When I was growing up in that great time known as the Eighties, TV networks would occasionally use the summer to show off some of the TV pilots that they paid money for yet didn’t find a spot for on the Fall schedule. In the TV Guide, they were even named as such: “Pilot,” which a very young version of myself would think would mean there were a lot of shows about this guy who flies an airplane.
Sometimes, clips from these pilots would be shown in “Never-Seen Pilots” TV specials, which isn’t exactly true, because almost all of them ended up on the air at one time or another.
Somewhere along the line, the networks and studios began to just eat the costs of these pilots that went nowhere, even if they spent millions of dollars to produce them. I’m sure there are legalities and costs involved with that, but it’s a shame, because even if something is bad, it might be worth seeing how it’s done… especially when and if the right take is found later, or if a star from a TV pilot ends up doing something really big later. Occasionally, a pilot might be released to iTunes or as a DVD bonus feature — Aquaman from the creators of Smallville was a prime example of the past decade — and sometimes, a pilot might be screened at Comic-Con, like Locke and Key. But those are usually exceptions to the rule. More times than not, pilots are example of “what could have been” that the general public doesn’t often get access to.
Earlier this week, though, Syfy aired a “special event” called Rewind. With zero promotion. As far as I can tell, there aren’t even promotional images that were made available, and the network’s official website for the show features a short teaser not featuring any of the cast and very little else. If Syfy had any intention of making a regular series out of it, I think they would have at least done more than just one Tweet to tell people to check it out. I’m hopeful that I’d be wrong in this assessment, which is too bad, because the pilot itself left me wanting more. The consideration that this was made over a year ago also makes me doubt that Syfy intends to give us more.
In short, Rewind showed what happened when a disaster destroyed a major city, and a group of people, including civilian operatives and military scientists, goes back in time to stop an event that could stop THE event. There’s a worry about probabilities and butterfly effects, which isn’t often seen in stuff like this. Me? I love time travel, so I ate this pilot up. Some things reminded me of other things that I liked — The Time Tunnel, Sliders, the short-lived Timecop TV series, and even the dimensional windows to “the other side” in Fringe. I think there was definitely a good regular series there, and a cliffhanger that we were left with had me really wanting to know what would happen next. I can count on one hand the number of pilots I’ve seen this year that had me going “OH, I can’t wait to see where they go with this!” and this was one of them.
I understand and acknowledge the Rewind pilot wasn’t perfect. The lead, Shane McRae as Sean Knox, wasn’t THAT strong, but he was the type that I could have seen getting a lot better as time goes on. His performance was good enough, though, that if I had been a casting director, I probably would have made the same choice because I see the potential and the belief in the character there. Robbie Jones was one of the best parts of The CW’s Hellcats and he was great here, although he was given little to do. Jeff Fahey gets “Special Guest Star” credit and I would have liked more of that if we had gotten a series. I liked Keshia Castle-Hughes’ character, as well as Keon Mojaheri who also was part of the support team, even though, they, too, played characters we didn’t get to see a lot of (yet). The worst part, really… and I hate to bash on an actor, but this one just didn’t fit here, was TV series vet Jennifer Ferrin as Dr. Bryce. Maybe the character just didn’t click for her, but almost all of her dialogue read and looked like an audition. It’s not good when you can see an actor or actress acting, rather than believing their character, and I feel like any attempt at chemistry between them was kind of a fail.
Should Rewind be given another chance? Definitely. Might it already be in the works for more? It’s possible, though with the lack of promotion for the pilot airing and the amount of time since it was shot, I kind of doubt it. I sometimes wonder if Syfy even wants to be in the sci-fi business, in not giving a project like this a chance to go. I’d love to see another good time travel series on this side of the pond, and a franchise this could go for more, for sure. Maybe someone will give this another try, maybe even with better casting, but I will say this was 2 hours where I did enjoy myself.
31 Comments
Craig Engler from SyFy tweeted today that that the series Rewind had not be picked up for series. To bad, it really was an enjoyable pilot.
I enjoyed your blog, well written. As for Rewind, no so much! The budget gave it a good feel comparable to SG1 but the time travel aspects were full of holes.
SPOILER!!!!! They specifically mentioned that they cannot predict future locations or durations. For In the last scene, was the winter coat ideal for a snowy landscape just a lucky guess? Also, massive paradox for all the people within the field who remembers the changes. According to the new timeline , Nox didn’t get arrested therefore he didn’t go to the facility, therefore two Nox’s exist. Go back to the date before the bomb and run the new timeline until they get back from 1929… or did the non-time-travelling Nox just disappear when time-travelling Nox got back? A time travel movie is extremely hard. There is no future for a time travel series… no pun intended.
It was a canadian tv show from 2008,and ran for about two year’s. Cheked it out on the web.
@ osvaldo
That was a different program all together. It was a Toronto television news program.
