The Weekly Round-Up for March 8 to 12

Here are the entertainment news items for this week:

CONDOLENCES

Lost Boy actor Corey Haim passed away this week at the young age of 38.

TV SERIES NEWS

FOX has renewed Fringe for a third season. The series returns on April 1.

It appears the possible cancellation of syndicated favorite Legend of the Seeker has been slightly exaggerated. While the Tribune Station Group is dropping the show in a lot of markets, ABC Studios is exploring their options for here and how to air a potential third season. So, all is not lost just yet.

The Human Target season finale has been moved up to April 14 to make room for repeats of Lie To Me from April 28 to May 12.

It looks like this will be the final season of the FOX drama 24. Official word is expected to be made in the next couple of days. However, rumor has it that NBC is showing some interest in picking the series up should it be canceled.

ABC officially canceled the Christian Slater-led series The Forgotten. Two remaining episodes have been shot, but it’s unclear whether the network will air them.

ABC will air a special clip show called V: The Arrival on March 23 at 10 PM, allowing viewers to get caught up on the four episodes that aired last fall.

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

James Frain (The Tudors) and Summer Glau (Firefly) have joined the cast of the NBC drama pilot The Cape about Vince Faraday (David Lyons), a disgraced former cop who, inspired by his son’s favorite comic book, becomes a masked hero named

Jessy Schram (Life) and David Gallagher (7th Heaven) have joined the cast of the CW drama pilot Betwixt about three teens who discover they’re actually “changelings,” the children of mythological fairies.

Melinda Clarke (The O.C.), Aaron Stanford (The X-Men II & III) and Lyndsy Fonseca (Desperate Housewives) have joined the CW drama pilot Nikita, the reworking of the “La Femme Nikita” franchise.

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Billie Piper and David Tennant (both from Doctor Who) are in talks to star in the urban thriller Love On The Murder Mile. Details of the movie are under wraps.

Liam Hemsworth (The Last Song and Knowing) has joined the 3D action feature Arabian Night, which is an epic period piece set in a kingdom which has just been overtaken in a coup, that caused the death of the King.

Liv Tyler, Patrick Wilson, Terrence Howard and Charlie Hunnam have joined The Ledge, which focuses on a man standing on a high-rise ledge who insists he will jump by noon as the cop below tries to manage the situation.

Sam Worthington has apparently signed on for the British comic adaptation Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future based on the long-running sci-fi comic strip that is described as a British “Buck Rogers”.

MADE-FOR-TV MOVIES

Felicia Day (Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along-Blog) has landed the lead role in the Syfy movie Red, the reimagining of the Little Red Riding Hood story. The story of Red is about a werewolf-hunting descendant of Little Red Riding Hood who is forced to make a difficult choice when her fiancé is nipped by a lycanthrope. Kavan Smith (Stargate Atlantis) and Stephen McHattie (Watchmen) also star. The movie is slated to air next year.

CASTING SCOOP

Jewel Staite and Sean Maher (both of Firefly/Serenity fame) will guest star in the same episode of Warehouse 13 set for a July airing. Maher plays Sheldon, a quiet unassuming guy whose exposure to a dangerous object brings about shocking physical change. Staite portrays Loretta, the object of his unrequited love.

Spencer Locke (Cougar Town) will guest star in The Vampire Diaries, playing a contestant in a beauty pageant that also happens to feature Elena and Caroline.

Navi Rawat (Numb3rs) will make a guest appearance in an upcoming episode of Castle.

Emmanuelle Vaugier and Autumn Reeser will both make return appearances on upcoming episodes of Human Target. Guest stars on the series will also include Grace Park, Amy Acker, Moon Bloodgood, Lee Majors, Lennie James and Armand Assante.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

The following movies, specials and new series will debut and/or air this weekend and throughout next week:

The creature feature Dinoshark will debut on Syfy on Saturday, March 13 at 9 PM and stars Eric Balfour.

FlashForward returns to ABC with a two-hour opener at 8 PM on Thursday, March 18.

NOTE: This two-hour premiere will reair on Saturday, March 20 at 8 PM.

NEW EPISODES OF EXISTING SHOWS

Here are the new episodes of the dramas that will be airing this coming week:

Saturday, March 13:
Survivors on BBC America at 9 PM

NOTE: Legend of the Seeker will air a repeat episode in syndication this weekend. Check your local listings for date, time and channel.

