Knight Rider now up on blocks?

Looks like I may have spoken a bit early on Knight Rider. According to SyFy Portal's Michael Hinman:

• NBC released its mid-season schedule, and while there is a place for "Knight Rider," its episode order has been cut to just 17 episodes, and it appears the network is not apt to make many more, according to Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello.

I based my comments last week on reports that NBC had given "Knight Rider" a full season order just a month ago and left it in the Wednesday slot while putting Monday night shows on hiatus, replacing them with a reality dancing show. But it would seem now that NBC is far less committed to the remake than previously thought.

One funny turn of events did take place durigh the shake up. Again from SyFy Portal

• NBC tried something different in "Knight Rider's" time-slot last week by airing a variety show by Rosie O'Donnell but the ratings for that outing were even worse than what "Knight Rider" was generating, and that show survived just one episode.

NBC shakes up it's SF schedule

As the warped IO9 put it: NBC says 'Happy Thanksgiving but we are taking away your TV'. As tongue in cheek as it sounds, IO9 is being straight. NBC's science fiction offerings are going to take a major hit come 09. Heroes and Chuck will be given a month's hiatus while the wonderfully twisted "My Own Worst Enemy" may be given the boot altogether. The new January slot will be filled with guess what....yep - a reality show....who woulda guessed! The new show is called Superstars Of Dance (I kid you not! what is it with dance shows this year! I could tirade about how silly these shows are or worse, but I will save it for now) For some brain dead reason, Knight Rider will keep it's Wednesday slot (they keep that one but pull Enemy? Sci-fi execs are not the only crack smokers it would appear!) I really have to say that My Own Worst Enemy surprises me a bit. Kind of a smart mans Chuck (I know a bit of a stretch) but no where near as one dimensional as Chuck. It is a show that I have really enjoyed from the start. It is a wonderful veicle for all involved, pulling each and every one out of type casted stereotyping. The way most of the characters had two distinct personalities was very inventive. I will be disapointed to see this one pass. But it would seem people dancing must be cheaper to produce. I won't be watching though.

<- NBC schedule changes -> via IO9

Gemini Division Online Webisodes from NBC/Sci-Fi

Gemini Division is a new online Science Fiction available in bite sized (approximately six minutes) webisodes from the sci-fi channel and NBC. Two are currently available.

Set 5 minutes into the future: Anna witnesses her boyfriend Nick's gruesome murder... Determined to bring the people responsible to justice, Anna discovers Nick was not the man she thought - in fact, he wasn't a man at all. Nick Korda was a "Simulant" - a bio-engineered life form - connected to a global conspiracy involving covert military operations, bizarre genetic experiments... and a mysterious organization known as GEMINI DIVISION.

<- Main page ->

We are kind of split on this. I found the listing on QuasarDragon and Wolfkahn had this to say

• I wasn't too impressed by the series so far . It seems half Blade Runner, half really bad soap opera. However, as an early web SF series, it could pave the way for better low budget SF. It's free and the episodes are short so it is definitely worth a watch. If anybody has an opinion about the show please feel free to comment.

The look and feel, well he might be on to something there, but after seeing some of what others were offering...(earlier listing...) I can clearly see the production values shine here. There really isn't anything new here, maybe the way the show sets itself up with conversations through a video cell phone. Anyway, I am will to say, give it a go.

Bionic Woman Is Officially Cancelled

The rumors are true: NBC's The Bionic Woman is officially dead. SciFi Wire recently spoke with the show's co-executive producer, David Eick, who confirmed that the show was terminated, even though the network has given no public word on the show's status. The Bionic Woman has been believed to be cancelled since the end of the writer's strike, when NBC didn't order any new episodes of the program.

Katee Sarkoff walks away from Bionic Woman

Oh the rumor mill is off and running with the goings on with the cast of NBC's The Bionic Woman.

Seems the bad bionic bitch Katee Sarkoff had a meeting with the producers and rumor has it that she will not be returning to the set when the writer's strike ends. Now I know, she was never meant to be a steady on the show, but truth be told, I think Katee really brought the show up! Now considering the dismal ratings that TBW has been netting, I can understand Sarkoff's concern. But I have to say that Sarkoff may be the only saving grace that TBW really can field. The rest of the cast really is plain vanilla, Sarkoff's character at least had some depth. Wonder how long it will take the other rats to scurry off......

NBC's Journey Man on the bubble 2 week notice!

Ouch! from AMC sci-fi scanner JourneyMan is in big trouble. 2 Weeks People! Get you **** together!

Bad news, Journeyman fans! Though NBC's quirky quasi-update of Quantum Leap has become the surprise sci-fi hit of the season, the current rumor is that bad ratings areas about to kill the show off.

