Tru Calling

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Image:TruCalling S1.jpg Tru Calling was an American television series which was first broadcast on the Fox Network in September 2003.

The show's cancellation was officially announced at a press conference in January 2005, but Gail Berman, then president of Fox, insisted that the network intended to broadcast the remaining six episodes filmed for the show's second season. Season Two of Tru Calling (such as it was) aired in New Zealand beginning on February 4 2005, in Croatia the following March and April, and finally, after nearly a year-long hiatus, in the U.S. beginning on March 31. The last episode filmed was never broadcast in the U.S., presumably because the show had a Christmas theme and the episodes were broadcast in the Spring. DVDs of both seasons of Tru Calling have been released in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Contents

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Premise

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Image:Elizadushkucapture.jpg The lead character in the series was Tru Davies, played by Eliza Dushku (also seen in Buffy the Vampire Slayer), a young woman working the night shift at the City Morgue. Every now and then, the corpse of a newly dead person appeared to awaken and ask Davies for help; she would then awake with a start at the beginning of the previous day, compelled to try and stop the death (often taking the opportunity to rectify various personal situations involving family and friends along the way). Reasons for the death included murder, cancer, suicide, etc. Other characters in the series included Harrison Davies (Shawn Reaves), Davies' irresponsible younger brother, and Davis (Zach Galifianakis), her friend, confidante, and supervisor at the Morgue. It was eventually revealed that Davis had several years earlier had a fateful encounter with Davies' mother (who had apparently been the last person to receive the "calling" before her daughter).

Jack Harper (played by Jason Priestly), a counterpart to Davies' character, was introduced midseason as a foil and possible love interest. He was there to make sure fate got its way, and introduced a philosophical aspect to Davies' endeavors: should she be saving the lives of people who may have been intended to die? In the second season, Davies and Harper compete to get to a person first — she to save them, and he to restore the order of fate, and maintain what he believes to be the balance of the universe.

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Controversy and cancellation

Image:Jasonpriestlycapture.jpg Tru Calling has been cited by television critics, bloggers, and science-fiction fans as an example of a series that was not given time to find an audience, or adequately to develop its premise. On the other hand, some websites refused even to cover the show in their "spoiler" listings, claiming that it was too contrived and difficult to watch, and the addition of Jason Priestley to the cast arguably failed to increase ratings. Further hype and speculation was generated by the show's season-ending cliffhanger, with Harper revealing himself to be Davies' nemesis, and even having a working relationship with her father.

After this cliffhanger, spoilers and inquiries began hitting industry magazines, with the promise of great plot developments in store during the second season. Even odder given the series' eventual fate is a Season One DVD release with commentary by an enthusiastic cast and crew talking up the second season of the show. In fact, Ain't It Cool News, which hated the show in its first year, claimed that the second season deserved praise for being the "Most Improved" show of the year. Fox Television could not decide what to do with Tru, however, first renewing it for a second season, then shortening the length of its series to 13, and eventually 6, episodes, not to mention moving the season's broadcast date from November 2004 to an indeterminate time in 2005. After storing the show's set for an indefinite period of time, word finally arrived that it was being torn down, and Tru's fate appeared to be sealed. In the end, Fox replaced it with another science-fiction genre entry, Point Pleasant, which suffered even lower ratings than Tru Calling.

Finally, after almost a year's gap, Fox Television started broadcasting the last six filmed episodes of Tru Calling in March 2005, in place of Point Pleasant, which had been cancelled. Ironically, these episodes achieved better ratings than Point Pleasant during their run, with practically no advertising. The second season also did very well in New Zealand during its run there in February and March.

On April 20 2005, Fox announced that the sixth and final episode would not be aired, and that the series would end its run one week early with the episode that had been intended to be shown the following evening. Network executives felt it would be peculiar to show an episode with a partial Christmas theme (the show had originally been going to debut on November 4, putting the sixth episode near Christmas) in late April. Instead, they showed in its slot two episodes of The Simple Life.

Tru Calling's cancellation has created even more speculation and fear within the (already distrustful) science-fiction community concerning network television, which has long had a reputation for abruptly cancelling genre shows, and even trepidation about whether to make new genre shows in the first place, lest they not last more than one season. It also continued a pattern started by Fox of airing one or two seasons of a show, cancelling it, and then releasing the show on DVD with many open-ended plotlines left unresolved. However, the presence of other, more successful genre shows on network television, such as Alias and Lost may indicate this fear to be unfounded. It should also be noted that many science-fiction/fantasy shows have suffered untimely cancellations on cable and syndication, including Wonderfalls, Farscape, Witchblade, Carnivale, Firefly, and Angel.

