Variety reports on the fact that Warehouse 13, the show that became the flagship for the "new" Syfy, was the most successful show ever to appear on the network, with viewership rising throughout the first season, and quotes VP of programming for channel Mark Stern as suggesting that it showcases the future direction for the network:

We're looking for new summer series for next year — for something that would be more along the lines of a more traditional genre piece... We're [also] looking at a potential latenight show, a potential single-camera show, possibly animation. I think that on some level, we're always going to maintain a sense of entertainment and not get too dour.

I have to admit; with Warehouse 13, Eureka and the brand new (and hit) Stargate Universe as flagships, I think that the network's looking healthier and more interesting than it has in a long time, despite skepticism about the rebranding. So much so, in fact, that I'm more willing to entertain the idea of a Syfy late night show. But am I alone? You tell me:

Actually, never mind that "never mind" - the threat at the heart of "What Goes Around, Comes Around" was one that made sense, had a resolution that wasn't too out of nowhere (Although I'm not sure about the "The magnetic fields are knocking out all technology! Except for when it's not!" thing, but that's really just quibbling) and didn't distract from (in fact, grew out of) the one of the two real points of the episode - Zoe leaving the city, and the series, to go to Harvard (Of course, I was as upset as you were that Zoe didn't really explode in the swimming pool, as the trailer had teased, but Harvard is far enough away that I don't think I need to worry about her coming back anytime soon).

It was a nice way to go for the season finale, to center an episode around Sheriff Carter losing the two women in his life, for various reasons; Tess leaves for Australia and a new job, and Zoe for Harvard (Although there must've been some odd time-jump at the end of the episode for both things to happen; wasn't Zoe not going to leave until next semester, at the start?), and instead of dealing with either, he throws himself into his job, of course - Only for his job to lead him back to both women, with the magnetic disturbance having been accidentally created by Zoe's boyfriend, upset by her leaving, and requiring his body to be remote controlled by Tess in order to fix everything (allowing Colin Ferguson a chance to show off some awesome moves along the way. Get that man on Dancing With The Stars immediately).

It was also nice to see a hopefully-not-temporary change in Fargo - Grabbing life (and his new girlfriend) with both hands after the latest near-death experience. All we needed to make the episode complete would've been for Henry and Jo to have done something other than their traditional expositionary duties... Maybe next season. For now, though, I'm curious to see whether the show's creators follow through on their tease about Tess and Carter's long distance romance - Surely someone can create a quicker way to get from Eureka to Australia considering all the experiments going on in the town? Although, now that Jamie Ray Newman is starring in new show Eastwick, maybe not - and whether or not the next season will follow through on Carter's "Some changes can be good" line that pretty much closed the show. This season was uneven, and weirdly paced (not helped by splitting it in two with such a long gap between the runs), but when the show was good, it offered something that many sci-fi (and Syfy) shows don't: Humor and heart. It'd be nice to see if they can keep that up and build on it next year.

Star Trek 2:

Zoe "Uhura" Saldana says J.J. Abrams has promised her that Uhura will get her own fight scene, or at least some kind of action sequence, in the sequel. "I mean, just [let me] kick a guy in the groin or something!" [Cinematical]

Zombieland:

Some new stills focus on the female members of the zombie-killing foursome. [SpoilerTV-Movies]

Dollhouse:

Now that Echo has been re-integrated with her other personalities and started to retain her identity no matter what, things are going to get hairy. The dynamic between Echo and her "original" personality Caroline will be at the center of season two. And in the season opener, where she's married off to Jamie Bamber things go terribly wrong and Echo starts turning back into Caroline under stress. Which could be a good thing, or a bad thing. [E! Online]

Plus the network released some behind-the-scenes clips and interviews with the creators:

Fringe

TV Guide gives us a brief primer on the new season, including the alternate universe:

And EW interviews the cast, who talk about the growing relationships between the characters:

In the season opener, Olivia lets down a bit of her guard and has a few tender moments with Peter. And she even asks him for personal help. [EW]

Here's the official description for the season's third episode, "Fracture:"

Peter, Walter, Olivia and Broyles pursue a strange and deadly occurrence in Philadelphia where a bomb blew up inside a train station but left no trace of any explosive device. The perplexing and unexplained set of circumstances returns Walter to the lab to closely examine the human remains where he uncovers an unlikely energy source that triggered the explosion. With the explosive threat of more bombs and links to a classified military project, the intense investigation leads Olivia and Peter to Iraq.

[Fringe Spoilers]

And John Noble gives some more hints about the new season. [Fringe Television]

Supernatural:

Jeffrey Dean Morgan says he's eager to return to the role of the Winchester boys' daddy, if he can find the time. And he feels like his storyline on the show got cut too soon. He also casts doubt on rumors that a sixth season of Supernatural could feature an entirely new cast, rebooting the show without Jared Padalecki or Jensen Ackles. He htinsk those rumors are just designed to stir up the fans. [Sci Fi Wire]

New promo pics show Sam getting his groove back a little bit. [SpoilerTV]

FlashForward:

New cast promo pics focus on some of the characters besides Mark and Demetri... including Simon, played by Dominic Monaghan. [SpoilerTV]

Warehouse 13:

We'll be seeing more of the evil McPherson coming up. He's in the season finale, where we learn he has ties with two of the women of the Warehouse, making life a lot more difficult for them — and for Artie. [E! Online]

Eureka:

Taggart won't be in Friday's season finale, but actor Matt Frewer says he's in a "wait and see mode" about apperaing next season. [E! Online]

Heroes:

I don't think we've shown you this behind-the-scenes featurette for the returning show yet:

Smallville:

A few new TV spots for next week's season premiere:

Eastwick:

Some new clips from episode four, "Fleas And Casserole":

Additional reporting by Alexis Brown and Lauren Davis.

