Twenty Faces Going Places

Every now and again you stumble across an actor who makes a deep impression, whether through a series of bit parts and supporting roles—or occasionally as the lead.

This list focuses on talent who captured my attention in the last year or two, and I’m hoping have chances to shine in 2017 and beyond. The kind of actors who inspire viewers to keep tuning in, who make characters seem so real, and who know how to truly emote.

(When working on scripts these are the thespians I imagine playing the parts. Fingers crossed I’ll work with at least a few of these amazing performers one day.)

20. Susan Wokoma

Britain’s Wokoma has popped up here and there over the years—including Chewing Gum in 2015, and a past episode of Misfits—yet new series Crazyhead is where she owns the screen. Raquel, her character, is not great at communicating subtly, but what she lacks in tact she makes up for in bravery.

Like Buffy, the character is fighting demons while attempting to maintain new friendships—a haphazard, complicated road, swinging from action to heartbreak and hilarity. Wokoma’s interpretation of the role, brash but vulnerable, is what makes the series. Dynamic in front of the camera, I’m guessing we’ll see a lot more of this talented performer.

19. Johanna Braddy

Over the last decade or so Johanna Braddy has had numerous regular TV roles, as well as single episode appearances in shows like Criminal Minds, Suburgatory, and Necessary Roughness, as well as animation voice work, but in 2015/16 she hit her stride with a fabulous part in UnREAL, and a role in Quantico.

The character of Anna in UnREAL showcased Braddy’s acting chops: contestant on a Bachelorette-style show, she’s soon reeling from her father’s unexpected death, while battling an eating disorder. Anna vacillates between competitive ruthlessness, rationalization, and emotional vulnerability. Many actors would have disappeared in the flood of beautiful contestants; Johanna Braddy’s performance made Anna deeply memorable.

18. Phumphothingam Nawat

Love Sick The Series is a BL (boy love) show from Thailand I only saw this year, with mostly inexperienced actors and a rough way of filming that created a documentary-like feel. A tale of high school romance between two teen boys, there is a clumsiness and energy that creates a rare sense of authenticity.

Nawat plays Phun, the son of a politician. His dad wants to set him up with a friend’s daughter, so he asks Noh to be his fake boyfriend…. Except the fake part doesn’t last long. Both lead actors are great, but I especially loved Nawat’s performance. He makes Phun extremely real thanks to a subtle emotive presence onscreen. Next up Nawat stars in the popular U Prince series.

17.  Echo Kellum

Fans of Arrow have seen the addition of Echo Kellum to the regular cast as Curtis Holt (and also Mr. Terrific). In a vigilante world where many characters are stoic, dark and uber cool, the awkward friendliness of Curtis works in contrast. After a beating, he begins training, and Kellum humanizes the difficult transition to superhero. Holt is also the first openly gay male character in the series.

Kellum has appeared in a number of shows over the last few years, including Sean Saves The World, You’re The Worst, and Hot in Cleveland, as well as voice work for the animations Elena of Avalor, and Rick and Morty. Thanks to his engaging energy, his characters stay in your mind; expect Kellum’s popularity to keep growing.

16. David Mazouz

If the young Bruce Wayne in Gotham looks familiar, it’s because the actor also appeared as the son of Keifer Sutherland’s character in Touch. (Not bad for someone in his early teens!).

Most people familiar with Batman know his parents were murdered. Mazouz made that element of the mythology chillingly real: watching the young Bruce suffer makes for heartbreaking television. Just like in Touch, the actor excels at emotionally complex scenes. Vulnerable, wounded, thoughtful and brave: kudos to Mazouz for bringing a new facet of the Batman legend to life on the small screen.

15. Ryu Hwa Young

With only a few kdrama roles under her belt, this South Korean actress has already made an impact on audiences; I first saw her in Ex-Girlfriend Club. Previously a member of a girl group, she’s transformed into a confident actress, and a major talent.

In the drama Age of Youth (also called Hello, My Twenties! on Netflix and often referred to as South Korea’s version of Girls) Ryu Hwa Young’s character Kang Yi Na has numerous lovers who fund her high-end lifestyle; yet underneath the sexual confidence and emotional distance are deep scars from a traumatic past. This is riveting stuff: she exudes strength onscreen, owning every scene. Can't wait to see her next project.

