TRAVELER Sneak Peek Tonight

I secretly love this time of year.  Yes my favorite shows are taking that long summer break, but there are a crop of new shows hitting the scene. Remember when there was nothing but repeats on during the summer? Gone are those days.  The lines between when the official TV season begins and ends are blurred.  New shows premiere throughout the year…and sometimes right before the end of the TV season.  So it the case of the new ABC show TRAVELER which premieres tonight at 10pm, right after Grey’s Anatomy.

Please let me apologize for not telling you about this show until now.  I recieved the screener for the pilot some time ago but I wanted to wait to write about it until the premiere got closer – you know, so it was fresh in your minds.  I didn’t realize until about an hour ago that the ABC sneak peek premiere was tonight.  My bad.

So what you really need to know is if you should set the TiVo for TRAVELER tonight.  In my opinion – YES!!  The first episode was an exhilarating hour of suspense and maybe I be so bold to say that it reminded me a bit of ALIAS. This isn’t a spy drama, but it had that same “I have no idea what’s going to happen next” vibe that made Alias so intriguing. TRAVELER is dark and does ask the viewer to forgive some unrealistic plot points (which may be answered in future episodes), but I thought it was worthy of my valuable TV time.

Here’s the low down on the show.  Three recent Yale Graduate students: Jay Burchell (Matthew Bomer), Will Traveler (Aaron Stanford) and Tyler Fog (Logan Marshall-Green – best known as Trey from THE OC) embark on a cross country road trip before beginning their lives in the professional world. The begin their journey by checking into a posh Manhattan hotel and plan on taking in the Big Apple before settling into a cramped car for a few months.  Their first stop in NYC in the famous Drexler Museum. At the suggestion of Will, the threesome decide to live it up and have a little fun. Will dares Jay and Tyler to throw on their rollerblades and race from the top level of the museum to the bottom without getting caught.  As Will stays behind to videotape them, the pair race down the stairs while being chased by security guards.  Sharing a laugh just minutes after making it out the museum, Jay gets a call from Will.  Will first makes sure the guys are out of the museum before apologizing and abruptly hanging up the phone.  Just seconds later the Drexler Museum explodes.  Before having time to process what happened Jay and Will spot themselves on TV as the two suspects in the bombing. Uh Oh!

The story continues to unfold as Jay and Tyler try to figure out Will’s involvement.  Did they ever really know their friend at all?  And once it’s revealed that someone took a major insurance policy out on the art showcased in the museum, the boys realize that this is bigger than just Will – they are being framed.

On the run from the Feds the guys don’t know who they can trust.  Help seems to come from unexpected sources, but everyone seems to have their own agenda.  Who is behind this?  And who is Will Traveler?

I sometimes feel like my recommendation of the show is the kiss of death (see The Nine, Drive, etc).  But I’m going to go ahead and take my chances.  Check out TRAVELER tonight after Grey’s Anatomy and let me know what you think about the adventure.

Watch a preview on ABC