Thanks to Sci-Fi Wire for the dates (though I don’t really feel Desperate Housewives is really genre, Sci-Fi Wire does). I can’t really say I’m interested in any of the new shows. I may watch Invasion, but only because it’s on after Lost.
•Tuesday, Sept. 13: 9 p.m. Supernatural (The WB)
•Friday, Sept. 16: 9 p.m. Threshold (CBS)
•Monday, Sept. 19: 8 p.m. Surface (NBC), 10 p.m. Medium (NBC)
•Wednesday, Sept. 21: 9 p.m. Lost (ABC), 10 p.m. Invasion (ABC)
•Friday, Sept. 23: 8 p.m. Ghost Whisperer (CBS)
•Sunday, Sept. 25: 8 p.m. Charmed (The WB), 9 p.m. Desperate Housewives (ABC)
•Thursday, Sept. 29: 8 p.m. Smallville (The WB), 8 p.m. Alias (ABC), 9 p.m. Night Stalker (ABC)
Downloadable pilot episodes
I really wish that media companies gave away the pilot episodes for download off their websites… rather than us having to ask a friend to record it on their DVR. SciFi led the way with what they did for BSG, other companies need to catch on.
Damien
Re: Downloadable pilot episodes
The BBC did it too, with the Dr. Who pilot :-P
Re: Downloadable pilot episodes
Not quite ;)
Re: Downloadable pilot episodes
well… you could get a copy of bittorrent and go to torrentspy.com and look for screeners.
i’ve already seen the pilots of threshold, surface (which was called ‘fathom’ before they renamed it), night stalker, supernatural and prison break well before they aired.
of the bunch i think prison break (which is currently airing) and supernatural are promising. surface is sort of interesting in a gremlinsy way and i’m interested to see where they will take it. threshold has some fun characters but they really are all scifi cliches…
Was PLANNING to start on Lost…
I made the decision to skip Lost last season because I’d already missed the first few episodes before being told that it was the best thing since sliced bread. I figured that I’d pick up the inevitable box set and be caught up to watch this season. Unfortunately, in the meantime I’ve become a Veronica Mars addict, so it looks like the second season of Lost will have to be a DVD first-view for me as well. Alias versus Smallville is another awful call which I think I’ll resolve in favor of watching Smallville since I already have the first three seasons of Alias on DVD (thus, completing that collection becomes a moral imperative).
As for the new stuff, I’m mildly interested in all of it so it’ll come down to what fits into my current Tivo schedule. To the rest, I’ll just wish good luck…
Re: Was PLANNING to start on Lost…
Same here, except that I ended up catching the french dub. Which was pretty decent, except when they were discussing Star Trek “red shirts” and the cultural reference (although explained in the dialogue itself) completely escaped the people doing the translation.
I have to say, I was pleasently surprised, and I’ve been encouraging others like us to get around to watching it: It’s just -good- : )
Re: Was PLANNING to start on Lost…
LOST is an amazing show. It does require keeping up with the episodes to truly enjoy it though. If after watching the first 5 (5th especially) you aren’t hooked then let it go :P
Re: Was PLANNING to start on Lost…
Two Tivo’s Baby.
I swear that the studios know they have a limited Sci-Fi
audience and put decent shows against one another so they can cancel both.
Smallville vs. Alias? Come on. It does look like though they’re confident they
can kill the ‘must see thursday’ that used to be NBC and win back some ratings
for that night.
Medium
I caught the first episode of Medium on BBC One this week, completly by accident. Had I just read the description in the TV guide I’d never have watched it but I have to say I enjoyed it. It’s not exciting, but it’s interesting and kept me watching. I’ll probably keep an eye out for more episodes but it’s on very late so I’ll probably miss most of them. (No PVR .. yet)
Re: Medium
After episode 3 I couldn’t watch it anymore, it was just getting really stupid. When I saw a preview for a “medium vs medium showdown” I turned it off in disgust.