14. Richard Harmon

Speaking of actors who burn up the screen, Harmon’s intensity has made him the go-to actor for troubled, multifaceted characters. While he’s appeared onscreen from a relatively young age, in the last few years he’s had standout roles in Continuum, Bates Motel, and The 100.

The time travel tropes of Continuum gifted Harmon a meaty role as a teen who grows up to be the future leader of the rebellion. Time travelling agents want to either protect or assassinate him. Meanwhile present day Julian is a teenage boy going through tragedies, forced to face the repercussion of choices he hasn’t made yet. Over on The 100, his character Murphy progresses from a violent bully with murderous tendencies to an unpredictable ally.

13. Yang Yang

Love o2o is a romantic drama between college students who meet in an online game before they do in real life. Chinese heartthrob Yang Yang plays genius Xiao Nai. I liked Yang Yang’s performances in The Whirlwind Girl and The Lost Tomb; Love o2o cemented the impression he’s more than just a pretty face.

The collected way Yang Yang plays Xiao Nai is interesting. (In a Western TV show the female lead would crack his calm veneer, or he’d turn killer, but this kind of supreme control is seen as desirable in a Chinese drama.) Xiao Nai plays life like a game, always a step ahead, and is fiercely loyal to those around him. Yang Yang brought a reserved character to life in a way that implied controlled intensity and fascinating depths.

12. Scarlett Byrne

Byrnes is probably best known for appearing in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Parts 1 and 2. She gave a standout performance in the seventh season of The Vampire Diaries as half witch, half vampire Nora who wakes up in the modern world to discover, among other things, it’s okay to be gay. Dealing with relationship issues and life-threatening supernatural conflicts, Byrne’s delivery makes a character that might have been two-dimensional into a relatable being.

Previously she gave a fantastic performance in Falling Skies as Lexi. Genetic tampering accelerates Lexi’s growth; she becomes a human/alien hybrid distrusted by humans, and manipulated by aliens. A mix of dangerous and naïve, Byrne’s portrayal of the teen confirms her appearance in The Vampire Diaries wasn’t a fluke: she has a penchant for playing unearthly and vulnerable, yet powerful characters.

11. Jamie Clayton

If you’ve seen Sense8, you know Jamie Clayton gives a powerhouse performance as transgender blogger Nomi, who has to deal with both sci-fi problems and societal ones thanks to her family’s intolerance. I liked the parallel drawn between the two states of persecution: in each case, being different to the established “norm” puts characters in danger—in myriad ways.

You might have also caught her recent appearance in film The Neon Demon, and many remember her from the series Hung. I find Clayton really intense onscreen, and I love the emotional energy she brings to a role. Yes, she’s at the center of the Sense8 ensemble cast, but I’m hoping the next couple of years bring another show that focuses solely on her asa lead.

10. Max Brown

Australian actor Max Brown has appeared in long-running Aussie stalwart dramas Home and Away and Neighbours. He’s also worked behind the camera, as a producer and a writer. Now his acting credits are on the rise.

Most recently Brown can be seen in TV program Bringing Our Stories Home, which explores (meaning documents/dramatizes) narratives linked to the First World War. This year he also appeared in Secret City, a Foxtel original Australian political thriller series. Brown played Kevin Dang, a student who falls afoul of Chinese authorities. The suppressed tension and bold emotions he delivers make a stark impression.

9. Hannah Marks

I’ve always liked Hannah Marks onscreen, back to the days of Weeds and Flashforward, and more recently in Necessary Roughness and Awkward. She’s had one-episode appearances in shows like Castle, Grimm, and The Following. At present she appears in new Netflix series Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency as the long-suffering Amanda.

I think Marks is perfect for this role: her character has a disease (made up, for those wondering) where she hallucinates and experiences resulting pain. A dark comedic thread is present—this is based on a Douglas Adams book after all—and that is the kind of role Marks excels at playing, because while she nails the emotional gravitas she also manages to weave a humorous vibe through her performances.

8. Lee Won Geun

Cheer Up!—also known as Sassy Go Go—is a 2015 Korean series addressing teen bullying, suicide, cutting, education corruption, parental pressure, and the differing treatment of academic and non-academic high school students. Lee Won Geun played Kim Yeol, the school’s golden boy who reluctantly becomes involved with the lowest ranking performers through forced participation in a cheerleading club.

