Traveler is a short-lived American drama-thriller television series that ran from May 10, 2007 until July 18, 2007 on ABC in the United States. The series was produced by Warner Bros. Television.

Traveler was officially cancelled after eight first-run episodes on July 18, 2007. Fans then tried to save the show but were unsuccessful. David DiGilio, the creator, posted an "answers blog" on September 28, 2007, which officially ended the show.

Plot synopsis

The series follows Jay Burchell and Tyler Fog, two Yale University graduate students who become suspects when the fictitious Drexler Museum in New York is bombed while they are pulling a juvenile prank. It appears that their friend, Will Traveler (aka Daniel Taft), set them up to look like the terrorists who did the bombing. After the bombing, Traveler disappears and there is no evidence that he ever existed.

Jay and Tyler flee from the FBI, which believes them to be domestic terrorists. They turn to Tyler's father, Carlton, but he tells them to flee. Out on their own, Jay and Tyler delve into Will Traveler's past in hopes to uncover Will's motives for turning on his friends and hopefully clear their name.

At the same time, Traveler, alive and well, goes on a similar search for answers. It is revealed that he is in fact a secret agent working for a division of the Department of Homeland Security called the Fourth Branch, and slowly a conspiracy is unravelled.

Jay and Tyler reunite with Will by the seventh episode, and together the three attempt to bring those responsible to justice. They manage to kidnap Jack Freed, director the Fourth Branch, but before they can use him to clear Jay and Tyler's names, the limousine with Jack Freed in it explodes.

Cast and characters

Traveler primarily focuses on the efforts of Jay Burchell (Matthew Bomer) and Tyler Fog (Logan Marshall-Green), two college graduates who must prove their innocence after being framed for the bombing of a museum by their former roommate Will Traveler (Aaron Stanford). The two must evade the FBI, led by Special Agent in Charge Fred Chambers (Steven Culp). Special Agents Jan Marlow (Viola Davis) and Guillermo Borjes (Anthony Ruivivar) actively hunt the two, although Marlow questions the duo's purported guilt.

Over the course of the show, Jay and Tyler uncover a conspiracy that involves Jack Freed (Neal McDonough) of Department of Homeland Security and even Carlton Fog (William Sadler), Tyler's father and a very successful businessman. Occasionally assisting Tyler and Jay is a mysterious man dubbed the Porter (Billy Mayo). Meanwhile, Kim Doherty (Pascale Hutton), Jay's girlfriend, must cope with harassment from both the FBI and the public.

At the end of the third episode "New Haven", Will Traveler (whose real name is Daniel Taft) is revealed to be alive. Appearing as his girlfriend Maya is Sonja Bennett.

Episodes

ABC originally ordered the season with 13 episodes. But on October 28, 2006, the network scaled it back to eight episodes.Brian Ford Sullivan (October 28, 2006). Script Orders Keep Five More Newcomers Alive. TheFutonCritic.com. Accessed 2007-05-19.
The pilot episode aired at 10 pm on May 10, and repeated on May 30, 2007, immediately followed by episode "The Retreat" in its regular time slot of Wednesday at 10pm Eastern/9pm Central. "The Retreat" was shown again on July 4, 2007, and then a new episode the following week due to The Fourth of July holiday.

#	Episode title	Writer	Director	Original airdate

Reception

Critical reception

Traveler was met with mixed reviews. At Metacritic, the show has a rating of 53%, calculated from 17 reviews.

Robert Bianco of USA Today was positive about the show, saying "the show seems faster, brighter and more entertaining than most of the serials that beat it to the punch this fall." Bianco was nonetheless worried about Travelers future both because of its subject matter and airing in the summer. Variety reporter Brian Lowry noted similar concerns and praised the actors, writing that Traveler "channels the old Hitchcockian standby of normal-guy-thrust-into-fabulous-plot scenario, with the central duo exhibiting realistic levels of fear, desperation and resourcefulness."

In contrast, Ray Richmond of The Hollywood Reporter reacted negatively to the show's "implausible" premise and finding that its protagonists "aren't nearly compelling enough to care a lot about." David Bianculli of the Daily News (New York) similarly called the premise "ridiculous" and called the show "nothing to see", negatively comparing it to The Fugitive.

Episode ratings

Episode #	Title	Air Date	Rating	Share	18-49	Viewers	Rank (Overall)
1	"Pilot"	May 10, 2007	6.1	11	3.6/10	8.88	38/98
2	"The Retreat"	May 30, 2007	4.2	7	2.1/6	6.20	29/90
3	"New Haven"	June 6, 2007	3.7	6	1.8/5	5.44	41/93
4	"The Out"	June 13, 2007	2.9	5	1.3/4	4.12	54/96
5	"The Tells"	June 20, 2007	3.0	5	1.6/5	4.41	43/96
6	"The Trader"	June 27, 2007	2.6	5	1.3/4	3.86	67/99
7	"The Reunion"	July 11, 2007	2.5	4	1.2/3	3.55	73/102
8	"The Exchange"	July 18, 2007	2.6	5	1.4/4	3.87	73/103

• All rating information is from Your Entertainment Now Nielsen TV Ratings « Your Entertainment Now
• DVR numbers actually raised "The Reunion's" ratings by 19.4% to around 4 million viewers.

Seasonal ratings

Seasonal ratings based on average total viewers per episode of Traveler on ABC:

| Season

| Timeslot (EDT)

| Series Premiere

| Series Finale

| TV Season

| Rank

| Viewers (in millions)

style="background:#F9F9F9;text-align:center" | 1
style="background:#F9F9F9;font-size:11px;font-weight:normal;text-align:left;line-height:110%" | Thursday 10:00 P.M. (May 10,2007) Wednesday 10:00 P.M. (May 30 - July 18, 2007)
May 10, 2007	July 18, 2007	2006-2007
style="text-align:center" | #118
5.04 (#117)

* Because Traveler aired during the summer it was not included in the seasonal ratings. However if it did air during the regular fall season it would have ranked 117 of 142 shows.