Original subtitles

Two minutes to air.

Why can I never find an ashtray?

That's why they pay me the big bucks.

Well, with those big bucks, I'll buy you an ashtray here.

Dan, you're a chopstick.

Thanks, I think.

Steve, this is Lauren Safa, my new assistant. Lauren. Look at me.

You know what my wife calls this?

Love handles?

Lard to discard.

How is old Judy?

Getting older.

So, how'd you do it? Taibo, spinning, what's your secret?

Actually, Steve, it was quite easy.

Oh, yeah, tell me an easy way to lose 20 pounds.

Chemotherapy.

I thought she was in remission.

She was.

And with the weather forecast calling for rain, there are going to be plenty

umbrellas at tomorrow's big parade.

Ready two, and two.

What's up with the wig?

She's having chemo.

Dirk wants to dump Dana. Not to him. Anchor women are just hair with flair.

Jerk. A jerk he is. But don't think that doesn't affect the ratings.

Nobody wants to watch someone who's dying.

Oh, and what does that say about our society?

Ready one.

And one.

The radio link was lost in April, just months after the module was lifted into

orbit.

How are John and the kids?

Going away for the long weekend?

Please, Noah.

No small talk.

It's spread, hasn't it?

When we started this journey together... I said I'd want to know.

I still do.

It's in the other lung now. It's gotten very aggressive.

How long?

You know, these things are hard to predict. How long?

And keeping the right attitude is very important.

Three months, maybe.

If you're lucky.

Well, lucky is one thing I'm not.

Hello? Hey, lover.

Tell me the good news first.

We're having chans for dinner.

I thought you hated that place.

Well, the kids like it.

And it is on the way home.

And it's close to Hugo's where I got you a killer bottle of Bordeaux.

Anything else you need?

You, by my side forever and ever.

No two ways about it.

Tobacco kills.

I know it feels strange, Dana, but it's gonna be fine.

And keeping the right attitude is very important.

Dana.

Come this way, Dana.

Dana?

Dana?

I'm Mr. Jones.

You can call me by my first name if I can remember what it was. That's how

I've been at this.

And that joke's never worked.

I'm Dana Hancock.

I know.

Husband Jonathan.

Son David.

Daughter Carly. All in mourning.

Do you mean I'm... I'm dead?

As a doornail. For the moment, anyway.

Steve Gersh has no business carrying my casket. He hates me.

Yeah, we thought your boss seemed a bit too happy when he heard you had died,

which did not please us at all.

So now what happens?

We make his new Lexus a lemon.

I mean to me. I can't believe this is happening. I was given three months to

live. Dana, you were given years, decades.

No telling how long you can go on these days if you take care of yourself.

But you didn't. Look, I didn't want to get cancer.

Then why didn't you try to prevent it? I drank green tea and ate tofu.

But you didn't do the one thing that would have made a difference.

I like to smoke.

What can I say?

Say how stupid that was.

Come on.

Well, where are we going?

When death comes too soon to someone who has basically led an exemplary life, we

try to get them a deferment.

Am I dead or not?

That's up to Othniel.

Who's Othniel?

He judges whether people like you who die too soon get a shot at going back to

Earth to clean up their act.

Won't keep you waiting but a minute.

Is he God?

Dana Hancock, right?

You're prettier than you look on TV.

Must be the lighting in here.

How's that, gentlemen?

Oh, nothing, Your Honor, Your Holiness.

I'm sorry, I don't know what it is I'm supposed to call you.

Mr. Jones, are our briefings getting shorter or... Or should I be in dismay

over the possibility that you have not passed on some very elementary

information here?

I hope neither, Your Honor. It's just that Miss Hancock here has had an

unusually hard day, and I have been trying... An unusually hard day?

Yes, I guess that covers it well, Mr. Jones.

Miss Hancock.

I am Art Neal.

Are you familiar with what people on Earth refer to as the Old Testament?

Well, I thought not.

It makes for interesting reading.

