NBC announced today that Chuck will be returning to the entertainment lineup starting January 10th.

Along with this return date confirmation was the announcement of the many guest stars they’ll have churning through the set of Chuck for the 2010 season.

The guests include Angie Harmon (Law & Order), Brandon Routh (Superman Returns), Robert Patrick (The Unit), Kristin Kreuk (Smallville), Armand Assante (Judge Dredd), Steve Austin (WWE Smackdown!) and Vinnie Jones (Snatch).

Returning with Chuck is the usual cast of regulars: Zachary Levi, Adam Baldwin, Yvonne Strahovski, Joshua Gomez, Sarah Lancaster, Ryan McPartlin, Mark Christopher Lawrence, Vik Sahay & Scott Krinsky.

The NBC press release stated:

NBC’s action-comedy series Chuck returns to the NBC lineup on Sunday, January 10 with all-new missions and two action-packed, back-to-back original episodes in its season premiere (9-11 p.m. ET) before the series — starring Zachary Levi in the title role — moves to its regular day and time (Mondays 8-9 p.m. ET) beginning January 11.

So Chuck not only comes back on January 10th, but we get the next episode on the very next day.  Sweet.  There was no mention of how many episodes they’re planning to air, but hey, January 10th & 11th is good enough for me right now.

Source:  NBC

• WonderCon 2009 – ‘Chuck’ Panel
• NBC Orders More ‘Chuck’ and Cancels ‘Trauma’
• NBC’s ‘Chuck’ Will Start Streaming Soon
• NBC To Move Up Return Date of ‘Chuck’
• TV Renewal And Cancellation Notes To Date
• Brandon Routh Joins Chuck & Summer Glau Enters The Dollhouse

Employees of Orange Orange and the Buy More can sleep a little easier at night because, for the time being, it appears that their jobs are safe as NBC has decided to order six more episodes of our favorite undercover underachiever, Chuck.

As good news comes, so must the bad. In this case the bad news is NBC will be canceling their low-rated freshman paramedic series Trauma after just five episodes.  Although, I have a feeling that fans of Chuck won’t be too dejected by this news.

Still, fans of Trauma deserve their moment to grieve and NBC has decided to give them that moment, as they’re committed to airing the remaining seven episodes of Trauma. While it’s only prolonging the inevitable, it’s more than Southland received. (I won’t even bring you up, FOX, and that whole Firefly debacle.)

This news doesn’t bode well for NBC as the cancellation of Trauma marks the second series to be axed since the fall season premiered in September. Combine that with NBC’s experimental The Jay Leno Show underperforming and MythBusters “Duct Tape Special” besting NBC’s other ER replacement, Mercy, and it looks as if the once triumphant Peacock has become a casualty of its own hubris.

Alright, enough of the boo-hoo for the cancellation of Trauma. Since I’ve never seen the show, I’m not really too concerned about its fate. Although, I am a huge fan of hoagies, so let’s get down to it with more Chuck coverage. I know what you’re wondering… When is Chuck coming back?

Well, we recently reported that NBC was looking to move the show up to late October, but now it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. Don’t worry; we’re not going to have to wait until after the Winter Olympics in March (like fans of Lost will) in order to see the return of Chuck. The way things are going right now, it looks like Chuck may be returning around January.

While it’s not the October return that has previously been speculated, I’m sure the order of six additional episodes is worth waiting a couple more months.

So, what have you? Good news? Bad news? Does anyone actually watch Trauma?

Let’s hear it!

We’ll fill you in as we hear more about the triumphant return of Chuck.

Source: Variety [via: Ain't It Cool News]

• NBC To Move Up Return Date of ‘Chuck’
• NBC Announces New Shows, Including “Day One”
• TV Renewal And Cancellation Notes To Date
• NBC Announces 2009 TV Schedule
• TNT Picks Up ‘Southland’
• Chuck Premiere Date Announced By NBC

If you’re a fan of the critically-acclaimed show Chuck, but don’t want to wait until March for its triumphant return, you may be in luck as NBC is eyeing to move up the premiere date of the series return. Since the start of the fall season, NBC’s numbers have been down across the board with new series not performing as expected and with the recent news of Southland being canceled before any new episodes aired, NBC needs help.

Last year, Chuck, with its small but loyal audience, almost wasn’t enough to keep the struggling show on the schedule. But after the “Save Chuck” campaign, NBC picked up the show for a third season with a 13-episode order. With that much enthusiasm behind a show, this is the shot in the arm that the struggling network needs as NBC is eyeing a late-October return of the show. No word yet of it would stay in its Monday at 9PM slot.

How great is that news? Well, it gets even better. If NBC does decide to move up the premiere date from March to October, it means that there is a very good chance of the networking ordering more shows for the only-13-episode season.

Well, fans, we wanted NBC to give Chuck a chance and it looks like the network is going to, in a big bad way. If there’s any possibility of Chuck receiving an additional episode order this season or perhaps another season, the fans have to come out and be counted?

Will you be there? I know I will.

Right now, Chuck will return in March, but we’ll keep you up to date when/if NBC officially announces any changes.

Source: The Ausiello Files

• NBC Orders More ‘Chuck’ and Cancels ‘Trauma’
• NBC Announces 2009 TV Schedule
• Might Fox Actually Renew Dollhouse? [Updated]
• Brandon Routh Joins Chuck & Summer Glau Enters The Dollhouse
• Chuck Premiere Date Announced By NBC
• TV Renewal And Cancellation Notes To Date

Starting on September 21st, NBC.com will start streaming old episodes of Chuck.

The episodes will include the pilot episode of Chuck and the 2nd season.  Yet for some reason, they’ll be rolling them out 5 at a time.

I guess they don’t want you to just show up and get Chuck burnout!

Source:  Entertainment Weekly

• NBC To Move Up Return Date of ‘Chuck’
• Chuck Premiere Date Announced By NBC
• Brandon Routh Joins Chuck & Summer Glau Enters The Dollhouse
• NBC Orders More ‘Chuck’ and Cancels ‘Trauma’
• Might Fox Actually Renew Dollhouse? [Updated]
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – June 25, 2009

So it worked once and it developed a devoted following, despite how Fox treated it, so it looks like Fox is trying it again.

Scott Rosenbaum (Producer: Chuck, The Shield) is stepping outside the boundaries he’s made for himself with NBC’s Chuck and is taking a stab at a yet-to-be-named western with a science fiction twist.

Rosenbaum will be producing the show with Warner Bros. TV and Wonderland Sound and Vision studios (McG’s company), the latter of which has a fairly decent list of shows to their credits.  That’s if you count Chuck, Human Target and Supernatural as decent shows. They also produce The OC, but I couldn’t put that in the same sentence with the phrase “decent shows.” Just ain’t our cup of tea here at Screen Rant.

I said sadly, because as much as I am loyal to the memory of Joss Whedon’s Firefly (a great sci-fi/western TV show), I am going to be giving Rosenbaum’s show a look-see once it gets going.

At the moment, we have no other details on the show.  I hope they best tread very carefully on ground already trodden, because you know for a fact that the fan base of Joss Whedon and other editorial entertainment writers will be comparing it to Firefly.  Not that Firefly has the sole market on sci-fi westerns, but it’s the most popular template for comparison.

Source:  Geeks of Doom

• ‘Buffy’ Reboot Without Joss Whedon?
• Brandon Routh Joins Chuck & Summer Glau Enters The Dollhouse
• Might Fox Actually Renew Dollhouse? [Updated]
• Fox Is Letting Dollhouse Go
• Joss Whedon Gets Control Over His Dollhouse
• Is Cabin In The Woods Really Getting Pushed Back A Year?

