Now and Again

I first caught this show early Sunday morning on the Sci Fi channel. The quality of the episode and the early morning air time told me that the series had already been canceled. I have still never seen the pilot with John Goodman, but I have seen most of the episodes.

It is a marvelous show. Eric Close is brilliant as Mr. Wiseman, the human guinea pig of a government experiment in creating a super soldier/agent. His humor in dealing with the dour Dr. Morris and his almost palpable yearning for his wife and daughter left me with an aching pain for a man caught in a surreal nightmare. What makes it even more poignant is Wiseman's refusal to allow himself to be just a guinea pig. He adamantly asserts his humanity and forces Dr. Morris to accept it also.

Dennis Haysbert is Dr. Theodore Morris, the brilliant but tightly wound Frankenstein creator of a most uncooperative monster. One of the great aspects of this show is the fact that Dr. Morris is not a villain. He is a complex man who needs the humanity his creation forces from him. Wiseman refuses to let Morris be a cold and heartless mad scientist. He picks and prods and digs out all of humanity that Dr. Morris tries so hard to bury.

Margaret Colin and Heather Matarazzo are Lisa Wiseman, his grieving widow, and Heather Wiseman, his grieving and angry daughter. They are confused and frightened of this strange handsome young man who calls himself Mr. Newman. He moves in and out of their reality doing inexplicable things (such as asking Lisa to hold an egg without breaking it on a busy subway platform) and displaying an uncannily intimate knowledge of their lives and thoughts.

Now and Again was intelligent, touching and funny all at the same time and it was much too good to last.

I can see why it was cancelled, I mean, it's intelligent, funny and has great characters and dialogue. How dare it!

This is a great show that positively demanded a second series but was dropped like a hot cake on a hot day on top of an erupting volcano. I freely admit it could have done with a little more action (which we would've got in the second series) but this is a minor quibble when this show is in the same league as 24 (also starring Haysbert) and The West Wing.

More please!

Couldn't agree more with other comments - though they have been made some time ago now.. about how good this series was.

This is coming from someone who normally doesn't enjoy watching most US drama serials. But this one had a heart and feel to it that was just special. As soon as the smooth & groove of the opening theme music came on I was loving this show. The chemistry between the "young" Eric and his "older" wife was fantastic. Dennis Haysbert played I think his best role as the government guy.

Huge shame it didn't go on..

I haven't seen a single episode of this show since it originally aired. I was a child at the time, but it's been 18 years and I still think about this show on a weekly basis. I also think about this show whenever I hear an Allstate commercial or see anything containing John Goodman. It was such a compelling story! It had heart, brains, and humor. I also remember that the pacing was usually on point. I wish I could find a single living person who remembers watching this.

Now & Again is one of my favorite TV shows of all time. I had a great time watching these characters. My favorite scene was Michael appearing as an angel to help Heather come back from the near death of the lightening strike. I was terribly disappointed when the show was canceled but do not wish to see a neat and tidy wrap up. The stories in this program were creative and unpredictable and never neat and tidy.