In Sci-Fi TV this week we have lots of news coming from Syfy with renewal news from Eureka, special X-Mas episodes for Eureka and Warehouse 13, and a new show from Syfy too. There are also new tidbits for the upcoming seasons of Smallville and Fringe. All that plus the latest television ratings, casting bites and new images and video previews, including looks at the Lost Season 6 special features.
GENRE TV NEWS
Syfy renews Eureka for fifth season + orders special X-Mas episodes of Eureka & W13 + previews
We start off with news on Syfy’s summer shows. Syfy has given an early fifth season renewal to its hit dramedy "Eureka":
“Eureka remains a steadfast performer for Syfy with its superb cast and perfect blend of drama, comedy and eye candy,” said Mark Stern, Executive Vice President of Original Programming, Syfy and Co-Head of Content for Universal Cable Productions. “Given what Jaime, Bruce and their entire team have done collectively to reinvent the show this year, we can’t wait to see what’s in store for season 5.”
The show has averaged 2.40 million viewers and a 0.7 A18-49 rating, but those numbers increase to more than 3 million viewers a week when time-shifted data is included (otherwise known as live + 7-day.
Syfy has also ordered special holiday episodes of "Warehouse 13" and "Eureka" that will air this December:
On Warehouse 13, Pete and Myka will go on a mission to hunt down "a malevolent Santa Claus." Meanwhile, in time for Hanukkah, Artie and his estranged father, Isadore Weisfelt, reunite after 30 years. Hirsch will be appear as Artie’s father, and Blackthorne will play a businessman terrorized by a thief dressed up as Saint Nick.
On Eureka, "as the Global Dynamics employees celebrate the season at the company holiday party, staff member Dr. Noah Drummer (Chris Parnell) nearly absconds with a volatile experiment. The halls get seriously decked when Dr. Drummer’s unstable hydrogen crystal starts to grow at a frightening rate."
Judd Hirsch will guest star in the episode of "Warehouse 13" playing the estranged father of Artie, while SNL alum Chris Parnell will guest star on "Eureka" playing a Global Dynamics scientist "who endangers more than the office Christmas party when one of his experiments goes, to put it mildly, awry." Matt Frewer will also return as the character Taggert in the "Eureka" episode. And don’t forget to tune in tonight (8/17/2010) to see Lindsay Wagner ("The Bionic Woman") makes her premiere as Dr. Calder tonight W13.
Promo for episode "Eureka" episode 4×07 – "Stoned" [YouTube]
Promotional stills for "Warehouse 13" [more at IGN]
Promo for "Warehouse 13" episode 2×07 – "For the Team" [Syfy]
Bryan Fuller pilot picked up by Syfy
In other Syfy news, the network has ordered a pilot from Bryan Fuller ("Pushing Daisies", "Dead Like Me", "Star Trek: Voyager") called "The Lotus Caves", based on John Christopher’s popular novel of the same name:
The show will be based upon the popular book The Lotus Caves by John Christopher, about colonists who rebel against the rigidity of their lunar colony by exploring beyond its proscribed boundaries and discovering a series of caves ruled by a super-intelligent, alien species.
Former "Pushing Daisies" writer Jim Grey will co-write the script with Fuller.
Joshua Jackson talks Fringe season three
"Fringe" star Joshua Jackson revealed that it may be some time before Peter and Walter discover their Olivia is in the "over there" universe:
“The culmination of the first half of the [new] season is going to be that reveal," Jackson told Fancast.
But that’s not to say there won’t be hints:
"Bolivia – as in ‘Olivia B’ – is much closer to Peter’s personality… so I think he is more naturally sympatico with that woman than he is with… ‘extra tasty/crispy Olivia’?"
Watch Fancast’s interview with Jackson in the player below and check out an interview with co-star John Noble (Walter) here.
In other news, episode 3×03 will be called "The Plateau". "Fringe" premieres its third season on Thursday, September 23. Fox is repeating the final five episodes of season two leading up to the premiere: "White Tulip" (Aug. 26), "The Man from the Other Side" (Sept. 2), "Northwest Passage" (Sept. 9) and the two-part season finale "Over There" (Sept. 16).