Lee Won Geun’s performance was outstanding. This year he took a supporting role in South Korea’s version of The Good Wife, and a lead in web series Thumping Spike 2. Hopefully in 2017 the actor will take more leading roles. His sweet vulnerability and understated intensity bring gentler emotional elements of the narrative into play.

7.  Millie Bobby Brown

One of the standout performances of popular 2016 series Stranger Things came from young Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven, a child with extraordinary abilities. Before that Brown made single episode appearances in Modern Family, NCIS and Grey’s Anatomy. She also had a role in Intruders, a sci-fi show I actually like a lot more than Stranger Things (I know I’m relatively alone with that opinion).

Brown also played a young Alice in Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. Millie Bobby Brown will undoubtedly have a lot of opportunities in the next few years, considering the intensity of her onscreen presence, rare in one so young. Look forward to seeing what projects she chooses.

6. Kaniehtiio Horn (also credited as Tiio Horn)

Kaniehtiio Horn is amazing. The Canadian Mohawk actor is one of the best things about Defiance (unrecognizable under SFX makeup as Rynn) and put in an incredible performance as Destiny Rumancek in Hemlock Grove; sure, the character is a scammer, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t possess legit supernatural skills. I also loved her appearance as (the original Wizard of Oz inspiring) Dorothy in an episode of Supernatural.

In 2016 her credits include roles in The Strain, Blank Page, The Man in the High Castle, and What Would Sal Do. Translation: I’m not the only who thinks this woman is brilliant. Next up, I want a show starring Horn. Onscreen she has this gritty, authentic energy that makes it seem like you’re watching a documentary, infused with wry humor.

5. Landon Liboiron

Another Hemlock Grove alumni, Liboiron, makes the list. Currently in new Netflix series Frontier, alongside Jason Momoa, Liboiron is one of my favorite actors. There are few things I dislike more than werewolf stories, yet I’ve seen all episodes of Hemlock Grove. His character is so sad and brave in that series!

Some will remember Liboiron from Terra Nova, and many are familiar with his work in Degrassi: The Next Generation. (I even recall a handful of appearances in Life Unexpected.) He recently appeared in short series Last Teenagers of the Apocalypse—written and directed by Avan Jogia—as the amnesiac Grim. Liboiron’s characters are always so soulful onscreen.

4. Mackenyu

Mackenyu is an American actor also fluent in Japanese, meaning he can appear in both English and Japanese speaking productions. What makes him stand out is that he immerses himself so completely in the parts, I often don’t realize until writing reviews and checking the cast that it is in fact Mackenyu again. Emotive and intense onscreen, even the way he moves and stands changes with each role.

From a coldhearted contemporary dancer in Yume wo Ataeru, to a talented, troubled saxophonist in Aogeba Toutoshi, and an introverted grieving teen in the Chihayafuru film trilogy, Mackenyu is a major talent. He’s recently been cast in Pacific Rim 2, and fingers crossed he’ll score a major role in a US TV drama series in the near future.

3. Britne Oldford

A quickly cancelled Pretty Little Liars spin-off, Ravenswood is a spooky show about teens doomed to die as a result of a town’s supernatural pact. Oldford’s character was tense but empathic, a great performance that helped carry the series through its pilot season.

You might have also seen her in The Flash last year, playing Shawna Baez/Peek-a-Boo. This year she appeared in Syfy series Hunters. Next year she’ll appear in the second season of The Path. Oldford has a confident screen presence. Looks like this Canadian is set tocontinue to expand her CV with  impressive performances.

2. Genevieve Angelson

In the last few years Angelson has added a series of standout performances to her resume. You might recognize her from House of Lies, or from short-lived series Backstrom. (This role in particular was well done because she played the rule-following character providing contrast to the zany/eccentric lead.)

Angelson really hit her stride in Good Girls Revolt, a drama looking at the struggles of female journalists in the newsrooms of America during the sixties and seventies. Her character Patti throws herself full throttle into her career, and that passion brings her as much pain as it does success: struggling against sexism in the workplace is neither easy nor fun. The role won her many fans, and the future looks bright for Angelson.

1. Sean Teale

Starring in new science fiction series Incorporated, a show that includes Ben Affleck and Matt Damon among its executive producers, Teale is perfectly cast as the corporate guy in a money-ruled dystopian future. Thing is, Teale’s character Ben is nowhere near as clean-cut as he seems: in fact, he’s running the biggest con in an attempt to save a loved one.

