Jerry O'Connell talks Sliders History and a Possible Reboot

Wow. I mean, it's pretty obvious he wants to do it. It's really amazing.  I feel like someone just needs to take the bull by the horn now, figure out who is in and who is not, move forward with that team, and start trying to find a network. Frankly, I don't think they should wait on anyone, the show premise is the most important thing. 

It's too bad John is on that MTV series.  Maybe he could still do it anyway though. I think he would if his ego was stroked enough.

Interesting John and Jerry would club together back in the day and Jerry still keeps in touch via instagram.

Holy crap that was a great interview and very insightful. It's nice to know that the cast really weren't onboard with the changes and felt pretty much like we did. It's such a shame, as everyone feels that the show could have gone on to be something incredible. So sad. And yeah, I don't blame him for not seeing season 5 - I've not watched it outside of its original airing.

Woah, Tracy called him? That bodes well that this was some serious thinking about rebooting the show.

However, with JRD on Shannara Chronicles, and everyone scattered, I can't see it happening with the original cast outside of cameos. It's got to be a new cast.

I really believe Jerry is the guy that is totally "in" right now and was the one who started the discussion. I also wonder if Torme put out some feelers and didnt like what he was hearing back.  I also think that Jerry has occasionally tried to used such public comments to create interest among Sliders fans to try to push for this revival (and maybe get Torme to go all in).  Hopefully enthusiasm from the fans can help make a difference, I think it has certainly encouraged Jerry.

Not to be a Debbie Downer, but this kind of conversation is extremely cyclical - Torme's been calling people for 16 years about reboots and movies. When I spoke to him in 2009, he admitted he doesn't have a say because he doesn't own the intellectual property. He reiterated that when I met him at the MUFON event a few years ago.

Now, in this climate of rebootquels, who's to say? But a phone doesn't necessitate serious thinking.

Good to know. Trust me, I'm way beyond getting my hopes up, I just thought it was a neat thing to have occurred.

I don't think Torme's ever made any effort for a Sliders reboot other than looking at it over the last couple of years (a period of time he's been preoccupied with his movie and documentary project). The 2000 Sliders "movie" was Weiss. And yes, Torme has been candid that he doesn't have ownership or power over the property.

That said, he has a better chance of getting it anywhere than you or I pitching it.

Getting Sliders remade is a huge uphill battle due to cynical networks and some of the tainted aspects of the brand, but it's not out of the realm of possibility that with enough will, the right pitch and the right people, something can happen.  Jerry's clearly the guy who wants this to happen most, so I hope he's willing to give it a shot with or without Tracy, but I get the sense that he's very loyal and doesn't want to step on any toes with it.

The rights holder would license the name / characters but that wouldn't be expensive and an easy obstacle.  The harder part is convincing a network to order a pilot which would be a commitment of at least a mill and probably more.  That's the more difficult part. Because its money but they also have to believe a modern day version of the series could work... Particularly with whomever is on the production side and who the talent is that's attached.

NBCUniversal.

I don't think we're dealing with any new developments here.

If JRD is too committed to Shannara then what about something I remember reading here about the idea of Arturo being a Father of Sliding in a Fic or Working idea a while back which would be great for JRD as a Guest Appearance where he has impacted a Parallel Universe greatly. It could also allow additional appearances and even Full Cast Status.....

Good place for Fresh to Sliding but Mature to Life Quinn to discover and interact with too.

Oh right. That means that he doesn't know about the Mallory issue, lol.

Yeah, definitely agree on the sentiment that he wants this back.

If we're talking about SLIDERS REBORN, I will call in every favour and exert every ounce of influence I have to prevent it from ever being made. (This is where Matt would remark that I have already done that by writing a series that's incomprehensible to anyone other than SLIDERS fans.)

I estimate it would cost $18 million to film; why spend that on a series finale story? SLIDERS REBORN is really my way of acting out my psychodrama. Any new SLIDERS should open the door as opposed to closing it.

So, the best option is the SLIDERS REDUX. Wade Welles is a tech journalist who failed to build a literary career beyond reviewing gadgets. Rembrandt Brown is a jazz bar owner who failed to hang onto his musical stardom. Professor Arturo is a study guide writer who failed to gain recognition for his scientific brilliance. And Quinn Mallory is a tax accountant who failed to create anti-gravity -- but two decades after losing his passion for science, he realizes he discovered something else instead...