Season three poster (from Comic-Con) [Pop Culture Geek | flickr]
Set images [more at Skot Nelson | flickr & Vancouver Sun]
Season three promo [YouTube]
Set video [YouTube via FringeWatch]
Smallville: Chloe in Smallville opening + S10 preview
Allison Mack has moved from a series regular to a recurring character for Smallville’s 10th season, but according to EW she will reprise her role as Chloe in the season premiere and we will see her put on Dr. Fate’s helmet (you can see her holding the helmet in the preview below). And executive producer Brian Peterson tells Fancast Episode 200 will "explore a little bit of the past, the present and the future. We kind of do a little look back to where we’ve been, and we also take a look at where Clark is going,"
In Smallville casting news, TV Guide reports General Sam Lane (Michael Ironside) and Lucy Lane (Peyton List), the father and sister, respectively, of Lois Lane (Erica Durance) will both be making a return appearance in an October episode. And Michael Daingerfield and Steve Byers will be appearing in episode 10×03 – "Supergirl" as Desaad and Gordon Godfrey, respectively. [IMDB via SpoilerTV]
Here is the Season 10 promo[YouTube]
…and Season 10 behind-the-scenes images [more at SpoilerTV]
PREVIEW Images & Videos
Camelot
First look [more at SpoilerTV]
Chuck
Set images of Stacy Keibler (and Steve Austin) [more at Stacy Keibler | Facebook]
Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files
Sneak peek clip from "The Caretaker" [Syfy]
Futurama
Rest of season preview [the live feed]
Ghost Hunters International
Sneak peek clip from "Pirates of the Caribbean" [Syfy]
LOST
Season six blooper reel [E! Online]
Season six bonus feature: "Letting Go" [E! Online]
Season six bonus feature: "" [E! Online]
Outcasts
Promotional stills (featuring BSG’s Jamie Bamber) [more at Den of Geek]
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Season three teaser trailer [IGN]
Supernatural
Set images [more at SpoilerTV]
True Blood
Rolling Stone cover [via Comic Book Movie]
[This image was removed May 3, 2016 because Google Adsense found that it contains “strategically covered nudity” Ooh la la]
Promo for episode 3×10 – "I Smell a Rat" [YouTube]
Interview with Denis O’Hare [Wired]
V
Interview with executive producer Scott Rosenbaum [The Futon Critic]
The Vampire Diaries
Promotional stills from episode 2×01 – "The Return" [more at SpoilerTV]
Season two promo [YouTube]
Watch another promo here
TV BITES
- The fourth episode of "No Ordinary Family" will reportedly be called "No Ordinary Vigilante". [KsiteTV]
- The new "Battlestar Galactica" MMORPG will focus on the second season of the Syfy series. [Airlock Alpha]
- BBC has confirmed that the genre series "Outcasts" will launch late this year. [Airlock Alpha]
- "Chuck" star Joshua Gomez has joined Twitter. Follow him at @JoshuaEGomez…
- …Here are the titles for episodes 3×03 and 3×04 of "Chuck": "Chuck vs. the Cubic Z" and "Chuck vs. the Coup d’État"… [EW]
- …The character Greta, which will be played by various actors and actresses throughout the season, will not be in episode 4: "The Buy More is not in that episode. Chuck’s away on a mission," reveals executive producer Josh Schwartz. [EW]
- Episode 2×03 of "Human Target" will be called "Taking Ames". [SpoilerTV]
- "Caprica" season 1.0 will be released on DVD on October 5, 2010. The four-disc set will feature a sneak peek at season 1.5 of the series (which is slated to premiere in January 2011)… [Universal]
- …Speaking of "Caprica", co-creator David Eick says he doesn’t understand Syfy’s decision to delay airing the second half of the first season: "I’ve never understood the network programming rationale,” Eick said. “I don’t know why they shut the show down for as long as they did before bringing it back." [The Futon Critic via Scifi Pulse]
- Episode 2×13 of "Stargate Universe" will be called "Alliances". [SpoilerTV]
- Syfy has picked up the third season of BBC’s "Merlin" to air in the states. The new season will debut on Syfy in early 2011. "Merlin" was actually a pretty good off-network pick-up for Syfy, drawing an average of 1.28 million viewers and a 0.4 A18-49 rating for its second season (better than "Caprica" / 1.2M viewers and a 0.4 A18-49 rating). [Syfy]
- Today is your last chance to win two free tickets for "LOST: The Official Show Auction & Exhibit" taking place in Los Angeles Saturday, August 21, and Sunday, August 22. Enter for your chance to win at TVOvermind.
