I didn't watch much of the original Quantum Leap growing up, but I knew it was a fairly well-liked series and lasted as long as it had because of its accessible storytelling with universal themes, charming storytelling, and charismatic performances by Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell. It wasn't quite like other science fiction shows of the time and stayed atypical from the rest on the marketplace for a good number of years after it finished. The same cannot be said about its 2022 revival of the same name, which sets to repackage the concept while acknowledging the original series.
2022's Quantum Leap feels like any other science fiction show for primetime television, with the same fast-paced, techno-jargon heavy, and flashy editing of any other program occupying similar space between 7 to 10pm at night. To make matters worse, the premiere establishes the premise and its cast of characters far too fast to really hook someone who is totally new to the intellectual property. The fast pacing of the storytelling ends up glossing over aspects which would be pretty engaging to the viewer, what you are left with is a string of things happening left to right without enough space to feel attached to. The visual effects, for the most part, are pretty poor - at one point in the premiere, when two characters interact in a moving car, you can clearly tell the actors are in front of a screen and can see their outlines very sharply. I acknowledge that the effects work in the original series wasn't of strong quality, either, but for its time it was living up to the bar with other shows, this new Quantum Leap doesn't have any excuses in 2022.
The cast are actually fine and charismatic, but there isn't enough substance for them to go off of and not enough room for them to make enough of an impact. I would say the two actors who made the most with what they were given were Ernie Hudson and Mason Alexander Park.
I think Scott Bakula made the right call to reject the offer for his character to appear, in contemporary Hollywood where so many iconic male characters are frequently being deconstructed he probably saw the writing on the wall and kindly refused, so far his character is only mentioned in conversation and nothing else - I would be nervous to find out what this new batch of creatives might have had in mind if Bakula accepted their offer.
