I wish I could say these inspire me. Ignoring the ones that are listed with no details (and which I've never heard of before):
I suppose maybe people judge "success" by outdated conventions such as ratings. I'd love to see a SF series join American Idol and NCIS at the top of the ratings each week, too. But the odds of that happening are so slim. We should just be happy that these shows continue to be produced -- and for the most part produced well -- whether they last 6 episodes or run for 10 years. I'm not a huge fan of Smallville, but I'll take on anyone who claims it's not a success because it's never registered on the Nielsen ratings top 20. That thing's run longer than most (all?) of the shows in the top 20. There's no way it can't be considered a success.
Alex
Uh, aren't they doing that already with V? And about a dozen other shows over the past decade? Spielberg better have a heck of a twist up his sleeve.
Been there, done that. I did read that this might be a continuation of the original series (which, of course, was in turn a remake of two movies). If they do that, bringing in Peta Wilson as the original Nikita even if just for the pilot, then it might do OK. That said, 99% of US viewers will just see this as a rehash of Alias.
Isn't that a little like Syfy running professional wrestling?
I thought they already did that a few years ago and everyone hated it?
This one amazes me. Everyone's calling this a new idea (or, at least, a TV version of Mr and Mrs Smith). Does no one remember the series "Under Cover" that starred Linda Purl and John Denison as a husband-and-wife spy couple, with a pre-Sliders John Rhys Davies as their version of Q? I remember this show well because it was cancelled directly because of the first Gulf War in 1991. You'd think they'd at least come up with a different title.
Here's a novel idea. Why don't they just air the original UK shows? It'd be cheaper, and the fact is except for a couple of sitcoms like All in the Family, Sanford and Son and the Office, and one drama series, Queer as Folk, US remakes of UK originals fail. I'm very concerned about Torchwood. If it's a spin-off, then OK - the stories can tie in with the UK Doctor Who franchise canon. And there's precedent - John Munsch from Law & Order SVU apparently appeared in one or two of the European versions of L&O in crossovers. If it's a remake, especially with Barrowman being used in the lead, it'll be devastating to the original series because, among other things, he wouldn't be available to film it in the UK. And they'd probably screw it up like they did Life on Mars. I certainly can predict certain aspects of the show that will be eliminated. Even worse, we've already seen articles stating a US version of Doctor Who is also a possibility, which chills me to the bone. I won't go into knee-jerk "I'll boycott it before seeing it mode", but part of me wants this to never see the light of day.
Don't they already have that? Desperate Housewives I think it's called.
Again, nothing really new here. I am curious to see how this pans out, even though it's fast becoming the Duke Nukem Forever of the TV world - this thing's been "coming soon" for at least 5 years. Have we seen a single casting note? Is it even in production? I actually thought Clone Wars (a series that didn't exactly set the world on fire) was the TV series that had been discussed. This one's a huge gamble because, once again, 95% of viewers won't have been following the "expanded universe", so will they accept a series that doesn't feature Luke, Leia, or Anakin and Padme? God, I hope they use new characters rather than rehashing/recasting the old ones. I suppose a Caprica-like series with Luke and Leia as kids might work ... but then, we already have Caprica...
I don't understand why "small screen scifi" needs saving. I'm not seeing things being any different now than they have been for a number of years. In fact with Fringe, Lost, V, Human Target (not SF, but still), Doctor Who on BBC America (hopefully Torchwood season 4 soon, too), 24 to a degree, Supernatural getting a 6th season, Smallville defying the odds and still going strong after a decade, Stargate, at least a few more shows I've probably missed ... and that's just in the US, never mind the UK where you also have Merlin, Being Human, Sarah Jane Adventures, etc ... small screen sci-fi is in as good a shape as it's been for awhile. The only thing that's missing, over here anyway, is that there's currently no breakout SF hit that has really crossed over to the American/Canadian cultural mainstream the way Star Trek TNG and The X-Files did. Lost comes close, but a lot of people don't really recognize it as science fiction.
I suppose maybe people judge "success" by outdated conventions such as ratings. I'd love to see a SF series join American Idol and NCIS at the top of the ratings each week, too. But the odds of that happening are so slim. We should just be happy that these shows continue to be produced -- and for the most part produced well -- whether they last 6 episodes or run for 10 years. I'm not a huge fan of Smallville, but I'll take on anyone who claims it's not a success because it's never registered on the Nielsen ratings top 20. That thing's run longer than most (all?) of the shows in the top 20. There's no way it can't be considered a success.
Alex
