Sci-Fi TV Sunday: Caprica, Chuck, FlashForward, Fringe, Heroes, Lost, + more

In Sci-Fi TV this week we’ve got you covered for the returns of Heroes, Chuck and Fringe, plus the Syfy premiere of BSG: The Plan, as well as some details on a possible continuation of LOST.  We also have the latest news for the new season of Doctor Who and the upcoming prequel series Caprica. All that and more, including the latest television ratings, casting bites, images and videos.

GENRE TV NEWS

ABC Considering Some Sort of LOST Spin Off + Lost "Last Supper" Pics
ABC appears to be considering a spin-off series to the soon to conclude "LOST":

"We’ve been talking about this for a couple of years now," says ABC marketing exec VP Mike Benson. "We want to keep it alive but make sure we maintain the integrity of the franchise. We’re not about milking this thing for all that it is right now; it’s important to see this live for years to come."

"What ‘Lost’ becomes after it ends its run is up in the air," Benson says. "It really depends on who comes in to interpret it next."

But the creative team behind the show, executive producers Carlont Cuse and Damon Lindelof, have made it clear they are against any sort of continuation:

THR: Do you have any plans to pitch a new show, on ABC or elsewhere, for next season?

Lindelof: No. We don’t. The world works in mysterious ways, but our full-time job for the last six years has been coming in here and working 70- to 80-hour weeks on "Lost." The idea of going back into the fray Brett Favre-style is not alluring to us. When we finish "Lost" we will disappear to our undisclosed locations then think about things for a while.

Cuse: I think the one thing that’s pretty certain is neither of us have a great [urge] to do something that’s this dense, sprawling and serialized. You need to exercise different creative muscles.

However, ultimately the decision to continue the franchise rests with its owner:

Cuse: The Walt Disney Co. owns "Lost." It’s a franchise that’s conservatively worth billions of dollars. It’s hard to imagine "Lost" will rest on the shelves and nothing will ever be made with "Lost." Eventually somebody will make something under the moniker of "Lost" — whether we do it or not. We just made a commitment to this group of characters whose stories are coming to a conclusion this May.

Lindelof: Somebody made a sequel to "Gone With the Wind." Sometimes the franchise transcends the storyteller. The definitive edition of "Lost" ends this May on ABC, and that is the story that we have to tell. It has a beginning, middle and end. That ending will not have cliffhangers, or be set up in such a way that people will be saying, "Clearly they’re going to make more of these." We don’t have any connection to another TV series or movie, but there’s a new "A-Team" movie coming out, for god’s sake. This is a business that thrives on known commodities. "Tron" is the most buzzed-about Disney movie for next year, and it has been gathering dust for 20 years. I cannot imagine there will not be something with "Lost" on it involving smoke monsters and polar bears and time travel.

Included below are two high resolution "Last Supper" promo images.  After checking out the photos, head on over to the NY Times for an article decoding the two images. And rounding out the week’s "LOST" news, DarkUFO reports that episode 11 will be Desmond centric and we’ll get to see Room 23 and Widmore again, while Ian Somerhalder (Boone) talked about his return to the series. "LOST" premieres its sixth season on Tuesday, February 2nd at 9:00 p.m. [Lily Ford Blog]

Mr. Cluck’s Commericial featuring Hurly (Jorge Garcia) [YouTube]

Heroes’ Greg Grunberg Confident Series Will Return; NBC Says Decision Hasn’t Been Made Yet
Maybe this won’t be the last season of NBC’s "Heroes" afterall.  Speaking at the Television Critics Association winter press tour, NBC executive Angela Bromstad said that no decision about the future of the show has been made yet and said the network will hear a pitch for the show’s fifth season from creator Tim Kring before deciding on its fate.  If they ultimately decide against renewing, then the fourth season finale will serve as the series finale (production on season four has already wrapped).  For his part, star Greg Grunberg says he doesn’t expect this season to be the show’s last, especially since the finale "wouldn’t serve as an appropriate series finale.":

"To properly wrap up our show, which absolutely has to happen, we have to come back and do some more episodes. Without question." "They make so much money on the show that they’ve got to finish it off," he says. "People want that and will demand it, which means we’ll probably end up doing it."