Sunday, March 14:
NOTE: Legend of the Seeker will air a repeat episode in syndication this weekend. Check your local listings for date, time and channel.

Monday, March 15:
24 on FOX at 9 PM
Chuck on NBC at 8 PM

Tuesday, March 16:
Lost on ABC at 9 PM
FlashForward Special on ABC at 10 PM

Wednesday, March 17:
Human Target on FOX at 8 PM
Being Erica on SOAPNet at 10 PM

Friday, March 19:
Caprica on Syfy at 9 PM
Spartacus: Blood and Sand on Starz at 10 PM

NOTE: Please check your local listings for the correct air dates and times for all of the above.

Have a great weekend!

Please note that I will feature a weekly round-up of sci-fi based (and similar genres) news items at our sister site located at http://scifitvzone.com/. Please visit there as often as you can. Thanks!

The Weekly Round-Up for March 1 to 5

Here are the sci-fi based entertainment news items for this week:

TV SERIES NEWS

The second season of Drop Dead Diva will premiere on Lifetime on Sunday, June 6.

An all-day marathon of Drop Dead Diva will air on Sunday, May 30 from 10am to 11pm on Lifetime.

The CW renewed Smallville for a 10th season.

Michelle Rodriguez will return to the island of Lost for its final season.

Two more seasons (12 episodes each) of the Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures have been picked up by BBC One (in the UK) and will air this fall and next fall.

A one-hour recap of the first 10 episodes of FlashForward will air on ABC on March 16 at 10 PM, pre-empting an episode of The Forgotten, which will have an early finale air on March 9.

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Julie Benz (Dexter) and Kay Panabaker (Summerland) have joined Michael Chiklis and Autumn Reeser in the cast of the ABC drama pilot No Ordinary Family, which is about a typical American family who develop special abilities.

Ten episodes of the new drama Game of Thrones has been picked up by HBO. No firm date has been set yet, but it is believed the series will arrive in the spring of 2011. The series is based on the series of books by George R.R. Martin about an epic struggle for power set in a vast and violent fantasy kingdom. The cast includes Mark Addy, Sean Bean, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Peter Dinklage, Jennifer Ehle, Lena Headey and Jason Momoa.

Allison Miller (Kings) has been cast in the CW drama pilot Betwixt about three teenagers who discover their lineage has granted them special abilities which they use to fight evil.

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Rachel Nichols (Alias) will play the love interest Tamara in the remake of Conan.

Jonathan Winters, George Lopez, Alan Cumming and recording artist Katy Perry will voice characters in the planned live action/animated Smurf: The Movie that will feature Neil Patrick Harris.

A feature film sequel to Rome is in development and a script has been finished. The movie will be set in Germany four years after the events of the HBO series with Kevin McKidd and Ray Stevenson returning to reprise their roles.

Robert DeNiro has joined Bradley Cooper in the movie thriller The Dark Fields about a NYC writer who comes into possession of a designer drug that gives him newfound intelligence and success.

Sean Bean and Luke Goss will star in Death Race: Frankenstein Lives, the sequel/prequel to Paul W.S. Anderson’s Death Race remake from 2008.

CASTING SCOOP

Margaret Cho (Drop Dead Diva) will reprise her role as a teacher of the occult in two more episodes of Ghost Whisperer.

Jewel Staite will appear in an upcoming episode of Warehouse 13. She stated on Twitter that “Browncoats are gonna freak.”

Catherine Dent (The Shield) will also come appear in a future episode of Ghost Whisperer.

Matt Frewer (Eureka) will appear as Pestilence, one of the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse, in an upcoming episode of Supernatural.

RUMOR PATROL

Rumor has it that ABC will air a recap special of their series V on Tuesday, March 23 at 10 PM.

NEW EPISODES OF EXISTING SHOWS

Here are the new episodes of the dramas that will be airing this coming week:

Saturday, March 6:
Survivors on BBC America at 9 PM

NOTE: Legend of the Seeker will air a repeat episode in syndication this weekend. Check your local listings for date, time and channel.

Sunday, March 7:
NOTE: Legend of the Seeker will air a repeat episode in syndication this weekend. Check your local listings for date, time and channel.

Monday, March 8:
24 on FOX at 9 PM
Chuck on NBC at 8 PM
Damages on FX at 10 PM

Tuesday, March 9:
Lost on ABC at 9 PM

Wednesday, March 10:
Human Target on FOX at 8 PM
Being Erica on SOAPNet at 10 PM
Spartacus: Blood and Sand (reair) on Starz at 10 PM

Friday, March 12:
Ghost Whisperer on CBS at 8 PM
Medium on CBS at 9 PM
Caprica on Syfy at 9 PM
Spartacus: Blood and Sand on Starz at 10 PM

NOTE: Please check your local listings for the correct air dates and times for all of the above.
Have a great weekend!

