There were those who were somewhat amazed when UPN last season canceled its sci-fi series “The Sentinel,” a pretty entertaining show about a lawman who developed supersensitive senses after a lengthy stint in the Peruvian jungle.
“The Sentinel” had more action than a regular police show, likable stars headed by Richard Burgi as supercop Jim Ellison and a small–but strong–fan base.
So when “The Sentinel” closed its season with a potent cliffhanger featuring special guest Jeri Ryan of “Star Trek: Voyager,” and UPN announced the show wouldn’t show up on the 1998-99 schedule, “Sentinel” fanatics let their e-mail, letter-writing and paid advertisements do the talking. These are the same tactics that fans of CBS’ “The Magnificent Seven” used to help get that show back on the air.
The protests worked, and “The Sentinel” was slotted as a backup series. Smart move, considering UPN went into a ratings tailspin this season.
“We always knew that we might need to slide it (“The Sentinel”) into a number of different slots in the schedule,” admits UPN Entertainment President Tom Nunan.
“The Sentinel” resurfaced Jan. 18 with a replay of the series pilot. Monday’s episode was last season’s cliffhanger, during which Ryan, whose character also has Sentinel-like abilities–heightened sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch–seemed to have killed Blair Sandburg (Garett Maggart), the anthropology graduate student helping Ellison get a handle on his abilities.
Next Monday (8 p.m. on WPWR-Ch. 50) “The Sentinel” launches the first of eight new episodes with the resolution of the cliffhanger. Producers Danny Bilson and Paul DeMeo obviously would have liked a full-season order of 22 episodes, but they’ll take what they can get.
“I’m extremely grateful that we’re back on the air at all,” Bilson says. “We were really, really disappointed in being canceled, because I felt like we were making a good show, and for that network, we were holding our own.”
Both producers were also amazed they were yanked because if UPN had given them signals to the contrary they wouldn’t have ended the season with the apparent death of Sandburg, according to DeMeo. DeMeo, with his partner, also created the syndicated action series “Viper” and previously developed the superhero show “The Flash” for CBS.
“The Sentinel” will run new episodes through March 1, followed by a couple of months of repeat shows the two producers consider their favorites. Three new shows then will air for the May sweeps.
The eight shows represent a wide variety of styles that DeMeo and Bilson always wanted to try with the series–one episode has a film noir-ish slant with elements shot in black and white; another show is something of a sequel from a previous episode starring several professional basketball stars; another features Robert Vaughn of “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” as an actor from a 1970s detective series who tries the real thing.
“All the episodes I think are really rich. So what we were doing was making like eight pilots in a way,” Bilson says.
UPN will monitor the ratings for “The Sentinel” to see if it warrants renewal. If not, then the season finale won’t keep fans in suspense.
“The last episode that was shot had definitely a sense of closure on what we’ve done,” says Burgi, the 40-year-old star of the series.
But if “The Sentinel” does return, Burgi adds that final episode also “opens the door for a whole new way for the show to go.”
Burgi has been an actor for 12 years. His credits include “One West Waikiki” with Cheryl Ladd and soap operas “As the World Turns” and “One Life to Live.” He says one reason fans like the show is the relationship between Ellison and Sandburg, who pretends to be a special police consultant so he can ride along with Ellison. The pair also share a kindred spirit in Ellison’s superior, Capt. Simon Banks (former Chicago actor Bruce A. Young) and all three keep Ellison’s superpowers a secret.
“I think we always tried to bring a real level of vulnerability and a heart quality to (the show); I can’t find any other way to put it,” Burgi says. “These characters are struggling with their place in life . . . especially Ellison. This isn’t something he wears easily.”
Adds DeMeo: “There’s a lot of humor between (Ellison and Sandburg), there’s a spiritual bond between them, and these are characters that you come back to week after week.
Burgi is pleased to have returned to the role of Ellison, a character he thought he’d never play again after seeing the show disappear without any closure.
“I like his cynicism,” Burgi says of Ellison. “I guess I can be very cynical as well, but his wearing that as a badge is just an acerbic way of relating to things. I think he’s kind of an old schooler and old thinker, and he is thrust into this world of rapidly changing cyberdynamics–what do they call it?–the Digital Age. He’s an analog guy to a degree.”
