Weekly Round-Up for Nov. 16 to 20
Here are the sci-fi based entertainment news items for this week (November 16 to 20):
NEWS
Kevin Murphy (Desperate Housewives) has been promoted to executive producer/showrunner of Syfy’s Caprica, where he joins fellow executive producers Jane Espenson, Ron Moore, and David Eick. Murphy was originally hired as a co-executive producer on the Battlestar Galactica prequel series and will now serve as the day-to-day showrunner on the series. Jane Espenson was showrunner, but she decided to step down to concentrate on writing Caprica inside of the day-to-day operations.
The CW announced they will be reairing every episode (thus far 10 in total) of The Vampire Diaries over 5 nights, from December 14 to 18.
The two-hour “Justice Society”-themed Smallville movie will actually be aired on February 5 rather than in January. The Geoff Johns written episodes will be directed by Glen Winter and Tom Welling.
Syfy has scheduled the debut of the direct-to-DVD movie Battlestar Galactica: The Plan for Sunday, January 10 at 9 PM. In addition, the new series Caprica will regularly air on Friday night at 9 PM followed by repeats of Warehouse 13 at 10 PM. Lastly, Sanctuary will wrap its second season with a two-hour finale on January 15 at 9 PM.
Daniel Radcliffe will lend his voice to The Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror XXI, where he will play Edmund, a child vampire that Lisa falls in love with in a parody of the Twilight franchise.
The BBC has confirmed the title of the Doctor Who Christmas special is The End of Time, Part One. It’s the first time since the relaunch of the series that a two-parter would be given the same episode title. It’s expected that the second half of David Tennant’s swan song on the series will air in the UK on New Year’s Eve.
NOTE: Doctor Who: The End of Time, Part One will air on BBC America on December 26 at 9 PM.
Chuck is back on NBC, starting on January 10 with two back-to-back episodes before moving to its regular Monday tineslot at 8 PM the next day. There will be 19 episodes in its third season and all of the cast except Julia Ling (who plays Anna Wu) will be returning.
The two-hour season premiere of the final season of Lost has be scheduled for February 2 on ABC.
NEW SEASON TALLY
The following is another run down of the general state of the TV shows for the fall season – not just the sci-fi(ish) based shows.
A survey was recently done at E! Entertainment Online and while it’s not scientific, it does give a little bit of an idea what endangered shows the readers of the site want to see survey this season:
29.2% Eastwick (ABC)
19.5% Three Rivers (CBS)
14.4% Trauma (NBC)
13.9% Melrose Place (CW)
12.3% Accidentally on Purpose (CBS)
7.3% The Forgotten (ABC)
Obviously, Eastwick has only received a 13-episode order from ABC with no further episodes being ordered. Rumor has it that Lifetime MAY be interested in the show; but no confirmation has come out from the network. As stated above, NBC has taken back the cancellation of Trauma – at least for now – by giving the show an order of 3 more episodes. The Forgotten also received an order from ABC for 5 more episodes. The futures of the other endangered series listed above are still in question.
BOX OFFICE NEWS
Josh Klausner is set to write an adaptation of Adena Halpern’s novel The Ten Best Days of My Life, which focuses on a woman (proposed to be Amy Adams) who dies and then goes to the top of the afterlife echelon known as Seventh Heaven. However, she is in danger of being sent to a lower level unless she can prove that she lived a worthwhile life by recounting her 10 best days.
Lorenzo di Bonaventura (Transformers) is set to produce films based on the Michael Scott six-part fantasy novel series The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, which follows fifteen-year-old twins Sophie and Josh as they adventure across several continents with the immortal alchemyst, Nicholas Flamel. Kyle XY creator Eric Bress wrote the script. The fourth book in the series, The Necromancer, is due out next year.
Idris Elba (Obsessed) is set to play Heimdall, the guardian of Asgard who stands on the BiFrost Bridge ready to defend the city from intruders in Kenneth Branagh’s superhero epic Thor. He joins an extensive cast that includes Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Jaimie Alexander, Colm Feore, Samuel L. Jackson, Stellan Skarsgard, Stuart Townsend, and Ray Stevenson. The comic book adaptation will be released on May 20th 2011.
John Hlavin (The Shield) will write the script for a fourth Underworld that is not a prequel. No details are available nor has a director or cast been chosen.
MADE FOR TV MOVIE NEWS
Jeri Ryan (Leverage) and Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Without a Trace) have been cast in the Lifetime Movie Network’s horror tele-picture Secrets in the Walls, about a woman who discovers that her dream house in the suburbs is haunted.