But I also wouldn't be able to offer a discount or set a price on this because it's Temporal Flux's idea (although I updated the professions for 2016 for him). And Matt Hutaff suggested a way in which this reboot with older doubles discovering sliding for the first time could be in continuity with the original SLIDERS.

In addition to the REDUX film or TV series, a set of webisodes would reveal -- only for the diehard fans -- that Quinn, between "The Seer" and REDUX, commandeered a Kromagg reality warping weapon to rip the concept of sliding out of existence, giving himself and his friends the lives they would have had if the vortex had never been opened.

So, it would really be up to TF to set his price and Matt would receive an all expense paid trip to Robert Floyd's COCKTAIL THEATRE and some Olive Garden coupons by way of recompense.

The upshot of this is that REBORN is by design a dead end for SLIDERS (because it is The End). A new SLIDERS should be a new beginning. The REDUX is the way to go.

(I actually think the REDUX was probably the plan for the perpetually teased SLIDERS feature film that Weiss wanted to do.)

Hey, what's this nonsense Jerry's spouting about being "booted" off the fifth season? Is the truth really that bad? His contract expired. He said he'd return if he received a promotion. He certainly wouldn't have been a worse showrunner than the ones we'd already endured. He was refused a promotion and he in turn refused to return. That's fair. "Contractual dispute." But production wanted him back; the claim that he was "booted" is an outright lie.

**

Strictly within Planet ireactions -- if I had to do a SLIDERS reboot/revival but could only get Jerry O'Connell, I wouldn't have him play Quinn Mallory. To me, SLIDERS is Quinn, Wade, Rembrandt and Arturo. SLIDERS is about the sliders -- these sliders. These people. The geekboy adventurer. The shy firebrand. The out of date showbiz icon. And the wise professor.

Temporal Flux advocates the NEXT GENERATION approach. I think to do THE NEXT GENERATION, you need a solid FIRST GENERATION. What you're proposing is what THE FLASH did with Jay Garrick, the original Flash, being replaced with Barry Allen, a new Flash. But Barry was simply a new character with the same name and powers; he wasn't presented as an extension of Jay's legacy, and if he had been, it wouldn't have worked because Jay left no real legacy at all. SLIDERS left no foundation for the second generation of sliders -- so I would want to build that first generation.

So, if I'm rebooting SLIDERS and I can't get Sabrina, Cleavant and John, then I see no point to bringing Jerry back to play Quinn. Quinn would be a fragment of the quartet. That would just make me sad. Instead, I would cast early twenties actors to play a teenaged Quinn and Wade, hire mid-forties and fifties actors to play Rembrandt and Arturo -- and I would have Jerry play a recurring role as Michael Mallory. If and when I could get Sabrina, Clevant or John, I would have them play the parents of the recast Wade, Rembrandt and Arturo, the way John Wesley Shipp plays Henry Allen. I would build a new first generation of sliders before thinking of the second.

And if I could get all the original actors back for a few 13-episode runs -- I'd do the Redux. Quinn and Wade are in their 40s, Rembrandt is in his 60s, Arturo is in his 70s -- they discover sliding in 2016 instead of 1994, some bonus content assures long-time fans that these are not doubles; these are the original sliders. Admittedly, due to John Rhys-Davies' age, I think we could only do 1 - 2 seasons of random sliding before getting the gang home and putting together a new group of sliders -- but once you have a good run of the original characters, you can reinvent the show now that it has a strong and solid core.

Just my view, of course. :-)

Would you be okay with Jerry as Arturo?  That's how I saw him in my pitch.

I guess the question is what form this series takes.  Is it a reboot or a next generation?  If it's a straight reboot, I don't have any issue with four new stars and putting Jerry in some other role.  I'd even be okay with Jerry playing the "Michael Mallory" role but still playing Quinn (with "Quinn Jr" as the new lead) so that Jerry could still play Quinn in the multiverse.

If it's Next Generation, make Jerry the mentor.  Either Quinn is the REDUX version or a previous slider guiding a new team.  Because, yeah, Sliders didn't leave much of a legacy.  But Quinn is still a potentially great character, and if it's' going to exist in the same canon (and it's a multiverse show, it sorta has to - like how the Shipp Flash is still canon on the CW Flash) and Jerry is going to be on there, make him Quinn.  A different Quinn possibly.  But still Quinn.

