Forgotten Television: Seven Days

Frank Parker (Jonathan LaPaglia), a mentally unstable ex-Navy Seal, is removed from the secure CIA mental institution to be part of a special secret branch of the National Security Agency, after an attack on the White House leaves the countries leaders dead, along with a bunch of children at a nearby school.  Frank is chosen due to his high pain tolerance, military training and photographic memory, The program he is chosen for uses alien technology found at Roswell to time travel back seven days to avoid catastrophic events. The team includes Dr. Olga Vukavitch (Justina Vail), a Russian scientist who worked on a similar program in Russia; Captain Craig Donovan (Don Franklin), a Navy Seal and friend of Frank’s; NSA Agent Nathan Ramsey (Nick Searcy), head of security for the program and quick tempered.  He does not think Frank was the right person for the job and is very vocal about it, causing tension within the team. The cast also included Norman Lloyd, Alan Scarfe, and Sam Whipple all playing Scientists in different positions at the Agency. After saving the US leaders in the pilot episode, Frank accepts a full-time position with the program and the series begins, with Frank weekly having to “Backstep” seven days to avert disaster.

Seven Days was an American science-fiction series airing for three seasons beginning on October 7,1998 and ending on May 29, 2001.  The idea for the series came from Kerry McCluggage, the president of Paramount Television at that time and was handed over to Christopher and Zachary Crowe who used their knowledge of Area 51 to flesh out the details.  The series ran for 66 episodes and was nominated for 6 awards with Justina Vail winning a 2000 Saturn Award for Best Genre TV Supporting Actress.  In the third season, Sam Whipple departed the show after being diagnosed with a terminal form of Cancer.  Later that season, Justina Vail also departed and due to that and other tensions within the cast the show was cancelled.

I don’t remember watching this show in 1998, I barely remember it even existed, thus its status as a forgotten television series even though it lasted three seasons. And I am a little sad that I didn’t.  After watching the pilot, I feel this was a pretty decent series with a good cast, good visuals and designs, fun action and interesting plots.  I liked the cast, especially the handsome and charismatic LaPaglia who is likeable even when being a bit cocky. The pilot did stretch the story out a bit more than I think was necessary and some of the chemistry between cast members didn’t always seem natural.  The show was also humorous at times with Frank continually trying to use his knowledge of the future for personal gain, and it never working out and his unsuccessful wooing of Olga with every time he makes progress with her, he “Backsteps” and all progress is lost.  It is sad that in real life the actors did not like each other, which is part of the reason the show ended. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the similarities to the pilot episodes plane crash into the White House and the September 11^th bombings that happen just after the end of the series.  Watching it now, it almost seemed prophetic. In the end, this was a fun entertaining series with a good cast and interesting plot lines even when it basically was a “disaster of the week” type of show.