Steven Spielberg and Stephen King will develop a limited series based on King’s just-released book Under the Dome; likely for cable. The book revolves around the drama that unfolds after an invisible force field suddenly descends on a small vacation town in Maine. As the locals fight for their survival, the town descends into warring factions led by enigmatic characters. Both men will executive-produce and a writer is being sought to adapt the book.
AS HEARD ON/MUSIC NEWS
The songs “Cherry Blossom” by Buttersprites, “Shelter From the Storm” by Bob Dylan and Soul Flower Union and “I Can’t Explain The Things I Do” by El Gato were featured in this past week’s episode of FlashForward.
The songs featured in this past week’s episode of The Vampire Diaries were “Chances” by Five For Fighting; “Coast of Carolina” by Telekinesis!, “Cut” by Plumb, “Off Track” by The Features and “This is Beautiful” by Tyrone Wells.
CASTING SCOOP
Ted Raimi (Spider-Man) will guest star in an upcoming episode of The Legend of the Seeker, reprising his role as Sebastian, the fast-talking, shady mapmaker and magic peddler who teams up with Zedd’s brother Thaddicus to sell a magical cure for Banelings — evil souls returned from the underworld.
Actor Carlo Marks will star as Steven Swift (aka Warrior Angel) in an upcoming episode of Smallville, who could very well be a love interest for Chloe (Allison Mack). Ironic enough he appeared as a “what if” fiancé of Chloe’s in the season 7 episode called Apocalypse.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
The following movies will air this coming weekend:
The Syfy movie Lightning Strikes, about a monster that wrecks havoc in a small town after riding a lightning bolt to Earth, will air on Sunday, November 22 at 7 PM. And, the movie Fire From Below will also air on Syfy at 9 PM on Sunday, November 22. The movie is about the countryside exploding when miners hit a vein of pure base lithium. Both movies star Kevin Sorbo.
NEW EPISODES
Here is a list of new episodes for the coming week:
Saturday, November 21:
Check your local listings for channel, date and time for next new episode of The Legend of the Seeker.
Sunday, November 22:
Dexter on Showtime at 9 p.m.
NOTE: Check your local listings for channel, date and time for next new episode of The Legend of the Seeker.
Monday, November 23:
Heroes on NBC at 8 p.m.
Tuesday, November 24:
V on ABC at 8 p.m.
Wednesday, November 25
Eastwick on ABC at 10:01 p.m.
Thursday, November 26:
Happy Thanksgiving
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!
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed or follow us on Twitter for updates. Thanks for visiting!
The Weekly Round-Up for Oct. 19 to 23
Here are the sci-fi based entertainment news items for this week (October 12 to 16):
NEWS
FOX announced Dollhouse WILL be seen tonight October 23 as scheduled BUT no new episodes of the series will air during November sweeps with new episodes airing on December 4, 11 and 18. Yes, you read that correct – no sweeps episodes!
Beginning today (October 23), skywriters above 26 United States landmarks will create V’s several times a day until ABC’s new sci-fi drama V premieres on November 3rd.
The CW has picked up The Vampire Diaries for a full, 22-episode season.
Co-show runner and executive producer Marc Guggenheim has stepped down from his position on the ABC sci-fi drama series FlashForward, leaving sole show running duties to co-creator David Goyer.
In preparation for the new ABC series V – which debuts on the network on November 3 – Syfy will be airing the original mini-series and presumably episodes from the short-lived series over the course of three days: November 1, 2 and 3.
NEW DEVELOPMENT SLATE
A TV series is being developed by Fox21 and Platinum Studios based on the comic known as Indestructible Man, which tells the story of Nick Rabel, an elite secret agent who can’t be killed and discovers the hard way the difference between “indestructible” and “unbreakable.”
NEW SEASON TALLY
The following is another run down of the general state of the TV shows for the fall season – not just the sci-fi(ish) based shows:
When new timeslots for returning series are introduced, they can be just as bad as ‘jump the shark’ moments in storylines. The case is true for the following (and a thank you to Zap2It.com for the details):
The Big Bang Theory was moved behind Two and a Half Men on CBS and the move has been successful. The comedy is scoring, on average, 13.84 million viewers per week. The same cannot be said about returning series Cold Case, which was moved to Sunday nights at 10 PM, making room for the new medical drama Three Rivers at 9 PM. The cop drama was averaging 11.5 million viewers this time last year, but has only been getting about 9 million or considerably less since the move.
