“Freedom”

Although likely the most recent program discussed here at Television Obscurities, Freedom is an interesting study in the life and death of a short-lived television show. Several factors make Freedom especially intriguing: an original, ultimately unaired pilot episode was actively promoted by UPN prior to the show’s official premiere. Furthermore, after being cancelled in the United States before its twelve produced episodes could be broadcast, Freedom was quickly sold into international syndication and developed a small cult following the world over.

Cast of Freedom

When UPN was building its new fall schedule in early 2000, Freedom was one of four drama pilots the network ordered (the others were The Contender, The Hospital and Level Nine) as well as several comedies and other projects [1]. Freedom would be a co-production from Warner Bros. Television and Silver Pictures — Joel Silver would act as an executive producer. Silver had produced a string of action-oriented films in the 1980s and 1990s, including the blockbuster The Matrix in 1999.

UPN’s hope was that Silver would help to draw young men to Freedom, the same demographic that had flocked to WWF Smackdown! on Thursdays and allowed the network to overcome The WB and rank fifth out of the six major broadcast networks for the 1999-2000 season. Overall, UPN averaged 3.9 million viewers, up from 2.7 million during the 1998-1999 season [2, 3].

By April of 2000, actor Vincent Spano had been cast in the lead role of Colonel Cally Beach, Corey Yuen had been lined up to direct, and series creator Hans Tobeason had completed the script for the pilot [4]. Spano left the series in May [5]. He was replaced by Holt McCallany in July. Initially, McCallany’s character retained the name Cally Beach but it was later changed to Owen Decker [6]. Joining McCallany were Darius McCrary as James “Jay Barrett,” Bodhi Elfman as Londo Pearl, and Scarlett Chorvat as Becca Shaw (Chorvat’s character may have originally been named Becca Ashe [7]).

Cast of Freedom

When UPN announced its finalized fall schedule, Freedom was given the 8-9PM timeslot on Friday evenings followed by Level 9, another new drama series, this one about high-tech crime fighters [8]. However, the new Friday lineup would not premiere until late October, allowing UPN to stagger its new and returning shows over the course of multiple weeks.

The premise of Freedom was simple: two years prior to the events in the pilot, a string of major catastrophes had thrown the United States of America into chaos. First, wide scale war in the Middle East. Then the U.S. stock market collapsed, thrusting the country into a period of violence and disarray.

Finally, Air Force One was shot down, killing the President, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff placed the country under martial law. (As an aside, if Freedom had been on UPN’s schedule a year later, it most likely would have been pulled following the events of September 11th, 2001 — never to have see the light of day.)

Each of the main characters had been members of various branches of the U.S. military and were imprisoned after refusing to go along with the martial law — which was really just a military coup by The Regime dressed up as something slightly less sinister. For Owen Decker (Holt McCallany’s character), however, imprisonment was the least of his worries.

His wife had been killed by his former commanding officer, Colonel Devon (played by James Morrison), when the military had come to arrest him. Decker and the others spent over fifteen months enduring the hardships of prison life; the food, the beatings, the forced fights, and a particularly nasty form of punishment known as “the rat cage” for disobeying orders.

Initial response to the series was hampered by the fact that the (newly reshot) pilot was unavailable for review prior to its premiere. Still, most critics panned the series for its outrageous fight scenes and implausible premise. Nevertheless, Freedom delivered what it promised: non-stop action sequences filled with pseudo-kickboxing, gravity-defying flip and plenty of explosions.

The premiere episode, broadcast Friday, October 27th drew roughly 3.6 million viewers [9]. That was almost thirty percent higher than what the UPN Friday Night Movie had averaged during the 1999-2000 season but ironically a bit lower than the one-off reality special that the network had plugged into its schedule the week before [10]. Ratings for Level 9 were slightly lower than those for Freedom, but still somewhat better than what the network had averaged the previous season.