If you have found yourself missing Angie Harmon on the tube, you’ll get a bit of a dose of her once again.

She’s joining the cast of NBC’s Chuck for a guest appearance in the 4th episode of the upcoming season of Chuck.

She’ll be playing Sydney who is a spy.

To be honest, she hasn’t been missing.  I just haven’t caught her on TV.  Of late, she’s been in or on Inconceivable, Secrets of a Small Town, Women’s Murder Club, Living Proof & Samantha Who.

Source:  TV Guide

• Chuck Premiere Date Announced By NBC
• Brandon Routh Joins Chuck & Summer Glau Enters The Dollhouse
• NBC To Move Up Return Date of ‘Chuck’
• NBC’s ‘Chuck’ Will Start Streaming Soon
• WonderCon 2009 – ‘Chuck’ Panel
• TV News & Notes: Fringe, True Blood, Alien Nation & More

Kristin Kreuk (Lana Lang on the CW’s Smallville) has landed a role on the NBC TV series Chuck.

Kristin will be playing the role of Hannah, who Chuck meets on a flight to Paris.  Hannah then ends up getting laid off from her cool job and finds herself working for Buy More.

So the question remains: Can Kristin stretch her acting wings and bring a different feel to this character, or are we going to see the same wistful delivery we got used to over on Smallville?

I am really hoping that she shows more depth of character, or to be more exact, the ability to make this role a unique character and not just Kristin playing another role.

I’m not saying that’s bad, I’m just saying.

Source: Entertainment Weekly

• Chuck Premiere Date Announced By NBC
• Brandon Routh Joins Chuck & Summer Glau Enters The Dollhouse
• NBC’s ‘Chuck’ Will Start Streaming Soon
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – June 25, 2009
• Might Fox Actually Renew Dollhouse? [Updated]
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – May 28th, 2009

It’s a new week and today your TV news includes a look at Fringe’s second season; Superman will be teaming with Chuck; The Alien Nation is rising again; True Blood takes a big bit of DVD sales; Patton Oswalt talks life on Caprica; and could Supernatural rise from the grave?

Let’s get to it:

FRINGE

Got a few pics from Fringe’s upcoming second season. The pics include The Bishops (Joshua Jackson, John Noble) and Astrid (Jasika Nicole) up to their usual hijinks in the lab, as well as guest star Meghan Markle, who will play junior FBI agent Amy Jessup – I’m guessing while Sr. Agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) is hanging out with Leonard Nimoy in alternate dimensions.

If you haven’t caught up on Fringe, you really need to. Here are the pics:

Should I even ask what’s up with the cow in a birthday hat? Of course not! It’s Fringe!

For the full gallery head over to Sci-fi Wire.

Fringe Returns on September 17 (Thursdays now) @ 9pm ET/PT on Fox.

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CHUCK

Superman Returns star Brandon Routh will be joining the cast of Chuck for a multi-episode story arch in the upcoming season. Routh will join the show during its fourth episode where he will be playing a new spy named Shaw who takes over Operation Bartwoski and naturally starts competing for Sarah’s affections.

Chuck returns this spring on NBC.

Source: EW

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ALIEN NATION

Alien Nation is still making its way back to television. Syfy (and parent company NBC Universal) are working with Twentieth Century Fox to reboot the 80s-90s cult hit show, under the creative direction of Tim Minear, a TV vet with shows like Firefly and The X-Files under his belt.

Minear has claimed that he was the new Alien Nation to be ‘The Wire with aliens,’ and after seeing all the great stuff that director Neil Blomkamp milked out of the premise for District 9 (a film undoubtedly inspired by shows like Alien Nation), I’d say a retooled Alien Nation definitely has potential.

As for contemporary relevance, Minear claims that examples like the culture clashes happening in many European countries would be a good starting point for the series (transplanted to the US of A, of course).

Head over to Earth’s Mightiest for the full interview with Minear. Alien Nation hopes to be in production sometime next year.

Source: Cinemastatic

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TRUE BLOOD

True Blood has “glammed” the masses! The DVD of the HBO Series’ first season is slowly gaining on Flight of the Concords as the best-selling TV DVD. True Blood has sold almost $46 million in DVDs as of the middle of August.

Personally, I think True Blood deserves to be crowned king of DVD, considering how explicitly adult-themed the show is. Guess sex (mixed with violence and vamps) still does sell…

If you still haven’t seen True Blood season 1 (shame on you!) you can snag the DVD for cheap by going here.

Source: TV By The Numbers

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SUPERNATURAL

Seems Supernatural still has its neck on the chopping block. Said show creator Eric Kripke in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly:

“I did set out [to] tell a five-season storyline…Quite frankly, I never expected [the show] to make it to five years. But now that we’re in our fifth year, I have every intention of ending the story with a bang and not drawing it out or watering it down.”

Well… Kripke at least makes a kind of concession do Supernatural die-hards out there, claiming that is finale for the series will leave room for a whole new installment of the show, with a whole new mythology to build on, in case it gets an eleventh-hour stay of execution. As Kripke points out, Buffy did it, The X-Files did it, so can Supernatural.

The show returns on September 10th @ 9pm ET/PT on the CW.

Source: EW

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CAPRICA

Wanna hear actor/comedian Patton Oswalt talk about his role on the upcoming Battlestar Galactica series, Caprica? Oswalt will play Baxter Sarno, a talk show comedian who snags an interview with Cylon creator Daniel Graystone and his wife. There are a couple of good tidbits of the series for you BSG fans who have been wondering what’s coming your way.

Caprica starts with a two-hour premiere on January 22, 2010, @ 9 p.m. ET/PT and will air Fridays at 10 p.m. on Syfy.

Check out the interview with Oswalt over at AV Club.

That’s it for now. Talk to you again during the commercials.

• Weekly TV Wrap Up – August 13th, 2009
• TV News & Notes: Caprica, Smallville & More
• Brandon Routh Joins Chuck & Summer Glau Enters The Dollhouse
• Is Jeffrey Dean Morgan Returning to Supernatural?
• Are Smallville And Supernatural Ending Next Season?
• Supernatural Season 5 Preview

Today in TV news, two returning shows acquire major new additions for their upcoming seasons. Read on to find out about Brandon Routh in Chuck and Summer Glau in Dollhouse.

Over last few months, there’s been talk about Summer Glau playing a part in the next season of Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse. Although, Whedon shot down a lot of folks’ hope by saying these reports were exaggerated, it now turns out that Summer is in fact joining season 2 of the show that barely survived to get its second season.

All sci-fi fans will know Summer from her role as the troubled girl from Firefly and the bad-ass fembot in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. This time around, she’ll be playing a different sort of character.

According to Entertainment Weekly, the character she will play is Bennett, an employee of the Dollhouse who happens to share a past with the protagonist, Eliza Dushku’s Echo. This is not surprising as it was speculated she would play a character different from what we’re using to seeing her play. That meant, more talking, less action for a change.

So, it looks like they’re trying to gain some more geek cred going forward. With Summer Glau joining the cast and Battlestar Galactica’s Jamie Bamber guest starring, that should draw in some new interest.

Switching gears to the show Chuck, they have a pretty big casting announcement as well. Brandon Routh, the star of Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns, has just been announced as a recurring character for the upcoming season of Chuck.

According to Michael Ausiello at EW, Routh will play the character of Shaw, a new spy to head Operation Bartowski. Making his first appearance in the fourth episode, he’s set to play a mentoring role for Chuck but at the same time, competes for the affections of Sarah.

What do you think of the major additions to Dollhouse and Chuck?

Dollhouse hits the airwaves again on September 28th but Chuck fans have to wait a while as it doesn’t return till next March.