Try it sometime.

Until then, Your Honor will suffice. Yes, sir.

Your Honor.

Mr. Jones will present your case.

Is that clear?

My case?

I thought I was dead.

Mr. Jones!

Dana Hancock is a devoted wife and mother and a fine television journalist,

Honor. She was hit by a truck shortly after learning she was... We know all

that, Mr. Jones.

Miss Hancock, it is true, isn't it, that for 25 years you smoked

incessantly, that you demonstrated...

A total disregard for your very life.

And others as well, including your children, due to secondhand smoke.

Your Honor, when I started smoking, no one had even heard of secondhand smoke

that smoking itself did anything but stunt your growth.

I'm sure that if... Sure, Ms. Hancock.

I don't think you even know the half of it.

Children who lose a parent prematurely cannot be expected to

fulfill their early promise.

To deny your husband a wife, your offspring a mother,

your assistant a mentor.

play very well around here.

I didn't mean anyone any harm.

Dina, you're missing the headline here.

Othniel's looking for something. Anything.

Remorse. Penitent. A pang of contrition. But I enjoyed smoking.

I really did.

I don't want to lie about that. Not here.

Not now.

Your Honor, I accept everything you've said.

I have no defense.

I did what I wanted to do. I don't know what the punishment is for that, but I'm

prepared to accept it.

You take full responsibility.

You are ready to face the consequences of your actions.

Tell me about this, then.

Oh, my God!

Gosh, well, that's me. It's barely 16, school parking lot.

And that's Bruce Bennett.

Oh, what a heartthrob he was.

Did you think that he would pay you more attention if you smoked?

If I smoked, well, I thought he'd think I was older and more likely to put out.

Oh, can I say that here?

What you should have been putting out was that cigarette.

I was a kid. I didn't know what I was doing.

Well, I thought that you were fully responsible.

That it was a conscious decision.

So, was it an addiction or was it something, as you said, that you wanted

Careful how you answer this one.

I'm a TV journalist.

I'm not...

intrinsically clever.

I only know what I've lived and how I feel.

I don't want to be here.

I want my life back, and I'm dying for a smoke, no pun intended.

But let me tell you that with all my heart, I'd give anything if I'd never

started smoking.

If I'd never allowed myself to become addicted to that damned weed. Sorry for

the profanity, Your Honor, but that's the truth.

Plain and simple.

You are a very impressive young woman.

Not many in your profession make it this far.

But I believe in your passion.

And I'm going to grant you a life sentence.

You mean you're giving me a second chance?

You will get the opportunity to unmake the one great mistake of your life.

And you will have three days, and only three days, in which to accomplish this.

You are a free agent of the universe with the blessing of God Almighty

and his court.

They are smoking in the girls' room again.

Francine Campbell.

Well, they're going to call me a tattletale. You are a tattletale,

Now, wise up.

You'll never get a date for the prom and end up setting fire to the dumpster in

a bright fuchsia dress that'll clash with your hair and make you die of

embarrassment when it makes the front page of the journal.

Is that what you want?

No.

You want friends, don't you?

Mm -hmm.

Now stop sucking up to the teachers and start talking to Billy Ratchet.

Now he's a boy who can give you three kids and save you years of misery.

You got that?

Yeah. Now get back to class. Yes, Miss Rutherford.

Most people older than three flush the toilet before opening the bathroom door.

Susie, I want you to go outside and dispose of that cigarette butt properly.

Dana.

Dana, excuse me. Are you on fire?

All right, I want all of you in detention at three, sharp.

But I have track practice. Well, you should have thought about that before

lighting up on school ground.

Three o 'clock.

Sharp.

Slippery. Watch your step, Miss Rutherford.

Miss Rutherford.

Thanks a bunch.

Be the worst thing they call you.

Watch your step, guys.

Hey, man, I'm working here.

Is he the reason you like to smoke?

He's never going to amount to anything.

But he is a looker.

What's the expression?

