Sci-Fi Storm

We’re still part way through the second season (with a heartbreaking mid-season finale), but AMC has announced a 16-episode order for a 3rd season of the hit zombie series The Walking Dead at the Television Critics Association press tour. The second season was 13 episodes, following the initial debut of 6 episodes.

The Walking Dead returns for the second half of Season 2 on February 13th.

Syfy has ordered 7 more episodes of hit series Warehouse 13 to give the upcoming 4th season a total of 20 episodes. Warehouse 13 remains the network’s most popular series, which follows two Secret Service agents (Joanne Kelly and Eddie McClintock) who track down strange artifacts, under the tutelage of Artie (Saul Rubinek) and with the assistance of a tech wiz (Allison Scagliotti).

The CW is apparently spinning off a character from Smallville…according to Deadline, they are near deal for a pilot from Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim (writers of The Green Lantern) and Andrew Kreisberg (Vampire Diaries, Fringe, Warehouse 13), for a series based on the Green Arrow, the DC comic book hero that dresses like Robin Hood and uses a variety of high tech arrows (glue, explosive, tar gas, etc.) to fight as a crusader.

It does not appear, however, that the new series would be directly connected to Smallville. The character was portrayed in that series by Justin Hartley, who is not attached to the new production.

NBC still sees money in the eyes (or fangs) of vampires. The network has made a script-to-series commitment (meaning they’ll skip a pilot and go straight to a 13-episode series order if they like the script) for a Dracula series from producers Tony Krantz (24) and Colin Callender (Tsunnami: The Aftermath) and writer Cole Haddon (who appears to be a newcomer, but had a script for Hyde on the 2010 “Black List”, the annual Hollywood list of most-liked but unproduced scripts).

Dracula will be a period “soap opera” style set in the 1890s, and described as “Dangerous Liaisons meets The Tudors“, and will be aimed at both the U.S. and International markets via NBCUniversal’s international channels.

Monster Man, the upcoming unscripted show on Syfy that follows monster creator Cleve Hall and his family and friends at SOTA FX, will premion Wednesday, March 14 at 11PM (ET/PT), immediately following the second season finale of Face Off at 10 PM (ET/PT). Monster Man will return to its regular timeslot, Wednesdays at 10 PM (ET/PT), the following week on March 21. (Check out our preview of Monster Man (and Face Off) from the press event in October.)
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Being Human returns to Syfy next Monday, January 16th at 9/8c, so here is a preview of the premiere episode!

In this sneak peek, we see Josh expressing to Aidan and Sally that he’d like everyone to try and act normal while girlfriend, Nora is around which means no more flying mugs and vampire talks about Mother. Nora enters to room and asks if Sally is present and mentions that she found an invite to her high school reunion in the trash. While Nora can’t hear Sally’s responses, she’s informed by Josh that she has reservations about going. Watch the all new sneak peek to see if Sally will ever change her mind on attending and catch the season premiere of Being Human on Monday, January 16th at 9/8c on Syfy!
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Not a lot of this is new compared to last June, but Rick McCallum, promoting the upcoming Red Tails movie, spoke with Scott Callura about the (legendary?) live-action Star Wars series that might be the most advanced pre-production ever for an unsold series. Some new things are the working title – Star Wars: Underworld, and the theme. Set between Episodes 3 and 4, while the Empire is taking over the Republic, rather than focus on the big picture it will be focusing on what is happening underneath – the world of criminals and gangs, “that are running…Wall Street…basically running the Unites States,” he joked. We think. Anyways, it has a more adult theme, which could put it in an interesting position where the franchise is currently popular among a younger set thanks to Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

They have 50 “unbelievable” scripts (apparently no additional scripts have been written), with each one-hour script being ‘bigger than any of the prequels were”. I dunno Rick, I’m not sure if that is setting us up for disappointment – or is more telling about the quality of the prequels…

Things are still on hold over the costs of each episode to produce. They are aiming for a $5 million/episode mark as the maximum, but they can’t do it for that now.
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Just found out about this – it as a site that helps visualize the scale of the Universe from the smallest (quantum foam and strings) to the largest (the entire universe), with a slider you can move to change the scale of what you are looking at.

I don’t know why, but suddenly I think molecules are positively huge…

Scale of the Universe

Mind blown.

In “The Darkest Hour Part II” sneak peek, we see Arthur speaking with his men and making plans to retreat back to Gaius to treat a dying Merlin, though his men urge him that if he does not get to the Isle of the Blessed then many more with die. Lancelot volunteers to take him alone and Arthur has a discerning look once he mentions he’ll make his was to Camelot through the Valley of the Fallen Kings but reluctantly agrees. Tune in to an all-new episode of Merlin Friday, January 13th, at 10/9c to witness Merlin’s journey back to Camelot and Arthur’s quest to defeat the Dorocha.
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Fox’s entertainment president Kevin Reilly spoke at the Television Critics Association’s Winter Press Tour, and he mentioned Terra Nova and Fringe specifically. No decisions have been made on either for renewal, but should come soon, but it is looking pretty bleak for Fringe.

First, on Terra Nova – Reilly admits they made money. “We made money on it, the studio made money on it, and it seems to have resonated with the family audience.” So why haven’t they renewed it already? “If we had more holes in our network, we’d be thrilled to lock that right in.” So it appears there isn’t much room and they might be looking at a bigger margin with something else. But also he said the show was hunting for an identity, trying to be too many things at once, and they are working on it.

Of Fringe, the news was far from hopeful. Although he shares the fan’s passion for the show, Reilly said, “We lose a lot of money on the show. At that rating on [Friday] night it’s almost impossible for us to make money.” Of course that won’t resonate with fans at all, who originally criticized the move to the Friday slot as an attempt to kill the show. “We are not in the business of losing money, so we’re trying to figure out if there a number at which we can continue with the series. We haven’t even sat down with the producers yet.” Another bad sign there…