Sci-Fi Storm

AMC has held to their pattern of early pickups and ordered a sixth season of its record breaking series The Walking Dead just ahead of the 5th season debut this Sunday.

The Walking Dead has been riding a high, topping the TV charts for adults 18-49 for two straight years and finished off its fourth season with a 15.7 million viewer finale – 3.3 million higher than the previous season finale. It averaged 13.3 million viewers over the whole fourth season.

Metal Hurlant Chronicles, an anthology series that has had two limited runs and was recently aired on Syfy in the U.S., will get a reboot of sorts as they change format to an arc-based serial series, telling a story over the course of a season.

The first two seasons were of independent stories, loosely (and I mean VERY loosely) tied together with an asteroid called the Metal Hurlant that passed by the planet on which they story was taking place, changing the lives of those that it encountered. It based on the Metal Hurlant anthology comic/magazine series.

The idea behind the format switch is to allow time for the audience and characters to connect, “and where we could explore the mythology of the Métal Hurlant,” according to creator/producer Guillaume Lubrano.

In an anthology series, like with The Outer Limits, there is the very limited time to get the audience interested in what they are seeing. It requires strong stories and actors who can engage with the audience quickly. But there is also the regret that if you do make that connection, the audience might regret that they won’t see those characters again (unless there is the rare sequel story, or even rarer spin-off to a series.) In addition, you have a very limited time to tell the story. By switching to the arc format, recently successful with the American Horror Story series, you have more time to develop depth in the characters and weave a more interesting story.

Jamie Mathieson (Being Human, Doctor Who) will write the script, which will be a co-production between Atlantique Productions and the producers of the original series, WE Productions.

Haven is moving to Fridays again! The drawback – it will be airing at 7/6c – earlier than Syfy usually programs first run original content. The NFL has really messed up Thursday night programming for networks (and not to mention my fantasy football teams), so apparently they move is to get out from under the Thursday Night Football shadow. But since WWE Smackdown owns the 8-10pm slot, 7pm was the choice. Presumably it should do at least as well if not better there, although I wonder if some of the viewers may shift further into the Live+3 and Live+7 numbers.

Starting November 24th, Syfy’s Ascension is a six-hour limited series event in the vein of past Syfy mini-series such as Taken, Alice, Tin Man and Battlestar Galactica.

In 1963, the U.S. government launched a covert space mission sending hundreds of men, women and children on a century-long voyage aboard the starship Ascension to populate a new world. Nearly 50 years into the journey, as they approach the point of no return, a mysterious murder of a young woman causes the ship’s population to question the true nature of their mission.

Tricia Helfer – known and loved by million as Cylon Number Six in Battlestar Galactica – is part of the cast. She will play Viondra Denniger, a beautiful, manipulative and dangerous power broker on the Ascension.

Brian Van Holt – star of Cougar Town and The Bridge – will play William Denninger, captain of the ship and Viondra’s husband. A natural leader, William quickly rose through the ranks after playing a heroic role in a fire early in the spacecraft’s voyage. While his professional life is solid, William’s marriage to Viondra is anything but.

Andrea Roth, star of Rescue Me, will play Juliet Bryce, head doctor of the Ascension. Her relationship with her daughter, Nora (played by Jacqueline Byers) is difficult and strained. Nora, for her part, is a young woman under intense pressure to follow in the family’s footsteps of being a doctor despite her own dreams.

Rounding out the cast are Brandon P. Bell as First Officer Oren Gault, who was born on the lower decks of the ship to maintenance workers and must investigate the aforementioned murder; Tiffany Lonsdale as Chief Astronomer Emily Vanderhaus, the older sister of the murder victim; and PJ Boudousque (Pretty Little Liars) as one of the ship’s maintenance workers.

Ascension is created and written by Philip Levens (Smallville), who will also serve as Executive Producer and Showrunner.

WOW!!! Now we know something about the plot…