Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is looking for ratings numbers in the vacuum of space

After being given the Friday night treatment by Fox, Ronald D. Moore’s Virtuality didn’t fare too well.

The movie that was originally slated to be a pilot for a series that  was your standard fare from Moore, employing his style and voice to air his perspective on different human scenarios.  In this case, it was about 12 space-faring crew members who were facing isolation on a 10-year space journey, and, dealing with what looked like a faulty virtual reality system.

I enjoyed it and the majority of the Screen Rant readers who commented on my review concurred that it was a good watch.

.

Friday Night Bites

But Friday night did what it does and bit a chunk out of the ratings for this science fiction drama.  Science fiction and fantasy just don’t click with the Friday night viewers.  But don’t tell Fox that.  They’re not listening.

Virtuality pulled in 1.8 million viewers and that placed the show 4th out of 5 shows in it’s time slot.

For the entire evening of Friday, June 26th, Virtuality ranked 9th out of 13 shows that aired on network TV.

The Michael Jackson Dateline show and 20/20 dominated the evening, and a repeat of the crime drama Numbers ranked as the highest-rated scripted drama.

On the bright side, Moore’s platform did manage to beat The Goode Family, Everybody Hates Chris, The Game, and Privledged.

.

Expectations Sadly Fulfilled

What I expected from this Friday night airing of Virtuality came to pass.  My guess is that Fox will not pursue a series from this premise, and that’s a shame because Moore delivered what I expect from him as he tackled different social issues in a gritty fashion we’re not always used to seeing.

Because of the reviews and other interest being generated by fans, there is a drive to get the show picked up; they suggest writing to Fox or SyFy about it or to watch it on Hulu.

Check it out at the Virtuality Fan Support page.

With Virtuality I think we could have had a great series to entertain us that would have engaged our imaginations.  It’s a shame.

Spread the word faithful readers, and let us know what your feelings are on any issue we’ve presented here.

Ratings source:  TV By The Numbers

• A 12 Minute Preview Of Ronald D. Moore’s ‘Virtuality’
• Virtuality: Review & Discussion
• Weekly TV Wrap-Up – June 4th 2009
• Virtuality: Online Opinions & Quick Reminder That It Airs Tonight, June 26th
• Ratings For The Week Ending September 13
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – May 14th, 2009

This is a DVR spoiler-free review.

“Follow me through the mirror, down the rabbit hole.  Trust me, it has to be this way.”

A rabbit hole indeed.  Ronald D. Moore has done it again giving us some brilliant writing with Virtuality as far as I’m concerned and Fox not sticking to the original plan of creating a series out of his concept is not only their loss, but ours as well.

We have 12 astronauts on a 10-year journey that becomes a potential rescue mission to save humanity.  Their space faring vessel is named the Phaeton.

The show opens with a scene that introduces the Virtual Reality system (VR) world from the ship.  We’re also almost immediately introduced to the glitch that we’ve been told about in the studio press releases.  I think glitch might be an understatement, but that’s just me.

Despite the youthful cast, there’s sufficient maturity portrayed from the characters to calm my concerns about a disconnect with older viewers.

We also know that the mission on-board the Phaeton is broadcast back to Earth as a reality television program.  I thought that angle would be distracting but Moore used this angle smoothly to fill us in on character perspectives as they updated their personal video diaries for the show.

The interpersonal relationships are well done and are developed through personal interaction on the mission and also within the VR system.  Yes, crew members can share their VR worlds with each other.

Moore employs the The VR system in a number of ways;  It serves as an emotional escape for the crew, as well as a kind of control system with certain processes within the ship.

The VR system does have its issues that we’re introduced to early on and throughout the movie.  Moore is at it again with his dark mindset as he broaches some sensitive social issues with the VR system.  We are asked to ponder the idea of whether actions conducted within the imaginary VR world is really what it is, or not.  He further uses the VR system to introduce even deeper issues but I’ll leave that for you to experience when you get to your DVR’d version.

In regards to the VR system glitch, I can’t decide what the source is but it’s fascinating and has captured my imagination.