- Although she was in an early draft of the pilot script, there are currently no plans to have Michonne appear in the AMC series "The Walking Dead". [io9]
- The pilot episode of "The Event" features flashbacks: "The Event does tell the story in the pilot by jumping back and forth along the timelines of the characters in the show, with the welcome addition of an actual timestamp, so the viewer knows exactly how recently some of these events occurred, making it easier to piece them together." [Quiet Earth]
- "True Blood" creator Alan Balls says the fourth season of the show will introduce the character Hallow Stonebrook from Charlaine’s fourth novel, "Dead to the World". Ball reveals that the character is "actually a medium. She communicates with the dead, and she’s interested in developing further powers." [EW]
- Most of the cast and crew of "V" went back to work on the second season of the show last Thursday, August 12. New addition Jane Badler began filming Monday, August 16. [The V Files]
CASTING BITES
- Azita Ghanizada and Callum Keith Rennie have been added to the cast of the Syfy pilot "Alphas". If the show gets picked up to series, Ghanizada would play a regular role, while Rennie is just guest-starring in the episode. [Syfy]
- Bonita Friedericy, who plays General Beckman on "Chuck", has been upgraded to series regular for the show’s fourth season. [EW]
- A casting notice for episode 3×04 of "Fringe" is looking for a set of twins in their 30s to 40s described thusly in the casting call: "Think Jeremy Irons in "Dead Ringers." [TWOP via SpoilerTV]
- Steven Krueger will play a character called Reynolds in the fourth episode of the new ABC drama "No Ordinary Family". [KsiteTV]
- Joe Flanigan ("Stargate Atlantis") will star in an upcoming Syfy original movie called "The Other Side". Flanigan plays "Marine colonel stuck in a parallel dimension" and will co-star in the movie with John Rhys-Davies ("The Lord of the Rings", "Sliders"). The movie will premiere on Syfy in 2011. [Joe Flanigan | Twitter via GateWorld]
SCI-FI RATINGS (Based on final national numbers unless otherwise noted) [@TravisYanan]
True Blood
Episode 3×09 – "Everything is Broken" drew 5.00 million viewers (-2%) and a 2.8 A18-49 rating (-7%). The current season is averaging 4.82 million viewers and a 2.8 A18-49 rating.
Futurama
Episode 6×09 – "A Clockwork Origin" drew 1.93 million viewers (-1%) and a 1.0 A18-49 rating (n/c). The season six average stands at 2.21 million viewers and a 1.1 A18-49 rating. "Futurama" had a very solid premiere — 2.92M viewers and a 1.6 A18-49 rating — but has been down since, averaging 2.03M viewers and a 1.0 A18-49 rating from week 2 through week 8.
Eureka
Episode 4×06 – "Momstrosity", the post-Warehouse 13 crossover episode, held on to nearly all of its crossover audience with an average 2.52 million viewers (-2%) and a 0.8 A18-49 rating (n/c). That brings its season four average up to 2.40 million viewers and a 0.7 A18-49 rating.
Haven
After hitting a series low in A18-49 rating (and nearly hitting one in viewers), episode 1×06 – "Fur" bounced up to 2.00 million viewers (+6%) and a 0.5 A18-49 rating (+25%). The freshman drama is averaging 2.05 million viewers and a 0.6 A18-49 rating. To put these numbers in perspective, "Stargate Universe" drew an average of 2.09M viewers and a 0.9 A18-49 rating through its first six episodes, while "Caprica" drew an average of 1.23M viewers and a 0.4 A18-49 rating through its first six episodes.
Stan Lee’s Superhumans
Week two of this new History channel program remained basically even from the week prior, drawing 1.27 million viewers (-5%) and a 0.5 A18-49 rating (n/c). The season average is 1.30 million viewers and a 0.5 A18-49 rating.
CHART (8/2/2010 to 8/8/2010)
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Follow Russ on his blog: Your Entertainment Now and on Twitter: Twitter.com/YourEntNow.
yay first!
Good stuff. Man, it’s great to see this much genre on TV. I wonder, though, if the ratings aren’t there for all of it. Wonder if it’s overkill. Dunno. I hope not. But, many of these shows are smart and focused. It’s great to have em on the tube.
That’s got to be the crappiest Rolling Stone cover ever.
Question for anyone that want’s to answer…is ‘TrueBlood’ as good a show as they say or is that just hype? Mind you I’m a big ‘Trek’ fan and I’ve also liked ‘Galactica’ and ‘The Sopranos’ so maybe someone can give me the lowdown if it is worth the time to watch or if it’s just another version of ‘Twilight’ for the tube.
So very tired of Vampire shows.
I’m going to ask AGAIN. Can we please let Clark become superman since this is the last season? And I don’t mean the series finally.
FRINGE! :D
4. Well, I think so. It’s got great writing and layered characters you can care about. There’s humor and thrills and plotlines so over the top that you have to love them. On the minus side, the accents the characters use are hokey and there’s a LOT of sex that’s getting progressively more graphic as time goes by. Although I guess that could be a plus as well, depending on your point of view.
Bonita Friedericy’s promotion to series regular on “Chuck” was long overdue.