Source: EW

• TV Renewal And Cancellation Notes To Date
• Chuck Premiere Date Announced By NBC
• WonderCon 2009 – ‘Chuck’ Panel
• NBC To Move Up Return Date of ‘Chuck’
• Angie Harmon Lands A Guest Role On Chuck
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – July 30th, 2009

Today’s Weekly TV Wrap Up has some news about the Syfy channel picking up a show called Alphas, news on Chuck air dates, plus renewal news on In Plain Sight and other USA shows.

I’m also chatting about some Ghost Whisperer bits, Futurama voice casting news and some news about Medium on CBS.  I’ve also found some casting news on Game Of Thrones.

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Syfy Picks Up Alphas

Syfy has picked up a 90-minute action-adventure pilot called Alphas.

Alphas is about a team of ordinary citizens who possess hyper-developed neurological abilities.  Each person has a slightly special feature about them, but as a team, they combine to have extra-special skills.  It’s to be written by Zak Penn (X-Men: The Last Stand), Michael Karnow and BermanBraun Television.

For whatever reason, NBC and ABC passed on Alphas while Syfy, having the opportunity, jumped on this superhero genre show.

Source:  Hollywood Reporter

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In Plain Sight

USA renewed In Plain Sight for its third season. Along with this show, they’re also looking to renew Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

It’s been noted that with these 2 shows, plus Burn Notice and Royal Pains, the network picked up all the shows that were slated for renewal.  In the industry that’s a pretty rare event, especially for a cable network!

Source:  Hollywood Reporter

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Medium

This new season of Medium, starring Patricia Arquette, will be paying tribute to Night of the Living Dead.

The tribute episode, which airs the night before Halloween, will have Arquette inserted into footage of the George Romero classic.

On a light note, keep in mind that Medium has moved to CBS after NBC didn’t renew the show.

In a joking fashion, executive producer Glenn Gordon Caron said that CBS has already aired more promos than NBC did in all 5 years the show aired on that network.

Other things coming up for Medium include storylines about how Allison’s brain tumor affects her abilities.  Her oldest child Ariel will rebel while the youngest, Marie, (Marie is played by twins!) will come into her own.

Of course, now that Medium shares a network with Ghost Whisperer, fans keep wondering about a cross-over.  So far, no one is saying yes, but it’s noted that if the right quality script were to cross everyone’s desk, well, who knows.

Sources:  TV Guide, Sci Fi Wire

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Speaking of Ghost Whisperer

The new season of Ghost Whisperer will start with the birth of Melinda’s baby, and then will jump 5 years into the future.

The reason for this is that her child will have abilities a wee bit beyond Melinda’s and they can’t have an infant talking to ghosts!

CBS will be starting up a web series based on Ghost Whisperer, which will play parallel to the show.

Source:  Comic-Con Panel

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Thrones Casting News

Jennifer Ehle has been cast for Thrones, HBO’s adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s fantasy book, Game of Thrones.  She’ll be playing Catelyn Stark, Ned Stark’s (Sean Bean) wife.

Source:  THR

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Futurama Voices To Stay

It was reported earlier that Comedy Central was looking to recast some of the voice power behind the Futurama characters.

No need to fret folks: The original cast of John DiMaggio, Billy West, Katey Sagal, Maurice LaMarche and Tress MacNeille have all signed on the dotted line with 20th Century Fox TV to reprise their roles.

Thank god.  The show would not have been the same without them.

Source:  Variety

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Chuck Air Dates

Despite announcements at Comic-Con, Chuck is not coming back any sooner than next spring.

NBC’s primetime president Angela Bromstad, said that Chuck’s reported early airing dates have been a bit optimistic and that the season 3 run of 13 episodes will start in March.

On an odd yet good note, NBC may extend the episode orders to let the show run into summer season. They haven’t decided yet, but if they did that it would give NBC and Chuck some great exposure since summer is the weak time of year for most networks and programming.

It would be daring, but I think it would be a good move.

Source:  TV Guide

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TV Ratings From Last Week

On the network side of things,

Nielsen rated shows from the Top Twenty amongst all viewers for the week ending July 26, 2009 includes the usual fare of shows, all repeats.  As you can see, CBS really dominated the scripted drama world – as usual.

Of the top 20 shows, here’s how the scripted dramas did.  Note:  They are all repeats.

3:  NCIS (CBS) – 9.7 million viewers.
4:  The Mentalist (CBS) – 9.6
7:  CSI: Miami (CBS) – 8.5
11: CSI (CBS) – 7.8
12: Law And Order: SVU (NBC) – 7.5
15: CSI: NY (CBS) – 7.3
17: Criminal Minds (CBS) – 6.5

On the cable side of things, out of the top 10 rated shows:

1: The Closer (TNT) – 7.5 million viewers.
2: Burn Notice (USA) – 6.6
3: Royal Pains (USA) – 6.4
8: NCIS (USA) – 4.2
9: Law & Order: CI (USA) – 4.2

Source:  TV By The Numbers

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There it is for the week that was. Screen Rant readers’ comments are always welcome.

• Weekly TV Wrap Up – July 23rd, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – July 30th, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – June 11, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – June 25, 2009
• Friday Night Ratings: Dollhouse & Smallville
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – May 21st, 2009

This week, we’re going to chat about a new website for Chuck, an award bestowed upon Doctor Who and a bit about Syfy dominating Tuesdays with Warehouse 13.  We also delve into some news about Burn Notice, Royal Pains & Dollhouse.

Some cast members have been added to Steven Spielberg’s unnamed alien pilot on TNT, we have an interesting tidbit on Disney and a quick, condensed look at last week’s Summer TV ratings.

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Doctor Who Recognized By Guinness

The series Doctor Who has just been recognized as the most successful sci-fi series by the Guinness Book of World Records.

They base this on quantifiable items such as ratings, sales of DVD’s, iTunes traffic and books sold. Longevity of the series was also part of the recognition process.

Doctor Who premiered in 1963 and has had a sporadic but continued successful existence.

What sci-fi show has the longest consecutive running record?  Stargate SG-1.  It had a consecutive 10-year run.

Source:  Variety

Syfy Channel News

Warehouse 13 is proving itself a solid starter for the newly renamed network.

Warehouse 13 (WH13) hit new highs for a scripted series on the network.  They pulled in 1.8 million adults between the ages of 25-54 and 1.4 million adults aged 18-49.

In the 9 p.m. hour of Tuesday, Syfy actually delivered more viewers between that ages of 25-54 than ABC did, and more male viewers than both ABC and Fox.

It was the top scripted drama on cable to boot.

But that’s not all.

As numbers come in from the Live+7 ratings, (That’s live viewers plus DVR playback over the course of 7 days), the premiere of WH13 brought in approximately 4 million viewers.  Both WH13 and Eureka are doing some serious ratings numbers.

In fact, with both WH13 and Eureka, Syfy pulled in their best July numbers ever in its 17-year history.  Even Ghost Hunters International is doing its part and bringing in 1.9 million viewers.

Right now, it seems that their plans are on track to grow the network.  We just have to see if it will hold up over time.

If Warehouse 13 keeps going strong like it has, they’ve got a chance.

Source:  NBCUMV

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Burn Notice Gets Renewed

Michael Westen is going to continue to give us instructional guidance on how to make things for another 16 episodes.

That’s how many episodes USA Network has ordered for Burn Notice.  USA also ordered 16 episodes for the show Royal Pains.

Both shows are doing great, pulling in between 4 and 7 million viewers each.

Source:  Variety

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Dollhouse Guest Star News

Jamie Bamber (Captain Lee ‘Apollo’ Adama in Battlestar Galactica) is going to be a guest star on the season 2 premiere of Dollhouse.