And although the show isn’t doing so well in the ratings, TorrentFreak reports that the show is the #1 most-pirated series (worldwide) with 6.58 million downloads.  As expected, sci-fi/genre programming is well-represented in the list:

1. Heroes—5,900,000 actual viewers vs. 6,580,000 downloads
2. Lost—11,050,000 actual viewers vs. 6,310,000 downloads
8. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles—6,340,000 actual viewers vs. 1,960,000 downloads
10. True Blood—12,400,000 actual viewers vs. 1,600,000 downloads

Finally, check out an interview with star Masi Oka (Hiro) at Fancast. "Heroes" returns to its original Monday at 9:00 p.m. time slot starting tomorrow.  Check out descriptions for episodes 15 (Jan. 11th) and 16 (Jan. 18th) at Heroes Television.

Episode 4×15 – "Close to You" [more at SpoilerTV]

FlashForward March Return Delayed By Two Weeks
ABC is delaying the return of new episodes of the sci-fi series "FlashForward" by two weeks.  The show was originally expected to return on March 4th, but will now come back with new episodes starting on March 18th (regular timeslot of Thursday’s at 8:00 p.m.).  The remaining 13 episodes of the season are still expected to run without interruption and two weeks will see two hours (March 18th and the season finale):

"The network came to us, but we agreed with it that it was better," co-creator David Goyer said. "I’d rather wait a couple months and come back and just air all 13 in a row than deal with all the pre-emptions. I feel like over the last few years, that’s something that network television audiences have kind of gotten used to anyway. Certainly Lost or 24 or Prison Break have been doing it, so I feel like it’s not like we’re doing something that’s never been done before."

The delay also means the episode dealing with the April 29th date foretold in the flashforwards may no longer fall on that date:

"We don’t know," Goyer said. "When we were originally coming back on March 4, that was still possible. That may be one of the casualties of American Idol. We had obviously always intended on that. In most of the foreign countries, April 29th wasn’t going to coincide. We’re trying to see if we can still engineer that, given our slightly shifting schedule."

Although ratings have fallen steadily since the premiere, producers will try to take advantage of the extra time to catch up potential viewers.  A DVD of the first volume of season one is scheduled to come out on February 23rd and producers are also planning a recap show to air before the March 18th premiere.  Goyer also revealed that he recently pitched the network on a potential season two:

"We just pitched season two to the network right before this," Goyer said. "[It went] well. We’re excited about season two. I will say there’s no way we could do season two without havi    ng set up season one, but season two is pretty cool. I hope we get to do it."

BBC Hypes Up New Doctor Who
David Tennant and Russell T. Davies’ ties to "Doctor Who" may have come to an end on a high note (a 3rd best 10.4M tuned into "The End of Time, Part 2"), but BBC head of communications Julian Payne says they remain "hugely committed" to the new season, spearheaded by new showrunner (Steven Moffat) and Doctor #11 (Matt Smith) [via io9]:

“I think new writer Steven Moffat has a big challenge following such a successful and popular Doctor – but he’s an excellent choice and if anyone can fill Russell T Davies’ shoes, then he’s the man to do it.

“It’s a challenge for Matt Smith too, but judging by his appearance, it does seem that he’s got the energy and quirkiness.

“Nothing lasts forever and Doctor Who has been phenomenally successful, but even if it were to drop a couple of million viewers, it would still be the pick of most TV dramas.”

“We can absolutely assure fans of the show that the investment in the new series, in terms of the money and talent that has gone into it, is unparalleled.

In other news, the latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine contains the line-up of writers for the fifth season of the show [via Den of Geek].  New showrunner Steven Moffat will write six of the 13 episodes next season, while Chris Chibnall will write a two-parter and Mark Gatiss, Gareth Robets, Toby Whithouse, Richard Curtis and Simon Nye will each write one episode.

