In part 1 of our weekly wrap up of genre entertainment news we have all the latest for the upcoming TV season, including details on the BSG movie "The Plan", casting news and more for Heroes next season, and updates on whats coming from Doctor Who, V, Chuck and more. Plus we have preview images and videos, including Smallville, Stargate Universe, and The Prisoner.
TV NEWS
Edward James Olmos Talks Battlestar Galactica: The Plan
"Battlestar Galactica" actor Edward James Olmos directed the upcoming DVD movie "Battlestar Galactica: The Plan" (out this September) and told audience members gathered at a panel discussion arranged by the Los Angeles Times that the movie will deliver fully on its premise: showing the Cylons’ perspective on their attempted genocide of humanity:
"I gotta tell you, not to give anything away, it is exactly what you think it is," Olmos said. "You see the complete opposite of the first 281 days of what we went through, … seen through the eyes of the Cylons, and it is breathtaking. It’s fantastic. It’s not fun, but I will say that you will sit there [gasping]."
The DVD also seems to be the definitive version of the movie, as the SCI FI airing will be cut to 88 minutes, while the DVD version will run a full 2 hours and 6 minutes. Olmos also singled out two key players in the project: writer Jane Espenson, and lead actor Dean Stockwell:
"I have to tell you right now, Dean Stockwell is a brilliant artist," Olmos said. "He does a magnificent job of leading The Plan. The Plan is exactly that. It was how they planned to do what they did and what happened. It was monumental. All I can tell you is it’s an extraordinary look at the Cylons, how they masterminded what they did."
Zachary Levi On Chuck: Season Three
Zachary Levi, star of the NBC sci-fi drama "Chuck", told SCI FI Wire that he hopes to get more involved in the show’s upcoming third season:
"I want Chuck to kick some more ass, shoot some more guns," he said. "I’ve been sitting on the sidelines for two years watching Adam and Yvonne have all of the fun. Literally all I ever wanted to do since I was a kid was be in war movies. … You run around in the backyard and go, ‘Bang, you’re dead!’ And throwing dirt clods as hand grenades. So to really get to participate in the action more, as opposed to just running away or falling off a building or whatever, would be really awesome."
Despite not knowing for sure if the show would be back for a third season, Levi said that not much had to be changed for the upcoming 13-episode season (which depending on ratings, NBC could decide to pickup to a full 22-episode season). Shooting begins late July/early August. Read the rest of the interview at SCI FI Wire.
Jeff Bell Tapped as Showrunner for ABC’s V
Writer Jeff Bell has signed an overall deal with Warner Bros. Television, and will serve as showrunner for the studio’s upcoming ABC drama "V", according to Variety. Bell has fairly extensive SF credentials, including "Angel" and "The X-Files":
"I’ve been on a bunch of serialized shows now, and it helps the audience to know that this is what you’re in for, and this is how and when it’s going to end," Bell said. "We’ve been talking about it in terms of installments, either by chapters or seasons. We’ll build this first season to a big conclusion that is hopefully awesome, with a cliffhanger that launches you into the second season."
And here are some more promo images for V [SpoilerTV]
Matt Smith Will Appear In Doctor Who Titles
In 1966 when Patrick Troughton replaced William Hartnell in the lead role of "Doctor Who", the show’s titles displayed the new Doctor’s face. That changed after the first cancellation of the show in 1987 when the Fox pilot ten years later didn’t feature Paul McGann’s face in the titles. Russell T. Davies also declined to use that special effect when he replaced Christopher Eccleston with David Tennant. The practice may, however, be returning. Bleeding Cool is reporting that new showrunner Steven is expected to bring back this aspect of the show with the new doctor, Matt Smith. And in related news, comedian Lawry Lewin has been cast (via io9) in the Christmas Day and New Year’s Day specials of the series. Details of his storyline are being kept under wraps, but his character will play a pivotal role in the David Tennant to Matt Smith Doctor transition. And lastly, The Sun is reporting that three characters on the show will tie the knot. They are
[INVISOTEXT]: Rose Tyler, Martha Jones and Sarah Jane.[END INVISOTEXT]
Tim Kring Updates Fans on Season Four + Cast Additions
"Heroes" creator Tim Kring provided some details about the fourth season via NBC’s Heroes All Access membership. Here are a few excerpts of what he had to say:
One of the big issues we’ll be exploring is how should a person with abilities live his or her life. Should they try to assimilate by hiding their abilities, or should they live more honestly, exposing their powers to the world?
