“Star Trek: Voyager” launched Nancy Hower’s Ensign Samantha Wildman within the fourth episode of the present’s second season, “Elogium” (which first aired in 1995). Described as a xenobiology knowledgeable throughout her introduction, the character was named after Samantha Wildman, an actual-life younger woman who, after dying in a tragic accident, had donated life-saving organs to co-author Jimmy Diggs’ spouse. Hower’s character would go on to provide start to her daughter, Naomi, within the 1996 episode “Impasse,” which was a dramatic wrinkle for “Voyager.” Recall that the premise of the sequence was that the usS. Voyager was misplaced in area, 70 years from Earth. This meant Wildman’s daughter — who was half human and half Ktarian — must be raised in area.
Naomi was the one who ended up taking part in a significant function on the present (as a younger woman, Naomi was portrayed by Scarlett Pomers), whereas Samantha solely appeared in eight episodes whole. She did not have a lot of a personality arc, both, aside from she needed to steadiness being a dad or mum with being a Starfleet officer. After the second season of “Voyager,” she solely popped up as soon as per season, right through season 6.
Hower, in the meantime, would go on to have a way more fascinating profession exterior of the “Star Trek” franchise, principally within the music business. For instance, she was the frontwoman and songwriter of the choice rock bands WENCH and STELLA, even opening for Meat Loaf as soon as. She additionally performed Yitzak in a 2001 manufacturing of the well-known rock musical “Hedwig and the Indignant Inch” and wrote a number of stage musicals and indie movies all through the early 2000s (along with her credit together with “The Wizard of Id,” “Metropolis Limits,” and the Enron biopic “Memron”), along with co-creating the sketch comedy sequence “10 Gadgets or Much less.” “Voyager” was a visual gig for Hower, however she was all the time busy.
Then, in 2013, Hower teamed up with actor John Lehr to create “Fast Draw,” a comedy/Western TV sequence that integrated loads of improvisation in addition. Enjoyable trivia: “Fast Draw” was additionally the primary authentic, full-size scripted comedy sequence distributed by Hulu.
What the heck was Hulu’s Fast Draw?
“Fast Draw” was minimize from the identical material as Nineties-period Western/comedy reveals like “Legend,” “Jack of All Trades,” and “The Adventures of Brisco Nation, Jr.” Its most important character was Sheriff John Henry Hoyle (Lehr), a current Harvard graduate who strikes to the small Western city of Nice Bend, Kansas, to grow to be the sheriff. Hoyle is a metropolis boy, unaccustomed to the wilds of Kansas, and he introduces the locals to the concept of forensics within the hopes of utilizing science to seize harmful rustlers.
With a premise like that, “Fast Draw” might have been an earnest historic investigation present, however Hower and Lehr opted for broad comedy. The Hoyle character was whiny and foolish, and everybody on the town hated him. The sequence’ language was trendy and colloquial, and loads of its humor was derived from Lehr’s comedic social awkwardness. Because the present’s tagline put it, “It takes a courageous man to be this clueless.”
The sequence ran, maybe surprisingly, for greater than a single season. Recall that Disney had but to amass a majority stake in Hulu in 2013 (that would not occur till 2019), and it was branching out for the primary time. It even introduced “Fast Draw” and a second authentic sequence, “The Awesomes,” on the identical time. Though it wasn’t a “Ted Lasso”-sized hit, “Fast Draw” was the present that Hulu selected to put money into, permitting it to run for 18 episodes over the course of its two seasons.
“Fast Draw” additionally aired an extra eight mid-season “webisodes,” which have been launched completely on-line and have been easy mixology classics hosted by Lehr and an actual bartender named Lavinia Webb. The mixology episodes taught the viewer how one can create real nineteenth-century cocktails. Lehr tried to joke round with Webb, however she would have none of it.
“Fast Draw” sauntered off the airwaves in October of 2014, immediately changing into an oddity within the Hulu library. Few of the Hulu reveals launched within the early 2010s are remembered in any respect, finally changing into victims of streaming ambitions and low publicity. In the meantime, Hower put the feather in her cap and saved on working.
