TiVo Community Forums Archives - "Now and Then" on ABC (SPOILERS)

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"Now and Then" on ABC (SPOILERS)
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Posted by: disco

Okay...two things:

a.) What's with his best friend? Did they try to hire Jack Black but he said "no", or what?

2.) How many more narrated dramedies do we need?

III.) His whole reason for going back to high school was to have sex with his brother's girlfriend before HE does? Niiiice...Walt Disney must be rolling in his grave...

Posted by: DrStrange

He wasn't just after sex. He'd been in love with that girl since he was little but his brother wound up marrying her, and he felt that week was the turning point. He was trying to change his whole life, not just that night.

I'm keeping the SP for now, but that Jack Black wannabe really pushed it. Hopefully he won't be as manic in other realities.

Posted by: sallypnut

I liked it. SP stays for now.

But isn't it called "That Was Then"? ;)

Posted by: Lori

It is. Now and Then was a show from a couple of seasons ago. :)

Posted by: sallypnut

quote:
Originally posted by Lori
It is. Now and Then was a show from a couple of seasons ago. :)

Actually, wasn't that show called Now and Again? I remember always confusing it with Once and Again, which I think debuted in the same season. What were they thinking?

Well, whatever it's called, I liked the new show. :)

Posted by: Philosofy

And isn't there a half hour sitcom this season with the same premise? I think its called Do Over

Similarities:
Do Over: travels in time by his sister shocking his head with CPR paddles
That Was Then: Travels in time from lighting shocking his headphones

Big thing they needed to change:
Do Over: Candidate Speech running for Class VP
That Was Then: Barlow Speech

I guess there are no original ideas. I'm halfway through "That was Then", but so far I give the nod to "Do Over"

Posted by: ronsch

Probably have the same writers getting paid twice for the same scripts...:D

Posted by: uncdrew

The whole "doing high school over again" idea intrigues me, so I watched both. The similarities mentioned above we're disappointing, as were:

a. Both tried to save/improve parent's relationship
b. Both had female friend who told them not to waste time on the pretty girl
c. Both became tongue-tied around said pretty girl
d. Both best friends become bald around age 30
e. Both have cooler sybling
f. Both best friends are shocked and dismayed by the career they end up in.

At least they ended differently, but in recalling them I'm getting them confused. So far I think Do Over was a bit funnier, but I haven't narrowed it down to one show quite yet. If I end up watching them both I have some issues about my adolesence that my therapist will enjoy hearing.

Posted by: Ray Deodude

quote:
Originally posted by uncdrew
The whole "doing high school over again" idea intrigues me, so I watched both.

Same here. But these two shows are big disappointments. I think if somebody is going to go back in time it should be somebody older and they should go back a lot further. It would be much more interesting to see somebody who's nearing retirement, full of regrets, wondering "what if", going back 40 years or more. In these 2 shows they've gone back, what, 15 years? Big deal! 15 years ago is like last week.

Posted by: John Kador

Well, on "Do Over" he went back 20 years, from age 34 to 14. He's supposed to be back in 1981.

On "That Was Then", he only went back like 13-14 years to 1988 or so. I guess it was cheaper to keep them older so they could try to use the same actors. The "Jack Black" wannabe guy from TWT, I recognized from the short-lived "Dead Last" series from last summer, which incidentally was far better than either one of these shows.

Posted by: TivoFan

quote:
Originally posted by ronsch
Probably have the same writers getting paid twice for the same scripts...:D

Actually, its a lot more likely that one writer pitched the idea to a couple of different networks. Then mysteriously one of the networks that didn't pick up the idea comes out with a very similar show!! Of course they can always claim that they had the idea in development long before the writer pitched it to them. But the number of similarities are striking. Reminds me of the controversy surrounding Deep Space Nine and Babylon Five.

Posted by: disco

Whoops...didn't even notice I got the show's name wrong!! hahaha....too many similarly named shows...

Posted by: John Kador

...or both sets of writers stole the idea from "Peggy Sue Got Married"

Posted by: Philosofy

It looks like That Was Then will play out like Groundhog Day, where he keeps repeating the same time period over and over until he gets it right and gets the girl, saves his parents marriage, and saves his childhood friend (or realizes his nephew is pretty cool, and keeping his brother from marrying that girl will effectively erase his nephew.) In Do Over, he seems stuck where he is.

Posted by: rasheed

I was thinking this show was going to be like Groundhog's Day or Quantum Leap. Looks to be a bit of both.

