''Now and Again'' is an American

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

television series created by Glenn Gordon Caron that aired from September 24, 1999 until May 5, 2000 on CBS. The story revolves around the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

government engineering the perfect human body for use in

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information ( intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tang ...

, but not being able to perfect the

brain A brain is an organ (biology), organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as Visual perception, vision. I ...

. In an attempt to get the project up and running, they take the brain of overweight family man Michael Wiseman, who is killed in a train accident. Given a new life, Michael is kept in an apartment where he is trained by government experts, led by Dr. Theodore Morris, in the art of espionage. Despite his new life and new abilities, Michael longs to return to his wife Lisa and daughter Heather, who are themselves discovering that not all is as it seems with Michael's death.

Plot

Michael Wiseman (

John Goodman John Stephen Goodman (born June 20, 1952) is an American actor. He gained national fame for his role as the family patriarch Dan Conner in the ABC comedy series '' Roseanne'' (1988–1997; 2018), for which he received a Golden Globe Award, ...

in the pilot and flashbacks, and subsequently Eric Close) lives in

suburban A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separa ...

New York with his wife Lisa (

Margaret Colin Margaret Colin (born May 26, 1958) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Margo Hughes on '' As the World Turns'' and as Eleanor Waldorf-Rose on '' Gossip Girl''. Early life Margaret Colin was born in Brooklyn, New York City, and ...

) and daughter Heather (

Heather Matarazzo Heather Christina Marie Matarazzo (born November 10, 1982) is an American actress. Her breakthrough role was Dawn Wiener in the film '' Welcome to the Dollhouse'' (1995). She played Lilly in ''The Princess Diaries'' (2001) and '' The Princess Di ...

) and works as an executive at an insurance company. When passed over for a promotion, Michael and his friend and co-worker Roger (

Gerrit Graham Gerrit Graham (born November 27, 1949) is an American stage, television, and film actor as well as a scriptwriter and songwriter. He is best known for his appearances in multiple films by Brian De Palma as well as appearances in two '' Star Trek' ...

) go out drinking after work. While standing on the subway platform heading home that night, Michael is accidentally knocked off the platform directly into the path of an oncoming train. When he awakes, he sees Dr. Theodore Morris (Dennis Haysbert), the head of a

top secret Classified information is material that a government body deems to be sensitive information that must be protected. Access is restricted by law or regulation to particular groups of people with the necessary security clearance and need to kn ...

government project to artificially engineer the perfect human body. Unable to create a brain from scratch, Dr. Morris has rescued Michael's brain from his dead body and implanted it in the engineered body. The process allows Michael Wiseman to continue to live, but also forces him to work as an experiment for Dr. Morris and occasionally help fight terrorists. Because of the top-secret nature of the project, Michael is told he may never have contact again with his wife or daughter, under penalty of his own death and the death of anyone he tells of his existence. Despite the threat, Michael finds ways to contact his family while keeping his true identity a secret. Over the course of the series, Dr. Morris continues to experiment on Michael, testing the limits of his abilities and strength. Michael is occasionally used to complete secret missions or foil criminal activity. Lisa and Heather find themselves running out of money because the insurance company refuses to pay on Michael's policy, leading Lisa to become a

realtor A real estate agent or real estate broker is a person who represents sellers or buyers of real estate or real property. While a broker may work independently, an agent usually works under a licensed broker to represent clients. Brokers and agen ...

Characters

Main

* Michael Wiseman ( Eric Close), an insurance executive who was killed in an accident; his brain has been implanted into a genetically-engineered body. **

plays Michael in both pilot and flashbacks * Dr. Theodore Morris ( Dennis Haysbert), the head of the top secret government project to engineer a human being * Lisa Wiseman (née Slegermelge) (

), Michael's

housewife A housewife (also known as a homemaker or a stay-at-home mother/mom/mum) is a woman whose role is running or managing her family's home—housekeeping, which includes caring for her children; cleaning and maintaining the home; making, buying an ...

widow who must learn to move on with life after her husband's death * Heather Wiseman (

), Michael's teenage daughter * Roger Bender (

), Michael's best friend and fellow executive at the insurance company

Recurring

* The Eggman ( Kim Chan), a terrorist who uses eggs to contain a deadly poisonous gas * Gerald Misenbach (

Chip Zien Jerome Herbert "Chip" Zien (born March 20, 1947) is an American actor. He is best known for playing the lead role of the Baker in the original Broadway production of ''Into the Woods'' by Stephen Sondheim. He has appeared in all of the "Marvin ...

