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sf/f TV development news - 2013

^Could you list those 43? Because that seems like a surprisingly high number. Are these all confirmed shows, or some that are just in the pilot stage?
 
^^^
Those are shows that have aired this season or that will air in the rest of the season and through the summer. It doesn't include pilots or anything in development for the 2014/2015 season. Actually it's 46. I had missed three in my earlier count.

Here's the list in order of the season airing in the 2013/2014 season and summer 2014 (again these are just the live action one-hour shows produced for North American outlets - if you include UK shows and half-hour shows the number is even greater):

9th season

Supernatural (CW)

7th season

True Blood (HBO, final season)

5th season

The Listener (CTV, air date TBA)
The Vampire Diaries (CW)
Warehouse 13 (Syfy, final season)

4th season

Being Human (Syfy, final season)
Falling Skies (TNT)
Game of Thrones ( HBO)
Haven (Syfy)
Lost Girl (Syfy/Showcase)
The Walking Dead (AMC)

3rd season

American Horror Story (FX)
Continuum (Syfy/Showcase)
Grimm (NBC)
Once Upon a Time (ABC)
Person of Interest (CBS)
Teen Wolf (MTV, season 4 likely starts this summer)

2nd season

Arrow (CW)
Beauty and the Beast (CW)
Da Vinci’s Demons (Starz)
Defiance (Syfy)
Hemlock Grove (Netflix, release date TBA)
Orphan Black (BBC America)
Revolution (NBC)
Under the Dome (CBS)

1st season

The 100 (CW)
Agents of SHIELD (ABC)
Almost Human (Fox)
Believe (NBC)
Bitten (Syfy/Space)
Dracula (NBC)
From Dusk till Dawn: The Series (El Rey)
Helix (Syfy)
Intelligence (CBS)
The Last Ship (TNT)
Once Upon a Time in Wonderland (ABC)
The Originals (CW)
Penny Dreadful (Showtime)
Ravenswood (ABC Family, cancelled)
Resurrection (ABC)
Salem (WGN)
Sleepy Hollow (Fox)
Star-Crossed (CW)
The Strain (FX)
The Tomorrow People (CW)
Witches of East End (Lifetime)
 
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Wow... I never imagined there'd be a time when I'd be interested in only about a third of the genre shows on the air in a given season. But then I never imagined there'd be over 40 of them at once(-ish). Of course, a few of those are on channels I don't get.

Of course, only a bit over a third of those shows are science fiction rather than fantasy:

Falling Skies
Continuum
Person of Interest
Arrow
Beauty and the Beast
Defiance (albeit with some mystical elements)
Orphan Black
Revolution
The 100
Agents of SHIELD (borderline)
Almost Human
Helix
Intelligence
The Last Ship
Star-Crossed
The Tomorrow People (borderline)

And maybe Believe -- the description on Wikipedia doesn't make clear whether it'll lean more toward fantasy or SF.
 
What's your basis for putting Star-Crossed in the "highly likely to be cancelled" category when it's only been on the air two weeks? Did it perform that badly in the ratings?
Yeah, very bad ratings for its first two episodes. It's tough to turn a start like that around. It's probably dead on arrival.

Plus it was very telling that CW sacrificed Star Crossed to the Olympics but held out The 100 until March. They are clearly higher on the one over the other. That being said I'm still holding out some hope that there's room for both The 100 and Tomorrow People on their schedule for next year
 
Syfy has bought the rights to Metal Hurlant Chronicles, a half-hour Franco-Belgian anthology show based on Metal Hurlant (Heavy Metal in the US). It will premiere on Syfy in April. Here's the trailer:

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=F7JBGJ5LF-E[/yt]
 
I saw that news a day or two ago. This makes me happy, I've been curious about the show since I first heard about it a year or two ago. My interest is mainly due to the cast, I've never read the comics, and only made it about 15 or 20 minutes into the movie before I turned it off.
 
Deadline reports that Jonathan Rhys-Davies has joined the cast of Hieroglyph:

John Rhys-Davies (Lord of the Rings franchise) has been cast as a regular in Fox‘s 13-episode series Hieroglyph, from 20th TV and Chernin Entertainment. Set in ancient Egypt, where fantasy and reality intertwined, it follows Ambrose, a notorious thief who is plucked from prison to serve the Pharoah (Reece Ritchie), navigating palace intrigue, seductive concubines, criminal underbellies and even a few divine sorcerers. Rhys-Davies, repped by Jeff Golenberg Management and Louisa Spring Management, will play Vocifer, Ambrose’s one-time mentor who was a dashing thief back in his day.
 
Deadline reports that Jonathan Rhys-Davies has joined the cast of Hieroglyph:

John Rhys-Davies (Lord of the Rings franchise) has been cast as a regular in Fox‘s 13-episode series Hieroglyph, from 20th TV and Chernin Entertainment. Set in ancient Egypt, where fantasy and reality intertwined, it follows Ambrose, a notorious thief who is plucked from prison to serve the Pharoah (Reece Ritchie), navigating palace intrigue, seductive concubines, criminal underbellies and even a few divine sorcerers. Rhys-Davies, repped by Jeff Golenberg Management and Louisa Spring Management, will play Vocifer, Ambrose’s one-time mentor who was a dashing thief back in his day.
Annnddddd...There's another reason look forward to this one :bolian::bolian:
 
^^ Indeed. I've loved him since Sliders.