Claire will be at the forefront of that issue, starting college in Washington, D.C., and trying to discover, as all college kids do, who she really is. But re-adjusting to normal life won’t be easy, especially when Claire is caught in the crossfire of her parent’s divorce and a mysterious suicide on campus.
…
Noah Bennet (HRG), with the help of Tracy Strauss, Angela Petrelli and all of our Heroes, is tasked with forming a new COMPANY. But that new organization won’t be concerned with conspiracies and prisons anymore. It will be about people. Finding them. Connecting to them. And figuring out why so many of them have been seduced by another “organization” out there that treats people with abilities in a fascinating, dangerous and potentially deadly new way.
Head on over to Next on Heroes to read the complete message. Meanwhile, the show has added several new cast members for the upcoming season. First up is Robert Knepper ("Prison Break"), who has been tapped as the new main villain, and will be in at least six episodes:
Knepper will play Samuel, a Jim Jones type — charismatic but evil, with a twisted sense of humor — who will veer into the lives of all heroes. The character had been referred to as "Carnival Barker" in the series breakdown released last month.
Also joining the show is Ray Park (Darth Maul from "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace") and Deanna Bray. Little is known about Park’s role, but it’s presumed he’ll be playing the character described in the breakdowns as "Knife Thrower". Bray, meanwhile, will play a deaf love interest for one of the main Heroes. And lastly, Madeline Zima has been added to the show and will play Claire’s quirky college roommate, Gretchen.
Reaper (Still) Canceled
Since The CW canceled "Reaper", the show’s producer ABC Studios has kept hope alive with interest in shopping it to other networks or even putting in syndication. Some potentially good news came when actress Jenny Wade, who played Nina on the show, tweeted the following messages on her Twitter page last Tuesday (via CliqueClack):
will let u know what i know when i know it which will b any min now-but its lookin VERY happy 4Reaps! (could my agnt b n e slowr rite now?!)
ok, don’t get too excited, guys. i don’t wanna ruin christmas for ya. we’ll know by the end of the day, though. xo
OKAY*deepbreath* y’all, from the most crdible sources i have, REAPER is a GO on SciFi. No official wrd til tomorrow, tho! lookin like 90%…
soo…now hearing it’s NOT SciFi. i HATE hearing lil pieces ata time, as i’m sure u do, so til i c a contract, i will let it be.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case any longer. On Friday, a member of the show’s crew left a comment on The Nick C Blog informing fans that they were officially notified of the show’s official cancellation. Too bad. It was a fun little show.
Ron Moore’s Virtuality Gets Earlier Release Date
Originally scheduled to debut on Saturday, July 4th, Fox has pushed up the two-hour TV movie "Virtuality" to Friday, June 26th (from 8:00-10:00pm). "Virtuality" is only expected to be aired as a TV movie, but the possibility exists that it could be picked up to a full season. Check out some new promo shots below (head on over to io9 for more).
Abord earth’s first starship, the Phaeton, a crew of 12 astronauts are on the verge of embarking on an epic 10-year journey crucial to the survival of life on Earth in the science-fiction thriller VIRTUALITY.