), a lawyer who represents Lisa in dealing with Michael's insurance company, and later a potential

suitor Courtship is the period wherein some couples get to know each other prior to a possible marriage. Courtship traditionally may begin after a betrothal and may conclude with the celebration of marriage. A courtship may be an informal and private ...

* Craig Spence (

Chad Lowe Charles Davis Lowe II (born January 15, 1968) is an American actor. He is the younger brother of actor Rob Lowe. He won an Emmy Award for his supporting role in '' Life Goes On'' as a young man living with HIV. He has had recurring roles on '' ...

), Michael's scheming and corrupt boss at the insurance company who is dead-set against paying on Michael's policy * Special Agent #1 ( Mike Henry), Dr. Morris' right-hand man * Ruth Bender (

Christine Baranski Christine Jane Baranski (born May 2, 1952) is an American actress. She is a 15-time Primetime Emmy Award nominee, winning once in 1995 for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Maryann Thorpe in the sitcom ''Cybill'' ...

), Roger's never-seen wife

Notable guest stars

* In the first episode and flashback scenes in later episodes, John Goodman played Michael Wiseman in his original body. * Reiko Aylesworth appeared as Dr. Taylor, a

physical therapist Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is one of the allied health professions. It is provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through physical examination, diagnosis, management, prognosis, patien ...

for Michael Wiseman, sent to test his romantic attachment to his former wife. *

Mick Foley Michael Francis Foley (born June 7, 1965) is an American actor, author, retired professional wrestler, and color commentator. He is currently signed to WWE under the company's Legends program, acting as a company ambassador. Foley worked for m ...

appeared in the final episode as the Eggman's cellmate, and assists in the Eggman's escape from prison. *

Ian Somerhalder Ian Joseph Somerhalder (born December 8, 1978) is an American actor. He is known for playing Boone Carlyle in the TV drama ''Lost'', Damon Salvatore in The CW's supernatural drama ''The Vampire Diaries'', and Dr. Luther Swann in Netflix's sc ...

appeared as Brian in the episode "A Girl's Life". *

Mark Margolis Mark Margolis (; born November 26, 1939) is an American actor. He is known for playing Alberto "The Shadow" in '' Scarface'', Antonio Nappa in '' Oz'', and Hector Salamanca in ''Breaking Bad'' and '' Better Call Saul''. His performance in ''Break ...

appeared as Nicky Vordogov in the episode "Pulp Turkey". In addition, beginning with episode 10, Charles Durning was heard reading a brief narration at the beginning of each episode summarizing the show's

backstory A backstory, background story, back-story, or background is a set of events invented for a plot, presented as preceding and leading up to that plot. It is a literary device of a narrative history all chronologically earlier than the narrative o ...

Production and broadcast

The show ran for one season. Airing on Friday nights, the show received only fair ratings. The reasons cited by CBS for its cancellation included the unjustifiable expense of the program and the low ratings.

Episodes

Home media

In 2014,

CBS DVD CBS Home Entertainment (formerly CBS Video Enterprises, Inc., MGM/CBS Home Video, CBS/Fox Video and CBS Video, currently branded as CBS DVD for DVD releases and CBS Blu-ray for Blu-ray releases) is a home entertainment company owned by Paramoun ...

released ''Now and Again: The DVD Edition'' on region 1 DVD in the US. The 5-disc set features all 22 episodes of the series, two featurettes and a nearly two-hour long retrospective documentary. These include interviews and full participation from almost all of the leading cast and crew, bar John Goodman. According to the packaging the "music has been changed for this home entertainment version." In 2016, an identical set was released on region 4 DVD in Australia by Via Vision Entertainment (VVE), though it was slightly retitled ''Now and Again: The Complete Series''.

Awards

In 2000 ''Now and Again'' won three

Saturn Awards The Saturn Awards are American awards presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. The awards were created to honor science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, but have since grown to reward other films be ...

for: * Best Genre TV Actress – Margaret Colin * Best Genre TV Supporting Actor – Dennis Haysbert * Best Network Television Series ''Now and Again'' was also nominated for an

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

in 2000 for Outstanding Main Title Design.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Now And Again CBS original programming 1990s American comedy-drama television series 1990s American comic science fiction television series 2000s American comedy-drama television series 2000s American comic science fiction television series 1999 American television series debuts 2000 American television series endings Television series by CBS Studios Saturn Award-winning television series