The movie ended in such a way that Moore seems convinced that it will be picked up as a series.  If it isn’t, we are left to our imaginations as to how the story continues.

After All Is Said And Done

In mid-2008, Fox was looking at Virtuality as a series.  In January of 2009, Fox felt like the premise needed to be retooled because the story was too dense.  (Why do they consistently need to change material from successful showrunners?)  In May of ‘08, they reduced their order from a series to a 2-hour movie.

I feel like this has a ton of promise as a series.  A lot was introduced to us in these two hours.  Actually, it was only 1 hour and 25 minutes of movie in the 2 hours of air time.  But it had to be jammed packed full of details – They only gave Moore so much time to present his vision, but he did so very well.

I like the fact that Ronald D. Moore could present something to us that was not Battlestar Galactica and make it as original or fresh as he did – At least in combining various facets of sci-fi into Virtuality.

Ideas On Carrying Forward A Series

What points could be used to further this project along as a series?  Plenty.

We have the challenges of the long trip itself, the relationships between crew members, some of which were tense while others were inappropriate.  We also have the challenges of the VR system: What’s wrong with the VR system and how do they dare use it with the present glitch?  The VR system introduces the question of blurring lines between fantasy and reality.

It’s a shame NBC passed on this. They could have used this to help their ratings, but it was too “science fiction” for them.  Fox thought it was too dense before having it rewritten.  They obviously have a marketing focus that does not trust the viewer to get it.  Alas, it is television.

Did I miss anything?  Have you seen something I missed or overlooked?  Let us know if you enjoyed this show like I did.  We would love to hear what you thought.

With respect to those who DVR’d the movie, try to keep your comments spoiler free or include spoiler warnings at the front of your comments so time-shifted viewers don’t have the experience spoiled for them.

Thanks.

• A 12 Minute Preview Of Ronald D. Moore’s ‘Virtuality’
• Virtuality’s Ratings Flatline in Friday Night Dead Space
• Virtuality: Online Opinions & Quick Reminder That It Airs Tonight, June 26th
• Weekly TV Wrap-Up – June 4th 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – May 14th, 2009
• Battlestar Galactica: Some Disappointment & Final Opinions

Ronald D. Moore’s Virtuality airs this Friday night (June 26th) on Fox and from this writer’s perspective, it has come down a long and harrowing path to get here.

The project started out being lined up as a television pilot and through some unknown series of decisions, Fox has again taken a proven showrunner’s idea and seemingly squashed it with their thumb.

The show that was originally slated to be a pilot for a series has been reduced to a 2-hour movie that’s being aired in the vacuum of Friday.  At least Fox is consistent in their handling of sci-fi projects.

The show is from executive producers Ronald D. Moore (Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek: The Next Generation) and Michael Taylor (Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek: Voyager) and stars Kerry Bishe, Ritchie Coster, Eric Jensen, Nelson Lee, Joy Bryant, Clea Duvall, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Sienna Guillory, James D’Arcy, Jose Pablo Cantillo, Gene Farber, Omar Metwally and Jimmi Simpson.

It’s about 12 astronauts on Earth’s first starship called the Phaeton, on an epic 10-year journey that’s crucial to the survival of life on Earth.

The idea seemed interesting and for those in the media who have reviewed Virtuality, they make it seem like something to look forward to.

A New York Times review said, “.. .it is an impressively credentialed and stylish bit of television moviemaking, an exploration not merely of our practical dependence on technology but also of our psychological and nearly eroticized addiction to it.”

USA Today warns us that there’s an awful lot of construct and deceit for 2 hours, but then goes on to say that “it’s better than most of the networks’ summer offerings.”

LA Times Entertainment calls it like they see it by saying “that [TV network] decisions are not always based on quality of work.” and continues to say “As directed by Peter Berg (”Friday Night Lights”), this is smart, handsome TV, a witty, measured mix of sci-fi, soap and satire that offers new twists on old tropes.”

I just don’t understand how Fox can screw up potentially good shows, as they did with Firefly, but yet they do.

