Weekly TV Wrap Up – January 22, 2009

Here’s the second post of our new regular feature: The Weekly TV Wrap Up.

The 2nd half of the 08-09 season is officially underway and I am pretty busy trying to watch so many of the new shows that have come out that my recorder is starting to smoke. This morning it said “EAS” and I had to reboot it. (I have no clue what EAS means.) I don’t think my recorder likes me anymore.

But with all the new shows coming up, there’s still news and events to report on. So let’s get this show on the road and get you caught up on some of the things going on behind the veil of our television glass.

Reminders:
1. The resident private eye / vampire, Mick St. John is back in repeats of Moonlight. Moonlight stars Alex O’Loughlin, Sophia Myles & Jason Dohring and will air on The Sci-Fi Channel, starting this Friday night, January 23rd.

2. Do you remember when aliens were taking people over and the infiltration was an insidious process that drove you nuts? If you’re thinking about the 2005 series, Invasion, yes, that’s what I mean. It too is going to get some air time in repeats on The Sci-Fi Channel starting this Friday, January 23rd. I liked the show when it was on. It starred William Fichtner, Eddie Cibrian, Mari Matchett and Lisa Sheridan (Whom I really enjoy watching!).

3. It never goes well when you ask your rag-tag fleet of surviving humans to accept an alliance with Cylons. And that is exactly what Admiral Adama is going to be finding out tomorrow night on Battlestar Galactica, in the episode titled “A Disquiet Follows My Soul”. Source: SciFi.com

News Tidbits:
4. Speaking of Battlestar Galactica, last Friday nights premiere episode did very well for NBC’s Sci-Fi Channel. At least as well as a sci fi show on Friday night is concerned. It brought in a total of 2.1 million total viewers. It ranked first in men 18-49 and men 25-54. Source: Media Week

5. CBS president Nina Tassler tossed out a few bones last week while talking to reporters that a pilot for the NCIS spinoff is happening. It will air as an episode of NCIS. That seems cost effective! Source: Variety.com

6. In that same chat, from item No. 5, Nina Tassler pointed out that though Eleventh Hour isn’t doing so good in the ratings department, they’re not ready to drop it yet. Rightfully so!

If you remember back in August we reported that Eleventh Hour was one of the most expensive shows ever made. $4 mil for the pilot and $2 mil per episode and they were committed up to at least 13 episodes. That’s why they aren’t throwing the towel in! It was a pricey gamble on an adaptation of a British mini-series. Source: Variety.com

7. If you’re a fan of NBC’s Chuck and Chevy Chase, you’ll be in heaven. Chevy Chase is guest starring in 3 episodes as a mega-billionaire tech mogul who is accused of stealing Chuck’s fathers ideas. Source: Hollywood Reporter

8. Speaking of Chuck, Scott Bakula has found himself a spot back on TV. He’ll be playing Zachary Levi’s dad in Chuck. His stint is scheduled to kick off for a few episodes in April. Source: EW.com,

9. The cast of Stargate: Universe continues to grow! They’ve added Justin Louis (Hidden Hills) to play Colonel Everett Young, the experienced Stargate team leader. Jamil Walker Smith (Hey Arnold) will play Sr. Sgt. Ronald Greer, a Marine with a temper. David Blue (Ugly Bette, Moonlight) will play Eli Wallace, a slacker genius. And finally, Brian J. Smith () will play Lt. Matthew Scott, the junior member of the Stargate team. Filming will start in the Spring with a targeted Fall 2009 launch. Source: SciFi Wire

10. NBC announced this last week the renewals for The Office, 30 Rock and The Biggest Loser for the 2009-2010 season. (How on this green Earth did Joelle actually end up staying. Egads!!!) Source: NBC

11. You keep asking about My Name Is Earl and at the moment, I’m thinking that no news good news? There has yet (At the time of my writing this article) to be any news as to NBC’s plans to renew My name Is Earl. As soon as I hear anything, you will know it. I can’t imagine they wouldn’t. Would they?

12. How bad is it when you get replaced by a cooking competition show? Ouch.

When Knight Rider closes out its ordered number of episodes, the reality cooking show Chopping Block will be taking its place. It will debut on Wednesday, March 11th at 8 p.m.. Talk about adding insult to injury. Source: Media Week

14. Bob May, the man who wore the “Robot” suit in the 1960’s sci fi show, Lost In Space, passed away last weekend. Our condolences to his family and friends. Incidentally, he was not the voice of Robot. May was just the power behind the flailing arms while Dick Tufeld voiced the Robot. In particular, one infamous phrase we all know and love, “Danger, Will Robinson! Danger, Will Robinson!” while May did all the flailing of his arms around! Source: Sci Fi Wire

15. As it stands, almost 7% of U.S. households will see “snow” when the “Digital Transition” kicks in on February 17th. Right now, there might be a delay in the transition, but as of right now, they seem to be moving along on schedule. Source: Media Week

Double-Talk Of The Week:
16. When asked about the dropped shows Pushing Daisies, Eli Stone and Dirty Sexy Money, ABC’s President Steve McPherson says that they would have liked to air the end of those shows but “… because of the way the timing worked out, we weren’t able to“.

He said he wished they could have given the producers enough notice to write up finales. McPherson added that “For us, it was a frustration that we couldn’t find a larger audience – or that Nielsen couldn’t find a larger audience. I really love those shows. They delivered what they promised.”

Interestingly, it is being pointed out that the network did have sufficient time to give the show runners a heads up on making show ending episodes. If I were a guessing man, I’d say these shows probably aren’t coming back, even if they do have unaired episodes still sitting in the can. Source: EW.com