Well, the only reason I bring up Jerry in a lead role in each of my scenarios is the fact that I'm assuming Jerry would need to be a driving force behind the revival.  Jerry probably has the most clout out of anyone that has worked on Sliders in a while.  Torme has tried (and failed) to get anything done.  Weiss hasn't produced anything in a while.  JRD might be a more familiar face to some, but no one knows his name.

If anyone has the potential to get this off the ground, Jerry has the name-recognition and the connections in Hollywood to get it done. 

The next question would be "what capacity would Jerry want to work in?"  And my answer to that would be "probably star in it."  The only reason I say that is because he's only produced/directed/written for two things in his career - Sliders and a 2004 film "First Daughter".  All 10+ years ago.  So if Jerry can get it off the ground, I'm guessing he wants to do what he's been doing in the last 10 years - acting. 

So if Jerry is working to get this off the ground and wants to act in it (and, presumably, anyone helping him would want him to act in it), you have two options.  Either he's playing Quinn or he's throwing out all the continuity and you're recasting him as someone else.  If Sliders is Quinn/Wade/Rembrandt/Arturo, then Arturo seems the natural fit if Jerry wants to be a star of the show.  JRD would presumably help him work on the mentor role if Jerry called, and it wouldn't necessarily have to be the exact same Arturo that JRD played.

The issue with him playing Quinn is a) continuity baggage and b) the age of the rest of the original cast.  The problem with all of these reboots/rebootquels is that Sliders has much less nostalgia factor than "Boy Meets World" or "Full House" and that the original cast is in their 40s or older.  I don't know many people in the target demo of something like Netflix that would tune in to watch a cast of all 40+ actors with very little star power.  I just don't think you'd get much of that audience.  Like Girl Meets World and Fuller House, you'd have to work in younger stars to match the demographic.

That's why I think Jerry should be in the main cast for any idea, and that's why I think Jerry is probably the only returning original cast member.  I bet Cleavant, JRD, and Sabrina could/would return in some guest star capacity.  I just can't see any legitimate project getting off the ground with the four original sliders, reboot or not.

Yeah, but that's my point exactly.  Jerry would need to be the force behind any reboot.  Torme alone wasn't able to get it done.  Weiss tried and couldn't get it done, and he was a pretty big producer for a while.  Cable ratings, DVD sales, and Netflix views weren't enough to get any traction going.  It's been 16 years, and the only traction we've ever gotten on new Sliders is the Kickstarter or Die video that Jerry did.

So if this thing is gonna get done, Jerry is going to do it.  And I don't think Jerry would want to do it for the love of the property.  Doing a bunch of work to get the project off the ground and then doing a cameo doesn't seem like Jerry's style.  It's probably best for the property, but I think Jerry is going to want to be involved.  It's probably his best chance to star in something, and it's probably nostalgia-driven for him too.  He could be the star of Sliders again.

So if Jerry's going to be the force behind something, Jerry is going to need to be in it in a starring role.  And the rest has to be written around it.

I think you vastly overestimate Jerry's clout. If he had the power to bring SLIDERS back, he would have done it by now. He is downplaying this in interviews, but Jerry was the one who made the first call to Tracy.

He wanted to play Quinn Mallory again. But I don't think Jerry can get this project together. He is well off, but he certainly can't essentially give away the $20 million or so to put even a low-budget film together. I guestimate his net worth at about $12 million and his discretionary income at about $500,000 to 1 million annually. As a celebrity, he is known, but he's hardly Tom Cruise or even Tom Felton.

I was thinking of Jerry playing Michael Mallory in a reboot as a recurring guest-star, not a regular. He'd be in a couple episodes now and then as a double of Quinn's dead father. It'd be necessary to make Quinn in the reboot a bit younger than 20 in order for Jerry to be his father.

I don't see Jerry in the Arturo role. He's the hyperactive father, not the semi-retired Professor.

This is just my view, but Quinn is not designed to function without Wade, Rembrandt and the Professor. The show was not QUINN MALLORY; the show was SLIDERS; they were all essential to each other. Youth and age. Scientific experience and emotional experience. Activism and conservatism. Blue collar and academic. Jerry as Quinn without Sabrina, Cleavant and John would just depress me. Jerry as Michael Mallory would be a nice nod.

