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Coming to a TV Near You!
May. 14th, 2007 01:15 pmIt's that time again! Time to impersonate Jack Palance? Time to reinvent the DC Universe? No, it's the week the broadcast TV networks announce their fall lineups!
Strange that even with the unending growth of cable and Internet and DVD, this is still a big deal for a lot of us. What gets on the broadcast channels is still seen as the top of the TV pyramid, regardless of HBO and its brethren.
First off, we have to wait till Wednesday for word about Supernatural and Veronica Mars. My guess? We get back the Winchesters, on a short ratings leash, and get one season of Special Agent Mars, FBI. We will see.
Today, however, was NBC's turn, and the Network that Cancelled Star Trek will have 4 1/2 SF/fantasy shows. Three new shows join Heroes: Journeyman, about a reporter who can inexplicably travel back in time and help people - sounds closer to Quantum Leap or Early Edition than Seven Days; The Bionic Woman, reinvented by the people who reworked Battlestar Galactica; and Chuck, about a computer geek who accidentally has the entire database of a spy agency (including the names of its deep cover agents) downloaded into his head, after which wacky spy-jinks ensue - think Jake 2.0. At first glance, none of these excite me, but just the fact that NBC is trying them all is a good thing.
Wait, you're saying. Didn't I say 4 1/2 shows? What's a half show? Well, NBC, hoping to avoid reruns of Heroes, will be ordering six episodes of a quasi-spinoff called Heroes: Origins, which will introduce six new "heroes" not part of the story arc on the original show. After fans meet them, NBC will conduct a poll on the show's website that will pick one to add to Heroes' third season cast. We will also get 24 episodes of the original show, for a total of 30. I like this idea since it allows us to get more of the show but won't schlep out the arc even more.
Word is that Fox and ABC will also have fantasy and SF on their schedules. We will soon see. But given how many years fen would watch that one lone SF show, no matter who bad it was, thing are looking good.
Strange that even with the unending growth of cable and Internet and DVD, this is still a big deal for a lot of us. What gets on the broadcast channels is still seen as the top of the TV pyramid, regardless of HBO and its brethren.
First off, we have to wait till Wednesday for word about Supernatural and Veronica Mars. My guess? We get back the Winchesters, on a short ratings leash, and get one season of Special Agent Mars, FBI. We will see.
Today, however, was NBC's turn, and the Network that Cancelled Star Trek will have 4 1/2 SF/fantasy shows. Three new shows join Heroes: Journeyman, about a reporter who can inexplicably travel back in time and help people - sounds closer to Quantum Leap or Early Edition than Seven Days; The Bionic Woman, reinvented by the people who reworked Battlestar Galactica; and Chuck, about a computer geek who accidentally has the entire database of a spy agency (including the names of its deep cover agents) downloaded into his head, after which wacky spy-jinks ensue - think Jake 2.0. At first glance, none of these excite me, but just the fact that NBC is trying them all is a good thing.
Wait, you're saying. Didn't I say 4 1/2 shows? What's a half show? Well, NBC, hoping to avoid reruns of Heroes, will be ordering six episodes of a quasi-spinoff called Heroes: Origins, which will introduce six new "heroes" not part of the story arc on the original show. After fans meet them, NBC will conduct a poll on the show's website that will pick one to add to Heroes' third season cast. We will also get 24 episodes of the original show, for a total of 30. I like this idea since it allows us to get more of the show but won't schlep out the arc even more.
Word is that Fox and ABC will also have fantasy and SF on their schedules. We will soon see. But given how many years fen would watch that one lone SF show, no matter who bad it was, thing are looking good.