Matt Smith promo stills [more at Blogtor Who]

David Tennant to Matt Smith transition promo still [Den of Geek]

Chuck Premieres This Sunday, January 10th
"Chuck"
premieres its third season tonight with two back-to-back episodes (9:00-11:00 p.m. on NBC) followed up by regular installments on Monday starting tomorrow (8:00 p.m.).  Here are episode descriptions for the first three episodes:

Episode 3.01 – “Chuck vs. the Pink Slip”: WITH HIS NEW INTERSECT ABILITIES, Chuck NOW WANTS TO BE A REAL SPY BUT NOBODY SAID THAT WAS GOING TO BE EASY—As the upgraded Intersect, Chuck (Zachary Levi) trains to become a full-fledged spy but hits rock bottom when he flunks out of spy school and loses Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski) in the process. Meanwhile, Morgan (Joshua Gomez) comes home from Benihana School to help Chuck get over Sarah. Adam Baldwin, Sarah Lancaster, Ryan McPartlin, Vik Sahay and Scott Krinsky also star.

Episode 3.02 – “Chuck vs. the Three Words”: Chuck MUST LEARN TO CONTROL HIS EMOTIONS SO HE CAN BE A SPY. EVEN IF HE’S STILL IN LOVE WITH Sarah—VINNIE JONES (”SNATCH”) GUEST STARS—Chuck (Zachary Levi) gets a new mission when Sarah’s (Yvonne Strahovski) best friend Carina comes through town with her fiancé Karl (guest star Vinnie Jones). Things get complicated when Chuck wants to hash out his and Sarah’s relationship problems while they’re on the mission. Meanwhile, Morgan (Joshua Gomez) finds himself in trouble when he lies to Jeff (Scott Krinsky) and Lester (Vik Sahay). Mark Christopher Lawrence also stars.

Episode 3.03 – “Chuck vs. the Angel de la Muerte”: Chuck ALWAYS PROTECTS HIS FAMILY FROM HIS SPY LIFE BUT CAN’T STOP Ellie AND AWESOME FROM STUMBLING INTO AN INTERNATIONAL INCIDENT—ARMAND ASSANTE (”AMERICAN GANGSTER”) GUEST STARS—Chuck (Zachary Levi) must use his relationship with Awesome (Ryan McPartlin) to protect a visiting dictator, Premier Goya (guest star Armand Assante), who is the target of an assassination. While Awesome is excited about the prospect of being a spy, Chuck (Zachary Levi) is more concerned about Awesome and Ellie’s (Sarah Lancaster) safety. Yvonne Strahovski and Adam Baldwin also star.

Meanwhile, Michael Ausiello of EW offers some highlights from episodes four (January 18th) and five (January 25th):

"Chuck vs. Operation Awesome"

  • "Fight Club" homage
  • Someone is fired and some is promoted
  • A spy is shot

"Chuck vs. First Class"

  • Chuck’s first solo mission involves "a scary bald man and Kristin Kreuk"
  • Someone gets drugged at the Buy More
  • Diamond’s play a role in Shaw’s (Brandon Routh) backstory

Check out interviews with stars Zachary Levi, Yvonne Strahovski and Mark Christopher Lawrence and co-creator Josh Schwartz. And finally, NBC has released the official synopses for episodes four and five, which you can read here and here.

Sneak peek at 3×02 – "Chuck Versus The Three Words" [YouTube]

Zap2It interview with guest star Brandon Routh [YouTube]

Zap2It interview with Zachary Levi (Chuck) [YouTube]

Watch another interview with Levi here

Season three preview [YouTube]

Honda / Olympics promo [YouTube]

Both Ghost Whisperer and Medium In Contention for Renewal at CBS
CBS president of entertainment Nina Tassler told reporters at the Television Critics Association winter press tour on Saturday that the network’s two Friday night supernatural-themed shows: "Ghost Whisperer" and "Medium", are in the running for renewals:

"Medium is doing fine, and it will absolutely be considered for next year," Tassler said, adding that "Ghost Whisperer" is "absolutely in consideration for next year."

Tasler also cited strong numbers for the returns of both shows this past Friday:

"We had season highs last night on Friday," Tassler said. "I’m not complaining from last night’s numbers. We still program for Friday night. It’s clear we have two shows there with Ghost Whisperer and with Medium that have a good flow from one into the other, so we will continue to program there for Friday night. For us, we still see opportunities."

