Seven Days
Nitcentral's Bulletin Brash Reflections: Seven Days
"We're about to let you in on the most highly classified data America holds. We have a device that can allow us to send one human being back in time..."
"Seven days."

"Ever wish you could live the past week over again? My name is Frank B. Parker and I do it all the time. I work for a secret government project experimenting in time travel. When things get really screwed up, I'm the guinea pig they send back. The catch is, I can only go back seven days."
"Seven days."


Franklin Looks Beyond 'Seven Days'


Don Franklin's not quite sure what to think. The costar of UPN's three-year old science fiction show "Seven Days" finds it a little strange that the network has decided to pull the show from the schedule early to make way for the new series "Special Unit 2."

It's kind of weird," he told Zap2it. " We don't know what's going on. I'm not sure if it bodes well.

Fans who think Franklin is concerned about the future of the show may be surprised that the actor, who plays Captain Craig Donovan, actually won't shed too many tears if the show is canceled. Franklin says that he regrets doing the show, saying it has wreaked "havoc" on his personal life.

"I signed on with the understanding that it was going to shoot in Los Angeles," explains the actor. "If I had known then what it was going to ultimately become I never would have done it."

It's not the first time a cast member has spoken out about the show. Several weeks ago, costar Justina Vail walked off the set, though she has since returned to finish the season. Franklin calls her actions "ironic ... because she is the best treated of everyone."

Still, Franklin does enjoy working with costars Jonathan LaPaglia, Nick Searcy and Alan Scarfe. "I actually have a good time with the guys. We just have a blast. We have a great time on set; we have a great time off the set."

Though he doesn't receive too much fan mail, Franklin also enjoys checking out what viewers say about the series on the Internet.

"I pretty regularly read the newsgroup postings. It's just fascinating the attention people pay to the show. And it's kind of nice we have intelligent viewers"

"A lot of the problems that we as actors have with the show and its logic and its departures from logic in many cases -- the fans pick up on it."

One of those problems may be the fact that Donovan, as second banana, has never been able to backstep on the series.

"It's never going to happen," Franklin laughs. "It's a mandate."

In addition, Donovan has a unique distinction: he's been killed the most times on the series.

"We stopped (counting) this year because I am just so clearly in the lead," Franklin says. "Recently they changed an episode where I was actually killed in back-to-back episodes. They said, 'We can't kill him two weeks in a row.'"

While he may have some issues with his current gig, Franklin still prefers doing television to theater. He started his career at the age of 14, dancing and performing musical comedy. If it's up to him, he knows what he'll do next -- a sitcom.

"That's the perfect combination between doing film and live theater," he says. "It rocks."

Franklin even has the perfect idea for a show.

"The new 'Friends.' I should say the real 'Friends,' where there are actually people of color in a major metropolitan city."

But it looks like Franklin will have to wait at least one more year before tackling that project. "Seven Days" is expected to be renewed and if it is, he will be along for the ride.

The Final Countdown for 'Seven Days'?

Fans of UPN's three-year old science fiction show "Seven Days" may be surprised to learn that the show's season finale airs Wednesday (April 4), more than a month before the regular TV seasons ends. It may sound like a perfect scenario for Frank Parker to get in his sphere and backstep to correct this injustice, but the move is a calculated effort by UPN to help test its new show, "Special Unit 2," which will replace "Seven Days" for the remainder of the season.

So, it's worth noting that "The Final Countdown," the episode that marks the season's end on Wednesday, is not the scheduled finale producers had in mind. In fact, the show is currently still in production on its final episodes and four episodes will be left unaired, including a cliffhanger finale featuring the return of the virtual Claire.6 from last season's episode "Parker.com"

Still, "Final Countdown" is a worthy episode to close out the season, as it does what "Seven Days" does best -- feature Frank Parker (Jonathan LaPaglia) overcoming incredible odds to return back in time to save the world. This time, the world is threatened by nuclear war when a missile silo in Wyoming fails to stand down after a face-off between the United States and North Korea ends peacefully. The silo launches its missile towards North Korea, leading to all-out war. Damage to the sphere and a scheduled psychological evaluation keep Frank from immediately backstepping, cutting the amount of time before he can go back and make his way into the silo to try and find out what happened.

