Quantum Leap
Nuclear Family - October 26, 1962
TV Flash files “Nuclear Family - October 26, 1962” as hour 51 of 95 in the TV Flash guide — Quantum Leap (1989–1993) on NBC, season 3, episode 21, aired 1991-05-15, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S03E21: listed hour 51 of 95 in the Quantum Leap guide, hour 21 of 22 in season 3. It aired 1991-05-15 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Heart of a Champion - July 23, 1955” (S03E20). Next is “Shock Theater - October 3, 1954” (S03E22).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Sam becomes a college student working in the family bomb shelter business on the eve of the Cuban missile crisis. Leap Details: Eddie Ellroy, October 26, 1962, Homestead, Florida
Viewer FAQ
Where does Nuclear Family - October 26, 1962 sit in the Quantum Leap guide?
S03E21 is listed hour 51 of 95 — hour 21 of 22 in season 3, season 3 episode 21.
When did Quantum Leap S03E21 air?
Nuclear Family - October 26, 1962 aired 1991-05-15 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Do I have to watch in order?
Leaps are largely anthology, so you can sample, but Sam and Al's project is the serial heart. The finale's bittersweet math lands harder if you have ridden with them.
In the series
Why this series still plays
High-concept anthology-with-heart — Bakula and Stockwell are a perfect odd couple across time. Sam leaps into other lives to put right what once went wrong; Al's hologram smokes the map. 1980s/90s sci-fi optimism with a lump in its throat. The finale's bittersweet math still hurts. Oh, boy.
Oh, boy — already a wound, already a fandom greeting. NBC's Quantum Leap (1989–1993) dropped Dr. Sam Beckett into other people's lives to put right what once went wrong, Dean Stockwell's holographic Al as cigar-smoking guide. Scott Bakula as time-travel everyman in a new body every week. Donald P. Bellisario's zigzag accelerator: social-issue episodes and genre romps, anthology heart inside a franchise shell. **Five seasons, 95 hours, a body-swap mission structure later genre shows still rent.** Rex can keep the…
Filed against
- Scott Bakula as Dr. Sam Beckett
Scott Bakula's Dr. Sam Beckett leapt Quantum Leap as high-concept anthology-with-heart — putting right what once went wrong, Dean Stockwell's Al as hologram map, 1980s/90s sci-fi optimism with a lump in its throat. Odd couple across time.…
- Dean Stockwell as Admiral Al Calavicci
Dean Stockwell’s Admiral Al Calavicci smoked the map on Quantum Leap — Sam leaping into other lives to put right what once went wrong, hologram as odd-couple compass, 1980s/90s sci-fi optimism with a lump in its throat. Bakula and…