Today we have a unique collection of tidbits that range from Heroes on NBC, some HBO delving into Sci-Fi and some popular comics coming to television.  I’ve also dug up some news on FX’s Damages.

Heroes’ New Cast Member

Ernie Hudson has signed onto the cast of NBC’s Heroes.

He’s joining the cast as a Baltimore detective, Captain Lubbock.  What little is known about Hudson’s role is that he’ll be looking for one of the other characters in the show.

Heroes 4th season will be introducing a new mythology about a traveling carnival, whose members have special powers.

This carnival will be run by a character portrayed by Rober Knepper. Oh great, Tea-Bag running a super powered carnival.  We’re definitely in trouble.

Source:  THR

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HBO Taking On Sci-Fi Programming?

Word on the street is saying that HBO is tinkering with the idea of bringing on some science fiction fare to add to their already exciting lineup of shows.

HBO has approached X-Files alum Frank Spotnitz about a medical thriller type show called Humanitas.  This idea takes place in a time where doctors can manipulate genes and create viruses, addressing various ethical dilemmas.

Spotnitz is also looking at adapting a novel titled The World Inside by Robert Silverberg.  It takes place in 2381 and humanity has exploded in numbers due to a culture of free love.  (Oh my, this already smells like HBO!)

Right now these are just ideas and nothing has been picked up, but it’s promising to the sci-fi genre that HBO is looking to expand in this direction.  It could really help gather new fans who might otherwise not give the genre another look.

Source:  io9

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Comic Books Being Adapted To TV

Along with AMC picking up The Walking Dead, NBC is looking to generate ratings in one form or another and though traditionally they’ve veered away from science fiction that might be too heady for their audience (or so they say), they have picked up a live-action adaptation of a Vertigo title – a supernatural based comic-book series titled Midnight, Mass.

Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts (Roswell, Pushing Daisies) are penning the project.

In a reflection of another, wildly popular supernatural themed show that’s premiered recently, this one is about a globe-trotting couple (husband and wife) who solve supernatural issues and crimes.

Sources:  Sci Fi Wire

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There Will Be A Season 3 Of Damages

There’s been a question posed by a Screen Rant reader as to if/when Damages will be coming back.

After some digging, I’ve found out that when FX picked up season two, they also ordered a third season.  Filming for the third season will begin in September and Damages will return in January 2010.

Source: FX, HitFix

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We here at Screen Rant have so much TV news that we need to break it up into a few articles this week.

With that said, I thought in this extra chapter (or off-shoot of my weekly article), I’d bring some early news and information about Dollhouse, 24 and Lie To Me. I’ve also got some bits of news about the FX network shows Damages & Lawman.  I finally wrap it up with some King of the Hill info, The Office news and a question to you, our faithful readers.

Dollhouse

This is an FYI to the faithful fans of Dollhouse:  The 13th episode, called “Epitaph One” is now available on the US and Canadian iTunes sites.

More Battlestar Galactica Cast on 24

Watch out Jack, a Cylon is coming your way!

Callum Keith Rennie, (The Cylon Leoben Conoy from Battlestar Galactica) has been cast as Vladimir Laitana, a Russian mobster who shows up around episode 6 or so in the upcoming new season of Fox’s 24.

Vladiir is expected to team up with another mobster named Bazhaev, played by Jurgen Prochnow.

Source:  TV Guide

Lie To Me

In the first season of Lie To Me, we watched the show develop its legs and tell us the tale of Cal Lightman, (played by the ingenius Tim Roth) the human lie detector, and his work group.  We came to understand the science behind the premise of the show.

This upcoming season, show runner Shawn Ryan (The Unit) has come on board and will be taking the show towards a more character driven story. Some of the things coming up in relation to the character developments, or what we’ll learn more about are:

• Lightman’s past.
• The [Gillian] Foster-[Cal] Lightman relationship.
• Foster’s (Kelli Williams) divorce, and her continued pursuit of the adoption process.
• Lightman’s ex-wife (Jennifer Beals), will be back for a few episodes.
• Mekhi Phifer will return as a series regular.