CW Promo posters & details for Smallville and Supernatural
The CW has released posters for season nine of Smallville and season five Supernatural. [SpoilerTV, The ODI]
NEW DVD ARTWORK
Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead (July 28, 2009)
DVD and Blu-ray [DVD Active]
Kings (September 8, 2009)
The Complete Series on DVD [DVD Active]
Smallville (August 25, 2009)
Season Eight on DVD and Blu-ray [DVD Active]
The Spectacular Spider-Man (July 28, 2009)
Season One on DVD [DVD Active]
Supernatural (September 1, 2009)
Season Four on DVD and Blu-ray [DVD Active]
Wolverine and the X-Men (July 21, 2009)
Volume One on DVD [DVD Active]
NEW VIDEOS
Dollhouse
Interview with Eliza Dushku
Fringe
Joshua Jackson and John Noble Talk Season Two
Lost
ABC House Promo
Watch one more here
The Prisoner
First promo
Related note: You can watch all the episodes of the original series at AMC’s website
SGU: Stargate Universe
Sneak peek
True Blood
Season two promo
Four more promos: 1 || 2 || 3 || 4
Creator/Producer Alan Ball Answers Fan Questions
The Vampire Diaries
Interview with star Paul Wesley–discusses differences with Twilight series
Clip [STYD]
TV BITES
- Casting sides for the new character Sonia on "Fringe" can be found at SpoilerTV…
- …Speaking of "Fringe", Fox entertainment president Kevin Reilly is convinced the show will do well on Thursday nights, despite the stiff competition (mainly ‘CSI’ and "Grey’s Anatomy"): "[Fringe] got a huge amount of buzz coming out of the last batch of episodes … and is a real alternative to both of those shows. It’s not an overlapping audience." [TV Guide]
- "Supernatural" returns for a fifth season this fall, but stars Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki told fans at a U.K. convention that they’re both signed for a sixth season and expect there to be one. That’s despite the fact that series creator Eric Kripke is not contracted for a sixth season. [The Geek Files via io9]
- Anna Friel, who played Chuck on the canceled ABC series "Pushing Daisies", told reporters that the final episode of the series offers fans a small resolution, but not as grand as the ending Bryan Fuller originally had planned. [SCI FI Wire]
- Mark Sheppard talks about his brief guest-star role as Mr. Valda on "Warehouse 13". [SCI FI Wire]
- SCI FI Wire has a nice run-down of all the SF&F shows/movies running this summer on both Cable and Broadcast. Check it out here.
- Zoë Green has been tapped to write "The Diamond Age" for SCI FI from producer George Clooney. The project is based on the Hugo Award-winning 1995 novel "The Diamond Age: Or a Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer" by Neal Stephenson. [Variety]
- "Fire", originally scheduled to be the fourth episode of "SGU: Stargate Universe", has been extended to a two-parter. The episodes will be called "Darkness" and "Light". [Gateworld]
- Alan Tudyk, who has a role in ABC’s "V", will be back next season for Fox’s "Dollhouse". [Blast Magazine]
- ABC is bringing back the sci-fi comedy "Better off Ted" for a summer run. The six episodes remaining from its midseason run will air Tuesday’s at 9:00pm beginning on June 23rd. ABC ordered 13 more episodes of the show for next season, where it’s scheduled to be paired with "Scrubs" in midseason. [Variety]
- Casting spoiler for "Lost"–highlight to view: Carlton Cuse confirmed that Claire will be returning next season: "Damon and I are very excited to bring Claire back to the show," says Carlton Cuse, "and even more excited for people to experience just how she will return." [EW]
- Read more from "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" creator/producer Josh Friedman about the show’s cancellation at his blog.
SCI FI RATINGS
CHART (5/25/2009 to 5/31/2009)
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Look for part 2, with all the movie news in tomorrow’s Sci-Fi Sunday.
Follow Russ on his blog: Your Entertainment Now and on Twitter: Twitter.com/YourEntNow.
Hmm… Wat about fringe
they could had did a better job with photoshopping the CW Posters
This is only part 1? Mr. Calabria, you are a workaholic, and God bless you for it! You do an excellent job with this column every week, sir!