Teale has built a great resume of performances; you might remember him from roles in Reign, Mr. Selfridge, and Skins. Good to see him in the lead here. With Incorporated, it’s like he’s playing multiple parts since he has to be ruthless and duplicitous, but also kind and loving. For the character the lines are blurring, and Teale really communicates that inner conflict to the audience.

Fresh Sci-Fi Television For The Holidays

For a while sci-fi was in a rut (or to pun, lost in space) but recent times have seen an influx of thought-provoking scripted television shows. If you’re hungry for more—in an, alien intelligence that feeds on storylines infused with topical social commentary, kind of way—check out the pilot episode reviews below.

Some of the shows are released in a seasonal block, others aren’t screening in the US for another month, so in the interest of fairness I’ve stuck to one episode per series.

Of course, don’t forget shows that might have slipped under your radar. 12 Monkeys, The Expanse, Continuum, W: Two Worlds, and Les Revenantes are my top five in the last few years.

(A lot of people would probably include Black Mirror, Orphan Black, Sense8, Stranger Things, and The 100 in the mix, but a favorites list comes down to personal preferences/tastes.)

One thing most TV sci-fi writers appear to agree on is that the future is not a great place: dystopian storytelling is definitely “in”. The human psyche seems to have an uneasy relationship with scientific advances, a deep-seated worry about the lack of empathy the majority of humanity exhibits and how this will manifest in the future, as well as a fatalistic view of the human race's long-term chances of survival.

And after that chipper intro, here are the newbies. Please note my reviews contain spoilers. Frankly, I figured this is okay since the trailers contain more!

3%

This series is the first Netflix show to be shot in Brazil. Set in a future where a select few live in a version of Utopia, the title refers to the percentage of the masses that pass the selection process.

A very talented cast—notably the younger actors who play the desperate contenders—help ratchet up the tension; a number of the eliminated commit suicide to avoid going back to the slums, so the air of desperation is intense.

Naturally a rebel group not excited about the rich/poor dichotomy—aptly called The Cause—is shaking things up. They're trying to sneak in a spy, and the testing team is trying to pinpoint that spy. Meanwhile, internal politics among the rich community (Offshore) mean Ezequiel, the man who created and controls the testing process, is at risk of losing his power.

Want your kids to have a great future?
Think jenga, tetris, and a rubiks cube.

My first issue is with the testing process: one that seems so incredibly flawed it should be easy to dethrone the man behind it. There is a vagueness to the way the tests unfold that made them quite disappointing, rather than awe-inspiring. Personally I would have been more impressed if people were eliminated each round for reasons hard to define/pinpoint, until they were explained/revealed.

Ezequiel is also copping flak for a murder in paradise, meaning a killer made it through his trial. (Having seen the hodge-podge testing process this could not come as less of a surprise.)

The plot feels simplified in the way dystopian sci-fi sometimes can—almost like an abstract tale. If the core of the story is emotional and psychological, I want that aspect of the script to be other-level GOOD, and this is where the series runs into problems.

I like that physical disability
doesn't rule out a character.

The opening credits are great, some of the best this year. In terms of cinematography, a lot of experimental shots, and I guess you could say indulgent editing? Certain scenes feel longer than they need to be, i.e. rather than helping build tension, interesting angles of the same scene become distracting.

Overall I didn’t feel deeply engaged by the 3% pilot, just vaguely interested. Not bad, definitely entertaining, and I could see what they were trying for, but not a standout.

Note: The show is in Portuguese. (I have no issues with subs, just mentioning because I have a few dyslexic friends and for them it can be problematic.)

Incorporated

Executive produced by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, this series is set in 2074, and corporations have taken over the globe. If you work for them you’re in the green zone, if not, the slums of the red zone (yes, another dichotomous future).

We see two men in suits chatting in the elevator at work. Normal enough, till the doors open and security is waiting with a man in handcuffs and a hood over his head. Apparently corporations are crueler to traitors than now-defunct governments…

The story jumps back 3 days to a good-looking guy getting ready for work. (A gratuitous bare-chested shower scene, for anyone who didn’t notice actor Sean Teale is really, really ridiculously good-looking.)

Constant bits of tech and funny references remind us the setting, while familiar, is a future extrapolated from today’s corporate society. (The news story about illegal immigrants from the US living in Canada was hilarious. Considering this was made prior to the election it’s even more cutting.)

I want one.

