I periodically do an "ugh, what's left on TV?" thread here. On the verge of "Dollhouse" I figured it was as
sorry to be repetitive if I do it every few weeks, but I think the TrekBBS folk are pretty knowledgeable and my best source for inbiased info which isn't ladden with profanity (like the AICN talkbalk or something)
anyways, what's left?
the only "returning shows" I cared about from the Year of the WGA Strike were Terminator and Pushing Daises, and PD is now gone. Apparently they just canceled Kyle XY, which I never watched, but when people listed "well it's not like theres *NO* scifi on TV" they'd always use that as an excuse.
Is Middlemen canceled?
By the way I make a destinction between "shows like 11th hour which have just enough pseudo-science that some pathetically consider it science fiction so they can sleep at night without thinking there's No Sci Fi On TV"...by that logic, 24 is scifi. I also make a destinction between shows that actually are scifi "no one wants to watch such an awful show" and "I would actually watch this"....but that's a matter of personal taste and we will of course be debating that.
This is only tracking current shows (extending into summer) and not the as-yet-not-clearly-defined Fall 2009/Spring 2010 season. (i.e. there's a new "V" series coming
but we'll know more about that later...
Anyway, we've got:
Fox
Dollhouse: the must-see new show of Spring 2009, Joss Whedon's next big show. Will it sink or swim? who knows. There were lots of fights with the network about it being "too dark"...literally THREE pilots were made....Whedon says the first 7 episodes are just standalones that could equally serve as pilots or intros for new fans (not that they're anything wrong with that) and they did say they have ***fully planned out future storylines with charts (none of that "the Cylons have a Plan....actually they never did, but we said that as a marketing gimmick while not really having the story planned out ourselves"). Plus Tahmoh Penikett is in the cast, a BSG veteran fan-favorite ( "fan favorite" is often hard to define, but I think you quality when "the writers actually wanted to kill me off in the pilot miniseries, but fans kept asking about me so much they wrote me back in for 4 seasons"). Status: THE make or break hot new show of Spring 2009, all eyes are on "Dollhouse" above any other series.
Fringe: new show doing well with critics and ratings; I think its okay too and good enough to follow. Certainly in no danger of cancellation. I'm behind on my DVRing, but I walked into the pilot episode seriously expecting to hate it, and to my surprise, while...I didn't instantly "fall in love with it" as I did the first episodes of BSG or Farscape, it seemed interesting and intriguing enough that I keep tuning in, and I'm actually entertained. One of the shows to follow.
Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles: The second season has had problems and they're saying the only reason it wasn't canceled is because it would be embarrassing to cancel the series right before Terminator 4 the movie. ***of course, what happened was the same old story from Farscape season 4, Battlestar season 3, and Heroes season 2ish -- apparently, the network forced the writers to drop their running plotlines and make a season of mostly stand-alone episodes. From reports, the network DID eventually realize this wasn't working and has relented, and the writers are going to start up their storylines again; but will it be too late?
Well, at the least, they'll be finishing out their season; the creative direction is at least officially in the right path again even if there might not be enough time, and moreover ****maybe pairing it with Dollhouse will be the one-two punch needed to revive it, making a "Scifi Friday" night on Fox as it were. Status: on the fence, but pairing it with Dollhouse gives a glimmer of hope.
The CW:
Smallville: apparently, despite the creators leaving the last season was actually really good; but this show has been on forever...they just keep dragging on year after year. Long story short, if you were already a fan, you're happy its doing modestly well enough to justify its own existence. but if we're asking "what's making the cover of Entertainment Weekly again?" or even..."what's making the cover of Scifi Magazine?".....it's just not the hot thing anymore. Either way, I didn't even watch since the first season. And how many more seasons can they do? Even if they crank out one, or even two more seasons, it's not "the future" here...
Supernatural: I don't watch Supernatural, but according to all reports it a decent show with a good enough plot and actors to justify its own existence; *moreso* than the limping-along Smallville. I wish them luck, I really do, a lot of people I know like it. But I'm just not into it already and I seriously don't see it becoming "the next big thing" if it hasn't already.
