Quantum Leap Reboot Plummets To New Ratings Low After Tackling A Controversial Topic
The Quantum Leap reboot hit its lowest rating after airing an episode involving a trans teen being discriminated against.
After receiving a green light for a second season, many fans of the rebooted classic series Quantum Leap were excited that the show would be given another chance to shine. However, according to Cosmic Book News, since the follow-up season was ordered, the show’s viewership numbers have fallen exponentially with a recent episode hitting an all-time low. The episode, titled “Let Them Play” centered around a transgendered teenage girl who wants to play on the high school girls’ basketball team but is shunned from doing so as she was assigned male at birth.
While it’s not completely clear why audiences have taken a big step away from the series, viewership massively dropped when Quantum Leap returned from its winter hiatus. There’s also a chance that the dip in views for this episode specifically was due to its subject matter surrounding a trans student — a hot-button topic that has many people divided. However, it’s 2023, so for the naysayers hoping to push stories like this one off the air, there are plenty of other folks who will find themselves in the characters and tune in.
Outside of its recent drop in numbers, the series was previously raking in a 2.0 rating with the 18-to-49-year-old demographic, also drawing in 10.8 million viewers across linear, digital, and streaming. For comparison, “Let Them Play,” which was the 12th episode of Quantum Leap’s premiere season, landed 1.735 million viewers and earned a measly 0.3 rating. Prior to this, the show’s least-viewed installment was Episode 10 which only drew in the eyes of 1.75 million viewers, making it clear that the reboot may be in some hot water.
Quantum Leap picks up 30 years after Dr. Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula) disappeared following a mishap with the Quantum Leap accelerator. A new team has stepped in to try to understand what happened to Dr. Beckett, with Dr. Ben Song (Raymond Lee) leading the charge. Of course, things don’t go quite as planned for Dr. Song, as he finds himself traveling through time and into the lives of others just as Dr. Beckett did all those years ago.
The series also stars Caitlin Bassett as Addison Augustine, who is Ben’s fiancee and acts as his aid in returning to the present day just as Dean Stockwell’s Al Calavicci did for Dr. Beckett in the original production. Also starring are Mason Alexander Park as Ian Wright, the leading architect of the Quantum Leap project; Nanrisa Lee as Jenn Chou, the head of Quantum Leap’s security team; and Ernie Hudson as Herbert “Magic” Williams, the head of the Quantum Leap project. Fans of the original series will remember Magic Williams from a Season 3 episode in which the character was originally played by Christopher Kirby.
While the Quantum Leap following has made it known that they’d like to see Scott Bakula back on the series to reprise his beloved role as Dr. Sam Beckett, it’s unclear whether the actor will leap back into character. It’s our guess that with the recent low numbers, those at the top of the chain may be willing to put more pressure on Bakula to give the fans what they want and drive their viewership through the roof.
