"Nowhere Man" on DVD: when?

[Goodsport]

As I'm seeing more and more older TV shows (and even some not-so-old TV shows that had lasted only a season or two) make their way to DVD, there's currently one glaring omission from the store shelves:

Nowhere Man

It was one of the best TV shows ever. Unfortunately, it lasted for only 25 episodes (it aired on UPN during the 1995-96 TV season).


"Hidden Agenda"

Has anyone here heard if/when this series will ever make it to DVD?


-G

 

[Mouseferatu]

Wow. Haven't thought about that show in ages.

I thought it had a really promising concept, and I liked the main actor. (Bruce Greenwood?) But I felt the series suffered from X-Files Syndrome. That is, they kept things too secret, and every time you thought you'd learned something, they'd reveal it to be just another trick. I think if they'd paced the mystery a little better, it might have survived past a single season. I'm still curious as to what the real truth was.

'fraid I don't have an answer to your question, though. The series I'm still waiting for, DVD-wise, is The Greatest American Hero. (Oh, and Special Unit 2, just for kicks.)

 

[Cthulhudrew]

'fraid I don't have an answer to your question, though. The series I'm still waiting for, DVD-wise, is The Greatest American Hero. (Oh, and Special Unit 2, just for kicks.)

You won't have to wait long for GAH

As for Nowhere Man- I was on the NM list during the time the show was on, and show creator/writer Larry Hertzog would pop in from time to time. During one of the discussions with him, he mentioned that if he had had things his way, we really wouldn't have ever found out what the story was behind Thomas Veil- at least not for quite a long time. He envisioned the story as more of a "Prisoner" type tale- the real conspiracy, the real terror, was inside of us- secrets that everyone keeps. The network, however, had different ideas, and wanted to capture more of the "X-Files" feel, and unveil (pun intended) Thomas' secret- hence the episodes, such as the last one, that seemed to imply that he was a brainwashed CIA agent or something.

For my part, the strongest episodes were the ones directly written and overseen by Hertzog, and I think if he had been allowed to follow through on his vision more than he was (ie, no network producers backseat driving things), it would have been far more hit than miss (it had some definite- "huh?" stories there). At the same time, I don't know that he could have gone on for too long without revealing *something*; after all, the conspiracy that drove Thomas Veil out on the road was the primary reason viewers initially tuned in. Unfortunately, we'll never really know the truth, either way. I don't think Hertzog even had a "real" backstory in mind, IIRC. (Did a little digging on Google, but there are just too many posts from the old NM group to go through.)

There are still some really good fansites out there. Nowhereman.org in particular is one, and it has several articles written by Larry Hertzog about the show.

 

[Kesh]

I really enjoyed what I got to see of that show... which was about half-a-dozen episodes.

And yes, I was mostly interested in the mystery, rather than the rest. Seeing his journey was a good story, but the conspiracy was the real hook. I guess it suffered from "Millenium" syndrome: a lone character dealing with a conspiracy, leaving the audience with long stretches of nothing going on in the 'main' story.

 

[Mouseferatu]

At the same time, I don't know that he could have gone on for too long without revealing *something*; after all, the conspiracy that drove Thomas Veil out on the road was the primary reason viewers initially tuned in.

'xactly. I can tell you honestly that if someone put a show like that on the air, and I knew going into it that they would never reveal the truth, and never even had a "truth" planned... Well, then you couldn't pay me to watch the show.

I'm all about good mysteries in TV, novels, and movies. But at the end of the day, when you close up shop, I expect at least some amount of resolution. It doesn't have to be wrapped up in a nice bow, and I'm cool with ambiguous endings when/where appropriate. But some closure is absolutely required or, IMO, the story simply isn't finished.

 

[MojoGM]

Nowhere Man was a great show, though I agree that some of the mystery unveiling was getting silly.

That last episode blew me away, with the camera panning up and showing him in the middle of Washington DC.

I still have them on tape. I think I got every episode, though I taped it on the 6-hour setting so they are starting to wear with age.

I would love to see a DVD set

 

[Goodsport]

It seems like the series may finally find its way onto DVD by the end of this year.


-G

 

[Umbran]

During one of the discussions with him, he mentioned that if he had had things his way, we really wouldn't have ever found out what the story was behind Thomas Veil- at least not for quite a long time. He envisioned the story as more of a "Prisoner" type tale- the real conspiracy, the real terror, was inside of us- secrets that everyone keeps. The network, however, had different ideas, and wanted to capture more of the "X-Files" feel, and unveil (pun intended) Thomas' secret- hence the episodes, such as the last one, that seemed to imply that he was a brainwashed CIA agent or something.

As I had heard it (which could very well be incorrect), the main reason that he wanted to reveal the secret slowly over time was that he didn't know what the secret was himself. The creator and writers started without a fixed concept of who or what Thomas Veil really was. Which may explain why the concept revealed wasn't particularly original.

 

[Goodsport]

As I had heard it (which could very well be incorrect), the main reason that he wanted to reveal the secret slowly over time was that he didn't know what the secret was himself. The creator and writers started without a fixed concept of who or what Thomas Veil really was. Which may explain why the concept revealed wasn't particularly original.

I remember reading somewhere that there was a bit of a tug-of-war between Executive Producer Lawrence Hertzog (who wanted the series to be more allegorical ala The Prisoner) and UPN executives (who insisted the series have a tangible conspiracy ala The X-Files). I suppose the series perhaps could've lasted another season had they clearly decided to stick with one aspect or the other, though it may not have been the same.


-G

 

[Cthulhudrew]

I remember reading somewhere that there was a bit of a tug-of-war between Executive Producer Lawrence Hertzog (who wanted the series to be more allegorical ala The Prisoner) and UPN executives (who insisted the series have a tangible conspiracy ala The X-Files). I suppose the series perhaps could've lasted another season had they clearly decided to stick with one aspect or the other, though it may not have been the same.

That's pretty much the way I remember it. Hertzog had been approached by the producer of the show and asked, "if you could do any show, what would it be?" and came up with the idea of Nowhere Man. He was surprised as hell when they let him run with it. As the show went on, the UPN execs took a more and more controlling hand in it and turned the series more the way they wanted it to go- there are a couple of episodes in particular (the one with the laptop computer comes to mind) that were not in Hertzog's vision (and that he outright disliked), but that were mandated by UPN tops. The execs even went so far as to air episodes out of order... hmm, where have we heard that story before???