sf/f TV development news - 2013

JJ is turning into a litter bug.

I saw something about a show or novel about clones, or robots. Can anyone just tell me about the former, and if there is anything interesting out there lately about the latter?

 

Robots are interesting. Clones are not.

I dunno what it is about clones, but I've yet to see a TV series or movie based on them that I found worthwhile. Even SW: The Clone Wars is interesting for everything but the clones. I just kinda zone out when the episodes focus on them. (Usually still worth watching for the gorgeous artwork anyway. Love those crazy alien worlds!)

 

Melissa George To Star In ABC’s ‘Gothica’, Nicholas Gonzalez Joins ‘The Returned’

 

Not a Moon fan, huh.

 

Not so much a fan of the plotline but I did like Sam Rockwell's performance. Also liked Jeffrey Combs performance as various Weyoun clones, but that was more for his personality than the fact of him being a clone. The clone thing was invented as an excuse to bring back Combs after they killed him off.

The clone schitck does give a good actor a chance to play two different roles, but an evil-mirror-universe-twin scenario would do the same.

My problem with clones is that they're not very sci fi considering that there are millions running around planet Earth right now, and have been for eons: identical twins.

Waitaminute, I though of one scenario I liked...when Crichton was cloned. That was good. I liked that they didn't designate one of the clones as the "real" one, which implied the real Crichton died.

 

‘Returned’ Adds Mark Hildreth

 

More Returned casting, including a couple well known names.

I guess returning from the dead would pose some thorny immigration issues.

 

Syfy has given a 13-episode order to Ron Moore’s new project Helix.

 

Contagion meets the remake of The Thing?

I guess in Hollywood that's a fastball.

 

Paige Turco Joins ‘The 100′

Also "The Selection":

 

More casting for 100 and Delirium.

Gotta get up early in the morning to beat Enterprise is Great.

I'm kinda jazzed to hear about that orbiting space station, that's the closest a new TV show has gotten to space since, I dunno, BSG? Or Caprica if you stretch the point. Of course it's still a long way from that proverbial greenlight.

 

Defiance looks like an unusual project

http://www.sfseriesandmovies.com/series/defiance/defiance-video-s/

 

I'm still undecided about Defiance. It looks like it might have some good ideas, but all the previews look incredibly boring.

 

They do?? I've never seen that much action in ANY tv show in history.

RAMA

 

^^ Exactly. Action generally gets tedious pretty quickly, unless it punctuates a story and characters with substance. That's the unknown quantity here.

 

Well, naturally trailers emphasize the action disproportionately. And it's a cinch that most of the action in this trailer is going to be from just the pilot episode, the flashbacks to the conflict that preceded the events of the series. Action is expensive, so we'll probably get more of it in the pilot than in the weekly episodes.

 

That's why I'm undecided about it. I see some interesting stuff, but then I see the tanks rolling and the fists pumping and I cringe. I'm leaning toward checking it out, but I'll end up deciding at the last minute. Or maybe waiting to see what my friends think and then watching it on On Demand if it seems merited.

 

We have a thread on it. It starts in about a month on SyFy.
The Defiance Thread - News about the Show and Game

 

Great article on the broadcast pilot season in general, and why it's likely to fail just like it's failing this year.

The third point - cookie-cutter-ism - is once again dominant this season, which leads to a confused audience that can't tell the shows apart based on what little they've heard about them (and everyone zones out advertising now). There are some glimmers of being different, a few Western-themed shows for instance, but overall it just seems like a big grey mass of boredom, even worse than last season.

I'm not totally jazzed about Defiance for instance, but it has actual aliens to show in the ads, and that makes it stand out in today's environment. The Western feel should also help.

 

^^^^^^^^
What he said