All we can do is tune in, possibly get some friends to watch, or DVR it and check it out within the next day or two.  Then after I’ve published my next article discussing the show, you can come back and add your thoughts to the comments / discussion thread about Ronald D. Moore’s Virtualty.

Sources:  New York Times, USA Today, LA Times

• Virtuality’s Ratings Flatline in Friday Night Dead Space
• A 12 Minute Preview Of Ronald D. Moore’s ‘Virtuality’
• Virtuality: Review & Discussion
• Weekly TV Wrap-Up – June 4th 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – May 14th, 2009
• Bryan Singer to Make Battlestar Galactica Movie [Updated]

Virtuality was an idea that Universal Media Studios shopped around.  After communicating with several writers, they hit on Ronald D. Moore’s take on their idea. They shopped the idea to NBC, but in all its wisdom, NBC said it was too much “science fiction” for their network.  It was right after this that Fox snatched up the project.  The rest is history.  Sort of.

As we’ve mentioned before, this was going to originally be a pilot episode for on ongoing series but Fox backed out on the series idea and turned the effort into a 2-hour movie instead.

So what if Ronald D. Moore and Michael Taylor just brought us the most intense space drama ever put together called Battlestar Galactica.  Fox just didn’t have the faith.  Much like the first half of season one of Dollhouse.  Need I say more?

So for the moment they’re going with this as a 2-hour movie.

Virtuality is about 12 people on Earth’s first ever spaceship called the Phaeton.  It was originally on a 10-year journey of exploration but when scientists on Earth discover that at best Earth has about a century of time left before it becomes uninhabitable, they convert the trip to one of hope.  Hope at finding another inhabitable planet.  To keep the crew occupied, the ship has a virtual-reality system installed.

As things would have it, the virtual-reality (VR) system gets itself a virus and things just get fun from there.

Another aspect of the story is that everything that happens on the Phaeton is filmed and aired back on Earth like a reality show.

Ha!  They even have reality TV on scripted TV.

The 12-minute video preview included below is not a continuous scene, but of multiple scenes stitched together.  Knowing that going in helps it make some sense.

In The Preview

We see an issue where one space traveler blames the other for messing with the VR system to generate better ratings for the show back on Earth.

In another scene, we see a VR user ask the computer who the other person is in his VR environment and the computer says there is no one there.  Hmm.

We also see how they use the VR interface to run shipboard equipment.

12-Minute Preview

My Initial Take

I’m mixed.  It’s refreshing to see a new space based drama, but the angle on the reality television presence adds a certain amount of tension on my part.  It’s Big Brother in space.  Great. If I see one hair of Julie Chen, I’m outta here!

Interestingly, it’s a fast 12 minutes as the different scenes are played out.  As odd as it sounds, when time flies on a video that usually means I was somehow engaged by it (even if I didn’t realize it!).

Check it out and let us know if this preview video is helping you get on board to want to watch the movie or if it generates a different opinion.

Virtuality will be airing on Fox on June 26th at 8 p.m..

Source:  Sci Fi Wire

• Virtuality: Review & Discussion
• Virtuality’s Ratings Flatline in Friday Night Dead Space
• Virtuality: Online Opinions & Quick Reminder That It Airs Tonight, June 26th
• Weekly TV Wrap-Up – June 4th 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – May 14th, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – February 26th, 2009

It is Thursday again and the weekend looms in front of us.

Today I’m going to chat about Summer Glau maybe being on Dollhouse, a tiny bit about Law & Order: SVU, a bit of Doctor Who news and some info about Ronald D. Moore’s Virtuality including the air date and scenes from the show.

And as usual, we’ll take a peak at ratings from last week.

Oh!  I’ve jammed in a subtle note about Burn Notice.

While you’re here, if there’s anything TV related on your mind, slap it in the comments and let us know what you’re curious about or have an opinion on.

Shall we get on with it?

Summer Glau On Dollhouse?

Does Summer look chatty here?

Joss Whedon was asked if he’d consider getting Summer Glau on Dollhouse.  Duh!

He’s way ahead of everyone.  Apparently he was already asking Summer to consider coming on board the Dollhouse production before The Sarah Connor Chronicles was even canceled. (A moment of silence for TSCC please.)

