Tru Calling

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Tru Calling
Tru Calling Title Card
Genre	Drama
Creator(s)	Jon Harmon Feldman
Starring	see below
Opening theme	"Somebody Help Me?" by Full Blown Rose
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	26 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time	approx. 43 min.
Broadcast
Original channel	FOX
Original run	October 30, 2003 – March 11, 2005
Links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Tru Calling is an American television program, which premiered on the Fox Network in October 2003.

The show's cancellation was officially announced at a press conference in January 2005, but Gail Berman, then president of Fox, insisted that the network intended to broadcast the remaining six episodes filmed for the show's second season. Season Two of Tru Calling (such as it was) aired in New Zealand on TV3 beginning on February 4, 2005, with the last episode airing on March 11, 2005. In Croatia the following March and April, and finally, after nearly a year-long hiatus, in the U.S. beginning on March 31. The last episode filmed was never broadcast in the U.S., presumably because the show had a Christmas theme and the episodes were broadcast in the Spring. The complete series was aired in Singapore, Hong Kong, India, France, Malaysia, Germany, Slovakia, Brazil and Portugal as well. DVDs of both seasons of Tru Calling have been released in the United States and the United Kingdom. The second season began a repeat airing on Sky One in the UK, starting on October 12, 2006.

Contents 1 Premise 2 Episode List 3 Controversy and cancellation 4 Comparisons 5 What Might Have Been 6 Fan-Made Continuations of the Series 7 Cast 8 DVD Releases 9 Trivia 10 U.S. Broadcast History 11 External links

[edit] Premise

The lead character in the series is Tru Davies, played by Eliza Dushku, a young woman working the night shift at the City Morgue. Every now and then, the corpse of a newly dead person appears to awaken and ask Tru for help; she then awakens with a start at the beginning of the previous day, compelled to try to stop the death (often taking the opportunity to rectify various personal situations involving family and friends along the way). Reasons for the death include murder, cancer, suicide, etc. Other characters in the series include Harrison Davies (Shawn Reaves), Tru's irresponsible younger brother (who later becomes a loyal asset to Tru at the end of the first season), and Davis (Zach Galifianakis), her friend, confidante, and supervisor at the Morgue. It is eventually revealed that Davis had several years earlier had a fateful encounter with Tru's mother (who had apparently been the last person to receive the "calling" before her daughter).

Supporting characters who only lasted for a portion of the series included Meredith Davies (Jessica Collins), Tru's drug addicted sister, Lindsay Walker (A. J. Cook), her best friend in the first season, Luc Johnston (Matthew Bomer), her love interest in the first season, and Gardez (Benjamin Benitez), her former co-worker at the morgue.

Jack Harper (played by Jason Priestly), a counterpart to Tru's character, is introduced midseason as a foil and possible love interest. He is there to make sure fate got its way, and introduces a philosophical aspect to Tru's endeavors: should she be saving the lives of people who may have been intended to die? In the second season, Tru and Jack compete to get to a person first — she to save them, and he to restore the order of fate, and maintain what he believes to be the balance of the universe.

[edit] Episode List

Main article: List of Tru Calling episodes

[edit] Controversy and cancellation

Tru Calling has been cited by television critics, bloggers, and science-fiction fans as an example of a series that was not given time to find an audience, or adequately to develop its premise^{[citation needed]}. On the other hand, some websites refused even to cover the show in their "spoiler" listings, claiming that it was too contrived and difficult to watch, and the addition of Jason Priestley to the cast arguably failed to increase ratings. Further hype and speculation was generated by the show's season-ending cliffhanger, with Jack revealing himself to be Tru's nemesis, and even having a working relationship with her father.

After this cliffhanger, spoilers and inquiries began hitting industry magazines, with the promise of great plot developments in store during the second season. Even odder given the series' eventual fate is a Season One DVD release with commentary by an enthusiastic cast and crew talking up the second season of the show. In fact, Ain't It Cool News, which hated the show in its first year, claimed that the second season deserved praise for being the "Most Improved" show of the year^{[citation needed]}. Fox Television could not decide what to do with Tru, however, first renewing it for a second season, then shortening the length of its season to 13, and eventually 6, episodes, not to mention moving the season's broadcast date from November 2004 to an indeterminate time in 2005. Around this time rumours emerged that The WB was going to pick up the series but this did not occur. After storing the show's set for an indefinite period of time, word finally arrived that it was being torn down, and Tru's fate appeared to be sealed. In the end, Fox replaced it with another science-fiction genre entry, Point Pleasant, which suffered even lower ratings than Tru Calling.