Please note that I will feature a weekly round-up of general news items at our sister site located at http://nicegirlstv.com/. Please visit there as often as you can. Thanks!

The Weekly Round-Up for Feb. 22 to 26

Here are the sci-fi based entertainment news items for this week:

TV SERIES NEWS

Warehouse 13 will return to Syfy starting on July 13 with a new 12 episode run.

The new season of Doctor Who, starring the new Doctor – Matt Smith – will debut on BBC America on April 17

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Romany Malco (Weeds) has joined Michael Chiklis (The Shield) and Autumn Reeser (The O.C.) in the ABC drama pilot No Ordinary Family about an average American family that develops special abilities.

NBC has booked a two-hour backdoor pilot called The Jensen Project that follows 12 geniuses who move to an isolated spot in the Allegheny Mountains to spend their time inventing ways to fix the world’s problems and then share their discoveries freely and anonymously with the world. The cast includes Kellie Martin, Brady Smith, Patricia Richardson and LeVar Burton.

Shane West (ER) has been added to the cast of the CW drama pilot Nikita, which stars Maggie Q in the lead role.

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Thandie Newton, Jason Issacs and David Tenant will appear in the box office movie Retreat that will center on a troubled couple (Newton and Issacs) who take some time off on a remote island to try and heal their relationship. The trip takes a nasty turn when a sickly military man (Tenant) appears at their doorstep and tells them that a virus is claiming the lives of millions back on the mainland.

Ian McShane will play the villainous, legendary pirate Blackbeard in the fourth installment of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

Frieda Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire) has joined the cast of the Greek mythology epic War of the Gods, appearing alongside Henry Cavill (The Tudors), who will play Theseus, a young warrior who leads both men and the Olympian gods in a battle to defeat the Titans, the long-imprisoned former deities who plan to use demons to restore their power. Pinto will play Phaedra, an oracle priestess who joins Theseus’ quest.

Eric Balfour , Donald Faison, actress Scottie Thompson and Brittany Daniel will star in the sci-fi thriller Skyline who awoken to find an otherworldly source has begun wiping out humanity. A small group of survivors within the building must hold off the attack.

Cuba Gooding Jr. and Cole Hauser have joined the cast of the indie thriller The Hit List. The story is about a man who confesses his problems to a stranger (Gooding Jr.) whom he has met in a bar. But what started out as a drunk ramble about the five people he’d most like to see dead, turns deadly serious as the people on that list start getting killed.

Mickey Rourke is set to play the father of Conan in the remake of the movie Conan the Barbarian, which stars Jason Momoa in the lead role.

David Goyer has left as executive producer on FlashForward and it seems for good reason. He will be writing the new Superman film to be called (at least for now) The Man of Steel. It was also announced that Jonah Nolan (who co-wrote The Dark Knight) will be working with Goyer on this project.

CASTING SCOOP

Kristin Kreuk (Smallville) may be appearing in an upcoming episode of Fringe. In other Fringe news, Leonard Nimoy will be back as William Bell in the season finale of the series.

Gil Bellows (Ally McBeal) will appear in an episode of Smallville as infamous DC comics character Maxwell Lord.

David Anders (who was just seen in 24) will appear in a multi-episode arch in April on The Vampire Diaries as Elena and Jeremy’s uncle, Jonathan Gilbert, who comes to Mystic Falls to cause some trouble.

Ravi Kapoor (Crossing Jordan) will appear on an upcoming episode of FlashForward, as a man who comes in contact with Aaron Stark (Brian F. O’Bryne) when Aaron travels to Afghanistan to search for answers related to his daughter’s military service and subsequent disappearance.

James Callis (Battlestar Galactica) will be joining the ABC series FlashForward in a major role for several episodes at the end of the season.

RUMOR PATROL

A number of actors are being considered by Marvel Studios for the lead role in the movie The First Avenger: Captain America. They include: Chace Crawford (Gossip Girl), John Krasinski (The Office), Scott Porter (Friday Night Lights), Mike Vogel (Cloverfield), Michael Cassidy (Privileged) and Patrick Flueger (The 4400). This list is just for testing candidates and doesn’t reflect any final decisions by the studio.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

The following movies and special will air this weekend and throughout next week:

The Syfy movie Beauty and the Beasts: A Dark Tale will air on Saturday, February 27 at 9 PM. The movie stars Estella Warren.