Joss is looking to cast her in a role of a character that talks too much.  LOL… that would be new.  Summer Glau being chatty?

Some think she’d be prefect as an “active” (i.e., one of the dolls) in Dollhouse, but Joss likes pushing his cast.  The idea of her being someone chatty would definitely be new to us.

If you haven’t seen her actually being all chit-chatty, it’s a refreshing look at Summer.

Source:  Entertainment Weekly

.

Law & Order: SVU Contract Talks

Word on the street is that there is still no deal in place for Law & Order: SVU stars Mariska Hargitay and Chris Meloni for next season.

As you know, SVU has been renewed for next year regardless of the stars’ contracts, but word is that negotiations are “moving in the right direction.”

I think it’s a shame that Hargitay and Meloni were asking for so much money and I hope everyone can come to a happy medium.

I know SVU is NBC’s No. 1 scripted show, but that isn’t saying much considering where on the charts it kept showing up.  Last week in the ratings it was in 25th place.

Source:  Entertainment Weekly

.

Doctor Who Coming to BBC America

Starting in July, BBC America will be airing five Doctor Who specials.  On top of those episodes, they’ll also be airing the final four adventures that have David Tennant starring as the Doctor.

All this fun starts in July.

Making a smart move for Doctor Who fans, BBC America also snagged the 2008 Christmas Special, “The Next Doctor,” which stars David Morrissey and Dervla Kirwan. It will be broadcast on June 27, 2009.

Sounds great.  Now I have to figure out what channel BBC America is.

Source:  Sci Fi Wire

Continued after the page break:

• Weekly TV Wrap Up – July 23rd, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – May 14th, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – July 30th, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – July 2nd 2009
• Friday Night Ratings: Dollhouse & Smallville
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – April 30th, 2009

Today’s Weekly TV Wrap Up will have a little One Tree Hill (Something a bit new, but a reader asked about the show.), some more on Dollhouse after the finale and Lie To Me news. We also touch on David E. Kelley’s disappointment, the dumping of a few shows by NBC and how Fox seems to be treating Ronald D. Moore’s Virtuality just like Dollhouse, but worse – If you can imagine that. I also have some David Tennant news for you.

Despite the season finales, it’s a bit of a quiet week for me.  Of course, I have the TV ratings from last week and a bit of a surprise at the end of the post, if you make it that far.

Shall we get on with it?

One Tree Hill (Might Be Considered SPOILERS)

It looks as if Chad Michael Murray and Hilarie Burton are not returning for the 7th season of One Tree Hill.

Apparently a deal could not be brokered for their contracts to return to the show and that’s a shame considering the popularity of the show.  I presume it was about pay raises and not the fans, but it is what it is.

The CW will be filling these two roles with three new characters.  The newbie roles will be an older sister for Haley, a sports agent for Nathan, and an diva that Brooke hires for her clothing line. On top of that, Austin Nichols (Julian) will become a regular.

You asked us in the comments, we answered!

Source:  EW

Dollhouse Has Not Been Sent To The Attic Quite Yet

I’m not holding my breath on this one, but word on the street is that Joss Whedon is pitching his vision of season two and looking at how the show can appear financially feasible to the advertisers.

So maybe there’s a little hope?  It’s Fox… If they renew, they’ll probably move them to midnight Friday nights.

Source: Whedon Info

Lie To Me Renewed

Fox has renewed Lie To Me and in the same process (more or less) has hired The Shield creator Shawn Ryan to be the new showrunner.

Human Target Gets A Chance

Human Target, starring Mark Valley (remember him, the in-Olivia’s-head ghost and ex-boyfriend in Fringe?) will star in the show.

Human Target will be about a man who changes identity each week for a client, taking his place in a dangerous situation.

Some say that with the personality changes that go on in the show, it might be compared to Dollhouse but “they” say it’s more along the lines of 24.  Sure.  Anything to pitch a show.