I liked the tech on the streets, talk of genetically engineered crops, and the “food porn”. Not so much the brainwave pattern reader, designed to show what people are thinking in their sleep and translate to images i.e. gun, person, turtle.

Considering how complex and personal dreams are, this seems ridiculously oversimplified. A snake, to one person, may be a beloved pet, to another a phobia. In this way they could also merely be visual metaphors for emotions evoked by a situation that have no relation to a snake. To another it might represent a person, to another a place or a memory. In summary, this technology won’t “reveal” anything.

Tangent aside, our good-looking, charismatic, suited brunette male lead Ben (really Affleck?) is up to something. Sure, he’s charming, but he’s a con man, in that his identity is fabricated and he’s using his position to search for a missing woman I’m guessing is the ex.

On that subject, women don’t do too well here. The three notable female roles are his duped PTSD wife, the damsel in distress ex (?), and the mother-in-law, played by Julia Ormond, a bigwig at the corporation who is therefore heartless and evil. (She has a Vincent Van Gogh in her office, bought from an impoverished Smithsonian.)

Talk about blocking out reality.

The pilot shows us Ben’s goal is to get promoted to the 40^th floor so he can have the power to rescue his OTP, all while staying out of The Quiet Room, the place traitors to the corporation are tortured.

The glossy, moneyed zone of the future has a corporate crossed with Stepford Wives vibe. Kidnapping is rife, and everybody seems messed up, giving the writers a lot to play with. Also worth mentioning is that Dennis Haysbert is in the cast (love him). 

Visually, the set design of the green zone sits somewhere between the lower budget of Continuum and the highly stylized Gattaca. Subplots take place in the slums, a much messier/grittier environment, where we follow the missing girl’s brother in his new career as a cage fighter.

So far, I like Ben. He’s basically taking on The Man, so his character is in a state of paranoia. He also has conflicting feelings about the ruthless path he’s committed to, including using his rich wife, who he obviously cares for, and framing a co-worker for corporate espionage. The premise has an underlying tension that is engaging.

Westworld

Westworld is HBO’s much-lauded sci-fi offering. Despite the hype, I didn’t rush to watch because I grew up disliking cowboy movies. Basically if it’s a Western, my interest leaves the premises.

But this is a sci-fi-infused Western with a lot of philosophically heavy reviews online, so I figured I could handle cowboy hats for at least one episode.

“Have you ever questioned the nature of your reality?”

We get a VO from a pretty blonde lady who starts out being interviewed naked in a chair before waking up in her frontier homestead. (Yes the show meets HBO’s unspoken nakedness-as-soon-as-possible criteria.)

Basically the story is set in a future Wild West theme park populated by robots and (tip of the hat to Asimov) they cannot hurt the humans who visit. They can be reprogrammed constantly, so for many paying customers hurting them is part of the fun. (Am i the only one having holodeck flashbacks?)

For me the show has shades of Whedon’s Dollhouse, what with the mind wipes and programming of personalities to suit the client’s narrative needs, as well as the show Real Humans (Sweden) and the remake Humans (Britain) that looked at the treatment of robots after they hit the market in the near future. It’s a common theme in science fiction: is it mistreatment if the person is not human?

A bit Romeo and Juliet. If they were older. And robots.

A look at man’s desire to rape, pillage and kill is threaded through a lot of HBO’s programs. Here the premise is ripe with subtext. What defines humanity? Will the creations become more or less than the creator? Is it ever really okay to give in to the darkest urges, whatever the rationalization? Sure, no humans are damaged, but can torturing and mutilating a creation that looks human and appears to suffer, really not impact an individual?

We’re introduced to some of the gentlest of the robot characters, and see them repeating their narrative. Oddly, I felt sorry for them at first, but then, seeing their looped existence with no awareness of prior events, my sympathy was dulled. Usually I empathies with the robot characters because they often exhibit a type of cultural innocence, but here they really do seem mechanized—at first.

I like these two. Although I guess I'm
appreciating computer configurations.

Only when the robots malfunction following an upgrade does the story begin its journey into fascinating territory. Sentience, and the definition of such, will doubtless be an oft-visited topic over the next century. (At this point the humans are the creepiest things in the show: they seem the most soulless. The corporate workplace scenes at the park confirm empathy wasn’t high on the employee requirement list.)

