“Quantum Leap” Not Renewed For Season 3

last goodbye

The cast of television’s “Quantum Leap,” (L to R) Mason Alexander Park, Ernie Hudson, Nanrisa Lee, and Caitlin Bassett.

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After watching all of season one and several episodes of season two, last November I parted ways with the modern “continuation” of Quantum Leap. It wasn’t a bad show. In fact, some of the episodes were rather compelling and they had interesting guest stars.

But in the end, like so much of entertainment “updated for modern audiences,” good writing and appealing to a wider audience took a backseat to representation, diversity, equity, inclusion, and so on.

Look, like I’ve said before, it’s not that science fiction can’t have a message. Very often it does. However, when the message and the demographics of the characters, actors, and writers are more important than the actual story, the television show, movie, novel, or whatever, becomes lost.

When I “hung up the phone” on “Quantum Leap” last Fall, I had no idea if it would be renewed for a third season. I was sort of afraid it would. That would mean everything that is wrong with shows emphasizing DEI over substance and depth was winning and the days of really great television were gone forever.

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2024 Hugo Award Nominations Meltdown

solar flare

On August 31, 2012 a long filament of solar material that had been hovering in the sun’s atmosphere, the corona, erupted out into space at 4:36 p.m. EDT. The coronal mass ejection, or CME, traveled at over 900 miles per second. The CME did not travel directly toward Earth, but did connect with Earth’s magnetic environment, or magnetosphere, causing aurora to appear on the night of Monday, September 3. Credit: NASA/GSFC/SDO

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I didn’t think I’d ever write about the Hugo Awards, Worldcon and SFWA again. I entered the game too late for the 2015 Sad Puppies drama and trauma (and I’m glad I did).

However, that event and the chatter in subsequent years led me to take a hard look at Worldcon and the Hugos. When I was a much younger science fiction reader, I thought winning a Hugo, a Saturn, or some other big name SF/F award meant it passed a rigorous and objective test of quality.

Boy, was I an idiot.

I found out that, in the modern era, science fiction works pass a rigorous test of political and social alignment with the (far) left by several hundred voters max, and that’s what wins an award.

What a disappointment. I can (sort of) see why the people behind the “puppies” did what they did in the misguided belief that they could balance the scales and make these awards more egalitarian. However, breaking into someone else’s party just to spike the punch, so to speak, is bad form, too.

I figured Worldcon et al., had finally purged all traces of conservativism and offensiveness from their ranks, the last trauma of such being the George R.R. Martin 2020 Hugo Controversy (which fortunately didn’t affect the popularity of Martin’s books).

So, I was surprised when I found out that currently there is Panic at the Hugos. What happened now? Can’t they ever create a perfect echo chamber for themselves?

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