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Upfronts 2009 Roundup – Monday

by Kate Blake

Today starts the official week for upfronts in New York as the networks announce what will be served up on their fall schedules. Here is the run down on show of importance to Multipleverses reader.

From Last Season- who is returning and who is not?
Terminator the Sarah Connor Chronicles has not been renewed. Head over to Sarah Connor Society to share your disappointment with other fans. It was a victim to low ratings – word is that the cast will be moving on.

Dollhouse was given a 13 episode pickup on Friday- it was announced that this was going to be with a reduced budget and that parent company 20th Century Fox would be picking up more of the production cost. It is slated to return in the fall with a lean mean look. Look for the show to have a special episode on the DVD release this summer that will help get you ready for the fall season.

Chuck! NBC has officially announced that Chuck will be back but with some budget cuts. The season finale hinted we may have seen the last of the Buy More- at least on a weekly basis. This would trim a lot of salaries. I say no more stunt guest casting- I really don’t care about Jordanna Brewster or Nicole Richie- though Andy Richter and Jenny McCarthy were fun as was Chevy Chase.

Smallville and Supernatural will both be back as announced this winter. Smallville has signed Tom Welling and Erica Durance for two more seasons and the guys from Supernatural say this year is it. Well- once you have dealt with the Apocalypse you can’t really go back to the monster of the week. To discuss both shows – join our sci-fi forums Clois & Supernatural Creative Corner. We have some lively debates ongoing about the Smallville finale and where the show is going.

BSG finished its full episode run as a series but there are two movies coming- one in the fall which will look at the war from the Cylons’ point of view. Second movie has not yet been formally announced. Caprica which is the pre-quel has been released on DVD as a mini-series. It will start next winter on SyFy.

Burn Notice starts season 3 in June and star Jeffrey Donovan was signed on to do up to 8 seasons when he negotiated a fresh contract this winter – so plenty more to come from USA. Moon Bloodgood who is currently appearing in Terminator Salvation and made the Maxim Hot 100 will be joining the cast of Burn Notice this summer as a cop on Michael’s tail.

Fringe and Lost will be both be back for all of you J.J. Abram’s fans- head to DarkUFO to read everything you ever wanted to read about LOST. Yeah- Dark is the guy behind SpoilerTV and he loves his Lost. Fringe will be moving to Thursday nights following Bones to make way for reality programming earlier in the week. How will it do up against CSI and Grey’s Anatomy? I don’t care- I will be watching Supernatural and the Winchester brothers in their fight to send Lucifer back to hell.

Bones- on Friday Fox announced that Bones would be coming back with a full two season pick up. Lets see how they win fans back after such a fan wanking finale.

Sanctuary- Amanda Tapping and her crew will be back in the fall with all new episodes. Season 2 is shooting right now in Canada. Anyone else think it seems like FOREVER since we last saw this?

True Blood- the vampire show is filming season 2 right now- we have promo photos in our forums for you to check out. New episodes- coming soon!

The NEW Stuff:

V- ABC has officially picked up the new version of the 80s hit show with Smallville’s own Laura Vandervoort in a key role. We will be talking about the show on our Smallville/ Supernatural forums all summer- feel free to stop by. We have a ton of pics of Laura to share and will be adding more with more co-stars as we get details on the show.

Eastwick- David Nutter will be directing the pilot for the new series for ABC. Stay tuned! We will definitely be watching this one.

The Listener- Summer series The Listener is coming to NBC. This is about a guy who can read people’s minds and helps them.

Flash Forward- see our earlier post for info about this new show coming to ABC about what happens when the world goes dark and then when folks wake up things are different.

Day One- coming to NBC in the fall- Melrose Place meets Jericho as a group of apocalypse survivors in a Los Angeles area apartment complex form a family type unit to survive.

Merlin- coming to NBC this summer is the UK hit series Merlin . This Arthurian fantasy should garner good ratings for the struggling net as Legend of the Seeker fans are already drooling over when it is going to premiere. Head to our photo swap boards to check out promo photos for the series.

Still up in the air:
Medium- there is word on the net that the show may be moving to CBS. CBS owns the show and they are at an impass with NBC over licensing fees. The show has done quite well this season – pairing it with Ghost Whisperer on Friday nights would make Fridays the place for female friendly sci-fi paranormal tv. The shows are very different so I don’t think there is a problem with psychic overload. The irony is that Ghost Whisperer is owned by NBC…..

More news to come all week! We will report more sci-fi and action tv news here on Multipleverses and we will have photos from the upfront events and promo photos from the new shows up in our forums. For other tv series news- head to our sister site The Entertainment Hotline.