Sci-Fi Storm

Syfy has canceled Hunters, one of two shows that just concluded their freshman runs on the network.

The series, which starred Nathan Phillips, Britne Oldford, and Lewis Fitz-Gerald and is based on the Whitley Strieber novel Alien Hunter, followed FBI agent Flynn Carroll (Phillips) as he tries to find out about the disappearance of his wife, and gets involved with the Extra-Terrestrial Unit (ETU), which is tasked with dealing with the threat posed by the alien Hunters, who have taken on human disguises. He befriends Regan, an ETU agent, who is herself a Hunter.

The show languished in the ratings, despite the high hopes the network had when it gave a straight-to-series order for 13 episodes. The premiere episode only landed a 0.54 audience, lost 20% the second week, and by episode 6 dropped below 0.3 and never recovered. Critics were harsh, and on Rotten Tomatoes it has a 0% tomatometer score.

Personally I didn’t enjoy the show as much as I did its freshman sibling, Wynonna Earp. I think the show was alright, but it felt like it was yet another police procedural ala CSI but with an alien twist, and visually I thought it lacked something – it’s hard to describe, but I’ve seen this with a lot of shows where the color palette seems to tend towards darker, muted but at the blue end of the spectrum. I don’t know if this is due to new video equipment, specific stylistic decisions, or perhaps in some ways a reflection of trying to keep the budget down – I just don’t like it. I’ve seen it in other shows that I otherwise enjoy immensely, like Killjoys, but they mix in more colorful scenes as well (Episode 2 is airing right now, and the sunrise with the bright primary colors is an example).

At any rate, I don’t like to see shows get canceled, but I’m not surprised at this one and I’m not hearing a clamoring of fans screaming at Syfy like with other shows. And that’s probably why.

Here’s a sneak peek of tomorrow night’s new Killjoys episode, “Wild, Wild Westerley”…tune in a 9/8c!

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If you need to get caught up with Supergirl now that Season 2 is a go with a move from CBS to the CW, here’s your chance – the CW will air all twenty first season episodes starting August 1st, with two episodes a week until the Season 2 debut on October 10th. So get caught up!

Tom Felton, who played Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter films, is joining the cast of The Flash for the upcoming season in a new regular role. No magical or super powers though, at least not yet – he’ll be playing mere human Julian Dorn, a fellow CSI in Central City who suspects there is more to his colleague Barry Allen.

The upcoming season will be taken from the “Flashpoint Paradox” storyline in the comics, where Barry’s actions trying to save his mother result in drastic changes across the DC universe.

KILLJOYS — Season:2 — Pictured: (l-r) Thom Allison as Pree, Sarah Power as Pawter, Aaron Ashmore as John, Hannah John-Kamen as Duth, Luke Macfarlane as D’Avin, Morgan Kelly as Alvis — (Photo by: Steve Wilkie/Syfy/Killjoys II Productions Limited)

Killjoys is at the top of the list. It does what I like in a drama – tell a serious story, but do so with enough humor to lighten things without distracting from it. You’ll get a taste of that in just the first few seconds of the video below.

Season 2 picks up with Dutch (Hannah John-Kamen) and John (Aaron Ashmore) trying to rescue D’avin (Luke Macfarlane) and figure out what Khlyen’s (Rob Stewart) plans are. And this time they get a little help from unlikely sources – Pree the bartender (Thom Allison) and rival Killjoy Lee (Sean Baek).

Everything you liked from Season 1 is back, and amped up! Tune in tomorrow with me!

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Plague? Temporal anomalies? Hell on Earth? A psychotic group wanting to end the world? Lately I’ve been in a temporal fog, so missed the announcement earlier that Syfy has ordered up a 10-episode third season to cult face 12 Monkeys! This show has grown into one of my favorites of the current productions. A big congratulations to the cast: Aaron Stanford, Amanda Schull, Kirk Acevedo, Emily Hampshire, Barbara Sukowa and Todd Stashwick, along with showrunner Terry Matalas and the entire crew.

It’s finally happening! The long, long developing (and awaited) reboot of Lost In Space looks like it will finally take off…we last reported in November that Netflix was at the head of the line for the rights and eyeing a straight-to-series order, which Netflix has now given, ordering up 10 episodes.

The show comes from Kevin Burns, who has been trying to re-launch the Jupiter 2 for years, and his partner Jon Jashni of Synthesis Entertainment, along with Neil Marshall and Marc Helwig of Legendary TV. Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless (Dracula Untold, Last Witch Hunter) wrote the script and Zack Estrin (Prison Break) has joined as showrunner. Marshall will direct several of the episodes. No casting has been announced yet.

