Sci-Fi TV Saturday: Lost, V, FlashForward, Doctor Who, Chuck + more

This week’s Sci-Fi TV features news on Lost, Chuck and V, plus news on the earlier than usual U.S. debut of Doctor Who on BBC America and a date for the previously announced FlashForward recap episode on ABC and more, including casting bites and new images and video previews.

 

GENRE TV NEWS

Lost: Answer to what is the island to be revealed before the finale?
One of the biggest questions surrounding "Lost" is what exactly is the island?  Well, according to E! Online we won’t even have to wait until the end of the series to find out.  The revelation — to be delivered by Richard Albert and Jacob — will reportedly be made somewhere around halfway through the season:

So…What Is the Island? It’s described as a four-letter word. There’s your first clue! Shall we play Hangman? There are no A’s or E’s in the word…Wanna buy another vowel? OK, but you only get one.

Another thing I can tell you: The Island has to exist, according to my sources, and more important, someone has to protect it. It’s important to the world outside.

Meanwhile executive producer Damon Lindelof tells TV Guide Magazine that next week’s episode ("Sundown") will explore Dogen’s (Hiroyuki Sanada) origins and history with the island:

…we’ll learn why Dogen left Japan for a new life on the island. Hiro hints his appearance in Jack’s flash-sideways suggests that Dogen’s paternal influence may be realized in the temple. Also significant is the name of Dogen’s hippie translator, Lennon (as in the peace-loving Beatle), as well as Dogen’s name and costume, modeled after a 13th-century monk who introduced Zen meditation to Japan. “I believe Dogen and Sayid will experience some kind of friendship in the end,” Hiro says. “Temples are built for peace and saving people.”

In an interview with EW, Terry O’Quinn talked about his character recruiting others:

EW: In last week’s episode, Ilana said that Smokey is “recruiting,” and we saw him go after Richard Alpert and Sawyer. Is his first order of business to recruit all of the castaways?

O’Quinn: There’s some recruiting that goes on. We’re doing an episode now called “The Last Recruit.” He has a purpose. As you know, all of a sudden, they’re establishing all these rules. “You can’t do this unless this…” It’s like a children’s game. We keep making up new rules [laughs]. So the recruiting has to do with fulfilling the rules.

In casting news, Harold Perrineau (Michael) says there is no truth to the rumor of a Michael/Walt (Malcolm David Kelley) reunion: "It is not true as of this moment," he said.  And lastly, be sure to head on over to GQ to check out a great interview with Michael Emerson (Ben Linus).

UPDATE: Lindelof & Cuse give more secrets at Paley Fest

On Saturday night Damon Lindelof, Carlton Cuse and cast members from Lost attended a panel at the Paley Festival in Los Angeles. A breakdown of what was revealed (with spoilers is at eonline.com, here are just a few:

1. Jack’s baby momma (mother of David Shephard in the flash-sideways world) IS somebody we’ve met before. Juliet? Kate? Sara? Hmm…

2. We probably will see Walt again. "[Malcolm David Kelley] absolutely would still be on the show," Carlton Cuse said, "but the actor aged." Damon Lindelof: "We are working on a way to bring Walt back before Lost is all said and done."

3. Damon: "Ilana and Richard will say things to each other and about each other in the future."

4. Terry O’Quinn is "playing a guy who we’re not going to see until the finale." (Eeeee!)

5. Someone IS coming to the island.

Lost Previews

Episode 6×06 – "Sundown" [more at SpoilerTV]


Promo for episode 6×06 – "Sundown" [YouTube]

Watch another promo here

Sneak peek for "Sundown"

Watch another sneak peek video here

Damon Lindelof and Calrton Cuse offer spoilers for "Sundown" [YouTube]

 

Chuck season finale details – Bakula returning
"Chuck"
executive producer/creator Josh Schwartz is in the middle of casting [SPOILERS–highlight to view] younger versions of Chuck and Ellie (7 and 11, respectively) to appear in a flashback sequence for the season three finale, according to Michael Ausiello of Entertainment Weekly.  Ausiello later updated his report to add that [SPOILERS] the flashback sequence will flash back to the night that Chuck’s dad (played by Scott Bakula) left home. In other news, Jeff and Lester’s band Jeffster will be featured in Monday’s episode "Chuck vs. the Fake Name, and NBC has released press releases for episode nine ("Chuck vs. the Beard" — 3/8/2010) and episode 10 ("Chuck vs. the Tic Tac" — 3/15/2010).  "Chuck" returns this Monday, March 1st.