Oolong Island
Does an island count as a city? Possibly not, but as anyone who read DC Comics' 52 knows, Oolong is no ordinary island. Populated almost entirely by mad scientists (and maybe a couple of sane ones, too), Oolong Island is a place where the old laws (of physics) no longer apply, and there's no such thing as a bad scientific breakthrough, only one that needs to be stopped from destroying the world as we know it by resident superteam, the Doom Patrol. But what else could you expect from a place where scientists are encouraged to indulge in mind-altering substances to further free their minds?

Platinum Flats
Whereas the real world has Silicon Valley, former Batgirl Barbara Gordon and her Birds of Prey have Platinum Flats, which proclaims itself as "America's High-Tech Capital" and home to all manner of upstart start-ups like YouSpace, MacroWare, NetCracker, Findster (Well, it is an alternate Earth, after all) and has eradicated problems like crime and urban decay thanks to its well-heeled and inventive inhabitants. Better living through technology indeed.

Haven
What's the quickest way to suddenly have a city full of advanced technology in your backyard? Have an alien spacecraft crash into it. That's what happened in the DC Universe's version of California (As if having Green Lantern's "Coast City" midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles wasn't enough), which suddenly found itself with an extra-terrestrial prison full of political prisoners dumped onto its coast in the early '2000s series Haven. On the plus side, the US Government granted them city status, in exchange for some of their tasty new technology. Let's just work on that whole "retro-engineering so we can use it without tentacles" thing, shall we?

Big Town
In 2000, Marvel Comics wondered what would've happened if, instead of using their genius to fight crime, Reed Richards, Tony Stark and the rest of their superheroic scientist buddies actually invented things to benefit society. According to Fantastic Four: Big Town, the result is a futuristic New York, which quickly becomes the center of civilization, expands to include nearby cities in other states, and destabilizes society as we know it. But, on the plus side, unstable molecules really cut down on your laundry costs.

Atlantis
Whether it's Marvel or DC Comics, there's an undersea city of Atlantis, and they're more technologically advanced than us. Marvel's Atlanteans prefer to travel is super-science submarines while they consider their latest plans to invade the surface world for whatever unconvincing reason they've been duped into believing this week, while DC's undersea dwellers have the distinction of having a civilization that started long before man had even crawled from the sea, and therefore having a head-start on the rest of us. Of course, if they were really that smart, they'd have worked out how to stay out of the water for more than an hour at a time, but apparently they were too busy telepathically communicating with whales to be troubled by such thoughts.

Attilan
Maybe the only people who can deal with the world of tomorrow today are scientifically-advanced themselves... like Marvel Comics' Inhumans, whose millennia-old city is so advanced that it has not only withstood being transported throughout space (literally; for awhile, it existed on the moon) but has also proven capable of physically transforming itself into a spaceship when needs be. See? Humans end up turning scientifically-advanced cultures into disasters, but Inhumans are apparently smart enough to turn change to their advantage.

Electropolis
Dean Motter's most recent take on the idea of the futuristic city (from his 1999 series of the same name) offered a different take on the idea: the retrofuturistic city, founded on decades old ideas about the future that're still ahead of their time. "Cathedral-sized Van Der Graaf generators and towering Strickfadden machines" may sound oddly outdated to us now, but this city still managed to have robot detectives, flying cars and an on-time metro service unlike the modern world we live in.

Metropolis
What better home for the Man of Tomorrow than the self-declared City of Tomorrow? Superman's adopted hometown may be best known for its major metropolitan newspaper, but consider all of the mad scientists that Superman faces on a regular basis, to say nothing of the alien technology, scientific establishments to clean up after superbattles and even the wonderfully-named Science Police, and it's pretty clear that there's more to this forward-thinking city than depending on print media. The city even has a street dedicated to scientific institutions called The Avenue of Tomorrow. What could be more perfect than that?

Monday:

There's a Tru Calling marathon on Syfy from 8 AM through 3 PM.

Super Hero Squad Show -
Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, Wolverine, Captain America and more fight villains around the world, including the cuddliest version of Dr. Doom ever. Then they all hang out with Barack Obama, because that is all superheroes do anymore. Two episodes begin on Cartoon Network at 7 PM.

Movies:

Billy Bob Thorton stars as a farmer who decides to build his own rocket in his back yard in The Astronaut Farmer. Cook some french friend potaters and watch it on AMC at 8 PM. Oh wait... eh, nevermind.

Tuesday:

There's an all-day Sanctuary marathon on Syfy during normal work hours, call in sick and hang out with the monsters and Amanda Tapping's fake accent.

The Universe -
A look at ringed planets includes Earth (for its human-made satellites) and dissects what the rings reveal about the origins of galaxies, on the History Channel at 9 PM.

Warehouse 13 -
Here's hoping we continue to see more karmically cursed Claudia, strong-willed Artie and a less depressing Pete this week. This week at 9 PM on the Syfy, Myka heads off to visit her father (remember her daddy issues from a few episodes ago?) and finds half an artifact once belonging to Edgar Allen Poe. Was her turn in the Warehouse more fated than we've been led to believe? Regardless, the other half becomes problematic at a high school in Oregon.

Surviving Disasters -
If you live in hurricane country, or desperately believe the apocalypse will bring with it major floods, tonight at 10 PM on Spike, Cade is going show you how to cross flooded streets and a fast-moving river, and how to get to higher ground. And even take refuge in abandoned homes.

The Colony -
The post-apocalyptic colonists and their plans for a scout vehicle are underway while they begin customizing their escape truck. Where are they escaping to? No clue. But meanwhile, traders return, bringing dismay to some and causing tempers to flare, on Discovery at 10 PM.