Source:  THR Feed

Ronald D. Moore’s Virtuality May Be Short Lived

Ronald D. Moore and Michael Taylor’s fox project titled Virtuality is getting the short stick from Fox. What was originally reported as a possible sci-fi series for Fox looks to be only getting a single day air-date of July 4th as a TV movie.

Yea, the same July 4th that is the least watched night of television of the year – for some reason… I can’t recall right now.  Cool, they can now join Dollhouse in the time-slot shafting department.  Oh.  I didn’t say that.

It’s been said that the show had been submitted to Fox and then returned for a re-editing.  This is like a parallel story line.  What is it with Fox and the shows of PROVEN SHOWRUNNERS?  I am befuddled.

Viruality revolves around a starship that had a malfunctioning virtual reality system.  The cast included Clea DuVall, James D’Arcy, Jimmi Simpson, Jose Pablo Cantillo, Joy Bryant, Kerry Bishe, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and Sienna Guillory.

Sources:  Variety & SF Universe

NBC passes on a David E. Kelley Pilot

If you’re a David E. Kelley fan looking forward to his next project, you can put it in park.  His new show, called Legally Mad, had the plug pulled by NBC.  Eh.  I like his stuff.

Speaking of plugs, Fox pulled the plug on their poorly performing cartoon, Sit Down, Shut Up.  Maybe it was the rude title that did not lure people in.

Source:  Variety

For The David Tennant Fan

David Tennant has landed the role of hosting the long running television show called Masterpiece Contemporary. He’ll be filling shoes that have been filled by the likes of Alan Cumming and Laura Linney.

The Masterpiece series began as Masterpiece Theatre in 1971, and now also encompasses a sister series, Mystery.

Source:  Salisbury Journal co.uk

Last Weeks Ratings Numbers for May 4th to 10th 2009

The top-10 shows stayed the same but moved a little up or down, but more or less, the same.

CSI Miami moved up 5 spots, gaining over 1.5 million viewers from the week before.  As House on Fox built up to their phenomenal season finale, they moved up 4 spots.  Castle made a massive 17 spot jump to 23rd in the ratings as they gained around 1.5 million viewers.

One of my favs, The Unit, stayed static around 25th with just under 10 million viewers on Sundays, but that’s not enough for CBS and word on the street is that it won’t be coming back next year.  Buggers.

So let’s see what the numbers looked like from last week, courtesy of TV By The Numbers.

I Did Say I Had A Surprise For You

We all miss Firefly and we miss The Sarah Connor Chronicles. The common denominator?  Summer Glau.

The super nice people over at Whedon Info posted a nice picture to help us remember Summer between gigs.  Enjoy team!

And don’t forget, sound off on any info you want to know about next week and don’t forget to tell all your friends, relatives and co-workers about this uber cool website.

• Weekly TV Wrap-Up – June 4th 2009
• Virtuality’s Ratings Flatline in Friday Night Dead Space
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – May 7th 2009
• FOX To Air All 13 Episodes of Dollhouse
• The Friday Night Death Slot: Sarah Connor Chronicles & Dollhouse
• Friday Night Ratings: Dollhouse & Smallville

Kevin Reilly, the president of Fox Entertainment, was having a group chit chat with reporters about a few things that are on all our sci-fi-loving minds.

Even though we as a collective tentatively look at Fox with apprehension, they do have the largest collection of sci-fi genre shows out there (barring the Sci-Fi Channel, of course). They’ve got The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Fringe on the air; they’ve got Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse around the corner and they’re developing Ronald D. Moore’s Virtuality (I’m going to use the word “develop” lightly here).

So here’s the rundown, according to Reilly:

With regards to The Sarah Connor Chronicles, the show needs to perform ratings-wise when they launch season 3 on Friday, February 13th, and we finally get to see that dang UFO plot line resolve itself. Though their ratings weren’t the best last season, advertisers favored the show (which I suspect is due to the upcoming Terminator Salvation movie).

Despite Dollhouse getting some rewrites and being moved to Friday nights, Reilly says they’ve more or less left Whedon alone so he can just do his show. That almost sounds like Fox made a good decision. It’s a start.