Reaper: the second season should roll around eventually, but it didn't live up to the good Kevin Smith-directed pilot episode. I'd be happy to hear it became one of those "sleeper hits that took time to build an audience" but I don't see that happening.
ABC Family:
What happens when the Family Channel from the mid-90's that runs "The Waltons" gets bought by the debauched Fox Network? Only to then eventually sell it to Disney-mouthpiece ABC, who try to clean it up? but they've still got the rights to holdover reruns of cartoons and things Fox used to run? Thus "ABC Family" was born. Weird how it has remained a viable channel. But I digress...
KyleXY: recently canceled
The Middleman: apparently, while there was no announcement of its cancelation...it was another one of those "we're not going to admit "we canceled a show" because that makes our network look like a failure, so we're going to simply quitely let it slip into "permanent hiatus".....it does appear to have "not been picked up for another season", so yeah, it's canceled.
ABC
Pushing Daisies: canceled, a victim of the Writer's Guide Strike that prevented their first season audience from really coming back; everyone still watching said the quality was great, there was no reason for the ratings to decline like they did. If there is any small good, a seed from the dying flower, that can come from this, it's that Bryan Fuller will be back working on Heroes season 4 (they're *seasons* people, not "Volumes") and maybe that will get it back up to its season 1 goodnesss....
Live on Mars (US version) : 1-"not as good as the British version" 2-simply horribly scripted even if you didn't see the original 3-***Beaten by NBC's Knight Rider*** in the ratings. Except an announcement of cancelation any day now.
Lost - season 5: I need to catch up on lost, but apparently after the confusing yawnfest of season 2 and 3, the show bounced back, and is now pretty good again. Of course this is partially because they were ordered to "wind it down", but this has given more focus, and it seems pretty decent again....of course, because its moving inexhorably towards its end.
CBS
.....does CBS *have* any science fiction series anymore? Oh, "Ghost Whisperer"? "11th Hour"? yeah right. Moving along....
NBC
Heroes - season 4 "Fugitives": Make or break territory; seasons 2 and 3 were horrible; season 2 had the bad excuse of a Writer's Strike stunting it, and season 3 was....apparently, the hangover from the Writer's Strike. If season 4 doesn't bounce back they're gone. Now, they did fire a few writers and they got Bryan Fuller back, but his work will only become apparent in the later episodes, they said. Status: on the fence but they'll at least finish airing the entire season (unlike Pushing Daises which the network wouldn't even let air its final episodes), and if anyone can save it, it's season one scribe Bryan Fuller.
Knight Rider: cue derisive laughter. Ratings that almost make Bionic Woman look good. Moving on....
Medium: just started its 5th season. I don't watch Medium.
Nicktoons Network:
Wolverine and the X-Men: one of the best shows of the past several years, out-of-the-gate better than X-Men Evolution. Is it better than the classic 90's show? Well the 90's show remains great but there were problems in scriptings sometimes as there were the noted animation problems at times. This time, they got a good Wolverine voice (I *hated* the Wolverine voice in Evolution) by getting Steve McBlume (the voice of Spike Spiegel on Cowboy Bebop, and Roger Smith on The Big O ). The animation and action is great, the Voice Actor's are great, and surprisingly, the scripting is actually great. Actually a good story. These guys obviously "did their homework": it mixes the nice bits from the 90's series (and the few nice bits from Evolution), a few movie elements, and a *great* synthesis of the better elements from the comics the past few decades. ***They stream the episodes on their website, www.areyouamutant.com check it out; a lot of people don't even get this higher cable channel and I was surprised my local comics club had never even heard of it until I showed it to them. I have nothing but praise for this show....and coming from me, that's saying something! Seriously, it's the good old days all over again. 4 episodes have already aired, and they're making *at least* 52. Seriously, if you liked the older X-Men cartoons, or the comics, or even just the films, this one is really worth it.....also, if you're worried that it's just a Wolverine-fest....the name is a marketing gimmic that the PR department made up; the actual story uses a strong ensemble cast. Granted, most stories focus on Wolverine....but it's ACTUALLY less "Wolverine is the main character and the others are sidekicks!" and truly, just as if you took episodes of the original 90's X-Men cartoon that were "Wolverine-centric plots" and just made a whole series like that; they still use ensemble casts.
