Tru Calling

Tru Calling
Genre
Created by Jon Harmon Feldman
Starring
Opening theme "Somebody Help Me" by Full Blown Rose
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 2
No. of episodes 26 (plus original pilot) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)
Location(s) Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Running time 43 minutes
Production company(s)
Distributor 20th Century Fox Television
Release
Original network Fox
Picture format
Audio format
Original release October 30, 2003 (2003-10-30) – March 11, 2005 (2005-03-11) (New Zealand)
January 21, 2008 (2008-01-21) (U.S.)

Tru Calling is an American television supernatural drama series that aired on Fox. Original episodes aired between October 30, 2003, and March 11, 2005; however, the final episode was shown in other territories before it was aired in the U.S. due to lower than anticipated ratings.[2][3]

The show starred Eliza Dushku as Tru Davies, a twenty-two-year-old medical school student who takes a job at the city morgue when her internship falls through. When the corpse of a murdered woman seems to awaken and asks for her help, Tru discovers that she has the incredible power to relive that day in order to try to prevent that death. Over the course of the series, Tru struggles to keep her secret, juggle her responsibilities with her complicated personal life, and learn to control her power.

Created by Jon Harmon Feldman, the show was produced by Original Film, Oh That Gus!, Inc., and 20th Century Fox Television.[4]

Series overview

The show starred Eliza Dushku as Tru Davies, a medical school student who takes a job at the city morgue when her internship at a local hospital falls through. On her first night, the corpse of a murdered woman seems to awaken and ask for her help and Tru discovers that she has the incredible power to relive the day in order to try to prevent that death. Over the course of the series, Tru struggles to keep her secret, juggle her responsibilities with her complicated personal life, and learn to control her power.

Tru is aided (and at times abetted) by her boss, Davis (Zach Galifianakis), who acts as a sort of guide and mentor, who is later revealed to have known about Tru's mother (who was, apparently, the last person to receive the "calling" before her daughter), her best friend Lindsey (A.J. Cook), who doesn't know Tru's secret, and her impulsive, good-natured and bumbling younger brother Harrison (Shawn Reaves). Tru keeps her secret from her boyfriends, as well as her sister Meredith (Jessica Collins), who has a drug problem.

Halfway through the first season, Tru's life gets much more complicated when she meets Jack Harper (Jason Priestley), a man who shares Tru's abilities but who works to preserve what he sees as the hand of Fate by ensuring that the people Tru tries to help stay dead, though the series was canceled before the conclusion of their struggle was written. In the first season finale, it is revealed that Tru's father knows Jack Harper and that he had played a similarly antagonistic role versus Tru's mother, terminating her by hiring a hitman to kill her, though neither Harrison nor Tru found out.

Cast and characters

Main

Eliza Dushku played the role of Tru Davies.
Jason Priestley played the role of Jack Harper.

Recurring

Episodes

Season Episodes Originally aired
First aired Last aired
1 20 October 30, 2003 April 29, 2004
2 6 March 31, 2005 January 21, 2008

Cancellation

The series was canceled in 2005, due to low ratings, the reasoning behind the final episode airing in many other territories before it screened in the U.S. The cancellation resulted in the second season–and series–finale, ending in multiple cliffhangers:

Proposed storylines

After the cancellation, Doris Egan (one of the show's writers) discussed the series mythology and plans they had had for the future story arc in four consecutive live journal entries which set the premise of two opposing forces influencing humanity, one (presumably helping Jack) that refuses to interfere and allows humans to evolve at their own pace and the other which wishes to intervene and 'improve' things in a 'revolt against heaven' (presumably helping Tru). Proposed storylines included:

Russian adaptation

The series has been adapted in Russia using the title Я отменяю смерть, pronounced as “Jа otmenʲaʲu smart′”, and translated to I Revoke the Death, premiering in the country on TV-3 on October 9, 2012. For more information on the remake, see:

Broadcast

The series completed airing in its entirety in New Zealand first. The second season began airing in the country on TV3 on February 4, 2005, with the final episode shown on March 11, 2005. After nearly a year-long hiatus in the U.S., new episodes began on Fox on March 31, 2005. However, the series was pulled again in favour of Fox's new show Point Pleasant and the final episode was screened in many other territories before it finally aired in the U.S. on January 21, 2008 on Syfy.

The complete series also aired in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Portugal, Singapore, Slovakia and the United Kingdom.