@ D Knyght
Of course they decided not to carry it … it was actually good. Reminded my a lot of “Time Tunnel”, which ran for ran for one season of 30 episodes in ’66/’67. The 2002 remake never got past the pilot either.
The basic problem with programs like this is an incomplete concept of time. If time is a single dimension, it cannot be changed. If time is multidimensional then a new time thread might be created with a different future, but then those changes would be limited to that thread and the original time thread is unmodified.
Writers of this type of show might want to check out H. Beam Piper’s ‘Paratime’ and ‘Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen’ stories.
I really liked it and hope it goes to series. A year difference between when the pilot was shot and the movie aired may not mean much. Didn’t the same happen with Babylon 5? There was like a year worth of time between when the pilot aired and the series began?
You mention the Time Tunnel, which I’m sure refers to the original, but if you’ve seen the remake pilot you’ll see plenty of similarities between that and Rewind.
The show reminded me of “7 Days” a sci fi show from the 90’s that air on Network TV…….I Lo g for More of REWIND……Great pilot.
I really enjoyed the story and the premise. I hope that they make this a series.
Rich
Syfy (Sci-fi?) sucks. I thought Rewind was pretty good, no wonder they shot it down. They didnt pick up the new Battlestar prequel series, instead put on terrible crap like Defiance (with that budget, wtf are they doing?!) and Sharknado. Continuum is the one exception, it has a great lead, and decent plots. They’ll probably cancel it.
Syfy doesn’t make Continuum its a Canadian show. they only air it and was aired a long time before syfy picked it up.
Yes your right they no longer give real sci fi a go, so many good shows getting canceled too soon just when the get interesting. The list is getting very long now. many people still seem to want real sci fi with a long deeper story lines. So much crap reality shows that really bore me with the slow suspense and repeat everything over and over. you can take all the crap out and your left with 5 mins of something interesting. i convince everyone must be getting dumber to like this stuff.
Blood and Chrome looked to be very good a very cheap pilot not much advertising, aired on the web over 1 million view plus yet nope not doing this either. There are no space shows left to watch today. i would love someone to make B&C i’d even per per view for it, i’m desperate now.
Look almost every so called sci fi show today made is some aftermath drama show with little sci fi about it, sci fi bits are drip feed in a few mins per week. If I wanted to watch drama shows that what i’d watch. Tied of these earth bound aftermath dramas. the yall seem to be the seem with a different theme. is there some template everyone works from or something, fill in you own ideas or something.
Caprica, granted it was slow maybe to slow, but to me it was filling in the personalities in detail so you would know why and how the Cylons came to hate humans so much. At the end of series one they showed bit from what was to be season 2 and that looked fantastic, moving onto human like robots skin jobs etc
Time is another aspect i love about sci fi, yet here we go again its canceled.
To me this was a cross between 7 days and Stargate, this show has promise.
I agree that Rewind is a bit like Time Tunnel and I’m would like to see more of it and let it flow. That is what got me to this site. SYFY you have abandoned us for other fake scripted reality shows. I hope another network pops up with enough authentic Sci Fi madness to make you fall flat on your face. At least we are getting Haven back and at least you have the sense to get the Canadian shows in like Continuum and Lost Girl…but why aren’t you creating them yourself… Back when you made Stargate for TV and then SG Atlantis… It was the bomb… And Sanctuary too… But all these Questions series and looking for ghosts is just a bunch of ridiculousness. It may be cheap to make but you are going to get caught holding a bag of crap shows if you don’t get to writing some good fiction soon. Good Fiction beats Fake Scripted Reality any day of the week.
More and more, it looks like SyFy is only interested in “reality” programming and running repeats of Canadian and British series. Imagine Greater? Not really any more.
Perhaps one of reasons Rewind was not picked up is the glaring plot flaw that does not provide an explanation as to why our intrepid time travelers do not carry Fist Person cameras recording and transmitting as much as possible. For crying out sakes, they have micro drones that apparently can fly 100 meters beyond the event horizon via
remote. Surely the travelers can wear an American flag camera pin.
No, of COURSE SyFy wouldn’t pick this up.
Why not? Here are some reasons:
1. It was good. SyFy only picks crap to show.
2. It had actors that actually could act.
3. It didn’t have anything related to ghosts or the paranormal.
4. It didn’t include any wrestlers.
5. It had a plot.
6. It had a future.
7. It wasn’t a reality show.
9. SyFy can’t count to 8.
HA! “…running repeats of Canadian and British series.”
EXACTLY. And they have the NERVE to call it “Original Shows”. They were original when Space and BBC showed them.
WHY CAN’T WE HAVE THE SPACE CHANNEL HERE IN THE US?
Seriously, SyFySuks!
SyFy is becoming increasingly disappointing with their promoting those bogus ghost investigators and wrestling. Add to that their insistence on pushing those horrendous mutant shark, big snake, big alligator “D”movies on the weekends. I’m at the point now that I’d much rather watch reruns of Oprah………Yea, that bad.