A hunk, a babe, someone you wouldn't throw out of the anyhow.

Dana, I once knew a boy who said, kissing a smoker is like licking the

an ashtray. Yeah, but she's never kissed anyone, period.

Tracy. Well, that'll change before you know it.

Got a great smile.

Thanks.

Another ten years of smoking.

It should be an attractive shade of brownish -yellow.

Detention is bad enough.

Do we have to get lectured, too?

Would you rather face a suspension?

If I catch you smoking again, that's what it's going to be.

Now, I want all three of you to turn in your cigarettes right now.

Drop them in here.

Tracy, the one in the hair, please.

Here. allowed to do this my father's a lawyer you know yeah what a big firm

no prolonged he's quitting what uh yeah he's uh he's uh very much in support of

of you quitting smoking now i want all three of you to play a new version for

of american bandstand sit down and write me your top 10 reasons for quitting

smoking i will come back and read it in half an hour

What do you think you're doing?

I'm an adult and a dead one at that.

Do you mind putting that out? Or should I put a call in to Othniel?

I just wanted a couple of puffs.

Well, that's one puff too many.

How'd I do in there?

Do you really expect confiscating her cigarettes will stop her from smoking?

Well, I don't know.

Maybe. Dana, maybes are a luxury you don't have time for.

You've only got three days to prevent her smoking from becoming an addiction.

Three days?

72 hours and ticking.

In fact, you're now down to 64 hours, 20 minutes, and 13 seconds.

Yeah, but it took me 30 years to see how stupid smoking was.

And I had to get cancer, get hit by a tobacco truck, and die before I was

convinced. No one said it was easy.

And do you realize I'm invisible right now?

So for the past minute, you've been talking to a couch.

Free samples.

Smoke delight.

Go for broke with a lighter smoke. Come on, folks, over here.

Hey, look what we got.

Look for you, dear.

I just gave a pack of cigarettes to that girl.

If they have lips, they want them puffing. But she looks like she's 12

old. The younger, the better. That was their attitude.

Shouldn't that excuse my foolishness? You smoke when you're pregnant.

I cut back.

And at work, causing secondhand smoke.

Look, if I'm as evil as you seem to think I am, why don't you just let me

peace? Dana.

I never cried.

Why me?

I dealt with my cancer the best I could.

I always prayed for my family, never for myself.

We knew that.

Why do you think we're giving you a second chance?

I'm blowing that chance.

I can't seem to make a dent in her.

Time just isn't on your side.

You have to find a way to deal with Dana's problem before she ruins her

Your life.

Come on, hard.

Come on, Dana, you got it. Come on.

Running made me feel free. I loved relying on no one but myself and always

crossing the finish line first.

With all the medals you won, your family must have been very proud.

No. My parents didn't have time for track meets.

They were away a lot that year.

Who stayed with you when they were away?

My grandmother.

She was wonderful.

A smoker?

57 years, proud of it.

She died recently.

Cancer.

They say it's genetic.

It also killed my mother.

Did she smoke too?

Yeah.

What if you told Dana straight out, be blunt, smoking makes women more

susceptible to cancer, but including breast cancer.

Teenagers think they're invincible.

Fear of smoking is not going to keep them from lighting up.

Besides, it's 1969, isn't it?

DNA and genetics. The thing is science fiction.

You only have two days left.

Two days to undo 30 years of smoking?

Thanks a lot.

If you think I'm hard to convince now, I'm nothing compared to what I was.

I knew everything.

They say quitting smoking is harder than kicking heroin.

Yeah? Well, they don't know the half of it.

Maybe smoking has to make her lose something she really values.

Like what?

Running was my freedom. No.

The threat of losing it could be your salvation.

Let's move.

Worth a try.

There we go. Now finish up hard. Let's go. Let's go. Come on, Pam.

Coach Cronin.

Yes.

Oh, I'm the new guidance counselor.

We have a problem here. Well, we don't.

Dana is smoking.

Dragging today. What's going on with you?

