Sci-Fi Storm

TV Line reports that Big Bang Theory producers Bill Prady and Steve Molaro said on the red carpet last night at the Golden Globes that they’ve signed James Earl Jones, best known as the booming voice of Darth Vader, and Princess Leia herself Carrie Fisher, to play themselves in cameo roles in an upcoming episode of the show where they will cross paths with Sheldon.

We know that Sheldon is a huge fan of That Other Franchise, but we’ve not seen a lot of Star Wars representation on the show. I wonder what reaction we’ll see?

In the meantime, The Hollywood Reporter is reporting on some of the names being bandied about as possibly up for roles in the upcoming Episode VII movie, including Michael Fassbender (X-Men: Days of Future Past), Hugo Weaving (The Lord of the Rings, The Matrix), Adam Driver (Girls) and Breaking Bad‘s Jesse Plemons.

But there is also this interesting nugget…that with the departure of Michael Arndt, who was originally writing the script which focused on the offspring the of the original trilogy’s main characters – Luke, Leia and Han, with them and the original actors taking supporting roles, J.J. Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan, who have taken over the writing, have rewritten the script to put the three back into the lead roles!

Apparently even George Lucas, who had given guidance at the start, has acquiesced to Abrams and Kathleen Kennedy, President of Lucasfilm.

Is this a good idea? I can see them perhaps using this film as a transition, launching the new characters forward, but I can’t see it working for three movies.

The fourth season of Game of Thrones will debut April 6th on HBO.
(continue reading…)

Helix, Syfy’s highly anticipated new series from Ronald D. Moore (Battlestar Galactica), garnered robust numbers during its special 90-minute premiere on Friday, January 10 from 10-11:30PM (ET/PT), ranking as the #2 cable entertainment program among Adults 25-54 (893K) in its time period.

Helix also delivered 1.82 million total viewers and 734K Adults 18-49.

This represented Syfy’s best performance in the time period (Fridays at 10-11:30pm) in more than four years among total viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49.

As well, the 11:30PM encore delivered nearly one million total viewers (988K).

Powered by Helix’s debut, Syfy was the #2 cable entertainment network from 8-11PM (ET/PT).

Helix also set records across Syfy’s diverse digital platforms:

· Helix was Syfy.com’s best series premiere day ever in all key metrics, ranking as the #1 section of Syfy’s Digital Portfolio.
· Helix’s premiere was Syfy’s second most social scripted series premiere (behind only Defiance), outperforming recent competitive cable series premieres including BBCA’s Orphan Black, Showtime’s Masters of Sex and Starz’s The White Queen.
· Driven by Helix, the Syfy Now website and mobile app set records for full episode segment starts.
(continue reading…)