Skip to main content

Beginning TV

There are a few new TV shows beginning in the US that I wanted to mention. Hopefully you already know about them, but if not this will be timely.

First, there are two programs from the UK. Demons started a few weeks ago on BBC America (if you missed the first few episodes, they are still available on Video On Demand). The politically incorrect chief detective from Life on Mars stars as the American trainer of the teenage heir of the Van Helsing dynasty. Terry Nation, inventor of the Daleks and Blakes 7, also created a series in the ’70s called Survivors, about the handful of people left in England after a biologic disaster. Just like Doctor Who, the series has been revived by the BBC, and rolls out on BBC America on February 13th.

In the US but Brit-related, it seems Fox Broadcasting is once again looking to create locally something Whoish; this time around it is a US pilot for Torchwood. Or almost US; Russel T. Davies would be writing the script (at least for the first one), Julie Gardner and the team from BBC Worldwide would be doing the production, even the surviving original actors could be involved. It sound more like tangential episodes to the series than a remake, which is again much like Fox’s one venture into the world of Doctor Who.

Finally, Caprica kicks off tonight on Syfy. This prequel to Battlestar Galactica has been anticipated for a while, and it is finally here. The VoD Caprica pilot they have been running for the last few weeks ends today; it will be interesting to see if it is the same as the one they broadcast, or different.

Alice due Sunday

Did you happen to catch the Syfy Channel miniseries Tinman, the wonderfully twisted version of the Wizard of Oz? The team that brought you that creation return on Sunday, the 6th, with Alice, with their wonderfully twisted version of Through The Looking Glass. This time it brings some serious star power to the party, with a cast that includes the likes of Kathy Bates, Tim Curry, Matt Frewer, Colm Meaney, and Harry Dean Stanton to name but a few. Oh, and my favorite bit: Andrew-Lee Potts got to be the Hatter.

TV News: The Prisoner, Dollhouse, Torchwood, Bradbury

The Prisoner miniseries will kick off Sunday the 15th and run for 3 nights. This miniseries is a remake of the 1967 cult classic, and will run for three consecutive nights. Currently the original Prisoner is available on On Demand and on DVD.

That was the good TV news; the bad news is that Dollhouse is canceled, which figures, since it was getting better every episode. You can see what Joss has to say about the final episodes.

Torchwood, on the other hand, now has a real good chance of having a season 4! Add that to word that Ray Bradbury’s new miniseries should hit the airwaves soon as well, and the tally comes to 3 good announcements to one bad.

We lost Cronkite

This is a heartbreaker in IYA2009.

We lost Walter Cronkite tonight… or maybe last night, depending on which time zone you live in…

The trusted voice for America in the 60s and 70s, the voice of reason who looked liked everyone’s father, and later everyone’s Grandfather…

The man who narrated a Moon Landing for a nation and a generation, telling it so it all made sense to the man in the street… when the man in the street concentrated hard on the science of how to get his car working…

As a media person myself in those days, he was one of my Heroes, and I didn’t have many. Cronkite and Murrow were about it, with Huntley and Brinkley (the brightly feathered Peacock Team) as an amusement-valued backup when the big guys wern’t available. Perhaps even then I may have needed a life, but not as much as the world needed, and still needs, Cronkite or one of his disciples, or trainees, or ANYONE who knows how to do the same job in the modern-day info-storm!

The Universe agrees! Murrow and Cronkite are amongst a very rare breed; Obviously they both understand what is going on in the world… but more important, they can communicate those concepts to the rest of us, in real time, while the recorders/cameras are rolling.

I need to rewatch the Lunar landings now, and his reaction to them. He captured our hearts, our minds, and maybe just the edge of our souls…

And He will be missed!!!