Sci-Fi TV Sunday: Defying Gravity, Dollhouse, Stargate Universe, Smallville + SDCC Panel Vids + more

Even the week after Comic-Con, there is still lots to cover in genre TV news, including a new space-based TV series premiering tonight (Defying Gravity). We also have good news for Futurama fans, Dollhouse details, Stargate buzz, FlashForward casting, Clark’s new Smallville suit, and much more, including the latest previews and videos of SDCC panels.

TV NEWS

Defying Gravity premieres tonight
A brand new near future sci-fi show series kicks off tonight at 9PM on ABC. The series follows eight astronauts (four men and four women), from five countries on a six -year mission exploring the Solar System. The show is an international production, and will be airing in US (ABC), Canada (CTV and Space) and Germany (ProSieben). Although it is set in the future, the show has been pitched as ‘Grey’s Anatomy in Space’ and was created by Grey’s Anatomy producer James D. Parriott. Series star Ron Livingston describes the series below to AP. 

Promotional images from episode three, "Threshold" [more at SpoilerTV (and here)]

Promotional images from episode four, "H2IK" [more at SpoilerTV]

Joss Whedon on "Epitaph One" and Dollhouse Season Two + Casting News
"Dollhouse" creator Joss Whedon provides some background into the development of the un-aired season finale "Epitaph One" (which is included on the DVD/Blu-ray) [via io9]:

It literally came from the studio’s need to show another episode… We didn’t have the money to shoot another one. I won’t do a clip show. We can’t show the original pilot because it just doesn’t make sense now. So I said, "Look, what I can do for you is I can probably shoot a horror movie in the Dollhouse with a completely different cast, on video instead of film, in six days, put some flashbacks with our regular cast. The whole thing was basically out of necessity. We had to do it fast and cheap. And the best things I do usually come out of that.

Meanwhile, the second season is expected to build off of that un-aired episode, according to TV critic Alan Sepinwall of The Star Ledger:

In addition, the second season will build on the story of "Epitaph One," which is primarily set in a post-apocalyptic future that was caused by the people responsible for the Dollhouse. The new season will occasionally revisit the future setting and its characters, and storylines will build towards developments we saw in brief "Epitaph One" flash-forward glimpses of the regular characters.

But if you haven’t seen "Epitaph One", don’t worry, as Whedon insists that the new season will be accessible to both new and returning viewers: "…it will explain itself," Whedon says.  Whedon also touched upon the topic of Fox’s "Remote-Free TV" experiment which won’t return this season (Remote-Free called for longer episodes at around 50 or minutes in length):

"I’m just so grateful not to be 50 minutes long, because that turned out to be the thing that killed us," he said. "You get a cut that’s 10 minutes too long, you’re the happiest kid in the word, because you know you’re going to get a final cut that’s extremely streamlined, where everything works. We’d get a cut that’s 10 minutes too long and we’d have to air it as it was."

In casting news, Whedon has confirmed that Amy Acker (who has a full-time role on ABC’s new drama "Happy Town") will return for three episodes in season two.  And E! Online is reporting that Jamie Bamber ("Battlestar Galactica") will guest star in the second season premiere of "Dollhouse".

Joss Whedon and Eliza Dushku talking season two (Comic-Con 2009)

Futurama Voice Cast Will Return
Great news for fans of Futurama.  Negotiations between the voice cast and the show’s producing studio 20th Century Fox has ended and the five principal "Futurama" actors — Katey Sagal, Maurice LaMarche, Tress MacNeille, John DiMaggio and Billy West — reached agreements with the studio on Friday.  They will all reprise their roles when the show returns with new episodes on Comedy Central in mid-2010:

"We are thrilled to have our incredible cast back," "Futurama" creators Matt Groening and David X. Cohen said in a statement. "The call has already gone out to the animators to put the mouths back on the characters."

Stargate Universe Builds Strong Buzz at Comic-Con
MGM is fully committed in seeing "SGU: Stargate Universe" succeed, and nowhere is that more evident than in the show’s budget.  Co-creator Brad Wright revealed to CinemaSpy that MGM has upped the show’s budget a full $1 million over what they had to work with on "Stargate Atlantis".  As for the show, Wright said that the show’s grittier tone will compare to "Battlestar Galactica", but it won’t do that at the expense of what came before:

"Galactica took itself so seriously," he said. "Our series tries to retain more of the fun that’s become associated with this sort of genre."