According to Zap2It: the Nielsen numbers for Journeyman for the episodes airing on November 19th and 26th are critical. If the numbers don't improve substantially, the network will yank the show. Even more astonishingly, the source claims NBC won't even air the remaining episodes!

Now I know I busted on this show for just that....being a Quantum Leap rip off....but to kill it and not show the remaining episodes!!! come ON! what has...NBC got trickle down mentality from the Sci-fi morons of scheduling? Yeah, I will fess up, I am watching the show and it's not bad, just compare it to that piece of crap the sci-fi channel brought in (yep talking about Flash again) as a season replacement. That's supposed to be acceptable sci-fi for the masses and Journey Man is not? I am breaking out my darts again.

Strike may kill BSG

It's no mystery that the writers strike is having a crippling effect on television in general and many programs that are teetering on the brink.

Case in point is Battle Star Galactia. Already on hiatus on the SF Channel - NBC has pushed back new production of any new episodes of BSG to the point that there is now rumor that NBC may be going to cancel the whole project.

That would be a major disappointment in my book. After we were told that this would be the last season, I reconciled myself to the fact that I would at least see the series to a proper end. Now even that may be in jeopardy. Well, nothing solid yet, but if something permanent comes along, I will let you know.

Taking a trip with Journeyman

While others seem prepared to dance on Journeyman's grave, I finally got a chance to see the first episode and I will have to say, that I am if not impressed, willing to watch a few more. The time travel, if somewhat derivative is such a minor point that it would do you well to over look it. What we have is the main character finding himself oddly jumping back into the past and to the present at odd times. It seems to make no sense until he meets with his first love whom he thought was dead but seems to be a jumper much like himself. He finally figures that he is suppose to save a child's life and does so in a most unexpected way. If you have watched the show, you will remember the tool box, which I thought was a brilliant idea. What will kill this show will be the same thing that made it's very similar predecessor almost unwatchable. Inane writing and static theme. Both started off with an inventive idea and it could wind up sinking the newest. I think the fact that he continues to jump back and forth and interact with both the past and present has an interesting twist....also (excuse me but I don't see how this could work) time continues to flow in the present when he is in the past....ummmm for me that says that he isn't in the past but in an alternate universe...but that is nit picking. I think I will continue watching... give it a try if you haven't seen the first, go see it online (click the title to go to the show site)

Chuck n Heroes premiers

NBC trotted out something new and something....weird for their premiers and redos of science fiction shows...well mostly science fiction. Chuck downloaded. ehhhh..... All I could think of was Jake 2.0. I mean the guy even looked like him. And Geek Squad....Nerd Herd? And are the shows drastically different? Lets see... One guy gets hurt during a breakdown of security and there is an accidental transfer of material that gives the hero a special power. Which show am I talking about? My point exactly. Nanos are out and embedded computer information is in. The only diff is the guy wants to be the manager of a big box store instead of being nsa/cia whatever. Lame....Nope, Chuck didn't work all that well for me. Although seeing Adam Baldwin doing that creepy Gman character is kind of a treat.

Heroes was a bit of a mixed bag....Don't get me wrong, it really is the 800 pound guerrilla of sci-fi shows this season. Heiro has gone back in time to find out that his childhood hero is a drunkard Englishman....that might have a comical twist in future episodes.....Mohinder and Claire's father are plotting against the "company" - that came across as pretty weak. Claire and family are trying to fit in hiding out in Texas. Claire has to prove to herself that she still has the mojo? Oh come on! LAME! Now I was just waiting for the moment that Claire's father did some violence on the big box geek manager. That my friends was a creepy / scary 10 minutes that still goes to show that for all his "I love you Claire bear" face giving, this guy is is just seconds away from being your worst nightmare. Nathan self destructing?!!! WTF?! Though kicking his mother out calling her evil made points with me. And Peter showing up inside a cargo crate chained to the wall with amnesia? I am sorry, but just how does that happen. So, a bit of a mixed bag, but all in all well worth watching again next week.

Nichelle Nichols Confirms ’Heroes’ Role

From SYFY portal blog:

"Star Trek" legend Nichelle Nichols, who played Lt. Uhura in the original series, has shared what kind of role she'll be playing on the series, and it looks like it will involve Noah Gray-Cabey's character of Micah. It's a role similar level to that of her former Trek co-star George Takei who was an integral character during the first season as Kaito Nakamura, the CEO of a massive Japanese corporation as well as the father of hero-in-training Hiro Nakamura. And just like Takei, Nichols will have a fraternal relationship with one of the heroes…namely Micah Sanders.