Arrow has elements of Science Fiction?

so far, e.g.:
-earthquake machine
-miracle drug giving super-strength
-the accident giving The Flash his powers was apparently shown on-screen
Okay, thank you. Now that you mention it, I've heard of one of those.

Syfy has bought the rights to Metal Hurlant Chronicles, a half-hour Franco-Belgian anthology show based on Metal Hurlant (Heavy Metal in the US). It will premiere on Syfy in April. Here's the trailer:
Now that's mighty interesting. They'll probably have to water it down, but Sciffy has been pushing the envelope lately.
 
Network Pilot Watch 2014

i just wanted to put these all in one place. I looked over the list of pilots at deadline.com, and these are the SF/F genre pilots they currently have listed in contention at the broadcast networks.

ABC

CLEMENTINE
Drama
STUDIO: ABC Studios
TEAM: Dean Georgaris (w, ep), Ilene Staple (ep), Mark Gordon (ep), Nick Pepper (ep), Michael Dinner (d)
LOGLINE: A habitual criminal digs into the mystery of her origins after she becomes the target of a group of zealots who fear she possesses latent supernatural abilities that she will one day harness for either profound good or monstrous evil.
CAST: Sarah Snook, Mykelti Williamson, David Strathairn, Edwin Hodge, Kevin Alejandro, Kathleen Munroe, Nick Gehlfuss

FOREVER
Drama
STUDIO: Warner Bros TV
TEAM: Matthew Miller (w, ep), Dan Lin (ep), Jennifer Gwartz (ep)
LOGLINE: Dr. Henry Morgan is New York City’s star medical examiner, but what no one knows is Henry studies the dead for a reason: He is immortal. With the help of detective Jo Martinez, the show peels back the layers of Henry’s colorful and long life through their cases.
CAST: Ioan Gruffudd, Judd Hirsch

THE VISITORS
Drama
STUDIO: ABC Studios
TEAM: Dawn Olmstead (ep), Soo Hugh (w, ep) Darryl Frank (ep), Justin Falvey (ep), Steven Spielberg (ep), Mark Romanek (d)
LOGLINE: Based on a Ray Bradbury short story, it chronicles the race against the clock to defeat an unseen alien enemy out to destroy the world using our most precious resource against us.
CAST: Lily Rabe, Barry Sloane, Derek Webster, Milo Ventimiglia, Kyle Harrison Breitkopf, Catalina Denis

CBS

EXTANT
Drama
PICKED UP DIRECT TO SERIES FOR SUMMER
STUDIO: CBS TV Studios
TEAM: Steven Spielberg (ep), Greg Walker (ep), Mickey Fisher (ep), Brooklyn Weaver (ep), Justin Falvey (ep), Darryl Frank (ep), Adam Rodin (co-ep)
LOGLINE: An astronaut returns home from a yearlong solo mission in space and tries to reconnect with her husband and son in their everyday life. Her experiences in space and home lead to events that ultimately will change the course of human history.
CAST: Halle Berry

The CW

THE FLASH
Drama
STUDIO: Warner Bros Television
TEAM: Greg Berlanti (w, ep), Andrew Kreisberg (w, ep), Geoff Johns (w), David Nutter (d, ep), Melissa Kellner Berman (co-ep)
LOGLINE: Barry Allen is a Central City assistant police forensics investigator who arrives in Starling to look into a series of unexplained robberies that may have a connection to a tragedy in his past. A comic book fanboy, Barry is obsessed with the Arrow unaware that working with Oliver and Felicity to solve the crime has brought him right into the dangerous world of the vigilante.
CAST: Grant Gustin, Jesse L. Martin, Rick Gosnett, Danielle Panabaker, Candice Patton, Carlos Valdes, Tom Cavanaugh, John Wesley Shipp, Michelle Harrison

iZOMBIE
Drama
STUDIO: Warner Bros. Television
TEAM: Rob Thomas (w, ep), Diane Ruggiero (w, ep), Danielle Stokdyk (ep), Dan Etheridge (ep)
LOGLINE: A med student-turned-zombie takes a job in the coroner’s office to gain access to the brains she must reluctantly eat to maintain her humanity, but with each brain she consumes, she inherits the corpse’s memories. With the help of her medical examiner boss and a police detective, she solves homicide cases in order to quiet the disturbing voices in her head.
CAST: Malcolm Goodwin, Alexandra Krosney, David Anders

THE MESSENGERS
Drama
STUDIO: CBS TV Studios
TEAM: Basil Iwanyk (ep), Eoghan O’Donnell (w, co-ep), Kent Kubena (ep) Ava Jamshidi
LOGLINE: When a mysterious object crashes down to Earth, a group of seemingly unconnected strangers dies from the energy pulse. But then they awaken to learn that they have been deemed responsible for preventing the impending apocalypse.
CAST: Sofia Black-D’Elia, Joel Courtney