Wednesday:

Ghost Hunters -
Why do they always hunt in the dark? Alright, may be that's a stupid question, but still, come on guys! This week at 9 PM on Syfy the team heads to New Jersey to probe the Union County Courthouse in Elizabeth with the help of Bruce tango.

Destination Truth -
Spirit possessions are investigated in Mexico, including a creepy, eye-opening experience playing with dolls. Also, the team heads to the Bahamas for island spirits, on Syfy at 10 PM.

Movies:

Denzel Washington is a time-shifting government agent who heads backward to try to stop a terrorist attack, in Déjà Vu on FX at 8 PM.

Thursday:

Fringe -
Agent Olivia Dunham, and everyone's favorite mad-hatter scientist, return! Of course when we left them, the former was in an alternate universe with Leonard Nimoy and the twin towers, and the latter was crying over ... his son's grave? Tonight, Congress decides to take an interest in the Fringe division, and Olivia finds her way back to her own dimension whilst hunting down a mysterious entity that's chasing her — but when isn't a mysterious entity hunting our "special" agent down? So, will the sexual tension peak this season? Will we get more Original Spock? Is the blonde agent going to have some other-dimensional competition for sexiest brooding FBI problem child? Hopefully not, probably not, and most definitely. Season two begins on FOX at 9 PM do not miss it!

Vampire Diaries -
Vicki is recovering from her attack, and starts to remember bits and pieces of what happened. Stefan, of course, is dying to prevent her from actually recalling the events of the evening. Elena is off meeting hottie Damon, who reveals secrets of Stefan's past and Jeremy struggles with feeeeeelings, on the CW at 8 PM.

Supernatural -
Sam and Dean must save small-town inhabitants, when they are confused by a spell causing them all to act like demons and commit murder. Can't this world ever stay saved? The second episode of this season is on the CW at 9 PM.

Here's three clips from tonight's ep:

Movies:

Gary Sinise's doomed Mission to Mars in on Syfy at 9 PM. Red Planet versus Mission To Mars — which is better? Fight!

Friday:

Eureka -
Say farewell to the Eureka townfolk and their can-do attitude, in the season finale on Syfy at 9 PM. The third season (part two) ends with Tess receiving a great new job offer ... in Australia, and Zoe gets ready to leave for Harvard. Carter, meanwhile, is off avoiding his female issues and instead dealing with a magnetic disturbance above the town.

The Troop -
A boy named Jake heads this live-action, CGI-blended show that Nickelodeon is branding as comedy/scifi. Jake wants to create his own comic book and is recruited by a school counselor to join The Troop, a group that aims to protect the world from other-wordly creatures and monsters. Three eps air tonight on Nickelodeon beginning at 8 PM.

Movies:

One of very few women who can shave her head and still look beautiful (that's Natalie Portman, for you not following) stars in the film adaption of Alan Moore's V for Vendetta on MTV at 10 PM.

Saturday:

If you've been clamoring for a darker version of Jumanji, have no fear - it has been made, folks. And it stars everyone's favorite doll, Eliza Dushku on Syfy at 9 PM. Open Graves chronicles the trails of silly American students studying in Spain as they come across a sinister board game. One where the loser ... well, dies, naturally.

Sunday:

Since I know you, like me, are mourning the end of True Blood's season, feel free to keep Vamp Sundays alive with Ann Rice's Interview with the Vampire, on Syfy at 6:30 PM.

(Yes, I really did mean to do that pun. I'm sorry.)

"Have An Ice Day" had more than a slight sense of deja vu about it - The first day of a new boss (on flirty friendly terms with Sheriff Carter) at Global Dynamics and everything goes wrong with a disaster that could wipe out the whole West Coast within hours? Wasn't that the plot of season 2's "Try, Try Again" (helpfully re-run last week to reinforce the familiarity)? - but maybe the writers should rework old stories more often, because this felt like the most balanced, coherent episode for awhile, in terms of moving along subplots as well as central disaster of the week, and keeping the characters familiar and believable.

That said, it was also an episode where the plot relied upon a certain amount of temporary stupidity on the parts of its characters; Zane being the only person in the room when Taggart was attacked, while also being the person in charge of the temperature control system when everything is freezing and acting entirely differently than normal should've rang alarm bells way sooner than it did, and Tess not realizing the stalling tactics of comedic Russian security officer (And, really? A Russian who loves the consumerist American society so much he loses track of his job? Did I blink and miss us returning to 1989 or something?) were just two of the "Well, okay, but only because I'm enjoying the show" moments of the episode. That such things don't immediately throw me out of the show is as much down to the actors making it work, even if it's in a screwball over-the-top manner; Colin Ferguson, guest-star Matt Frewer (who should really come back to the show full-time, even with that appallingly-bad accent) and Jamie Ray Newman deserve recognition for their work, and their ability to make more of their material than should sometimes be possible.

Also nice was that - Zoe's future career plans aside - this was pretty much a standalone episode; after weeks of continuity-heavy episodes, it felt like a nice break... and a better one than the clip show that preceded it, for that matter. That said, that it was the second-last episode of the season seems odd, because it highlighted the lack of momentum the show seems to have going towards its season finale; all the long-running plots (The Signal, Kim2, Allison's pregnancy and relationship with Carter) have been resolved for the most part, leaving the only hanging threads the relationship ones - and of those, only Zoe's college plans are actually bringing any sense of urgency or confusion, barring a last-minute wrench thrown into the Jack/Tess relationship (which'll mean, of course, such a wrench is due next week). It's strange, to have enjoyed this episode so much, but be left at the end of it thinking that the series as a whole feels like it's run out of steam too soon. Maybe next week, everything will be different... or perhaps I'm just expecting too much from the admittedly lightweight show in the first place.

Next week: The end of the season! Everything becomes magnetized! And Zoe explodes in a swimming pool? We should be so lucky.

