Sci-Fi Storm

The sixth series of Doctor Who marks a departure of sorts in a couple different ways…first, rather than air the complete season continuously as has been traditional (the exception being the special movies between the 4th and 5th series), the BBC and showrunner Steven Moffat decided to split it into two halves. And rather than wait for the second half to air, they likewise decided to split the Blu-ray/DVD release in two…with Doctor Who: Series Six, Part One being released tomorrow (July 19th) on [sfs=1136]DVD[/sfs] and [sfs=1135]Blu-ray[/sfs].
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[Apologies for the lack of news…if you saw on Twitter, I was having hardware problems…]

Syfy has announced that they have picked up the 4th series of the British fantasy show Merlin, to be aired at a future date in 2012. In its third season on Syfy, Merlin averaged 1.93 million total viewers, marking an increase of 12 percent in total viewers compared to season two. Merlin also posted gains in the key younger demo, rising seven percent among Adults 18-34.
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Due to schedule conflicts I won’t be seeing the final Harry Potter movie Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 until tomorrow, but plenty of people already have with midnight showings starting this morning. Early returns say that the finale garnered $43.5 million in the U.S. just from midnight showings, and combined with the Wednesday and Thursday international openings, already brings the cume to over $142 million. The midnight record at IMAX theaters was also broken, with $2 million.

About 3000 muggles at the midnight showing at the AMC Universal Cineplex at Universal Studios Resort in Orlando got a special surprise: After the movie they were all given a free pass to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and had the parks all to themselves from 3am-5am!

The 2011 Primetime Emmy nominations were announced today, and it looks like cable TV is the big winner this year. Read on for a list of the genre shows and their nominations.
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I’m hearing that the ratings for the first showing plus the immediate encore of Torchwood: Miracle Day first episode are on par with what Starz previous original program, Camelot debuted at – but was canceled at the end of it’s fist run. This has some worried, but there were a number a factors involved in the cancellation of Camelot, including scheduling conflicts with the stars. We also don’t know how the budgets compare, which certainly factors in although not in the traditional advertiser-supported model.

It seems that Syfy has found a strong scripted Monday lineup…with the return of already strong shows Eureka and Warehouse 13 and the addition of Alphas resulted in their highest rated scripted Monday in 10 years – with Alphas scoring 2.5 million viewers, making it the most watched debut on the channel in 2 years. Eureka and Warehouse 13 also averaged more than 2 million viewers each.

Also boosted by the debuts was Syfy.com, which delivered its best day in video streams (378K) since 11/1/2009; uniques (376K) since 10/31/10; page views (1.4 million) since 3/18/11, and visits (373K) since 1/17/11.

Syfy’s Summer Premiere Week continues on Wednesday, July 13, with the third season of Ghost Hunters International at 9PM, followed by the premiere of Legend Quest at 10PM. On Friday, July 15, Haven returns for its second season at 10PM.

It’s been almost three months since Peter Jackson posted a video from the set of The Hobbit, but here is the second video from the set, featuring Andy Serkis, Ian McKellan, and some of the dwarves, other cast and crew and what they are going to do while they take a short break, plus some location scouting…and just 200 shooting days left!

It looks like TNT liked the returns on the first few episodes of Falling Skies – TNT has ordered a second season of the hit post-invasion show starring Noah Wyle from Dreamworks Television and Steven Spielberg, which will air in the summer of 2012. The premiere on June 19th drew a Live+7 viewership of 8 million, making it the most successful cable launch so far in 2011, and through three episodes as averaged more than 6.4 million blended (live and time shifted) viewers.

“Falling Skies is a true standout series, from its ambitious storytelling, high-profile cast and production team to its phenomenal success when it comes to international and time-shifted viewing,” said Michael Wright, executive vice president, head of programming for TNT, TBS and Turner Classic Movies (TCM). “We’re reaching new audiences with Falling Skies and look forward to seeing where this fascinating and exciting series takes us next.”

“Falling Skies is a true standout series, from its ambitious storytelling, high-profile cast and production team to its phenomenal success when it comes to international and time-shifted viewing,” said Michael Wright, executive vice president, head of programming for TNT, TBS and Turner Classic Movies (TCM). “We’re reaching new audiences with Falling Skies and look forward to seeing where this fascinating and exciting series takes us next.”

The first season of Falling Skies is currently airing Sunday nights at 10/9c on TNT.

Syfy’s Warehouse 13 returns next Monday at 9/8c, and earlier today I was on the phone with three of the stars – Saul Rubinek (Artie), Eddie McClintock (Pete) and Allison Scagliotti (Claudia). I should have more a more complete article about the call this weekend, but here is a “sneak peak”, along with a sneak peek of the premiere as well as part one of the “webisode” tie in, “Of Monsters and Men”.

I asked each of them to describe the direction that we’d see their character’s take this season – spoiler free, of course (Saul said he wanted to give spoilers though…). McClintock said we’ll see “more insight into the people who influenced him…more about his dad…his mother…[his arc will be] centered around Pete’s past.”
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Eureka returns next Monday, July 11th at 8/7c on Syfy, and in the town where anything is possible returns with all-new adventures. In our sneak peak “Liftoff”, Fargo is busy working on a spaceship when Zane hops on board to grill him about Lupo, closing the hatch behind him. Unfortunately for both of them the ignition switches were on and with the hatch closed the ship’s engines ignite and launches both of them into outer space! Catch the extended clip to see how things went terribly wrong and tune in to the premiere this Monday to see if Sheriff Carter can get them safely back to Earth.
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