Four episodes were provided prior to broadcast.

In 2008’s minor classic Taken, Liam Neeson’s former covert operative Bryan Mills famously informs his daughter’s kidnappers “I don’t have money, but what I do have are a very particular set of skills. Skills I have acquired over a very long career.” Enter NBC’s Taken, in which we find out how Mills acquired said skills and what his mysterious career involved.

There’s just one glaring problem with all this. Taken (the movie) takes place in the late 2000s. Taken (the TV show) should take place in the late 70s then, but in fact takes place now. It doesn’t try to fuzz the setting, either, this is a tech thriller about hacked iPhones and stolen laptops.

About five minutes into the first episode I paused it to double-check I’d understood what this was about. But nope, the official series description says,...