Day Break: The Story on the Last Episode
Man! Like their hero Detective Brett Hopper, Day Break fans have been through the wringer. The Taye Diggs midseason replacement series was supposed to air for 13 straight weeks while ABC’s Lost was on a scheduled hiatus. Day Break under-performed ABC’s expectations and the network pulled it after only six episodes — right in the middle of the cliffhanger storyline — on December 15, 2006.
Though it wouldn’t help those without high-speed Internet access or living outside the U.S., the network said that it would release a new episode online every week. That didn’t happen and fans were left hanging for weeks and weeks. The word was that there were “unforeseen music clearance issues” that were preventing the seventh episode from being posted.
On January 14th, ABC Entertainment chief Stephen McPherson announced that the series would finally be posted online. In addition to the six previously aired episodes, four new episodes were made available on January 29th. The 11th and 12th episodes were posted in the following two weeks. The 13th and final episode should have been posted on February 19th. But that didn’t happen. Once again, fans were left hanging. With deja vu like this, many like they were stuck inside the Day Break storyline!
Well, after being delayed multiple times, the final episode entitled “What If It’s Him?” is finally available on ABC.com (click the “launch” button). It’s being reported that the holdup was once again due to music copyright issues. After all this, most people would have gladly watched the show without any music whatsoever.
As regular visitors of this site know, we’ve been hosting a petition to request that the series be released on DVD (so that everyone can see it) and to hopefully persuade execs to greenlight future Day Break projects. Though the printed petition has been sent, newcomers can still sign the petition. The package included the URL and encouraged the execs to see the impressive and continued interest. We’ll let you know as soon as we hear anything new.
For now, it seems Hopper’s story is over. Was it worth it? Talk about a long day! Stay tuned! 
45. Jack said,
I’d say this show’s been redone–as NBC’s *Journeyman*, only without the *Groundhog Day* influences. *Journeyman* is a *Quantum Leap*-*Early Edition* hybrid. I thought *Day Break* was a cross between *Groundhog Day* and *The Fugitive*.
44. zilla said,
Great, great show. This show would have been a rock star on the sci-fi channel.
A scifi-channel-specific spinoff would work well. Encountering more people who are also experiencing the same day would be neat. Entire episodes could be shown from person 2’s point of view, with cameos by person 1 before they realize they’re both experiencing the same day. Person 2 could screw up 1’s day by changing something unexpectedly–1 figures it out later on and says “quit doing that”. (It seemed like Jared kept doing the same thing on his days, unlike Hopper, who usually tried things differently.)
I imagine the production costs on a show like this would be lower than the other scifi channel shows. No big special effects needs, anyway….
43. Gary said,
Wow! I just finished the last episode of Day Break. I was SO BUMMED when ABC canceled this well written and suspenseful show in the fall. What a fantastic concept.
There are so many ways that this show could continue with other repeats of the same day as suggested in some of the other posts - Jared looking for his brother, Hopper getting killed by the Ghost Dominguez, Detective Choi, Baxter, the mystery man in the last episode. Hmmm this series seems almost made for the SciFi Channel with eerie repeating of days.
I also agree with a post by Robert P. about not watching shows at their regularly scheduled time may send the wrong message to the Network Gods. Using my DVR lets me get the most in the least amount of viewing time.
Some network bring back Day Break! It definitely deserves a second look.
Sign me at 6:18 AM
42. Amanda said,
omg i am so angry they cancelled “Day Break”. i remember it being on awhile ago but never watched it until last month and it was such a great show. what a story line and such great acting and action.. i guess some people just dont know what great tv is.. =/
41. Myles said,
Is there a way for us in Canada to watch Daybreak online? ABC has blocked it if you don’t live in the USA. It was a great show & I would love to watch how it ends rather than read about it. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.