''Now and Again'' is an American

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

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

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government engineering the perfect human body for use in

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information ( intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ...

, but not being able to perfect the

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. 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 rose to prominence in television before becoming an acclaimed and popular film actor. Goodman has received List of awards and nominations received by John Goodman, various acc ...

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

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New York with his wife Lisa ( Margaret Colin) and daughter Heather ( Heather Matarazzo) 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) 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 confidential material that a government deems to be sensitive information which must be protected from unauthorized disclosure that requires special handling and dissemination controls. Access is restricted by law or ...

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 again have contact 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

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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) ( Margaret Colin), 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 may include Parenting, caring for her children; cleaning and maintaining the home; Sew ...

widow who must learn to move on with life after her husband's death * Heather Wiseman ( Heather Matarazzo), Michael's teenage daughter * Roger Bender ( Gerrit Graham), 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 originating the lead role of the Baker in the original Broadway production of the musical ''Into the Woods'' by Stephen Sondheim. He appeared in all of ...

), a lawyer who represents Lisa in dealing with Michael's insurance company, and later a potential suitor * Craig Spence ( Chad Lowe), 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), 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 a healthcare profession, as well as the care provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through patient education, physical intervention, disease prevention ...

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 retired professional wrestler and author. He is signed to WWE, under a Legends contract while also serving as an ambassador. Foley worked for many wrestling promotions, including the W ...

appeared in the final episode as the Eggman's cellmate, and assists in the Eggman's escape from prison. * Ian Somerhalder appeared as Brian in the episode "A Girl's Life". *

Mark Margolis Mark Margolis (, ; November 26, 1939 – August 3, 2023) was an American actor known for his portrayal of the character Hector Salamanca in ''Breaking Bad'' (2009–2011) and '' Better Call Saul'' (2016–2022). His performance in ''Breaking Ba ...

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

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Production and broadcast

The show ran for one season. Airing on Friday nights, the show was frequently preempted and received only fair ratings. The reasons cited by CBS for its cancellation included the unjustifiable expense of the program and the low ratings. Each episode of the series cost $2.4 million.

Episodes

Home media

In 2014, CBS DVD 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''.

Reception

Ratings

''Now and Again'' averaged at 6.3 million viewers, ranking at 76, with an audience share of 11, for the 1999–2000 television season.

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 bel ...

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 television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...

in 2000 for Outstanding Main Title Design.

References

External links

* {{Saturn Award for Best Network Television Series 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 CBS comedy-dramas