Monday:

An all-day marathon of Ghost Hunters turns into a mini-marathon of Ghost Whisperer on Syfy beginning at 8 AM with TAPS, and switching to Jennifer Love Hewitt's whispers at 7 PM.

Movies:

James Bond proves the real meaning of Anglo-Soviet cooperation in a love pod and we get probably the coolest car ever in the form of a suborghini in The Spy Who Loved Me on BBC America at 4 PM.

Tuesday:

Warehouse 13 -
Artie's being questioned by Mrs. Frederic and the Regents, as Pete and Myka and Claudia are stuck in the Warehouse facing a fiery predicament — that may very well make all thousands of the artifacts in the house go haywire, on Syfy at 9 PM.

Surviving Disaster -
This week at 10 PM on Spike, learn how to traverse a burning building, navigate through flames and flame-filled corridors, how to break through walls and even how to rappel to safety from a burning building (all handy tools for the apocalypse).

The Colony -
One colonist, Joey, has a kidney stone; with no electricity and no communication with the outside world, just how painful will it be? Mike and Vlad head out on a recon mission and run into a dangerous situation. Still not sure if this reality TV show on Discovery at 10 PM has the ability to convince me that the contestants truly believe in their make-believe surroundings — maybe fake kidney stones will work this week. I still think they should start a zombie outbreak.

Movies:

Nic Cage dons the flaming ghost head of terrible acting, in Ghost Rider. Cage plays Johnny Blaze, the devil's bounty hunter, and sucks Eva Mendes into his fiery web (yes, that was a comic mix of metaphors) on FX at 7:30 PM.

Wednesday:

Ghost Hunters -
There's a Syfy series cross over at 9 PM tonight, Josh Gates of Destination Truth joins TAPS as the group heads inside a New Jersey prison in the hunt for stuck souls.

Destination Truth -
The premiere for this "is it real and can we touch it... No? okay" show is on at 10 PM on Syfy. Josh Gates attempts to explain supernatural sightings around the globe.

Movies:

Arnold attempts to foil Satan's plans for conquering the world on New Year's Eve 1999 in End of Days on AMC at 8 PM.

Thursday:

Vampire Diaries -

Dear Diary,
This year, I asked for a great campy vamp show to get me through the long winter weeks without True Blood. Instead, I have been given this show about a brooding, orphaned teenage girl and the vamps who love to smell her in the hallways. Yet another vamp adaptation from books.
Thanks a lot.

Elena is beyond happy to capture the attention of Stefan during the first days at a school, where everyone looks too old and too pretty. The dark hottie in her history class who sometimes has fangs is enchanting trouble. On the plus side, LOST's Ian Somerhalder stars as the even hotter villain. Witness Ian's terrible villainous laughter on the CW's 8 PM series premiere.

Supernatural -
The fifth season opens as brothers Dean and Sam have helped to bump up the date for the apocalypse, and Lucifer has come to Earth to prove it. They must also deal with the sad news from Chuck the Prophet that Castiel was blown away by the archangels. On CW at 9 PM.

Movies:

Genetically altered sharks terrorize those experimenting with them — and don't miss the best ever Samuel L. Jackson CG tirade — in Deep Blue Sea on Syfy at 9 PM.

Friday:

Eureka -
Syfy is wrapping up this genius-town show, at 9 PM. It's Tess' first day in charge at Global Dynamics, an Arctic ice core drops the temperature in Eureka drastically and to top it all off, Dr. Jim Taggart returns to town. Tess will no doubt be having a case of the Mondays.

Movies:

Quarantine the remake of 2007 Spanish horror film [REC] and shaky cam film extraordinaire, chronicles the last night of an apartment building, on Starz at 7:30 PM.

Saturday:

The venerable Hercules — Kevin Sorbo — stars as a small town hero in the made-for-tv movie Lightning Strikes, in which a monster rides a lightning bolt (!) down to the ground on Syfy at 9 PM.

Sunday:

True Blood -
The season finale of this breasts-and-blood epic airs tonight. True chaos finally takes over, as Maryann casts Sookie in a starring role in her grand sacrificial ceremony. Sophie-Anne lays down instructions for Eric regarding Bill, Hoyt may finally be pulling out of his mother's grasp, Jason kicks a little ass and hopefully, Eggs gets scrambled. Do not miss our last hour of HBO's slutty vampires at 9 PM.

The Girl Who Cries Blood -
A blood specialist travels to India to check out a girl who spontaneously cries blood and tries to explain it. I've got it — she's a VAMPIRE, oh and she's related to this kid. Thanks to True Blood for bringing to light this sign of vamps. Witness the eye bleeding at 9 PM on the National Geographic Channel.

Defying Gravity -
The ship goes on high alert when a solar flare may result in deadly levels of radiation. Also, the mysterious force cooped up in Pod 4 makes its presence felt, but not quite seen yet. Are you guys thrilled, or excited this dramatic scifi series is wrapping up? Watch the end on ABC at 10 PM.

Surrogates

Below are the first official TV spots for Surrogates:

Dollhouse

When the season premieres, the Dollhouse is still reeling from Alpha's attack, and the idea that he's still out there and has access to Dollhouse technology is very present in everyone's minds. The administration will be trying to balance finding Alpha with the daily business of the Dollhouse.

Sierra is still, um, servicing clients, and the first time we see her during the season, she will be coming back from an engagement. Then we will see her a couple of episodes later, when she will have a moment with Victor that hints at their continuing relationship. Dichen Lachman, who plays Sierra, says we'll see more stories focusing on her this season.