As episodes of "Seven Days" go, "The Final Countdown" is fun to follow and one that features Parker working apart from the team a great deal. Though the end result is a given, the interesting part is to watch how Parker will manage to convince the very security-conscious military commanders in the silo that they are to stand down when all communications is lost.

While it remains to be seen if "Special Unit 2" will be able to pick up where the sometimes-campy "Seven Days" leaves off, fans should be happy to know that it appears the show will be back next season. With four extra episodes, there should be plenty of Frank Parker, Olga Vukavitch and the rest of the team to go around.


PR Girl 77 (a reputable source) at alt.tv.sevendays posted this as occuring after The Final Countdown airs:

This will finish off our season, although we still have 4 episodes left to shoot till April 26th. As for those 4, I've "heard" they will air next season. However, at this point, we are not sure if we will have a season 4. I'm
guessing we will find out sometime in May.

'Seven Days' Producer Confident of Renewal

UPN may be pulling drama "Seven Days" from the schedule over a month before the season ends, but series Executive Producer Tom Ropelewski isn't worried about the show's future.

"If it was any other network, I would say we'd probably be canceled. But on UPN, it's really one of the few timeslots where they can really test out a new show and learn anything," Ropelewski told Zap2it.

"Days" is being pulled to make way for the midseason series "Special Unit 2," which debuts April 11.

"I think it's very likely we will be back next year," he says. "UPN has been struggling to define itself, and next to 'Star Trek' we're the most-watched one hour ... If you're losing your number one rated show, do you cancel your number two rated show?"

Having the show taken off the schedule early means it hasn't even completed production. In fact, UPN will have four unaired episodes, including the cliffhanger finale which will feature the return of the character Claire.6 from last season's "Parker.com."

"She's seducing our team into VR worlds that are perfect and which they don't want to leave," Ropelewski says. When Parker does manage to defeat her, there is a byproduct: a cyber-child who is intent on making the world a better place "in a very destructive way."

Ropelewski says the episodes could be used to lead off next season if the show is renewed, or could air this summer.

As for whether the full cast will return, despite a recent dispute with costar Justina Vail, Ropelewski says look for Vail, series star Jonathan LaPaglia and others to be back if the show is renewed.

"Whatever (Vail's and LaPaglia's) off-camera chemistry is, their on-camera chemistry is great and they know how to use it."



This information was found in Variety magazine and posted to alt.tv.sevendays by Doctor TOC:

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
March 26, 2001

ON THE AIR (The latest news from the TV beat) by Lynette Rice

'Days' of Thunder

One of the stars of UPN's 7 Days may have found the perfect way to boost the sci-fi show's ratings: Add a little controversy. Insiders on the drama say Justina Vail who plays Olga on the Paramount-produced series, walked off
the Vancouver set three weeks ago over what some have speculated was a strained relationship between Vail and star Jonathan LaPaglia (a Paramount spokesperson declined to comment). At press time, negotiations were under
way to work out Vail's possible return, but producers aren't letting a little absenteeism get in the way of making UPN's second-most-watched drama
(behind Star Trek: Voyager). "They are filming around her and making it work," says one source. Vail or no, 7 Days, which finishes its third season April 4, is
expected to return next fall.


Moderator note: With Sliders off the air, I decided that I could take time off my duties with that board. So I volunteered to moderate the board for this great UPN series. Feel free to e-mail me, Lee Jamilkowski, at JamiLeeD@email.dom.edu
By Electron on Thursday, August 15, 2002 - 1:59 pm:

Dear Moderator, could you please repair the Characters section in the sink? Most entries have the "Create New Conversation" button instead of the input area.

By Callie on Wednesday, February 28, 2007 - 3:01 am:

For any Brits interested, this series is finally back on the BBC after six years!! It's currently being shown every night on BBC2 really late at night. I remembered to tape the episode shown on Monday night but totally forgot last night's, which was Daddy's Girl. Must try to remember tonight's episode.

Mind you, after such a long time, I've completely lost the plot and don't remember who does what, what their relationships are like, or who's nice and who's nasty. It's going to take me some time to get back up to speed. Watching Parkergeist just left me completely confused!

By Butch the Roving Mod on Tuesday, April 22, 2008 - 5:19 pm:

1 Spam post moved to the Garbage Dump.
This part of the board is closed to posting until the Mod says otherwise.