On the Hiatus

Natalie:	Six years ago, April 14.
Nick:	What's that?
Natalie:	Day they brought you in.
	-- "Last Knight"

When "Last Knight" first aired in May 1996, the exchange above was controversial for the date.  The night they wheeled Nick into the morgue in the flashbacks of "Only the Lonely" was Natalie's twenty-eighth birthday, of course, as the present was her thirtieth, and people like amilyn had worked long and hard to determine Natalie's birthday from the prop calendars on the morgue wall, the weather in the episode, the air date and, for some, astrology.  The date on which they had painstakingly settled was not April 14.  In the years since, we've mostly shrugged our shoulders and accepted the date Natalie said aloud in LK, presuming that she knows her own birthday.

Today, this same exchange presents a new controversy of sorts.  hearts_blood reminded me recently that people who discover the show after cancellation naturally have no memory of the hiatus.  They logically plunge straight from season one to season two to befuddlement when they finally reach this line buried in the finale at the end of season three.  What's the math?

FK was canceled after season one.  Filming ended, sets were stuck, "Love You to Death" aired in May 1993, GWD did a guest shot on Highlander, and many wonderful fans -- special wave to wiliqueen among you all -- wrote letters upon letters to convince TPTB to revive the series.  Honor and glory to those who wrote those letters, because TPTB relented and the series returned with "Killer Instinct" sixteen months after first season ended.  That's Natalie's "six years ago:" the year of the flashbacks of "Only the Lonely" (1990-1991), another year (1991-1992), season one (1992-1993), the hiatus (1993-1994), season two (1994-1995), season three (1995-1996).  ( Read more... )

Strangely, perhaps, it's my favorite time in FK: the year we shared, but didn't see.