Meanwhile, as you'd expect, newly promoted security chief Boyd will be making sure that the Dollhouse functions smoothly, that the Actives are kept safe, and that the handlers have enough information to protect them. [Sci Fi Wire]

The Road

The first reviews of the film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's The Road are emerging, including one from Variety and another from The Hollywood Reporter. Both reviews discuss the film's heavy emphasis on flashbacks, the departure of Charlize Theron's character, and the central relationship between the father and son. As the father and son try to reach the warmer south where life may still be possible, the film's horrors are kept in the background, except for one scene where they find a house with a dozen naked, writhing men and women missing some limbs — stock for cannibals.

Supernatural

Here's the official description for the season's third episode, "Free to Be You and Me:"

Not sure he trusts himself anymore, Sam (Jared Padalecki) decides to give up hunting, but a late-night visitor (guest star Adrianne Palicki) won't let him off the hook that easily. Dean (Jensen Ackles), intent on stopping the Apocalypse, continues hunting on his own and teams up with Castiel (Misha Collins) to find the Archangel Raphael, as Castiel believes Raphael knows God's location.

[SPNsite]

Zombieland

A reader at /Film caught a screener of the film. He enjoyed the film overall, and his review only contained one particular spoiler: towards the end, Emma Stone's character Wichita and Abigail Breslin's character Little Rock end up calling for help from the top of an amusement park ride, after being far more capable than the male characters for the earlier portion of the movie. [/Film]

Pandorum

A few creepy new images from the space-horror thriller:

More at the links. [Fantasy.fr and UGO]

And here is a foreign one-sheet:

[Sci Fi Scoop]

The Green Hornet

Seth Rogen gets a few more guest stars, in the form of Tom Wilkinson (who played the memory-wiping doctor in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) and David Harbour (who played Bond villain Gregg Beam in Quantum of Solace). [IGN]

Fringe

The eighth episode will feature a character named Christine Hollis, an attractive and feisty art student. [Spoiler TV]

Heroes

Elisabeth Rohm, who played prosecutor Serena Southerlyn on Law & Order, will play a character named Lauren Gilmore in the eighth episode. [Zap2it]

And here is the Season 4 sneak peek from the Season 3 Blu Ray set:

[Spoiler TV]

Smallville

Here's the official description for the Season Nine premiere, "Savior:"

Clark (Tom Welling) tells Jor-El he's ready to start his training, but Jor-El sends him back to Metropolis to cut ties with Lois before he can begin. Chloe (Allison Mack) is shocked when Lois (Erica Durance) suddenly reappears after having been missing for weeks, but Lois has no recollection of vanishing into thin air with the Legion ring. While investigating a monorail crash, Lois meets John Corben (guest star Brian Austin Green), a new reporter at The Daily Planet, with a negative attitude toward the Red-Blue Blur. Chloe begs Clark to use the Legion ring to go back in time to save Jimmy, but he refuses, driving a wedge into their friendship. Meanwhile, Oliver (Justin Hartley) continues down a dark road, and Zod (Callum Blue) arrives at the Luthor mansion.

[KryptonSite]

Warehouse 13

It looks like the Warehouse is going nuclear in next week's episode "Breakdown:"

[Movieweb]

Eureka

There's a lot of fur coming up in the season's 17th episode, "Have an Ice Day:"

[Pizquita]

FlashForward

The eighth episode will apparently feature a game of Texas Hold 'Em. [Spoiler TV]

Eastwick

The producers are looking for a Bradley Whitford or Jon Stewart type for Max, a recurring role as a charming, intelligent, and witty journalist who has come to Eastwick to steal Joanna's heart, and may end up being a love interest as well. [Spoiler TV]

The casting slides for Max depict a scene in which Max catches Joanna in a bar talking to herself, willing a glass of beer to move. Her mocks her for a bit, and she tells him that she is trying to recreate an experience she had. Max tries to prod details of the experience out of her, but she's pretty mum on the subject. He advises her that, if she wants to replicate the experience, she should try to replicate the feelings she had leading up to it, like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day. [Spoiler TV]

Another journalistic position has been filled, with Martin Mull cast as Milton, a retired reporter who's got dirt on the devilish Daryl Van Home.

[Spoiler TV]

And here are three new posters of the witchy women:

[Eastwick Fans]

Vampire Diaries

CW has released the official description for the third episode "Friday Night Bites:"

Elena (Nina Dobrev) tries to ignore Bonnie's (Katerina Graham) warnings about the disturbing vibes she got from Stefan (Paul Wesley). Tyler (Michael Trevino) tries to embarrass Stefan by throwing a football at him, but Stefan effortlessly catches and passes the ball back, impressing everyone with his skill. Mr. Tanner (guest star Benjamin Ayres) reluctantly lets Stefan join the football team. Elena invites Stefan and Bonnie to dinner, hoping that the two will bond, but the evening is disrupted by the unexpected and unwelcome arrival of Damon (Ian Somerhalder) and Caroline (Candice Accola). Finally, the town is shocked by an act of violence.

[VampireSite.net]

In the sixth episode, we'll meet Alaric, who may become a regular character. Alaric is Mystic Falls' hot new history teacher. His charming, nerdy qualities will win over the the girls, but he has a dark, malicious side, and when his deadly agenda is revealed, all hell will break loose. [Spoiler TV]

And here are promo images from the second episode, "Night of the Comet:"

[Spoiler TV]

And still more from the third episode:

[VampireSite.net]

Additional reporting by Alexis Brown and Charlie Jane Anders.

Pandorum:

Here are a couple of new TV spots for this space-horror epic:

Jennifer's Body:

A new behind-the-scenes featurette takes you behind the sexy horror of the horrific sexiness.

