Tuesday, February 28, 2023

RW520 - Quantum Leap Revival - Leapers Return (intro)


In episode zero of The Quantum Leap Revival, Cory and Tom get aquatinted with the new series and discuss the cast and crew.

Ziggy's Data Retrieval:

Raymond Lee plays Ben. Most recently he has been a main cast member in Kevin Can F Himself (missing episodes on IMDB) and was in Top Gun Maverick but much lower on the cast list. He did star in a movie last year called The Unknown Country (An unexpected invitation rushes a grieving young woman into a lonely road trip through the American Midwest towards of the border between Texas and Mexico), and was also low down on the cast list in the Sandra Bullock/Channing Tatum film The Lost City. He was a minor character in VHYes (available on Tubi, starring Kerri Kinney, supporting actor Thomas Lennon) which was shot entirely on VHS and Beta in which a kid records joke videos and tv shows over his parents’ wedding video. He was also a supporting actor in Tim Robbins and Holly Hunters dramedy Here and Now (A dark dramedy about a progressive Portlandian family made up of husband, wife, three adopted children from Liberia, Vietnam and Colombia, and one biological daughter, who find their sanity tested and values challenged in 2018 America).


Caitlin Bassett plays Addison and has one credit to her name as an actress in a short about two teens trying to teach themselves to drink and finding out it’s not as easy as they thought. Other than that she was a production assistant and an intern on two other projects. Before QL, she had served as an intelligence analyst for the U.S. Army and the National Security Agency for seven years with three international combat deployments, two of which were in Afghanistan. After that she went to law school, got an undergrad degree in legal studies but then quickly decided to pursue acting and made her big debut with this show.


Mason Alexander Park plays Ian. They’re a non binary actor best known for playing Hedwig in the first Broadway nation tour production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Recently they were a supporting actor in a movie called National Anthem (A 21-year-old construction worker in New Mexico joins a community of queer rodeo performers in search of their own version of the American dream), and was a supporting cast member in the Netflix produced live version of the anime Cowboy Bebop and The Sandman. 


Nanrisa Lee plays Jenn Chu. She’s had a lot of one off roles and supporting actor credits with one lead role in the movie 4/20 (As 4/20 begins, a dispensary owner launches into a day of haphazard activities he hopes will spark new business and keep his struggling store afloat). She also appears in an episode of Star Trek Picard as an FBI Agent. 


Susan Diol is returning as Beth Calavicci. She was of course Beth in two episodes of the original Quantum Leap. She is still a working actress with leads in two recent movies called Loqueesha (1.6, Faced with a financial crisis, Joe, a divorced, quick-witted bartender, applies for a job at a failing Detroit radio station as a black female disc jockey) and Your Own Road (8.2, An idealistic recent graduate takes a road trip from Ohio to California, with his anxious best friend and his troubled high school sweetheart, to chase his dream of being a filmmaker). Has a number of one off roles to her name as well as a tv movie with Tom Selleck called Touch Em All McCall (A one-time baseball player returns to his hometown and winds up coaching a farm team), and a short run of 63 episodes on Days of Our Lives. 


We’ve got Ernie Hudson playing Magic Williams, a character played by a different actor in the original show. He has a credit list of over 250 credits but he is of course best known as Winston Zeddemore in Ghostbusters 1, 2, and Afterlife. He’s had a number of one off roles, but continues to show up as a guest star in popular shows such as Modern Family, Twin Peaks, Gracie and Frankie, Law and order, and How I Met Your Mother.


Scott Bakula wrote: How could you do QL without Sam?'(or Al, for that matter) Well, I guess we’re about to find out. That’s the story. As the show has always been near and dear to my heart, it was a very difficult decision to pass on the project, a decision that has upset and confused so many fans of the original series. However, the idea of anyone ‘leaping’ around in time and walking a mile in someone else’s shoes, remains a very appealing concept and so worthy of exploration, especially given the current state of mankind. In that spirit, I am crossing my fingers that this new cast and crew are lucky enough to tap into the magic that propelled the original Quantum Leap into the hearts and minds of generations past and present. I wish them good luck and happy leaping!”


However, the showrunner of the new series Martin Gero is not giving up. In a conversation with Collider, Gero said, “I will respectfully always ask him to do the show.” Gero wants to “completely respect his wishes, ” but also wants Bakula to know “our enthusiasm, our love, and our reverence for the old show.” And so, in Gero’s mind, Bakula’s decision is simply “a no right now.” In fact, Gero admitted that he has “a very, very good idea that [his producers] know about” for bringing Sam into the new series. Of course, Gero doesn’t let that idea slip yet, but he remains adamant that “it would be pretty amazing to have him back.”


In January 2022 The pilot was green lit, with a full season ordered in May of 2022 and released in September. 



From Scott Bakula’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/Ciiwi_qvuS2/?hl=en


To Quantum Leap fans around the world, in an effort to quiet the rumors and move on…


First of all, thanks for hanging around through the decades!


Here’s the simple version of what’s going on with the Quantum Leap reboot and me:


I have no connection with the new show, either in front of the camera or behind it.


In January, the pilot was sold and a script was sent to me because the character of Sam Beckett was in it, which makes sense, right? As so many of you have been asking me the last several months, “How could you do QL without Sam?"(or Al, for that matter) Well, I guess we’re about to find out.


That’s the story. As the show has always been near and dear to my heart, it was a very difficult decision to pass on the project, a decision that has upset and confused so many fans of the original series. However, the idea of anyone ‘leaping’ around in time and walking a mile in someone else’s shoes, remains a very appealing concept and so worthy of exploration, especially given the current state of mankind. In that spirit, I am crossing my fingers that this new cast and crew are lucky enough to tap into the magic that propelled the original Quantum Leap into the hearts and minds of generations past and present.

I wish them good luck and happy leaping!

Further Resources:

Quantum Leap IMDb

Quantum Leap Wikipedia


Original Series IMDb

Original Series Wikipedia

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