The Winter Olympics come to a close over the weekend with the closing ceremonies on Sunday.

NEW EPISODES OF EXISTING SHOWS

Here are the new episodes of the dramas that will be airing this coming week:

Saturday, February 27:
Survivors on BBC America at 9 PM

NOTE: Legend of the Seeker will air a new episode in syndication this weekend. Check your local listings for date, time and channel.

Sunday, February 28:

NOTE: Legend of the Seeker will air a new episode in syndication this weekend. Check your local listings for date, time and channel.

Monday, March 1:
24 on FOX at 9 PM
Chuck on NBC at 8 PM

Tuesday, March 2:
Lost on ABC at 9 PM

Wednesday, March 3:
Being Erica on SOAPNet at 10 PM
Spartacus: Blood and Sand (reair) on Starz at 10 PM

Thursday, March 4:
Burn Notice on USA at 10 PM (finale)

Friday, March 5:
Ghost Whisperer on CBS at 8 PM
Medium on CBS at 9 PM
Caprica on Syfy at 9 PM
Spartacus: Blood and Sand on Starz at 10 PM

NOTE: Please check your local listings for the correct air dates and times for all of the above.

Have a great weekend!

Please note that I will feature a weekly round-up of general news items at our sister site located at http://nicegirlstv.com/. Please visit there as often as you can. Thanks!

The Weekly Round-Up for Feb. 15 to 19

Here are the sci-fi based entertainment news items for this week:

TV SERIES NEWS

The CW announced this week that they have given early renewals to the following series: Supernatural, Gossip Girl, 90210, The Vampire Diaries and America’s Next Top Model.

Supernatural creator and executive producer Eric Kripke will be stepping down as the day-to-day show runner for the series. The reins will be taken over by Sera Gamble who has served not only as a writer on the show but also as one of the other executive producers. It is presumed, however, that Kripke and his current co-show runner, Robert Singer, will continue to function as hands-on executive producers.

Jonathan Frakes (Star Trek: TNG) will be directing an upcoming episode of the ABC series V.

Maggie Grace (who played Shannon) and Andrea Gabriel (who played Nadia) will return for the final season of Lost.

FOX has canceled the new reincarnation/crime drama Past Life.

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Steven Spielberg and Peter Chernin are on track to team for a potential FOX drama Terra Nova. The series is about a family from 100 years in the future who travel back in time 150 million years to the strange and inhospitable environs of prehistoric Earth.

NBC is redeveloping the series Nine Lives by Steven Spielberg and Leslie Bohem, which has been a long-in-the-works project dating back to a project at the Sci-Fi Channel. The series is to unfold as an epic story of love, exploring the greatest mystery of all… what happens after you die? It is to focus on several characters, each grieving over the loss of a loved one. First by accident, then intentionally induced, each has discovered how to reunite with their loved ones in the afterlife through near-death experiences. But each journey to the other side brings closer an unknown evil, which is about to be unleashed on mankind.

Autumn Reeser (The O.C.) has joined the Greg Berlanti ABC drama No Ordinary Family, which already includes Michael Chiklis in the cast. The drama pilot is about the Powells, a typical American family whose members discover they have special abilities.

Maggie Q (Mission: Impossible III) has been cast in the lead role in the CW pilot Nikita, playing the replacement trained to take over for the original Nikita who has gone rogue.

MADE FOR TV MOVIES NEWS

Syfy has finally scheduled the mini-series Riverworld for Sunday April 18, airing its full 4 hours starting at 7 PM. Tahmoh Penikett (Battlestar Galactica and Dollhouse) and Laura Vandervoort (Smallville and V) star in the movie that is about a mysterious world where everyone who has ever lived on Earth, seems to have been ‘reborn’ along the banks of a seemingly endless river. Alan Cumming and Peter Wingfield co-star. The mini-series marks the second time the network has brought Philip Jose Farmer’s novel to the small screen. Brad Johnson starred in the previous incarnation, which aired in 2003.

BOX OFFICE NEWS

12-year-old actor Leo Howard (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra) will play the young Conan in upcoming reboot of the Conan the Barbarian movie based on the Robert E. Howard’s mythical conqueror stories. Jason Momoa (Stargate Atlantis) will play Conan as an adult.

