No "Rangers," But New "Quantum Leap" at Sci-Fi??

[Leto II]

No \"Rangers,\" But New \"Quantum Leap\" at Sci-Fi??

Uhm...

Here's an excerpt that I found over at E! Online, talking about the new Quantum Leap series that's in development over at the Sci-Fi Channel, probably for the fall of spring season:

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
LEAP OF FAITH: The Sci Fi Channel ordering up a two-hour movie and pilot for a new version of NBC's classic sci-fi series, Quantum Leap, the network announced. The update may also star a female leaper.

[/quote] /forums/images/icons/rolleyes.gif /forums/images/icons/frown.gif

So, they're more interested in redoing a concept that Sliders and The Time Tunnel (and, hell, even DOORWAYS) explored far better, rather than a program show-run by a reasonably provocative hyphenate writer-producer? This must be a symptom of their "new direction" that was bandied about earlier on... /forums/images/icons/blush.gif

 

[channe]

Re: No \"Rangers,\" But New \"Quantum Leap\" at Sci-Fi??

Quantum Leap was a good show, in its time, and isn't space-based sci-fi. It's also a beloved commodity (moreso than B5 since it was accessible to a larger audience), and right now, if I were a suit... well, you can guess.

Rangers is gone. There are no more candles to hold for the show. Those who were involved have moved on. We're the only ones still kvetching (with good reason) about it, even though there's nothing to do but think about (and in my case, write down) what might have been.

That's why we're the fans in this outfit. /forums/images/icons/grin.gif

 

[PsionTen]

Re: No \"Rangers,\" But New \"Quantum Leap\" at Sci-Fi??

Yeah, I always liked Quantum Leap as well and there are an awful lot of QL fans out there. I wouldn't doubt it if their following is larger than B5's... probably a good move. What I can't fathom is why sci-fi would want to do a Tremors series. I mean who wants to watch a show about a couple of guys hunting down giant worms every week.

 

[channe]

Re: No \"Rangers,\" But New \"Quantum Leap\" at Sci-Fi??

I certainly won't be watching "Tremors."

I mean, anything is better than "Tremors."

Ooo wait. No, I was wrong. Look at their fall schedule! And not one redeeming virtue among!

The lack of Rangers has left a large hole in the soul of sci-fi, which they have chosen to fill with John Edward and reality tv shows hosted by That Guy, Yeah, You've Seen Him Somewhere, Too?

Heathen!

 

[Leto II]

Re: No \"Rangers,\" But New \"Quantum Leap\" at Sci-Fi??

Ohmigod, Tremors...??? I mean, yeah, the first two films were terrific and all, but until and unless they somehow manage to snag Fred Ward and Michael Gross, I don't know that I'll be checking this one out, necessarily... /forums/images/icons/blush.gif

 

[hypatia]

Re: No \"Rangers,\" But New \"Quantum Leap\" at Sci-Fi??

When you don't have any good ideas of your own....
recycle some old ones! /forums/images/icons/rolleyes.gif

Why remake GOOD old pictures/series? Remake the BAD ones! I, personally, didn't watch Quantum Leap and only saw the first of the Tremor movies. But between these and Battlestar Galactica, I wonder if anything NEW will be coming out of that station (other than a miniseries here or there).

 

[RW7427]

Re: No \"Rangers,\" But New \"Quantum Leap\" at Sci-Fi??

Yeah, Scifi dropping Rangers is why I don't, and won't, watch that channel any more. /forums/images/icons/mad.gif

 

[KoshN]

Re: No \"Rangers,\" But New \"Quantum Leap\" at Sci-Fi??

Here's the feedback I just sent to Rick Porter ( rporter@zap2it.com )


Sci Fi: Not Just Aliens Anymore (Tue, Jul 9, 2002 08:02 PM PDT)

> >From zap2it.com:
>
> Sci Fi: Not Just Aliens Anymore
> Tue, Jul 9, 2002 08:02 PM PDT
> by Rick Porter
> Zap2it.com, TV News
>
>
>
>
>
> LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - The Sci Fi Channel is "bringing things back
> to Earth."
>
> That was the word from network president Bonnie Hammer Tuesday (July
> 9) at the TV Critics Association press tour in Pasadena. Hammer says
> that the channel, which has one of the largest original-programming
> lineups on cable, wants to broaden its slate somewhat while keeping
> its core fans.

She's going to piss off the core fans, even more than she already has.


