Sci-Fi Storm

Syfy has announced that Jack Bender, who directed many episodes of Lost (and exec produced) as well as the pilot for Alphas and most recently several episodes of Alcatraz has been hired to direct the pilot for Syfy‘s upcoming pilot Rewind, which was ordered just last month. Rewind is a joint production of BermanBraun and Universal Cable Productions, who also produce Alphas.

According to Michael Ausiello in his “Ask Ausiello” column, nothing has been decided yet on the stuck-on-the-bubble Fringe coming back for a fifth season, but there are several scenarios still in play – and one possibility is that it does come back, but for a 15-episode final season. This would give it 102 episodes – over the magic “100” number that the syndicated world likes to see, and should also provide plenty of time to answer questions and wrap things up. So there is still hope, Fringe fans!

I wouldn’t bet on it happening, but new new vampire on the U.K. version of Being Human, Damien Molony (who plays Hal, replacing Aidan Turner’s Mitchell who departed last season), thinks the idea of the cast of the two productions of Being Human meeting would be “hilarious”, according to an interview with MTV.

“I’ve never seen the American version, but I know certainly from the online stuff that its doing incredibly well,” Molony said. “It’s great for Being Human fans, that they get to watch a great UK show, and a great US version, it’s brilliant. But I think it would hilarious to see one episode where the UK people go on holiday to America, or vice versa, and suddenly we have to break bread with each other.”

Although not likely to happen, if it did, there is the question of who from the U.K. show would be available to do it. Turner as mentioned above has already left, with Molony as the fresh face. Russell Tovey (the werewolf George) has announced his departure at he end of this season, leaving Lenora Crichlow (the ghost Annie) as the remaining original cast member. ith such cast turnover, would there be enough appeal?

J.K. Rowling will finally write another book – but not only will it not be part of her massively successful Harry Potter franchise – it won’t even be a kids book.

It was announced today that the writer as signed a new deal with publisher Little, Brown, who will publish her next book, for an adult audience, in both the U.S. and U.K. The Harry Potter books were published by Bloomsbury in the U.K. and Scholastic in the U.S.

Details about the book are being kept secret, but Rowling’s statement only mentions that it “will be very different to the Harry Potter series.” We don’t know if she’ll still draw on the fantasy genre, or if it will be something more mainstream, but it will be interesting if she can at least recapture the “magic” of her previous efforts in a whole new direction.

In this preview for next Monday’s Being Human, Sally races down the steps to of the brownstone and finds the house in disarray. She calls out to ask whoever is causing this to stop but finds herself being faced with the mysterious force that’s been hunting her. Catch the all new sneak peek and tune in next Monday for an all new episode.
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In just over a month, the highly anticipated The Hunger Games hits the screens. To help promote the movie, fans in some cities will have the opportunity to meet the tributes as they embark on a national mall tour, kicking off on March 3rd in Los Angeles!

Cast members including Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson will be participating in local festivities on the eight-city tour, sponsored by the Microsoft Store, China Glaze, and h2O Spring Water. Fans in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Seattle, Phoenix, Dallas, Miami, Chicago, and Minneapolis can participate in Q&As and enter giveaways to win Hunger Games Gear.

Check out the schedule for who, where and when…then catch the latest TV spots (via ScreenRant):
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There isn’t much to spoil as far as stories go, but some pics were obtained during shooting of the upcoming Doctor Who series, and one thing they did reveal was an apparent guest star (quit reading if you want to be totally surprised)…Harry Potter fans will recognize the patriarch of the Weasley family – actor Mark Williams.
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On this Friday’s Merlin, the Knights of Camelot enter into a swordfight with several bandits that have captured a waifish girl. After their defeat, the bandits scurry away, leaving the girl behind. Tune in to an all new episode as the unknown girl might hold the secret to a plague decimating the men of Guinevere’s home village. Merlin “Lamia” airs Friday, February 24th at 10/9c.
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Some news tidbits from this morning: Eureka star Colin Ferguson will join the cast as the lead in a comedy pilot for Fox titled Like Father, where Ferguson will play Van “The Hurricane” Lyons, nicknamed for his personality, who moves in to his son Will’s campus apartment after his wife passes away. Also cast are Phil Lewis (The Suite Life… shows on Disney) as Van’s best friend, and Kevin Michael Martin (My Little Princess) as Will’s best friend and roommate. The pilot is being written, directed and produced by Bill Lawrence (Scrubs, Cougar Town) for Warner Bros. TV. Eureka fifth and final season will air beginning April 16th.

Also, Syfy has bought a spec script from Brett Conrad (Sons Of Anarchy, Covert Affairs) to adapt into a 90-minute pilot called The Dover Agenda. It is described as a thriller where a young man is recruited into a secret branch of military intelligence – and the one who recruited him is a future version of himself. Barry Josephson (Bones) will executive produce for FreemantleMedia.

Syfy is bumping up its programming schedule this Spring season with more original series and more hours of programming than any prior Spring season. Here are some of the highlights coming up:

March:
Monster Man (NEW ORIGINAL SERIES)
Special Premiere Wednesday, March 14 at 11PM following Face Off season finale; regular time slot Wednesdays at 10PM beginning March 21 — Monster Man goes behind the scenes of one of Hollywood’s most respected monster prop building workshops. For more than 30 years, when studios have wanted a bizarre creature or out-of-this world alien, they’ve turned to Cleve Hall and his very unique family business. Only the horrifying monsters they build match the craziness of this extremely talented family. Monster Man stars Cleve Hall, his daughters Constance and Elora Hall, his ex-wife Sonja Maddox-Hall, best friends Roy Knyrim, Hill Vinot & Johnny Saiko, as well as office manager Cindy Miller. Executive producers are Scott Gurney and Deirdre Gurney for Gurney Productions.
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