I am still waiting for a Journeyman DVD release. My Dish Network HDD crashed & I lost everything I had been saving. Am I all alone on this?
I am so excited about the Plan, V and Virtuality. I just hope the V remake is as good as BSG vs as bad as the Bionic Woman.
I am happy Sci-Fi is making a comeback; hopefully the new ST movie will bring in new sci-fi fans that will give some of these new shows a chance.
Arrrrgh – It kills me what NBC did to Kings! DX
Pretty stoked about seeing some Dean Stockwell and Edward James Olmos scenes in the BSG movie though – at least there is ONE television network that can get behind a series out there!
– 24th CRS!
Why did they stick Lois’ head on Lana’s body? That was stupid….really bad photoshop on their part.
Reaper was above Smallville and Supernatural, but they cancel Reaper.
Go figure.
Rosario:
Great as always.
Would’ve been nice to throw in a mention to David Carradine, whom many of us original Trekkies grew up with in “Kung Fu” in the ’70s. He died last week in Bangkok under strange circumstances.
He was a fine “Frankenstein” in Roger Corman’s “Deathrace 2000” alongside a pre-Rocky Sly Stallone. He revived his relevance with Q. Tarantino’s “Kill Bill” films.
Would be nice to see a ‘shout-out’ here.
#8. That was an original airing of Reaper versus repeats of both Smallville and Supernatural.
Does anyone else think its insane that the SciFi airing of “The Plan” is a 38 MINUTES SHORTER! Why bother?
See? Even Eliza Dushku knows that people like to use their DVR’s and their Hulu’s and their iTunes! Sheesh! Why can’t the network execs figure that out? People don’t like “appontment tv” they like to watch tv on their own schedule! Get a clue networks! And stop canceling perfectly good shows!
“”I have to tell you right now, Dean Stockwell is a brilliant artist,” Olmos said.”
No, I’m not old enough to have seen this first time around, but I remember seeing Stockwell, then a child actor, as little Nickie – the son of Nick and Nora Charles in the very last “Thin Man” movie when I was a kid. Got an education on those one summer thanks to KTVT, channel 11, DFW. I got a kick yrs later seeing him on Quantum Leap and now this.
I don’t think “Chuck” can get a 22-episode order even “depending on ratings”, since the show won’t return until mid-season (by which time a “full season order” is a moot point.)
12. Andy Patterson
To me, it’s kind of funny to see a mention of Dean Stockwell about this time. One of our local stations here in L.A. has been running episodes of Night Gallery, and I saw one the other day that guest-starred Stockwell as a man whose wife (played by Sally Field) is continually “inhabited” by the spirits of the dead. He was pretty good, having to portray a man who loves his wife, but is more or less helpless to do anything for her.
Reaper is more than a “fun little show.” It deserves more life on another network. Sci-Fi channel… wake up.
As for the “V” re-imagining, where’s Kenneth Johnson in all this??? He was supposedly working on a movie re-boot.
I’m really burned up about TSCC’s cancellation.
I’m reminded of a plaque that hangs on the wall of some anonymous CEO:”I make over 250 decisions every day; all of them wrong”
Prettymuch sums up our managerial class these days; on wallstreet AND in Hollywood.
just sayin’
Wow, the first Doctor Who in HD! Took long enough.
I don’t think that was a fair comment by whoever it was that said that “the audiences don’t overlap” with respect to putting Fringe on Thursday. While I could give rats shorts about Gey’s Anatomy, I rather like CSI (only the original) and am still enjoying it even with the cast shift over the past few years.
I was going to even say that maybe that was true 20-30 years ago, but I can recall being 10-11 and enjoying both Quincy and Battlestar Galactica (as well as, of course, TOS reruns on local UHF channels … remember UHF?).
Ok, I completely lost track of my point. I guess my point is I’m odd :D
I still miss the character “Pete” from Smallville… from a million seasons ago, granted, but he was still awesome. Whatever happened to that kid, anyways? Anyone remember?