As far as the move to Friday nights, Whedon’s initial reaction to the schedule change was “mixed.” As he puts it: “I’ve had a bad experience on a Friday; you may have heard about it.” But he’s also said that he’s happy to have Dollhouse paired up with The Sarah Connor Chronicles, considering that Fox is now actively promoting both shows as their Friday night lineup. So he says. I suspect the ratings will determine how happy (or not) Whedon ends up feeling.

And surely there is concern with the abysmal failure of NBC’s My Own Worst Enemy, a show that also dealt with multiple personalities, much like Dollhouse. Whedon says it’s not the premise but the creative forces behind a show that make the difference. He also mentioned that he’s happy that Dollhouse is not competing with ‘Enemy.’

On a strange note, Fringe has been a solid performer for the network but it hasn’t been renewed yet, but Reilly is confident that it will be. Personally I don’t know why he’s “confident,” since he is a central part of the process. Shouldn’t he be “assured,” or “certain,” or am I just being silly?

Will the cast of Fringe be back for a second season?

Of course where would we be if Fox didn’t “retool” something? Yeah, I’m talking about Virtuality. As we reported last June, Virtuality is about the crew of an interstellar ship who entertain themselves in virtual worlds to pass the time until a flaw emerges in the system.

The  two-hour pilot is being directed by Peter Berg and was written and produced by Ronald D. Moore and Michael Taylor. But Fox says the show is going to need to be retooled before the network will make any kind of  commitment to it, because as it stands, the story is too dense.  But hey, why take chances on Moore and Taylor, two guys who helped revive a little show called Battlestar Galactica and turn it into a hit?

Speaking of Battlestar Galactica, tune in for my Thursday morning weekly TV recap for a little bit of news on the upcoming BSG episode. And in the meantime, my fellow sci-fi fans, keep your fingers crossed and hope that Fox does right by its sci-fi lineup. We’ll keep you posted.

Sources: SciFi Wire, THRfeed,

• Fox Announces Fall TV Lineup & Squirms On Sarah Connor
• TV Renewal And Cancellation Notes To Date
• Solved: Dollhouse – The Mystery Of The 13th Episode
• The Friday Night Death Slot: Sarah Connor Chronicles & Dollhouse
• FOX To Air All 13 Episodes of Dollhouse
• Dollhouse Season 2 Discussion

Today I’m chatting about Supernatural, Virtuality, Heroes, Knight Rider, and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Kind of like a grab bag!

The creator and executive producer of The CW’s show Supernatural, Eric Kripke, just signed an exclusive two year deal with Warner Brothers Television. In that deal, he will continue to run Supernatural and will be developing other projects under the contract for them.

An article in Variety surmised that one of those projects might be a prequel to Supernatural. Kripke has been interested in a prequel to Supernatural based in the old west and if he gets that chance, I think he can pull it off. He’s the kind of twisted person who likes watching editors jump and cringe while they work on his stuff. (I like this guy!) And I’d like to see how that much coveted Colt came about. (Eric, are you reading this?)

With the good news out of the way, let’s talk cast.

We all are pretty aware that Bela (played by Lauren Cohen) bit the big one last season and rightfully so. Bela’s manipulative methods rubbed me and the show runners the wrong way, which is a sort of twisted kudo to her, but she’s not coming back.

I’m bummed about the fact that Katie Cassidy, who played the demon Ruby, has been cut from the cast. The reason for her cut: Production costs of all things! Even though they have the same budget as last year, they’re “suffering from a lousy exchange rate.”

There will be female characters interspersed throughout the season, but no regulars. (TV Guide)

Supernatural starts its fourth season this September.

~~

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, previously of New Amsterdam, has been tagged to star in the Fox two-hour pilot Virtuality, as mission commander Frank Pike.

It will be interesting to see how he plays this completely different type of character. I look forward to it. (Hollywood Reporter )

~~~

Heroes on NBC will be adding Bruce Boxleitner (Of Babylon 5 fame) in a recurring role. (TV Guide)

A new speedster named Joy is also coming to Heroes, played by Brea Grant. She’s new to the genre of Sci-Fi and has been in some guest roles on Friday Night Lights and Cold Case. (TV Squad)

Heroes will premiere on September 15

~~~~

Paul Campbell, who we may all remember as the ill-fated, love torn presidential assistant Billy, in Battlestar Galactica, has joined NBC’s Knight Rider and will play the head research tech at Knight Industries.