The original, which starred Guy Williams, June Lockhart, Mark Goddard, Marta Kristen, Angela Cartwright, Bill Mumy and Jonathan Harris, and the voice of Dick Tufeld as the Robot, ran for three seasons. Starting out as a serious take on a family stranded on a strange planet in deep space, the character of Dr. Smith, originally a heartless saboteur, evolved into a bungling, inept buffoon character, and stories started to emphasize a campy element and the relationship between Smith, Will and the Robot.

Plans are for the new show to take some of cues from the original, although it is uncertain if they will adopt the campiness of the original, describing it as “a survival story for the ages.”

Cindy Holland, VP of Netflix Originals, said of the show, “The original series so deftly captured both drama and comedy, and that made it very appealing to a broad audience. The current creative team’s reimagining of the series for Netflix is sure to appeal to both fans who fondly remember the original and to create a new generation of enthusiasts around the world.”

Well, we can’t wait!

It appears that execs weren’t happy with some of the test results from the Time After Time pilot, so some changes are being made – although nothing similar to the level of the changes being made to MacGyver.

The role of Vanessa Anders, a philanthropist and collector who is the modern day owner of the time machine and H.G. Wells great granddaughter as seen in the trailer below, was played by Regina Taylor (The Unit) in the pilot. But audiences weren’t as happy with the character as the rest of the pilot, resulting in the decision to rework the character and replacing Taylor with Nicole Ari Parker (Boogie Nights, Revolution).

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If you are still wondering if #AprilLives or #AprilDies, and can’t wait until Sunday, July 31st at 8/7c to see it on Syfy, you can find out now via the following video…

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In the meantime, the cameo list continues to grow…the newly listed appearances are:

• Andre “Black Nerd” Meadows (YouTube star) as a Train Conductor
• Carrot Top (“Vegas Headliner”) as an Uber Driver
• Chippendales Dancers (“Chippendales”) as themselves
• DeStorm Power (You Tube/Vine Star) as a National Guardsman
• Dolvett Quince (“The Biggest Loser”) as a Trainer
• Erika Girardi (“The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills”) as Tech Frances
• Gilbert Gottfried (comedian) as TODAY Show correspondent
• Seth Rollins (WWE Superstar) as AstroTech Lopez
• Steve Guttenberg (“Colton West,” “Lavalantula,” “2 Lava 2”) as Car Owner
• Hayley Hasselhoff as Supervisor Mary Jane and Taylor-Ann Hasselhoff as Pilot Shaylin
• iJustine (You Tube star) as Supervisor Brock
• Roy Nelson (MMA fighter) as Donnie the Paparazzo
• Stassi Schroeder as Koening and Jax Taylor as a Guardsman (“Vanderpump Rules”)
• Paul Shaffer as himself

They are joining the previously announced potential shark victims:

• Benjy Bronk (“The Howard Stern Show”) as a morning show host
• Corey Taylor (Slipknot) as a Shark World hotel security guard
• Cynthia Bailey (“The Real Housewives of Atlanta”), Robert Herjavec (“Shark Tank”), Kym Johnson (“Dancing with the Stars”), Carrie Keagan (TV host), T’Keyah Crystal Keymah (“In Living Color”) and “Baywatch” stars Gena Lee Nolin and Alexandra Paul as Astro-X rocket scientists and astrophysicists
• David Faustino (“Married with Children”) as a Las Vegas gambler
• Dr. Drew Pinsky (“Loveline”) as a pastor
• Duane Chapman (“Dog the Bounty Hunter”) as a chainsaw dealer
• Frank Mir (MMA fighter) as head of security for the Shark World hotel
• Jay DeMarcus (Rascal Flatts) as manager of the Shark World hotel
• Jedward (Musicians) as Astro Techs
• Jillian Barberie (TV Host) as a train passenger
• Lori Greiner (“Shark Tank”) as a home shopping guru
• Patti Stanger (“Millionaire Matchmaker”) as a reporter
• Stacey Dash (actress and pundit) as the Mayor of Chicago
• Vince Neil (Motley Crue)
• Wayne Newton (aka Mr. Las Vegas)
• Todd, Savannah and Grayson Chrisley (“Chrisley Knows Best”)

OK, now I’ve got to get caught up on Lucifer, seeing as how my bowling adversary Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica, Ascension) is joining the show as a recurring character for Season 2. Based on the comic book spinoff from The Sandman, the show blends fantasy and police procedural drama where the Lord of Hell, Lucifer Morningstar (Tom Ellis), resigns his throne and heads to LA, where he helps the police punish criminals, partnering with Detective Chloe Decker (Lauren German).

Helfer will play Charlotte, who it turns out is the Queen of Angels, but has been trapped in Hell for thousands of years thanks to he ex-husband, God. She’s now free on Earth, and all she says she wants is to be with her sons again. But there may be more to it…