Sci-Fi Storm

Battlestar Galactica executive producer/developer Ron Moore taking the 2001 movie A Knight’s Tale which starred Heath Ledger, and adapting it for TV for ABC, which purchased a script commitment from Sony Pictures TV. Moore will also exec produce along with Maril Davis at Tall Ship Productions, and Brian Helgeland, who wrote, directed and produced the movie.

A Knight’s Tale is a medieval adventure that follows a talented peasant squire who fashions himself as a knight after his master dies and seeks out a jousting competition to prove his worthiness of the title.

Check out the two videos below for the genre-tinged upcoming ABC series:

The Neighbors: A comedy about a family that moves to a suburb with very unusual neighbors and starring Jami Gertz (Still Standing, Twister))and Lenny Venito (War of the Worlds)

The Last Resort: The U.S. Navy’s most powerful nuclear missile sub goes on the run after refusing orders and takes refuge at an exotic island after being fired upon and declared rogue, starring Andre Braugher (Men of a Certain Age), Scott Speedman (Underworld), Robert Patrick (Terminator 2, The Unit), and Bruce Davison (X-Men). And watch got Dollhouse and Being Human star Dichen Lachman…

Zero Hour: When a woman buy an unusual clock, she is kidnapped and her husband (Anthony Edwards, ER) finds a conspiracy regarding the Nazis in trying to find her and the 11 other clocks that could hold the key to evil…
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NBC decided to drop what’s left of it’s bubble shows and pilots that it hadn’t already picked up, and that included freshman drama Awake, which failed in the ratings but did come on strong at the end.

Also, the previously mentioned ABC Beauty & The Beast pilot appears unlikely to get a pickup. This is different that the CW version starring Smallville‘s Kristin Kreuk, which is more of a remake of the 1980s series, which is still in contention.

ABC has just announced the renewal of freshman fantasy drama Once Upon A Time, among several scripted series. The first season finale airs this coming Sunday on ABC at 8/7c.

ABC has ordered a show from the team of Jon Favreau (Iron Man), Roberto Orci (Fringe), Seth Green (Robot Chicken, Family Guy), and Michael Dougherty (Superman Returns) called Ex-Comm according to Deadline. The show is being called a sci-fi drama with some humor, and a cross between The West Wing and The X-Files, as well as a “presidential procedural”. The quartet will write the pilot, with Favreau likely directing and produced by 20th Century Fox TV and K/O Paper Products, the production company run by Orci and partner Alex Kurtzman.

ABC, which has identified Robert Louis Stevenson’s Jekyll & Hyde mythos as something they want to mine for ideas, already has two potential series in the works. Hyde, announced last month from Sheldon Turner (Up In The Air, X-Men: First Class), is about a meek ER doctor who undergoes treatment for a degenerative eye condition, which has a side effect: when he goes to sleep his id manifests as Hyde.

The other version, simply titled Jekyll & Hyde, comes from Matt Lopez (The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Race to Witch Mountain), and is a modern retelling, featuring a “female criminal psychologist who is drawn into the mysterious world of a brilliant but inhibited scientist and his volatile alter ego.” Sounds a bit like the magnificent Jekyll that came out in 2007.

Can TV handle two such stories – on the same network?

Bubbles are being popped everywhere in the past 24 hours…the latest to burst is The Event according to TV|Line’s Michael Ausiello. I’m not really surprised -although I’ve been following it from the start, it seems like the show changed early on from a somewhat supernatural/alien start, to much more about political intrigue/conspiracy. The aliens could easily have been any sort of organization attempting to take over the government by internal/external means, with the only exception that they have a weapon that can collapse buildings. The extraterrestrial motivations seemed secondary. And it just seemed to take forever to tell the story.

Update: ABC just burst V‘s bubble as well, canceling the show.

Marc Singer, who starred as Marc Donovan in the original V mini-series, will appear in the 10th and final episode of the second season of the rebooted V series on ABC. He is playing an all-new character by the name of Lars Tremont, a member of a top-secret global organization consisting of military and government officials who do not believe what the Visitors are saying.

Marc’s V co-star Jane Badler is already joining the show, playing Anna’s mother, named Diana – her character’s name in the original. She debuts in the season premiere, which airs January 4th. However, the two do not share and scenes, so if you are hoping for an on-screen reunion, watch the second season to get the ratings up and hope for a third season…

Guillermo del Toro (Hellboy) and David Eick (Battlestar Galactica) are creating a new TV series for The Hulk for Marvel TV and ABC Studios. It is del Toro’s first TV project (he previously had a first look deal with 20th TV, which apparently didn’t pan out), for which he will share story and created by credits with Eick, who will write the screenplay. Both will exec produce, with del Toro also directing if his schedule permits. Launch of the series is slated to occur after The Avengers (which features the Hulk) is released in theaters in July 2012, although it does not seem as if there will be a direct tie in, especially since they are aiming for a younger Bruce Banner. This Hulk will also not be 100% CGI, but a combination of CGI, prosthetics, and puppetry.

Today is pick up day, with ABC announcing announcing a full season order (9 additional episodes) of The Event, and NBC following through as well with steady Chuck (11 additional episodes, for a total of 24).

But ABC also is apparently cutting back on V, which has already had a delayed return until January 4th, dropping the original 13-episode order down to 10. It could be just to fit within the programming window available, but we’ll see what happens when we get closer to airing.