Fellow co-creator Robert C. Cooper discussed why they settled on the new setting for ‘SGU‘:

"The universe is a bigger place," Cooper said in a group interview last week at Comic-Con in San Diego. "In order to not be restricted by the mythologies that have been established within each individual galaxy, the Milky Way and Pegasus, we took this show out into the universe, into the frontier of places we have never been to. Because we’re constantly going forward, we can tell a story that’s new every week. It doesn’t have to be ‘What are the Wraith doing this week? What are the Goa’uld doing this week? What is this character up to?’ When we drop out of FTL [faster-than-light mode], who knows where we are? Who knows who we’re going to meet? Just because we’ve encountered these aliens this week doesn’t mean we’re going to see them three episodes later."

Cooper also downplayed any similarities between ‘SGU’ and Star Trek: Voyager:

"The fact is that if I pitch you a story about somebody getting lost and trying to get home, that’s a story that’s been told countless times throughout history," Cooper said. "That aspect was not unique to Voyager. What’s very different about this show and Voyager is that it’s about us, in a contemporary sense of you and I beamed off out of our houses onto a spaceship. What are we going to do, and what are our concerns? We’re not in Starfleet. It’s not an antiseptic future militaristic happy place where everybody gets along. I don’t apologize for telling a story about people trying to get home. In many ways, that was somewhat built into the first season of Atlantis as well."

David S. Goyer Talks FlashForward + Casting News
David S. Goyer has revealed the titles for the first three episodes of "FlashForward".  The first episode, the pilot, is called "No More Days".  Episode two (which according to Goyer has just completed shooting) is called "White to Play" and the third episode (which Goyer says has just started shooting) is called "137 Sekunden".  Meanwhile, in an interview with TV Guide Magazine Goyer talked about Dominic Monaghan’s character Simon, who he says may show up on the series earlier than expected (he was cast before they shot the pilot):

"Simon is a genius, He went to college when he was 14 years old. He’s a very conflicted character. He’s very much the opposite of Charlie on Lost. People are going to see a different side of Dominic Monaghan, which is something he was pretty excited about. Charlie was a boy, Dominic plays a man in this show."

By the way, it’s probably not a good thing to take everything you hear from the cast and crew as fact.  Goyer says that they’ve "deliberately leaked some misleads." In casting news, ABC has announced that Gabrielle Union has joined the cast in the recurring role of Zoey, a criminal defense attorney and fiancé of John Cho’s ("Star Trek") character Dimitri:

"We’re thrilled that Gabrielle is joining our cast," said executive producer David S. Goyer. "When we met with her, we immediately knew she was our Zoey. She’s witty, soulful and beautiful. I’ve been wanting to work with her for a long time."

In other casting news, SpoilerTV has a casting call for episode six of the series, looking for 13 total roles, two of which may be recurring.  "FlashForward premieres on ABC on September 24th.

Marketing artwork [SpoilerTV]

Interview with David S. Goyer and Dominic Monaghan (Comic-Con 2009)

Interview with Joseph Fiennes and John Cho (Comic-Con 2009)

Watch another interview with Courtney B. Vance at this link

True Blood Renewed for Season Three
HBO has renewed its hit vampire drama "True Blood" for a third season.  The show has done outstanding in the ratings this season, drawing the highest audience level for an HBO show since "Sopranos" left the air.  Last week’s episode drew a record 4 million viewers, and the season is averaging a strong 3.8 million viewers a week in live + same day numbers.  The numbers are more impressive when secondary sources are added in:

Through four episodes:

• Live + Seven Day: 4.5 million viewers
• Gross Audience: 11.2 million viewers (when you add repeats and On Demand viewing)

And lastly, SpoilerTV is reporting that the 12th episode will be called "Before the Night Is Over".

Smallville Season Nine: News on Zod + Clark in a Suit
Callum Blue, who was recently added to the cast of "Smallville" as Zod, reveals that he’ll be playing Major Zod:

"First of all, he’s Major Zod at the moment, so he hasn’t grown into General Zod," Blue revealed. "I want to make him a bit more manic. The Terence Stamp version is very cool, calm and collected. There is a level there. I have a certain amount of that, but I think he hasn’t grown into it yet, so my take is that he has to calm down a bit, because he wants it right now. It’s a bit of a spoiled-brat version of the character. He’s very aristocratic, but he hasn’t calmed into it yet, so that’s a journey I can take with that character."

