I've written blog posts fairly recently about Dr. Who's visit to Montgomery in the 1950's and the Alabama connection in an episode of Granchester, the British detective show. Now it's time to examine visits to the state in some episodes of Quantum Leap.
Actor Scott Bakula has been very active in film and television since 1986. He is currently starring in NCIS: New Orleans, which premiered in 2014. THAT show has an Alabama connection, since one of his co-stars is Decatur native Lucas Black. Another high-profile role for Bakula was Captain Jonathan Archer in Star Trek: Enterprise, which ran 2001-2005. From 1989 until 1993 Bakula starred as physicist Sam Beckett in the time travel series Quantum Leap.
The premise of that show involved an experiment that sent Beckett leaping back in time into the body of someone living in that period. Beckett spends each episode attempting to correct an historical mistake with help from a friend, Rear Admiral Al Calavicci [played by Dean Stockwell] who appears in the past as a hologram. OK, Beckett's hero Albert Einstein might not buy this idea, but it's the McGuffin that drives the show.
Wikipedia sums up the program: "The series features a mix of humor, drama, romance, social commentary, and science fiction. The show was ranked number 19 on TV Guide's "Top Cult Shows Ever" in 2007.[1][2]"
Comments on the Alabama episodes are below. Both involve racial issues; Alabama is often the go-to state for that sort of thing in fiction, films, and television. The Grantchester and Dr. Who episodes also mined that rich and troubled history.
In "The Color of Truth", the seventh episode of the first season, Sam leaps into the body of Jesse Tyler on August 8 1955. Tyler is the chauffeur for the elderly Miss Melny Trafford, a well-respected member of the community of Red Dog, Alabama. At first Sam doesn't realize Tyler is black; complications ensue.
A fan of the show has chosen "The Color of Truth" as one of the ten best episodes. You can read more about the episode and its cast here. The episode was first broadcast May 3, 1989.
The Quantum Leap fan podcast about this episode can be found here.
In the episode "Justice" Sam leaps into Tallawaga County, Alabama, on May 11, 1965. His host Clyde is being inducted into the Ku Klux Klan at that very moment. Sam discovers the Klan is unhappy with Nathaniel Simpson, the son of Clyde's maid who is helping register blacks to vote in the upcoming election. Complications ensue.
The episode was the fourth of season four, and first broadcast on October 9, 1991.
The Quantum Leap fan podcast about this episode can be found here.
TV Guide October 21, 1989
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