Rasheed

Posted by: Maui

I just watched the second episode and really liked it.

He goes back to the same time period but at the same point he left off last time which makes it more interesting because he can't fix what he did wrong last time just by redoing it, he has to try and fix it as he goes.

I must say I am really enjoying it. I hope ABC family starts airing it again after the playoffs as it will elimnate the conflict with John Doe.

BTW, Can we get a moderator to rename the topic with the shows proper name?

Posted by: betativoII

Which one had the scene in the theater during "The Empire Strikes Back"? I saw the promo and thought it looked funny.

Posted by: innocentfreak

Empire Strikes Back was Do Over.

Posted by: cwoody222

This show is the one suprise for me...the one that I recorded just to see what it was like but didn't expect to like it. But I do.

Although the mis-placed things in 1988 are bugging me. In Episode 2 they had a Game Boy - since I remember the NES being big in '88 I think the Game Boy came quite later. And "Electric Avenue" and "Where's the Beef" were much earlier in the '80s. Plus, Gregg says "Dope" which I don't think had invaded our slang in '88.

Oh well, I still enjoy this one, though.

What was the ESB promo reference all about??

Posted by: rasheed

quote:
Originally posted by disco904
Niiiice...Walt Disney must be rolling in his grave...

I really can't figure out who the target audience is -- a bit too much for the TGIF audience ...it's like they're going for a Wonder Years with a bit of My So Called Life.

The lead girl's path to Hollywood was interesting..was a finalist on MTV's Become a VJ, but instead of becoming a Dave Holmes -- was found by a Hollywood agent.

Rasheed

Posted by: harvscar

That Was Then is good and I'll be keeping my SP, but I think Do Over is a lot better. Do Over is actually one of my pleasant surprises this season, especially the last episode.

Posted by: John Kador

Well, that was quick...ABC just CANCELLED "That Was Then" due to abysmally low ratings. Apparently they won't be airing any more episodes.

Posted by: DanT

Bummer. I liked it, except for the Jack Black character.

Posted by: grecorj

Not cancelled yet -- it has been put on hiatus.

Posted by: Pan Chun

quote:
Originally posted by harvscar
That Was Then is good and I'll be keeping my SP, but I think Do Over is a lot better. Do Over is actually one of my pleasant surprises this season, especially the last episode.

I haven't even bothered with That Was Then, but I started watching Do Over from episode 2 and have enjoyed it quite a bit. Who's the girl on Do Over...the kid's school friend? She looks familiar (from Freaks & Geeks, maybe?).

Posted by: John Kador

Yea, she was on "Freaks and Geeks"...so was the actor who played the Coach, he also played the pe teacher/coach on Freaks and Geeks, (and Biff on the BTTF movies)

Posted by: harvscar

Yep, the girl in Do Over was Cindy Sanders (Sam's love interest) on F&G. Funny thing, another F&G alum, Millie (Lindsey's Mathlete friend), appears to be on next week's Buffy, judging from the preview. I miss F&G and Undeclared.

Posted by: Pan Chun

Many of the F&G youth have also turned up on Boston Public..."Millie" included, I think! :)

Posted by: innocentfreak

I liked That was Then. Wow now on Abc I have Md's and Alias and that is it. Maybe I will write them a letter thanking them for giving me less tv to watch.

Posted by: Trent Bates

I'm with you there!

Dear ABC execs,
Thanks so much for placing "That Was Then" on hiatus! I have been having trouble deciding what to watch at certain times and now I don't have to worry about this fine show to keep me tuned to ABC as often. While you are at it, could you please cancel Alias? I love the show, but it conflicts with shows on other networks that I'm not as interested in.

Keep up the good work that has placed ABC in it's current ratings slot over the years!

Posted by: innocentfreak

Did they actually run an episode of That was Then tonight? My modem is shot so I haven't been able to download new data and it recorded America's Funniest Home Videos instead.

Posted by: Maui

Nope it was not on tonight.

It does make my choices easier but tonight with the ballgame on fox it meant I had nothing to watch.

Posted by: uncdrew

I sat down this morning with some eggs, coffee and sausage ready for 43 minutes of enjoyable "That was Then".

America's Stupidest Home Videos?!? Grrrrr.... I'm still cleaning egg off the TV.

Posted by: Dusty

Figures it was cancelled. Just got around to watching a couple eps, like it, so, of course, it's cancelled. :(

Haven't watched Do Over...guess I'll have to try it out. I've never watched anything from WB before, as I recall.