Tru Calling

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Tru Calling
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Genre <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
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)
Production location(s) Vancouver, Canada
Running time 43 minutes
Production company(s)
Distributor 20th Century Fox Television
Release
Original network Fox
Picture format <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Audio format <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
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 medical school student (22 years old in the second episode of season 2) 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 the day before a wrongful death occurs 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 before a wrongful death occurs 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 and 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 tries to keep her secret from her boyfriend, as well as to help 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 or Tru found out.

Cast and characters

Main cast

Eliza Dushku played the role of Tru Davies.
File:Jason Priestley 2012.jpg
Jason Priestley played the role of Jack Harper.

Recurring cast

Episodes

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Main article: List of Tru Calling 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

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[5] 4.50[5]
2 Thursdays at 9 p.m. 2005[lower-alpha 1] March 31, 2005 April 21, 2005 #121[6] 4.89[6]

Notes

Each U.S. network television season begins in late September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion of May sweeps.

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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:

  • Tru's season two romantic interest, a fellow medical student named Jensen, begins to remember reliving an occurrence he and Tru had together from the negated timeline where he was killed, causing him to obsess over death.
  • Although initially highly antagonistic to Jack, Tru invites him to a Christmas party with her, hinting he may in time become an ally against her father, Richard.
  • Dr. Carrie Allen, the new psychologist at the morgue, who is revealed as an agent of Jack's working to seduce and subvert Davis, learns the truth about Tru from Davis; Davis has yet to tell Tru about this.
  • Jack, talking to Tru's father, hints he is still intent on killing Jensen, despite having failed to seal his fated death in a previous episode.

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:

  • Tru's boyfriend Jensen becoming more and more fascinated by death after her narrowly saving his life when he was fated to die. He would eventually become a serial killer and she would be forced to ask Jack for help in killing him to stop his reign of terror. Jack and Tru's father would cite this as justification for them stopping Tru from saving people, as she is messing with pre-destination.
  • Harrison would discover that his father is in league with Jack but is torn in deciding whose side to take, given what happened to Tru's boyfriend.
  • Davis's fake girlfriend Dr. Carrie Allen, arranged by Jack and Richard to divide him from Tru, begins to genuinely care for him and a romance develops between them. However, he discovers that she really did kill her violent and abusive husband and must decide whether or not to turn her in.
  • Davis also discovers that Tru's mother was supposed to be her mentor like Richard is to Jack but, with her dead, he now takes the role.
  • Tru and Jack would find themselves beginning to experience other anomalies in reality allowing for more variations on the standard storyline (as was hinted in the last few episodes of the series), including being able to take other people with them on their rewind days and explore parallel dimensions.
  • Jack and Tru would become involved in a bank siege in which Jack and her father use a mysterious journal in order to pick which hostages will die. Afterwards, Jack would begin a relationship with a beautiful motorcycle cop he meets during the incident and his feelings for her make him question the morality of his actions and his monk-like solitary existence.
  • The last corpse to ask for Tru's help is that of her 12-year-old half sister. Tru succeeds in saving her, and when Jack attempts to stop her, he is killed by Tru's father, who cannot bear to let his youngest child die, whatever else he believes. The series would end on a cliffhanger with Jack's corpse in the morgue asking Tru to save him.

Awards and nominations

Accolades for Tru Calling
Year Result Award Category Recipients
2004 Nominated 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

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.

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:

  • I Revoke the Death: TV-3 official website[8]
  • I Revoke the Death: Promotional trailer(s)[9][10]
  • I Revoke the Death: Facebook page and promotional pictures[11]
  • I Revoke the Death: fan-page[12]

DVD releases

The Complete First Season
Set details Special features
  • Bonus Featurettes:[13]
    • "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
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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[13] August 9, 2005
The Complete Second Season
Set details Special features
  • Bonus Featurettes:[14]
    • Making-Of Featurette
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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[14] August 9, 2005
The Complete Series
Set details Special features
  • Bonus Featurettes:[15]
    • 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
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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[16] June 27, 2005[15] October 24, 2006

References

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External links

  • ↑ Dawn Parouse. (2004). Finding the Calling: The Pilot (Tru Calling Season 1, Disc 6, Special Feature) [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
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