Blue says he’ll appear in the first episode of the show as a leader of a fascist party so he has "been watching a lot of Hitler, because he is very charismatic, and I want the character to be charismatic."  With regards to the show’s main character Clark Kent (Tom Welling) this season will finally see the character done a suit, however it won’t be the red/blue one we’re expecting.  Nope, instead it’ll be a black/silver piece:

"He isn’t a guy who is going to put the tights and the boots on yet," co-showrunner Kelly Souders said. "He hasn’t gone as far as Green Arrow or Black Canary. He’s still on his path to becoming that man. But he is definitely recognizing that there is a second identity for him. As much as he knows what Clark Kent looks like, he needs to figure out what the Superman part looks like. So it might not be the costume everybody is used to seeing, but it is one step closer to that."

Check out more complete round-ups of last week’s Comic-Con events surrounding "Smallville" at E! Online, io9 and SCI FI Wire.  And if you’re interested in casting sides, head on over to SpoilerTV to check some out for episode nine, "Echo".  "Smallville" premieres Friday, September 25th on The CW.

Erica Durance (Lois Lane) interview (Comic-Con 2009)

Justin Hartley (Oliver Queen/Green Arrow) interview (Comic-Con 2009)

Chuck Premiere Titled "Chuck vs. The Pink Slip"
The third season premiere of "Chuck" is called "Chuck vs. the Pink Slip" and features a three-month time jump.  The third season will take place where the second ended, with Chuck having to deal with the Intersect 2.0 being downloaded into his head:

"The Intersect 2.0 went into the mind of Chuck Bartowski, a wonderful guy, really great, not exactly completely in control of his emotions, and there’s going to be issues because of that," executive producer Chris Fedak said in a group interview last week at Comic-Con in San Diego. "Our show’s always been about a regular guy, a fish out of water. It’s not about a super spy, but maybe someday he’ll turn into a super spy. We’re getting to the point where we’re like, ‘Maybe it’s time for Chuck to get out of the car.’ That’s what this season is all about."

But star Zachary Levi assures fans that having the new intersect in his head doesn’t mean a change in course for the show:

"A lot of people were concerned that this was going to change Chuck, that it’s not going to be the show anymore because now he knows kung fu," Levi said in a separate group interview. "He doesn’t know kung fu. What you’re going to see through the course of the third season is that every mission now there’s going to be a little physical element to it that Chuck is now able to do. Or in some cases not able to do, but he thinks he should be able to do."

With regards to the relationship between Chuck and Sarah, listening to co-creator and executive producer Josh Schwartz, it sure seems like they’re not likely to be a couple anytime soon: "You know what they say?" Josh Schwartz E! Online at Comic-Con. "Two steps forward, three steps back. The dance shall continue."  One of those steps may involve a new love interest: "We do have two major new arcs on the show. One is a potential love interest for Chuck, and the other is a potential love interest for Sarah," Schwartz said.  But ultimately, it appears the two are destined to be together, so says executive producer Chris Fedak:

"One of the things, as a writer on the show, is we’ve always found that Chuck and Sarah are awesome together. So trust me that we love having Chuck and Sarah together on the show."

Schwartz also doesn’t expect the audience to notice that the show has had budget cuts:

"I think in terms of the budget stuff, I don’t think you’ll see a real difference," he says. "And I don’t know that the Subway thing will be as major and prominent as feared. I think it’s going to be integrated similar to how it’s been, blatant, shameless," laughs Josh.

Lost: A Certain Character Will Back
They teased it during the Comic-Con panel, and it’s now official.  Dominic Monaghan (Charlie) is headed back to "Lost". E! Online reports that Monaghan will appear in three episodes during the show’s sixth season. In other casting news, Elizabeth Mitchell, who plays Juliet, said that she’ll be seen "Pretty immediately, and then I’m not sure after that," but adds "I think it will be satisfactory."