Ecosse Films is moving forward with a contemporary adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, updating the 19th century tale with a ‘hipper’ contemporary sensibility and a stronger focus on the relationship between Long John Silver and Jim Hawkins.

Jeffrey Wright has joined Jake Gyllenhaal and Vera Farmiga in the sci-fi thriller Source Code about a helicopter pilot (Gyllenhaal) who participates in an experimental anti-terrorist Government program which puts his consciousness in the body of a commuter who witnesses a train bombing.

Julian McMahon (Nip/Tuck) will star in the thriller Faces in the Crowd , which revolves around a female murder witness (Milla Jovovich) who awakens from an accident with prosopagnosia (aka face blindness), an impairment in the recognition of faces.

CASTING SCOOP

Michael Trucco (Battlestar Galactica) has been cast as the infamous John May, the mysterious underground leader of the Fifth Column in the ABC series V. He will appear in one episode slated to air April 13.

Stephen Martines (The Closer) has landed a recurring role in The Vampire Diaries, playing bad-ass vampire named Frederick who is locked in the tomb where Katherine was once thought to be and is up to no good when released.

Samm Levine (Freaks & Geeks) will guest star in the final season of Lost.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

Here are the new episodes of the dramas that will be airing this coming week:

Saturday, February 20:
Survivors on BBC America at 9 PM

NOTE: Legend of the Seeker will air a new episode in syndication this weekend. Check your local listings for date, time and channel.

Sunday, February 21:

NOTE: Legend of the Seeker will air a new episode in syndication this weekend. Check your local listings for date, time and channel.

Monday, February 22:
24 on FOX at 9 PM

Tuesday, February 23:
Lost on ABC at 9 PM
Caprica (reair) on Syfy at 9 PM

Wednesday, February 24:
Being Erica on SOAPNet at 10 PM

Friday, February 26:
Smallville on the CW at 8 PM
Caprica on Syfy at 9 PM
Spartacus: Blood and Sand on Starz at 10 PM

NOTE: Please check your local listings for the correct air dates and times for all of the above.

Have a great weekend!

Please note that I will feature a weekly round-up of general news items at our sister site located at http://nicegirlstv.com/. Please visit there as often as you can. Thanks!

Being Erica: An Interview with Erin Karpluk

Have you ever wished you could revisit your past and change a certain event to see if the outcome would be different? Or wish that you could straighten out a previous mistake in the hope it would influence your future? That’s the premise behind the Soapnet TV series Being Erica, currently in its second season and airing each Wednesday night at 10PM. The series, created by Jana Sinyor who executive produces with Aaron Martin, stars Erin Karpluk as Erica Strange, who, via the therapist “Dr. Tom” (Michael Riley) is able to revisit key moments in her life to make changes where necessary, but, more importantly, to utilize the past to illuminate the present.

Tonight’s episode — “Yes We Can” — is a perfect jumping on point for viewers as it nicely re-establishes the rules for the show, and then breaks them as Dr. Tom gives Erica a “do over” day in which nothing she does will have lasting consequences.

In the following interview, Erin Karpluk discusses the evolution of the series and the impact that Erica has had on her own life.

SCIFI MEDIA ZONE: Considering you’ve gone back in time to high school and college days, do you ever feel as thought you’re playing different characters?

ERIN KARPLUK: I do. I really find that when I’m with my brother or my family on the show, back in time, I just take on this younger energy. But I, as Erin, even going home at Christmas, I’m a 31-year-old woman, but as soon as I’m home, I’m, like, “Mom, can you do my laundry?” I’m pulled back there, and on the show I think Erica certainly has fun with being back in high school and taking everything in. But I almost have it easier than some of the other actors, certainly the actress that plays young Erica when she’s 12. They [the producers] don’t think I can play 12, so they hired this fantastic actress. But she was a 12-year-old girl who had to play 32, and I thought that she did a fantastic job.

SCIFI MEDIA ZONE: Can you describe the difference in tone between season one and season two? Season one seemed a little light-hearted with heavy moments, but season two seems different.