Good premise, just wasn’t happy with the writing.
Wondering About Non-Genre?
You can take a look here for the primetime grid (updated 08/26) for this coming season. It also includes premiere dates for the fall season and some early information about pre-planned mid-season schedule changes (Fox and post-Monday Night Football ABC).
Re: Wondering About Non-Genre?
For the Canadians in the crowd check out http://www.falltvpreview.com/premieres.php for the list of shows with both Canadian and American premiere dates.
Chalie Jade
In Canada, Charlie Jade, which was reviewed at this site, will be rerun on the CHUM A Channels starting, uh, last Saturday, and on CTV’s Atlantic affiliates beginning September 15. The show is also running or about to run in a number of eastern European countries.
Mainstream
It’s light-years from genre, but How I Met Your Mother features Alyson Hannigan
Desparate Housewives
I’ve never seen the show, believing from the promos that it was a Dallas-style nighttime soap with a lot of extra humor. Can someone in the know clue me in to how it’s even remotely genre?
Re: Desparate Housewives
I haven’t seen it, but DH is an evening soap, on a mainstream network, which reportedly has good writing. If that isn’t something out of SF/fantasy, I don’t know what is.
Re: Desparate Housewives
The girlfriend watches it and tells me that there’s an underlying mystery about a dead woman. This dead woman voices over the intros into each episode or something. I don’t know if that deserves a push into genre but there you go.
Re: Desparate Housewives
Except Dallas was good! *g*
Yeah, its just over the top confusion among apparently hot women in their forties and their soapish confusions. A comedy probably, but scifi no way. One woman comits suicide in the first episode and then goes on to be the narrator for the series -not as ghost or anything, we never see her again, just hear her voice explaning things as the show goes along. A lot of people evidently love it, I just think its a waste of time unless you turn on for the ogle factor.
Threshold looks interesting
I’m considering watching Threshold, if only because Brent Spiner’s in it, and it looks like the series’ is going to have a (I’m not sure what the proper term is), Little Person other than Warwick Davis in a serious role.
Re: Threshold looks interesting
I nave just seen a commerical for it, but had not heard any details about till today.
via Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper is this review (3 / 4 the way down :
Threshold
9 p.m., Global (canadian channel)
Fridays, 9 p.m., CBS
Starts: Sept. 16
Setup: While on routine duty, a naval cargo freighter makes the most astounding discovery in modern history: An alien craft has landed in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The U.S. government reaction is to call in Dr. Molly Anne Caffrey (Carla Gugino), a “contingency analyst” who specializes in planning for worst-case scenarios. The good doctor’s first move involves assembling a team of savvy experts — an engineer, a communications expert, a linguistics professor and so on — to respond to the crisis. Her next action is to implement Operation: Threshold, the government’s long-dreaded game plan to deal with a full-blown alien invasion. Look to the skies!
The good news: There’s no shortage of jolts and thrills in the sharp pilot episode. Gugino is very good as the lead character and there’s some creative casting among the supporting cast, most notably former Star Trek: The Next Generation mainstay Brent Spiner as the microbiologist Nigel.
The bad news: How many alien invasions can the viewing public sit through? Through no fault of its own, Threshold will inevitably be compared to the similarly themed new shows Invasion and Surface.
Chances: It’s the scariest of the new alien series, if that’s worth anything. Forget about the Canadian broadcast; the future of Threshold depends entirely on its timeslot in the U.S., where it has surprisingly slight competition on Friday nights. It’s creepy, and it’s a keeper.
Score: 3/5
It looks to me to be the only new thing to watch.
Re: Threshold looks interesting
Is this not just a tweaked version of Sphere, or am I imagining things?
Re: Threshold looks interesting
Hehe, I thought the same thing after reading that. I think the only reason for the similarities is the plan for a first contact scenerio is entirely reasonable and somewhat obvious. It’s the smartest way to go about dealing with it imo.