Finally, after almost a year's gap, Fox Television started broadcasting the last six filmed episodes of Tru Calling in March 2005, in place of Point Pleasant, which had been cancelled. Ironically, these episodes achieved better ratings than Point Pleasant during their run, with practically no advertising. The second season also did very well in New Zealand during its run there in February and March.

On April 20, 2005, Fox announced that the sixth and final episode would not be aired, and that the series would end its run one week early with the episode that had been intended to be shown the following evening. Network executives felt it would be peculiar to show an episode with a partial Christmas theme (the show had originally been planned to debut on November 4, putting the sixth episode near Christmas) in late April. Instead, they showed in its slot two episodes of The Simple Life.

[edit] Comparisons

The series' use of time travel as a weekly device led some viewers to compare it to two other television series that fans feel were unfairly cancelled – Quantum Leap and Sliders – as well as the film Groundhog Day. Critics of the comparison note that while Tru Calling's "rewind" format is similar to the notions of time travel or parallel worlds, the series stayed clear of using its format to address philosophical or social issues, until near the end when it touched broadly on the notion of fate.

On November 10, 2006 during Lost's hiatus, the ABC began airing another same day time repeating show Day Break where its protagonist, Detective Brett Hopper (played by Taye Diggs), is caught in a single day time loop in which he is framed for murdering Assistant District Attorney Alberto Garza. In each cycle he obtains clues as to who is responsible and why. Unlike Tru Calling's mostly self contained single story episodes, Day Break's first season is a 13 episode story arc was scheduled to end at the end of January 2007. However, on December 15, 2006 due to falling ratings, ABC cancelled Day Break only after airing six episodes, but aired the last seven online, with the last on March 2, 2007.

[edit] What Might Have Been

After the show's cancellation, writer/producer Doris Egan posted information on LiveJournal detailing how the mythology of the series would likely have been developed, had it continued. Some salient points include:

• There are two great Powers in the universe concerned with humanity's fate; one that laid out the original plan that history has been following since the beginning of time, and one that wants to change that plan (what ultimate goal either side is working toward remains unknown, possibly even to the show's creators). The first power is more strict and authoritarian in its view of humanity, whereas the second is "more accepting of individual freedom and choice."

• Whenever someone dies who may be important to the overall scheme of things (and, presumably, in a way that would serve the second power's purposes), an agent of that power approaches the person and offers them a choice- they can either move on, or return and have a shot at resuming their old life. If they want a second chance, all they have to do is ask for it. If they do, Tru goes back and relives the day, with a view to saving that person's life.

• Every time Tru saves someone who has asked for her help, she steers the destiny of our world a little farther away from what the first power intended, and a little closer to what the agents of the second power want.

• Jack, Tru's nemesis, has a very big advantage over her — his mentor, her father (who was Jack's predecessor, just as Tru's mother was hers). Tru is working in the dark, learning as she goes along, but Jack has an older, more experienced counterpart who can share knowledge and wisdom from a long line of predecessors with his young protege. Tru, of course, was robbed of this potentially crucial advantage because of her mother's untimely death.

• Jack became Tru's counterpart after being approached by agents of the first power during his near-death experience. They offered him a choice: he could either die, or return to Earth to do their bidding. Once he got back, his memories of the encounter were hazy, and he didn't initially understand what was happening when his days started rewinding (at around the time that Tru's did). He eventually wound up in an asylum, which is where Tru's father found him.

• The central conflict of the show's mythology was never meant to be perceived as a simple, straightforward "good versus evil" scenario. Rather, the creators intended to portray the battle in such a way that either side could conceivably be right — and, at the very least, to show that the soldiers on both sides certainly believe that what they're doing is right. Jack and Tru's father truly believe that she is disrupting the balance of the universe by doing what she does; Tru, of course, believes otherwise. Who would have turned out to be right? These are the questions the producers of the show meant for us to ponder.

• A future storyline on the show would have dealt with the possible repercussions if Jack ever decided that he no longer wanted to fulfill his end of the bargain (i.e., to continue doing the first power's bidding).