And Entertainment Tonight actually featured a clip of the Amanda Seyfried/Megan Fox kiss, plus Megan Fox talking about her character:

Surrogates:

More details on the footage that director Jonathan Mostow showed reporters: Bruce Willis and other surrogate cops are chasing a suspect in a helicopter, and the suspect is on a motorcycle. The suspect weaves in and out of Boston traffic, then abandons his motorcycle. He takes out some cops with his pulse gun, then shoots at the helicopter. Willis disconnects from his surrogate just before the blast hits, waking up in his apartment. Then he reconnects to his robotic surrogate and continues the chase, following the suspect into the surrogate-phobic reservation, showing how badass his robot body can be, jumping over shit and taking lots of damage.

And Mostow says Willis has "existential ennui" because the only crime that's left — crimes against people's robot surrogates — is a property crime rather than murder or whatever. (So why don't criminals just break into your house and stab your real body while you're controlling your robot body?) This makes Willis feel his job as a cop is meaningless, and he can't connect with his wife. Once Willis has to operate as his real self, he realizes just how hollow his robot-body-driven life was. [IGN]

9:

Star Elijah Wood was on Conan O'Brien the other night, and he talked about the numerology of this movie as well as Comic Con:


There's also this somewhat weird disturbing clip from his children's TV appearance, which has nothing to do with this movie, but it's too weird not to share:

Also, Wood and director Shane Acker talked to Sci Fi Wire, and explained a bit more about the film — we start out seeing through 9's eyes, and he knows as little about this world as we do. We follow him on his journey of discovery, and he convinces the other ragdolls to try and figure out more about who they are and what the machines are. They can't physically fight the machines because they're too fragile. So gathering knowledge is the only way they can win. Also, 7 (Jennifer Connelly) is a fiercly independent warrior who pushes everyone else away. She's a maverick. [Sci Fi Wire]

And here are a couple new featurettes, from what appears to be the film's official Youtube channel:

Gamer:

So we talked to Amber Valletta yesterday about being a sex-puppet in this sex-and-violence games movie. Apparently, the guy who controls her is sort of a disgusting slug, and he licks his lips in every single scene he's in. The two of them never appear together, though, because he's controlling her remotely. [UGO]

Dark Shadows:

One of the biggest challenges with this film is to recapture the weird tone of the original, says director Tim Burton, who certainly seems to think Johnny Depp will star in it, judging from the way he namedrops Depp. [MTV]

[Rec] 2:

Some new images from this sick-building-syndrome movie. More at the link. [Aullidos via ShockTillYouDrop]

Twilight:

The third movie, Eclipse, will feature Jasper doing a lot of fighting, says Jackson Rathbone. And there'll be some Civil War scenes giving his character's origin. [MTV]

Doctor Who:

A couple of tidbits from the forums over at Gallifrey Base. For one thing, IMDB is now claiming that Bruno Langley, who played Adam back in season one, will appear in David Tennant's final episode. Is Adam coming back to cause trouble again? Or is this another instance of the Doctor traveling back into his own past, like the thing where the tenth Doctor drops in on Rose before she's met the ninth Doctor? Oh, and there's a rumor — and I emphasize rumor — that a 1960s companion will turn up. But forum posters don't think it'll be Carole Ann Ford, because she's turning up in a Big Finish audio production, and those usually avoid using elements that are turning up on the TV show. [Gallifrey Base]

FlashForward:

Here's a new promo, featuring a confession of future infidelity:

Lost:

David H. Lawrence XVII, who played the puppetmaster guy on Heroes, Twittered that he landed a role in the final season of Lost. [The ODI]

Supernatural:

I don't think we've shown you this hilarious trailer, featuring some subliminal messages, before.

Smallville:

Here's a screencap from a new season nine sneak peek, featuring the Superman logo. Bigger version at the link. [The ODI]

Someone named LilMissX twittered a couple of promo photos of Chloe from the new season. [TwitPic via SpoilerTV]

And here's a sneak peek from the season opener, featuring Brian Austin Green making us all wish Sarah Connor was still being Chronicled.

Stargate Universe:

The season will end with an episode called "Subversion," followed by a two-parter called "Incursion." And that two-parter ends with "big-time cliffhanger," according to writer/producer Joseph Mallozzi, who calls it the "biggest HOLY #%&@! ending I have ever written." Because "Incursion" has been expanded from one hour to two, one other episode will get held over to season two — which means probably nobody much dies in that cliffhanger, or else they're able to rework the held-over episode somehow. [Gateworld]

Chuck:

Smallville's Kristin Kreuk will appear in multiple episodes as Hannah, a publishing industry veteran who meets Chuck on a flight to Paris. She loses her job and winds up working at the Buy More. And both Chuck and Morgan will have feelings for her. [EW]

Heroes:

So we already knew there would be more time travel this year, and now here are more details. Hayden Panettiere donned her old cheerleader outfit for some scenes that probably take place back during season one. And meanwhile, Hiro and Sylar filmed a confrontation in Odessa, TX that's probably set during the same era. Sylar throws Hiro up against a bus, and Hiro screams "Stoppp! I am dying!" And Sylar points his finger at Hiro's head. And here are some pics of both scenes — more at the link. [The ODI]

Also, Greg Grunberg says the thing where his Head-Sylar kidnaps his baby will all make sense. And he explains more of Matt's arc this season:

What's cool is that my powers evolve, and I start this year so regretting what I did last year that I have absolutely cut it cold turkey. I refuse to use my powers, and Sylar wants me to, so he's constantly on my shoulder going, 'Use your powers, you p-ssy.' It's great. It's really cool.

[Sci Fi Wire]

Creator Tim Kring says the upcoming "Redemption" arc could serve as the end of the show's story, but it doesn't have to.

We've never really posited an ending… [because] it's never been one long serialized story. Each volume has a beginning, middle and end. So we try to wrap things up pretty neatly each time and string a cliffhanger over the break to reward the loyal viewers.

