Alphas renewed for season 2

[McDuff]

I just hope TV producers include more episodic sci-fi series (they are never actually 100% episodic either). There's about only the new Doctor Who and Warehouse 13, none of them on broadcast.

I don't want the elimination of serialized TV, but just the inclusion of some episodic Sci-fi series too like the new Doctor Who, Warehouse 13, SG1, etc. It's the most popular scripted format so TV producers should include much more of them in the line up too. It's also closer to the Sci-fi movies in theater because of the originality, the fantastical aspect, the escapism of every episodes instead of the redundancy of the episodes settings and situation. I like some form of serialization too (especially the non-soap opera one ie more plot oriented with better pacing) even if it's not great for the ratings. Fringe since season 3 and the introduction of "mythalones" (ie more serialization with maintaining aspect of episodic like DS9 most of its run) happens to be fantastic. I hope they do keep the episodic nature of Alphas. I want more good and original missions, cases, adventures every week adding to our knowledge of our character (arcs) and the Alphas world, but with no situation where missing a couple of episodes make the viewers feel lost.

My point is about ADDING something in the line up of TV series (ie more episodic sci-fi series) not SUBTRACTING something (highly serialized character drama sci-fi).

 

[PsychoPere]

I just saw the finale of Alphas - Excellent IMO - Not as good as last episode, but that last 5 mins really elevated it. They've got balls. I'm really curious to see how the show evolves now.

Agreed, though I thought the undercurrent running throughout the whole episode of the US government shooting itself in the head with their actions here had the episode already on par with the previous one. But it was definitely these last two episodes, even more so than other ones I had previously enjoyed a lot ("Bill and Gary's Excellent Adventure" and "Blind Spot," to name two examples), that convinced me Alphas really could stand out from the Syfy crowd. I was not expecting in the least that Rosen would make the announcement he did at the end of this episode, and I'm going to predict that next season will start with

Spoiler: Prediction based on finale events

Rosen in some prison (maybe Binghamton again?), while Clay will have been given command of the team. I don't think Bill's heart problem has gone away, and I wouldn't be surprised if he's been sidelined by then - he really would be the only "threat" to Clay's authority.

(Maybe not the most imaginative prediction ever, but it fits what we've seen in season one, right? )

 

[Professor Zoom]

GEEZ, for f*cks sake, does every thread in this forum need to turn into "McDuff crusade against serialization and others arguing with him"?

McDuff, you've said your piece here (as has everyone else) - Start your own dedicated thread on the topic so everyone else can stay the hell away.

Back ON TOPIC:

I just saw the finale of Alphas - Excellent IMO - Not as good as last episode, but that last 5 mins really elevated it. They've got balls. I'm really curious to see how the show evolves now.

You're right... My apologies for dragging it off topic.. Which i'm done doing.

OT, I agree with your other point as well. It's a great little show... And really am very curious what happens for the team because of Rosen's actions. And, what will Rosen do next...

 

[PsychoPere]

I have some sad news to relay...

Ira Behr will not be on Alphas during season two.

Bruce Miller, formerly the showrunner on Eureka, will be replacing Behr as showrunner for season two. He also previously worked on Medium, The 4400, and In Plain Sight.

The article doesn't mention Robert Hewitt Wolfe, so no idea if he'll still be with the show or not.

 

[Caliburn24]

I don't like that news one bit.

Miller could be great, I have no idea. But it sounds like he is getting the job because the SyFy execs like him, not because of any real interest in the show or love of the premise.

 

[The Habs Fan]

I have some sad news to relay...

Ira Behr will not be on Alphas during season two.

Bruce Miller, formerly the showrunner on Eureka, will be replacing Behr as showrunner for season two. He also previously worked on Medium, The 4400, and In Plain Sight.

The article doesn't mention Robert Hewitt Wolfe, so no idea if he'll still be with the show or not.

Well... this is horrible news. I now have a sinking feeling about season 2. Hopefully it'll be good...

 

[Zod]

Very glad the show gets a season two. This show has gotten steadily better as the season has progressed.

The last half of the finale, and especially the ending really got my attention. Can't wait to see what they will do with it.

 

[McDuff]

Very glad the show gets a season two. This show has gotten steadily better as the season has progressed.

The last half of the finale, and especially the ending really got my attention. Can't wait to see what they will do with it.

I love it from the start, but I just didn't know if it would keep the quality throughout the season. Glad it did. It even got better and better, I agree.

 

[sojourner]

Yeah, the news about Behr sucks. I liked the serious, gritty tone of the show so I hope Miller doesn't turn it into another "wacky adventure" series like WH13 and Eureka.

 

[McDuff]

I have some sad news to relay...