Nothing. No speed, no stamina.

You getting enough sleep? You eating right?

Yeah. In between donuts and french fries.

Hey, don't be flat.

Nothing more important than your health.

I know.

That's what my mom says.

Well, when she's home.

What would she say if she heard you were caught smoking in school yesterday?

Yesterday?

Nothing. She's away as usual.

Tell me that won't happen again.

What? Smoking or getting caught?

Cut it out.

What I'm talking about is serious.

It's not like I'm going to be smoking on the team bus or anything.

I want you to quit.

Look, you're the boss when I'm at practice, but away from the track, I can

smoke. You can stop coming to practice.

You're too good an athlete to poison your body.

Yeah, like you said, it's my body.

Yes, it is.

And it's my team.

And you, Hancock, are no longer on it.

What, you're kicking me off the team?

You can't give up cigarettes. But I'm your best miler. You won't be as a

Look, I need track to get a college scholarship.

So simple.

Cigarette or a college education.

One would be.

Oh, come on, Hancock. Are you going to throw it all away?

What kind of an idiot are you?

The kind who wanted you for a coach.

Why did you let that happen?

Me? You're the one who asked the coach to get on her case.

But he kicked her off the team. I was never kicked off the team.

In life, and for that matter, death, things don't always go as planned.

College is where I met my husband.

It's where I got hooked on broadcasting.

So? If I don't meet John, I won't have my children.

So you meet another man and have other children. I don't want another man or

other children. Don't you understand?

My family means everything to me. I'd do anything for them.

Anything.

I can't take this pressure.

Of course you feel pressure. You haven't had a smoke in 24 hours.

I'm surprised you're being nice to me.

Look, you should feel lucky. Not everyone gets to re -experience life

Lucky? I lost my grandmother, my lung, and my life. Why am I lucky?

You had brains and beauty inside and out. You had a family that cherished

husband who adored you, children who worshipped you, and you threw it all

because of an addiction.

What if I can't prevent this addiction in her, me, her?

If you fail to make the change that you've been sent back to make, your

becomes a reality.

And my family?

They continue the mourning process. They've already begun.

Is there any way that I could see them?

I think we could arrange that.

Are you sure it's okay for you to come in here?

When I wear this outfit, no one could see me but you.

That's John and the kids in our living room.

Yes, I know.

It's a shame, you know.

We seem to use that room only on holidays when we have company.

Which seems to be the case.

Sheila Wolfson doing there?

Sheila's a widow.

She's been a very good neighbor to them.

Good neighbor?

That woman complained if the kids played CDs without headphones.

She's been bringing them meals.

Now, I'm not saying she doesn't have ulterior motives.

She's not wasting any time.

Do you blame her for trying?

John's a rare breed.

What is she doing now?

Isn't she an interior decorator?

Sheila Wolfson thinks she's moving into my house.

We all need a goal in life. That's hers.

Now, what's yours going to be?

Where is that little jerk?

Who?

Me.

What are you doing here?

I was in the neighborhood and saw the coach talking to you.

It didn't look like words of encouragement.

And I can thank you for that?

Yes. I told the coach.

And I'll tell your parents if I have to.

Good luck finding them.

They're on another one of the trips.

What do you mean?

They don't leave a phone number, no address.

And if we need them, we just leave word at my dad's office.

My brother thinks that my dad's in the CIA.

I don't know. I guess they just want to spend time anywhere without their kids.

You got another cigarette?

You smoke?

Like a fiend.

Thanks. I'm trying to stop.

Here. No, no, no. I had a...

I had a cancer scare.

Everything causes cancer.

Smoking.

Tanning.

Red dye.

Diet soda.

And saccharin, too.

I don't know. I just think that cancer is something that adults made up just so

they could have more control over us teenagers.

You're not afraid of getting it?

No.

They'll have a cure for it by the time I'm your age.

What if they don't?

So I die at 72 instead of 75.

Yeah.

What if the years come off the middle instead of the end?