ERIN: It’s the same show, though we do get into the time travel aspect a little more. But I look at the time travel as the catalyst for her learning and growth and development. One thing I have to give credit for regarding the second season is that I remember when I read the pilot, I said, “How many regrets can this woman have? How many times am I in Dr. Tom’s office; where he is the teacher and I am the student? Is it going to be repetitive or stagnant?” But that hasn’t happened. Season two was so much fun to shoot. Erica is more worldly and responsible and accountable in the ways of the time travel and uses her experience from the first season and applies them into the second season. It’s not only in helping and developing herself, but also to help other people. That’s something that’s very fun to play, to see her kind of step outside of herself. Depending on what the particular regret is, that will shape the episode. It’s still the same show, but if it’s dealing with the death of her brother, it’s obviously going to be a bit more heavy than if it’s her singing Britney Spears to try to stand up to a professor.

SCIFI MEDIA ZONE: Are there ways this has affected you as a real person?

ERIN: I’ve learned so much from Erica. Just that regrets are the kind of thing that can fester inside of you and you can hang on to for years. It just seems so pointless. There’s one episode where Erica wants to go back and relive a regret, but she realizes that, in fact, it wasn’t a regret at all. It was a hard thing that she had to go through, but given the chance again, she would do it the same. I thought that was interesting in my own life, and it helped me kind of let go of certain things that I may still be hanging on to. I think the biggest thing that I’ve learned from playing Erica, and just as an actor on the show and the experience, is just to let go of things. It’s a lot easier.

Look for much more on Being Erica in the weeks to come at SciFi Media Zone.

The Weekly Round Up (Feb. 8 to 12)

Here are the sci-fi based entertainment news items for this week:

NEWS

Stan Lee has teamed up with Archie Comics and A Squared Entertainment to tell the story of seven aliens who are stranded on Earth after their spaceship crashed and are then befriended by none other than Lee himself. He becomes their leader and helps turn them into heroes. This will be the first time that Lee will be a continuing character in an original superhero series. If all goes as planned, Archie Comics will publish the print version of Super Seven in the fall, and A Squared will develop the project as a TV series and online property.

TV SERIES NEWS

Neil Gaiman will write an episode of Doctor Who that will air as part of the sixth season in 2011.

BBC America has acquired the second and third seasons of the UK sci-fi series Being Human with the second season premiering later this summer and the third season expected to follow shortly thereafter.

David Goyer has stepped down as show runner of the ABC series FlashForward, but he will remain as an executive producer. The new show runners will now be Jessika Borsiczky, Lisa Zwerling and Tim Lea and the series order has been reduced to 22 episodes.

Vampire Diaries and Supernatural will be on hiatus until March 25 then there are no episode breaks until the season finales air on May 13.

NBC announced the season finale dates for a number of their shows, including the following:

May 10 – Trauma at 9 PM
May 12 – Mercy at 8 PM
May 19 – Law & Order: Special Victims Unit at 10 PM
May 24 – Chuck (two-hours) at 8 PM
May 24 – Law & Order at 10 PM

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Michael Chiklis (The Shield) will star in the Greg Berlanti ABC drama pilot No Ordinary Family that will center on a family that suddenly develops special powers.

Frank Grillo (Prison Break) will play the lead in the ABC supernatural crime drama The Gates, which centers on a big-city cop (Grillo) who becomes chief of police in a quiet community, only to discover the residents aren’t what they seem. Luke Mably (The Prince and Me) and Chandra West (90210) have also been cast. The series is tentatively scheduled for a summer debut.

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Vin Diesel is set to star in and produce a third film featuring his famed anti-hero character Riddick for Universal Pictures and Lionsgate.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Watchmen) will star in the psychological thriller The Unblinking Eye about a determined journalist hunting down a retired homicide detective (Morgan) who has become a recluse after nearly being killed by a serial killer. Dark stories from both their pasts come out as the pair face each other.

The final installment of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn will be split into two back-to-back films to begin shooting in mid-October. The question that still remains, though, is who will be directing the close of the series.

Sam Worthington (Avatar) will star in the thriller The Fields, which is based on the true story of play a homicide detective from Texas investigating a string of unsolved murders with the help of a peer from New York.

Tom Felton, who appears as Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter films, has joined the thriller The Apparition, which is about a college experiment gone wrong, leaving a couple haunted by a strange supernatural force. Ashley Greene and Sebastian Stan co-star.

Tim Robbins has joined the cast of the movie Green Lantern, starring alongside Ryan Reynolds, Peter Sarsgaard and Blake Lively.

Rachel Weisz will star in the thriller Dream House alongside Daniel Craig and Naomi Watts.

Tom Cruise will reprise his role of Ethan Hunt in a 4th Mission Impossible film that will begin shooting this summer with an expected release date around Memorial Day 2011.