Bamber’s character will be engaged in an assignment with Echo (Eliza Dushku) and her new handler, Paul Ballard (Tahmoh Penikett).  Wha!?  That’s all we have.

Season 2 will premiere on Friday, Sept 25th 2009 on Fox.

Source:  E Online

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Spielberg’s Alien Invasion Gets More Cast

Steven Spielberg’s unnamed alien invasion project that’s coming to TNT has more cast hoping on board.

Moon Bloodgood, Jessy Schram, Seychelle Gabriel and Maxim Knight will be joining Noah Wyle on the alien invasion pilot.

The show takes place just after aliens have wiped out most of humanity and focuses on a ragtag group of soldiers and people led by Noah Wyle as they struggle against the occupying alien invasion.

Is it me, or does this sound like something from Battlestar Galactica?

Source:  Sci Fi Wire

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Disney To Charge For Content

Disney is looking to start charging for it’s online content that ranges from movies to games and TV shows.

The premise is that they’re looking at a single web site that may be subscription based that will provide these products.

They’re already making revenue off their ventures on Hulu and iTunes and I suspect that the performance of these two outlets is what prompted this decision.

In what I find to be a rather insightful statement by CEO Robert Iger, he said:

“consumers spend $5 an hour at theaters to see movies, 75 cents an hour to read books, newspapers and magazines and 50 cents an hour to watch cable and satellite TV, but only 25 cents an hour to surf the Internet.”

“There’s plenty of room for people to spend more money on things that they’re doing online.”

Plenty of room?  Is that how they see us.  Web surfers with plenty of room to spend more money?  Nice.  Real nice.

Source:  Media Week

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Summer TV Ratings

Of the top 20 broadcast shows last week, NCIS was the best rated scripted drama in 3rd with 9.7 million viewers.  The Mentalist was 4th with 9.6 mil viewers & CSI: Miami brought in 8.5 million viewers.

Outside the top 10, CSI was 11th with 7.8 mil viewers, Law And Order:SVU was 12th and CSI:NY was in 15th.

On the cable side of things, Burn Notice was the top dog with 6.8 million viewers, The Closer was 2nd with 6.6 million viewers.  NASCAR was 3rd, Royal Pains 4th with 6.2 mil. and NCIS was 8th with 4.9 mil. viewers.

Source:  TV By The Numbers

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Chuck Online Hangout

During Comic-Con, the new website called ChuckMeOut.com launched during the Chuck panel at Comic-Con.

At ChuckMeOut.com, you can get behind the scenes clips from cast and crew, blogs from the set and social networking tools.

So go, enjoy and let us know what you think!

Source: NBCUMV

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Reader comments are always welcome here on Screen Rant.  Ask questions, leave opinions or just say hi!

• Weekly TV Wrap Up – June 25, 2009
• Syfy’s Warehouse 13 Dominates Tuesday Ratings
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – August 6th, 2009
• Stargate Universe Premiere Overnight Rating Numbers
• Warehouse 13 Setting Records For Syfy
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – July 23rd, 2009

UpDated 7-2-09

Last year at the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con, the event was ruled by several big named movies that ranged from youthful vampires to illegal vigilantes.  TV was more a side-note than anything else.

This year at the 2009 Comic-Con, things will be a bit different as television programming seems to have a bigger presence than last year.

For instance, the Warner Brothers Television Group will have 11 different panels for their shows.  That’s a studio best for them.  ABC Studios will have 7 panels.  20th Century Fox will have 9 panels.

Do you think your favorite television show will be represented?

This year, I’m ready…  I hope.  So in preparation, I’ve started sifting through the network press releases and other resources, pulling it all together for myself.  I decided…  OK, maybe I was nudged a bit by Vic, to actually put it all prep info together here, for you, our loyal readers.

I’m done chatting.  Let’s take a look at what television panels are lined up for the 2009 San Diego Comic Con.

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Wednesday Evening, July 22nd:

6-9 p.m.:
Warner Brothers Television will be airing pilot previews this evening for the early-arriving crowd.

Human Target, V and The Vampire Diaries are the shows being previewed on this evening.

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Thursday, July 23rd:

Burn Notice, Time To Be Determined (TTBD)
This panel will feature Bruce Campbell and writers from the series.

Legend of the Seeker, TTBD

Psych, TTBD

5-6 p.m.: Dexter

8 p.m. – Special Screening – Green Lantern [UPDATED]
Catch a special screening of the 5th DVD in the Green Lantern series, titled Green Lantern: First Flight. It will have it’s world premiere in Ballroom 20.  That’s 5 days before it’s released to DVD!

Continue to the next page for Friday’s schedule

• Sci-Fi Channel Panels At San Diego Comic-Con ‘09
• Doctor Who & Torchwood Panels At 2009 Comic-Con
• Comic-Con Schedule For Sunday, July 26th
• Heroes’ Odd Off-Site Comic-Con Panel
• WB Comic-Con Lineup, Featuring Green Lantern: First Flight
• ABC’s FlashForward: Season Preview & Pilot Clip

Welcome to my weekly TV Wrap Up.

This week we’re chatting about the NCIS cast, Chuck season 3 insights, a bit of Fringe cast news and I ask a question about a character from Lost.  I’m also going to touch on yet another alien invasion show from TNT.  Also have some details on the DVD / Blu-ray release of season one of Lie To Me.

I wrap it up with my usual look at how shows did in the ratings from last week.

Let’s get on with it.

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NCIS Spin-off Adds Cast

Linda Hunt will be joining the cast of the NCIS spin-off as a hard-nosed former film industry technician who oversees the “backroom” support staff.

Of note, Louise Lombard was let go from the staff, as the cast seems to be constantly evolving.

Is it me, or will we have a hard time getting past the ‘ghosts’ from Linda Hunt’s past?

Source:  Entertainment Weekly

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Chuck Season 3 Tidbits

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Zachary Levi chats a bit about the upcoming third season of Chuck.

He talks about how folks are expecting “Orange Orange” to become a Subway and other ideas like that.

He also reminds us that next season is a 13-episode season, but if the ratings are good enough, NBC will add additional episodes.  (That’s the part where it means “tell your friends.”)

Source: Entertainment Weekly

.

Fringe Cast Grows

Meghan Markle (Deal Or No Deal, 90210) is joining Fringe as a recurring role in the upcoming season.  She’ll be playing a brash and quick-witted FBI agent.

Well, at least she’s moving up from briefcases duty and teen angst shows.

Not to mention, if I weren’t already watching Fringe…  well you get the drift.

Source:  Hollywood Reporter

.

Is Charlie Coming Back To Lost Or What?

What are the chances of Dominic Monaghan (Charlie) returning to the next season of Lost?

It depends on the rumors surrounding the ill-fated rocker.

He’s been seen having breakfast with showrunner Damon Lindelof.  That could mean what?  That two buds are having breakfast together?  Or are they plotting the return of Charlie to the island in some form or fashion?

Your guess is as good as mine.

Source:  E Online

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Lie To Me Season 1

The Blu-ray and DVD release of season 1 for Fox’s Lie To Me are due out on August 25th. The show is being released by Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.

The release will include 13 episodes, featurettes, deleted scenes and a gag reel.  Here’s a listing of extras from both the Blu-ray and DVD packages:

The Blu-ray Bonus Features include

• The Truth About Lies
• Deleted Scenes

The DVD Bonus Disk includes:

• The Lightman Group Lie Detection Tutorials
• Play ALL
• Intro
• Anger
• Contempt
• Disgust
• Fear
• Happiness
• Sad
• Surprise

Source:  TV Shows On DVD

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Noah Wyle, Steven Spielberg and Alien Invasions

Noah Wyle has been snagged to headline a yet-to-be-titled sci-fi show on TNT that will involve yet another alien invasion plot.