In the premiere, Decker and the others are eventually able to escape from prison with the help of the Resistance, a nation-wide network of freedom fighters trying to bring democracy and order back to the country. They decided to create their own resistance cell, with Decker as leader. Thus, each episode would see the four battling their way through some manner of important mission for the Resistance.

All the while Colonel Devon, keen on capturing or killing Decker, would attempt to track them down. Almost every episode would include a run-in with soldiers working for The Regime — offering ample opportunities for acrobatic fist fights. Additionally, they would have contend with racketeers trying to take advantage of the lawlessness rampant across the country.

The second episode, for example, saw the team attempt to steal prison codes from the Regime, only to be stuck dragging a young woman (played by the late Kellie Waymire) along with them as they fled Colonel Devon and his goons. In another, featuring a guest spot by Verne Troyer, the team attempted to buy a few Stinger missiles. Things got complicated when the missiles were stolen.

When the Federal Reserve Chairman wants to defect and join the Resistance, Decker & Co. are sent in. But the Chairman’s daughter is convinced the Resistance is made up of terrorists. With $10 billion on the line, the team has to work fast to safeguard the Chairman and his family.

Additional storylines included: the Federal Reserve Chairman attempting to defect with his family and join the Resistance; an important meeting between Resistance cells that includes a traitor; an attack on an important Regime boat complicated by Becca’s estranged brother; and a small town and the release of a deadly toxin.

Despite the fact that Freedom and Level 9 had, in their premieres, brought UPN its best-ever ratings for “original programming,” ratings for both shows had dropped off considerably as the weeks wore on. The network was happy with its performance on Wednesdays — thanks to an improved performance from Star Trek: Voyager — and WWF Smackdown! was continuing to draw the young adult demographic, but Friday was a sinking ship [11]. In their third outings, Freedom and Level 9 averaged a lowly 1.0/3 rating in the adults 18-49 demographic, down from a 1.5/5 for their premieres [12, 13].

In early December, UPN cancelled Freedom, which was averaging roughly 2.6 million viewers through its six installments. Level 9, which was doing even worse, was allowed to continue [14]. After two weeks of repeats, a seventh episode was aired on Friday, December 22nd, followed by two more weeks of repeats ending on Friday, January 5th, 2001. The following week, UPN aired half-hour Gary & Mike, a crude claymation sitcom, and repeats of MTV’s Celebrity Deathmatch, also claymation. A special preview of Gary & Mike had aired following WWF Smackdown the night before and initial ratings were a bit higher than those for Freedom [15].

In perhaps a somewhat amusing twist for the few fans of Freedom angered at the show’s cancellation, when final ratings for the 2000-2001 season were released, Freedom tied for 151st with an average rating of 1.6, compared to a 1.3 or 1.5 rating for Gary & Mike (which was shown at two different timeslots, hence two different ratings). Level 9 tied for 158th. By comparison, WWF Smackdown!, UPN’s highest-rated program, tied at 108th with a 4.4 rating [16].

A total of twelve episodes of Freedom were produced and only seven were aired by UPN. In January of 2001, when the series was pulled from UPN’s schedule (the network insisted Freedom was on hiatus, not cancelled outright), there were unsubstantiated rumors that the remaining five episodes would be burned off during the summer repeat season. However, the final five episodes of Freedom were never shown in the United States. Four episodes of Level 9 also remain unaired, out of a total of thirteen produced.

Still From “The Return”

Only a few months after UPN stopped airing the series in the United States, the Warner Channel in Brazil began broadcasting episodes of Freedom on Tuesdays at 9PM. All seven episodes were aired. And they were shown again. And then again. Following the airing of the last episode for the third time a new, different episode was shown. Throughout April of 2001 several of the unaired episodes were seen in Brazil, perhaps for the first time anywhere.

In May of 2001 the actual “final” episode aired, the 12th episode of the 12 episodes originally ordered by UPN. Entitled “Ransom” the episode actually brought the series to a close, wrapping things up and seeing the characters go their separate ways. The series continued airing in Brazil.

