Throughout Nowhere Man's run, Veil has been institutionalized, brainwashed, locked up in a community with other nonentities and generally whaled on by a pack of mysterious CIA-types, all of whom drag on long cigars. The resourceful Veil manages to keep escaping (or are they letting him go?) and spends his days criss-crossing the country, working odd jobs and pursuing leads on what the hell is happening to him. So far, he knows there's a file on him that he can never quite get a peek at and the conspiracy has something to do with creating a docile, de-individualized public.Yes, Nowhere Man owes a lot to the cult fave The Prisoner, which proves that creator Lawrence Hertzog and producer Joel Surnow (Miami Vice) have good taste. Nowhere Man is everything a juicy thriller should be; it's junky enough to deliver the satisfying smack of guilty pleasure, but filled with chewy subtext. Veil's paranoia is vividly rendered by the various episode directors who have all refrained from telegraphing punches -- like Veil, who must constantly think two moves ahead of everyone he meets, we never know who's on his side. Greenwood has played mainly pretty-boy scoundrels in his long TV career (St. Elsewhere, too many USA cable movies) and his snotty edge serves him well here; you can't help wondering if maybe Veil deserves this.
Unlike his X-Files counterparts, Veil is almost humorless. But the show itself is a mordant take on the culture of conspiracy. In fact, the show turns on a grand joke. The conspiracy from which Veil is running robs people of their individuality by dulling their minds and feeding them alternative realities about unity and community. Isn't that exactly what TV does?
Indeed the show is one big subtle, twisted poke at TV lore. In Veil's travels, he inevitably meets some poor innocents whom he puts in harm's way and they end up mindwiped or dead -- it's like Highway to Heaven in reverse. And the whole premise of Veil standing outside himself, seeing what the world would be like if he'd never existed, is a refreshingly sick version of It's a Wonderful Life, which thirtysomething cloyingly elevated to the level of a babyboomer touchstone.
Speaking of Touchstone, Nowhere Man is a production of that Disney owned-company. But then, doesn't Disney own everything? Run, Veil, run!