BET
The Black Panther: they're making a Black Panther cartoon show on BET, to air sometime this spring; they got Djimon Hounsou to play T'Challa. Probably not in the same storyverse as Wolverine and the X-Men.
Adult Swim
Has fallen astray....you don't need to be anime to be good TV, but they really cut back on anything that wasn't a stoner comedy. Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion is finishing up its second season by May (Death to Holy Empire of Britannia! Long live the United States of Japan!) If you haven't seen it....it's like an alternate history world in which the British Empire never fell, controls a third of the planet and makes apartheid South Africa look tolerant by comparison, and conquers Japan...re-branding it "Area 11". An exiled Britannian prince, Lelouch, is a military genius and ends up leading the "Elevens" in a rebellion against the Britannians...by doning the masked identity "Zero". It's like 1984 and V for Vendetta meets Gundam-style military mech battles! They started streaming the first five episodes officially on Youtube. If you're interested, but I warn you; even die-hard fans think the first episode is utter crap, while the second episode is rip-roaring fun and gives you a better idea of what the rest of the series is like; arguably you can even skip straight to episode 2 without missing anything.
Scifi Channel
Battlestar Galactica: the Final episodes - "once Battlestar ends, it's all over". Combined with the loss of "not great, and forumulaic, but got pretty enjoyable by season 5" Stargate Atlantis, once the Spring season is over and BSG wraps, its all over. Well at least that's what we're hooked on NOW, and I must say its pretty good. REALLY good. Mind-blowingly good. Almost makes up for the fact that there wasn't a coherent planned out storyline, to the extent that they picked Final Five Cylons at random in season 3 and never had a coherent plan for the Cylons....*almost* makes up for that. Well the final bit is actually "The Plan" TV movie, which is *retroactively* trying to INVENT a "Cylon Plan" weaved around seasons 1 and 2.....as if that makes up for not having one in the first place. Plus, Jane Espenson just TOOK OVER production; she's in charge of "The Plan" and the spinoff series "Caprica"! (Ron Moore does the first few episodes, then Ron Moore leaves mid first eason for Espenson to take over). I've encountered people like this at work in real life and I'm sure you have to: people who are REALLY fun to be around but turn in crappy work, but no one seems to notice except you, because they're so enthralled by how fun these people are. Jane Espenson joining the series I now use as a benchmark for "when it stopped being great". And putting her outright *in charge* of Caprica? Well I've made longer discussions about this topic elsewhere....
Caprica: BSG prequel series, slated for 2010....but the pilot miniseries is going STRAIGHT TO DVD in April. They make it sound cheery like "A treat for fans" but actually....they describe it as "so we can get fan feedbacK!"....and increasingly, based on hints and trailers, I get the impression that it actually STINKS ("It's like Dallas in space...but it's not on space its on a planet....and we tried to take out all of the scifi stuff to sink to the lowest common denominator and attract non-scifi fans....which is ironic given that we put in lots of sex clubs which would probably scare off "family viewers".....but we assure you, it's still BSG, and you're still obliged to buy it!").........ugh........I think it might actually be terrible, and they figured "put it straight to DVD" then just cut out or reshoot all the parts fans didn't like in the *12 months* they have to re-tool it. Which, given the situation, is the smartest choice they could make....but doesn't change the fact that the ORIGINAL pilot is loaded with all sorts of problems. Seriously, it's "Star Trek: Enterprise" all over again; shameless prequel attempt to cash in on the BSG name....or at least...No, Enterprise at least has spaceships.
