...is this is radically different from what they do today? I mean, I guess today we'd just change one of the already planned characters rather than adding a new one specifically for the purpose of being the black friend (saves having to come up with ways to write them in if more than one episode has been planned so far), especially if this was an adaptation of an existing IP.

That said, I loved Sliders back in the day. Now I want to try to rewatch it, VR.5 and Lexx to scratch the cheesy mid-90s scifi itch.