CASTING SCOOP

Christopher Lloyd will appear in an episode of Chuck slated for April or May as a therapist who Chuck turns to when the pressures of the spy biz become too much for him to bear.

John Rhys-Davies (Lord of the Rings) will be making a guest appearance in an upcoming episode of Legend of the Seeker.

Mark Sheppard will return to Supernatural near the end of the season as demon Crowley, and he will play a villain in two upcoming episodes of Chuck.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

The following specials and new series will debut and/or air this weekend and throughout next week:

The Winter Olympics will air all week long on NBC. Check local listings for times and events.

The BBC America series Survivors debuts on Saturday, February 13 at 8 PM. It airs for two hours and follows what happens when a deadly virus spreads around the world.

NEW EPISODES OF EXISTING SHOWS

Here are the new episodes of the dramas that will be airing this coming week:

Saturday, February 13:

Legend of the Seeker will air a new episode in syndication this weekend. Check your local listings for date, time and channel.

Sunday, February 14:

NOTE: Legend of the Seeker will air a new episode in syndication this weekend. Check your local listings for date, time and channel.

Tuesday, February 16:
Lost on ABC at 9 PM

Wednesday, February 17:
Human Target on FOX at 8 PM
Being Erica on SOAPNet at 10 PM

Thursday, February 18:
Past Life on FOX at 9 PM

Friday, February 19:
Smallville on the CW at 8 PM
Spartacus: Blood and Sand on Starz at 10 PM

NOTE: Please check your local listings for the correct air dates and times for all of the above.

Have a great weekend!

Please note that I will feature a weekly round-up of general news items at our sister site located at http://nicegirlstv.com/. Please visit there as often as you can. Thanks!

The Weekly Round-Up for Feb. 1 to 5

Here are the sci-fi based entertainment news items for this week:

TV SERIES NEWS

A new series finale date for the ABC series Lost was announced earlier this week: Sunday, May 23. Mark your calendar!

The final episodes of Saving Grace will air on TNT starting on March 29 at 9 PM with back-to-back episodes. The remaining 7 episodes will play out over the spring in its regular 10 PM timeslot (with a slight interruption by the NBA playoffs in between).

The new series Happy Town, a mid-season series, has been given a premiere date: April 28 at 10 PM. The series stars Geoff Stults, Sam Neill, Lauren German, Steven Weber, Amy Acker, Robert Wisdom (among others). The series is being touted as a creepy show (ala supposedly Twin Peaks) about a small town still haunted by a number of unsolved kidnappings.

The March 5 episode of Ghost Whisperer will be the series 100th episode and it will feature a major characters death.

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

The Tara Bray Smith young adult novel Betwixt will come to the CW and is to revolve around three teenagers who learn of their true, “changeling” nature and their uncertain, intertwined destinies after attending a secret summer rave in the woods.

Emily Rose (Jericho and Brothers & Sisters) will appear in the Syfy series Haven, which is based on the Stephen King novella The Colorado Kid. She will play FBI agent Audrey Parker, who investigates a murder in the small town of Haven, Maine and finds herself caught up in a web of supernatural activity among its citizens.

MADE FOR TV MOVIES NEWS

The Syfy made-for-TV movie Beauty and the Beast will premiere on Saturday, February 27, at 9PM. The movie stars Estella Warren (Planet of the Apes) is a young Beauty with a gift for healing who helps a deformed Prince (Rhett Gilles, Wraiths of Roanoke) regain his throne and defeat the ruthless nobleman who wants to be king — and then together they try to destroy a power-hungry witch.

Other made-for-TV movies to come from Syfy include:

Red – A young woman who is a descendant of the real Little Red Riding Hood brings her fianc home, where he meets the family and learns about their business hunting werewolves. He’s skeptical until bitten by a werewolf. When her family insists he must be killed, Red tries saving him.

Hansel – Twenty years after his encounter with the witch, a grown-up Hansel returns to the haunted forest, seeking revenge. But there’s a surprise waiting his sister Gretel (who he thought had been killed) is the witch’s protge.

8th Voyage of Sinbad – Sinbad searches for the golden head of the long lost Colossus of Rhodes and, instead, discovers an island where the mythical Minotaur still rules, protecting a vast treasure. Sinbad and his crew have to battle the creature and its minions to get the treasure and save their own lives.

Aladdin (working title) – After accidentally releasing an evil genie from an ancient lamp, Aladdin must find a way to imprison the genie again before it wreaks havoc on the world.

