I admire the attempt at a reboot.
Why would any character jump into a machine that wrecked the life of the inventor? That seems like a tough problem to overcome.
Saw the first episode. There’s a definite shift in focus; the original show was all about Sam (and Al) making things right. In this, that element seemed perfunctory and the focus was on why he leapt and his relationship with Addison and Ben.
The main reason for the original was so Bellisario could write an anthology of dramatic stories. The concept allowed it to be an anthology show with the same recurring characters, since anthologies were a tough sell with the networks. So Sam’s background was not a factor (except in a few episodes when it was the focus of the story). It also deliberately dealt with social and political issues, often taking a familiar situation as a template.
This avoided that. The main story was just a standard jewel heist trope, with most of the attention paid to trying to figure out why Ben leaped. And I wonder how long they can keep up the “why did he leap?” storyline. Also, other than plot purposes, I don’t see why Addison didn’t reveal her relationship to Ben.
Interesting start, but it’s not Quantum Leap.
I didn’t catch it Monday. I thought I’d be able to stream it later on Hulu, but I guess not.
It’s streaming on NBC.com for free. There’s also an app for Android, iPhone, and most smart TV devices. Just go to your app store and search for NBC.
I noticed the mission has changed to correcting mistakes in history.
The original mission was getting Sam home. (That’s how I recall the opening of the shows)
I remember Sams swiss cheese memory. The new guy has total amnesia.
What happened to the waiting room? The people Sam switched places with were there. Al could ask them questions.
I kept waiting for them to talk to the cop.
The original show didn’t concentrate on getting Sam home; it was rarely mentioned. It was about Sam fixing things that went wrong.
This show has put that in the center.
Sam also had total amnesia on his first leap. Totally consistent with the original.
My cable box TV listings says the premiere episode is being re-run on Saturday at 8pm.
By the way, it’s also on Peacock. Again, absolutely free.
I was a fan of the original. I watched the new one the other night and I’m on the fence right now. It was only one episode so I have to give it a chance. And I agree, Addison should have just told him who she was to him. She tried at least once but of course something interrupted her.
It’s been a while, but it seems it was mentioned in most episodes at some point or another. If nothing else, the last lines of the opening dialogue were “putting right what once went wrong and hoping each time that his next leap will be the leap home”.
Sam had no interest in fixing things that went wrong, it was something he had to do in order to keep moving along. As the series progressed, he did find his assignment to be more fulfilling than obligatory, and at the end chose to continue to do it rather than to go home.
But getting Sam home was the primary objective from day one.
Except that in no episode was that even a factor. Yes, he wanted to go home, but other than that phrase, it was never a major part of any story.
It was all about what happened in each leap. In most episodes, Sam didn’t even mention going home. (And he went home a couple of times, actually.)
In the new series, the entire mission was to get Ben home (note that in the single episode, you had more screen time set at the Quantum Leap lab than was shown in the entire original show). That’s taking that one throwaway line and basing the series around it.
Except for the end of course. He spent the last episode (or couple of episodes) trying to figure out why he couldn’t get home, and in the end (decades-old spoiler alert) he didn’t leap home because deep down, he didn’t want to. He didn’t want to stop helping everyone. But yes, that was the focus of the finale, trying to figure out why he couldn’t get home.
Otherwise you’re correct. I got the idea that they just took for granted that he’d eventually get home as long as he kept correcting history, so they didn’t sweat it. Which seems pretty silly in retrospect.
I will say, I’m liking the new show. I didn’t think I would. I loved the original (I might have seen every episode) and the promos for the show made it look unappealing. But when I watched it, it was a lot better than they had made it look, especially Ben.
What I like in particular is that they really seem to be leveraging the concept. They make a big deal of the fact that Ben seems to be talking to himself when he’s consulting with a hologram that only he sees. (I remember in the original show that Sam rarely if ever got caught talking to Al, or he easily explained it away if it happened.) I also like how the ability to look things up using Super Google can give Ben an amazing amount of leverage that he can use to almost have a superpower. In the original, Al was giving Sam info all the time, but I don’t remember it being used to the extent it is happening in the new show.