Ira Behr will not be on Alphas during season two.

Bruce Miller, formerly the showrunner on Eureka, will be replacing Behr as showrunner for season two. He also previously worked on Medium, The 4400, and In Plain Sight.

The article doesn't mention Robert Hewitt Wolfe, so no idea if he'll still be with the show or not.

It's horrible news. If Robert Hewitt Wolfe is not there anymore then it's a complete disaster. I agree with the poster above, I like the subtle grittiness (not overdone) and realism of the show with some humor. I hope it doesn't become as light as Eureka (Eureka is ok but it doesn't fit Alphas).

 

[Hugo Rune]

I've been powering through a re-watch of The 4400 recently (and might I just interject that it is better second time around and as I reach the final stretch of the 4th season it's being elevated swiftly into my pantheon of brilliant modern SF shows) and suddenly remembered that Behr was running Alphas, so had to give it a go.

It's decidedly mediocre thus far (7 episodes in) and filled with an entire cast of I-Don't-Cares... yet Behr on board makes me want to finish the season regardless.

Aaaand then the news that Behr has been dropped leaves me wondering: "should I bother". Millere may have been a writer on the 4400, but that show was driven by Behr, Scott, Sweeny and Echevarria. Still, Eureka is driven by Jaime Paglia and Andrew Cosby, so who knows what Miller will actually do with Alphas.

Behr has always been a bit of an outsider in the industry from what I can tell and (other than the BSG franchise), The 4400 was the last time that the SyFy channel actually took a real risk and chance with it's material. Since then it has been exceptionally low-risk cookie-cutter material, and wholly devoid of interest to me.

I fear that Behr may have wanted to take Alphas in a more interesting direction than the network wanted, preferring to keep the Sanctuary/Eureka/Haven/Stargate/WH13 model running. Can't blame them I guess, the shows seem to pull in the viewership they want and if it works, why tinker with it?

Shame it doesn't work for me.

Oh well, time to sit back and wait for the next Behr mongrel to hit the airwaves


Hugo - "Cult" is what a big congregation calls a little congregation.

 

[PsychoPere]

^ One minor correction: The 4400 was produced for USA Network, not Sci-Fi Channel.

 

[Hugo Rune]

^ One minor correction: The 4400 was produced for USA Network, not Sci-Fi Channel.

Ahhh, there you go then. Well, you can ignore all of the above then.

Well, apart from the cookie-cutter bit. That still stays.

And the SyFy mediocrity-model, yeah keep that too.

Oh and why not throw in the "wait patiently for a proper Behr mongrel to come along".

I'm an optimist, after all


Hugo - yeah, no, not really

 

[Professor Zoom]

I have some sad news to relay...

Ira Behr will not be on Alphas during season two.

Bruce Miller, formerly the showrunner on Eureka, will be replacing Behr as showrunner for season two. He also previously worked on Medium, The 4400, and In Plain Sight.

The article doesn't mention Robert Hewitt Wolfe, so no idea if he'll still be with the show or not.

It's horrible news. If Robert Hewitt Wolfe is not there anymore then it's a complete disaster. I agree with the poster above, I like the subtle grittiness (not overdone) and realism of the show with some humor. I hope it doesn't become as light as Eureka (Eureka is ok but it doesn't fit Alphas).

It's sad news, to be sure, but, it's hardly a disaster. I wouldn't be surprised if we hardly notice the different.

I'll wait and see if it's a "disaster."

 

[McDuff]

I have some sad news to relay...

Ira Behr will not be on Alphas during season two.

Bruce Miller, formerly the showrunner on Eureka, will be replacing Behr as showrunner for season two. He also previously worked on Medium, The 4400, and In Plain Sight.

The article doesn't mention Robert Hewitt Wolfe, so no idea if he'll still be with the show or not.

It's horrible news. If Robert Hewitt Wolfe is not there anymore then it's a complete disaster. I agree with the poster above, I like the subtle grittiness (not overdone) and realism of the show with some humor. I hope it doesn't become as light as Eureka (Eureka is ok but it doesn't fit Alphas).

It's sad news, to be sure, but, it's hardly a disaster. I wouldn't be surprised if we hardly notice the different.

I'll wait and see if it's a "disaster."

Thank you for your reassurance, but new show runner is something significant that doens't make me conclude that I won't hardly notice a difference. A showrunner changes is significant and makes things different. That's the guy who's rewriting every episodes before they are filmed and decides the general story lines and the episode stories. If Robert Hewitt Wolfe is also gone then it's horrible. We don't know what we're going to get next season.