That said, I do not think the SLIDERS REDUX is in any way complicated or confusing to new viewers. 2016: Quinn Mallory and friends discover the gateway to parallel dimensions, but on their first adventure, they lose their way back home. A webisode reveals that these are not older doubles but amnesiac versions of the original sliders whose 1995-series adventures were rewound off camera through a cosmic reset button. The casual audience would never see the webisodes.

The only problem I see with the REDUX is that Sabrina Lloyd might be difficult to secure and John Rhys-Davies might be unwilling to resume running from security guards, bungee jumping, diving out of the vortex, etc.. But setting aside that along with Slider_Quinn21's hatred for old people*, Jerry and Sabrina look as attractive as ever and John and Cleavant having aged would add a lot. SLIDERS is meant for a cult audience in the end; do it on a lower budget for a streaming service and an audience inclined to the series will find it.

*Hahaahahhaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah!

True.  But I'm saying Jerry is the best chance the series has of continuing.  All other avenues, so far, have failed.  The only new sliders we've gotten since 2/4/2000 is the Kickstarter or Die video (starring Jerry as Quinn and no one else).  Jerry doesn't have a ton of clout, but he's the best chance that the series has.  A Sliders: TNG with an all-new cast would be great, but who's making it?  Who's clamoring for it?  We've been talking about this every couple months for 16 years, and nothing has gotten done.

Jerry talking about Sliders is the biggest pub this property has had in years.  And maybe there's a guy out there who'd do it without any help, but I'm guessing the best way to get Universal (who does own the rights) is a script written by Torme and a commitment from Jerry O'Connell to star in it.  If there's a better way, none of us have thought of it in 16 years.

I'm on Team Reboot because I want something that will last a while.

Getting the band back together would be fun for a one off movie or maybe a mini-series if the interest is there, but if we want something that will run for several years then a reboot with a younger cast is the only way to go.

And that's basically my ultimate point re: Jerry.  If Sliders is ever going to return, in any form, it needs a champion.  Someone who will go into the important offices with a pitch and make things happen.  That's how this stuff works.

You're right: Torme isn't that guy anymore.  If he was, it would've been done already.  And my point has been, Jerry might not be that guy, but he's the best chance the show has as far as we know.  He's the only one talking about it. 

Example: Battlestar Galactica.  It's another small sci-fi show with a cult following.  Its star, Richard Hatch, spent years and years and years trying to get a continuation produced.  Made comics, made novels, made a teaser trailer for a continuation called "The Second Coming".  He got really close a few times.  And while he never got his version on screen, he knocked down enough doors that Universal decided to make the reboot.  And it got a new champion in Ronald D. Moore.

So if Jerry goes around Hollywood and shops Sliders enough, anything can happen.  But that's where it has to start.  Petitions might work, but the one I found has 70 signatures.  I signed it, but 70 isn't going to get anything moving.  Kickstarter could work, but you have to have people attached for people to be willing to pay money for it.  For these things, you still need a champion.

Now it's true that Jerry might not be the best champion for Sliders.  If a Carlton Cuse or a JJ Abrams or Vince Gilligan or Chris Carter or Shawn Ryan or any number of TV producers wanted to get a Sliders reboot off the ground, they probably could.  But usually, those things take something smaller to get them off the ground.  Richard Hatch had to pitch BSG so many times before Moore found out they were doing it and thought, "Yeah, I could do something cool there."

And maybe Jerry has to go into a room and say "here's my idea.  I'm Arturo with a bunch of great young actors."  And he has this glossy cool-looking promo art, but the Universal exec brushes him off.  But then the next meeting is Cuse for Colony Season 2, and he sees the promo art sticking out of a folder on the exec's desk.  "You're doing SLIDERS?  That's awesome, I loved that show!"  "Well, not really.  But is that something you'd like to work on?" "Absolutely!"

And that's how you get Sliders: TNG.

Kelsey Grammer is a Sliders fan?  Damn I saw him on Broadway, I could have asked him!

Yeah I've thought about the Grammer thing too.  But he's had 20 years to get something done if he really wanted.  There's "being a fan of something" and "willing to pour my heart and soul into something."  I mean, honestly, this stuff has to be viral in a lot of ways.  I absolutely agree that Grammer could get the ball rolling, but unless he's producing it himself and doing all the legwork, it takes him being a superfan, rallying troops, and then convincing X number of people to join his cause.  It would eat up a ton of his time and energy, and he probably has bigger fish to fry.