Producers Talk Caprica + Battlestar Galactica: The Plan Airs Tonight on Syfy
"
Caprica" executive producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick and co-executive producer Jane Espenson talked about the upcoming "Battlestar Galactica" prequel series with The Daily Beast.  Here are some excerpts:

“[Caprica] continues on the thematic aspects of Battlestar in terms of what it means to be human, how our personal, familiar, emotional decisions can have sociological or political impact, and that… the greatest wrinkles in our culture and our history can be boiled down to an emotional response to something,” said Eick. “It’s an ironic sort of commentary that small, personal motivations are what contribute to the biggest changes in society.”

“It’s got a very different flavor,” said Moore of Caprica. “It’s setting out to tell a very different story… It’s planet-based, instead of space-based, it’s not action-adventure, it’s much more centered on two families than a military environment. We wanted it to be much more about contemporary society and problems that are coming up on a social front as well as a technological front.”

Moore also hopes to attract a larger fanbase than the core 1.5-2M or so viewers who tuned into "Battlestar Galactica" on a regular basis:

“One of the frustrations we found on Battlestar was just getting people to sample it,” said Moore. “There was a barrier to particularly female viewers, who just wouldn’t tune in to a show that was about people on spaceships…. I always felt that that was a really artificial barrier to entry. We wanted to create a piece that was definitely a science-fiction piece but make entry easier: Make a society that looks like our society, let people talk more like us, make it much more contemporary-feeling.”

Check out the complete article here and another interview with Jane Espenson here. In related news, tonight is the Syfy premiere of the recently released DVD/Blu-ray movie "Battlestar Galactica: The Plan".  The two-hour movie airs tonight from 9:00-11:00 p.m.

Watch a clip from episode two – "The Reins of a Waterfall" [The Daily Beast]


NEW IMAGES

Dollhouse

Series finale – "Epitaph Two: Return" [FOX]

More images: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11

Fringe

Diane Kruger on the set of Fringe [I’m Not Obsessed]

Smallville

"Absolute Justice" (9×12-9×13) poster [OSCK]

The Survivors

Season two promotional stills [Den of Geek]

True Blood

Sam Trammell on the set of True Blood [more at I’m Not Obsessed]

CASTING BITES

  • Previously on TrekMovie: Scott Bakula returning to NBC’s Chuck
  • Greg Grunberg will reprise his role as Seth Norris, the captain of Oceanic flight 815 on "Lost": "It’s actually a voiceover thing I was able to do in L.A. People are going to like hearing me as the Captain." [TV Guide Magazine]
  • Comic-book legend Stan Lee will guest star in an upcoming episode of the CBS comedy "The Big Bang Theory": "He’s going to be [playing himself,] Stan Lee. He’s going to be doing his autograph session at a comic-book store, and he’s going to have a run-in with Sheldon."
  • Kevin Alejandro ("Southland") has joined the cast of Alan Ball’s vampire drama "True Blood".  Alejandro is expected to appear in nearly every episode of the series.  He’ll play Jesus, a Latino orderly who is taking care of Ruby Jean Reynolds (Alfre Woodard) at her care facility and becomes involved with her son, Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis).

TV BITES

  • FX is expected to pick up the TV rights to James Cameron’s "Avatar". The cost of the deal is reported to be between $25 an $30 million. [LA Times]
  • As expected, the President’s state of the union address won’t pre-empt the February 2nd sixth season premiere of ABC’s "Lost". [WSJ]
  • Mark Valley talks about the upcoming Fox drama "Human Target", which is based on a DC Comics series by Len Wein and Carmine Infantino. Valley plays the lead character, Christopher Chance. [SCI FI Wire]
  • MTV is in talks to acquire the rights to George Romero’s "Dawn of the Dead" for a spin-off TV series. [Bloody Disgusting via /Film]
  • Alexis Denisof ("Angel") talks about a supernatural pilot "Pretty Little Liars", he shot that ABC is considering for its fall schedule. [SCI FI Wire]
  • Justin Hartley of "Smallville" says he expects the relationship between his character Green Arrow the character Speedy (guest star Elise Gatien) to be "more of a ‘big brother’ dynamic"… [Fancast]
  • …Check out the official synopsis for the episode "Disciple" at KryptonSite.
  • NBC’s "Day One" episode order is getting smaller..again.  First it was a season, then it was a miniseries and now it’ll be just a TV movie: "Day One is going to air as a two-hour movie," NBC president of prime-time entertainment Angela Bromstad said. "We looked at after V launched and after FlashForward launched with a strong initial thing. We didn’t want to come on after that. As we sat down with [executive producer] Jesse [Alexander] and talked about more of the mythology, there’s just concern about sustaining that." [SCI FI Wire]
  • "True Blood" creator Alan Ball says the third season of the hit HBO series will track closely with the events of the books, "at the beginning at least". [BuzzmyMultimedia]
  • Check out the official press release for "What Lies Below", the upcoming 12th episode of "Fringe" set to air on Thursday, January 21st. [SpoilerTV]
  • Speaking of which, "Fringe" returns tomorrow with a special airing at 9:00 p.m. (leading out of "House") followed by another episode on Thursday ("Johari").  Watch both promos, and and additional video, below.