What would your mother say if she knew you smoked?

Well, she smokes too.

You never tried to get her to stop?

Oh, everybody has.

But she says that she has the right to live and die the way she wants to.

And you'd make the same mistake, though, Dana?

Just throw it all away for a cheap thrill?

It's not cheap.

It's a 30 cents a pack.

Yeah.

You know, it takes a... It takes a strong person to...

reconsider her actions, and admit she was wrong?

Like you.

Need a light?

Hey!

Never seen anyone try to kill a phone before. What's up? I'm trying to find my

mom.

Why didn't you ask me?

Yes?

Do I know you?

Miss... I'm Anne Rutherford.

Dangerous guidance counselor.

May I come in? Well, that might make talking a little easier.

Oh, now don't start that.

I'm sorry.

That's why I don't let people see me like this. I look so hideous.

No.

You always look beautiful.

Thank you.

But you don't know what I usually look like.

Yes, I do.

I mean, Dana's shown me pictures, so I've seen you.

I didn't know you two were close.

Assuming you know a woman in my condition can't do very much.

What can I do for you?

I want you to help me.

Help Dana stop smoking.

She told me she'd never smoke.

You gotta get her to stop.

Talk to her, lecture her, plead with her, and if all else fails, a slap

the head.

Tell me, Miss Rutherford, does that work with the teenagers you know?

You could tell her what smoking has done to you so that she doesn't let the same

thing happen to her.

I beg your pardon?

I thought if you could share your pain with her. She is 15 years old.

I want her to enjoy her life.

The only pleasure I can get from my life now is knowing I'm protecting my

children from this horror.

So instead of upsetting her, you're going to let her get cancer too?

A cruel Miss Rutherford.

Just because I got cancer does not mean she will.

But she will.

How can you say that? Because I know.

I thought you were a guidance counselor, not a fortune teller. Please talk to

your daughter before it's too late.

Does your mother smoke, Miss Rutherford?

She did.

She died of cancer when I was... teenager.

And that didn't stop you from smoking?

I tried to stop. I'm trying to stop.

How do you know I smoke?

You don't have to be Nancy Drood about the nicotine stains on your fingers.

I am not going to debate with you.

But I ask you, please, honor my privacy.

Say nothing.

To my daughter about my illness.

Say it.

I promise that I won't tell.

That I won't tell, Dana.

Anything about this.

I'm glad she has someone like you at this time.

The few she needs.

What? She keeps on looking at me.

It's amazing.

My mother was dying right under my eyes and hid it from me.

I tried to make her understand how much it would mean to me, but to her, it

seemed to know.

Her death was a total surprise to you?

I was a freshman at college.

I got a call to come home. I can't, I said. I got a term paper due.

My father started crying.

They'll take an incomplete.

Your mother's passed away.

Incomplete.

The person I love most in the world had died and left me incomplete.

There were no signs she was sick?

Yeah, when I look back on it.

She was never home.

When she was, she was unavailable, always resting.

Did you ever ask why?

I was a teenager.

I just took it personally.

I wanted to say goodbye yesterday.

To tell her how I loved her. Seeing her dimples when she smiled.

To let her know how everything good in me is due to her.

I wanted to say so much and I said so little.

Incomplete.

Maybe you got through to her in a way you don't realize.

She's been dead 26 years.

But a day goes by that I don't wish I could pick up the phone and call her.

Well, you know where she is. You have her number. Call her.

Say what?

Dana, it's day three.

Today's your last chance.

I tried yesterday. I got nowhere.

No, Miss Rutherford tried.

A mere stranger.

But what if young Dana tried?

I promised I wouldn't say she was in the hospital.

She won't be.

She'll be back home.

You can do that?

I'm on his softball team. I could do anything.

Except hit a curveball.

You're home from practice early.

Yeah, uh, coach had to go somewhere.

Did I take the boys bowling?

Yep. So, it's just you and I entertaining Miss Rutherford tonight.

