The Time Traveler's Wife......tv series coming soon?

[Samurai8472]

http://io9.com/5340066/time-travelers-wife-leaps-onto-television

On the heels of a successful opening weekend, ABC has announced its plans for television adaptation of The Time Traveler's Wife, with Friends creator Marta Kauffman. The time travel romance may span a lifetime, but can it span multiple seasons?
ABC claims it has been working with Kauffman for years on a possible small-screen adaptation of Audrey Niffenegger's novel. The plan is for the romance between Clare and the time-traveling (and, incidentally, television-allergic) Henry to unfold over the course of several seasons, with individual episodes having their own story lines.
Normally, I'm all for adapting novels for television and giving them more room to breathe than they get in a feature film, but with The Time Traveler's Wife, I'm much more hesitant. The novel is such a self-contained animal, constantly folding in on itself and exploring the predestination paradox created by Henry's time travel and the tragic consequences of his condition, making it much more suited to a miniseries or feature film than a long-form television epic. And Journeyman, Fox's now-defunct series that also focused on involuntary time travel, worked because it was an adventure and mystery story, and its time-traveling protagonist was able to alter the timeline with his actions. Henry is, by comparison, leading a fairly ordinary life, and can alter nothing. But I suspect that, in a full-length series, Henry's time travel would be an incidental part of his character, and we would be seeing more of a How I Met Your Mother where the romantic lead occasionally happens to visit younger and older versions of his wife

And so Henry leaps from time hoping his next leap will be the leap home!
I too get "Journeyman" vibes from this.

 

[Agent Richard07]

I was going to mention Journeyman too. The movie and the show were virtually identical. A new series would just be another Journeyman.

 

[watermelony2k]

If it's like Journeyman, count me in. If not, hopefully it adds its own spin to the premise.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

If Journeyman couldn't survive in the ratings, what makes them think another iteration of the same concept will?

 

[auntiehill]

My thoughts exactly. This will get old very fast and viewers will tire of it quickly. If Journeyman couldn't last, neither would this.

 

[Hunter X]

Logically, that's a good point. But since when was the success of TV shows logical? I have no idea if this would be successful or not. You could do some interesting things with such a series, I think. Lost's fifth season is a good example of a time travel story that follows pretty much the same rules that the Time Traveler's Wife does. Could it work under the romance genre as opposed to a sci-fi/mystery/adventure genre? I haven't seen it tried on television before.

These things always seem to depend more on some magical, indefinable combination of perfect casting, accessible but not completely stupid writing and excellent pacing, rather than premise.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Oooh, here's the kiss of death:

ABC executives believe the complex plot of the original novel will work well in series form, since Kauffman will be able to explore the romantic relationship at the core of the story over the course of several seasons.

Attention, Hollywood morons! Nobody watches sci fi for the relationships! You are thinking of doctor shows!!! Do not get the two confused!!!

 

[Kelso]

I'll watch it.

 

[Harvey]

If Journeyman couldn't survive in the ratings, what makes them think another iteration of the same concept will?

Because it's based on a profitable book that was just released as a profitable film even in the face of mixed to average reviews. Like it says in the original article.

Attention, Hollywood morons! Nobody watches sci fi for the relationships! You are thinking of doctor shows!!! Do not get the two confused!!!

It'll be best to ignore The X-Files then, one of the most profitable science fiction series of the last twenty years, if not the most, at least on television. There's no way executives could be channeling that series. They probably don't remember Farscape, though, even if that series hanged on that romantic relationship between the two leads.

 

[InvisibleGT]

If Journeyman couldn't survive in the ratings, what makes them think another iteration of the same concept will?

Well, perhaps this version will not only be well written, but also well acted. (And this is coming from a Kevin McKidd fan.)

 

[Temis the Vorta]

If Journeyman couldn't survive in the ratings, what makes them think another iteration of the same concept will?

Because it's based on a profitable book that was just released as a profitable film even in the face of mixed to average reviews. Like it says in the original article.

A successful movie doesnt necessarily translate to a TV franchise. Just ask the Terminator folks.

