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Posts tagged as “Science-Fiction”

TV Fall '09: The Complete Review – What is new

Let’s continue our TV 2009 review/coverage with this time around all the new shows that are premiering this fall.
Notice how eight of the twenty or so shows (more than a third!) are either direct spin-offs or remake/adaptations.


Newbies: They’re not that original.


– Accidentally on Purpose (premieres Sept. 21): Jenna Elfman comes back to TV with a show about a woman who “accidentally” gets impregnated after a one-night stand. I don’t see how this show can last over a season. But then again, the same thing was said about How I Met Your Mother…
– NCSI: Los Angeles (premieres Sept. 22): A fourth CSI show set in L.A. would have seemed way too suspicious so they instead opted for something way more original: a spin-off from a popular crime show. Can someone clarify for me the series’ relation to JAG?
– The Good Wife (premieres Sept. 22): Despite its standard CBS procedural aspect, I’ll give this one a try if only for Julianna Margulies (that, and both Ridley Scott & Tony Scott are execs). She’ll play the wife of a politician having been jailed following a public sex and corruption scandal. On the nose storyline.
– Three Rivers (premieres Oct. 4): I’m sensing a cancellation here.


– The Jay Leno Show (premieres Sept. 14): Crash and burn. Please?
– Community (premieres Sept. 17): The pilot was funny albeit with most, if not all, of its jokes in the trailer. The cast is enjoyable enough, but unfortunately John Oliver will only be part of two or so of the show’s 12-episode season.
– Mercy (premieres Sept. 23): Have mercy on yourselves and do not watch this.
– Trauma (premieres Sept. 28): It’s like E.R. and Third Watch but with a lot more budget so they can make everything explode. Plus Peter Berg.


– The Forgotten (premieres Sept. 22): That, it will be.
– Modern Family (premieres Sept. 23): Despite its good cast I’m still dubious of its comedic appeal. Especially when you consider that one of the creators was behind Stacked.
– Cougar Town (premieres Sept. 23): I wonder if Bill Lawrence will get busier with his Scrubs reboot than with this Courtney Cox show?
– Eastwick (premieres Sept. 23): Unnecessary adaptation of the 1987 witch film.
– FlashForward (premieres Sept. 24): I’ve been telling you about this awesome show for almost a year now. And here it finally comes.
– Hank (premieres Sept. 30): Kelsey Grammer tries his luck a second time with this sitcom about a fallen CEO forced to move back to his old town with his family. I’m not expecting much, despite David Koechner also being in the cast.
– The Middle (premieres Sept. 30): Where’s Malcolm?
– V (premieres Nov. 3): Reboot of the famous ‘80s TV show about aliens coming to Earth with no-so-noble intentions. The pilot was somewhat enjoyable but didn’t really impress me. Will this become The 4400 2.0?


– Glee (premieres Sept. 16): The pilot was surprisingly entertaining. I’m looking forward to what’s to come.
– Brothers (premieres Sept. 18): Oh CCH Pounder, what has thou done?!
– The Cleveland Show (premieres Sept. 27): Yet another Seth MacFarlane show. I’ll pass.


– Melrose Place (premieres Sept. 23): You surely have better things to do than watch this reboot/remake/spin-off/revival/adaptation.
– The Vampire Diaries (premieres Sept. 10): Did they just create a TV spin-off of Twilight?
– The Beautiful Life: TBL (premieres Sept. 16): Simply awful.


– Archer (premieres in October): James Bond meets Arrested Development meets The Office. Greatest combination ever?
– The League (premieres November): Fresh off the network’s pick-up list, here comes a comedy about a Fantasy Football League with Human Giant’s Paul Scheer, the lovely Leslie Bibb and My Name is Earl’s Nadine Velazquez. Plus, it was created by Seinfeld/Curb Your Enthusiasm alumni Jeff Schaffer & Jackie Marcus.


– Stargate Universe (premieres Oct. 2): Now that Battlestar Galactica is gone, SGU wants to be the gritty sci-fi show. The storyline and cast definitely piqued my interest but I’m unsure how dark a Stargate series can be…


– Bored to Death (premieres Sept. 20): Jason Schwartzman, Zach Galifianakis and Ted Danson, together. Simply brilliant. The show describes itself as “noir-otic” and centers on an alcoholic novelist (Schwartzman) pretending to be a private eye. Galifianakis plays his BFF, a struggling comic-book artist.

