Before ‘NCIS’ Sean Murray Stood Out in One Sitcom

For a very brief period in 2002, and just before the character of Timothy McGee was introduced to the world in NCIS, actor Sean Murray opted for a more laid-back role. Instead of being stationed in Washington DC’s Navy Yard with Gibbs, DiNozzo, and Ziva, where they would investigate crimes inside the Navy, the TV actor would be placed in Chinatown, Manhattan – living a day-to-day life with three childhood friends in a nice, big loft.

Just before stepping into the role of a field agent in the fourth-longest-running scripted live-action U.S. prime-time TV series (yes, a very long moniker but true nevertheless), Murray would instead be slacker Todd Mitchell, an unemployed schemer who seems to have an odd fascination with Star Wars. Even though UPN unceremoniously pulled the plug on this oddball family sitcom only after four episodes (citing it as the lowest-rated program on the channel during that season), the few reviews that did come out for The Random Years had some surprising remarks to make, especially about Murray’s character.

Before we get into what the critics had to say, let’s look at the other cast members — one or two may surprise you! Joining Murray’s character was Josh Ackerman (now a very successful TV producer) as Wiseman, a dental tech who strives to be more independent (even though he fumbles at this goal most of the time), building super Steve (played by famed Broadway actor Winston J. Rocha) as well as Saved By The Bell: The New Class alum Natalia Cigliuti who starred as Casey Parker (the girl next door — similar to Penny in The Big Bang Theory).

Breaking Free From Usual Characters with ‘The Random Years’

Most interesting, though, was the casting of Will Friedle (Eric Matthews in Boy Meets World) as Alex Barnes, arguably the main character, in this sorely underrated show. Friedle, Murray, and Ackerman make up the troupe of the show, while Cigliuti and Rocha are two very entertaining foils for the three. While this was Ackerman’s first featured role (in which he was compared to Seinfeld’s Kramer, believe it or not), it was bizarre to see both Murray and Friedle in roles that contrasted their usual archetype. But there is a reason The Random Years is still talked about today — and that’s because the three of them not only had individual on-screen strengths but also because they surprisingly worked so well together.

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Even though he lent his voice to animated features here and there and had one-off roles in numerous television series after Boy Meets World had concluded, this was a nice, spiritual continuation of the character (a bit subdued, albeit). For Murray, The Random Years was a bit of a career saver as his last film was a made-for-TV comedy that aired on MTV once and was obliterated by critics. As aforementioned, Ackerman may have been the novice of the three, but his experience on The All New Mickey Mouse Club (all seven seasons) proved useful here, as his character work immensely helped the dynamic of the group. Even though his character never gets up to anything extremely useful, Murray’s Todd seems to have the best of luck. ‘

‘The Random Years’ Was Sabotaged

Friedle’s Alex was your everyman — working a nonchalant job and going through the social ups and downs of life. Finally, Ackerman’s Wiseman was the all-around weird one of the group. He was fine around his small group of friends, but when it came to Casey or any other woman, he froze up and acted clumsy beyond belief through his words and actions. This on-screen friend group truly does escalate The Random Years out of obscurity like many other canceled shows and into the category of nostalgic programs.

A recap of the brief show even found its way onto the Pod Meets World podcast back in October. Interestingly enough, Friedle discloses that The Random Years was sabotaged from the start due to the network feud between WB and UPN. On top of that, this show was actually a mid-season replacement for UPN’s Roswell, which was on the verge of declining popularity at the time. As you can see, modern audiences might be falling in love with Friedle’s show as we speak, but back then, too many negative factors just struck the series down from ever having a chance at stardom. Guest host Jensen Karp even adds that a show like this one could have easily benefitted from a single commercial, which The Random Years sadly never received (they did get bumpers, though).

Critics Loved the Cast But Hated the Show

Almost knowing that this was his sink-or-swim moment (Murray did have success with Harts of the West and JAG, but that was two to four years ago before this), critics seemed to open their eyes when it came to his performance. People Magazine’s Terry Kelleher stated that Cigliuti was a welcome female addition to the otherwise dominant male cast and that Murray’s comedic delivery had a calm and cool tone. Noel Holston from Newsday even said that the then 25-year-old actor (who had a “slacker charm”) solely brought the one and only highlight to The Random Year’s first episode while interacting with Parker when the other characters were amiss.

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While the other cast members were viewed decently enough from time to time, newspapers from Seattle, Baltimore, and Houston seemed to have more negative remarks to say than positive ones. It cannot be denied that the Friedle and Murray starring program might have just been a Friends knockoff — every network was trying to leap off that show’s success back then. Unfortunately, this version just never had a chance to find its rhythm. Unfortunately, The Random Years is not officially available on any streaming sites, though episodes are available on YouTube.

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