NBC is launching a streaming service, Peacock, in April, and is wisely listening to audience feedback in terms of reboots such as Quantum Leap.
Most people are tired of recycled stories and preexisting IPs. However, Peacock has the rights to some prestigious properties. NBC’s lead program and planning strategy executive, Jeff Bader, spoke to Slash Film about the possible plans for Quantum Leap in particular.
But most important, Bader highlighted why their other reboot of Punky Brewster came to fruition:
“Punky Brewster is like a lot of those shows that didn’t ‘work’ with adults, even going back to The Brady Bunch and Partridge Family and things like that…[It] has a huge resonance with millennials. That’s what we want. We’re seeing that with millennials, Soleil Moon Frye, there is a resonance. So the idea of a show with her and a kid actually I think is going to work for them.”
Slash Film
Let’s take a closer look at what this news means for Peacock and the possibility of a new reboot.
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Quantum Leap to Peacock based on audience feedback
Reviving a classic TV series is no small task. It’s always a risk of alienating fans of the original by doing something different, or playing it too safe and turning audiences off that way. Just ask Disney about Star Wars.
But while listening to fan and audience expectations can be bad during the creation of a project, it’s valuable to distinguish what people want in the first place. Thus, it’s wise of Bader and Peacock to solicit, for example, millennial opinions about Punky Brewster.
Now, it’s about finding a way to adapt Quantum Leap to a modern audience, which Peacock seems intent on doing. The original show centered around a scientist who invents time travel and can only go within events of his life.
According to Slash Film writer Fred Topel, audiences want original actors Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell to return. So, it’s a no-go to just recast and push the story into the modern era.
If at least Bakula can return as scientist Dr. Sam Beckett, Quantum Leap could be a great show for millennial audiences. Sci-fi high concept can be cheesy and poorly executed. It helps to already have an intriguing premise, the potential star returning and a five-season, 97-episode preceding run to give the prospective production momentum.
Streaming seems like the ideal place to expound upon the original Quantum Leap, and give Peacock a leg up in original programming.