Promo for episode 3×08 – "Chuck vs. the Fake Name" [YouTube]

ABC sets date for FlashForward recap episode + James Callis joins cast
ABC has set an airdate for the previously announced "FlashForward" recap special.  The one-hour episode will recap the first 10 episodes and is called "FlashFoward: What Did You See? It’s set to air on Tuesday, March 16th at 10:00 p.m. Then on Thursday, March 18th at 8:00, "FlashForward" returns with two back-to-back episodes (which will be rebroadcast on Saturday, March 20th at 8:00). In casting news, co-showrunner Jessika Borsiczky revealed to SCI FI Wire that James Callis (who played Gaius Baltar on "Battlestar Galactica") has been cast in a major role. He’ll appear in several episodes towards the end of the season:

He’s playing a big role in some of the final episodes this season, and it was for that very reason."

"I don’t actually want to tell you anything about the character, because he’s a really exciting, unusual character. So I think it’s going to be fun for the audience. He’s going to be involved with Olivia’s trajectory … some of Olivia’s journey."

In other casting news, Ravi Kapoor will appear in an upcoming episode of the show as the character Malik, "a man who comes in contact with Aaron Stark (Brian F. O’Bryne) when Aaron travels to Afghanistan to search for answers related to his daughter’s military service and subsequent disappearance."

Behind the scenes clip from Season 1.0 DVD [IGN]

V producer Jace Hall talks second half
Jace Hall, one of the producers of the ABC series "V", was interviewed by TV Guide and hints that some nods to the previous versions of the franchise could be upcoming:

"Because we’re dealing with a franchise that existed before in the ’80s, there are certain things that people expect and hope that this franchise will either nod to or communicate in some way…We’re able to actually go further with the story, beyond what people have seen or what they can predict. When this reimaging took place, we actually had a plan and a sense of direction of where this whole thing is supposed to go, so it doesn’t have to be thought up at the last minute."

Hall also told TV Guide that although the audience will get answers to several unanswered questions, those answers will lead to even more questions:

"We’re trying to keep this show grounded and character-centric as much as possible, really think about if this was happening, what would logically start to occur and how would people naturally react…Yes, you’re going to get answers, but those answers are going to create even more questions."

In other news, new producer Scott Rosenbaum revealed to TV Guide Magazine that [SPOILERS–highlight to view] Valerie (Lourdes Benedicto) who is pregnant with Ryan’s baby (Morris Chestnut) will give birth before the end of the season, leaving fans with "an understanding of what could be coming," but Rosenbaum thinks what they have planned for before the birth is more interesting [SPOILERS]:

"The birth is going to be less interesting than the stories beforehand. What happens when the baby kicks? Or when Val gets her ultrasound?"

"V" returns with new episodes on March 30th.  In the mean time, check out some new images and videos below.

Promotional posters [SpoilerTV]


TV spot: "Anna is a fan of Lost" [YouTube]

Promo: "Embrace Change" [YouTube]

Watch another promo here

BBC America sets April debut for Doctor Who
Good news for U.S. fans of "Doctor Who".  Unlike in the past where we had to wait months until episodes aired in the states, BBC America has announced that the fifth season will premiere on Saturday, April 17th. That’s just two weeks after the BBC premiere (April 3rd).