[EW]

Eureka:

Here are some pics from episode 3x18, "What Goes Around." [SpoilerTV]

True Blood:

There's a plan in place for Evan Rachel Wood to return as Sophie the Vampire Queen next season. [EW]

Additional reporting by Alexis Brown.

Monday:

9/11: Science and Conspiracy -
Conspiracy theories abound about the tragedy of 9/11. Tonight, experts weigh in on how plausible any of the most prominent theories really are, plus some thrilling simulations. That's on the National Geographic Channel at 9 PM.

Movies:

Miss The Storm's original airing on NBC this summer? Don't worry Spike is giving you another chance. It's a typhoon of "that guy from that show" style actors in the two-parter made for TV movie. The ensemble cast of Treat Williams, James Van Der Beek, Luke Perry, John Larroquette, and the dude from JAG all play a part in controlling the Earth's weather, which I'm pretty sure will spiral out of control along with some mad grab power struggle culminating in a giant wet mess over a famous statue or building of some kind. Don't miss the first half at 8 PM, followed quickly by the second.

Tuesday:

Weird, True & Freaky -
The second of two new episodes of this show profiles people who've had plastic surgery to look like animals, including leopards and tigers. Fill your cat-people quota, on Animal Planet at 6:30 PM — long before AVATAR comes out.

Warehouse 13 -
Joe Morton from Eureka guest stars, and Claudia ... changes a light bulb? Meanwhile Pete and Myka head out to the prison system of Florida to explain some unexplained suicides. Fingers crossed it's a better version of The Happening, which wouldn't be too hard. Find out at 9 PM on Syfy.

Nova scienceNow -
Michel Gondry would do well to watch when Nova tackles the real science of sleep and the role memories play into it; also, paleontologist Jonathan Bloch's search for the pre-primate missing link on PBS at 9 PM.

Surviving Disaster -
The series premiere is tonight. This how-to show features a host acting out alternative history and what-if scenarios on camera, to teach the audience how to handle themselves during tragic moments. The first episode is at 10 PM, but if it doesn't tackle angel wars, zombie attacks, The Day After Tomorrow type storms and plagues, then what good is it?

The Colony -
We're really sorry we didn't find this series earlier, only because we would have been including it in the roundups. So apologies all around. The Colony is a social experiment, reality TV series where a random crew of people are forced to rebuild a society after a viral attack has left the world devastated. The Discovery Channel show is on at 10 PM, and while the mentality of the survivors doesn't seem all that believable, because the world didn't actually end, and there aren't any real threats — and we're pretty sure the marauders can't beat up the old man with bats and leave him to die in front of the others — it's still interesting at times. This week, the colonists trek across the river and encounter missionaries and new arrivals, who of course cause some tension. And the group is forced to make a sacrifice.

Movies:

John Travolta's super brain powers are tested on Encore at 8 PM, in Phenomenon. Or as we call it, the worst genius movie ever that we always end up watching over and over, for no real reason.

Wednesday:

Weird, True & Freaky -
The medicinal value of animals around the globe is investigated, on Animal Planet at 6:30 PM.

Movies:
Kurt Russell and James Spader headline the original 1994 film about discovering other worlds after deciphering the code on an Egyptian artifact in Stargate on AMC at 8 PM. And if you haven't had enough space-operatic thrills, hang on because Star Trek: Nemesis is on the same channel at 10:30 PM. (Although "thrills" is used loosely in connection with that second movie.)

Thursday:

Animal Armageddon -
The Animal Planet show about prehistoric creatures returns after a hiatus with volcanic eruptions more than 250 million years ago, and the impact they had on the animal life at the time. Be there or be extinct at 6:30 PM.

Movies:

Mel Brooks' classic parody of the horror genre Young Frankenstein, starring Gene Wilder, is on AMC at 8 PM.

Friday:

Eureka -
False alarm — there's no new ep, but let the mourning of Nathan Stark commence all over again with an all-day Eureka marathon with random episodes beginning on Syfy at 8 AM and airing all night, including the pilot episode at 11 PM.

Movies:

Earth is attacked by Martians in the original The War of the Worlds at 8 PM on TCM.

Saturday:

Mythbusters -
Labor Day weekend means fewer new shows and more marathons. Case in point: Mythbusters runs throughout the night beginning on Discovery at 6 PM, and on and on.

Movies:

The Matrix is on A&E at 3 PM, and later part two (Remember when the Coen brothers tried to call it a trilogy?), The Matrix: Reloaded is on 8 PM over at Bravo.

Sunday:

Defying Gravity -
No NEW TRUE BLOOD means I may actually see what the fuss is about this show. This week, Halloween aboard ship brings hallucinations instead of treats, and may hinder Goss' plans for worldwide promotion of the mission, on ABC at 10 PM.

There is no True Blood tonight.

Movies:

Watch Peter Parker begin his descent into angst, Spider-Man 2 airs at 7:30 PM on FOX.

Jennifer's Body:

Apparently when Megan Fox's character says she "goes both ways," she actually means it — she gets to kiss Amanda Seyfried in the movie, and Fox says it was a fun bit to film. [MTV]

And here are some pics that I think are new, including both Megan and Amanda covered with blood and stuff. [MTV]

Surrogates:

In this movie about a future where nobody leaves the house, and instead mentally connects to physically perfect cyber-avatars (who then start dying and triggering their owners' deaths) the structure of a detective story allows Bruce Willis' detective character to serve as a "surrogate" for the audience's curiosity. And the movie version of the story isn't as "luddite" as the comic — although it does comment on the dehumanizing effect of technology. [Sci Fi Wire]

New Moon:

Edi Gathegi, who plays Laurent, says he actually gets to wear shoes in the second movie, unlike the first. And he never gets to sparkle in the sun like a proper vampire. His character dies off in the second movie, just like in the books. [MTV]

Also, in the movie, the Volturi have specially crafted blood-red contact lenses to give their eyes a spooky look. They're thousands of years old, but look young and zippy. The most lethal of them maybe Jane (Dakota Fanning) who enjoys inflicting torture on her victims. And here are a couple pics I don't think we've shown you before. [People]

Doctor Who:

More details about what those Daleks are up to in World War II. Spectator Alun.Vega thinks the gist of the story so far is that a Professor (Bill Paterson) working for Winston Churchill has developed the Daleks as a weapon, but is a bit hazy on where he got the idea from. Churchill doesn't care as long as they destroy the Nazis. Leading to this bit of dialogue:

Churchill: Death to our enemies. Death to the Third Reich!
Doctor: Yes, yes, and death to everyone else too.

