8 TV reboots we actually wouldn’t mind seeing
By Shaun Stacy
TV reboots we’d like to see: Tru Calling (2003-2005)
Tru Calling was a supernatural drama series that aired on Fox from October 2003-March 2005 and centered around a young med student who takes a job at the city morgue and learns that she has the ability to not only communicate with the dead but to relieve the day someone has died in order to prevent their death. The show was stylish, yet gritty, with an original premise and outstanding ensemble cast.
When Buffy the Vampire Slayer concluded its seven-year run in 2003, Eliza Dushku was offered a spin-off centered around her character, Faith, but opted for playing the lead in Tru Calling instead. Dushku played Tru Davies, the young woman with supernatural abilities who juggles her responsibilities with her complicated personal life, in addition to learning how to control her power.
Supporting cast members included Zach Galifianakis as Tru’s boss and mentor, a pre-Criminal Minds A.J. Cook as Tru’s best friend, and Jessica Collins as Tru’s sister Meredith, who is struggling with drug addiction. Beverly Hills, 90210 alum Jason Priestley joined the series halfway through the first season, as the kind of anti-Tru. Priestly’s character, named Jack, had similar abilities but used them in a more antagonistic way by ensuring that the people she tries to save stay dead.
While the show was officially canceled due to low ratings, Tru Calling‘s viewership actually went up in its second season, up by almost 500,000 viewers over its first. The show also occupied a particularly competitive time slot, Thursday evenings at 8 pm for season one and 9 pm for season two, which had been mostly dominated by NBC’s lineup for years. Sadly, the showrunners were unaware of the show’s impending demise and the series ended off on multiple cliffhangers.
The CW’s iZombie followed almost a decade later with a similar premise, although the show’s tone was much more comedic than Tru Calling‘s. Having a character have that much power to change other people’s lives drastically will always be an interesting story to tell. Whether it’s a revival to tie up those loose ends or a reboot that features a new Tru Davies, this is one encore we’d love to see.