Traveller

Genre: Drama

Cast: Matthew Bomer (Tru Calling), Logan Marshall-Green (The O.C.), Aaron Stanford (X-Men 2), Viola Davis (Law & Order: SVU), Steven Culp (Desperate Housewives)

Airs: ABC from January 2007

Timeslot competition: Unknown

UK pickup? Not as yet

Plot in a nutshell: Two young graduates become prime suspects in a terrorist bombing after their "friend" Will Traveller sets them up.

What's it all about? Three young friends - Tyler (Marshall-Green), Jay (Bomer) and Will (Stanford) - embark on a road trip to New York to celebrate their graduation. Visiting the city's Dexler Museum of Art, they decide to pull a prank and skate their way out of the building - filmed by Will on camera. Escaping security, Tyler and Jay are laughing as Will rings to check they have made it out okay. "I'm sorry I had to do this," he says as the building blows up behind them. Immediately Tyler and Jay become prime suspects in the bombing and are forced on the run... but in the process they discover that there are no records of their good friend Will ever having existed. Who was he?

Does it work? It's an interesting concept, and one that immediately excites on paper. The execution is flawed throughout, however, missing a big trick in failing to capitalise on the potentially huge "terror" angle. Indeed, the residents of New York seem largely unalarmed after one of their most well-known public attractions is brought to the ground. Then - on a micro level - the two framed guys take time out from the sheer madness of their situation to have a heart-to-heart about the state of their relationship. In short, what could have been pulled off as an intriguing mystery veers too much towards the soap opera side for comfort.

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Chances of success: The choice of young male leads guarantees a strong female tween following from the off - not that that helped the short-lived Life As We Know It on the same network two years ago - but it needs to develop a sustainable and gripping plot fast to keep its audience beyond the first week. Holding off until mid or late season may improve its chances, but this is still unlikely to become the breakout hit one may have initially expected.