> To that end, Sci Fi is planning a big programming event for each
> quarter, beginning with "Clive Barker's Saint Sinner," an original
> movie from the prolific horror writer, in October. Then in December,
> it will launch its most ambitious original project yet, the 20-hour
> miniseries "Taken."
>
> Hammer says that although "Taken," which was executive produced by
> Steven Spielberg, deals with alien abductions, the multi-generational
> story has the feel more of an epic drama than a straight sci-fi
> series.

Got to water down that "alien" content. <s>



> The network is also developing an update of the time-travel series
> "Quantum Leap" -- possibly with a female lead -- as a movie and
> possible "back-door" series pilot in 2003. A series based on the
> "Tremors" movies will also make its debut next year.

Tremors has already been done to death in the movies.


> Both are
> properties from the library of Universal, of which Sci Fi and parent
> USA are now a part.

And now that they're part of Vivendi, maybe the whole thing will sink like a rock, and a new, better sci-fi channel will take it's place.

> In addition, Sci Fi has ordered 65 episodes of "The Dream Team," in
> which hosts Annabelle Gurwitch (TBS' "Dinner and a Movie" ) and
> psychotherapist/dream expert Michael Lennox help members of a studio
> audience and callers interpret their dreams.

65 episodes?!?!?! This has got to be a joke. They DON'T restart Crusade when they finally get the chance, they pull the 3/26 Crusade rerun, and then they order 65 episodes of THIS???


> The network also wants to continue developing what Hammer calls its
> "boy action movies" -- thrillers that involve sci-fi or fantasy
> elements and "mayhem every 8 minutes or so."

This has either got to be a joke, or somebody's lost their mind. At a time when she should be trying to raise the prestige level of the Sci-Fi Channel, and the genre in general, she's largely cheapening it even further.

What we need is a real sci-fi channel, not the miserable excuse for one that we currently have.


Instead of their current new direction, Sci-Fi should be resurrecting Crusade and Brimstone. Instead we get nothing but a big name project (which will probably turn out to be a disappointment), balanced monetarily by a bunch of low rent movies for adolescents, and some truly awful ideas for series. Instead of banishing John Edward they KEEP him AND order 65 episodes of "The Dream Team." Every day, just when I think it couldn't get any worse, it does.

 

[GShans]

Re: No \"Rangers,\" But New \"Quantum Leap\" at Sci-Fi

i like, now find a way to make sure a copy gets to Bonnie herself.

 

[channe]

Re: No \"Rangers,\" But New \"Quantum Leap\" at Sci-Fi

I don't want to see any of this.

*whimper*

I want my Sarah Cantrell...

Seriously, though, none of this sounds interesting. It's all remakes, it's all pre-fab, it's all... so... boring... and it's all been done before...

 

[PsionTen]

Re: No \"Rangers,\" But New \"Quantum Leap\" at Sci-Fi??

A friend and I were just complaining about how crappy sci-fi was/is/will be. I don't even have to get into the whole Rangers thing to vent my disgust. For some reason, it just seems that they have the reverse midas touch or something -- everything they touch turns to crap. And speaking of time-travel shows... why didn't they take that money that they shelled out for Earth Final Conflict and get Dr. Who on the air? For that matter, where the hell is Buck Rogers?

 

[KoshN]

Re: No \"Rangers,\" But New \"Quantum Leap\" at Sci-Fi

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
<font color="yellow"> Originally posted by GShans: </font color>
i like, now find a way to make sure a copy gets to Bonnie herself.

[/quote]

Oh, I'm going to snail mail her a copy, but there's no way to make sure it makes it to her, or that she reads it.

 

[gangster]

Re: No \"Rangers,\" But New \"Quantum Leap\" at Sci-Fi??

PsionTen wrote: "For that matter, where the hell is Buck Rogers?"

That I would like to know also. But, given their Reverse King Midas Touch, we'll never see another rerun of this series. Or anything else that is "space-based." I suspect Bonnie Hammer has fallen under an evil spell by the Psychic crowd. /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

 

[KoshN]

Re: No \"Rangers,\" But New \"Quantum Leap\" at Sci-Fi??

Perhaps the new channel tagline should be "I an NOT sci-fi." /forums/images/icons/tongue.gif /forums/images/icons/rolleyes.gif

 

[GShans]

Re: No \"Rangers,\" But New \"Quantum Leap\" at Sci-Fi

though you meant it as a joke, it is slowly becoming so it will need that tagline.

