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No joke – Fox orders new Cosmos series produced by Seth MacFarlane
by Doc on Aug.05, 2011, under Science, Television
At least we don’t think it’s a joke…Deadline is reporting that Fox has ordered a new version of the late Carl Sagan’s Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, and the new series will be produced by – wait for it – Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane.
Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey will be a 13-part series produced by MacFarlane and Sagan’s original collaborators – his widow Ann Druyan and astrophysicist Steven Soter, and will be hosted by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.
According to the producers, the new series will tell “the story of how human beings began to comprehend the laws of nature and find our place in space and time. It will take viewers to other worlds and travel across the universe for a vision of the cosmos on the grandest scale. The most profound scientific concepts will be presented with stunning clarity, uniting skepticism and wonder, and weaving rigorous science with the emotional and spiritual into a transcendent experience.”
Fox will air the show in primetime, with encores shown on the National Geographic channel, which will co-produce.
Syfy’s “Powerful Mondays” fuels 8% rise in July viewers, but Eureka‘s end in sight?
by Doc on Aug.04, 2011, under Television
The new “Powerful Mondays” lineup on Syfy featuring Eureka, Warehouse 13, and Alphas certainly seems to be doing the trick for the network – overall viewers were up 8% in July, plus double digit gains in 3 key Male demographics over July of last year – 18% in Men 18-34 (126,000), 16% in Men 18-49 (341,000), and 13% in Men 25-54 (392,000).
Syfy launched Summer Premiere Week on July 11, showcasing the “Most Powerful Night of the Week” with Eureka at 8PM, Warehouse 13 at 9PM and newcomer Alphas at 10PM. That night became Syfy’s highest Monday time period audience for scripted series in more than 10 years.
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Syfy’s Powerful Mondays sneak peeks
by Doc on Aug.03, 2011, under Television
Here are this week’s sneak peeks for next Monday’s “Powerful Mondays” lineup on Syfy, featuring Eureka, Warehouse 13 and Alphas.
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Animated Escape from Planet Earth gets all star voices
by Doc on Aug.02, 2011, under Movies
The Weinstein Company (TWC) and Rainmaker Entertainment (the production company responsible for several of the Barbie movies since 2008) announced today the all-star voice cast for the animated Escape from Planet Earth, due for release in the U.S. 2012.
Brendan Fraser (The Mummy movies), Sarah Jessica Parker (Sex and the City), Jessica Alba (Fantastic Four), Rob Corddry (Childrens Hospital, Hot Tub Time Machine)), James Gandolfini (The Sopranos) and Craig Robinson (The Office) will all lend their voices. The 3D animated family comedy is currently in full production.
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Glau, Spiner, Wagner and more to guest star on Alphas
by Doc on Aug.02, 2011, under Television
Syfy just released a list of guest stars on upcoming episodes of Alphas (although no specific episodes are mentioned) and it is pretty extensive:
Garret Dillahunt (Raising Hope), Summer Glau (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Firefly), Alaina Huffman (Stargate Universe), Rebecca Mader (Lost), Brent Spiner (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Lindsay Wagner (The Bionic Woman) and Peter Wingfield (Caprica, Highlander) will all appear during the current debut season.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 WB’s highest international grossing film ever
by Doc on Aug.01, 2011, under Movies
According to Warner Bros, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 is their highest grossing film ever internationally – and it reached that mark in a mere 19 days of release. Just this past weekend it took in $66.6 million internationally on 14,500 screens. And it doesn’t even open in China until Thursday.
For some reason I can see Warner Bros executives wishing J.K. Rowling would write some more stories…not sure why 🙂
Jason Priestley, Edge to guest on Haven
by Doc on Aug.01, 2011, under Television
Jason Priestley (Call Me Fitz) and WWE Superstar Edge (who was seen this past season on Sanctuary) will each guest in 4 episodes of Haven, both starting with this Friday’s episode (10PM ET on Syfy), with Priestley appearing in the 8/12, 8/19 and 9/9 episodes, and Edge returning on 9/9 and the following two episodes.
Priestley, who leaped to stardom in Beverly Hills, 90210, plays Chris Weekly, a handsome but anti-social marine biologist who is forced to deal with an affliction most would consider a blessing — everyone suddenly loves him and will do anything he wants. Only Audrey Parker (Emily Rose) seems unaffected by Weekly’s “charms.”
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Retro Review: Space: 1999
by Doc on Jul.30, 2011, under Video/DVD
This review is a long time coming…I’ve had the [asin=201]Space: 1999 Complete Series Megaset[/asin] for months now, ever since it became cheaper just to buy that than buy the remaining individual “sets” they used to sell it as (4 sets per season for 8 total sets) that I was slowly accumulating – and now the first season is also available on [asin=1078]Blu-ray[/asin] (Season 2 isn’t formally listed yet, but I’m hearing October.) But I wanted to re-watch the whole series – I grew up watching it, and was always fascinated by the design of the moonbase, the Eagles, etc. Sure, maybe it wasn’t sound science – but how many SF series actually have that? It treated the idea of being in space and on the moon as an important setting – and not ignored like on so many other things.
Space: 1999 was produced as two seasons of 24 episodes each by British studio ITV. It stars the then-married couple of Martin Landau (as Commander John Koenig, and who later went on to win an Oscar as Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood) and Barbara Bain (Dr. Helena Russell), who both previously appeared in Mission: Impossible. But the two seasons are part of a schismatic production. I’ll discuss the changes a bit later.
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Long odds for Torchwood renewal?
by Doc on Jul.29, 2011, under Television
Starz CEO Chris Albrecht, before appearing before reporters at a TV critics tour, told Entertainment Weekly that “Torchwood is not one of the show we went into thinking about a yearly return.” Does that mean they aren’t happy with it? That’s not clear…and he appears to put it squarely on producer/creator Russell T. Davies shoulders. ““It’s about Russell T Davies … he has a lot of things on his plate. If Torchwood is at the top of his list, that will effect [sic] the future of Torchwood.”
But keep in mind – this is a British show that now has an American studio behind it. The BBC is still involved, and British TV productions don’t follow as rigid a production cycle. Starz could easily keep that concept, and produce Torchwood when desired.
Why the Doctor won’t appear on Torchwood
by Doc on Jul.29, 2011, under Television
TVLine has an interesting interview with Steven Moffat, producer/writer/showrunner for Doctor Who, about the Doctor and it’s sibling series, Torchwood. It seems Captain Jack doesn’t really swing both ways – show audience wise at least.
John Barrowman’s Captain Jack character is welcome back on Doctor Who – if they story is right. “When we’ve got a good story, we’ll do it,” Moffat says. “You can’t just bring somebody back and say, ‘That’s a story.’ That’s just somebody walking through a door…. I won’t be thinking, ‘How do you bring Captain Jack back?’ I’ll be thinking, ‘You know what this needs? We need to bring Jack back for it.’”
Jack would have been back for the episode “A Good Man Goes To War”, which he certainly seemed appropriate for, but he was tied up on Torchwood: Miracle Day.
But why won’t the Doctor return the favor and appear on Torchwood? Quite simply the audience for Torchwood is different. “The Doctor could never go to Torchwood,” Moffat attests. “[Torchwood EP] Russell [Davies] and I both agree on that. Doctor Who has a tremendous relationship with children in Britain. They’d want to watch Torchwood then, and it’s not really a children’s show.”
I can certainly agree with that…