Sci-Fi Storm

Our last panel on scripted programming was about Lost Girl, a Canadian show currently in its second season that Syfy has acquired and will join Being Human on Monday nights beginning January 16th at 10pm ET.

Lost Girl follows the story of Bo (Anna Silk), who discovers as a teen that she isn’t human, but instead she’s a succubus, one of the Fae who can drain life energy from others after she kills her love. She later learns of the Fae would, and is told she must choose between the light or the dark Fae – she rebels and considers herself neutral in their conflicts and she tries to protect the humans.
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It was a couple of years ago that Universal confirmed that Bryan Singer planned to reboot Battlestar Galactica as a movie – independently of the more recent re-imagining done by Ronald D. Moore and David Eick, and by reports more directly related to the original created by Glen Larson. Well, it was put in the back burner as there were other things to do – like his remake of Excalibur.

Well, now Blastr is reporting that Excalibur is dead (Warner Bros went with a competing King Arthur story), and that Singer is now moving forward with developing Battlestar Galactica.

I’m not sure if I’m ready for another Galactica so soon. But the way the remake hit parade seems to be going, could we eventually see multiple competing remakes of the same property in development at the same time? Like, let’s say, Paramount brings Star Trek back to TV, while also the J.J. Abrams “alternate timeline” movies keep moving forward? Or say Devlin and Emmerich finally realize their original vision for sequels to Stargate while MGM fires up a new Stargate SG-1 spinoff? What would that do to fans?

The zombies are taking over! Remember all that drama about Frank Darabont leaving as showrunner for AMC’s The Walking Dead? Either it had no effect on the fans, or it seriously boosted interest in the show, as last night’s second season premiere broke records for a basic cable program for the key 18-49 and 25-54 demos (4.8 and 4.2 million respectively), and reached 7.3 million total viewers is the first showing alone (up 38% over the first season premiere), and 11 million for the extra showings that followed.

On this Friday’s all new Sanctuary, Helen and Will are strolling along together through a marketplace seeking information, but it will definitely come at a price. The man feeding them the details they’re paying for assures them that the man they’re seeking will show up soon, and that he comes every day to buy a particular fish. As they start to follow their man they realized there’s a group they believe might be black market traffickers and are posing as competition. Will and Magnus start to lose their target and have to find a way to keep up. Be sure to watch the clip and tune in this Friday at 10/9c to see if Magnus and Will are able to get their man.
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Like last year, we had a special combined panel for the upcoming holiday themed episodes of several shows. This year Haven, represented by Emily Rose (Audrey Parker), joined Eureka‘s Colin Ferguson (Sheriff Jack Carter) and Warehouse 13‘s Eddie McClintock (Agent Pete Lattimer) to talk about the shows and Holiday specials. [See special sneak peeks of the episodes here]

All three episodes will be shown on the same night, on Tuesday, December 6th starting at 8pm ET.
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How did Peter Pan and Captain Hook end up in Neverland? How did Peter learn to fly? Was Hook always a pirate? How is it they never grow up? In general, how did they become the characters we are familiar with?

That is the premise behind the upcoming Neverland – a prequel or origin story to J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, and stars Rhys Ifans (Notting Hill, The Replacements, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1), Anna Friel (Limitless, Land of the Lost), and Charlie Rowe (The Golden Compass), who joined us along with Syfy President of Original Content Mark Stern to discuss the mini-series which will air on Sunday, December 4th and Monday December 5th at 9pm ET.
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Our first press panel of the day was with the cast of Being Human: Meaghan Rath, Sam Witwer and Sam Huntington. We met them all last year before the show first aired, and having met them and see them talk about the show turned me in to a fan then, and it proved out with the show. So it was great seeing them again, and they were fun to talk to as before. First, it was announced that Being Human will return again on Monday, January 16th, at 9pm ET to become part of the strong “Powerful Mondays” lineup. So, what can we expect in it’s sophomore season?
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Can a simple comment on a web site be the genesis of a movie plot? Apparently yes, it can.

Apparently a user on Reddit posited the question, “”Could I destroy the entire Roman Empire during the reign of Augustus if I traveled back in time with a modern U.S. Marine infantry battalion or MEU?” This question caught the attention of author James Erwin, who replied with a comment. And then, with some encouragement, started to flesh it out.
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This year’s Syfy Digital Press Tour started a little differently – last year there was a low-key reception dinner just with the Syfy executives – this year it was a luau theme, complete with Hawaiian shirts, a fire dancer, and this time, with the talent! One of the first I met while waiting for it to begin was Rhys Ifans, the actor who has played a wide variety of roles such as a the crazy roommate in Notting Hill, “The Leg” in The Replacements, Xenophilius Lovegood in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1, and now James Hook in the upcoming Neverland and Dr. Curt Conners/The Lizard in The Amazing Spider-Man.
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Syfy announced earlier today that they have renewed Haven for a third season in 2012 with 13 new episodes. From the press release:

Syfy’s hit series Haven, the #1 original scripted cable entertainment program among Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54 in its Friday 10-11PM (ET/PT) time period (based on Live +7 data), will return for a third season of 13 new episodes in 2012, it was announced today by Mark Stern, President, Original Content, Syfy, and Co-Head, Original Content, Universal Cable Productions.
During its second season, Haven averaged a 1.9 HH rating, 995,000 Adults18-49, 1.14 million Adults 25-54 and 2.55 million total viewers, rising four percent among total viewers and five percent among Adults 18-49 compared to season one (Live +7 data).
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