Lie to Me is inspired by the scientific discoveries of psychologist Dr. Paul Ekman, who can read body language clues to determine the truth of the matter in criminal investigations as we follow Dr. Cal Lightman, the world’s leading deception expert, as he solves cases.

Source:  Chicago Tribune

FX Network Understands Nielsen Methodologies

If you remember, I loved the insidious nature of the legal drama Damages with Glenn Close.  It was even recognized as an Emmy nominee.  Yet the week-to-week ratings were low and FX president John Landgraf recognizes that people play catch up with their recording instrument of choice.  Unfortunately, Nielsen doesn’t even acknowledge shows that are watched outside of a 7-day window.  Other than that, he didn’t say much more, but I have to wonder if that was a precursor to kissing Damages goodbye?  I hope not, I do happen to really enjoy that show!

Aside from that, FX is looking to extend their episode order of Rescue Me to a 22 episodes while they push more into a comedy based line-up for other nights and time slots.  They seem prompted in this direction by the success they’ve had with of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which is starting its 5th season.

Personally, I think Sunny is a great fluke of comedic writing that’s pulled together and delivered by a great group of actors.  I’m not sure they’re going to get more out other comedies.  We’ll see what they have up their funny sleeves!

Despite their new comedy-based focus, they are looking to launch a new drama called Lawman starring Timothy Olyphant.  Lawman is based on the Elmore Leonard stories and follows a U.S. Marshal who returns home to Kentucky after spending time in Miami.

Source:  Variety

King of the Hill

FYI:  King of the Hill is coming to a close after a 13-season run and its final episode will be a 1-hour series finale that will air on Sunday, September 13th.

Source:  TV Guide

The Office

During a recent media get together, NBC let out some snippets of info about The Office.

Finally – Pam and Jim are going to head down the aisle after how long?  5 years!  In fact, it’s going to happen pretty quickly and take place in the 4th episode of the new season.

The sixth season of The Office begins September 17 at 9/8c on NBC.

Now you know!

Source:  E! Online

ABC’s Defying Gravity

I’ve completely overlooked the ABC sci-fi effort called Defying Gravity.  I mean completely overlooked it as in not even watched it yet.

The show is set in the near future where 8 astronauts from 5 different countries are on a 6-year mission that covers an 8 billion mile journey.

I actually have a question for you, our readers!  Has anyone taken a gander at this show?  What’s your opinion?  I’d love to hear if I should change my viewing habits to catch some episodes or not.  Now’s your chance to give us at Screen Rant a review on Defying Gravity.

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It’s Thursday and I hope that April 15th didn’t treat you too harshly yesterday. Whether it did or not, I’m still here to razz or rant on some stuff that’s happening in and around the tube.

Stargate Universe

As if this is a surprise to Stargate fans, but Stargate Universe will be having a few notable guest stars in the form of a few veterans reprising their Stargate SG-1 roles.

Yep, you read that right.

We’ll be seeing Richard Dean Anderson, Amanda Tapping, Michael Shanks and Gary Jones reprising their roles we’ve come to love over the years. Additonally, we’re going to see Christopher McDonald (U.S. senator Alan Armstrong), Janelle Monáe (plays herself. She and her band will perform) and Carlo Rota (Carl Strom, head of the International Oversight Advisory) will also make an appearance.

If this is anything like the way Stargate Atlantis started, we’ll see them in one quick scene, making it an official Stargate send off. I can’t imagine anything else, unless there’s a holodeck on the Ancient’s ship.

Stargate Universe stars Robert Carlyle, Lou Diamond Phillips and Ming-Na and is set to premiere on SCI FI in October with a special two-hour episode.

Source: SciFi Wire

Southland

Southland is a new crime drama show that takes the place of ER on Thursdays. It came in pretty strong with just under 10 million viewers for it’s premiere episode last week. I think this show may just play well into this time slot. I plan on watching it some more because I found it compelling. Did you?