"Britain has a tradition of reinventing its iconic characters, like James Bond and Sherlock Holmes—and Doctor Who," Richard De Croce, senior vice president, programming, of BBC America, said in the official announcement (below). "In introducing the Eleventh Doctor, writer Steven Moffat is opening the show to a whole new audience, while serving fans with an exciting mix of inter galactic, time travelling adventures. We can’t wait to meet his new Doctor!"

The fifth season, now spearheaded by new showrunner Steven Moffat, is 13 episodes long and, of course, is the debut season of the 11th doctor Matt Smith and new companion Karen Gilliam.  BBC also confirmed the names of the first three episodes of the season: "The Eleventh Hour" (written by Steven Moffat), "The Beat Below" (also by Steven Moffat) and "Victory of the Daleks" (by Mark Gatiss). In casting news, James Cordon ("Gavin and Stacey") will reportedly star in an upcoming episode of the series. Check out some set images and a new shorter season five trailer below.

Images from the set of episode 5×06 – "Vampires of Venice" [Blogtor Whoclick to read a script excerpt]


Season five promo [Blogtor Who]

Roland Emmerich’s 2013 TV series no longer in the works
"2013"
— the proposed TV follow-up to Roland Emmerich’s "2012" — is no longer in development:

"We tried to do that. But the TV people soon realized what we really wanted to do with the concept. They said, "You cannot do this on television." So I said, "Let’s not do it. It was just too big for TV. What we wanted to do."

When pressed, Emmerich added that producer Mark Gordon is "still trying to come up with an idea on how to make it cheaper", but he doesn’t think it’ll come to be:

"I don’t think it will happen. I had a certain vision. We realized what kind of compromises we were going to have to make. Because of that, I said, "No thank you."

Emmerich also categorically shot down any chances of a sequel to the film (which hits DVD and Blu-ray on Tuesday, March 2nd):

"No, no, no. It was not a sequel. It was a story you could only tell once. There was no sequel to Noah’s Ark."


 

PREVIEW Video & Images

Caprica

Promo: "The End of Everything"

Images from episode 1×06 – "Know Thy Enemy" [more at Pizquita]


Fringe

Featurette: "The Secrets of Fringe: The Other Side" [Facebook via SpoilerTV]

Behind the scenes images of Walter’s lab [more at Facebook]


Smallville

Promo for episode 9×15 – "Escape" [YouTube]

Human Target

Episode 1×07 – "Salvage & Reclamation [more at SpoilerTV]


Legend of the Seeker

Episode 2×13 – "Princess" [more at rkc-erika via SpoilerTV]


Survivors

Promotional stills for episode 2×06 [more at Film Review Online]


TV BITES

  • Fans can join Josh Gates, host of the Syfy series "Ghost Hunters", for a live broadcast of "Ghost Hunters: Alcatraz" on March 3rd. Details are here. [via SCI FI Wire].
  • The soundtrack for "Fringe" is now available for pre-order.  The CD is scheduled to be released on March 23rd. [Amazon]
  • Fox has released a short synopsis for episode 1×07 of "Human Target": "Chance reunites with a fiery former flame when he is called to South America to rescue an archeologist whose discovery of a lost treasure makes him the target of a South American army and a deadly bounty hunter."…
  • …Fox also announced finale dates for the 2009-2010 season.  "Human Target" is slated for Wednesday, May 5th at 8:00 p.m. and "Fringe" on Thursday, May 20th at 9:00 p.m. [The Futon Critic]
  • An upcoming episode of "Supernatural" will feature the character "Death"… [SpoilerTV]
  • …And according to executive producer Sera Gamble "a very important character will sacrifice themselves in a suicide mission" in the April 15th episode (episode 100 of the series). [EW]
  • Episode 3×06 of "True Blood" will be called "What Do You Know About Love". [SpoilerTV]
  • Crystal Reed offered some details about MTV’s upcoming TV movie remake of "Teen Wolf" — which is serving as a TV pilot for the network — in an interview with Shock Till You Drop.
  • There are concerns that MGM’s financial troubles could affect the future of "Stargate Universe". [Gawker via Stargate-SG1-Solutions]

