The Weekly Round-Up for Oct. 5 to 9
Here are the sci-fi based entertainment news items for this week:
NEWS
The Vampire Diaries and Supernatural Fans – mark your calendars. Both of these shows will be repeats on October 22; but new episodes of both are scheduled for October 8 and October 15.
The new Internet show, Fear Clinic will premiere on October 26 on FearNet. The 25-minute series, split into five episodes, stars Robert Englund (A Nightmare on Elm Street) as Dr. Andover, a maniacal genius who uses unorthodox methods to cure his patients of their greatest fears. The internet series stars horror legends Danielle Harris (the Halloween films) and Kane Hodder, a.k.a. Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th franchise.
Drop Dead Diva creator and executive producer Josh Berman announced that Ben Feldman, who plays guardian angel Fred, will be joining the second season of the Lifetime hit as a series regular. The show is expected to return next June.
Showtime is set to launch animated webisdoes based on Dexter. Called Dexter: Early Cuts, the webisdoes are set to debut on October 25 on sho.com with 12-parts told in four, one to two minute chapters.
Nathan Fillion (Castle, Firefly) told the website The Flickcast that if given the opportunity he would like to appear as the Greatest American Hero, which was the 1980’s TV show about high school teacher Ralph Hinkley (William Katt) who was asked to become a superhero after being given a special alien suit with powers that he never really learned how to use or control. The show also co-starred Robert Culp as FBI agent Bill Maxwell and Connie Sellecca as Hinkley’s significant other.
The Paley Center for Media has an article up at their site currently called The Greatest TV Vampire of Them All. Please read the article and participate in their poll: http://www.paleycenter.org/tv-vampire-stakedown
NEW SEASON TALLY
The following is a run-down of the general state of the TV shows for the fall season – not just the sci-fi(ish) based shows, but excludes half-hour comedies:
First it was Glee. Now CBS has given full season orders to NCIS: Los Angeles and The Good Wife, which have become the two highest rated new fall dramas of the 2009-2010 season.
The networks SEEM to be allowing the new shows room to breathe so far with only one cancellation: The Beautiful Life. New shows that look likely to get full season orders include: The Vampire Diaries and FlashForward.
There are a several new shows that really need viewership to improve – FAST! – before the respective networks pull them. Those are: Eastwick, The Forgotten and Melrose Place.
None of the new medical dramas – Mercy, Trauma and Three Rivers – are a hit with viewers and are perched on the edge and could easily be pushed over by their networks very soon. Returning medical dramas House and Grey’s Anatomy have improved over their drops in viewership last year, though.
A number of returning shows are currently struggling and are going to need some life support or just plain ole “eye-balls watching them”. They are: Castle, Cold Case, Dollhouse, Fringe, Heroes, Law & Order and Smallville.
Some returning shows are holding their own but many other returning shows have lost viewership since last season, however, it seems the networks are giving them time. They include: 90210, Criminal Minds, all three of the CSI’s, Bones, Desperate Housewives, Ghost Whisperer, Gossip Girl, Law & Order: SVU, Lie to Me, Medium, The Mentalist, Numb3rs, One Tree Hill, Private Practice and Supernatural.
The fate of Ugly Betty will be determined when it returns on October 16.
A surprise cancellation was made last night by NBC. They canceled the sophomore season of the drama Southland BEFORE the second season premiere could even take place. Fans are very upset about this development as is executive producer John Wells who has stated publicly his disappointment with the network and is looking for another home for the series. Could fingers start to be pointed at the network’s decision to program Jay Leno 5 nights a week, taking away prime time scheduling for grittier dramas? You betcha!
BOX OFFICE NEWS
Stellan Skarsgard (Pirates of the Caribbean and father of Alexander, who stars as Eric in True Blood) has joined the cast of Kenneth Branagh’s Thor. His role has yet to be revealed. He joins Chris Hemsworth (Star Trek), Natalie Portman, Jaimie Alexander (Kyle XY) and Tom Hiddleston.
Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Danny Trejo, Walton Goggins, Alice Braga, Oleg Taktarov, Mahershalalhashbaz Ali and Louiz Ozawa are set as the main cast of Fox’s reboot of the Predator franchise. The story of Predators follows a group of elite warrior-types who are being hunted by members of a race of merciless alien trackers. Brody (The Pianist) inherits the mantle of leader and is a skilled tracker and hunter of men. Grace (That 70’s Show) would play an unassuming accountant-type who’s actually a dangerous serial killer. Braga (I Am Legend) is the tough female killer, while Trejo (From Dusk Til Dawn) is a hardened warrior with twin uzis strapped to his back. Ali (The 4400) is a soldier with no fear of death, Goggins (The Shield) is the unstable soldier of the group, and Taktarov ( Bad Boys II) is a former Russian special ops agent.