Black Forest — A group of nave tourists take a sightseeing tour into a supposed enchanted forest, where they encounter evil creatures from the world of fantasy. Trapped in the Black Forest, their only hope of survival is fighting their way out.

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Kate Beckinsale will appear in a cameo role in the 3D fourth Underworld movie that is scheduled to hit theatres on January 21st 2011.

CASTING SCOOP

Fred Willard and Swoosie Kurtz will guest star in an upcoming episode of Chuck, as a Hart to Hart-esque spy couple now over-the-hill but still in the game.

British actor Bill Nighy is set to guest star in the fifth season of Doctor Who, playing a Vincent Van Gogh exhibition curator set in 19th century France and the present day.

Margaret Cho will guest star in an upcoming episode of Ghost Whisperer.

Dawn Olivieri (Heroes) will play Janice Herveaux, the sister of werewolf Alcide (Joe Manganiello) and Brit Morgan (The Middleman) will play Alcide’s psycho ex girlfriend Debbie Pelt on True Blood.

Charles Measure (Crossing Jordan), Nicholas Lea (The X-Files), and Lexa Doig (The 4400) are joining the cast of the ABC drama V.

RUMOR PATROL

Olivia Wilde (Tron Legacy) is in negotiations to star in the comic adaptation of Cowboys & Aliens the sci-fi Western that explores what would happen if the traditional Old West enemies – cowboys and Native Americans – found the prairie attacked by aliens in mid-1800s Arizona. Wilde will play a character named Ella who joins up with a mysterious gunslinger (Daniel Craig).

Logan Lerman (Jack & Bobby), who will star in the upcoming movie Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, may be up for the role of Peter Parker in the Spider-Man reboot.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

The following movies, special and new series will debut and/or air this weekend and throughout next week:

The movie The Cursed will air on Syfy on Saturday, February 6 at 9 PM and follows a writer who awakens a malevolent creature in a Tennessee town with a dark past. The cast includes Costas and Louis Mandylor.

The new series Past Life will debut on FOX on Tuesday, February 9 at 9 PM. This series follows a woman who “solves crimes that put souls to rest”. The series will then move to its regular timeslot on Thursday, February 11 at 9 PM.

NEW EPISODES OF EXISTING SHOWS

Here are the new episodes of the sci-fi based dramas that will be airing this coming week:

Saturday, February 6:
Demons on BBC America at 8 and 9 PM (Series Finale at 9 PM)

NOTE: A repeat of Legend of the Seeker will air in syndication this weekend. Check your local listings for date, time and channel.

Sunday, February 7:
Super Bowl Sunday
NOTE: A repeat of Legend of the Seeker will air in syndication this weekend. Check your local listings for date, time and channel.

Monday, February 8:
Chuck on NBC at 8 PM
Heroes on NBC at 9 PM

Tuesday, February 9:
Lost on ABC at 9 PM

Wednesday, February 10:
Human Target on FOX at 8 PM
Being Erica on SOAPNet at 10 PM

Thursday, February 11:
The Vampire Diaries on The CW at 8 PM
Supernatural on The CW at 9 PM

Friday, February 12:
Smallville on the CW at 8 PM
Spartacus: Blood and Sand on Starz at 10 PM

NOTE: Please check your local listings for the correct air dates and times for all of the above. Have a great weekend!

Please note that I will feature a weekly round-up of general news items at our sister site located at http://nicegirlstv.com/. Please visit there as often as you can. Thanks!

Smallville: Exclusive Interview with Erica Durance

In this exclusive audio interview, actress Erica Durance discusses season nine of Smallville, the evolving relationship between Lois and Clark and her feelings about the show delving even deeper into the mythology of the Man of Steel.

Click To Play

Smallville: Michael Shanks on “Absolute Justice, Part 4″

In the final installment of SciFi Media Zone’s exclusive audio interview with actor Michael Shanks, he shares his feelings of becoming a part of the Superman mythology as well as the physical rigors involved in his portraying Hawkman.

Click To Play

Smallville: Michael Shanks on “Absolute Justice, Part 3″

In the third of our exclusive four-part interview with actor Michael Shanks, he continues his discussion of this Friday’s two-hour Smallville event, Absolute Justice. This time out he talks in more detail about the character of Hawkman as well as Hawkman’s impact on Clark Kent as well as Clark’s on him.

Look for the final part of this interview on Thursday.

Click To Play

Next Page »