Promo for "Unearthed" [YouTube]

Promo for "Johari" [YouTube]

"Observer Explained" [YouTube]

MISC VIDEOS

Battlestar Galactica

Battlestar Galactica / Dollhouse Mashup [via SCI FI Wire]

SCI-FI RATINGS (Based on final national numbers unless otherwise noted) [@TravisYanan]

CHART (12/21/2009 to 12/27/2009)

CHART (12/28/2009 to 1/3/2010)


Follow Russ on his blog: Your Entertainment Now and on Twitter: Twitter.com/YourEntNow.

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Can’t wait for Fringe and Heroes! Hopefully this’ll be better than previous episodes.. Again, hopefully. I want to see Sylar slittin’ open some brains. Seriously, man.

First? Second? :D

Stan Lee guesting on Big Bang Theory? SUH-WEET!!!

Hah, LOST totally ripped off that last supper idea from Battlestar Galactica

Can’t wait for Fringe, Lost, Caprica, Smallville, Big Bang, Stargate Universe (no news?), House, Dollhouse, Big Bang…

I watch too much tv these days!

Oh, and I’ve giving Heroes one more chance, the last 2 episodes were worthy.

Not that it matters anymore, but I still want more Defying Gravity!!

#3

How about the M*A*S*H movie? They did it first.

WHAT ABOUT NEW RED DWARF?????

re: return of ‘Chuck:’

Um, please correct me if I am wrong, but isn’t today, Sunday, January the 10th (not the 11th as reported in this article).

Thank god I might get another season of Heroes! But I think the immediate concern is what was Sylar doing outside Claire’s window…

Anyway! Fringe is great and The Big Bang Theory is hilarious! I’m excited for the epic Stan Lee and Sheldon showdown! :)

I think I might watch one more episode of FlashForward but I am at the point of not caring about the characters as many of them I find unlikeable.

Might watch Fringe sometime but not now

I am a Star Trek fan, not a JJ Abrams fan.

Looking forward to the new season of Doctor Who, I will miss David Tennant and he was one of my fav Doctors along with Tom Baker and Patrick Troughton, but then again I like all the Doctors.

I think Matt Smith will be good, love the new outfit.

guess I am the only who does not for Fringe

As much as I am sad to see Dollhouse going off air its sure going down in style and with a bang. The last episode blew my mind. I hate the state TV’s in, all of the good shows get over looked and it seems like most of the lame, drawn out shows. The idea of a Dawn of the Dead show could be cool. I dont think Ive ever heard of a zombie apocalypse series before. Too bad its MTV doing it. I’d still check it out, though.

Great article you guys put together for us hapless, square-eyed folks at the other side of the screen…

Looking forward to so many of those shows, and like one of the first commenters.. SGU too, but no news on that? Slow-burner that one, but the final act of episode 1.10 was cracking stuff. More so, seeing as it was Stargate.

LOST, of course, is the huge one this year. I can just imagine all the hype and news coverage about the Series Finale. What a show!

Also looking forward to hopefully less lazy writing in the new Doctor Who (I was ill when I saw the Time Lords in the ‘Senate’ from The Phantom Menace etc.). Stephen Moffatt seems like a nice guy – so good look to him.

I’m enjoying Heroes more this year, but the lack of continuity in the show hurts my brain.

Fringe is a good show, but needs to be less X-Files, IMHO.

I think I’ve already said too much, so I’m outta here!

cheers!