I just wonder how the world’s religious communities will deal with the revelation. Few shows/movies have ever really touched on it. Contact did in some way but not enough in my opinion.
Re: Threshold looks interesting
Sounds like one of the writers / producers is a fan of Ireland’s most famous resident scifi/fantasy author.
Damien
Re: Threshold looks interesting
The Friday timeslot, with its lack of competition, is why I set up the ole Tivo for the pilot. Of course, I have the advantage of being on the west coast where Sci-Fi Friday is over at 8:00 p.m. so there’s no chance of any genre conflicts for the time being.
Well, I should be completely candid…Carla Gugino was also a major factor in me deciding to give this one a shot. :)
Of the pilots I’ve seen so far…
Kolchak was a definite different spin on the old show, but I thought the pilot was really strong. I’ll be watching it. It’s being helmed by one of the X-Files alums (Spotnitz), and it shows. Amazingly creepy, there’s some sort of meta-plot. But the story itself was good. Pay close attention for a really clever “cameo”. A.
Threshold – Enjoyed quite a bit. Lots of creepy bits, looks like they’ll be dealing with this one “invasion” for the season. Creepy as heck, though I think Kolchak was creepier, IMHO. Some clever casting decisions, including Brent Spiner as a sort-of reprise of his character from Independence Day. We’ll see. B+
Invasion – Very influenced by Lost, IMHO. A few scares, but mostly setting up all the characters (there are a bunch), though the fact that it’s set during a hurricane might cause it to be pushed back or something. Obviously something’s going on by the end, but it’s a bit subdued for my taste. B-.
Supernatural – haven’t watched the whole thing yet – the intro sequence is extraordinarily creepy, and so I haven’t watched the entire show yet.
Anyone know why the X-files sub-genre seems to be full this fall? I know “Lost” has been mentioned, but that’s mostly a character-based drama with some niggling questions (of the bunch, Invasion comes closest to that), but all of these seem most influenced by X-Files, not Lost. And this doesn’t even include Surface (Fathom?).
Re: Of the pilots I’ve seen so far…
I don’t think anyone can say for certain, but I read an article in the newspaper’s entertainment section (and am tempted to say that the opposite must therefore be true) that had some network type citing Lost and other recent sf successes– Galactica, I think was the “other”– as the reason. To a typical network suit, I suspect SF is either Trek or X-Files/Lost, and since the former has exhausted itself, obviously the latter is the subgenre to copy. Of course, Kolchak could just be part of the networks’ apparent grand plan to revive every show in history as a remake or a really bad movie.
I plan to check out Threshold, and might catch a Kolchak or two. (Rewatched the original Night Stalker pilot/movie last year; man, does it seem cheesey now).
Re: Of the pilots I’ve seen so far…
if you liked the monster of the week episodes of x-files or regular eps of millenium or that old sam raimi show american gothic i think you will like supernatural. it has a good creepy factor…
Non-Network but Genre
Justice League Unlimited returns for its third (or fifth, when combined with two seasons of Justice League) season on Cartoon Network, Saturday, September 17th at 10:00PM Eastern. The premiere will consist of two episodes, so those using something non-Tivo to record should be aware. Unfortunately, I was unable to find any information as to when YTV will be starting the new season for our Canadian brethren…
For those who haven’t seen it, the series is great and has more DC characters than you can shake a stick at. Now, if those Warner jerks could just release the DVDs in full-season format instead of over-priced story arc packs which I will never buy because I’m spoiled!
Re: Non-Network but Genre
Sweet! After that last ep of last season I thought it was a wrap.
wanna know something about the ghost whisperer?
i hear that the ghost whisperer set is haunted! And i also hear that THE VOICE THAT SAYS “CAN YOU SEE US” IS A REAL GHOST!! I AM SOOO SPOOKED OUT.. IT MAKES ME WANT TO WATCH THE SHOW EVEN MORE!