The storyline kicks in gear approximately 6 months after an insidious evil alien species invades the Earth and Wyle will be the leader of the human resistance.

I’m a little disappointed that this premise sounds so much like another upcoming show that starts with a V.  I expected a bit more originality out of Spielberg.

Source:  Entertainment Weekly

Ratings section is on the next page

• Weekly TV Wrap Up – July 30th, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – July 23rd, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – July 2nd 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – August 6th, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – August 13th, 2009
• NBC’s ‘Chuck’ Will Start Streaming Soon

Welcome to my corner of Thursdays where we get to chat about some of the other goings on from the world of  (soon to be totally digital) TV.

This week, we take a look at some noise about Chuck, news about some Dexter casting, the premiere date for Eureka on Sci-Fi (SyFy) and why Eleventh Hour got dumped.

While we’re at it, I also chat about TNT ordering it’s own version of V, Doctor Who guest starring in The Sarah Jane Adventures, and if there are any Gigantor fans out there, I’ve got a bit of news for you.

And of course, at the end of the article, I entice you with a ratings chart showing how our favored shows did last week.

Curious Tidbit About Chuck

Despite the lengthy wait from NBC to actually commit to Chuck, NBC entertainment president Ben Silverman is being noted in saying that if the ratings for Chuck do well enough, they may deliver more than the 13 episodes that the network originally committed to.

He then mentioned that extending the episode count would pair it up with Friday Night Lights in the summer.  Hmm, historically, FNL has aired on Friday nights.  Are they looking to air Chuck on Friday nights or move FNL to another night?  Curious.

He then notes how they want to keep Chuck on the air for years to come.

This, about a show they couldn’t commit to until the near last minute before the upfronts, and then after some cost concessions.  Why weren’t they saying that before the upfronts?  I don’t know about you, but I’m putting my knee high boots on because I can’t stand lip-service.

Source:  TV Guide

Dexter’s New Bad Guy

Sources are reporting that John Lithgow is joining the season 4 cast of Dexter as Walter Simmons.  Hmm.  Mr. Simmons is an unassuming suburbanite who lives a dual life as one of America’s most prolific and deadliest serial killers.

When Simmons moves to Miami, Dexter becomes obsessed with his efficient killing methods and the fact that he’s escaped capture for close to 30 years.

Season 4 of Dexter starts on Sept. 27.

Source:  Entertainment Weekly

Eureka Premiere Date

The Sci-Fi Channel will be premiering Eureka on July 10th.

A small death knell in the background can be heard because it’s only going to have 10 episodes aired.

What’s up with that Sci-Fi?

Why Was Eleventh Hour dumped?

Despite decent ratings, Eleventh Hour was dumped by CBS, as we discovered at the CBS upfronts.

Yet decent ratings isn’t good enough when they have other shows in their lineup doing much better.  At least that’s the spin that the CBS Sr. VP of prime time, Kelly Kahl, is saying.  And to some extent, that’s true since they’ve nailed down 5th through 12th place in the ratings chart from last week.

Eleventh Hour was a casualty to make room for new shows… they say.

Me, I say that since I reported back in August of 2008 that Eleventh Hour was one of the most expensive shows to hit any network, coming in at a rumored $2 million per episode price tag is what killed it.

Source:  TV Guide

TNT Keeping Up With V

It looks like the TNT network is playing catch up now that ABC has V coming down the pipe.

TNT has ordered a pilot for a yet to be named alien-invasion TV series.  They’re looking to DreamWorks TV and executive producers Steven Spielberg, Justin Falvey, Darryl Frank and Robert Rodat to bring it in a big way.

The story is reported to be set six months after Earth is invaded by aliens.

I hate carbon copy catch up shows, no matter who helms them.  At least the premise of idea.  Now they may hit it out of the park, but I remember Spielberg’s last sci-fi on TV effort, Taken, and I wasn’t thrilled by it.

Source:  Sci-Fi Wire

(Continued…)

• TV Renewal And Cancellation Notes To Date
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – May 21st, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – July 30th, 2009
• NBC To Move Up Return Date of ‘Chuck’
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – May 7th 2009
• Chuck Premiere Date Announced By NBC

Welcome to Screen Rant’s weekly TV Update.

It seems that I’ve reported most of the developing TV news throughout the week.  I’m exhausted but I still dug up a few more bits about the Gossip Girl spin-off, a Chuck tidbit, the move that Smallville is making.

And I’ve got the usual set of numbers for the ratings from last week.

Onward, my fair readers.

Gossip Girl Spin-off

The news is fickle and iffy that the Gossip Girl spin-off, tentatively titled Lily will happen.  Over the front half of the week, sources say it’s dead in the water.  Yet on Wednesday other sources are saying it’s not dead yet.  We’ll find out for sure today (Thursday).

The source that says it is dead has been pretty accurate this week, so for the moment, I am leaning towards DOA.

Sorry folks.

Sources:  EW, KorbiTV

Chuck And Subway

Will that be white or wheat?

Concessions have been the name of the game in getting shows renewed.  Yes, it is a tough economy but things are still moving forward.

In the case of Chuck, NBC made a marketing deal with Subway.

Subway will become part of the show where one character will be working at the franchise. We’ll all be hungry for our Veggie-Delights after Chuck it may seem.

Source:  IO9

The CW Is Moving Smallville

To what night am I moving?

In a bit of preemptive news, The CW is splitting up the pair of shows Supernatural and Smallville that have been the mainstays for Thursday nights on The CW.

Part of the situation is that The CW is bringing in a new show called Vampire Diaries to take the place of Smallville.

Yes, you read right.  Smallville is moving to Friday nights.  When I found out, I twittered the following:  “Smallville to Fridays?  Has Fox taken over The CW?”

The hope by The CW is that the 3 million regular viewers will follow Smallville to Friday nights to give them some presence on the worst TV night of the week.

Laughingly, Smallville will be followed up by an encore showing of America’s Next Top Model.

It really sounds like The CW is giving the show the shovel.  We saw that moving The Sarah Connor Chronicles lost over 1/2 their viewers when it was moved to Friday nights.  Not to mention it will be up against Ghost Whisperer who sort of owns Friday nights, and is now teamed up with Medium and Numbers.

Statistically speaking, I think Smallville will be dead in the water with this move.  Maybe they know something we don’t about next season.

FYI:  Reaper is being reported as canceled.  Sorry Reaper fans.

Source:  The Hollywood Reporter

Stop Me If You’ve Heard This Before

The new show that The CW is swapping into Smallville’s place is called Vampire Diaries.  It’s about high school students specifically…  (Have we heard this one yet?) and is about a girl who’s torn between two vampire brothers.

Sounds like a cheap effort to try and capitalize on the various vampire franchises popping up over night.  get it?  Over night.  That was a pun.  Sorry.

This highly original television programing is based on novels written by L.J. Smith.

Last Week’s Ratings

The following ratings are for May 11th to 17th and there weren’t too many big changes amongst the shows from last week.

Thanks for coming by this week.

• 2009 CW Fall TV Line Up
• Friday Night Ratings: Dollhouse & Smallville
• The CW Fall 2009 TV Premiere Dates & Times
• Are Smallville And Supernatural Ending Next Season?
• The CW Thursday Night Ratings Are Strong
• Upcoming 2009 TV Season Finales

Today NBC announced their 2009 Fall and mid-season television schedules.  As you will see, there are some new shows, some old shows, and you might notice there are a couple of shows that are missing from the roster.