24

Not to give much away for the time-shifted viewers but I thought the last episode of 24 brought some emotion to Jack’s life and a real twister of an ending. What a mind blowing twist of scenes.

If anyone saw it and wants to express their thoughts, try not to leave any spoilers please. (It’s hard, I know.)

The Sarah Connor Chronicles

Normally, this is where I might speak about the last episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, since they had their season finale. But we need more space to touch on some issues, so stay tuned and keep your eyes peeled for my upcoming article on the show. I’ll just say this for now: The season finale drew in approximately 3.6 million viewers.

I apologize for the tease.

Harper’s Island

Harper’s Island is a murder mystery drama and that reference isn’t the best draw for some folks. Yet being brought to us by Jerry Turtletaub (Jericho) not only gives it some merit, I believe it’s evident in the show. There’s great character interaction and mystery upon mystery leveled at us like layers of an onion.

With that noted, Harper’s Island premiered 20th on our charts with just over 10 million viewers clocking in to watch it. I found it entertaining enough that the hour flew by for me pretty fast and I was surprised it went so fast.

Did Anyone else catch this show? Have any thoughts?

Damages

Dang. I just got around to watching the last 2 episodes of Damages.

The flash forwards and flash backs throughout the season set me up for some premises I thought I had. Yet they artfully sidestepped everything and took us down a very entertaining path. That last episode moved at a pace that was complimentary to the writing throughout the season. It was one surprise after the other.

Another season, well done for Damages. I am hoping they return for another season.

Smallville

In case you’re wondering where new episodes of Smallville are, well, you’ve come to the right place.

It’s just taking a break and new episodes will be returning on April 23rd.

Leno on NBC in Boston

Remember that NBC Affiliate that said it wasn’t going to air the new Jay Leno primetime show because it was going to be “adverse to their finances?”

After NBC made a statement about pulling their affiliation from the station, they’ve had a change of heart.

WHDH-TV owner Ed Ansin said recently that “upon further consideration,” they will air Jay Leno’s program at 10 pm/ET beginning in September.

Well, that didn’t last long.

Source: THR

Friday Night Lights

Time Shitfted Viewing Light Spoilers.

Friday Night Lights came to season close last week.  Man, I think coach got the shaft from the rich brat dad using his influence to get what he wants or that he was getting revenge for getting turned in to child protective services.  It’s killing me.

Now, as you can see, Coach is going to have his job cut out for him.  What a drastic change of venue.  I’m betting this new job only has one football from the looks of that tattered field.

Trust Me

If you were a Trust Me fan, I hope you weren’t too hooked on it.

Despite TNT confusing me and calling it a “creative success,” TNT pulled the plug on the show last Friday.

Trust Me starred Eric McCormack and Tom Cavanagh as creative executives at the imaginary agency and it just didn’t catch on, averaging only 1.4 million viewers per episode.

I so did not want to tell me wife this news. She’s a big Cavanagh fan.

Source: NY Times

Ratings

Below are network ratings from the week of April 6th to April 12th:

As you can see, American idol dominated. What’s new? NCIS performed consistently with just over 17 million viewers and CSI did well with just over 16 million viewers. The action adventure platform known as 24 pulled in just over 10 million viewers.

The most viewed premiere of the week was Surviving Suburbia with 11+ million viewers, then Harper’s Island with just over 10 million pairs of eyeballs. Southland premiered 3rd amongst premieres with just under 10 million viewers, but I feel like it’s capable of more and will probably do more. We’re still in withdrawal from ER.

NBC’s Parks and Recreation premiered in the middle of the pack as did The Unusuals, both with around 6.8 million viewers.

For me, I tried watching The Unusuals premiere episode. It just didn’t draw me in. In fact I had just watched Southland and I turned of The Unusuals about 20 minutes in. I gave it a 2nd try last night. I didn’t turn it off, but it just felt lacking to me. I might gel with other folks but I just don’t see Amber Tamblyn (Joan Of Arcadia) as a cop. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg on this one, so I’ll be nice and say no more.

