Written By Rick Ellis

Producer Stephen Cannell has never been afraid to follow a trend. And if you've seen his new syndicated series Two, you might find yourself uncomfortable familiar with the premise. A man, framed for a murdering a woman by a man who looks just like him. It's a plot that sounds very familiar--especially if you were a fan of last season's dramatic series Nowhere Man.

In fact, for all of the talk about The X-Files, Nowhere Man seems to have influenced an awful lot of television this season.

For those of you who missed the series -- and if the ratings are to be believed, most of you did -- Nowhere Man was a series that layered conspiracy upon conspiracy. But the core plot was simple.

Bruce Greenwood starred as Thomas Veil, a photojournalist who, as the series opened, had everything. A wife, friends, a career as a warzone photographer. But on the opening night of his first big public showing of his photos...his life was irrevocably altered.

He was at a restaurant having dinner with his wife, and when he returned from the restroom--no one knew him. Not the waiter, not his friends, not even the woman he thought was his wife. And by the time the season ended, it wasn't clear if the life he remembered was even real. His "wife" had manipulated him repeatedly, he'd begun to uncover a massive conspiracy by some dark organization, even "Hidden Agenda", his prize photograph which he thought was the reason for his erasure...even that turned out to be a fake.

It was a magnificent show, and for all of the wranglings behind the scenes, it turned out to be more influential than anyone might have thought.

The strain of conspiracy and secret governments within governments that ran through Nowhere Man is evident in a number of series this season. It's hard to imagine The Pretender would have happened without it's influence.

And even programs like The Burning Zone are laced with hidden government agencies and lone heroes struggling to discover the truth. While this is a long-time television staple, it's been reinvented in the last year, thanks in part to Nowhere Man.

It's also a testament to the series that so many of it's cast and crew have went on to bigger and better projects since its cancellation. For male lead Bruce Greenwood, it was a defining role.

After years of struggling with bad or marginal movie roles, Nowhere Man has allowed him to move into higher profile assignments. While his role in the recent motion picture "Father's Day" wasn't anything special, he's back starring in a new series this fall on NBC. Sleepwalkers will be cushioned on Saturday nights between The Pretender and Profiler.

But many of the other actors and actresses are shining this season on television as well. Megan Gallagher (who played Alyson, Tom's wife)is costarring in Chris Carter's new series Millennium. Maria Bello -- who did a head turning role as farmgirl Emily Noonan -- co-starred with Scott Bakula in Mr And Mrs. Smith. And Carrie Ann Moss (from the episode "Something About Her") has a recurring role on Moloney. And that just some of the actors.

The writers and directors have fared even better. Lawrence Hertzog, who created and guided the series has signed a longterm deal with a network and spent the first half of the season working on NBC's surprising hit Profiler (at least for the first-- and best 13 episodes).

NwM directors have popped up on every conceivable dramatic series, and it's a testament to their talent that a number of them were the pilots. Ian Toynton (who directed NwM eps"An Enemy Within", "Doppleganger", "Through a Lens Darkly" and "Callaway") directed the pilot of The Cape and episodes of The Pretender.

Tobe Hooper, who did the pilot for Nowhere Man did the same for Dark Skies. James Whitmore Jr. ("Something About Her," "Dark Side Of The Moon," "Zero Minus Ten.") has just directed episodes of The Pretender and that series is being produced by ex-Nowhere Man staffer Marianne Canepa.

Are you noticing a trend here?

A few other Nowhere Man sightings. Art Monterastelli had a major role on the revamped (but just canceled) cop show High Incident. He wrote several episodes of Nowhere Man, including "Father", "Shine a Light On You," and the episode which should have been nominated for an Emmy, "Through A Lens Darkly."

Karen Witter (Janet Cowen in "Stay Tuned") has popped up in a number of guest spots, including The X-Files (Sharon Kiveat in "D.P.O.") and Sliders (Priscilla in "The Good, The Bad and the Wealthy").

Sam Anderson, who played the unnamed man in the episode "Through a Lens Darkly", now has a continuing role as Kevin Davis on The Cape. Nicholas Pryor, who played Phil in "The Spider Webb", has recently shown up on both television ("Dark Angel") and feature films ("Executive Decision" and "The Chamber"). Veteran actor Richard Kind--who played Webb in "The Spider Webb" is now a regular on Michael J. Fox's Spin City.

All and all, Nowhere Man was influential in the careers of a lot of people.

The only thing it couldn't do was stay on the air.