Tomorrow will be our third and final part of our complete Fall ’09 review. We’ll check out what’s going on with all the major networks. It’s gonna be epic (fail).

Hindsight

It’s a news dawn, it’s a news day:

– MTV has had its shair of dumb moves, most of which involving non-music programming, but this time a new low has been reached.
The network is preparing a US version of Skins.
Yup, we’re talking about the “trashy” UK series.
But how the hell can the project “break new territory” as MTV says if you can’t even say fuck (let alone show nudity nor rebelious acts)?

– Steven Spielberg/Robert Rodat’s still-untitled alien invasion pilot for TNT has begun shooting in Toronto under the helm of Carl Franklin.
As you might recall, E.R.‘s Noah Wyle is the star of the pilo.
However, there’s still not much news on the rest of the cast nor the basic premise of the show.

– Don Cheadle has lined up a producing gig for March to Madness, an upcoming FX show (yup, another one).
The pilot is being written by Joel Silverman and shot by Pete Segal.
The show centers “around a corrupt college basketball program that cheats its way to the “March Madness” NCAA basketball tournament. Project will be told through the eyes of the college coach, whose idealistic approach to the job has slowly been eroded by the compromises he’s forced to make.”

– In case you haven’t done so already, check out Chris Nolan’s awesome Inception teaser.
I’m hoping the movie will allow Joseph Gordon-Levitt to garner some well-deserved attention.

– Also, io9 has a week dedicated to TV as well as two guest bloggers: The Sarah Connor Chronicles‘ Josh Friedman and Day One‘s Jesse Alexander.
Both have posted great posts.
Josh talks about why he needs therapy to work through TV, and Jesse blogs on why Space: Above and Beyond “blazed new trails.”
Two great reads.

– Oh, and you should check out this neat parallel between Titanic and Avatar‘s lukewarm receptions pre-release.
History likes to repeat itself.

Identity Crisis

What is going on with all those brand renaming themselves?
Gatorade changes to G, Pizza Hutt to The Hutt, RadioShack to The Shack, and now Cartoon Network, who freshly announced a slate of non-cartoon shows, is also considering a name change?

There are even whispers inside the channel’s Burbank animation studios that the network might drop “Cartoon” from its name.
[…]Rob Sorcher, a veteran cable programming executive who joined Cartoon Network last year after a stint at AMC, where he spearheaded that network’s push toward original dramas and was involved in the development of “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad.”
[…]Although they are committed to their approach, they disagree on the fate of Cartoon Network’s name. [Sorcher] said he expects “we will have to deal with this down the line.”

Please don’t do this.

Side-note with some movie stuff:
Remember Outland, the SF/western 1981 movie with Sean Connery?
Well, it’s getting a remake with Shoot ‘Em Up‘s Michael Davis set to helm the project.
Who’s the guy writing the script? That would be Chad St. John.
You might recall that John also wrote SOTW6‘s The Days Before (notice how FlashForward is also on there, kinda funny considering the two scripts’ stories).
Anyway, I loved the Days Before script so I’m wondering what Chad will be able to pull for this Outland remake.
Incidentally, the current issue of Script Magazine has a piece on Chad St. John.

There’s also this other Dirty Dancing remake currently planned by Lionsgate.
What is interesting is that this time the writer is Julia Dahl. If you don’t know her, she was The West Wing‘s executive story editor from 2001 to 2002, and wrote two of the show’s 3rd season episodes.

Moving back to TV territory…
The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences lost its longtime PR agency, the Lippin Group, due to the recent debacles surrounding this year’s Emmycast.

ABC is moving on a haunted-hotel series entitled Clive Barker’s Hotel from two original Saw writers, Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton. I’m not here talking about the original movie, rather the latest four instalments (Saw IV throguh Saw VII).
Charlie’s Angels/Terminator Salvation’s McG might also be set to direct the pilot if the project comes to fruition.

And finally, some more great news for Caprica (remember, the Battlestar Galactica spin-off).
James Marsters is joining the cast for a “seizable arc” in at least three episodes of the show’s first season.
He will play “a dangerous terrorist leader by the name of Barnabus Greeley. Driven by desires both moralistic and carnal, Barnabus is as lethal as he is unpredictable.”

There’s also this new FlashForward poster that I just find plain awful.
The faux-embossed character pictures are kitschy, the “flash-forward” ball is badly done and made out of basically the same fifteen pictures used over and over again, and the sea reminds me of some 1990 photography background.
See for yourselves:


My eyes are bleeding…