We’ll touch on the missing shows in a moment – and in the case of some of them, the situation may not be as bad as it looks. Here are the 2009 NBC Fall and mid-season schedules, as they stand today:

NBC FALL 2009 SCHEDULE
*New programs in UPPER CASE

MONDAY
8-9 p.m. – “Heroes”
9-10 p.m. – “TRAUMA”
10-11 p.m. – “THE JAY LENO SHOW”

TUESDAY
8-10 p.m. – “The Biggest Loser” (two-hour edition)
10-11 p.m. – “THE JAY LENO SHOW”

WEDNESDAY
8-9 p.m. – “PARENTHOOD”
9-10 p.m. – “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”
10-11 p.m. – “THE JAY LENO SHOW”

THURSDAY
8- 8:30 p.m. – “SNL WEEKEND UPDATE THURSDAY” (multi-episode run)
8:30-9 p.m. – “Parks and Recreation”
9- 9:30 p.m. – “The Office”
9:30-10 p.m. – “COMMUNITY” (moves to Thursdays 8-8:30 p.m. when “30 Rock” returns)
10-11 p.m. – “THE JAY LENO SHOW”

FRIDAY
8-9 p.m. – “Law & Order”
9-10 p.m. – “Southland”
10-11 p.m. – “THE JAY LENO SHOW”

SATURDAY
8-9 p.m. – “Dateline NBC”
9-10 p.m. – “TRAUMA” (encore broadcast)
10-11 p.m. – “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (encore broadcast)

SUNDAY
7- 8:20 p.m. “Football Night in America”
8:20-11 p.m. “NBC Sunday Night Football”

NBC MID-SEASON 2010 SCHEDULE
(2010 Winter Olympics will preempt regularly scheduled programming from February 12-28, 2010)

*New programs in UPPER CASE

MONDAY
8-9 p.m. – “Chuck” (season premiere)
9-10 p.m. – “DAY ONE”
10-11 p.m. – “THE JAY LENO SHOW”

TUESDAY
8-9:30 p.m. – “The Biggest Loser” (90-minute edition)
9:30-10 p.m. – “100 QUESTIONS”
10-11 p.m. – “THE JAY LENO SHOW”

WEDNESDAY
8-9 p.m. – “MERCY”
9-10 p.m. – “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”
10-11 p.m. – “THE JAY LENO SHOW”

THURSDAY
8- 8:30 p.m. – “COMMUNITY”
8:30-9 p.m. – “Parks and Recreation”
9- 9:30 p.m. – “The Office”
9:30-10 p.m. – “30 Rock”
10-11 p.m. – “THE JAY LENO SHOW”

FRIDAY
8-9 p.m. – “Law & Order”
9-10 p.m. – “Southland”
10-11 p.m. – “THE JAY LENO SHOW”

SATURDAY
8-9 p.m. – “Dateline NBC”
9-10 p.m. – “Southland” (encore broadcast)
10-11 p.m. – “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (encore broadcast)

SUNDAY
7-8 p.m. – “Dateline NBC”
8-9 p.m. – “THE MARRIAGE REF”
9-11 p.m. – “The Celebrity Apprentice” (season premiere; two-hour edition)

Observations

As you can see, the fan-driven efforts to save Chuck appear to have worked.  The Jay Leno Show pretty much wiped the 10 p.m. slot for the week.  I sure hope it was worth it to NBC, alienating the fans of the shows that were in that time slot.

A nice bit to note is that reality shows will not make up the bulk of NBC’s programming.  And aside from The Celebrity Apprentice, The Biggest Loser does send a fantastic message and teaches the viewer about great dietary practices.  Practices I really need to work on myself.

As for MIA shows on the schedule you’ll notice that the following have been canceled:

• Kath & Kim,
• Life,
• Lipstick Jungle,
• Medium,
• My Name Is Earl

Yes, Medium and My Name Is Earl are MIA on the NBC schedule but don’t attack the messenger! Personally, I found Life a fascinating take on the zen of police work, but that’s just me.  Bummer.

NO PROMISES, but rumor on the street says Medium will probably move to CBS (the network already produces it) and My Name is Earl will probably get picked up by Fox or ABC.  I think Earl would fit in good with the Fox shows, but then they’d probably just move it to Friday.  (Dang, the Joss Whedon fan in me just can’t let go of this Dollhouse fiasco.  Sorry.)

Source: NBC

• NBC 2009 Fall Premiere Dates Announced
• Upcoming 2009 TV Season Finales
• TV News & Notes: 2009 Fall Schedule, The Office & More
• Friday Night Ratings: Dollhouse & Smallville
• NBC To Move Up Return Date of ‘Chuck’
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – May 21st, 2009

Though the networks are making official statements in the coming week, news is coming out slowly but surely on what is going to happen with shows like Dollhouse, Chuck, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Scrubs among others.

Here’s the news that’s come out of this weekend about some of our favorite shows…  after the break.

Dollhouse

As we reported Friday night, Dollhouse is renewed on a limited budget, for 13 episodes.

Chuck

Chuck has been picked up for at least 13 episodes.  Yet, there is a “but” in that good news.

There will be budget concessions involved.  It includes cutting back on the episodes and supporting cast members, possibly eliminating one actor altogether and it looks like two of its staff writers will be let go.

Terminator:  The Sarah Connor Chronicles

Sadly, The Sarah Connor Chronicles is being reported as being officially canceled. On top of that, Warner Brothers isn’t even trying to shop it out to any other network.  SyFy?  Time to step up and show you do care about sci-fi fans.  (Is that a crazy thought?)

Scrubs

ABC is picking up Scrubs for a 9th season of the funny medical show.

Bones

Bones has been given the green light for a fifth season and sixth season.

Medium

No news yet, but if Medium gets bumped by NBC, CBS may pick it up.  It is produced by CBS Paramount Television, so that might make sense.  And it would be a smart move to buy a show that already has an installed fan base.

The Unusuals

The new show on ABC called The Unusuals, will not be back. That doesn’t surprise me.  The actors didn’t really seem to match up to their roles and nothing compelled me to want to watch the show.

Other shows getting renewed are:

Cold Case on CBS.
Castle on ABC.

Shows not looking good for renewal:

Without A Trace is probably going away.
It’s being said that the crew from Eleventh Hour are looking for work.

As we find out more, we’ll keep you up to date.

Sources:  E Online, Whedonesque, E Online, EW, EW

• Weekly TV Wrap Up – May 7th 2009
• Fox Announces Fall TV Lineup & Squirms On Sarah Connor
• Brandon Routh Joins Chuck & Summer Glau Enters The Dollhouse
• Dollhouse & Sarah Connor Ratings Better Than We Think
• Fox Is Letting Dollhouse Go
• Solved: Dollhouse – The Mystery Of The 13th Episode

The word on the street is that the Fox network is thinking about renewing Dollhouse.  Color me shocked.  Even Eliza is holding her head in shock!  (Read this article carefully.  There’s a surprise tidbit in here.)

Despite miserably low ratings in its Friday night time slot, Dollhouse brings in strong online streaming numbers and DVR viewings.  Initially thought to be a non-issue to advertisers, it’s still apparently an influence on the waffling of renewals.

On top of that, sci-fi shows bring in good revenue when it comes to DVD sales.

If you dwell on it, isn’t that a conundrum?  Networks tend to have so little patience with the slightest bobble in the ratings that they’re pretty quick to dump shows based on the latest numbers.  Then we have to buy the DVDs.  Hmm…  Do we smell a conspiracy maybe?

Anyhow, the rumor floating around…  you really need to be sitting down for this one:  Is that the Fox execs really liked the show.  Particularly the 2nd half.  LOL.  I really did laugh out loud on that one.  The 2nd half of the season was the part where the studio withdrew their sticky fingers from the production process and let Joss actually run the show.  You know, do something he knows how to do.