Excuse me?

I invited your guidance counselor for dinner.

You did what?

I didn't know you two were so close.

Me neither.

That was delicious.

Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it. We always have spaghetti the night before a track

meet. The magic of carbohydrates.

Oh, and I almost forgot.

Daddy rearranged our appointment tomorrow, so we'll both be there to

on.

You don't have to come.

I know that. I want to.

It's pretty boring.

Not to me.

I love to see you run.

I won't be at the meet tomorrow.

Why not?

Well... I got kicked off the team.

What happened?

Coach found out I started smoking.

Oh, Dana.

How could you be so stupid?

You're one to talk.

Just because I do it doesn't make it right.

I thought you were smarter than that. I thought you knew better.

Look, I feel bad enough without you getting bent out of shape.

I'll get these.

Oh, you don't have to do that. No, I want to.

I never helped my own mom enough.

Thank you.

Why? Why are you smoking?

I don't know, Mom.

To be cool, to fit in, to look older.

That's not it.

You never try to be like anyone else.

Except... Stay out of this.

You.

Why would I want to be more like her?

Because you love her?

You miss her?

Dana?

Let me show you what it's like to be like.

Me.

Never want to be like me.

When did I lose my raven tresses?

Soon after I lost my breath.

Do I have to show you my scars to prove what smoking can do to you? Because I

will if I have to.

Why didn't you tell me?

I didn't want to upset anyone.

I can't believe this.

You had surgery?

And radiation and chemotherapy.

And every day I wondered if I was right to keep you and your brothers in the

dark. I thought you and Daddy were traveling.

I was in the hospital.

Your daddy didn't want anyone to know.

He said the C word makes some folks uncomfortable.

People don't like being around sick people.

Frankly, I think he was talking about himself.

I am not one of those people. I'm your daughter.

You know how you've always loved having a grandmother?

Well, I want your children's children to have one, too.

If we don't take care of ourselves, we can't take care of anyone else very

What about a grandmother for my kid's mom?

Baby, I'm sorry.

I wish I had known, and maybe I could have helped you. You can help me by

smoking, by never going through what I am.

Promise me.

Then you quit.

I'm afraid it's too late for that.

No. No, I won't accept that.

I want you to make me the same promise you're asking me to make you.

Give up smoking.

You do it. I'll do it.

That I'll never, ever... I promise I'll never, ever have another cigarette.

And I promise you that I'll never have another cigarette, Mom.

Oh, baby.

If God is my witness,

I'll keep that promise.

Amen.

I'm alive.

And late for dinner.

Look familiar?

Yes, but something's changed.

I just realized something.

For the first time in as long as I can remember, I don't want a cigarette.

That's because it's a new life.

This time you quit before you even got started.

So, my death, my funeral?

As far as this world is concerned, none of it happened.

What about my cancer?

Including your cancer.

Thank you. I did nothing. You did it all.

Will I ever see you again?

I hope not for many years. You take care of yourself.

I can stay a minute or two if you want.

Don't worry.

They won't see me.

You need help, Mom?

Yay, chips!

I'll get it, fine.

Motherly love.

Someday you'll understand.

I saw your piece on News at Seven.

Mom?

Sweetie, pumpkin's not your color.

Mom!

What are you doing? here and hello to you too just just my

mother's dead she looks great doesn't she it looks delicious beautiful

when you vowed not to smoke you asked your mother to give up smoking too which

added years to her life and by the way i think you look hot and pumpkin thank

you thanks for everything

Will I remember? Any of your time at Anne Rutherford, guidance counselor?

Nope.

Take care of yourself, Dana.

I will.

Nothing's going to take me away from them.

It looks like Mom made dinner.

I'm so happy to be home. There's Mugu Gaipan, I hope.

She's in a huggy mood. Watch out.

We have so much. Why don't we invite that nice Sheila Wolfson for dinner?

Good idea.

No, no, no. I like my living room just the way it is.

What did you say?

I like my life just the way it is.