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Remake, Reboot, or Rest in Peace? 7 Days

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3 seasons on UPN. A plucky team of super secret scientists launch a snarky NSA agent (with an eidetic memory and some issues that make him able to handle the multiple alternate realities only he remembers) back in time seven days to save humanity. Rinse and repeat. And repeat. Repeat.

Why just seven days? Fuel constraints. Allegedly. I’m pretty sure it was a clever series selling point. “Just think of what we save on sets, on costuming alone! No period dress!!!” After all, the pilot was one of the most expensive ever for a TV series – reportedly $10 million.

Still, it’s not a stretch to imagine that the government shelled out big $$$ for a time machine that can only send one person back seven days. Our tax dollars at work.

For a lot of the fans, this show worked because of snappy dialogue and some real chemistry between the actors. We loved it. When I asked my wife, she said


“Dialogue. Snappy. Yeh. And Chemistry. Definitely the… what were we talking about?”

The boilerplate crisis scenarios were just slice of pie vehicles for the Cool Whip (thanks, Alan) payload of character interaction and development. Given a longer run and a deeper writer pool, 7 Days could have developed an NCIS-type following. The cast was large and varied enough to ensure a lot of background and development. But alas, timeslot shuffles, etc etc etc.

So.

Remake? Definitely not.

Given the right cast, and tying into current world events, yes please.

Reboot/Revive. Conondrum!

Favourite quotes:
Molly: [shakes Parker’s hand and sees glimpse of his experiences] “You see futures. Terrible futures. Are you psychic too?”
Lt. Frank Parker: “Me? No, I… just have a dark sense of humor.”

Lt. Frank Parker: “In the last three hours I have been up for six days straight, trying to keep this world from blowing up. Who cares? Nobody!”

Some other Time Travel shows, in order from ‘Please Sir, May I Have Some More’ to ‘Deep Hurting’.

Quantum Leap [5 seasons]
What can I say that hasn’t already been said?

Primeval [5 seasons]
Really enjoyed this show, plot canyons and all. A fun ride almost every time.

Outlander [2 seasons, 2017 in production – Sony/Starz]
This one looks like it has some legs. Most definitely worth a watch.

Signal [1 season 2016, 2017 in production – Korean Drama]
looks promising… keep an eye on this one.

The Refugees [1 season, 2015 – BBC/LaSexta Spain]
Three billion people flee back in time. Why? They aren’t talking.
I love the premise. Maybe some day we will see more?

Legends of Tomorrow [2 seasons – The CW]

Life on Mars [2 seasons – BBC]

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles [2 seasons]

Ashes to Ashes [3 seasons – BBC]

Continuum [4 seasons – Canada]

Early Edition [4 seasons]

Travelers [1 season 2016, 2017 in production – Netflix/Canada]
Need to watch it first. But well, wow, I uh, yeah.

Timeless [1 Season]
No comment. ’cause if you can’t say something nice…

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