Fall Science Fiction TV show update

Geekend blog just passed on the new sci-fi shows that will premiere this fall. They also now have the days and times that these shows will appear on. Check it out!

Chuck [Monday, Sept. 24, 8:00 PM, NBC] High concept: Hapless tech-support geek accidentally gets reams of uber-secret spy data downloaded into his brain, making him the most coveted walking hard drive on the planet.

Journeyman [Monday, Sept. 24, 10:00 PM, NBC] Preview available here. The concept goes something like this: a San Francisco newspaper reporter gets sent back in time by an unknown power to right wrongs. Sounds familiar, right? The difference is that McKidd is absent from the present for the same amount of time he spends in the past, so if he spends 48 hours in 1987, he misses 48 hours in 2007, which screws up his family life.

New Amsterdam [Tuesday, Sept. 25, 8:00 PM, FOX] Preview available here. John Amsterdam is a NY City homicide detective who just happens to be an immortal from the 17th century who can’t resume aging normally until he finds his one true love.

Reaper [Tuesday, Sept. 25, 9:00 PM, CW] Previews here The basic premise is a teenage Home Depot employee finds out that his parents sold his soul to the Devil for personal gain, and now he’s become a Grim Reaper charged with hunting down souls that have escaped from hell. Think of it as Dogma meets Brimstone, with emphasis on the funny.

Pushing Daisies [Wednesday, Oct. 3, 8:00 PM, ABC] Preview available here. Professional pie-maker Ned has the ability to resurrect the dead, but with some complications. 1) If he ever touches his reanimations a second time, they die again, and can’t be called back.
2) If he keeps his reanimations alive for more that a minute, somebody else nearby has to die to balance the scales.

Bionic Woman [Wednesday, Sept. 26, 9:00 PM, NBC] Preview and commentary here.
this is a flat-out remake of the 1976 series, with Michelle Ryan filling in for Lindsay Wagner.

Flash Gordon [Friday, Aug. 10, 8:00 PM, Sci Fi Channel] Teaser available here. This new Flash won’t bear much resemblance to the old. Flash is now a marathon runner rather than a football star, and Dale Arden is his ex-girlfriend rather than the damsel in distress and a decidedly non-Asian Ming the Merciless.

Moonlight [Friday, Sept. 28, 9:00 PM, CBS] Preview available here. Originally called Twilight but changed when producers though views would expect something "zoneish" So maybe now we might expect "Moonlighingish perhaps?" Moonlight will feature a beneficent vampire who works as a detective to help the innocent. (umm does this sound vaguely familiar to anyone....Forever Knight ring a bell?) CBS has given this show the "dead man walking" slot. I have a feeling this one isn't going to be around long.

The Sarah Connor Chronicles [Sundays, 9:00 PM, FOX no date set yet] Preview available here. Lena Headey (Queen Gorgo from 300) is on board as the title character, and Summer Glau (River from Firefly) is your requisite good-girl protective Terminator, the pair collectively defending John Connor (played by Thomas Dekker, AKA Claire’s friend Zach from Heroes) from wave after wave of deadly cyborgs from the future.

True Blood [Sundays, TBA, HBO] based on the Southern Vampire novel (Dead Until Dark, etc) series by Charlaine Harris and stars Anna Paquin (Rogue from the X-Men movies) as Sookie Stackhouse, a telepathic waitress from Louisiana who suffers through a maudlin series of vampire boyfriends in a world where the bloodsuckers have “come out of the coffin” and entered mainstream society (thanks to a medical blood substitute that frees them from nightstalking humans). No preview or time-slot yet available, but Harris’ Web site has a running collection of press releases and set photos, and the buzz is that this will be a mid-season replacement in early 2008.

Click on the show titles, the article title or here for more info

Heroes and Stargate Atlantis News

From About.com's sci-fi blog


Stargate Atlantis:

Fans of Stargate Atlantis's Scottish medical officer, Carson Beckett (Paul McGillion), who was killed off in January, plan to rally at ComicCon in San Diego to make sure that producers and network execs know just how outraged they still are. The popular character's death was all the more startling because it came at the end of an idyllic, off-duty episode called "Sunday," the 17th episode of the spin-off's third season. While many agree the episode itself was well-written and beautifully executed, fans worldwide immediately reacted negatively to the finality with which Beckett was written out.

NBC's Heroes:

George Takei discussed his role recently on Sirius's Howard Stern show, where he hinted that Kaito will exhibit some form of light-emitting powers. Takei plays Kaito Nakamura, the father of Masi Oka's Hiro.


Photo by Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images.