It looks like Leven Rambin is coming on board Fox’s Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. She will be playing Becky, a potential love interest for John Connor. (Hollywood Reporter)

That’s all I got for ya, for now. Chat with you later.

• Weekly TV Wrap Up – March 12th, 2009
• Are Smallville And Supernatural Ending Next Season?
• Supernatural: Some Season 5 Story Points
• Is Jeffrey Dean Morgan Returning to Supernatural?
• Supernatural Season 5 Preview
• Young John Connor To Take On Freddy Krueger?

I was going to start this out by defining what Virtuality means but there were just too many options to keep this simple and witty, so nevermind.

Virtuality, for our purposes, is a new effort from Ronald D. Moore, whose re-imagining of the classic series, Battlestar Galactica (BSG) is just mind blowing. This time, he isn’t just re-imagining, he’s creating from scratch!

Virtuality is about 12 people who crew a spaceship named Phaeton, which is on a 10-year journey to distant star systems. To stave off the boredom, NASA equipped the ship with virtual reality systems. These systems allow the crew to go anywhere and be anything they want, hopefully keeping them entertained in the process of their long trip. (I know, I know – Can anyone say ‘”olodeck?“)

It’s a great idea, until a mysterious computer bug shows itself in the system.

The show is from Universal Media Studios and producers Gail Berman and Lloyd Braun. After shopping their idea around to different writers, they liked the approach that Ronald Moore took, and suddenly we have a creative team. With Moore coming on board, he also brought along writer-producer Michael Taylor, who worked with Moore on BSG.

This creative team pitched their idea to NBC, but lacking the daring to set trends or push their audience into a different realm of entertainment, NBC said the show was too “science fiction” for the network. On the other hand, Fox network, in its ever venturous and expanding line-up of fantasy, sci-fi and action shows, snatched this right up.

Will this be another massive goof like when CBS turned down the original Star Trek and it went to NBC / Paramount instead? We’ll see.

Right now, production on this new two-hour back door pilot is slated to begin next month. Actors selected for the show are James D’Arcy, Kerry Bishe & Jimmi Simpson. New and unfamiliar faces we’ll see in the cast will be Joy Bryant, Sienna Guillory, Nelson Lee, Omar Metwally and Ritchie Coster.

I see some interesting challenges or risks, if you will.

The cast is pretty fresh, and lucky enough to be working on a project with Moore so they best bring their “A” game to the field. The show will explore such varied realms that it could give the actors quite the challenge to stretch their own talents – as the story can span space travel to a civil war within the same episode.

On the creative side is an even more deep-rooted challenge: How to present a “holodeck” type themed show and avoid the obvious similarities that viewers are going to be either looking for, hoping for, or will be ready to “diss” in massive doses at the first chance they get.

I look forward to it, but I can’t wait to see how everyone involved is going to pull this off.

If anyone is keeping score, Fox has lined up for us Fringe from J.J. Abrams, Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse, 24 is coming back, and now this. I think someone woke up and smelled the sci-fi in their coffee because for a station that has such a poor reputation with sci-fi, (from commentary I’m reading here and out and about on the web) they sure seem to be filling their cookie jars with an awful lot of stardust. (I don’t know where I come up with some of these statements, they just happen.)

Maybe they’ve seen the momentum the Sci-Fi Channel has created for itself and are hoping to dilute or share that networks’ demographic.

I guess now we wait, and see.

Sources: SciFi.com, SyFyPortal

• Virtuality’s Ratings Flatline in Friday Night Dead Space
• A 12 Minute Preview Of Ronald D. Moore’s ‘Virtuality’
• Virtuality: Review & Discussion
• Virtuality: Online Opinions & Quick Reminder That It Airs Tonight, June 26th
• Weekly TV Wrap-Up – June 4th 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – May 14th, 2009