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Upfronts May 2009 Roundup Part 1

Monday, May 18th, 2009

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.

This Week on Michal’s DVR: Finale Edition

Saturday, May 16th, 2009

Well, it’s that time of year again when all of our favorite television programs sign off for the year. After watching the finales for nearly all my shows, all I can say is it’s going to be a long summer!

Dollhouse - OmegaDollhouse – “Omega”
I’m a little late on this one, but I thought I’d include a couple of thoughts on the finale.  I watched this season out of loyalty to Joss Whedon and I don’t really have anything against the show, it’s just not for me.  I’m thrilled it got picked up for another season, network television needs more quirky and interesting shows, but I doubt I will tune in.  “Omega” was a good episode for me to find closure.  I made my peace with the show and I can move on without guilt as strange as that might sound.
While I found the final scenes of the episode a little anti-climatic, Alan Tudyk’s Alpha was mesmerizing to watch.  He does psychotic far better than I would ever have imagined.  I also found the reveal that the current Dr. Saunders is actually Whiskey, the former #1 doll in the house, unexpected and interesting…especially the fact that Topher programmed her to hate him.  I have pretty much despised Topher through the entire run of the show, but I will say he is one of the most interesting characters on the show.  As for Ballard joining the Dollhouse, I have no real thoughts either way.  It doesn’t make sense to me, but then again the show really hasn’t.  If they were all expensive prostitutes I could buy it, but I just don’t understand why someone would hire one of the dolls to deliver their baby in a snowed in cabin or as a hostage negotiator.  I think in the end, I was looking for a darker show that is impossible to have on network television.
Finale Grade: B+
Season Grade: B-

Fringe - NimoyFringe – “There’s More Than One of Everything”
I’m still not completely interested in this show, it’s too much of a X-Files rip-off, but I continue to watch each week and for the most part enjoy it.  This finale set up things nicely for next season, which I could see myself tuning in for.  I love alternate universes and this seems like it could take the show to an interesting place.  I mean, Peter is actually AU!Peter.  That could definitely lead to some fun things and explains so much about Walter’s relationship with Peter.
I still don’t care about Olivia, but John Noble is mesmerizing to watch as Walter and Joshua Jackson is always charismatic, so I could see myself tuning in next season.  Plus Leonard Nimoy might pop up again as Wiliam Bell!
Finale Grade: B+
Season Grade: B

Bones – “The End in the Beginning”
What a waste of a finale.  I’ll definitely still tune in next season, but it took all I had just to finish the episode.  The final moments when Booth asked Brennan who she was has me interested to see how their partnership evolves next season.  Other than watching Sweets perform and smiling at a couple of the in-jokes/references, I kept checking my watch hoping time would move more quickly.  This episode didn’t work for me on any level and the much-hyped bedroom scene left me extremely disappointed.
Finale Grade: D
Season Grade: B+

Supernatural – “Lucifer Rising”
I don’t often write reviews for Supernatural, even though it is my favorite show on television at the moment, because to be honest the fans scare me and there are already enough excellent episode reviews out there that I don’t believe I can add anything new to Supernatural - Dean in Heaventhe discussion.  However, I had to mention how much I enjoyed watching this finale.  Bobby didn’t die, but Ruby did.  I must have re-watched Dean gutting her while Sammy held at least two dozen times.  I’m sure this makes me a bad feminist, but I don’t care.  Castiel went rogue and helped Dean escape heaven’s green room.  Chuck the prophet returned for a moment.  Plus the boys were at standing side by side watching Lucifer ascending by the end of the episode.  I’m hoping that we still get to watch them reconnect next year like in the first season, but it was gratifying to see them together and not fighting.  I like my brother angst, but not when it splits them up.  I do hope Sammy gets to eventually hear Dean’s message.  It was one of his finer moments!
Oh man, next year is going to be awesome!  Not only are the boys going to be up against the demons and forces of darkness (unfortunately they aren’t the slayer), but now the angels will be after them and most likely other hunters who are either pissed they started the apocolypse or thing Sammy’s a creature that must be killed.  *contented sigh*  Is it September yet?
Finale Grade: A-
Season Grade: A

That’s it for me.  Now I guess I’ll have wait until July and the return of Burn Notice, Psych, and Leverage (aka the show about Christian Kane’s hair).  Well, were we watching the same finales?  Was I too lenient or too hard of a grader?  Make your case in the comment section!

