A pretty decent new sci-fi hourlong from Eric Kripke (“Revolution,” “Supernatural”) and Shawn Ryan (“Last Resort,” “The Shield”), “Timeless” depicts what happens when a mysterious Eastern European criminal steals a time machine to destroy America by destroying the past.
A scientist, a soldier and a history professor use the machine’s prototype to travel back in time to stop him. The cast includes Abigail Spencer (“True Detective”) as the historian, Matt Lanter (“90210”) as the muscle, Malcolm Barrett (“Better Off Ted”) as the coder, Goran Visnjic (“ER”) as the bad guy.
Barrett’s character makes a good point about history not being awesome for you if you’re black, and Spencer – who played Sally Draper’s hot teacher in “Mad Men,” remains beguiling.
Somebody spent a lot of time designing the two time machines, which look pretty cool whether they’re standing still or whisking the heroes and villains to centuries past.
I liked the “Timeless” pilot a lot better than pilots for “Revolution” and “The Last Resort.” I probably also like it better than similar time travel series like “Time Tunnel,” “Doctor Who” and “Legends of Tomorrow” – but not nearly as much as Hulu’s adaptation of Stephen King’s “11.22.63” or “Journeyman” or “Looper” or “The Terminator” or any of the “Back To The Future” movies. It may be on par with Syfy’s “12 Monkeys” or UPN’s “Seven Days.” I’d need to see more to be certain.
(If “Timeless” doesn’t power your hoverboard, worry not. A bunch of other new time-travel TV shows are just around the corner, including The CW’s “Frequency,” Fox’s “Making Time” and ABC’s “Time After Time.”)
... “Timeless” isn’t good, exactly, but in the experienced hands of Mr. Kripke and Mr. Ryan it combines enough goodish elements to be enjoyable. The premise is sufficiently nifty that you can choose to overlook the banal ways in which the weekly mystery-adventures are handled. …
.. a mostly straight-faced, frequently corny, occasionally high-minded adventure thriller ... a live-action version of Mr. Peabody and Sherman traveling back in time to make sure that history happens as it’s supposed to, with more fight scenes and fewer jokes. …
... This is a TV show in an admirably old-fashioned sense of the word, with a tight, action-packed pilot episode that is casually fun and intriguingly executed. There’s also a thought-provoking science-fiction premise that doesn’t clumsily reach for the profoundly metaphorical.
The San Francisco Chronicle says:
... The dialogue is snappy and witty, as is the direction. …
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:
... “Timeless” is not serious, thoughtful TV. But it is well-produced, escapist fun …
... If you dwell on time-travel paradoxes too much, you’ll go mad, and that advice holds for this show: Come for the ride, enjoy the appealing cast and the sheer adventure. In the midst of a dark and dreary fall TV season, “Timeless” is something to set the clock for.…
... I’m hooked on the idea of not having to watch this amateurish effort to summon the ghosts of “Quantum Leap” and “Time Tunnel.” The rules of time travel and changing history are doomed. The efforts to point out the racism of earlier times are flat. Grade: D …
... At times, this all makes for an entertaining adventure, especially when Rufus is in full rant. It can also, however, be a rather sluggish one. …
... a mixture of reasonably well-executed period thrills, thin characters, historical facts the writers gleaned from Googling, time-travel paradoxes that you probably don't want to pick at and little details I liked enough that I'll probably keep watching, even if the show's frustrations pile up quickly. …
... either unintentionally brilliant or unintentionally just very funny …
10 p.m. Monday. NBC.