Attention, Hollywood morons! Nobody watches sci fi for the relationships! You are thinking of doctor shows!!! Do not get the two confused!!!

It'll be best to ignore The X-Files then, one of the most profitable science fiction series of the last twenty years, if not the most, at least on television. There's no way executives could be channeling that series. They probably don't remember Farscape, though, even if that series hanged on that romantic relationship between the two leads.

The X-Files had fun stories and a compelling mythos (if botched but we didn't know that till well into the series run) to keep everyone interested. And Farscape definitely had a lot more going for it than Aeryn & Crichton - it would have still been great minus that relationship, which is the point.

I wouldn't mind a show with a strong premise and oh by the way, there's a solid romantic story too, but you gotta have that strong premise first. Time-travel-probem-of-the-week interspersed by a lot of angst sounds like a recipe for utter boredom. You know the time travel problem won't be solved, so the angst will quickly become highly annoying and repetitive.

And the other problem is, a romantic plotline depends strongly on the chemistry of the actors. Nobody will know if that works till it's too late to change and most of the time, attempted chemistry fails.

 

[Samurai8472]

Time-travel-problem-of-the-week interspersed by a lot of angst sounds like a recipe for utter boredom. You know the time travel problem won't be solved, so the angst will quickly become highly annoying and repetitive.

That's what I was thinking. Just like Journeyman it could be

Adventure for the week + a bit of the romantic subplot/ dealing with a Time Traveler.

Henry has to save people otherwise it's bleh.

 

[Mistral]

Why not just pick Journeyman back up?

 

[barnaclelapse]

Logically, that's a good point. But since when was the success of TV shows logical? I have no idea if this would be successful or not. You could do some interesting things with such a series, I think. Lost's fifth season is a good example of a time travel story that follows pretty much the same rules that the Time Traveler's Wife does. Could it work under the romance genre as opposed to a sci-fi/mystery/adventure genre? I haven't seen it tried on television before.

These things always seem to depend more on some magical, indefinable combination of perfect casting, accessible but not completely stupid writing and excellent pacing, rather than premise.

Agreed. It's often just a question of the right place, the right time.

I'll probably try to check it out, at any rate.

 

[Deckerd]

Was the Time Traveller's Wife that successful? The film I mean, not the book.

 

[Samurai8472]

It's doing decent business with average reviews. It's number 3 at the box office.

 

[RobertScorpio]

If it's like Journeyman, count me in. If not, hopefully it adds its own spin to the premise.

I got no romantic vibe from the Journey Man show..make no mistake about, folks, this show is being aimed at women NOT men. So if they ramp up the romantic element (which I like, I have to admit) then I think it can be better than journeyman.

Rob

 

[Aragorn]

If anyone is interested, all 13 episodes of Journeyman are on Hulu.

 

[Sakrysta]

I am normally a staunch, "Don't judge it until you see it" person.

And admittedly, I probably will not be able to resist giving the show a try.

But I hate that they're making it. My inner toddler is throwing a tantrum right now. I love the book. I loved the movie. A TV show will either be lame and last forever, or be good and get shafted. We had the good version with Journeyman. I can't bear the thought of The Time Traveler's Wife being made into a show that will seem like a lame imitation of Journeyman, even though we know it's not.

The book is a cohesive, whole story. To break it up episodically - despite how it might seem to be a good idea (this week Henry travels back to when Clare was 15; this week he goes back and sees his mother sing; etc.) - I just don't think it will work.

Or I don't want it to work.

Yes, I'm being irrational. Does that make you less irrational, if you acknowledge your own irrationality?

DO. NOT. WANT.

 

[AviTrek]

Oooh, here's the kiss of death:

ABC executives believe the complex plot of the original novel will work well in series form, since Kauffman will be able to explore the romantic relationship at the core of the story over the course of several seasons.

Attention, Hollywood morons! Nobody watches sci fi for the relationships! You are thinking of doctor shows!!! Do not get the two confused!!!

Attention sci fi fans, no one watches sci fi shows, they watch shows with relationships.