions like that. But I quit after I pitched it, because I don’t want to get into any kinds of issues with that book. I adapted a book, believe it or not, called the touch, a year before Pushing Daisies. I noticed right away, everyone saying they’re ripping off Quantum Leap, but I’d never watched it. Listen, we should be so lucky as that show, because it was very successful with a lot of fans. If we get half as far as they did, I’d be very pleased. But, no, I don’t think it helped it or hurt it. No one at NBC mentioned it til after the pilot had been shot.
Kevin Falls> If you’r a writer, you’re certainly influcenced by what you’re read in your life. You do end up duplicating things. There are only 8 ideas! But I don’t want to conciouslly end up duplicating somebodies work. When we’re in the writing room, and somebody says they did that on Hereoes, or Lost, we just completely move off it. We really push ourselves to do what no one else has done before.
Shaun>Now SCI FI Channel aired the pilot, but none of the others. Is there some problem there with 20th Century Fox?
Kevin Falls> I don’t know, I thought they were going to repurpose it. I should get into that with them. Are they doing that with Heroes and other shows?
Shaun>With Bionic Woman they are. Bionic Woman is bouncing around. They did with Hereos last year.
Kevin Falls> I was on the phone about that today. “How come we’re watching Chuck and Hereoes on there?”, but they have their reasons, and the network has been so supportive of our show.