Music Box Films has picked up U.S. rights to Swedish hit thriller The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The $13 million feature, titled Men Who Hate Women in its home county and outside western territories, is the first in the Millennium trilogy based on Stieg Larsson’s international bestsellers. The story follows a disgraced journalist and a misunderstood rebellious female hacker investigating the 40-year-old disappearance of a industrialist’s niece on a remote island. Their investigations uncover religious killings, Nazism, rape, child abuse and murder. The next two books have already been filmed, the second entitled The Girl Who Played with Fire, having opened a few weeks ago, and has already grossed $16 million in just four European territories. T he third, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, is due for a cinematic release in November in Sweden. Music Box has slated a North American release in March 2010. If Tattoo proves a success in the US, it’s likely the next two films will be picked up and released there throughout next year.
MADE FOR TV MOVIE NEWS
The 4-hour Syfy “television event” Alice – the network’s modern-day take on the Lewis Carroll classic – is set to premiere on the network on December 6 and air over two consecutive nights. The movie stars Kathy Bates (Misery) as the Queen of Hearts, Caterina Scorsone (the TV series Crash) as Alice, Tim Curry (Rocky Horror Picture Show) as Dodo, Colm Meaney (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) as the King of Hearts, Philip Winchester (Crusoe) as Jack Chase, Matt Frewer (Watchmen) as the White Knight, Andrew Lee Potts (Primeval) as Hatter, Harry Dean Stanton (Big Love) as the Caterpillar, Alessandro Juliani (Battlestar Galactica) as 9 of Clubs, Timothy Webber (Taken) as Carpenter, Alex Diakun (Sanctuary) as Ratcatcher, Zak Santiago (Kingdom Hospital) as 10 of Clubs, and Eugene Lipinski (Animorphs) as Doctors Dee and Dum.
AS HEARD ON
Songs featured in last weekend’s Drop Dead Diva penultimate episode were “Lighthouse” by Buddy; “Home” by Holly Conlan and “Bad Bad Girl” by The Noises 10.
Songs featured on the most recent episode of The Vampire Diaries include: “Save the Lies” by Gabriella Cilmi; “Don’t Trust Me” by 3Oh!3; “Boom” by Anjulie; “Beauty of the Dark” by Mads Langer; “Be There” by Howie Day; “When a Heart Breaks” by S.O. Stereo and “Wait it Out” by Imogen Heap.
Song featured at end of tonight’s Stargate Universe episode is called “Breathe” by Scottish songwriter Alexi Murdoch.
Free download at iTunes: “Letters From the Sky” by band Civil Twilight. This was the song featured in the short-lived CBS series Harper’s Island.
CASTING SCOOP
Matt Davis (Legally Blonde) will play book series favorite substitute history teacher Alaric Saltzman on The Vampire Diaries, staring on November 12.
Former WWF wrestler “Stone Cold” Steve Austin is expected to make a guest appearance in an episode of Chuck when it returns to NBC in March 2010 as Hugo Panzer, a master of close-quarters combat. NOTE: Please note that Chuck could be returning earlier than planned.
MY CASTING IDEA FOR EASTWICK: For those of you who watched the second episode of Eastwick last week, you saw a picture featuring the characters portrayed by Veronica Cartwright, Cybill Shepherd and another woman along with a man who looks exactly like Daryl Van Horn (Paul Gross). Who do you think should be the 3rd woman? Her face was turned and obscured by her hair – which I’m sure was deliberate – but I have to wonder who casting and the masterminds behind the series are planning on using for that 3rd woman. Here’s my idea: Why not get either Sela Ward or Anne Archer? They are close in age to the other ladies and either one would make a great “get” for the show. How cool to see either in the show, right? A good friend of mine also made this suggestion, which is just as plausible: Barbara Hershey.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
Some movies to look out for this coming week include:
The movie Megafault, starring Brittany Murphy and Eric LaSalle will air on Syfy on Saturday, October 10 at 9 PM. The movie is about a seismologist and a miner who try to save the world from a massive earthquake.
The Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations will air on Sunday, October 11 at 9 PM on Syfy, starring Chris Carmack (The O.C.) as a young man who unwittingly unleashes a serial killer when he travels back in time.
And, here is a list of the sci-fi(ish) based shows that will be airing this week, including summer series that are finishing their runs or the new or returning shows that just got started last month:
Sunday, October 11:
Drop Dead Diva on Lifetime at 9 p.m. – Finale
Dexter on Showtime at 9 p.m.
Monday, October 12:
Heroes on NBC at 8 p.m.
Durham County on ION at 10 p.m.
Wednesday, October 14:
Eastwick on ABC at 10 p.m.
Thursday, October 15:
FlashForward on ABC at 8 p.m.
The Vampire Diaries on the CW at 8 p.m.
Supernatural on the CW at 9 p.m.
Bones on FOX at 8 p.m.
Fringe on FOX at 9 p.m.
Friday, October 16:
Dollhouse on FOX at 9 p.m. – check your local listings for actual airtime
Ghost Whisperer on CBS at 8 p.m.
Medium on CBS at 9 p.m.
Smallville on the CW at 8 p.m.
Stargate: Universe on Syfy at 9 p.m.
Sanctuary on Syfy at 10 p.m.
NOTE: Please check your local listings for the correct air dates and times for all of the above.
Have a great weekend!
Please note I have general news about non-sci-fi based series and movies posted at our sister site: http://nicegirlstv.com. Please visit there as often as you can. Thanks!
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