As I said in my weekly TV article, Joss Whedon has been in talks with Fox, discussing where he would take season 2 and how to make it a viable platform for advertisers.

Me, I’m suspecting we might see more blatant product placement -  “This mind wipe machine is programmed by Microsoft!”

So for now, we have to just sit patiently, cross our fingers and wait.  We’ll find out by Monday at the latest.

Stay tuned to THIS article and we’ll update you when we find anything out!

Bonus Item I’m Sneaking In Here:  Chuck

Word on the digital street is saying that Chuck is almost certainly going to be coming back to NBC.  That’s the rumor.  And that’s my special gift to you for reading my words!

Have a great weekend gang!

UPDATE:

Entertainment Weekly is reporting that Dollhouse has been officially renewed for a 13 episode season.  Other factors being quoted are cost concessions from 20th Century and Joss Whedon demonstrating he can create the show on a smaller budget.

This is good news… now, we wait for Fox to actually make the announcement.  That would be very reassuring.

Source:  THR Feed, EW

• Brandon Routh Joins Chuck & Summer Glau Enters The Dollhouse
• Dollhouse Season 2 Premiere – Ratings & Discussion
• FOX To Air All 13 Episodes of Dollhouse
• Fox Is Letting Dollhouse Go
• Joss Whedon Gets Control Over His Dollhouse
• TV Renewal And Cancellation Notes To Date

This is the weekly TV update coming at you yet again.  Today I chat about how Numbers has survived on Friday nights, I share my suspicions on what will happen with Chuck on NBC and I celebrate a bit about Fringe on Fox.

I’ll also touch on how the new Wolverine movie has already had its TV rights secured while I tell you about a couple of upcoming Sci-Fi Channel marathons, and then I’ll close with some depressing inclinations about Dollhouse and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.  At the very bottom, past my ratings chart, I actually make a suggestion about an episode of Criminal Minds that I suggest hunting down to watch.  (Yes, I make a recommendation.)

Let’s get on with it, shall we?

Numbers Survives On Fridays

Even though the viewing audience does not like programmable personalities, they sure do seem to like Numbers on CBS because it keeps trudging along despite airing on Fridays.

The show is about solving the crime of the week using mathematical calculations and you wouldn’t think a concept like that would jive with viewers who slurp up reality TV.  Heck, it’s a great surprise to me that Numbers has survived this long.

In reaching it’s 100th episode milestone, CBS is leaving the show in its present Friday night time-slot because it has a loyal following and they don’t want to upset the applecart.  FOX…  helloooooo?  Applecart?  Dollhouse?  Oh, Nevermind.

Source: Variety

Did I Hear Someone Asking About Chuck On NBC?

Chuck got 25% of the votes from an E Online survey about rescuing shows and there’s a lot going on right now to help Chuck survive.  But I have a bad feeling something is amiss.

Maybe it’s my natural distrust of the system but I think we’ve seen an interesting and probably honest mistake by the keepers of the web over on NBC. Check out the screen captures below of the Chuck website.

If you look real close that the middle of the right side, there’s the next on block…  here, let me zoom in for you:

Yes… it said at one point SERIES FINALE for Chuck.

The wording has since been changed but is this a taste of things to come?  Was NBC referring to the last episode of Chuck because that’s their intent and they’re just placating the fans by not making any decisions right away?  Or was that just an honest mistake?

The sharp guys over on TV by The Numbers thinks it was a screw up.  Color me suspicious, but I think the non-messages are adding up, hate it as I may to say that.

If Chuck does come back it will probably be on a different night because it looks like they will be pairing up Heroes with the new comedy, Parenthood.  Crickets…  What an odd combination of shows.  Which one are they trying to kill off?

Come on NBC, surprise me and renew Chuck!

Sources:  TV By The Numbers, THR Feed, EW

Fringe Gets Renewed

Didn’t I say last week that Fringe will probably be renewed? Fringe has been the number one performing (scripted) drama of the season for Fox and they’ve ordered a full 22 episodes for season 2.  After what Sci-Fi did to Battlestar Galactica, I’m always nervous to reference 22 episodes as a whole season.  Thanks Sci-Fi!  (No, I’m not bitter.)

Also – Keep your eyes out for Leonard Nimoy in the May 12th season finale of Fringe.

Side note:  Is that a Slusho in Walter’s hand?  Yes… and if you look carefully at any of J.J. Abrams other shows, you’ll see it pop up in the most surprising moments.  (I think I might do a report on that unnatural phenomenon.  What do you think?)

Source:  Sci Fi Wire

FX Network Is Getting Aggressive And Has Bucks To Spend

The TV guy gets to talk about movies for a change.  Cool!

Even though X-Men Origins: Wolverine has only been out for less than a week, FX smells a good thing when they see one and went on a spending spree.

The FX cable network has bought the network rights to broadcast Wolverine.  In fact, this isn’t the only movie they’ve snagged up.  In a massively expensive deal they’ve also acquired the network rights to Taken, Marley and Me, The Wrestler, the wonderfully stoic (read: boring) remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still, Bride Wars, 12 Rounds and Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li.

This is a big package deal and it can only be seen as an investment.

These latest acquisitions can be added to the network rights they’ve previously acquired for Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Baby Mama, Iron Man, Tropic Thunder, Hancock and DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda.

DVR, meet FX.  FX, meet my DVR.

Source: Variety

Family Guy Spin-off, Cleveland:  Already Renewed! (Weird)

If you order a show and it does well enough in the ratings, you order a 2nd season.  Right?  Well, in my world that’s how it’s done but what do I know?  (You don’t have to answer that.)

Fox ordered this spinoff from Family Guy called Cleveland.  The folks at Fox have gotten so excited about the show that they’ve already ordered a 2nd season… and it has yet to even premiere.  Yep, you read that right.  It hasn’t even aired yet.

First it was a 13 episode order, then they ordered more, making it a 22 episode order.  Then they got even more excited and ordered more, making it a 35 episode order.

From the looks of things Fox is locking up it’s animated talent so they don’t drift off to other network.  Or, the guys at Fox just have  a ton of faith in Seth MacFarlane at this point.

Cleveland is the product of Seth MacFarlane, Rich Appel and Mike Henry with MacFarlane and Henry also doing some of the voice talent for the show.

Source:  The Hollywood Reporter

Sci-Fi Channel Marathons

Over on the Sci-Fi Channel, we have a couple of all-day marathons coming at us.

If you’ve gotten this far in the article, and you’re a Star Trek fan, the Sci-Fi Channel is having a Star Trek marathon on Friday, May 8th.  It’s Star Trek: Enterprise, but at the end of the day, Star Trek: First Contact will air.  I’m guessing they’re trying to capitalize on the opening day hype of J.J. Abrams Star Trek.

If there are any Eureka fans in the crowd here, there will be a Eureka marathon on May 10th.

Source:  The Sci Fi Channel

Dollhouse and Sarah Connor

Dollhouse may have a faithful following, but the ratings aren’t reflecting that there are enough of the faithful tuning in.  Last weeks episode drew it’s worse estimated overnight ratings to date, with a 1.9 / 3 share.  (Huh?  I like using millions because it’s much easier to digest without having to consult my higher reasoning.  A rating point represents approximately 1 million viewers.  The share # is the % of TV’s that were turned on and tuned into the program.  I know it’s not hard, but I like the big numbers.)

The Sarah Connor Chronicles has an even stronger following than Dollhouse and yet Fox is silent about their plans on the show.

Over on E Online they had a “save the show” kind of poll and after all was said and done, TSCC had 53% of the vote.  It sounds impressive but that only accounts for 150k+ potential viewers.  That’s not millions, so I’m guessing Fox or the advertisers probably don’t care.

