I've been catching up on old scifi shows in the past few months and came across Sliders. It was one of those old school series that was big in the 90s, only to be fazed out for bigger, brighter ( and might I add sillier) storylines. So this week, I thought I'd touch upon Sliders and learn a bit more about the show.
Sliders? What's that, you ask?
This one's strictly for the noobs. Sliders is a fun scifi show that was aired between 1995 and 2000. That's nearly two decades ago! As you can imagine, bits of this show had a certain cheesy feel to it – the clothes, the hairstyles, the love angles. At the same time, the show had a lot of good old scifi features – you know, the 'always do the right thing' concept was there and the storyline gained precedence over mindless action and skin-peeks. The gist of the show was that a science student and his buddies find a way to travel between parallel 
worlds. Only problem is, you can't control where you go or how long you stay there. In fact, once they leave, they don't quite know how to get back! So there you have it, a show where the writers explored the world as it could have been if we went down the other leg in the trousers of time.
Alright so now we know. Hmmm, what's with the change in lead characters?
Newbies to Sliders show will wonder about this: why would a show get rid of a main character (i.e. Jerry O'Connell), one who happened to be a fan favorite? After all, he had lasted whatever took out Lloyd and Davies, what went on behind the scenes? This topic is covered in extensive detail over at Dimension of Continuity, a fan site dedicated to Sliders. To put a long story short, let's say that it had to do with contract negotiations (with Connell wanting to be a producer) as well as the new channel's ponderings about the show's future. So, in a nutshell, you are gonna love the bits with Connell, Lloyd and Davies but once they leave, the show kinda festers and pukes all over you.
Now ... One more reason to hate Fox
Actually, quite a few more if you read this list.
Firstly, the lovable Doc (played by John Rhys-Davies) left the show. It didn't make sense for a series to lose one of its finest actors. Thus, a lot of fans like myself figured that he went for bigger better things (Hello, Gimli! So … who's smug now?). Well, if interviews and stories noted by fan sites such as this one is anything to go by, it turns out Davies might have been fired. Seems like some bigwigs didn't like his overt criticism of their way of doing things (read: incorporating stupid ideas into a show).
Then the folks got rid of Wade (Sabrina Lloyd); she might have been a bit of a hippie tree-hugger but she had her merits. It was sad to think that she was unceremoniously given the boot after Davies was fired. Seems like the producers might have been going for a different mood from then onwards and hence, didn't see a need for her. Actually, if you read this fan site, it appears that it was a combination of:
a) ratings (i.e. some wise guy thinking “Do we need this many women on a show?”)
b) a bit of fight between Lloyd and Kari Wuhrer
c) who asked for less money
I used to joke about the producer(s) being a bit spiteful and sending Lloyd's character to a breeding camp as the ultimate write-off. Turns out there might have been some truth to that. Ouch!
And you know that annoying tendency of Fox? The one where they rearrange the order of a series? Show something that is more flashy, ignore plot continuity, edit out intelligent bits of a story …. you know the drill. Seems like they rolled up their sleeves and sliced this show pretty badly too. The airing order for season one was changed as was a few others for the following seasons. Read the Wiki page for the full details. What is with Fox and messing up good shows?
Quirky facts
This is one of the noteworthy cameos in the series. In season one, episode one, you get a famous voice playing the role of a DJ. Remember the Day Tripper DJ? It is none other than Harry Shearer himself.
Here's a fun fact from Movie Mistakes. Apparently the timer was built out of either old Nokia phones or console game controllers. That is hard to imagine, especially with the slim cellphones we get nowadays.
I found this via IMDB. Jerry O'Connell had written a dark, surreal type of episode which dealt with drug legalization. It was called Narcotica and seems like it freaked out the show bigwigs. Hence, it was never approved. Good news is, it was picked up as a comic book later on. Now here's a bit extra. This website has links to all the comics (yes, there was more than one) as well as interviews with the cast and behind the scene folk. I must say, all of the comics look promising.
Another tidbit (this time because I am an SG fan myself). Guess who plays Michael Hurley in Prince of Wails and the Pilot episode?
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