I mean think about all the shows and movies you consider yourself a fan of.  Now how many are you willing to write fanfic for?  How many are you willing to talk about on a daily basis?  And how many would you be willing to say, "I'm putting my life on hold to devote to this?"

Now you guys are absolutely right - if a Sliders reunion panel was created at ComicCon, that's a place where the ball gets rolling.  Whether the cast gets together and starts talking and seeing when their schedules might be free.  If the panel is packed with super-high energy and tons of interest in a new movie or whatever, then you have the beginnings of something.  Because there's  a huge difference between Jerry O'Connell or Kelsey Grammer or whoever calling and saying "hey, you guys should do some new Sliders" and a studio exec finding out organically "Hey, there was a huge panel at ComicCon with all the original Sliders and people were really excited about it.  What if we decided to try and do something with the rights?"

Exactly.

What I think the true issues are with Sliders is this: It never had enough traction when it WAS on TV to ever get a second thought as a reboot. We have to remember some key things about Sliders:

1. We fought tooth and nail to get season two made. If it wasn't for the email campaign that crashed FOX's servers, Sliders would've joined VR-5 for good.

2. Sliders still was on the bubble for a pickup on season three. That was never guaranteed.

3. Sliders was never a ratings hit to justify much attention. Hence why episodes were out of order for every FOX season and how much the network meddled in it. If Sliders was a hit out of the park, they'd be hands-off and let production handle itself like with X-Files.

4. Scifi made some good strides to get the show back on track but they too never gave the show enough budget or direction to take it to the next level.

Sliders was always the "little show that could" and I still am amazed that we got five seasons. We had to fight for every single one of them. If you look to a much more popular show like Quantum Leap, that STILL has no chance of coming back and that was way more popular than Sliders, IMO.

I want a reboot / reimagining more than anyone and the fact that Jerry is on board is a HUGE plus. However, it's a property that is a bit tarnished due to how it was handled and no major powerhouse to champion it.

At the end of the day, without someone who holds actual power either at NBC Universal open to the idea of bringing it back, Sliders has no chance. This makes me wonder if the efforts to do something need to be more focused on the business side such as trying to bring it to the attention of Netflix's brass or working to contact Universal and getting their attention. Once someone's eyes are on it, THEN we pounce with a Kickstarter / Jerry / petition / mass movement.

Has anyone actually approached Universal proposing books or comics? I know there's an entire publishing arm that has to go with it, but I've found that tie-in works to a property can sometimes be easier to achieve.

All so, so true.

Eh, there are people with power.  Universal licensing division. They'll license the property to anyone willing to pay enough.  A license wouldn't be all that substantial with sliders (compared to other more top tier properties) because there's just not a lot of demand for the license.

And this is what we have to hope for and try to do.  We have to hope that someone wants to make a pilot or mini series or movie or series with the Sliders brand (a production company, network or studio).  We know basically the only folks who will really look to do that are the creators of the original series or anyone who jerry can convince to work with him on it (and he seems to be looking to the original show creators right now to "drive").

You posted a spectactuler press kit from Season 1.  This is substantial, and can be used as a weapon in our fight. If you watch those interviews here's what's clear:

- The cast loved each other
- The cast was enthusiastic about the project and were very happy with season 1
- They all had a lot of fun working on the show.

This footage can be used to be spliced together to put together highlights.  This is a perfect tool for taking the principals back to that place in their lives and remind them of how they felt and how others felt about them. John gave Jerry one of the greatest compliments a young actor can have.  I think we can use this to help motivate the gang.  If we get something together, I'll probably try to track down Bob Weiss' email and see if I can pass it along to him as well. He's involved with the X Prize Foundation, so this might be possible.

Nice insights SliderTen. That just confirms my earlier sentiments. Heck, if the rabid Charmed fans can't get CBS to change their current stance on a fresh Charmed reboot without the originals (all 4 of which have repeatedly stated time and time again that they are onboard to continue the show if CBS were) then Sliders stands absolutely zero chance. And that's still ignoring the way Sliders ended, or the actors' ages, or countless other issues.

Of course, like Ireactions mentioned, any petition or push could just do the opposite and make them churn out some other property with a similar premise ... but there's nothing that could be done about that. The question is how best to get a fan push seen. Charmed fans have a constant media push on facebook and twitter, but they have a large fanbase. Sliders just doesn't.

Perhaps this is all just a wistful dream. It has such a low chance of happening.