• Another storyline (which was actually in progress when the show ended) would have dealt with the consequences of Tru's saving someone who hadn't asked for her help. Because that person was either never given the choice to come back, or was and chose not to take it, he would have essentially lost his soul after being saved by Tru, and would then have begun spiralling into increasingly menacing behavior as his humanity faded away and his personality began to disintegrate.

[edit] Fan-Made Continuations of the Series

Fans have created a site to continue the series in written format. Episodes are written and posted regularly, and the writers are doing all they can to remain true to the show. The third "season" will have sixteen episodes, of which, seven have been completed, with an eighth in development. When added to the six episodes that were actually shot in the second season, the total number is twenty-two, which is the standard number of episodes for a television season.

The title of the site, "Relive a Day Foundation", is a reference to a fictional charity that Tru set up in the second season, the "Relive Your Day Foundation".

[edit] Cast

Main Characters

• Eliza Dushku (Tru Davies) (Episodes 1-26)
• Zach Galifianakis (Davis) (Episodes 1-26)
• Shawn Reaves (Harrison Davies) (Episodes 1-26)
• Jason Priestley (Jack Harper) (Episodes 14-26)
• A. J. Cook (Lindsay Walker) (Episodes 1-20)
• Jessica Collins (Meredith Davies) (Episodes 1-13, appearing 14)
• Benjamin Benitez (Gardez) (Episodes 4-13, recurring 1-3)
• Matthew Bomer (Luc Johnston) (Episodes 6-20, recurring 4-5)

Special Guest Stars

Season two featured some recurring "Special Guest Stars" that probably would have been considered part of the main cast had the series lasted longer (the way Matthew Bomer and Benjamin Benitez were recurring guest stars before being added to the main cast in the first season).

• Cotter Smith (Richard Davies) (Episodes 14, 20-22, 24, 26)
• Liz Vassey (Dr. Carrie Allen) (Episodes 21-26)
• Eric Christian Olsen (Jensen) (Episodes 22-26)

Guest Stars

Tru's two Medical School friends were also recurring characters in season two, although because they were only listed as "Guest Stars", it is unknown whether they would have eventually joined the regular cast or not.

• Lizzy Caplan (Avery) (Episodes 22-23, 25-26)
• Parry Shen (Ty) (Episodes 22-23, 26)

Main article: List of Tru Calling characters

[edit] DVD Releases

DVD Name	Region 1	Region 2	Region 4
Tru Calling The Complete Series	-	June 27, 2005	October 24, 2006
Tru Calling Season 1	November 30, 2004	-	August 9, 2005
Tru Calling Season 2	November 15, 2005	-	August 9, 2005

[edit] Trivia

• The first character to ask for help was played by Hudson Leick, who also appears in the opening credits saying "Help me!", and the last by Debbie Brown.
• The Ask Ausellio TV Guide column received so many inquiries regarding Tru Calling that it became a running gag, until Fox finally announced airdates for its second season.
• Jensen Ackles was the producer's first choice to play the part of Jensen, Tru's love interest in season 2. Ackles turned the part down to play Jason Teague in Smallville and the part went to Eric Christian Olsen. A year after Tru Calling was cancelled, Ackles would star in his own show with a very similar plot and genre called Supernatural. Fans of both shows have made cross over videos on Youtube of the show's characters, Calling's Tru Davies and Supernatural's Dean Winchester.
• This is also the second time that Zack Galifianakis and A. J. Cook have worked with each other. The first time was in the snowboard comedy Out Cold.

[edit] U.S. Broadcast History

• October 2003 - April 2004 -- Thursdays 8:00pm/7:00pm
• March 2005 - April 2005 -- Thursdays 9:00pm/8:00pm

[edit] External links

• Tru Calling at EpisodeWorld.com
• Tru Calling at TV.com
• LiveJournal Tru Calling page Tru Calling staff writer Doris Egan reveals where the Season 2 story arc was to go.
• Tru Calling Fans
• Relive A Day Foundation A virtual continuation of the series.

Tru Calling
Episode List
Main Characters	Tru | Davis | Harrison | Jack | Lindsay | Meredith | Gardez | Luc
Other	Richard | Jensen | Carrie | Ty | Avery
General	Characters | Episodes | Quotes