She’s married to John “Dr. Phlox” Billingsley, by the way.
4… Lots of skin and sex. Not much else going for it.
I’m with you, Phaser Guy… although I will admit I am looking forward to the upcoming ‘Dark Shadows’ movie.
Looking forward to “Fringe”, and “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” as well.
As for everything else….pass. “True Blood” absolutely sucks…..as in ‘quality-wise’. “The Event” sounds like a “FlashForward” clone. “Smallville” should have been called “Goes Nowhere, Does Nothing” instead.
In my opinion, the ’90’s were a better time for sci-fi on tv. “Star Trek: The Next Generation”, “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”, “Star Trek: Voyager”, “The X-Files”, “Millenium”, “The Outer Limits”, “Space: Above And Beyond” and “Sliders”.
Well, for Trek fans, Season 2 of True Blood had a overwhelming serving of Michelle Forbes (aka Ro Laren, “Ensign Ro”) where she played the otherworldly Maryann in some 15 episodes (i.e. the end of Season 1 and all of Season 2). Although most people disliked the character and storyline, Forbes was undoubtedly having the time of her life.
Anyway, if you’re a fan of BSG and Sopranos, then you’re a fan of great characterisation, dark, overarching plotlines and a healthy helping of blood and gore. I think you’ll find True Blood worth your while.
Don’t like the direction of Eureka. Another Sci/y-Fi/y show declines. And the worst part is the charcter Callis plays!
*cough* *nearly spits up drink* That’s, uh, quite the Rolling Stone cover.
#11
“In my opinion, the ’90’s were a better time for sci-fi on tv.”
It’s not just you, Ryan. ’90s sci-fi was better. Heck, I’d settle for some cheesy late ’70s BSG-esque space opera (something Space: Above and Beyond touched on)—much more enjoyable than the twenty or so vampire angst fests on the tube right now.
Once you get past the fangs and the Mickey Mouse attempts at clever social commentary, True Blood is really just a run-of-the-mill soap opera with very attractive naked people.
True Blood is fantastic. VERY, VERY good.
Wow … TV is in a really bad way.
Vampires suck.
=A=
I don’t think its just sci-fi that was better in the 90’s. In the 90’s we had good to decent sitcoms. Now all we have is stupid shows like american idol and survivor. To make things worse most of the scripted shows aren’t even all that good.
Also, back in the 80s we didn’t have magazines that hyped up worthless shows like Breaking Bad, and House.
21. Have you ever actually seen Breaking Bad? Personally, I think it deserves all the hype it gets. Definitely the best non-genre show on tv currently.
“The Clone Wars” looks awesome!
Looking forward to Clone Wars S3 … that show is the clearest and truest example of a silk purse from a sow’s ear in the history of raygun fiction.
TV was better in the ’90s for the simple fact that 50% of what was on the tube was not cheap, cookie-cutter reality garbage. Still, for every DS9, SG-1 (the Showtime years), and B5, there was a “Space Rangers”, “Seaquest” (i.e., “Voyage to the Bottom of the Barrel”) and “Space Above and Beyond” (i.e., “Space 90210”).
22… “Breaking Bad” is the best show on TV? Egads. That just demonstrates how far TV has declined since the ’90s.
Easy on the “Breaking Bad” bashing Phaser Guy. You 2 Thorny. Watch Brian Cranston on “Malcolm in the Middle”. You won’t recognize him when he’s in charactor as Walter White. The man is deserves both of his Emmy’s for the show. I’ll just say this, if you don’t watch every episode in order, YOU WON’T GET Breaking Bad.
#6 I’m going to ask AGAIN. Can we please let Clark become superman since this is the last season? And I don’t mean the series finally.
——————————————————————————-
I’m with 6 on this one. I haven’t watched it in a while but I might if they’d put Clark in the red and blue. They’ll probably wait til the last scene of the last ep. and pan up a building and show Supes standing all heroic like, smile at the camera, then fly away. Roll credits. That would really suck.
For all the True Blood doubters and haters I’ll say only this: it’s anything BUT Twilight, in fact it’s pretty much the polar opposite.
It’s been confirmed that the red-and-blue costume from Superman Returns is on the set of “Smallville”. When it will make its appearance is anyone’s guess.
Maybe I should make “Goes Nowhere, Does Nothing” as a sci-fi comedy… hmmm.
Didn’t “Rolling Stone” used to be about music?
#6 & #27 Didn’t “Singerman Returns” prove that the “SUIT” is outdated? Yes, it was a poorly executed movie with a poor script. However, I was hanging in there until Brandon Routh landed on the space shuttle in those big red boots. Anyone in that costume is gonna look like a clown and not be taken seriously. Thats where the success of Smallville comes from, their courage to move away from the CARTOON and depict the charactor in a more realistic portrayal. If you want the suit, I hear they still sell comic books.