 

[Hugo Rune]

^^ Yeah, but just because a particular writer is on board doesn't necessarily either validate or negate the quality of the show:

Robert Hewitt Wolfe: Deep Space Nine Vs Andromeda/The Dresden Files (He may have left Andromeda, but sorry, it was a huge turd from the outset)
Ira Steven Behr: DS9/The 4400 Vs Crash (which he was a co-showrunner on and, my word that was shocking)
Joss Whedon: Buffy/Firefly Vs Dollhouse (A mess almost top to bottom, other than its endgame episodes)
Chris Carter: The X-Files/Millennium Vs Harsh Realm/The X-Files (rather fits both categories really)
Shawn Ryan: The Shield Vs The Chicago Code/Lie To Me (The latter two reinforcing the trite cop TV-tropes whilst the former headbutting them then throwing a grenade in their car)
J Michael Straczinski: Babylon 5/Jeremiah Vs well, almost everything else sadly
David Milch: Deadwood Vs John From Cincinatti (The latter being so damned oblique not even Tarkovski would have understood it)
Alan Ball: Six Feet Under Vs True Blood (minimalist human drama Vs Not-sure-at-all-what-it-wants-to-be-mess)
Aaron Sorkin: The West Wing Vs Studio 60 (profound and uplifting Vs self involved and narcissistic)
Ron D Moore: Carnivale (S1)/NuBSG Vs Roswell (S2 - mawkish goop filled with utterly non-challenging teenage nonsense)
Gene Roddenberry: Star Trek (S1) Vs Star Trek: TNG (S1 - following which he handed over to Maurice Hurley)

I can go on and clearly there are many people who would disagree with my choices. I liked the fact that Behr/Wolfe were on board and show running, yet Wolfe produced The Dresden Files with Hans Beimler, which got me incredibly excited given their work on DS9 and the mythology of the books. And the pair got it ass backwards, again, and again on those dismal 13 episodes.

My worry about Behr leaving this show is not that the qualit will dip (it might, it might not), rather the SyFy channel will refocus it to resemble to rest of its SF ensemble: i.e. lacking in any invention or singular character. And now that I am up to episode 9 of the show I can say the quality hasn't been so hot to begin with...


Hugo - has, however, enjoyed seeing all the little cameos from the 4400 clan, and even a powerful rich man called Collier thrown in for a giggle

 

[Technobuilder]

So I just saw the news about ISB being out as showrunner in Season 2 and (with RHW's status unknown at this point...) all the enthusiasm I had for Alphas S2 just went *poof*.

I'll probably still check it out, but I'm kinda bummed now.

 

[McDuff]

^^ Yeah, but just because a particular writer is on board doesn't necessarily either validate or negate the quality of the show:

That's something ENTIRELY different. TV shows writers are like song artist. They are artist and are doing different things. For example, sometimes music artists make a crazy hardcore metal album, but then after the fame, decides to do a second album that is pop rock. In tv shows. For example SG1 and Atlantis was great, but then the showrunners decided to do what I should be called a completely different show called SGU. They told to themselves "with SGU I will write something completely different" so sure some SG1/Atlantis fans may like it but it's also understandable others won't because they tried something different (in style, tone, storytelling style, format, etc).

On the other hand here, this is a forced change right in the middle of the series. Yes a bit like when Wolfe left Andromeda after season 1. If Wolfe is gone then it's a big change because it can change the tone and writing of the show. Everybody who loved Alphas in the first season, must be pro-occupied with the change. It's the show showrunner(s), it's significant.

 

[intrinsical]

I am in Asia and unlike America, almost all drama shows are highly serialized. Heck, one of the current most popular show in China/Taiwan/Hong Kong/Malaysia/Singapore is 800+ episodes long, been playing every weekday for the past three years, and still hitting extremely high in ratings. So from my perspective, I see serialized shows as highly effective in getting people invested in the characters and the situations they let themselves get into.

Btw, I agree that changing the showrunner will cause very drastic changes in the direction of the show. With Ira Steven Behr and Robert Hewitte Wolfe on board, I get a very distinctive The 4400 vibe from Alphas. Without them as showrunners, I am wary about a shift in the direction of the show which is what happened with Andromeda and Heroes. Gut feeling tells me Syfy is looking to significantly lighten the tone of Alphas and I am not sure if I'll be interested.

 

[JD]

Damn, I'm very dissapointed to hear about ISB leaving Alphas, but hopefully they won't be stupid and try to force any sudden and significant changes. While I absoultely love Warehouse 13 and Eureka, they two of my favorite shows ever (and TBH all of the hate for them on here really baffles me), I don't think the show's tone could possibly shift that drastically and still work. Sure shows change alot over time, but that would IMO be an almost 180 shift, and unless it is slow and subtle it would just be to much to quickly.