Ever notice how they have all of these wacky descriptions for Caprica as "it's INGENIOUS because it's not really a scifi show! just as BSG made you re-think the "space genre", this will take it back one step further and make you re-think "scifi" as a whole!"....which is another way of saying "we made a godawful show that doesn't even classify as science fiction, and even just as "a TV show" isn't entertaining, but if you don't like it, well that's because its experimental and you don't "get" it"
ugh
I looked forward to RDM's new "Virtuality" series, but apparently the network hated the pilot because it was "too dense" (i.e. it was too smart for unwashed masses who are their ratings target, and they want him to dumb it down)
Warehouse 13: the trailer and clips make it look like a laughably bad 'nother instance of "Flash Gordan" or "the Locked Room" or whatever. Nother tanking Skiffy series.
Revolution: we've seen nothing of it yet, but as its a scifi original...I don't have high hopes.
Stargate Universe: due in summer I think. Did these guys.....even SEE the 200th episode of SG-1, or were they too busy sending people over to the 200th episode party to tell everyone in the middle of celebration that they canceled the show?!?!?!.....this sounds EXACTLY like the "Stargate 90210" parody from "200" with a "younger hipper cast, to appeal to a younger demographic". worse....the "ticking clock" trope is LITERALLY built into the series main story! "they're on a ship they can't stop, and they can use the on board stargate to go to planets, but after a set amount of time the ship moves out of range of the stargate; so you have to get back or you're trapped forever". First off, this is literally a built-in ticking clock. Second....this also ENSURES no long-term storyarcs or RECURRING VILLAINS AND RACES, because they can just "move on". It's Voyager all over again! (in that respect)
Mobile Suit Gundam 00: on "Ani-Mondays" -- good political future mech battles, Gundam back to form; I'm openly surprised, along with most anime news sources, that Scifi Channel of all people picked up an actually quality series.
HBO
Tru Blood: Apparently a pretty good show, but its on a paid-to-view channel so its not big in pop culture. *I* don't get HBO, so I'm stuck watching in on DVD box set in summer.
sorry to be repetitive if I do it every few weeks, but I think the TrekBBS folk are pretty knowledgeable and my best source for inbiased info which isn't ladden with profanity (like the AICN talkbalk or something)
anyways, what's left?
the only "returning shows" I cared about from the Year of the WGA Strike were Terminator and Pushing Daises, and PD is now gone. Apparently they just canceled Kyle XY, which I never watched, but when people listed "well it's not like theres *NO* scifi on TV" they'd always use that as an excuse.
Is Middlemen canceled?
By the way I make a destinction between "shows like 11th hour which have just enough pseudo-science that some pathetically consider it science fiction so they can sleep at night without thinking there's No Sci Fi On TV"...by that logic, 24 is scifi. I also make a destinction between shows that actually are scifi "no one wants to watch such an awful show" and "I would actually watch this"....but that's a matter of personal taste and we will of course be debating that.
This is only tracking current shows (extending into summer) and not the as-yet-not-clearly-defined Fall 2009/Spring 2010 season. (i.e. there's a new "V" series coming
but we'll know more about that later...Anyway, we've got:
Fox
Dollhouse: the must-see new show of Spring 2009, Joss Whedon's next big show. Will it sink or swim? who knows. There were lots of fights with the network about it being "too dark"...literally THREE pilots were made....Whedon says the first 7 episodes are just standalones that could equally serve as pilots or intros for new fans (not that they're anything wrong with that) and they did say they have ***fully planned out future storylines with charts (none of that "the Cylons have a Plan....actually they never did, but we said that as a marketing gimmick while not really having the story planned out ourselves"). Plus Tahmoh Penikett is in the cast, a BSG veteran fan-favorite ( "fan favorite" is often hard to define, but I think you quality when "the writers actually wanted to kill me off in the pilot miniseries, but fans kept asking about me so much they wrote me back in for 4 seasons"). Status: THE make or break hot new show of Spring 2009, all eyes are on "Dollhouse" above any other series.