CASTING BITES

  • Samantha Smith will reprise her role as Mary in "Supernatural" later in the season… [Facebook]
  • …Meanwhile, a dead character is returning to the show in episode 16 – "Dark Side of the Moon". [SPOILERS–highlight to view]: Traci Dinwiddie, who played psychic Pamela Barnes and appeared in four episodes in season four, will reprise her role as the character. [BuddyTV]
  • Gil Bellows ("Ally McBeal") has been cast as the DC Comics character Maxwell Lord in "Smallville".  He’ll appear during the 19th episode of the season ("Charade").  It may turn into a potentially recurring role (dependent upon whether or not the show returns for a 10th season). [IGN]
  • David Anders ("Heroes", "24") is joining the cast of "The Vampire Diaries". Anders will play Johnathan Gilbert, the uncle of Elena and Jeremy. [EW]
  • David Lyons has been cast in NBC’s "The Cape". Lyons will play the lead character Vince Faraday, a disgraced cop who dresses as a superhero in order to clear his name and be reunited with his son. [KSiteTV]

MISC VIDEO

COMEDY: Lost & Heroes Hate Black People [YouTube]

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

"Caprica" returned to the airwaves on February 19th with the episode "Gravedancing" but the episode failed to turn around the low ratings. "Gravedancing" drew just 976,000 viewers and a 0.4 A18-49 rating.  It’s the first time it has fallen under the 1M viewer mark.  The 4-episode average is 1.32M viewers and a 0.4 A18-49 rating and "Caprica" has fallen in audience every episode (1.6M; 1.41M; 1.13M; 0.98M) for an overall episode decline of 39% or over 600,000 viewers from premiere to episode four. [TravisYanan]

CHART (2/15/2010 to 2/21/2010)


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

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Damn I wanted to see the 2012 show Roland gives up on stuff to quick just like with the ID4 sequel

How come they drive the same brands of cars one hundred thousand years ago on Caprica that we do here on Earth today? (I’d really like to get my hands on a classic 98,066 B.C. Caprican Mustang…)

Is anyone really surprised about the abandonment of “2013”? “2012” had an absurd story that simply served to introduce a string of over-the-top action/effects sequences. Without the big-bucks special effects, there was never any potential for a TV series there.

There is a God! I can’t have been the only person who heard about the idea of “2013” and thought it wasn’t even worth joking about, never mind actually making…

Really stoked for the new Doctor Who. Bring on the new era!

I have said it before…..Syfy:Imagine Greater!

That is pretty easy. How hard is it to put together better programming than that channel and it’s programming geniuses have? Really? Caprica can dig itself out given time but it really needs direction. The Cylons are based on the avatar of a teenage drama queen suedo activist…….really?

The movies they make basically suck, with effects that can be made on an Mac PC. Does anyone remember when they ran the scifi classics collection? The Prisoner, Dark Shadows, Buck Rogers, The Invaders, etc…. Does it take a genius to figure out that there is plenty of “brilliant but cancelled” series out there that could be reshown or even better….remade? For example, how about Space 1999 reimagined?

The channel has jumped the shark…..Syfi: What if ?

V got so tedious after just 4 episodes, be lucky if it lasts the whole season… Same for Caprica.

Caprica THE most boring show of all time……..

New Doctor Who reminds me of Colin Baker (6th Dr.) and anybody who follows Dr Who knows how bad that went…..

Emmerich can’t do anything without CGI… Was never gonna happen.

LOL BLACKNERD!!! I used to chat with him on LiveVideo when he was still on there.

@9:
Seems remarkably premature given how little we’ve actually seen of him. Besides, the thing that killed the 6th doctor was the increasingly corny scripts. I think it’s quite telling that when Big Finish started putting Colin Baker in more grounded stories with their series of audio dramas, he rapidly became the favorite of their lineup.
I certainly don’t envy Matt Smith having to follow David Tennant. And while the “geronimo!” catch phrase is already grating on my nerves, I’m willing to bet that he’s up to the task.

I hope “V” makes it. I’ve been enjoying the “series” so far.