Superman is the suit and the suit is Superman. Love it or leave it, its American iconography and it aint going anywhere. Smallville will soon fade into reruns and DVD box sets. Superman and the suit will continue to endure.
“Superman” and “realistic” in the same sentence? Superman is 100% fantasy… nothing real-world about it, so why does his costume have to be? Leave the dark, dreary, and hopeless world for Batman, please.
Sorry, Lore. I hated what few episodes of “Breaking Bad” I’ve sat through and have zero intention of watching any more.
Hey Lore. It’s not realistic to begin with. It’s Superman. I don’t have a problem with a new stylized suit as long as it’s in direct homage to the original. I don’t see a need to change it drastically though. That would be like filming the Enterprise engineering scenes in a brewery.
@4. The show is a much more adult version of Twilight without the emotionally lacking brooding teenage vampires and the werewolves are actually wolves. It can be graphically violent at times and does have sex and nudity in it (the best part). The story is much more compelling than many dramas that you find on most networks and at times, can be quite humorous. If you are going to start watching it, you should rent or buy the dvds/blurays of the previous 2 seasons so you can be properly introduced to the characters and get caught up on what has happened so far.
@12, Michelle Forbes also played Admiral Cain on BSG
35, 12
She also appeared on an episode of “Seinfeld” and a couple of episodes of “Lost”.
Rosario:
Super stuff as usual.
Have you found the coverage of George Lucas and Jon Stewart on-line yet from the SW event in Orlando?
http://www.collider.com/2010/08/15/jon-stewart-star-wars-celebration-v-stormtrooper-george-lucas/
If you have, I missed it. If not, it is terrific.
Hey guys, January Jones of AMC’s “Mad Men” will play Emma Frost in the X-Babies, er… “X-Men: First Class” movie.
Check out the article below.
http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/movie-talk-mad-mens-january-jones-joins-the-cast-of-x-men-first-class.html
Darth Maul has a brother named Savage Oppress, lol, another Lucas fail.
In the 90s scifi genre which was excellant you forgot to mention. Xfiles! Shame on you all!
#40
Read my post (#11) again.
the best vampire/werewolfe-shows are Underworld, with kate beckinsale, not only only because of HER, but thats how the vamps wolffs should be like: DARK, GHITTY, GOTHIC and RAW!!!!!
And thats also why I liked ´´the wolf-man´ great movie(The newest hopkins and benico del toro) !!!!!!!!
the other vampire-show are pure-ly ripp-offs from BUFFY!!!!!!
#33 They have had 10 (with the coming seasons) years of success. They have re-invented Superman for this century. The failure of Singerman Returns proves my point. Lets have a bet. If they put someone in the original Under-oos (sorry suit) and its a success, then I’ll buy you a dinner. If they do it and its a failure, you owe me a dinner.
Lore
either way you get a meal out of it!
Quite Harry!
The entire series will be considered a failure if they screw up the suit. The Neo outfit he’s wearing now looks pretty lame. I admit I haven’t watched the series since season 6 (mainly because it had gotten hokey and too painful to watch – too 90210ish) but the correct suit is the most important aspect of ending it right. I agree with you that the Singer movie was horrible. The suit was all wrong and Routh was way too small. I think they should keep the colors intact but modernize the suit. Give it a high tech look similar to the new batsuit. Throw in some black to darken it. It can have a mean presence but still honor tradition.
“Routh was way too small”
Brandon Routh is 6’3″. Way too small? Holy crap!!
I was talking about his build. He was too thin. Superman is muscle bound and looks like a body builder. Routh’s portrayal was fine but he didn’t have the look.
Thanks for clarifying. I agree that, muscles aside, Routh was very good in the role for his acting. Too bad they won’t give him a chance to bulk-up and have another crack at the role!
48
Christopher Reeve wasn’t exactly a huge behemoth either. As long as an actor looks the part, has enough enough muscles, brains and talent, its all that matters. Anyone over the size of 200lbs and 6 feet aren’t small by any definition. I wish I was 6 feet tall! Anyway, hiring an actor who fits the physical profile of the comics would be hard to do for two reasons. 1) There aren’t many actors in Hollywood who have the physique ala Lou Ferigno or Arnold Schwarzenneger. 2) Hiring an actor with that kind of physique would make the film and character cheesy and over the top.
49
Christopher Nolan is considering bringing back Brandon Routh. So there is still hope. This is according to what I heard on “Electronic Playground”.