If you look at the previous serieses of Doctor Who, Stephen Moffatt has written the best episodes by far, including the best of all new-Who episodes, Blink. Although Davis wrote some epic episodes, I am looking forward to some consistant excellance in the new series from Moffatt. I’m not worried at all!

NBC’s having cancelled Jay Leno (or “moved” him, whatever) out of the 10 pm slots opens time for up to 5 hours of scripted drama. If they really want Caprica to have a wide audience, I challenge them to air it there instead of burying it alive on SciFi.

Perhaps they can run off KINGS again in one of the timeslots in the summer. It did hella better than Leno, after all.

@3 Not only did they rip off the Galactica Last Supper… they’ve got everyone staring at the camera. At least Galactica’s cast “got into the spirit of things”.

If you’re going to rip off daVinci and Galactica… at least do like Galactica and bring something different to the game.

It’s been too long for me to want to revisit the Galactica-verse. I really enjoyed the series, but IMHO, it’s been played out. Planet based? No space travel? More contemporary,& they talk (even more) like us? BOOORING. Why not just put this thing on Oprah’s network and have it star the cast of “30-Something” with special guest star Ted McGinley. Pfeh.

I want Heroes to end this season!
No more Heroes, it’s ridiculous!
Let Zach get on with his life!

After all the hype,”The Plan” was a huge letdown.
Big revelations/explanations?
None of the above. Just a “Back to the Future II” type plot with nowhere near as much fleshing out.

@18 — You’re right, “The Plan” was a waste of time. I dozed off repeatedly only to awaken to more boredom. It was nice to go back to that universe, until the third or fourth big “dramatic staring” moment before commercials.

What was “the plan” anyway? To bore humans to death?

Chuck was cool last night, I’m looking forward to more of that. However, the rest of genre tv on now holds no appeal for me whatsoever.

Really excited about LOST! Re-watching all of seasons 3-5 to prepare!

Caprica’s gonna bomb. I’m still gonna give it a try though.

Ugh. ABC’s really talking a LOST spin-off? Bad, bad, BAD idea. If it happens, I’ll boycott it on principle.

It’s a brilliant piece of television as is (and no matter how it ends): truly one of the most complex, addictive and utterly mesmerizing hunks of epic storytelling in the history of broadcast TV. Maybe THE most.

Quote:
>>”What ‘Lost’ becomes after it ends its run is up in the air,” Benson says.

All it should become is legend — nothing else! A spin-off would cheapen the amount of effort and intrigue that went into creating this story…

NOT liking the looks so far at the new (Smith) Dr Who!. Another good show taking a bad turn. Maybe they’ll learn like NBC did with Leno…

Reading Ronald D. Moore’s quotes about BSG, I can confess that I was one of the people who was slightly pushed-off by the idea of a remake of Battlestar Galactica. Being a resident of Ireland, however, and having been exposed to it only through Sky TV (aka BSKYB UK or Sky One), the way it was marketed had a lot to do with my apprehension. It was only until my brother, who was similarly apprehensive, was given a DVD of the pilot by his old friend (and fellow Star Trek fan) that he was made to see the light, and thus, so was I. Battlestar Galactica is a seriously quality show, but how Sky were advertising it made it look like trash. It was such good quality that I was practically addicted. Something I’d not felt about a Science Fiction television show since The Next Generation or Space: Above And Beyond (the later shows, as the earlier ones were a similar experience to those of BSG).

In short, Ronald D. Moore need not worry. Having seen Caprica’s pilot, albeit through not quite legitimate sources since it’s not available through means that I’m aware of in Ireland, yet (I just couldn’t wait), he’s got nothing to worry about in terms of the show’s quality. He just needs to make sure the right kind of word gets out there to his target audience.

Does anyone else think Flash Forward suffers from unlikeable characters and dreadful dialogue?

Is anyone else not seeing the video links? All I see is a blank white box with a red X in the upper left corner. What’s going on?

Yep 28. Blank boxes and red X’s everywhere.

I think Matt Smith will do well as the good Doctor. New TARDIS interiors and the throwback exterior look pretty good as well. We may one day be lamenting Smiths departure as much as Tennant’s now.

I would also, still like to see a Paul McGann timewar episode in flashback or a stand alone movie showing us how the timelords were “time locked” by the Doctor.

Still have red X’s everywhere – what’s going on with the links?