Fringe: new show doing well with critics and ratings; I think its okay too and good enough to follow. Certainly in no danger of cancellation. I'm behind on my DVRing, but I walked into the pilot episode seriously expecting to hate it, and to my surprise, while...I didn't instantly "fall in love with it" as I did the first episodes of BSG or Farscape, it seemed interesting and intriguing enough that I keep tuning in, and I'm actually entertained. One of the shows to follow.
Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles: The second season has had problems and they're saying the only reason it wasn't canceled is because it would be embarrassing to cancel the series right before Terminator 4 the movie. ***of course, what happened was the same old story from Farscape season 4, Battlestar season 3, and Heroes season 2ish -- apparently, the network forced the writers to drop their running plotlines and make a season of mostly stand-alone episodes. From reports, the network DID eventually realize this wasn't working and has relented, and the writers are going to start up their storylines again; but will it be too late?
Well, at the least, they'll be finishing out their season; the creative direction is at least officially in the right path again even if there might not be enough time, and moreover ****maybe pairing it with Dollhouse will be the one-two punch needed to revive it, making a "Scifi Friday" night on Fox as it were. Status: on the fence, but pairing it with Dollhouse gives a glimmer of hope.
The CW:
Smallville: apparently, despite the creators leaving the last season was actually really good; but this show has been on forever...they just keep dragging on year after year. Long story short, if you were already a fan, you're happy its doing modestly well enough to justify its own existence. but if we're asking "what's making the cover of Entertainment Weekly again?" or even..."what's making the cover of Scifi Magazine?".....it's just not the hot thing anymore. Either way, I didn't even watch since the first season. And how many more seasons can they do? Even if they crank out one, or even two more seasons, it's not "the future" here...
Supernatural: I don't watch Supernatural, but according to all reports it a decent show with a good enough plot and actors to justify its own existence; *moreso* than the limping-along Smallville. I wish them luck, I really do, a lot of people I know like it. But I'm just not into it already and I seriously don't see it becoming "the next big thing" if it hasn't already.
Reaper: the second season should roll around eventually, but it didn't live up to the good Kevin Smith-directed pilot episode. I'd be happy to hear it became one of those "sleeper hits that took time to build an audience" but I don't see that happening.
ABC Family:
What happens when the Family Channel from the mid-90's that runs "The Waltons" gets bought by the debauched Fox Network? Only to then eventually sell it to Disney-mouthpiece ABC, who try to clean it up? but they've still got the rights to holdover reruns of cartoons and things Fox used to run? Thus "ABC Family" was born. Weird how it has remained a viable channel. But I digress...
KyleXY: recently canceled
The Middleman: apparently, while there was no announcement of its cancelation...it was another one of those "we're not going to admit "we canceled a show" because that makes our network look like a failure, so we're going to simply quitely let it slip into "permanent hiatus".....it does appear to have "not been picked up for another season", so yeah, it's canceled.
ABC
Pushing Daisies: canceled, a victim of the Writer's Guide Strike that prevented their first season audience from really coming back; everyone still watching said the quality was great, there was no reason for the ratings to decline like they did. If there is any small good, a seed from the dying flower, that can come from this, it's that Bryan Fuller will be back working on Heroes season 4 (they're *seasons* people, not "Volumes") and maybe that will get it back up to its season 1 goodnesss....
Live on Mars (US version) : 1-"not as good as the British version" 2-simply horribly scripted even if you didn't see the original 3-***Beaten by NBC's Knight Rider*** in the ratings. Except an announcement of cancelation any day now.
Lost - season 5: I need to catch up on lost, but apparently after the confusing yawnfest of season 2 and 3, the show bounced back, and is now pretty good again. Of course this is partially because they were ordered to "wind it down", but this has given more focus, and it seems pretty decent again....of course, because its moving inexhorably towards its end.
CBS
.....does CBS *have* any science fiction series anymore? Oh, "Ghost Whisperer"? "11th Hour"? yeah right. Moving along....
