Quantum Leap

Beyond its gimmicky concept and fantasy angle, Quantum Leap -- from "Magnum, P.I." creator Donald P. Bellisario -- touches on forms of alienation that grip everybody at one time or another. For Sam, it's one time or several others...The premise holds out a prospect even more attractive in the late '80s than it would be in many other eras: escape from the present. [25 Mar 1989, p.D1]

With some delicious comic touches, Quantum Leap is slyly offering two cheers for the "sensitized" man of the 1980's. Sam even managed to phone his beloved father, who had died in 1974. The experience left him with tears streaming down his face. Mr. Bakula (''Eisenhower & Lutz,'' Broadway's ''Romance Romance'') pulls all of this off with skillful charm. He could easily get away with devouring an entire quiche. [30 Mar 1989, p.C24]

A canny and clever series that makes hardware take a back seat to humanity. [31 Mar 1989, p.3D]

Familiar turf, but not bad, considering. Trouble is, the premise will wear out quickly. [24 Mar 1989, p.4]

The only thing for sure about Quantum Leap is that it's a difficult show to explain to anybody, and that the more difficult it is to explain a show, the less likely it is to succeed. [25 Mar 1989, p.C-7]

It was all quite boring...What the series does have going for it is a nostalgic sense of humor and Bakula, whom some may recall from Eisenhower and Lutz, a midseason show that lasted about 10 minutes last spring. Bakula has this hound-dog kind of handsomeness and a certain goofy charm...What it has going against it, is its sheer nutty illogic. Even science fiction is supposed to have some ground rules. God? Holograms? Amnesia? Come on! This thing is just nonsense.

Quantum Leap for the most part is so excruciatingly slow and laborious that you wonder if director David Hemmings was trapped in his own time warp. Yet Bakula does nicely, and the story ultimately accelerates and even yields some very affecting moments as Beckett intrudes on his own past. [25 Mar 1989, p.C6]