'Heroes' Grabs Eight Emmy Nominations

PLUS: 'Lost' earns six nods, 'Battlestar Galactica' four - Thanks to SyFy Portal

Masi Oka was the only member of the "Heroes" cast to get nominated for his role as Hiro Nakamura. Some of the other nominations were for Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Supporting Actor. Other "Heroes" nominations were for Outstanding Art Direction for a Single-Camera Series, Oustanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series, Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series, and Oustanding Stunt Coordination, all for "Genesis," while the episode "Five Years Later ..." earned an Outstanding Visual Effects for a Series nod.

Sci Fi Mondays on NBC this fall

NBC announces Sci Fi Mondays. NBC will air Chuck, Heroes and Journeyman. Expect the premieres of most of these series in September. "Chuck" is about a tech support guy for a Best Buy-like store who unwittingly becomes the holder of important government information and a pawn for the CIA and the National Security Agency. "Journeyman," about a time-traveling newspaper reporter.

New hero next season for Heros

From the SFsignal's blog

Heroes is set to gain a new hero next season. Mohinder's sister, complete with an unannounced power. You may remember that Mohinder's mother told him his sister, Shanti, was dead. Did she really die or does death have something to do with the nature of her power, sort of a reverse of Claire's power? The character of Shanti will appear in 8 episodes next season.

Click article title or here for more

Heros creates a spin off and more NBC SF

SFGates.com's Tim Goodman writes in his blog:

NBC was the announced that it would spin off "Heroes" into a second series called "Heroes: Origins," a limited-run, six-episode drama that will introduce a new character each week and incorporate an online element that will allow "Heroes" fans to vote on which of the six new characters on "Origins" will be added to the original series.

in other NBC science fiction news -reports of solid additions to the fall schedule

-- "Journeyman," a drama about a San Francisco newspaper reporter (Kevin McKidd from "Rome") who can go back in time to alter the events in people's lives. It will follow "Heroes."

-- "Bionic Woman" -- yes, that bionic woman (sans "the" in the title), a series "reimagined" from David Eick of "Battlestar Galactica."

New Bionic Woman clip

Tech Republic /Geekend have posted a two minutes, 18 seconds clip of the new Bionic Woman pilot debuting this fall on NBC. It stars Michelle Ryan as the new, nanotech-enhanced Jamie Summers squaring off against a bionic villainess played by Katee Sackhoff, better known as Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica remake on the Sci-Fi Channel. From what I see, don't expect your daddy's bionic babe....aint happening. I suspect that the clip is much darker than the show, but even still, this is going to be a rough and gritty ride that in no way resembles the earlier show of the same name. The clip closes with Summers saying...."I know what I am capable of now....send who you want....and I will bury them one after the other." Ouch! Serious Painkiller attitude! I know that I have been turned around a bit by this clip. Click the links, see what you think.

Sackhoff Signs Onto 'Bionic Woman' Pilot

From the Syfyportal blog

Well if you were wondering what Katee Sackhoff, late of "Battlestar Galactica" as the hotshot pilot Starbuck, was up to post Galactica, it seems she has signed on to NBC's "Bionic Woman" remake, which is being led by BSG's Eick. The pilot will star Michelle Ryan as bionic woman Jaime Sommers, and it seems Sackhoff will not appear until the second series of episodes. It's not clear what Sackhoff's role would be outside of the fact that she will be an evil bionic woman. She apparently is being billed as a guest star which could mean only a one-time appearance.

Zeroes

I know a whole lot of you have seen this clip....I know I have watched it several times, laughed each and every time. However here is some news on this extremely well made spoof!

Zeroes, features a familiar voice talking about regular people with "Pointless Abilities". For example, one guy can ripple his stomach and a girl can put her entire fist in her mouth. You get the idea. It's worth a chuckle or two.

It turns out, the 2-minute spoof was an NBC creation. Marketing guru Vince Manze admitted to Variety that he created the spoof without any fanfare or even a tease to the real series, just as an experiment. He didn't even tell Heroes creator Tim Kring about it.

Click the title of the article, its worth a giggle or 2

A pilot for Paul Reubens

Thanks to TVSQUAD for this gem

It seems that pesky little problem has finally left Paul Reubens behind. (of course from my perspective - its not his behind that the pesky little problem has to leave, but then, that's just me......PAC) He has been cast as the lead in a pilot for NBC called Area 52. He'll play the role of an alien who is being housed in a government facility. Ahhhh does anyone have trouble picturing Rubens as an alien.....didn't think so. Paul Reubens has done all sorts of guest starring roles on television, most recently on Dirt and 30 Rock, since his arrest for public ummm......oooh....ahhhh... well you get the point. He is also currently filming Pee-Wee's Playhouse: The Movie-- further proof that his past is now behind him.

(if my mic dies during this article....I'm sorry, I really am trying to be good....honest! links I've just got to remember it's links)