Project Sleepwalker

I remember looking forward to 'Sleepwalkers' with much anticipation. At that time, X-Files was already high on its critical and public acclamation and success, and this new series looked to be a show in the same vein.

It premiered; I watched; I was impressed. It was a spooky mix of the 'Files and Outer Limits. The possibilities seemed endless as to how entering the dreams of a patient can help them conquer their problems.

Then NBC dutifully went and cancelled it after (correct me if I'm wrong) 5 episodes. Typical of NBC, though, a network that seems to delight in tanking shows I get hooked on. I didn't intend for this to be a rant, but Earth 2, Sleepwalkers, JAG (yes, it was originally on NBC) The Pretender, Profiler, BOOMTOWN!!! (I will NEVER forgive them for that one...)...all shows on NBC that I've loved but have been cancelled.

I will never forget a scene in what was perhaps the last episode aired...

Dr. Nathan (Greenwood) and Kate (Watts) had been arguing over something, and it was causing some tension between them. Nathan fell asleep later, and dreamed of a dead team member approaching him in a stop-action-photography-like sequence where he says: "Listen to Kate!" I know it sounds silly, but it was totally creepy and sent shivers down my spine.

We never find out any more from any of this series, and I really wish NBC had given it a chance. It could have been another X-Files.

But then, since the Boomtown fiasco, I've boycotted all NBC products.

Another series NBC brilliantly decided to cancel before people had a chance to see it. Why even bother producing a series, if you're just going to cancel it before showing half the episodes??

It was easy to dismiss as another X-Files copy, and true, some of the later episodes do resemble bad Twilight Zone eps. But the better installments of the series had all the bittersweet heart and clever invention of more successful genre shows. You have the concept of moving around in and altering the dreamscapes of sleeping minds at least two years before The Matrix came along. And the idea of a man building a whole clinic and a new branch of scientific research simply so he can communicate with his comatose wife is sweet, to say the least.

I don't understand why NBC hasn't at least thought of putting the nine episodes on disc. A few eps have been released overseas, in Germany and Hong Kong. What with Naomi Watts becoming a superstar thanks to "The Ring" and all the other top stars in the cast ("Thirteen Days"' Bruce Greenwood, "ER"'s Abraham Benrubi, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"'s Harry Groener), and what with all the other questionably "successful" titles being given the box-set treatment (did people actually watch "My Big Fat Greek Life" on TV?), you'd think they'd at least consider putting this one out there.