Also, I love “Fringe” and “Chuck”…they better survive!

#12: “And while the “geronimo!” catch phrase is already grating on my nerves, I’m willing to bet that he’s up to the task.”

My early prediction is that the Doctor and Amy will meet the actual Geronimo by the end of their second season :)

damn no very likely no Jack O’Neill centered3rd Stargate SG-1 movie, and the future for Stargate Universe looks indeed bleak at this time…

Looking forward to V
And CAPRICA is getting a lot better.
The last episode was a lot more fast paced and it was interesting to see Tammara turning into a bad ass Gaming nerd.

Caprica is doing better now. Last episode with Tammara was exciting enough. So I hope the ratings will improve. Below a million isn’t much…:(

16: See, I gotta wonder if Tamara is the reason that Cylons experiment with creating human bodies (Razor). That would make young William Adama’s fight against them all the more meaningful. Also, the First Hybrid I think may even be Daniel, as it could be his way to be closer to Zoe…

…and yes, Caprica IS getting much, much better. Remember, it’s NOT Battlestar.

Can’t wait to find out what the island is !

BTW…. CANADA WILL BEAT THE US IN THE OLYMPIC HOCKEY GOLD MEDAL MATCH !!!!!

Maybe if MGM would have the common sense and would not region code their disks, maybe than the DVD sales for SG:U would have been higher … I know a lot of people (including myself) who are ordering blu-ray movies from the states … But MGM codes everything that is Stargate, and sadly, they don’t bother releasing those in Europe at all …

And as for Caprica: it is getting better … Thank GOD ;)

I like Caprica, this week was pretty good, they got all Matrix-y

the show isn’t for people who want a space adventure with a lot of action. it is much more of a character based show with good acting and good writing. As i have said before, it feels more like an FX or HBO show like Damages, The Sopranos, etc. Last night they did up the sci-fi with all the virtual world.

But I think anyone who liked the themes and character stuff on DS9 should like Caprica

Caprica finally looks like it’s going somewhere….

This is a bit off-topics, but one show I’ve gotten into lately (thanks to dvd) is the HBO series “Carnivale.” Ronald D Moore was one of the executive producers in its first season, and wrote several episodes before leaving to do BSG. The show was cancelled after its second season, due to budgetary issues, so anyone who liked the show never got to see how it all worked out. I think it’s a shame…

#2…. Because

“All of this has happened before, and will happen again”

Caprica suffers from what most modern American shows suffer from, too much padding in its early episodes, not enough excitement, and serious plodding.

V and Flashforward are recent examples of an exciting pilot, followed by a first handful of episodes that go absolutely nowhere.

24 is a casualty to this too. Stories meandering, subplots uninteresting, protagonists given little to do til the last few minutes of every show.

Meanwhile Lost is urinating on the competition from the top of the Lighthouse and giving compelling episode week after week, answering questions, introducing brand new mysteries, never wasting screen time on mundane padding.

Writers and showrunners get far too complacent and instead of offering us surprises and entertainment week after week we are getting pointless filler.

Doctor Who is something you can never call boring, even if you don’t enjoy it. For people to slam Matt Smith already, when the show hasn’t aired, is typical. It’s happened pretty much over every single actor who’s replaced the lead since Patrick Troughton. The proof is always in the pudding, and you don’t know whether you don’t enjoy a dessert until you’ve actually tried it, and that will have to wait another month at least….

Anthony, what ever happened to the week of fan film that you kicked off over a week ago?

Dr. Who has been the best written genre show on.
Hope it continues to be.
Caprica? Yes, I’m really getting sick of all the padding. Ready to give it up.

#7 you are preaching to the choir! SyFy sucks! I also agree to bring back the classics that made this channel special! Have old with high quality new. In UK @ Australia scifi sister channels run all 5 treks, trek movies, babylon 5. As well as the quility Eureka @ santuary, great classic movies, much more. Wake up and smell the rocket Fuel. SYFI!