A bad move on the part of ABC has been putting Ugly Betty in what is known as the death slot of Friday nights at 8 PM. About 5 million people watched the two-hour debut this past Friday and while that isn’t bad for the network for that time period, it is a steep drop when the show was getting 7.87 million previously.
Bones may have been moved to Thursday nights at 8 PM on FOX last season, but its stay in this difficult time period (against reality, two new comedies on NBC and new series FlashForward and The Vampire Diaries) seems to be paying off despite the aforementioned competition. The show got 9.59 million viewers last week and with seven-day DVR viewing that number will easily bump the show to over 11 million viewers a week.
NBC is somewhat hurting, or more to the point, some of the Law & Order franchise shows are hurting. The move of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit from Tuesdays at 10 PM to Wednesday at 9 PM has proven a bit unsuccessful. Granted the show isn’t performing terribly, but it did reach a low of 7.9 million viewers at the end of September, but has rallied back a slight bit getting about 9 million viewers on average.
The crown prince Law & Order, however, is faring better than expected in its jump to Friday nights at 8 PM (from its cushy slot on Wednesdays at 10 PM). It drew about 8 million viewers last season and is averaging about 7.45 million in its new timeslot.
The CW decided to move perennial long-running series Smallville to Friday nights at 8 PM. The reason is the new series The Vampire Diaries was taking over the pre-Superman series old slot on Thursday at 8 PM. The move to Fridays has proven to be less than successful with Smallville losing nearly half of its viewers. At this time last year, the series was garnering 4.5 million viewers and is barely averaging 2.5 million in its new slot. On the other hand, though, The Vampire Diaries is cresting on just under 4 million viewers each week and is getting better ratings than any other show on the newly monikered network.
BOX OFFICE NEWS
Kirsten Prout (Kyle XY) will star as vampire Lucy in the highly anticipated third installment of the Twilight series, Eclipse. Lucy is a prominent part of Jasper’s back-story and builds a bloodsucking army with Maria (Catalina Sandino Moreno).
Jim Sturgess and Kristen Dunst have joined the cast of the sci-fi romance feature Upside Down. The story is about a humble and seemingly ordinary guy sees his childhood love now grown up and on television and vows to win her. The catch? They live in an alternate reality, one where a complete other world floats inverted in the skies above and is just out of reach. He is on one side, she’s on the other.
Ryan Kwanten (True Blood) is filming the superhero romantic-comedy Griff the Invisible, centering on a superhero by night and office worker by day whose world is turned upside down when meeting a cute scientist lady who takes a particular interest in him.
Shane West (ER and A Walk to Remember) has joined the cast of the werewolf feature Two Wolves, which tells the story of a disfigured guide-dog trainer at a secluded school for the blind, with no recollection of the last 12 hours, who becomes the prime suspect in a string of wolf-like murders and must stay one step ahead of a relentless female detective in order to be certain of his own innocence.
Dominic Cooper (Mamma Mia) accidentally revealed in a recent interview that he’s considering a role in Kenneth Branagh’s upcoming Thor movie.
The Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie five-book young adult novel series Wicked movie rights have been picked up Dreamworks Pictures. The story centers on a young woman who learns she is a descendant of a powerful coven of witches. Complications arise when she falls in love with a boy who turns out to be a member of a rival coven.
NOTE: The 5-book Wicked book series include Witch, Curse, Legacy, Spellbound and Resurrection.
Screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis (Shutter Island) has been hired to adapt the Ghost in the Shell manga into a futuristic live-action 3D police thriller.
Anne Hathaway, Neil Patrick Harris and Rodrigo Santoro (Lost and Love Actually) are negotiating to lend their voices to Rio from the makers of Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. The animated feature follows the adventures of a nerdy macaw who lights out from his small-town Minnesota cage for the exotic Summer Olympic city of Rio de Janeiro. The move is scheduled for an April 8, 2011, release.
Dylan Baker will be returning as Dr. Curt Connors in Spider-Man 4; but no details are available on the extent of his character’s involvement in the story.
AS HEARD ON/MUSIC NEWS
Kat (Jaime Ray Newman) sang the 1960’s hit song “Spooky” on this week’s episode of Eastwick.
Songs featured in this week’s FlashForward episode included “Sister Christian” (in the karaoke bar/restaurant) and “Like A Rolling Stone” in the shoot out between the FBI agents and the Yakuza.
CASTING SCOOP
Jerry O’Connell has booked a multi-episode arc opposite his real-life wife, Rebecca Romijn, on Eastwick. He will appear in the final two episodes, playing Colin, a hot new neighbor of Kat’s (Jaime Ray Newman) who is hiding a dark and magical secret.
Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica) will appear as herself in the November 23 episode of The Big Bang Theory.
Sebastian Roche (General Hospital) has been added to the cast of Fringe as a recurring character. He will play a new villain on the sci-fi series. He replaces Thomas Kretschmann, who couldn’t recur because of a scheduling conflict.
Guest appearances to expect on upcoming episodes of Ghost Whisperer include Chad Lowe (Life Goes On), Greg Germann (Ally McBeal) and Perrey Reeves (Entourage).
RUMOR PATROL
Stephen Norrington, the director of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, is expected to return to directing after some 5 years. What movie will he be doing, you may ask? A remake (reboot, what have you) to Alex Proyas’ The Crow. A script has been turned in, which was ‘very well received’ and is reportedly moving forward with casting. Time will tell if this remake/reboot actually happens and, if so, what the fan reaction will be let alone if the dire consequences that plagued the original – the unexpected on-set death of Brandon Lee – will mire the movie.
Charlize Theron is director George Miller’s pick to play the lead female role in the upcoming, Mel Gibson-less Mad Max 4. Little-known Brit Tom Hardy (Black Hawk Down and Band of Brothers) is expected to play opposite Theron. The revamp is a long way off, though, as the studio hasn’t signed off on any choices yet and no formal offers have been made. The plot is even under wraps.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
The following movie will air this coming weekend:
The Syfy movie Ghost Town will air on Saturday, October 24 at 9 p.m. and covers the story of college students who encounter deadly outlaw spirits when their bus breaks down in a real ghost town. Stars Gil Gerard.
And, here is a list of sci-fi(ish) based shows that will air next week:
Sunday, October 25:
Dexter on Showtime at 9 p.m.
NOTE: BBC America will be airing a marathon of episodes of the new series Being Human in honor of Halloween. Please check your local listings for the correct time and channel.
Monday, October 26:
Heroes on NBC at 8 p.m.
Wednesday, October 28:
Eastwick on ABC at 10 p.m.
Thursday, October 29:
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.
Friday, October 30:
Dollhouse on FOX at 9 p.m.
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 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 (Oct. 12 to 16)
Here are the sci-fi based entertainment news items for this week (October 12 to 16):
NEWS
ABC has ordered 12 more episodes for freshman sci-fi series FlashForward, meaning that the first season is 24 full hours.
FOX has confirmed they will air all 13 episodes of unrated series Dollhouse especially given the recent announcement of how well the show performs in the 7 plus day DVR viewings.
As of right now FOX does not plan to cancel any shows through the fall, but that’s not to say they won’t simply pass on ordering the “back 9” for any of the new shows.
FOX is reducing its episode order for the midseason crime drama Past Life to just seven episodes, including the pilot. The series is about a team that uses past life regression to solve crimes. It is expected to air after American Idol on Tuesday nights.
NEW DEVELOPMENT SLATE
The CW announced their development slate for the 2010-2011 season. Among the 7 potentials was this:
• Rob Thomas‘ Plymouth Rock – a series about a group of young astronauts who must travel to a distant planet in order to colonize and save the human race;
ABC is opening The Gates, handing a 13-episode order to a crime drama set in a gated suburban community. The series is to center on a big-city cop who becomes chief of police in a seemingly sleepy planned community only to discover there’s much more to the residents than meets the eye.
NBC has given a script order to drama Welcome to Hitchcock, from writer/executive producers Steve Mitchell and Craig Van Sickle (The Pretender TV series and movie event Alice) and executive producer Teri Weinberg about a skilled but restless police detective who, in search of his missing brother, relocates to the city of Hitchcock, Calif., where he soon discovers a world of half-truths, peculiar characters and unanswered questions lying beneath the town’s sparkling, friendly, blue-sky veneer of tradition and family values.
NEW SEASON TALLY
The following is another 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:
What have been the highs and lows for the new season thus far? For CBS, it is returning hit NCIS as well as its spin-off series NCIS: Los Angeles and Tuesday night companion The Good Wife. The latter two both being picked up for a full season recently. The lows for the network however, are Three Rivers and Cold Case.
Over on ABC, Grey’s Anatomy may have dropped in the ratings since last season, but it is still holding its own and newcomer FlashForward is not quite a ratings gangbuster, but it, too, received a full season order and can be crowned the top new series for the network. The lows include the new comedies Hank and The Middle (which has been picked up for a full order despite its low ratings) and new drama Eastwick, which is struggling.