Episode summaries for the five unaired episodes were provided by a fan of the series from Brazil who was kind enough to write them up as well as an anonymous source who worked on Freedom, who wished the entire series could have aired. A big thank you to Rosana from Brazil and the anonymous source for these summaries:

• “Thieves”
  In this episode Decker found his son and he almost gets [to] rescue him. [T]hey get in the Regime Operational Complex Building to rob a list [containing] the collaborators’ of the Regime names, when Devon get[s] in the building to capture them.
• “Return”
  A Resistance agent in a Regime-run women’s prison. The team must infiltrate and evacuate before a sadistic doctor manages to crack their target. A character from “Alpha Dogs” returns.
• “Live Wire”
  A meeting of the top former politicians and the top military brass set the stage for a living bomb scare. A fake “Military Threat” allows the Regime to clear out their people, but the team has to fight top security in order to ’save the senators’. *Watch for Dedication*
• “Mind Game”
  A mind control lab in a Regime prison. The team must rescue a Resistance agent, but Decker is drugged and caught in an elaborate ruse. The team must find and assist him before he gives away vital information.
• “Ransom”
  With Devon and Ten Zulu closing in, the team matches wits with a gang leader from Jin’s past. The prize? Nothing less than the Regime’s operating system.

After premiering in Brazil in early 2001 the series then went on to air in Greece in July, the Netherlands and Canada (on GlobelTV at 2:00 in the morning) in August, and in Israel in September. Freedom kept going. In April of 2002 the series was still airing in Brazil, the same twelve episodes running over and over, this time on another station.

In January of 2003 the series began airing in Malaysia and in Australia (Channel Nine) on May 23rd, 2003. Freedom also aired in Poland, although exactly when it aired is unknown. In July of 2003 it was still being shown in Brazil, on Saturdays. This is the last known airing of Freedom anywhere in the world; over two years after UPN canned the series, it was still being broadcast.

In addition to the five unaired episodes that were broadcast in other countries, there was one other episode that international viewers were shown. The original, unaired pilot episode for Freedom, one that starred Vincent Spano and Lance Henrikson. Midway through 2000 UPN began airing short promotional spots for Freedom. These promo spots, some less than ten seconds in length, contained scenes from the original pilot episode.

For viewers in the United States, these promos contain the only footage available from the original pilot. As with many television shows, Freedom’s first episode was reworked, rewritten and refilmed before hitting the airwaves. There were cast changes in addition to script changes. The overall feel of the pilot was changed.

The character of Owen Decker (played by Holt McCallany), was absent from the original pilot. Instead, a similar character by the name of Colonel Cally Beach was portrayed by actor Vincent Spano. Also missing was Georg Stanford Brown and his character of General Walker Young. Lance Henrikson played a Mister Young, who fulfilled the same role as General Walker Young, more or less.

According to Hans Tobeason, the creator of Freedom UPN executives were not happy with the name Cally Beach and they did not believe that Vincent Spano could pull in the coveted young demographic. So the role was recast. As for Lance Henrikson, he was simply too expensive and his role was recast as well.

Freedom was created by Hans Tobeason, who also executive produced and wrote for the series. Mr. Tobeason has been writing for television since the early 1990s and has worked on seaQuest DSV, Now & Again, The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., and more recently he has written episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise and Birds Of Prey.

As creator and executive producer of Freedom, Mr. Tobeason was the man to go to with question about the original pilot episode. In an e-mail interview conducted in April of 2001 Mr. Tobeason kindly agreed to answer a few questions about the original pilot:

Although technically unaired in the United States, the original pilot has been shown internationally. It was shown in The Netherlands on September 23rd, 2001, on Channel V8. Some viewers were understandably confused when the original pilot episode aired without any explanation. The original pilot was also broadcast in Poland, Malaysia, and South Africa.

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Last Updated June 26th, 2008