Sci-Fi Storm

The 2011 Primetime Emmy nominations were announced today, and it looks like cable TV is the big winner this year. Read on for a list of the genre shows and their nominations.
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I’m hearing that the ratings for the first showing plus the immediate encore of Torchwood: Miracle Day first episode are on par with what Starz previous original program, Camelot debuted at – but was canceled at the end of it’s fist run. This has some worried, but there were a number a factors involved in the cancellation of Camelot, including scheduling conflicts with the stars. We also don’t know how the budgets compare, which certainly factors in although not in the traditional advertiser-supported model.

It seems that Syfy has found a strong scripted Monday lineup…with the return of already strong shows Eureka and Warehouse 13 and the addition of Alphas resulted in their highest rated scripted Monday in 10 years – with Alphas scoring 2.5 million viewers, making it the most watched debut on the channel in 2 years. Eureka and Warehouse 13 also averaged more than 2 million viewers each.

Also boosted by the debuts was Syfy.com, which delivered its best day in video streams (378K) since 11/1/2009; uniques (376K) since 10/31/10; page views (1.4 million) since 3/18/11, and visits (373K) since 1/17/11.

Syfy’s Summer Premiere Week continues on Wednesday, July 13, with the third season of Ghost Hunters International at 9PM, followed by the premiere of Legend Quest at 10PM. On Friday, July 15, Haven returns for its second season at 10PM.

It’s been almost three months since Peter Jackson posted a video from the set of The Hobbit, but here is the second video from the set, featuring Andy Serkis, Ian McKellan, and some of the dwarves, other cast and crew and what they are going to do while they take a short break, plus some location scouting…and just 200 shooting days left!

It looks like TNT liked the returns on the first few episodes of Falling Skies – TNT has ordered a second season of the hit post-invasion show starring Noah Wyle from Dreamworks Television and Steven Spielberg, which will air in the summer of 2012. The premiere on June 19th drew a Live+7 viewership of 8 million, making it the most successful cable launch so far in 2011, and through three episodes as averaged more than 6.4 million blended (live and time shifted) viewers.

“Falling Skies is a true standout series, from its ambitious storytelling, high-profile cast and production team to its phenomenal success when it comes to international and time-shifted viewing,” said Michael Wright, executive vice president, head of programming for TNT, TBS and Turner Classic Movies (TCM). “We’re reaching new audiences with Falling Skies and look forward to seeing where this fascinating and exciting series takes us next.”

“Falling Skies is a true standout series, from its ambitious storytelling, high-profile cast and production team to its phenomenal success when it comes to international and time-shifted viewing,” said Michael Wright, executive vice president, head of programming for TNT, TBS and Turner Classic Movies (TCM). “We’re reaching new audiences with Falling Skies and look forward to seeing where this fascinating and exciting series takes us next.”

The first season of Falling Skies is currently airing Sunday nights at 10/9c on TNT.

Syfy’s Warehouse 13 returns next Monday at 9/8c, and earlier today I was on the phone with three of the stars – Saul Rubinek (Artie), Eddie McClintock (Pete) and Allison Scagliotti (Claudia). I should have more a more complete article about the call this weekend, but here is a “sneak peak”, along with a sneak peek of the premiere as well as part one of the “webisode” tie in, “Of Monsters and Men”.

I asked each of them to describe the direction that we’d see their character’s take this season – spoiler free, of course (Saul said he wanted to give spoilers though…). McClintock said we’ll see “more insight into the people who influenced him…more about his dad…his mother…[his arc will be] centered around Pete’s past.”
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Eureka returns next Monday, July 11th at 8/7c on Syfy, and in the town where anything is possible returns with all-new adventures. In our sneak peak “Liftoff”, Fargo is busy working on a spaceship when Zane hops on board to grill him about Lupo, closing the hatch behind him. Unfortunately for both of them the ignition switches were on and with the hatch closed the ship’s engines ignite and launches both of them into outer space! Catch the extended clip to see how things went terribly wrong and tune in to the premiere this Monday to see if Sheriff Carter can get them safely back to Earth.
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Perhaps not a great surprise versus his alter-ego’s clean image, Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe revealed he turned to alcohol as he attempted to live a “famous person’s lifestyle”, in an interview for GQ magazine. Reportedly he turned to drinking during filming of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and “I became so reliant on [alcohol] to enjoy stuff. There were a few years there when I was just so enamoured with the idea of living some sort of famous person’s lifestyle that really isn’t suited to me.”

But he dropped drinking last August, around the time he got together with his unnamed girlfriend. “I’m actually enjoying the fact I can have a relationship with my girlfriend where I’m really pleasant and I’m not ****ing up totally all the time.” Kudos to Daniel for recognizing it and fixing it before it was too late.

If you remember way back when in 2006 when Dean Devlin mentioned that Stargate was originally envisioned as a trilogy of movies (doesn’t everyone do that now?) but with MGM having control and moving to a series he and co-creator Roland Emmerich disavowed, it seemed unlikely that they would get made…but now that the Stargate TV franchise is at least in hibernation, Devlin is still hopeful that parts two and three could still happen, although it may be changed a bit from their original ideas owing to so much time having passed.

I’m still not sure that a movie franchise that ignores the multiple series would help, but who knows…with the state of MGM and how much the word “reboot” is thrown around Hollywood, is they can see any money in it they’ll do it…

Twilight Zone and Night Gallery creator Rod Serling, who also co-wrote the original screenplay for Planet of the Apes, will get a movie about his life. Andrew Meieran through his Bureau of Moving Pictures acquired the rights and will produce along with Serling’s widow, Carol Serling. Stanley Weiser (Wall Street) will write it.

Serling was more than just the guy who introduced and narrated Twilight Zone episodes. He was a paratrooper and a member of the demolition squad in WWII stationed in the Philippines, and even boxed for a time – a life from which he drew experiences for the many episodes of various drama programs and TV movies in the 50s and 60s. He passed away in 1975 at the age of 50, attributed to his life-long chain smoking, but his legacy included several revivals of his programs and even a thrill ride at several Disney theme parks around the world.