The subconscious is one of the most interesting things about humanity, so if wiping the robot’s memories is akin to human repression, the experiences are not really gone. How those memories will manifest on the surface is what makes this show worth watching. More importantly, to borrow from a master: do androids dream of electronic sheep?

The romanticization of the Wild West is pretty much a misogynist’s paradise, with women’s roles falling in either the traditional virgin or whore dichotomy (with a few exceptions). And I'm still not sure why the makeup of the saloon girls was more seventies porn star than anything else, but hey.

I found it interesting families visited the theme park, considering the violence taking place at the same time. Is a family holiday really fun if over yonder hills some guy’s getting his jollies off shooting Native American representations and raping local (albeit robot) women?

About twenty minutes in Anthony Hopkins appears as the Park owner. The man is a treasure: such an incredible performance. He’s responsible for the upgrades, and therefore the malfunctions, but Dr. Ford has his own agenda.

The cast is quite impeccable. James Marsden and Thandie Newton: love them both onscreen.  Jeffrey Wright, Evan Rachel Wood, Ed Harris, and the list goes on. The storytelling feels very sophisticated, and the show is beautifully filmed, with a great score (but the production values of HBO usually border on impeccable.). 

Toward the end of the pilot is a massacre soundtracked with an orchestral version of Paint It Black—to say this is a new kind of take on the Western genre would be an understatement.

Travelers

Screening in the US in December (but ahead in Canada), I really enjoyed the pilot of this time travel series. My appreciation is probably due to a mix of careful pacing, interesting premise, and the way in which exposition is offered to the audience.

On a side note: The first episode includes a scene with someone fighting in a cage, something I’d just seen in Incorporated, making me wonder what exactly appeals to the American psyche… Also, Ian Tracey appears in the pilot for this series, and Incorporated. He’s becoming a cult show regular. Seriously, The Outer Limits, Dark Angel, Smallville, The 4400, Flashpoint, Sanctuary, Supernatural, The 100, Wayward Pines, Bates Motel, Continuum… The list goes on!

Back to the story: people in the present day are introduced right before their time of death (text appears onscreen telling us this), and then obviously a form of consciousness transfer occurs. Each gets up a changed person, and heads off with obvious goals.

I like this style of storytelling; rather than straight exposition the plot is allowed to unfold. The audience is along for the ride, but not pandered to, which is my preferred form of science fiction television.

The travelers are keeping their mission details on the down low but they’re seriousness and determination adds extra gravitas. They’re not here for fun (not even a quick bout of casual sex), and they won’t interfere with predetermined deaths.

I like the leads.

The travelers are well trained in hand-to-hand combat. Not so much in childcare, and a few faux pas reveal that the information they memorized in regards to the lives of the bodies they now inhabit can prove a tad inaccurate (especially for the guy who transported into a junkie).

Hopefully a plot reveal in the future will explain why the blonde woman feels comfortable naked all the time while everyone else appears fine with keeping their clothes on... Overall the travelers seem bemused by their new everyday lives.

FBI agent Grant MacLaren, played by Eric McCormack, is on the trail of the group thanks to obtuse online messages that he assumes are left by gamers. The closing scene offers a twist that shifts the dynamic among the leads—and possibly audience assumptions.

Slower paced and sprinkled with mystery sci-fi, containing less sex and violence, is a harder sell. Hopefully people will tune in because already there is a stylistic feel to this show that I find interesting. Shot-wise, a documentary-like approach, in terms of camera work, is interspersed with more traditionally static frames, a juxtaposition that suits the series.

Now I'm getting a Stargate vibe.

Travelers is created/written by Brad Wright, who co-created Stargate SG-1, and created Stargate: Atlantis, and SGU. The Stargate programs were always very good with emotional elements of the plot, so this “fish out of water” scenario, combined with high stakes (saving humanity in the future) should unfold in an interesting way.

Obviously much of the show’s success will depend on the nature of the missions, since at this point the audience has no idea what they will entail, and how the series chooses to deal with the time travel aspects, which have tripped up many a program in the past. 

Personally, I think how successfully viewers engage with the personalities projected into the past will matter the most. Already the travelers seem stressed, lonely, and somewhat naïve when it comes to dealing with “modern” life, and the issues attached to the lives of the body’s they’ve possessed (for want of a better word). Maintaining their facades, and the required emotional detachment needed to complete their tasks, won't be easy—but hopefully, will be fascinating to watch.