NBC
Heroes - season 4 "Fugitives": Make or break territory; seasons 2 and 3 were horrible; season 2 had the bad excuse of a Writer's Strike stunting it, and season 3 was....apparently, the hangover from the Writer's Strike. If season 4 doesn't bounce back they're gone. Now, they did fire a few writers and they got Bryan Fuller back, but his work will only become apparent in the later episodes, they said. Status: on the fence but they'll at least finish airing the entire season (unlike Pushing Daises which the network wouldn't even let air its final episodes), and if anyone can save it, it's season one scribe Bryan Fuller.
Knight Rider: cue derisive laughter. Ratings that almost make Bionic Woman look good. Moving on....
Medium: just started its 5th season. I don't watch Medium.
Nicktoons Network:
Wolverine and the X-Men: one of the best shows of the past several years, out-of-the-gate better than X-Men Evolution. Is it better than the classic 90's show? Well the 90's show remains great but there were problems in scriptings sometimes as there were the noted animation problems at times. This time, they got a good Wolverine voice (I *hated* the Wolverine voice in Evolution) by getting Steve McBlume (the voice of Spike Spiegel on Cowboy Bebop, and Roger Smith on The Big O ). The animation and action is great, the Voice Actor's are great, and surprisingly, the scripting is actually great. Actually a good story. These guys obviously "did their homework": it mixes the nice bits from the 90's series (and the few nice bits from Evolution), a few movie elements, and a *great* synthesis of the better elements from the comics the past few decades. ***They stream the episodes on their website, www.areyouamutant.com check it out; a lot of people don't even get this higher cable channel and I was surprised my local comics club had never even heard of it until I showed it to them. I have nothing but praise for this show....and coming from me, that's saying something! Seriously, it's the good old days all over again. 4 episodes have already aired, and they're making *at least* 52. Seriously, if you liked the older X-Men cartoons, or the comics, or even just the films, this one is really worth it.....also, if you're worried that it's just a Wolverine-fest....the name is a marketing gimmic that the PR department made up; the actual story uses a strong ensemble cast. Granted, most stories focus on Wolverine....but it's ACTUALLY less "Wolverine is the main character and the others are sidekicks!" and truly, just as if you took episodes of the original 90's X-Men cartoon that were "Wolverine-centric plots" and just made a whole series like that; they still use ensemble casts.
BET
The Black Panther: they're making a Black Panther cartoon show on BET, to air sometime this spring; they got Djimon Hounsou to play T'Challa. Probably not in the same storyverse as Wolverine and the X-Men.
Adult Swim
Has fallen astray....you don't need to be anime to be good TV, but they really cut back on anything that wasn't a stoner comedy. Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion is finishing up its second season by May (Death to Holy Empire of Britannia! Long live the United States of Japan!) If you haven't seen it....it's like an alternate history world in which the British Empire never fell, controls a third of the planet and makes apartheid South Africa look tolerant by comparison, and conquers Japan...re-branding it "Area 11". An exiled Britannian prince, Lelouch, is a military genius and ends up leading the "Elevens" in a rebellion against the Britannians...by doning the masked identity "Zero". It's like 1984 and V for Vendetta meets Gundam-style military mech battles! They started streaming the first five episodes officially on Youtube. If you're interested, but I warn you; even die-hard fans think the first episode is utter crap, while the second episode is rip-roaring fun and gives you a better idea of what the rest of the series is like; arguably you can even skip straight to episode 2 without missing anything.