NBC has its work cut out with The Jay Leno Show already eating up 5 hours of primetime programming. The only real highlight for the network is the continued success of half-hour comedy The Office. Unfortunately, one-time hit Heroes and the new medical drama Trauma are both failing in their timeslots.
FOX has perennial hit House to lead the pack, but don’t overlook the power of Bones, as it beat ABC new favorite FlashForward in the ratings last week. The losers for the network are the comedy Brothers and the drama Dollhouse, which despite losing a considerable amount of viewers in its short two week run (and which already struggled to make a renewal last season) has their DVR viewers to thank for its hanging on by a thread.
Lastly, there is the CW, which can already boast the first cancellation of the season in The Beautiful Life. On the other hand, the new series The Vampire Diaries is off to a tremendous start, beating out all other shows on the network. The low light can be shone on the reimagined series Melrose Place, which is struggling in the ratings. The same could be said of the long-running series Smallville, but like FOX’s Dollhouse, this series has its DVR viewers to thank.
BOX OFFICE NEWS
Joss Whedon’s horror flick The Cabin in the Woods has been delayed a full year by MGM Studios, being moved from February 5, 2010 to January 14, 2011. The reason for the delay officially is that early test screening responses have been so good that the film is undergoing a six month post-production conversion into 3D. Drew Goddard (Cloverfield) directed and co-wrote the feature.
Ian Somerhalder (The Vampire Diaries) has joined the cast of the gothic fairytale feature Cradlewood, which is a story about a young woman whose new boyfriend is not only heir to a major fortune but hides a baffling, disconcerting secret that’s tormenting him. Filming kicks off in Melbourne, Australia in 2010.
AS HEARD ON
The songs played during the finale of Drop Dead Diva were “Don’t Wait” by Dri; “If You Wanna Go” by Joy Williams, “Definition” by Alex Mills, “I Like You Baby” by Oh Darling and “Piece of Mind” by Castaneda.
Group of young children sang “Believe It Or Not,” the theme song from The Greatest American Hero on Heroes this past week.
Music featured on The Vampire Diaries this week included “21 Guns” by Green Day; “Down” by Jason Walker; “Enjoy the Silence” by Anberlin; “Fader” by The Temper Trap; “Stood Up” by A Fine Frenzy and “Weight of the World” by Editors.
The Twilight Saga: New Moon movie soundtrack is available for (legal) download today via iTunes.
CASTING SCOOP
Jolene Blalock (Star Trek: Enterprise) joins season two of Legend of the Seeker as a recurring “Sister of the Dark” trying to destroy Kahlan (Bridget Regan).
Mark Sheppard will appear in the 10th episode of Supernatural – the final hour of the series of 2009. He will play a “pivotal” demon named Crowley.
Bruce Davison will have a recurring role on Ghost Whisperer.
Todd Stashwick (The Riches) has been cast in a recurring role on Heroes, where he will play Eli, a member of the traveling carnival who has close ties to the carnival’s evil ringleader Samuel (Robert Knepper).
Mike McMillian, who plays the sinister Church-owner Reverend Steve Newlin on True Blood has confirmed that he’s returning to the show for season three. However, there is no word on when he and on-screen wife, played by Anna Camp, will return.
RUMOR PATROL
ABC is reportedly standing behind under-rated (and low rated) new drama Eastwick (at least for now). T hey are calling it their “quiet success story” because they “put very little marking money against it”. Time will tell if they stand behind their word or not, though.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
Some movies to look out for this coming week include:
The Syfy movie The Dunwich Horror will air at 7 PM on Sunday, October 18 and stars Dean Stockwell and Jeffrey Combs. The premise is about opposing parties seeking the missing page of a sinister book.
The movie Wolvesbayne will air on Syfy on Sunday, October 18 at 9 PM and is about a werewolf hero (Jeremy London) takin on a vampire cult. Co-stars include Yancy Butler and Mark Dacascos.
And, here is a list of the sci-fi(ish) based shows that will be airing this week:
Sunday, October 18:
Dexter on Showtime at 9 p.m.
Monday, October 19:
Heroes on NBC at 8 p.m.
Wednesday, October 21:
Eastwick on ABC at 10 p.m.
Thursday, October 22:
FlashForward on ABC at 8 p.m.
NOTE: New episodes of The Vampire Diaries and Supernatural will air next week just in time for Halloween.
Friday, October 23:
Dollhouse on FOX at 9 p.m.
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!
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!
