This review contains MAJOR SPOILERS for the series premiere of "Journeyman."

"Journeyman" is a new time-travel series from NBC. Time travel is a tricky beast for television. On one hand, you have a success like "Quantum Leap," but you also have the recent failure of "Day Break." So, will this new adventure in time survive for a long future or be lost in a timestorm of falling ratings? Well, Ill get to that in a minute.

Scottish actor Kevin McKidd ("Rome") plays Dan Vasser, a successful newspaper reporter at the San Francisco Chronicle. He is happily married with a child and preparing to celebrate his wedding anniversary.

But things take a bizarre twist when Dan suddenly appears in the past and saves a man about to kill himself. Then whoosh : he is back. But time has passed, and everyone is wondering where he disappeared to.

This is where we realize that Dans marriage hasnt always been great. He once had problems with gambling and perhaps substance abuse (although that isnt clear), so no one is buying his "Sorry Im late, I was time traveling : my bad." To complicate things, he keeps running into his ex-fiancé who is destined to die.

Dan continues traveling back in time without any control, always jumping back into this mans life to change things for the better (a la "Quantum Leap"). Dan has to figure out why this is happening, what he is supposed to do during these trips, and try to save his marriage. Plus, he isnt the only one jumping around time, which deepens the mystery.

What Worked

Leading up to this premiere, everyone has been comparing this series to "Quantum Leap." Im glad to say that this isnt a "Quantum Leap" clone. Unlike Sam Beckett, Dan isnt lost in time because he does come back. That does cause a problem in explaining where he has been or why he suddenly disappeared. Also, Dan doesnt have a holographic partner to help him figure out what he needs to do, which makes things a little tougher. Lastly, Dan has a family, which complicates things.

There are a lot of great things here. The cast is strong, and one of the final scenes with Dan and his wife shows how dramatically powerful this show can be. The other traveler adds an extra layer to the series that will be interesting to see play out.

What Didnt Work

The concept of traveling back in time to make things right sounds cool, but could become old after a while if the writers arent careful.

The biggest problem (which is sometimes a strength) is the complicated backstory of Dans relationship with his wife. You see, his wife Katie (Gretchen Egolf) used to be with his brother Jack (Reed Diamond), but after Dans fiancé Livia Beale (Moon Bloodgood) died, Katie left Jack and ended up marrying Dan. Did you get that? Needless to say, much of the pilot is spent explaining this complicated web of soap-opera drama. But, if they keep moving forward without letting this drag down future stories, then I think the show will have a chance. What worries me is that the story of Dan traveling back to save someones future felt like a generic story used to introduce us to the series concept.

Along those lines, I found Katies reaction to Dans disappearances to be odd. I know that Dan has had some problems, but the pacing of this seemed strange to me.

Final Thoughts

Im curious to see in what direction this series goes. Overall, this was a strong pilot, and Im looking forward to more trips in time with Dan.

Credit Where Credit Is Due

"Journeyman" was created by Executive Producer Kevin Falls ("The West Wing," "Sports Night," "Shark"). Falls wrote the pilot, "A Love of a Lifetime," and the episode was directed by Alex Graves ("The West Wing"). "Journeyman" airs Monday nights on NBC at 10/9c following "Heroes."