A short-lived Canadian fantasy drama series that follows deceased people as they go back to certain points in their lives to change themselves for the better.
The show features Al Waxman, Gordie Brown, Paul Popowich, Polly Bergen, Diahann Carroll, Jayne Eastwood, and Sandi Ross.
It aired on CTV and PAX for two seasons (1999–2001).
Tropes for the series:
- Alliterative Title: Blood Brothers, Second Service, Take Two, Matchmaker, Matchmakter, Mama Mia, and Final Flight.
- Deceptive Legacy: The show has a person dying and then given a chance to go back in time in a new body to sway their younger selves from a major mistake. Along the way, many discover the truth about their families.
- A woman long blamed her father for not giving the bone marrow that would have saved her life. Sent back as a doctor, she tracks her father down and demands he do it but he reveals he can't...because he's not her sister's father. Her mother had an affair with a married man and kept it quiet and the woman realizes she's been wrongly blaming her father all these years.
- A variation as an architect, Peter Hogan, had been in love with a poor woman but when his rich girlfriend got pregnant, married her instead. Twenty years later, he's stuck in a loveless marriage with two spoiled and rotten kids. Sent back as a priest, he's rocked to discover his girlfriend had cheated on him and he was never the father and now tries to get his past self with his true love.
- A young teen is killed just after seeing an image of himself on a "Missing" milk carton. Sent back, he helps his younger self realize his father abducted him and his sister from their mother years before.
- Mixed with Broken Pedestal, corrupt cop Danny Payello is sent back to stop his younger self from starting on this path. But he's stunned to discover that his policeman father, who always instilled a sense of right and wrong, was actually on the take himself.
- Family Versus Career: This is the central theme of one episode. A man convinces his wife to give up her career to stay home and take care of their daughter while he climbs the corporate ladder. The result is that the marriage falls apart, the daughter grows up to be a delinquent and his career goes nowhere. When the guy is given the chance to go back in time and fix things, he realizes that his wife was great at her job and on the fast track for a major promotion. He convinces his past self that the right choice is for him to stay home and support her. In the new timeline, their marriage is saved, the wife is a successful corporate executive, the daughter had a happy childhood and is now going to college and he found his own happiness as a stay-at-home dad.
- I Never Got Any Letters: In one episode, a woman finds out that a man she loved kept sending her letters after he moved away but her mother intercepted them. When the woman dies bitter and alone she is given the chance to go back in time to fix her mistakes. However, when she arranges for her younger self to get the letters, it screws things up for others and she now has to make sure that everyone gets a happy ending.
- Laser-Guided Karma: The episode "Death and Taxes" has recently deceased IRS agent Roger Stovell resurrected and sent back in time 8 years for a chance to prevent the disappearance of his 5 year-old son. He's told he must tell his past self that the two of them need to help a man whose dog rescue shelter he doomed by denying him deductions. Rogers insists he did everything by the book, but, spurred on by the promise of getting his son back, eventually finds a loophole that allows him to help out the shelter owner. He's brought forward to the day his son disappeared and is enraged and distraught when it happens again even though he did everything he could to make sure things played out differently. However, several hours later his son is found alive and unharmed by dogs belonging to the shelter owner, who by then had parlayed his business into a search and rescue service.
- My Greatest Second Chance: The premise of the show, as Celestial Judge Othniel/Jepthah gives a recently deceased person a second chance to go back in time and try and convince their younger self to make the right decision at a crucial moment in their lives. Their original failure to make the right decision is what doomed them to a miserable life and ultimately got them killed.
- One-Word Title: Curveball, Expose, and Knockout.
- Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Subverted. At the end of the episode, the person finds themselves brought into a new timeline with a better life. Smith/Jones pops up one last time as his "client" suddenly realizes they're remembering the new history. Smith/Jones says that as soon as he leaves, so will all memories the person had of their previous life. As soon as he's gone, the character completely forgets everything and as far as they're concerned, this is the only life they've ever had.
- Sports Dad: In "Curveball", the father is pressuring his son to be as good as possible in baseball, while boasting his success back in high school. For this episode, the teenage son gets the early death, and is sent back - witnessing his father's younger self flub that swing.
- Woobie of the Week: The angels allow a one-shot character to revisit a moment in his or her life when things started going wrong.
