Back To The Future Meets Schitt's Creek In The 12-Episode Time Travel Series That Deserved More Seasons

2 hours ago 13

Published Sep 5, 2026, 9:00 AM EDT

Zach Moser has been writing for ScreenRant since 2022, covering movies, classic TV, and streaming TV. His areas of expertise cover a wide range of genres with a particular interest in horror and drama, and the conversations around the TV and film industry. When he's not covering the latest film releases or chronicling the latest season of a new show, he's writing humor pieces for McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Slackjaw, and Points In Case or working on short stories and his second novel.

A little-known time travel series is sort of like if Back to the Future met Schitt's Creek, and it deserved more than its two, six-episode seasons. The list of time travel TV shows is filled with some really fantastic science fiction entries, with the conceit used to build everything from dark dramas to light comedies.

There are time travel shows like Dark where the horrific implications of time travel are up front and obvious. There's 12 Monkeys, where the rules are clearly outlined, and the logic is as sound as it can be. And there's Outlander, where the time travel complications are mostly ignored for the real plot.

One series that uses the time travel concept for comedic purposes never got the due it deserved. Timewasters is a science fiction, time travel satire that premiered on ITV2 in 2017 and ended after two seasons in 2019. Daniel Lawrence Taylor created, wrote, and stars in the series.

The show follows an unsuccessful jazz quartet from South London consisting of Nick (Taylor), the band leader; Jason (Kadiff Kirwan), sax; Lauren (Adelayo Adedayo), drums; and Horace (Samson Kayo), trombone and vocals. At the beginning of the series, the group enters a time machine and travels back to 1926.

They eventually jump to the 1950s, experiencing the jazz culture of both eras. As they move through time, they reckon with racial perceptions and discrimination that pervade every era they visit. It's a series with a sharp sense of humor, an ear for rhythm, and an understanding of how music and racial identity have always been linked.

Timewasters Has The Comedy Of Schitt's Creek With The Premise Of Back To The Future

Nick (Daniel Lawrence Taylor) staring at something in Timewasters.

Timewasters is very much influenced by the Back to the Future movies, as is every time travel show or movie that has come afterward. When Taylor first thought of Timewasters, he originally planned to title it "Black to the Future", which was changed to Timewasters when Universal Studios threatened to sue (via INews).

The film is referenced a second time in season two when several characters say they've never seen the movie. The central idea of a modern band going back in time to introduce older audiences to a new style of music in Timewasters also plays a critical role in the Back to the Future finale when Marty McFly plays Chuck Berry.

Timewasters takes those tropes from the films and combines them with a British sense of humor that actually might be closest in tone to Schitt's Creek. It's goofy, silly, and quite heartwarming. The quartet encounters their share of issues trying to go along to get along in the past, but the series always makes time for a laugh.

Timewasters Didn't Get The Attention It Deserved

The jazz quarter staring at something in Timewasters.

Timewasters never seemed to get the attention it deserved. The series made the rounds at the British awards circuit, but it's gone so unseen that it doesn't even have a critic's score on Rotten Tomatoes. That almost never happens in the modern TV era. The brilliant, funny series should be watched by more people.

It's a laugh-a-line sitcom with a high concept that explores niche jazz ideas but also deftly handles the show's social commentary, of which there is a lot. Timewasters takes on systemic racism and doesn't flinch at the ugliest parts of it, always being sure to return to the offbeat humor that keeps the show feeling down-to-earth.