Rating Numbers via TV By The Numbers.

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Damages season 2 is coming at us and we’d better strap in for this high-stakes litigation drama.

Starring Glenn Close, Rose Byrne, Ted Danson & Tate Donovan, season two will add William Hurt and Timothy Olyphant to the star studded cast. (is that an oxymoron?). Damages has it all: Mystery, subterfuge, suspense and some confusion and it only gets better from there.

Season one was an insidious piece of quality story telling. When I pick up on new shows, it’s hard to miss the formulaic outlines of a scripted show. Damages took that scripted play book and apparently used it as a booster seat for someones child because they never even went there.

Last Season (One):
The show premiered with Ellen Parsons (Played by Rose Byrne) running through the streets covered in blood. This becomes an investigation of the murder of her fiancé, David, who was killed in their apartment. Ellen is the primary suspect, and she needs a lawyer. But wait, this is near the end of the story, even if that’s how it all began.

Six months previous, Ellen took a job with Patty Hewes (Glenn Close, in her first ever television role). Hewes is an extremely shrewd lawyer who will go to any lengths to obtain what she wants. Including manipulating and even trying to kill own her employees, like Ellen.

Last season, Hewes was retained to sue billionaire Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson) in a class action suit for insider trading. It was Enron like, except they tried to put a family spin on Frobishers angle in this.

Story Delivery:
The show flips back and forth in the telling of the tale but the flash backs and forwards were well executed to serve in telling the tale of everyone involved and maintained a keen level of anxiety and anticipation through out. As the end of season one neared, the story is all caught up and you’re left with a “wow” in your head as the final few weeks played out in normal story advancement.

About The Cast:
Glenn Close makes you hate her in her cold calculating methodologies and yet at other times you find yourself rooting for her, depending on what angle they’re showing her character from. She delivers to the fulfillment of any Glenn Close fan. Rose Byrne plays the innocent, turned shrewd victimized newbie lawyer rather well and Ted Danson just delivers like he’s never spent a day at a bar. Everyone in this cast delivers.

For those cast members I don’t mention, each and every one of them fills a niche in this story that needs filling. Each character is used exquisitely to fill holes, build background or further the story. Don’t just believe me as I toot my horn about the show. They got themselves eleven Emmy nominations for their work and snagged a few awards along the way.

• Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series – Glenn Close
• Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series – Zeljko Ivanek
• Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Casting For A Drama Series – Julie Tucker
• Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Television Drama Series – Glenn Close
• Australian Film Institute International Award for Best Actress – Rose Byrne.

Season two of Damages!
Season two looks like it may be just as intense as season one.

Ellen has done a lot of growing up since she graduated from law school all wide eyed and naive and taking her first job with Hewes and Associates. During season one, she got “shoved in the pool”, learning to swim with the sharks as it may and she figured it all out on her own.

Now Ellen continues to work for Patty, looking to learn everything she can from her,

“To become her confidant, the daughter she never had.”

But Patty needs to stay one step ahead of Ellen. The FBI has caught wind of how Patty does business and they’ve employed Ellen as an informant who’s looking to take Patty down and as Ellen puts it in a preview for season 2,

“I am willing to do whatever it takes, … revenge is the ultimate motivator.”

Makes sense, being as how Patty tried to have Ellen killed.

New players:
Patty gets a new client named Daniel Purcell (William Hurt), an energy consultant. He’s someone that Patty has a professional and personal past with. Wes Krulik (Timothy Olyphant) is in the same group therapy program as Ellen and ends up involved in her life.

I’d need therapy too if my boss tried to kill me!

I can’t wait to see what these two bring to the tension filled table of this show.

Damages started filming season 2 of this legal thriller around mid 2008 and it will premiere Wednesday, January 7th at 10 PM E/P on FX.

Photo Montage Cr: Andrew McPherson, Mark Seliger / FX;

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