DVD releases

The Complete First Season
Set details Special features
  • Bonus Featurettes:[10]
    • "Finding The Calling: The Pilot
    • "The Tru Path: Season One"
    • Evil Comes Calling: A Late Season Twist"
    • Selected Episode Commentary
    • Deleted Scenes
    • "Somebody Help Me" Music Video by Full Blown Rose
United States Canada U.S. / Canada  United Kingdom  Australia
Episodes 20 N/A 20
Aspect Ratio 1.78:1 1.78:1
Running Time 880 minutes 880 minutes
Audio English (Dolby Digital Surround) English (Dolby Digital Surround)
Subtitles English, Spanish, French None
No. of Discs 6 6
Region(s) 1 (NTSC) 2, 4 (PAL)
Rating Not Rated M
Release dates November 30, 2004[10] August 9, 2005
The Complete Second Season
Set details Special features
  • Bonus Featurettes:[11]
    • Making-Of Featurette
Canada United States Canada / United States  United Kingdom  Australia
Episodes 6 N/A 6
Aspect Ratio 1.78:1 1.78:1
Running Time 264 minutes 264 minutes
Audio English (Dolby Digital Surround) English (Dolby Digital Surround)
Subtitles English, French, Spanish None
No. of Discs 2 2
Region(s) 1 (NTSC) 2, 4 (PAL)
Rating Not Rated M
Release dates November 15, 2005[11] August 9, 2005
The Complete Series
Set details Special features
  • Bonus Featurettes:[12]
    • Selected Episode Commentary
    • Deleted Scenes
    • 4 Featurettes
      • "Finding The Calling: The Pilot"
      • "The Tru Path: Season One"
      • "Evil Comes Calling: A Late Season Twist"
    • "Tru Calling: Opposing Forces"
    • "Somebody Help Me" Music video by Full Blown Rose
    • Easter Egg: Zach Galifianakis' audition tape
Canada United States Canada / U.S.  United Kingdom  Australia
Episodes 26 26 26
Aspect Ratio 1.78:1 1.78:1 1.78:1
Running Time 1094 Minutes 1094 Minutes 1094 Minutes
Audio English (Dolby Digital Surround) English (Dolby Digital Surround) English (Dolby Digital Surround)
Subtitles English, French, Spanish English, Swedish None
No. of Discs 8 8 8
Region(s) 1 (NTSC) 2, 4 (PAL) 4 (PAL)
Rating Not Rated 15 M
Release dates August 12, 2008[13] June 27, 2005[12] October 24, 2006

Reception

U.S. Nielsen ratings

Season Timeslot
 TV
season		 U.S. season
premiere		 U.S. season
finale		 Season
rank		 Viewers
(in millions)
1 Thursdays at 8 p.m. 2003–2004 October 30, 2003 April 29, 2004 #151[14] 4.50[14]
2 Thursdays at 9 p.m. 2005[lower-alpha 1] March 31, 2005 April 21, 2005 #121[15] 4.89[15]

Notes

Each U.S. network television season begins in late September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion of May sweeps.
  1. ↑ Only 5 of the 6 episodes were aired by Fox. The series finale was shown in the U.S. on Syfy in 2008 and is not part of the season's ratings. The second season originally aired in New Zealand from 4 February 2005 – 11 March 2005.

Awards and nominations

Accolades for Tru Calling
Year Award Category Recipients Result
2004 2004 Teen Choice Awards Choice Breakout TV Show Tru Calling Nominated
Choice Breakout TV Star – Female Eliza Dushku Nominated
30th Saturn Awards Best Actress in a Television Series Eliza Dushku Nominated

References

  1. ↑ Dawn Parouse. (2004). Finding the Calling: The Pilot (Tru Calling Season 1, Disc 6, Special Feature) [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  2. ↑ Whedonesque.com (January 28, 2005). "Season two unaired episodes of Tru Calling will screen on New Zealand network TV3 beginning February 4 at 7.30pm.". Retrieved January 18, 2010.
  3. ↑ Whedonesque.com (April 19, 2005). "'Fox dumps Tru Calling finale for The Simple Life'.". Retrieved January 18, 2010.
  4. ↑ "Tru Calling (TV Series 2003-2005) Company Credits". imdb.com.
  5. ↑ "Я отменяю смерть on TV-3 website".
  6. ↑ "Facebook page of Я отменяю смерть".
  7. ↑ "Youtube page of Я отменяю смерть".
  8. ↑ "Facebook page of Я отменяю смерть".
  9. ↑ "Fan-page of Я отменяю смерть".
  10. 1 2 "Tru Calling – The Complete First Season (2003)". amazon.com. Retrieved 2010-01-19.
  11. 1 2 amazon.com. "Tru Calling – The Complete Second Season (2003)". Retrieved 2010-01-19.
  12. 1 2 hmv.com. "Tru Calling: Complete Series: 8dvd: Box Set". Retrieved 2010-01-19.
  13. ↑ amazon.com. "Tru Calling: The Complete Series". Retrieved 2010-01-19.
  14. 1 2 ABC Medianet
  15. 1 2 "2004-05 Final audience and ratings figures". The Hollywood Reporter. May 27, 2005. Archived from the original on July 8, 2006.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.