 

[Shaal Mayan]

Re: No \"Rangers,\" But New \"Quantum Leap\" at Sci-Fi

This new programming is pure crap and I won't be watching SFC except to watch Babylon 5 .

 

[A_M_Swallow]

Re: No \"Rangers,\" But New \"Quantum Leap\" at Sci-Fi??

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
> The network is also developing an update of the time-travel series
> "Quantum Leap" -- possibly with a female lead -- as a movie and
> possible "back-door" series pilot in 2003. A series based on the
> "Tremors" movies will also make its debut next year.

Tremors has already been done to death in the movies.



[/quote]

To be successful a series needs its hero to fight great villains. The tremors are basically a one trick villain. They may be able to support a 2 episode story but not 26 episodes. That will require other stories and different antagonists.

The Daleks stared a successful comic series for many years but they were intelligent so they could do different things every week

 

[Loadhan]

Re: No \"Rangers,\" But New \"Quantum Leap\" at Sci-Fi??

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
why didn't they take that money that they shelled out for Earth Final Conflict and get Dr. Who on the air?

[/quote]
Actually, SciFi had Dr. Who on when they originally began airing (or near when they did) ... of course this was back when my cable company was stupid and SciFi (with Cartoon Network and the Learning Channel - of all things! - was a premium service you had to pay extra for. /forums/images/icons/tongue.gif They showed Dr. Who like every weekday morning for a half hour (I think sometime between 10 to noon) with Dark Shadows as the other half hour. I don't know if they ever got through the whole series (well of what's left of it) or just stopped showing it at some point. I only ever watched it in full chapters on PBS and was looking forward to seeing it on SciFi but never did.

Dr. Who is another show that we fans have been fighting for more stuff for years and years and years after its end ... though I'm more hopeful for more new B5 at this point ... but I wouldn't pass up new Dr. Who - though don't like SciFi channel do it, please!!!

 

[Leto II]

Re: No \"Rangers,\" But New \"Quantum Leap\" at Sci-Fi??

Well, it looks as if some things may have changed now, with the upcoming Tremors series on Sci-Fi... Remember how I groused that they should at least attempt to cast either Michael Gross or Fred Ward in the series? Well...

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
Cinescape Exclusive
Sci-Fi’s Hammer talks TREMORS series
Michael Gross my be returning for series

Dateline: Thursday, July 11, 2002

By: CHRISTOPHER ALLAN SMITH AND ERIC MORO

In an exclusive interview with our own Eric Moro, Sci-Fi Channel President Bonnie Hammer hinted Michael Gross, once of FAMILY TIES and then star of the cult-monster hit TREMORS, may be coming to the Sci-Fi channel when the monster movie series becomes a Sci-Fi series.

“First of all, we’ve aired the three TREMORS movies and without any off channel marketing they have been ratings successes for us,” Hammer said, on why the channel decided on a TREMORS series. “We know we have strong fanbase – a male action-oriented, ‘Give us creatures, give us aliens, give us all of these otherworldly things and put them on the air and we’ll watch, especially if they’re action-based’ [type of fan]. And now with Michael Gross involved, they’re absolute winners.”

So Gross will be involved? Maybe…

“Well, we think so. We’re holding out for Michael,” Hammer said, revealing also, “We have the original creators. We have a show runner [David Israel] who loves this kind of stuff and we’re very, very excited about it.”

TREMORS the TV series is slated to premiere on the channel in January, 2003.

[/quote]So...with not only Gross potentially set to reprise his role, AND the original film screenwriters aboard, now...color me intrigued. /forums/images/icons/cool.gif

 

[LondosHair]

Re: No \"Rangers,\" But New \"Quantum Leap\" at Sci-Fi

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
So...with not only Gross potentially set to reprise his role, AND the original film screenwriters aboard, now...color me intrigued.

[/quote]
Yeah, but..... it's still Tremors. /forums/images/icons/rolleyes.gif

I haven't watched a single minute of programming on the Sci-Fi Channel (other than Farscape) since they "announced-but-not-really" that the Rangers series was no-go. Johnathan Edward is a fake. Their new "re-imagined" Battlestar Galactica is a slap in the face to all who worked on and in the original version. Other than Farscape, that channel hasn't got one single redeeming program on its schedule. Sure, they show old TOS episodes, but who hasn't seen them before? Sell 'em to TNN, at least they're promoting Trek. If B5 remains on the air, they'll keep showing it earlier & earlier in the day.

Bonnie Hammer continues to show why she should be doing programming for Oxygen instead.