And my dad and I will be so happy if Reaper ends up not being cancelled! We have SciFi channel, so that wouldn’t be a problem. It’s a very funny, clever, engaging show. I would hate to see it go like Dead Zone and The 4400 did.
Still mad about Tennant leaving Doctor Who. Don’t know if I’ll ever get over it, haha.
RE: TSCC blog entry
Yeah, anyone who watches Big Bang is NEVER welcome in my home…
14
Interesting. Loved Night Gallery. Ok….I didn’t love it…it wasn’t that good but all part of that nostalgiac past.
#4 Bob, I’m with you on Journeyman. The show was just getting good and NBC cancels it. You would think they would have cashed in with a DVD set by now. Maybe there are unaired episodes that can finally explain what was happening to him.
Also, I hope someone picks up Reaper, that show was well written and had some great characters. I watched it from the beginning.
22. Mike Ten… “I’m with you on Journeyman. The show was just getting good and NBC cancels it. You would think they would have cashed in with a DVD set by now. Maybe there are unaired episodes that can finally explain what was happening to him.”
No, NBC burned off the remaining episodes during Christmas week that year. We learned that the secret government group thought he was the last time-traveler, but they didn’t know about Moon Bloodgood’s character.
Paramount, here’s a great idea for you for a new Trek series…. Okay, get this: the entire series covers the part of young Jim Kirk’s life leading up to the moment in the movie when he decides to join Starfleet. It’s in the future, but to make the characters more relatable to preteen girls, there’s no spaceflight, no aliens, and no Starfleet uniforms.
It’s set entirely on the Iowan farm (don’t worry, we can film it in Vancouver) where his Mom is trying to raise him after his father’s death. Young Jimmy moons after young Carol Marcus, but she has eyes only for the town dandy, rich con man Harcourt Fenton Mudd. We’ll talk all the time about how special and destined for great things Kirk is, and maybe throw fans a bone by giving him a gold shirt every now and then or by playing a few bars from the classic TV series theme as he gazes wistfully at the stars from his stepdad’s barn.
And guest stars! Takei and Nichols and Koening can turn up in bit parts now and then, as figures in his town. We’d save Shatner for a sweeps week appearance as Grandpa Tiberius or something. Maybe work Nimoy in there someplace, to, or at least his voice speaking to Kirk from some weird transmissions from space…
6. 24th Century Rockstar
Missing Kings, but looking forward to seeing the rest of the episodes this summer.
9. AJ
See this week’s Sci-Fi Movies Sunday. No slight intended.
10. MvRojo
I was very surprised by that as well. Kinda pointless if you ask me.
13. Thorny
Actually, NBC is on record stating that they would pick up the back-nine and run the show through summer if the ratings were good. I wrote about it in last week’s SFS.
#24
Iowa: The Early Years
Good to hear The Doctor’s face might be going back into the title sequence of Doctor Who. I feel it set part of the moody tone of the show seeing the Doc’s face emerging from the Vortex from the Troughton era until the Baker-2 era. I was less keen on having Baker-2’s Doc smile and McCoy’s Doc winking.
Scrubs? re-runs right? isn’t that show finally done?
ABC is bringing back the sci-fi comedy “Better off Ted” for a summer run. The six episodes remaining from its midseason run will air Tuesday’s at 9:00pm beginning on June 23rd. ABC ordered 13 more episodes of the show for next season, where it’s scheduled to be paired with “Scrubs” in midseason. [Variety]
jorDe’ – June 6, 2009
but they cancel Reaper.
I’m a bit late, but this is the first I’ve heard, damn, I don’t want it to go cable….in my market…the Toronto-Buffalo corridor, you don’t need it and I only have an antenna, so I hope Reaper stays network.
Glad I pvr’d the season finale….now I won’t delete it until I find out if it’s coming back.