As others have said, they are also giving equal time to the modern day stuff and not handwaving it away like the original did. I think that’s smart and gives the show more depth.
I might be a fan of this show despite my initial reservations.
I was, for lack of a better word, an appreciable fan of the original show (I actually found out about it from my sister), which in a sense makes me the perfect demographic. Liked it enough to take an interest in this new series, but not so ridiculously diehard that I’m going to pick apart every syllable and set detail. Also, I noticed that things that send everyone else into screaming blood frenzy don’t bother me in the slightest (or as I call it, the “Assassin’s Creed Modern Day Parts Rule” 
), so if rescuing Dr. Song takes center stage without trumping up fixing things or relationships or whatever, fine by me.
My immediate concern is the pacing. There was a lot of plot to fit into one hour in the premiere, and though it didn’t seem excessively rushed to me, it was really hustling. I think that once the recurring characters’ abilities, motivations, and quirks get ironed out, the stories will have more room to breathe, and then we can delve into bigger picture and what the real mission is and whatnot.
BTW, by far the most utterly unbelievable superpower Ben showed was learning how to drive a manual transmission van in three seconds.
This looks promising. I’m definitely going to be following it.
(Hey, uh, is this thread just for the premiere, or can we use it for the whole season? I don’t think making a new thread for each episode is going to work.)
it’s funny that what a lot of people forget is the series was almost canceled in its 2nd or 3rd season until one summer NBC didn’t have anything to show and decided to have “quantum leap week” in which 2-3 episodes were shown every night for a week or two and that’s how most people got hooked on the show
They did that once or twice a year for what 3 or 4 years and then cable tv picked up syndication and it was everywhere for a few years
To be fair, he stalled it out at first and I got the impression that he got it going as much out of luck as anything. And he was bad enough that people scoffed at the idea that he was supposed to be a getaway driver. (I assume he did the whole drive in one gear.)
Yeah, though, driving a stick is ridiculously hard if you haven’t been trained and practiced. The timing between clutch and gas is tricky. I was taught as a teenager and I can probably get a vehicle going eventually but with a lot of difficulty.
It’s not at all intuitive.
There’s just something missing from the reboot. Of course, I have to look at my own biases and the deliberately manufactured diversity in the casting is initially off putting, but I don’t think that is an issue.
I think that the initial version with Al and Sam being friends or buddies just works better than the romantic relationship in the reboot between Ben and (I forget her name) his hologram. The backstory and spending more time at Project QL is fine, but for some reason it just isn’t working. The development is too slow: something is going on with Al’s daughter, but they are not moving it forward enough.
Also with the “evil leaper” they don’t understand what is going on. There was an evil leaper in the original series and this timeline knows all about Sam and his prior leaps. They should have at least put in a throwaway line about that knowledge.
I’ll keep watching every week, but there is just something that isn’t firing on all cylinders there, but I can’t place it with particularity.
Further, this the same QL technology, right? But Sam would take his own “aura” into the leaps (for example, when he leaped into an amputee, he could walk) but when Ben is trying to run across the city he is getting winded because the person he leapt into had lived a sedentary lifestyle for years. That is a lack of consistency.
I agree about the lack of continuity and am bothered by it, too. Sam’s body did leap completely into whatever timeline he occupied. For example, he leapt into a blind pianist, but could still see. Sam was an accomplished musician among his other talents so he did play the piano. Then there was the time he leapt into a chimp and saved a scientist from drowning, which is something a chimp couldn’t do because they can’t swim.
Yeah,m too much personal drama, not enough cool “leaping”.
We had high hopes, but Raymond Lee is no Scott Bakula. We just could not get into the show. We quit watching after 3 or 4.
I don’t think that’s it. Nobody could replace Scott Bakula and I fully accepted that. I think maybe that a consideration that Ben is leaping for evil reasons, along his smug demeanor, makes me not ready to root for him yet. Maybe the fucker should die or be trapped back there. Even his fiancée isn’t sure. Whereas you always rooted for Sam from day one because he was put forth as a guy with no flaws at all.