Josh Friendman, the show runner, hasn’t even heard from Fox so he’s in the dark as much as we are.

Sources:  Airlock Alpha, E Online

TV Ratings from April 27th to May 3rd

The Ratings for the last week had it’s usual ups and downs while Fox held on to the top spots with American Idol.  I have to say, if Adam doesn’t win this season, the voting process needs to change big time.  He is a true talent in the scheme of things.

Of the top 5 shows, 2 were scripted dramas.  Go NCIS and The Mentalist!  The Mentalist gained ~ 5 million viewers from the week before and jumped into the 4th slot.

Though 24 is getting better with each week, it oddly slipped from 16th to 22nd but the number of viewers remained the same. 

Fringe dropped 11 spots (dOh!) to 29th while retaining the number of viewers.

NBC’s newest hot show Southland (so they say) dropped 14 spots to 48th while losing 2 million viewers.

The Unusuals continued its downward slide by 9 spots to be 63rd of 90 shows, losing an additional million viewers in the process.

Bruce’s Closing Thought

Did anyone catch the April 29th Criminal Minds episode titled “Big Wheel”, where Alex O’Loughlin guest starred?  I have never seen an actor transform so differently between television roles like Alex did for this one.  In fact I watched the episode and it wasn’t until the teaser opener was done that I recognized his eyes.  And if I didn’t know at some point he was guest starring, I’d never have caught it.  He changed his looks, his voice and mannerisms to the point of being this character.

Aside from O’Loughlin guest starring, for the first time in my life, I felt truly bad for the murderer.  O’Loughlin pulled this off in a way I never expected and if you are even a partial fan of either the franchise or the actor, TRACK IT DOWN. That’s my recommendation for the week.

After seeing that, I truly am looking forward to his new pilot on CBS, a medical drama called Three Rivers.

• Weekly TV Wrap Up – July 30th, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – April 30th, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – February 26th, 2009
• TV Renewal And Cancellation Notes To Date
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – May 21st, 2009
• Fox Announces Fall TV Lineup & Squirms On Sarah Connor

On Monday, May 5th 2009, The Jay Leno network NBC announced a slate of new shows at their In-Fronts for the 2009 / 2010 television season.  No the above screen shot is not from their in-fronts.  It’s a behind the scenes shot from NBC’s new show, Day One.

Keeping in mind that we here at Screen Rant are all about action / adventure and sci-fi / fantasy (with a dribble of comedy). I’ve left out some details on the new NBC comedy shows but only because we do like our action-adventure shows.  Rather than babble about what I am going to say, I might as well get right to it:

DAY ONE

Day One is a new futuristic drama that will premiere out of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games and the premise sounds awful familiar.

In the aftermath of a global event that devastates the world’s infrastructures, a small band of survivors strives to rebuild society and unravel the mysteries of why the event took place and what the future has in store. Told from the point of view of an eclectic group of neighbors in a Van Nuys, California apartment building, this journey of survival will show us that hope is found in the smallest of victories and heroes are born every day. (Hey! I grew up in Van Nuys.)

Is it me, or does this show sound a lot like Jericho? Instead of a town, it’s an apartment building. I want to say this is a lame attempt at replaying Jericho, but maybe it can work. Why? Because I see a glimmer of hope from the collected creative team.  I can only hope they won’t blatantly rip off the premise of our beloved canceled show.

It’s Executive produced and written by Jesse Alexander (Heroes, Lost, Alias) and directed by Alex Graves (Fringe, Journeyman).

It will star Adam Campbell (Date Movie), Catherine Dent (The Shield), Julie Gonzalo (Eli Stone), David Lyons (ER), Derek Mio (Greek), Carly Pope (24), Thekla Reuten (Sleeper Cell) and Addison Timlin (Cashmere Mafia).

Back in January, our own Kofi Outlaw reported that NBC ordered Day One and he predicted that we could have the same flash-forward and flash-back story structure like Lost and with Jesse Alexander involved, we’ll be getting mystery upon mystery upon cliffhanger upon cliffhanger mystery.

I hope if they do pull that off it is more creative than what we’ve already seen from their other venues. Otherwise, it will just slide into a Lost-Jericho (Losticho?) slot with spies. Me, I say bring it and we’ll see what comes of it.

TRAUMA

As NBC looks to hang on to their medical success from ER, Trauma is ER on wheels. They say that Trauma is an intense look at one of the most dangerous medical professions in the world: the first responder paramedic. Trauma stars Derek Luke, Cliff Curtis, Anastasia Griffith, Aimee Garcia, Kevin Rankin and Jamey Sheridan. It will be executive produced by Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights)

MERCY

Mercy is yet another medical drama that comes from a different perspective – that of the nurses. Mercy will star Taylor Schilling, Jamie Lee Kirchner and Michelle Trachtenberg as our nurses.

It’s going to be put together by writer/executive producers Liz Heldens (Friday Night Lights) and Gretchen Berg & Aaron Harberts (Pushing Daisies). The executive producers are Gail Berman and Lloyd Braun and directed by Emmy Award winner Adam Bernstein (30 Rock, Rescue Me).

PARENTHOOD

From executive producers Ron Howard and Brian Grazer and writer/executive producer Jason Katims (Friday Night Lights) Parenthood depicts the imperfect Braverman family. The Braverman’s are four grown siblings sharing the ups and downs of being parents (hence the show name, I guess). The cast includes Peter Krause, Maura Tierney, Craig T. Nelson, Dax Shepard, Bonnie Bedelia, Monica Potter, Erika Christensen and Sarah Ramos.

Aside from the above new dramas, shows they announced that are returning are:

• Heroes
• Southland
• Parks and Recreation
• Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday (6 epi’s.)
• The Office
• 30 Rock
• The Biggest Loser
• The Celebrity Apprentice
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
• Friday Night Lights

A few “alternative” series they announced are:

• The Marriage Ref
• Who Do You Think You Are
• Breakthrough With Tony Robbins

Whatever do they mean by alternative?  Is that their new coined term for reality TV and they’re trying to trick us?

Jerry Seinfeld exec produces The Marriage Ref.  Seinfeld himself says it’s not therapy, it’s a comedy show based on real break ups.  I don’t see how this will work, but just from the humor possibility alone, I might check it out.  How many divorcees are going to watch, and root for their own side of the timeless gender war?

I’ll also give the Breakthrough With Tony Robbins thing a try because I have a lot of respect for what he’s done for himself and others… but they better not test my patience.  Robbins has some great messages to deliver about various aspects on the perceptions of life.  If I see some network dribble creeping into the presentation, I’m out of there.

In Case You Didn’t Notice

The one thing I find interesting is the announcement of the return of Law & Order: SVU.  That’s because the stars of the show Mariska Hargitay and Chris Meloni are still in contract negotiations and despite the economy and being lucky they have jobs, they think they have NBC over a barrel of sorts and are asking for more in their new contracts.  They want more than the $350k per episode and are asking for back-end profits.  So right now, they can buy a house in some places with every episode they film…  and they want more.

NBC said the show is going to go on, with or without them, pending contract negotiations.

Whether it’s related or not, NBC does have to make 5 hours of prime time room for the Jay Leno Show… that means someone is losing their time somewhere.

Did you notice that Chuck is missing from the lineup?  No decision has been made yet on whether Chuck is coming back or not.  The initial plan was to announce Chuck’s status yesterday (May 4th) but they’re now waiting an extra week or two.  Testing the advertiser waters is my guess.  Well, at least it’s not bad news yet.

Check out the massive savechuck Twitter campaign.  I don’t think they’re in the same limbo as Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, but they do share the same gray zone for the moment as both shows have some serious save-the-show campaigns going on.

Source:  NBC, Image Source: Sci Fi Scoop

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