In its original format, the show starred Kiel Martin as Charles Russell, a deceased man, and Matthew Perry as his younger self, who is nicknamed Chazz.
On July 29, 2011, Charles dies in a hovercraft accident, and his soul is promptly sent to the high spiritual palace of Saint Peter (Joseph Maher).
He came to rent out an apartment over the Russell garage when his feisty, sensible mother Helen (Randee Heller) needed a boarder to help make ends meet.
Charles was a convenience store proprietor by day in between his efforts to reconnect with Chazz, who from the start had no idea that the new tenant hanging around and becoming buddy-like was in fact his older self.
The two did form an instant friendship, and Chazz, who was in dire need of a resident father figure, often found himself turning to Charles (either directly or not) when life's dilemmas got too out of hand.
As the boys cooked up schemes, encountered teenage romance and got into trouble, Charles was there to be the voice of reason, even if Booch and Eugene didn't understand why he was involved.
The early episodes focused on the Russells' efforts to keep the family home, in wake of Helen's ex-husband (played in guest appearances by Richard Kline) becoming six months behind on his alimony.
In the pilot episode, Booch talks Chazz into disguising themselves as older men to purchase lottery tickets, with the idea of eventually stealing from the convenience store if they didn't win the jackpot.
Twenty-four years later, by coincidence, Gaddafi's death (on October 20, 2011) occurred within three months of the "predicted" date and was from the same cause (multiple gunshot wounds).
Also joining the cast was Alex (Adam Sadowsky), who, in his Second Chance guest appearances, made friends with Chazz and revealed to the older Charles Russell that he was also on a mission for God.
As created and produced by the team of David W. Duclon and Gary Menteer, Second Chance initially had many similarities to another one of their programs, Punky Brewster.