Caprica is a drama about people, not robots. If you go in thinking you’re getting an action/adventure, you’re probably going to be disappointed.

Love the new “V” series so far, just a case of too little to get deeply involved, followed by hiatus… I am hungry and can’t wait for it’s return, as i believe it has the potential to be even greater than the original series! I hope Flashforward & Fringe both survive their respective seasons. Caprica is okay so far, not great, not horrible!! Stargate Universe, I’m not certain about, I found it way too slow up until the final episode or 2! And i can’t believe the critics judging Matt Smith before they even see what he is capable of delivering on screen????

I have a guess at the 4 letter word answer for LOST.

4 letters. no a, no e.

MIND.

:-)

Of course, LOST also fits the bill, hehe.

Caprica has potential. But get rid of religion/terrorist angle! Enough already I hear enough of that on the news. And stories of poor pitiful teen angst problem brats! So much material so under utilized

@9: The difference between Six’s run and Eleven’s run is the difference between John Nathan-Turner and Steven Moffat. I hope that comparison looks as favorable to you as it does to me.

Not sure how anyone’s got sick of “Geronimo” yet — agreed, it has extreme annoyance potential (and isn’t half as good as Ten’s catchphrase), but we’ve only heard it *once* so far, at the end of The End of Time.

Of course, I’ve been avoiding Season 31 trailers, so maybe I’ve missed a few more. But it can’t be *too* many already, can it?

I like Caprica. It has a lot of potential. Looking forward to V and to flash forwards return.

I think, as some people have pointed out at io9, that Caprica suffers from inverse genre chauvinism. Although it’s very clearly a science fiction show, I’ve actually heard complaints that Caprica doesn’t have enough ships or explosions.

Do all science fiction shows have to be action/adventures? Do they really?

Besides, if you wanted that, this week’s episode gave it to you in spades.

4 letter word: SHIP?

Our new Doctor Who Companion? Karen “Gilliam”?

Her name is Karen GILLAN!

And would the Matt Smith bashers please clear outta here for at least six weeks? You can not judge a new version of the Doctor on the last sixty seconds of The End of Time.

GIVE THE NEW GUY A FAIR CHANCE!

This last episode of Caprica hooked me. Before I was getting a little tired of the hot, tattooed, gangsta gay uncle subplot — the tauron mafia stuff doesn’t quite work for me. Maybe it will. But Galactica had its share of dragging episodes (I stopped after the new caprica season ended, apparently I’ve missed some great stuff) . Still, pretty clever stuff. Wonder what Moore would do with Trek now if he had his hands back on it.

And smallville is getting better after a couple of so-so seasons.Callum Blue’s Zod may turn out to be the best villain the show’s had… I’m hoping for a tenth season. And a cape.

Flash Forward is an excellent show and were looking forward to it’s return here in the UK on Five. The previous comment about the series being slow is just not true and i for one can’t wait for the next direction the series will take.

By the way, UK viewers are still raving about Terminator: The Sarah Chronicles, more so than the movie Salvation. When are FOX going to admit they made a big mistake in cancelling potentially a great addition to the first 3 ( yes I said 3) Terminator Movies.

and while we’re on the subject, why don’t American viewers get Dollhouse which by the way at the end showed the potential of being one of the most inovative Sci-fi Series this decade. As a Sci-fi fan Dollhouse was my fix, just as much as Star Trek was in the 80’s. I for one totallyt got where the writers were going. Summer Gau’s performance in all too few episodes was again astonishing. How can that actress be subjected to any more cancellled shows after time and time again playing out superb class roles?

And Anthony, I got your message. Sorry! I’ve deleted all bloggs!

27. Dr. Image: ‘Dr. Who has been the best written genre show on.’

What bollocks! It has to be one of the laziest, ill-plotted, campiest pieces of politically-correct, celeb-culture-obsessed garbage put on TV. Why do you think it really gets good ratings? Because it appeals to the same lowest-common-denominator, chavvy, celeb-culture OK Magazine readers its storylines celebrate!

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