LEONARD NIMOY TO GUEST-STAR ON “FRINGE”

Thursday, April 16th, 2009

Uninterrupted Pattern of All-New FRINGE Episodes Continues

Tuesday, April 14, on FOX

Emmy Award nominee and sci-fi icon Leonard Nimoy will guest-star on an upcoming episode of FRINGE. Nimoy will appear as pivotal person of interest William Bell as the critically acclaimed series approaches its dramatic and revealing first season finale Tuesday, May 12 (9:01-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX.

In next week’s all-new “Unleashed” episode, airing Tuesday, April 14 (9:01-10:00 PM ET/PT), animal rights activists ransack a laboratory and get more than they bargained for when one of the caged “animals” unleashes a ferocious appetite. With Charlie’s life on the line, Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv), Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson) and Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble) come face-to-face with the gnarly piece of fringe science.

Nimoy, best known as “Mr. Spock” aboard the USS Enterprise, will reprise his legendary commanding role in the highly anticipated “Star Trek” feature film directed by FRINGE co-creator J.J. Abrams. Aside from myriad on-screen credits, Nimoy has directed numerous films, authored several books and released five music albums.

Created by J.J. Abrams & Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci, FRINGE stars Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, John Noble, Lance Reddick, Kirk Acevedo, Blair Brown and Jasika Nicole. The series is produced by Bad Robot Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television. Abrams, Jeff Pinkner and Bryan Burk serve as executive producers, while Kurtzman and Orci are consulting producers.

4.10 Heaven and Hell Episode Clips, spoiler caps- some speculation

Saturday, November 15th, 2008

Op/Ed by Kate
The debate about this week’s upcoming episode of Supernatural is a heated one to say the very least. We are just not sure where things are going or what is coming. I predict this week’s episode will be much like season 2’s episode Croatoan- lots of action and story and more unanswered questions to leave us stewing over during the break until episodes return in January, 2009.

I think what we will see in this episode is that Dean is once again being tested. Eric Kripke said in an interview after Yellow Fever that Dean is a hero but he is full of pain and fear. The question that is open is what happened in hell and how obedient will Dean be to his new master? Can he lead the hunters and angels to victory over Lilith? Was he brought back to reign in Sam? There is a difference between a hero and the devout believer. A believer does whatever needs to be done no matter what the price. A hero does what is right no matter what the price to themself. A hero sacrifices himself before anyone else. A hero will do whatever it takes to protect the innocent and mourns every innocent life lost as a personal failure. We have seen Dean do this to himself over the course of the series. He always feels the loss- he had to confront much of this in episode 2 when they were up against the ‘Rising of the Witnesses’ and the ghosts from their past.

Sam used to be the brother who agonized- now it is Dean. How will he react to the edict from Castiel and Uriel? Will he hand over Anna or will he fight? I think the episode will end up with some surprises. I also think that Ruby has her end coming soon. What do you think?

Here are caps from the trailer and a nicer cleaner version of this week’s trailer for Supernatural- you can view any of the caps by clicking through the slide show to the SLIDE page that indexes the pictures.

We have 3 spoiler clips including the second one which includes the second appearance of Traci Dinwiddie as our psychic friend Pamela Barneswho had her eyes burned out. She is a breath of fresh air in this clip- love her copping a feel on Sam and showing off her new eyes…. I capped this clip too- pics after the break along with all three clips. Trivia- Pamela Barnes was the name of Victoria Principal’s long suffering character on Dallas. Who on the writing team is a Dallas fan? (more…)

TV’s British Invasion

Thursday, November 6th, 2008

HOUSE, THE MENTALIST, LIFE ON MARS, FRINGE and GOSSIP GIRL may star some of your favorite American sounding actors but do you really know who is passing themselves off as a Yank and is actually a Brit or Aussie?

Biggest DVR Gains for Premiere Weeks

Wednesday, October 15th, 2008

By Kate Blake- Admin MV and EH

The Hollywood Reporter analyzed the season premiere ratings for a slew of new and returning shows and looked at how much their season premiere numbers increased when you look at DVR numbers. The super competitive Monday night with Heroes vs Prison Break and Terminator vs Chuck saw big gains for those shows ( not Chuck- it was just outside this list). All 4 of these series are on against the number one rated Dancing with the Stars and Monday Night Football. Too many choices on Monday night is the bottom line!

Moving on to Tuesday- 90210 and Privileged are the big DVR winners for the CW. Both of these new female friendly dramas/ dramedy in the case of Privileged- saw significant ratings boosts from DVR viewings. I have a lot of friends with kids who are DVRing 90210 and watching it when the kiddies are in bed- so much for only attracting the youth audience!