Comic-Con 2009 Panel: Part 1

Watch the rest of the panel: Parts 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

Robert Knepper Upped to Series Regular on Heroes
Robert Knepper, who plays Samuel, leader of the traveling circus that will be introduced this season on "Heroes", has been upped to series regular.  Knepper was originally signed up for six episodes and has thus far appear in every episode of the show’s upcoming fourth season.  With one villain coming on full-time, what does that mean for Zachary Quinto’s Sylar?  According to Quinto, the circumstances of last season (with Nathan Petrelli taking over Sylar’s body) won’t affect his involvement in the new season:

"There’s definitely going to be Sylar in the fourth season of the show. I actually feel incredibly challenged by the work that I’m doing on the show in a great way. I think they’ve found a really exciting and smart and innovative way to keep the character moving forward and evolving," he said.

"One of the problems of playing a villain that is as archetypal as Sylar, you kind of paint yourself into a corner. There’s only so much skull-slicing and evil staring that you can do and still have it be creatively fulfilling for an audience or for an actor," Quinto said. "So I feel really great with the stuff they’ve given me this year because it really starts to take me into different territories in an organic way, and it doesn’t feel contrived. It’s a real nice springboard from where last season ended to where this season begins, and I’ve been hard at work. So I haven’t let up on it yet."

And rounding out the week’s "Heroes" news, SpoilerTV has a casting call for episode six of the season looking for two guest stars, while TV Guide Magazine reports that Tessa Thompson has joined the cast as upperclassman Becky, a new villain expected to clash with Claire (Hayden Panettiere).

Milo Ventimiglia (Peter Petrelli) set images [more at Accidental Sexiness via SpoilerTV]

Season four promo: "Road to Redemption"

NEW IMAGES

Fringe

Season two promotional banner and poster [SCI FI Wire]

There are easter eggs in the poster–details at Fringe Bloggers

Set images [more at SpoilerTV]

The Prisoner

Promotional posters [one more at SpoilerTV]

Warehouse 13

Promotional images for episode six, "Burnout" [more at SpoilerTV]

Promotional images for episode seven, "Implosion" [more at SpoilerTV]

NEW VIDEOS

Doctor Who

"The Water of Mars" Comic-Con trailer

Dollhouse

Behind-the-scenes clip from the DVD/Blu-ray Season One Set

Syfy (Comic-Con Panels)

Syfy has put all their show panels online.

Caprica/Battlestar Galactica

Eureka

Sanctuary

SGU: Stargate Universe

Warehouse 13

TV BITES

• Ron Livingston talks about what’s in store for the six-episode ABC space-based drama "Defying Gravity" which premieres this Sunday (August 2nd at 9:00pm) on ABC… [SCI FI Wire]
• …And if you’re interested in reading a review, here’s one from SCI FI Wire.
• Check out a great rundown of the "Battlestar Galactica Orchestra" event at the House of Blues during Comic-Con last week over at io9.
• The upcoming "Farscape" comic book series and the upcoming Websiode series will share story threads, according to Boom! Studios editor Ian Brill. [io9]
• If "Torchwood" gets picked up for more episodes — still uncertain despite the great ratings for the five-episode series "Torchwood: Children of Earth" — Russell T. Davies says that those future episodes would likely be modeled in the style of ‘Children of Earth’ in that they’ll be continuous story arcs of five or more episodes.  "Monster of the week" type stories are a thing of the past, he says. [io9]
• In "Doctor Who" news, BBC America president Garth Ancier announced that BBC America will air the unedited versions of "Doctor Who" and other series for their premiere episodes: "In order to keep the storylines intact on most of these shows now, on the premiere airing we don’t do any cutting at all," Ancier said during a press conference at the TCA’s summer press tour. "We just take the entire show, and we run over off the clock…that’s what we’re going to do for Doctor Who going forward…that way we’re not screwing up someone’s vision, what they’re trying to do, or screwing up story points." [SCI FI Wire]
• …and in other news, Russell T. Davies wouldn’t confirm that Timothy Dalton will appear on screen, only that he’s "playing a character called the Narrator, but you’ll have to see more at Christmas for that." [SCI FI Wire]
• "Batman: The Brave And The Bold" executive producer James Tucker revealed at the show’s Comic-Con panel last weekend that several more DC Comics characters will appear on the show next season: GI Robot, Detective Chimp, Vixen, Enemy Ace, Captain Marvel and the whole Marvel Family, Firestorm, Metal Men, Doom Patrol, B’Wana Beast, and the villain Starro the Conqueror. [io9]
• Moon Bloodgood ("Terminator Salvation"), Jessy Schram, Seychelle Gabriel and Maxim Knight have all joined the cast of executive producer Steven Spielberg’s untitled alien invasion pilot for TNT.  Bloodgood will play Anne Glass, a therapist working with the children of the survivors to help them with the trauma of the alien invasion. [THR]
• Guillermo del Toro’s vampire book trilogy "The Strain" may be heading to the smallscreen. Grady Twin Productions are teaming with del Toro and co-author Chuck Hogan to develop the property as a three-year TV series.  Plans are to shop the project early next year after the second book is released. [Variety]
• "Supernatural" creator and showrunner Eric Kripke says that the he’s open to doing a sixth season of the show, but that the fifth season will wrap up the apocalypse arc: "We’ll end with a bang, which isn’t to say another story can’t begin," he said… [io9]
• …Sticking with "Supernatural", Castiel has his own agenda that will be revealed at the end of episode two of the new season… [E! Online]

