Kevin McKidd from NBC’s Journeyman to ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy. Matt Bomer from ABC’s Traveler to NBC’s Chuck and USA’s White Collar. Sonya Walger from HBO’s Tell Me You Love Me to ABC’s Lost and Flashforward. Well done.

Kevin McKidd

On September 24, 2009 a sci-show aired on NBC that told the story of Dan Vasser’s inexplicable jumps through time à la Quantum Leap. I rather enjoyed the show, but it was canceled in April of 2008. Kevin McKidd was spectacular in the show and I hoped that he would find a place somewhere. The next thing I saw him in was Made of Honor (2008) with Patrick Dempsey. That same year he made his debut as Dr. Owen Hunt on ABC’s medical drama, Grey’s Anatomy, alongside Dempsey. That is where he remains. Meanwhile NBC has canceled its new show Trauma, but kept Mercy to compete with Grey’s Anatomy on Thursdays. While I hadn’t watched either show, Trauma appeared to be the more exciting of the two. Incidentally, both Journeyman and Trauma were set in San Francisco. I doubt NBC will try SF again.

Matt Bomer

The ABC drama-thriller Traveler first aired on May 10th of 2007, only to see its last day on July 18th of the same year. Bomer played Jay Burchell, a graduate student embroiled in a conspiracy-laden terrorist plot. Again, this show seemed to be as good or better than other new shows, but disappeared quickly. He then jumped over to NBC (the opposite of McKidd’s move) to star as Bryce Larkin on Chuck (which has just gotten an extra 6 episodes ordered, on top of the original 13). His newest show, White Collar, premiered last night on USA. He stars alongside Tim DeKay, who was in Tell Me You Love Me with Sonya Walger. Oh, look.

Sonya Walger

Also in September of 2007, an HBO show called Tell Me You Love Me debuted. Featuring Sonya Walger as Carolyn (I don’t know what she did, because I didn’t watch it), the show ended a mere two months later. Fear not, for she had (and still has, in all likelihood) a small  recurring role in ABC’s Lost, as Penelope Widmore. Now, however, she stars in ABC’s Flashforward (an example of a whole show being made out of one small piece of Lost) as Olivia Benford. Here we see the whole world pass out for a couple of minutes, with Olivia’s husband seeing bits and pieces of the future investigation. So far, so good.

Conclusion

I can’t help but laugh at the fact that Journeyman (a show about jumping through time) and Traveler (a show about conspiracy and cover-up) were canceled while Flashforward (a show about jumping through time AND government conspiracy/cover-up) seems to be doing great. Don’t get me wrong, I’m enthralled by it (which means it will probably be canceled). Also, Tell Me You Love Me (a show about 3 couples and their intimacy problems) was canceled while Grey’s Anatomy (arguably about the same thing) keeps going strong. Either way, let’s hope these actors stick around in one way or another, because they are excellent.