I just watched the pilot it was really good. I am so sad to learn that they will not be making more episodes. I agree with most of you syfy has sucked lately. It use to be one of my favorite channels not anymore sad to say. I really hate all of the reality crap as well. To bad they don’t listen to us.
The failure of Syfy to support this gem makes me believe that conspiracy theory that TV exists so the power elite can turn the brains of the average person to crap. After mind numbing garbage like Revolution, Terra Nova, Falling Skies here comes a show with suspense, thought, good acting ,and a good plot and Syfy just throws it away.
Spoiler Alert!
There was one plot hole. Hearing a train whistle convinces them they are on the wrong road and in the wrong county. However their target is living right next to a train track!! Otherwise great pilot.
Well said @Steve
I’ve said it before, SyFy, the network thatr dare not speak its name, was taken over by mundanes a few years ago. They changed the name because the whole concept of scifi embarrasses them. That’s why they’ve become the ghost hunters and wrestling network. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but why the hell can’t there be just one truly fannish network?
There was talk a while ago about SyFy producing an adaptation of Terry Gilliam’s Twelve Monkeys. I didn’t see the pilot, but judging from the plot outline, could this have been it?
It’s weird that the teaser says the show would “première”, the website says it’s a “special event”, and in reality it’s an abandoned pilot. Sounds like a lot of last-minute changes due to either bad management or unforeseen problems with the production.
In general, these orphaned pilots sometimes take strange paths. I remember a particular example from about 10 years ago where a pilot that didn’t go to series was picked up by a German home video company, and released as a direct-to-DVD movie. Only about a year later, the network who actually ordered the pilot decided to still air it as a special feature. So for all we know there could be dozens of abandoned pilots out there that might just have been released somewhere in the world (which is oftentimes very hard to find out because they might not use the original titles).
Just the trend of SyFy going to do the dogs. What do we have left? Warehouse 13 and Haven, both of which I would not be surprised that they are in the final season. Lost Girl and Defiance, and are we actually current with the seasons for the former? Not much else but repeats that you can find on Netflix and Amazon with commercials, the fake reality shows and then the cheesy movies. Not like the old days.
Really! Please someone buy SyFy Channel that gets it and get rid of these weak network heads that have no clue what good shows are about. Cheap producers with no real concept of what good scifi is about. They screwed up BSG spin offs that could have been exceptional. Why buy a scifi concept network and not believe in it???!!!
I miss the SciFi channel. They had TV shows worth watching. And I really enjoyed the “Rewind” pilot. I’m disappointed that there isn’t going to be a series. All the shows that I’ve liked to watch on “SyFy” have been finished or will be soon. It’s a shame that good shows are replaced with junk.
I really liked the pilot! Please bring it back
I just saw this episode on Syfy on Demand. Since there was only one episode I searched for info on when it was going to air more. Apparently its not happening. That figures, I really enjoyed it and wanted to see more. I hate when networks create something but dont really give it a chance. Maybe they will rethink it.
….maybe skip the reality & game shows and create more original sci-fi programs like Rewind.
I watched Rewind and liked it even with the actual ‘glitches’ that others above have caught in the issues of the show. I think I’d have invited Amanda Tapping to play the Dr.’s role though. The actress they had for the show just didn’t fit the role quite right. Maybe SyFy needs re-branding as a Science Fiction and Fantasy network which would open up a whole lot of other writing and story lines that would be so much better than boring us to death with mutant piranha, giant snakes, and absolutely insane sharknado??? I mean I would rather watch a re-make of “the Blob” than that crap. It Looks like other networks are doing a lot better job in this general genre than what this network is “supposed to” SPECIALIZE IN! Look at the success of HBO Game of Thrones or ABC’s Once Upon a Time.” Another show that comes to mind that should have been a fit for SyFy would have been DaVinci’s Demons as it is as very good, (and is a historical science fiction) Sleepy Hollow looks interesting. BBC has its new show Atlantis which I would think some Syfy viewers may like also so this network is just NOT doing its job or has a bunch of MORONS working in administrative/managerial roles making idiotic executive decisions. SyFy also needs to remember that not only do guys like sci-fi and Fantasy but so do a LOT of women! and they seem to constantly target males in the 14-30 year old range with the crap they are showing now. Spend some money SyFy and get the rights to something like Asimov’s Foundation series and produce it like HBO has done with GOT and you may actually regain some market share, respect, awards and recapture viewer who have either abandoned you or are so close to deleting your channel from their cable and satellite programing guides.
Yeah some of the actors where a bit crappy, but so were some of the character… Not needed or maybe the wrong gender for the part. But the lead character seemed pretty good so I don’t know why people are slating him a bit too much.
The show ended with me wanting more, how did he know when the window was going to open, how did he know he was going to need a snow coat, where was he going and what changes did it make to the timeline.
Urgh… I wish now I hadn’t watched this lonely episode.