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Comparisons

The series' use of time travel as a weekly device led some viewers to compare it to two other television series that fans feel were unfairly cancelled – Quantum Leap and Sliders – as well as the film Groundhog Day. Critics of the comparison note that while Tru Calling's "rewind" format is similar to the notions of time travel or parallel worlds, the series stayed clear of using its format to address philosophical or social issues, until near the end when it touched broadly on the notion of fate.

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What might have been

After the show's cancellation, writer/producer Doris Egan posted some information on LiveJournal about how the arc/mythology of the series would likely have played out, had it continued. Some salient points include:

  • There are two great Powers in the universe — one that laid out the original plan that history has been following since the beginning of time, and one that wants to change that plan (what ultimate goal either side is working toward remains unknown, possibly even to the show's creators). The first power is more strict and authoritarian in its view toward humanity, whereas the second is "more accepting of individual freedom and choice".
  • Whenever someone dies who may be important to the overall scheme of things (and, presumably, in a way that would serve the second power's purposes), an agent of that power approaches the person and offers them a choice- they can either move on, or return and have a shot at resuming their old life. If they want a second chance, all they have to do is ask for it. If they do, Davies goes back and relives the day, with a view to saving that person's life.
  • Every time Davies saves someone who has asked for her help, she steers the destiny of our world a little farther away from what the first power intended, and a little closer to what the agents of the second power want.
  • Harper, Davies' nemesis, has a very big advantage over her — his mentor, her father (who was Harper's predecessor, just as Davies' mother was hers). Davies is working in the dark, learning as she goes along, but Harper has an older, more experienced counterpart who can share knowledge and wisdom from a long line of predecessors with his young protege. Davies, of course, was robbed of this potentially crucial advantage because of her mother's untimely death.
  • Harper became Davies' counterpart after being approached by agents of the first power during his near-death experience. They offered him a choice: he could either die, or return to Earth to do their bidding. Once he got back, his memories of the encounter were hazy, and he didn't initially understand what was happening when his days started rewinding (at around the time that Davies' did). He eventually wound up in an asylum, which is where Davies' father found him.
  • The central conflict of the show's mythology was never meant to be perceived as a simple, straightforward "good versus evil" scenario. Rather, the creators intended to portray the battle in such a way that either side could conceivably be right — and, at the very least, to show that the soldiers on both sides certainly believe that what they're doing is right. Harper and Davies' father truly believe that she is disrupting the balance of the universe by doing what she does; Davies, of course, believes otherwise. Who would have turned out to be right? These are the questions the producers of the show meant for us to ponder.
  • A future storyline on the show would have dealt with the possible repercussions if Harper ever decided that he no longer wanted to fulfill his end of the bargain (i.e., to continue doing the first power's bidding).
  • Another storyline (which was actually in progress when the show ended) would have dealt with the consequences of Davies' saving someone who hadn't asked for her help. Because that person was either never given the choice to come back, or was and chose not to take it, he would have essentially lost his soul after being saved by Davies, and would then have begun spiralling into increasingly menacing behavior as his humanity faded away and his personality began to disintegrate.

Image:TruCalling S2.jpg

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The Relive a Day Foundation

Fans have created a site to continue the series. Episodes are written and posted regularly, and the writers are doing all they can to remain true to the show. The third "season" will have sixteen episodes. When added to the six episodes that were actually shot in the second season, the total number is twenty-two, which is the standard number of episodes for a television season.

The title of the site, "Relive a Day Foundation", is a reference to a fake charity that Davies set up in the second season, the "Relive Your Day Foundation".

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Cast

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Trivia

  • The first character to ask for help was played by Hudson Leick, and the last by William Sadler.
  • The Ask Ausellio TV Guide column received so many inquiries regarding Tru Calling that it became a running gag, until Fox finally announced airdates for its second season.
  • Voted by top critics at TVWeek.com in June 2004 as "the TV show that was renewed but should have been canceled".
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External links

fr:Tru Calling : Compte à rebours it:Tru Calling ja:トゥルー・コーリング pt:Tru Calling sv:Tru Calling

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