Who is Will Traveler? That’s the question ABC hopes television viewers will be asking themselves all summer. But placing the “preview” after Grey’s Anatomy was an interesting choice; Traveler, like Grey’s, is a serialized drama, but it is not a sex-driven soap opera. No, Traveler is more of an action-oriented, logic-eschewing bad 80s television show. Think “The Fugitive” with 20-somethings, and yet it's strangely boring.
Jay (Matthew Bomer), Tyler (Logan Marshall-Green) and Will (Aaron Stanford) are grad school friends embarking on a road trip who decide to pull a “simple prank”: rollerblade through one of New York City’s most famous museums. Of course something goes horribly wrong, and Jay and Tyler end up prime suspects in a terrorist bombing, while Will ends up missing. Jay and Tyler attempt to go to the authorities, but when it turns out that Will never existed, they have a lot of explaining to do. Was Will really their friend or did he set them up?
Created by David DiGilio (“8 Below”), produced by Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen (“Big Fish,” “Down With Love,” “American Beauty”), and directed by David Nutter (The X Files, Without a Trace, Supernatural) this series comes with a pedigree. But it’s one that doesn’t pay off. It feels dated (indeed it is a leftover from 2006’s pilot season) with tiresome characters that seem created for a film school thesis. Bomer (Tru Calling), as good-guy Jay, is a nice looking but generic actor; Marshall-Green (The OC) brings some angst to rich guy Tyler, but it’s all material that has been done before. Jay: “We need to call the authorities! We’re innocent!” Tyler: “We can’t! We’re suspects!” etc.
The pilot featured Jay and Tyler racing around New York City evading cops, while Tyler called his big-shot father for advice. It’s hard to fathom how this story can sustain an entire series, because one can’t help but think this would end if the boys just went to the authorities and explained that there really was a Will Traveler. Sure, there are no existing pictures of his face, but there are pictures of him. And was he not enrolled in grad school? Because if he wasn’t, shouldn’t someone else have been rooming with Jay and Tyler? How does the school explain that? The guys would probably have to spend a night or two in jail, but couldn’t Tyler’s father use his connections to get them a good lawyer? Doesn’t running make the guys appear guilty? These are all questions that viewers should not be asking themselves.
Instead viewers are treated to the clichéd good cop/bad cop, the doting girlfriend, and vast government conspiracies. This has all been done before, only better. Who is Will Traveler? Who cares?
Karen Woodward - Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, I've lived in Los Angeles since 1994. A communications major at University of Colorado, ...