Scifi Channel
Battlestar Galactica: the Final episodes - "once Battlestar ends, it's all over". Combined with the loss of "not great, and forumulaic, but got pretty enjoyable by season 5" Stargate Atlantis, once the Spring season is over and BSG wraps, its all over. Well at least that's what we're hooked on NOW, and I must say its pretty good. REALLY good. Mind-blowingly good. Almost makes up for the fact that there wasn't a coherent planned out storyline, to the extent that they picked Final Five Cylons at random in season 3 and never had a coherent plan for the Cylons....*almost* makes up for that. Well the final bit is actually "The Plan" TV movie, which is *retroactively* trying to INVENT a "Cylon Plan" weaved around seasons 1 and 2.....as if that makes up for not having one in the first place. Plus, Jane Espenson just TOOK OVER production; she's in charge of "The Plan" and the spinoff series "Caprica"! (Ron Moore does the first few episodes, then Ron Moore leaves mid first eason for Espenson to take over). I've encountered people like this at work in real life and I'm sure you have to: people who are REALLY fun to be around but turn in crappy work, but no one seems to notice except you, because they're so enthralled by how fun these people are. Jane Espenson joining the series I now use as a benchmark for "when it stopped being great". And putting her outright *in charge* of Caprica? Well I've made longer discussions about this topic elsewhere....
Caprica: BSG prequel series, slated for 2010....but the pilot miniseries is going STRAIGHT TO DVD in April. They make it sound cheery like "A treat for fans" but actually....they describe it as "so we can get fan feedbacK!"....and increasingly, based on hints and trailers, I get the impression that it actually STINKS ("It's like Dallas in space...but it's not on space its on a planet....and we tried to take out all of the scifi stuff to sink to the lowest common denominator and attract non-scifi fans....which is ironic given that we put in lots of sex clubs which would probably scare off "family viewers".....but we assure you, it's still BSG, and you're still obliged to buy it!").........ugh........I think it might actually be terrible, and they figured "put it straight to DVD" then just cut out or reshoot all the parts fans didn't like in the *12 months* they have to re-tool it. Which, given the situation, is the smartest choice they could make....but doesn't change the fact that the ORIGINAL pilot is loaded with all sorts of problems. Seriously, it's "Star Trek: Enterprise" all over again; shameless prequel attempt to cash in on the BSG name....or at least...No, Enterprise at least has spaceships.
Ever notice how they have all of these wacky descriptions for Caprica as "it's INGENIOUS because it's not really a scifi show! just as BSG made you re-think the "space genre", this will take it back one step further and make you re-think "scifi" as a whole!"....which is another way of saying "we made a godawful show that doesn't even classify as science fiction, and even just as "a TV show" isn't entertaining, but if you don't like it, well that's because its experimental and you don't "get" it"
ugh
I looked forward to RDM's new "Virtuality" series, but apparently the network hated the pilot because it was "too dense" (i.e. it was too smart for unwashed masses who are their ratings target, and they want him to dumb it down)
Warehouse 13: the trailer and clips make it look like a laughably bad 'nother instance of "Flash Gordan" or "the Locked Room" or whatever. Nother tanking Skiffy series.
Revolution: we've seen nothing of it yet, but as its a scifi original...I don't have high hopes.
Stargate Universe: due in summer I think. Did these guys.....even SEE the 200th episode of SG-1, or were they too busy sending people over to the 200th episode party to tell everyone in the middle of celebration that they canceled the show?!?!?!.....this sounds EXACTLY like the "Stargate 90210" parody from "200" with a "younger hipper cast, to appeal to a younger demographic". worse....the "ticking clock" trope is LITERALLY built into the series main story! "they're on a ship they can't stop, and they can use the on board stargate to go to planets, but after a set amount of time the ship moves out of range of the stargate; so you have to get back or you're trapped forever". First off, this is literally a built-in ticking clock. Second....this also ENSURES no long-term storyarcs or RECURRING VILLAINS AND RACES, because they can just "move on". It's Voyager all over again! (in that respect)
Mobile Suit Gundam 00: on "Ani-Mondays" -- good political future mech battles, Gundam back to form; I'm openly surprised, along with most anime news sources, that Scifi Channel of all people picked up an actually quality series.
HBO
Tru Blood: Apparently a pretty good show, but its on a paid-to-view channel so its not big in pop culture. *I* don't get HBO, so I'm stuck watching in on DVD box set in summer.
