PSA: the new QL sequel series

[brightknightie]

NBC has launched a sequel series to the original Quantum Leap. No spoilers that weren't in the previews... but yes, some overview info here!

It's very specifically a sequel series, not a reboot. It references the original, not heavy-handedly, but more than once. It's set decades after the original ended, and the new folks who have revived the project know what happened the first time (they think), that Sam never made it home, and they believe that they can solve the problems that plagued the project's first incarnation... until, of course, they can't, and they, too, lose one of their folks in time, with a swiss-cheesed memory, leaping to put right what once went wrong... but apparently with much more of a through-line plot for the crew back home in 2022, in accord with how much more accustomed we all are to continuity these days.

The show premiered last Monday. The second episode will air tomorrow, 9/26, at 10pm Eastern/Pacific, 9pm Central. It's on NBC and Peacock. The first episode seems to be available on NBC's website for now; watch it here. I don't know how long it will stay available, or whether they'll make more episodes available as they air, but of course they'd like us all to subscribe to Peacock. [Update, 8:43pm: It's apparently no longer available without subbing. Either they locked it down, or it was a one-click situation, or what I saw there before wasn't what I thought. Sorry!]

Personally, I'm watching on old-fashioned over-the-air TV rather than subscribing to yet another streaming service, but, wow, it's quite a thing to go back to being at the beck and call of an over-the-air network after years of not. Ouch. Appointment television means that they control my calendar, and I don't love it.

But I did enjoy the show enough that I will watch the second episode. Nostalgia and hope! Oh, boy...

Comments

[pj1228]

I think I saw a few episodes of the old series on German TV. I don't remember much, but I think I liked it. I'll keep an eye out for the sequel. Thanks for the heads-up.

[brightknightie]

It looks like the German title was "Zurück in die Vergangenheit." (German Wikipedia page.)

The show was much beloved during its original 1989 to 1993 run. The lead actor, Scott Bakula, went on to play the captain on Star Trek: Enterprise, the supervisor on NCIS: New Orleans, and many, many other roles. The main supporting actor, Dean Stockwell, was already famous even back then for a lifetime of stage and film roles and awards.

[senmut]

I am very pleased with the particular continuity in Ernie Hudson's character.

And Mason Alexander Park had just won my adoration on a Netflix series, so I am pleased to see them in a beloved franchise.

[brightknightie]

I did not realize Ernie Hudson was playing a character from the original series until you shared this comment and I Googled it! Thank you very much for that heads-up. What a wonderful, aware, respectful choice by the current creators.

[senmut]

You're welcome!

[kirbyfest]

I did not know this either, and am having zero Google luck on this... help?

SPOILER

[senmut]

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Ernie is playing the Vietnam Soldier from one of the original episodes, the one where Al stayed in his dress whites the whole episode? Because Sam was SO CLOSE to where Al had been captured at that point in history.

Re: SPOILER

[kirbyfest]

THANK YOU! I was thinking actor, not character, which is why I couldn't find this.

Re: SPOILER

[senmut]

Quite welcome

[brightknightie]

Yep, exactly as Sharpest_asp wrote above! And someone has now entered it (with more specifics) into the Wikipedia entry for the sequel series (spoiler):

Ernie Hudson as Herbert "Magic" Williams, head of the Quantum Leap time travel project, and a Vietnam War veteran into whom Sam Beckett leaped in the original series' season-three episode "The Leap Home (Part 2) – Vietnam." Hudson replaces Christopher Kirby from the original episode.

[skieswideopen]

I'm looking forward to watching this at some point! I have fond memories of the original.

[brightknightie]

I hope that you get a crack at it at a time that works for you!

Two episodes in, so far, so good! I'm not gobsmaked in love with the new series at this point, but I'm full of comfort-food-TV sensations, plus the nostalgia (!), and willing to keep letting NBC dictate my schedule, such that I must be in front of the TV on Monday nights, 10-11pm...

...I can't believe I'm seriously thinking of subscribing to their service for this one show, just so I can watch it on my own schedule, not theirs. Eeek. I tried to think, what was the last show I consistently watched over the air, on the network's timing whim, and I think it was Once Upon a Time, which was in the perfect-for-me Sunday-night 8pm timeslot, anyway. Aaargh.