Lipstick Jungle continues to struggle with live viewings but has significant gains when DVR numbers are added in. I am guessing by the number of hits on the trailers for the show that we have posted on The Entertainment Hotline that people must be watching it online as well.

Thursday night the CW and ABC both saw big increases with Smallville and Grey’s Anatomy getting DVR boosts as did NBC with The Office.

I don’t mention the Fringe numbers as those are a bit goofy. FOX as may recall did a HUGE encore of the series premeire which boosted its numbers way over what it is doing on a weekly basis. Bones and House continue with strong live viewings as well as DVR numbers.

What do the DVR numbers mean? Well for one thing they show a stronger reflection of what regular people actually watch. DVR numbers are not Nielsen family ratings which have been for decades the only marker used to quantify a show’s success. DVR numbers come from anyone who is a cable or satellite subscriber who has authorized their provider to collect viewing date about thier DVR habits. You do this when you set up your system- if you have any questions ask your provider. I am a DirecTV customer and have opted in on all three of my DVRs when I set them up initially.

DVR numbers have several sets of viewing statistics that are collected. First is time shifted viewing which is where you watch the show while it is still on but come in say 20 minutes late, or you watch it within a few hours of it airing. Next round of numbers- how many people watch the show they recorded within 24 hours. Then they collect within 7 days and then within 14 days. Also collected- how many times do you repeat your viewing- say re-watch a show.

The power in the DVR numbers is that day time dramas like Days of Our Lives which for years was the number one recorded soap but not the number one show with live viewings- can now quantify how many people actually tune in to their series. You are seeing all of the television landscape change as a result of fewer people watching ads. Product placement is key. Smallville was downright obnoxious last season when the entire episode 713 Hero revolved around a magic version of Stride Gum- but everyone knew the name of the product by the end of the episode. Gossip Girl’s premiere was brought to you by Vitamin Water. Plenty of other shows have done the same thing- showing cars and all kinds of tech devices and making sure you see the logos. Terminator is being brought to you by Dodge this fall and My Own Worst Enemy just premiered with the new Camaro and some new mini-van thing from Chevy. Sorry- the mini-van did not do it for me.

Does this mean your show is safe even though its numbers were lower? We will have to wait and see but the networks are in a state of flux, having to change the business model they have used to measure success for a very long time. Sorry Hollywood- but technology has surpassed the once mighty Nielsen box. It is time to catch up with the rest of us!

Vote for Fall TV’s Sexiest Male Star

Monday, October 13th, 2008

AOL television is running a Fall TV Sexiest guys poll. Who is at the top of your list? Multipleverses favorites are well represented! Click HERE to vote for your favorite.

Nominees include:

Jensen Ackles from Supernatural

Justin Hartley from Smallville

Zachary Levi from Chuck

Simon Baker from The Mentalist

Joshua Jackson from Fringe

My line up? Jensen, Simon, Justin and then Robert Buckley from Lipstick Jungle- hmmm….you might thing I like blondes or something …. Don’t know who Buckley is? Check out the Lipstick Jungle posts on our sister site The Entertainment Hotline. Lots of pics of him in the EH gallery too.

BTS- Makeup and Stunts on Primetime TV

Monday, October 6th, 2008

The stunts and makeup we see in primetime tv is getting more and more sophisticated and realistice. HEre are two sneak peeks behind the scenes of some of our favorite shows.

Super makeup on the set for Fringe and Pushing Daisies

Here is a special with a look at the Extreme stunts on TSCC, Heroes, Knight Rider, The Mentalist and Fringe. The last bit of the video has news about a stunt gone wrong on the set of Dexter this week.

Tonight’s Sarah Connor Chronicles will be shown with limited commercials and be a full 52 minutes of episode so you will want to tune in tonight!

Anna Torv on Dave; new Fringe Trailers

Friday, September 19th, 2008

Anna Torv was on Dave earlier this month and the interview was repeated this week. We have it here in HQ DIVX video – or you can view online with no special codecs HERE

Fringe- new episode tonight- HQ Sneak Peek

Tuesday, September 16th, 2008

The second episode of Fringe airs tonight. This will be a critical point for the series. The pilot had huge hype and a lot of people tuned in- now the question is can they maintain the audience and build a following?

HQ DIVX video includes ratings news for the premiere, trailer and sneak peek at episode 2, and finally sneak peek at what is happening this season on Fringe. View no special codec required