• …and check out E! Online’s Comic-Con report at this link.

• Despite recent rumors, the low-rated NBC series "Kings" will not be picked up for a second season… [TV Guide]
• …In fact, creator Michael Green wrote a "Thank You" note to fans last Sunday, while noting the "reasons for its cancellation were nothing more than the low ratings" and that the move to Saturday nights "was the first step of cancellation." Read the complete Thank You note at Court Historian.
• "Destination Truth" host Josh Gates highlights the upcoming third season of the show. [SCI FI Wire]
• After receiving a Failing grade in GLAAD’s annual Network Responsibility Index, Syfy promises they’ll do better in the future, noting that several of their upcoming series ("Stargate Universe" and "Caprica", for example) will include several gay and lesbian characters. [TV Guide]
• The strong numbers generated by the show "Warehouse 13" and returning shows including "Eureka" and "Ghost Hunters" have contributed in making this past July the best July ever in the 17-year history of Syfy/SCI FI. [SCI FI Wire]
• A casting call for the first episode of "V" (to film between the 12th and 21st of August) is looking for an actress to play Joanne Maddox, a 30-something attractive married woman.  It’s labeled as a guest starring role, but could possibly be recurring. [SpoilerTV]
• Syfy’s "Caprica" is searching for a someone to play Tomas Vergis, a character who will have a recurring role and is described as "A handsome, well-dressed man in his late 30s to mid 50s". The part is for episode six, "Know Thy Enemy", which will film between August 17th and September 3rd. [SpoilerTV]
• Here’s what Lennie James, who plays number 147 on the AMC’s upcoming miniseries "The Prisoner", has to say about the ending: "There is a conclusion to the whole thing. There is a conclusion that people will be satisfied with, but it’s not definitive. We couldn’t just kind of wrap it all up."… [SCI FI Wire]
• …And Jim Caviezel (Number Six) talked about some of the similarities and differences between the original 60’s series and AMC’s remake in a group interview during the TCA’s summer press tour. [SCI FI Wire]
• Genelle Williams, who plays Leena on "Warehouse 13", will be featured in at least four more episodes, including the season finale where she "figures prominently."… [TV Guide]
• …Meanwhile, the show continues its ratings streak, with Tuesday’s episode drawing a series high 1.4 million Adults 18-49 and 1.8 million Adults 25-54.  Those numbers are 36 and 31 percent, respectively, above the week prior and 6% ahead of the two-hour series premiere (1.3M A18-49 and 1.7M A25-54)… [SCI FI Wire]
• …And lastly, check out two interviews with Allison Scagliotti (Claudia) at TV Overmind and SF Universe.
• "Battlestar Galactica" was named the best program of the year by critics at the TCA’s summer press tour.  HBO’s "True Blood" won best new program. [THR Feed]
• While promoting "The Prisoner" at the TCA’s summer press tour, Lennie James (who played Robert Hawkins on "Jericho") revealed that while at Comic-Con last weekend he spoke to "Jericho" producer Karim Zreik who insisted that they’re still interested in a TV movie to wrap the "Jericho" storyline: "They’re just trying to come up with the two-hour story that’s worth telling. So that’s where they are at the moment. But it’s still on the cards, and people are still interested."  [SCI FI Wire]

SCI FI TV RATINGS

CHART (7/20/2009 to 7/26/2009)

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