SUPERNATURAL: TRIBES (backdoor pilot)
Drama
STUDIO: Warner Bros Television
TEAM: Andrew Dabb (w, ep), Eric Kripke (ep), Robert Singer (ep), Jeremy Carver (ep), McG (ep), Robert Singer (d)
LOGLINE: Explores the clashing hunter and monster cultures of Chicago.
CAST: Nathaniel Buzolic, Lucien Laviscount, Sean Faris

Fox

LAST MAN ON EARTH
Comedy (single camera)
[i[ORDERED STRAIGHT TO SERIES[/i]
STUDIO: 20th TV
TEAM: Will Forte (w, ep), Phil Lord (d, ep), Chris Miller (d, ep), Seth Cohen (ep)
LOGLINE: A stranger who becomes the last human on Earth.
CAST: Will Forte

GOTHAM (expected to go to series)
Drama
STUDIO: Warner Bros TV
TEAM: Bruno Heller (w, ep), Danny Cannon (d)
LOGLINE: Explores the origin stories of Commissioner James Gordon from the Batman comics and films — who is still a detective and has yet to meet Batman — and the villains who made Gotham City famous.
CAST: Ben McKenzie, Donal Logue, Robin Lord Taylor, Zabryna Guevara, Sean Pertwee, Erin Richards

HIEROGLYPH
Drama
ORDERED STRAIGHT TO SERIES FOR NEXT SEASON; 13 EPISODES
STUDIO: 20th Century Fox TV
TEAM: Travis Beacham (w, ep), Peter Chernin (ep), Katherine Pope (ep), Miguel Sapochnik (d, ep)
LOGLINE: A notorious thief is plucked from prison to serve the Pharoah, navigating palace intrigue, seductive concubines, criminal underbellies and even a few divine sorcerers.
CAST: Reece Ritchie, Kelsey Chow, Condola Rashad, John Rhys-Davies

NBC

BABYLON FIELDS
Drama
STUDIO: 20th Century Fox TV
TEAM: Michael Cuesta (ep, d), Gerald Cuesta (w, ep), Michael Atkinson (w, ep)
LOGLINE: The dead are rising in Babylon, NY, and as a result, lives are regained, old wounds are reopened and families are restored — for better or worse. The newly regenerated bodies are healing faster and growing stronger than anyone else, leading to the suspicion that they might be the next step in human evolution.
CAST: Meagan Good, Skeet Ulrich

CONSTANTINE
Drama
STUDIO: Warner Bros TV
TEAM: Daniel Cerone (w, ep), David S. Goyer (w, ep), Neil Marshall (d)
LOGLINE: Based on the characters in DC Comics’ stories about John Constantine, an enigmatic and irreverent con man-turned-reluctant supernatural detective who is thrust into the role of defending us against dark forces from beyond.
CAST: Matt Ryan

EMERALD CITY
Mini-series
STUDIO: Universal TV
TEAM: Matthew Arnold (w, ep), Josh Friedman (ep)
LOGLINE: A modern and dark reimagining of the classic tale of Oz that includes lethal warriors, competing kingdoms, and the infamous wizard as we’ve never seen him before. A headstrong 20-year-old Dorothy Gale is unwittingly sent on a journey that thrusts her into the center of an epic and bloody battle for the control of Oz.

TIN MAN
Drama
STUDIO: Universal TV
TEAM: Ehren Kruger (w, ep), John Glenn (ep), Daniel Bobker (ep), D.J. Caruso (d, ep)
LOGLINE: Psychological crime thriller set in the near future focuses on a fugitive robot accused of first-degree murder, who may hold the key to the future of human evolution, and the young female public defender forced to fight for his cause.
CAST: Patrick Heusinger, Shaun Taub, Ryan Yu, Kara Killmer, Kathleen York, Kristen Connolly, Vondie Curtis-Hall
 
Re: Network Pilot Watch 2014

Last Man on Earth sounds interesting. All the other characters aliens? women? only shown in flashbacks?
 
LOGLINE: A med student-turned-zombie takes a job in the coroner’s office to gain access to the brains she must reluctantly eat to maintain her humanity, but with each brain she consumes, she inherits the corpse’s memories. With the help of her medical examiner boss and a police detective, she solves homicide cases in order to quiet the disturbing voices in her head.

Really? :lol: I mean, come on. Seriously? :lol:

No wonder I don't pay much attention to the broadcast channels anymore. Wow. :lol:
 
^^^
The iZombie comic book was generally well regarded and the TV adaptation has a good creative team behind it.

Really? The idea, just reading it for the first time, sounds like the most preposterous thing I've ever heard. Well, you never know what might turn out to be a good thing. They once had a show about people with six shooters in outer space that turned out pretty good.
 
^^^
It's an out there premise to be sure. Shades of Tru Calling, but more macabre and with a structure of solving murders rather than time travelling to prevent them.
 
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