And as the Doctor tells the Daleks that he's the Doctor and they're the Daleks, he's partly trying to remind himself of who he is. Churchill and the Professor aren't taking the new Doctor seriously due to his extreme youth. The Professor does hit it off with new companion Amy Pond, and they bond over her Scottish background: "Are you from the islands?" he asks. But the happy relationship between Winston and the Daleks doesn't last, judging from this snatch of overheard dialogue:

CHURCHILL: "You are my ironsides!"
DALEK: "We are the Daleks."
PROFESSOR: "I created you!"
DALEK: "No, we created you."

As someone once said, "in the morning, I'll be sober. And you'll still be a mutant." [Gallifrey Base]

Lost:

So whether or not Juliet's bomb succeeded in resetting the timeline, we'll definitely see the continuation of the Faux Locke cliffhanger from the previous season. The show was filming a scene on the beach where we see a closeup of Locke's dead body. And then Faux Locke and Richard Alpert (shouldn't that be Ben?) descend from the temple. All of the Others point their guns at Faux Locke, suspicious for obvious reasons. Richard steps up to confront Faux Locke, who proceeds to beat the stuffing out of him in a really intense sequence. Then Faux Locke stands over Richard's battered body and wags his finger at the assembled Others, saying "I'm really disappointed in all of you." [Hawaii Weblog]

And here are some not-very-revealing set pics. More at the link. [The ODI]

Also, it sounds like they're setting up an airplane set at the studios. [The ODI]

Caprica:

Welsh actor Peter Wingfield (who played the immortal Methos in the Highlander TV series and the last two movies) announced on his website that he's joining this show as Gara Singh, director of the Global Defense Department — which makes him the boss of Jordan Duram, the GDD agent played by Brian Markinson. [Peter Wingfield via Battlestar_Blog]

Fringe:

Lance Reddick says we'll learn more about Broyles' background, and the reasons for his divorce, but it won't be through flashbacks. And he tells us what to expect in season two generally:

Olivia's reemergence back into this universe will be shocking. The developments with Charlie will be mind blowing. You'll find out just how deep my relationship with Nina goes.

[Hollywood the Write Way via Sci Fi Scoop]

And here's a new promo that also includes Bones:

Episode 2x08 will introduce us to Harry, who appears to be just a normal DMV employee, but has darker intentions. [SpoilerTV]

And here's a thrilling teaser:

And another one. [Fringe Television]

Supernatural:

The description for episode 5x02, "Good God, Y'All," sounds like the greatest thing ever:

Castiel (Misha Collins) tells Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) that he is going to search for God, who will be able to defeat Lucifer. Bobby's (Jim Beaver) old hunter friend, Rufus (guest star Steven Williams), is panicked about demons attacking his town, and begs Bobby for help. Sam and Dean arrive at the town and realize there is a spell over the townspeople, making them hallucinate that they are demons and causing them to kill one another. Phil Sgriccia directed the episode written by Sera Gamble

[Examiner]

And speaking of amazing-sounding episodes written by Sera Gamble, here's a casting call for "The Curious Case Of Dean Winchester," episode 5x07 (a Benjamin Button episode??):

[PATRICK] 30-40, charismatic, extremely likeable and charming, with a devil-may-care attitude and a twinkle in his eye. He is a well-dressed, expert card shark and poker player, with a wicked sense of humor and an unnerving ability to read people. A slick con man and thief who enjoys toying with everyone around him. However, he also is capable of genuine empathy for certain players, and he's deeply committed to Lia, the love of his life...GUEST STAR (15)

[OLDER DEAN WINCHESTER] Between 70-80 years old, he is Dean (JENSEN ACKLES) aged into an old man. He hasn't lost any of his verve, or edge, just his speed...GUEST STAR (20)

[LIA] 20s, she is a BEAUTIFUL, troubled woman in cahoots with her boyfriend, Patrick. Empathetic, but also eventually lonely....GUEST STAR (15)

[SpoilerTV]

And here's a promo I think we haven't featured before:

Dollhouse:

Want Dollhouse for dummies? Here it is:

Stargate Universe:

Pitch us this new spin-off, actor David Blue:

[It's about] scientists brought in to figure out this mythical ninth chevron address, ... a nine-digit phone number, and nobody knows where it goes. And through a course of events, [he] ends up having to pick up and go, and the right people who are supposed to go on this mission to explore don't necessarily end up going.

You end up with a group of people who weren't supposed to be there, ... counting on each other, who aren't necessarily the ones with the skill sets for survival ... on the far side of the universe, trying to figure out how to survive. How to not die. How to not kill each other. And genuinely having to deal and cope.

[Sci Fi Wire]

Heroes:

James Kyson Lee says Hiro and Ando start off the new season in Japan:

Ando is starting a new business with Hiro, which will thrust us into really unusual adventures. Also, Ando this season is going to be interlinked with somebody very unexpected, which is going to be a nice surprise for the audience.

[Winnipeg Sun via SpoilerTV]

And here's the description of the two-hour season opener:

"VOLUME FIVE: REDEMPTION" MAKES A SPECIAL TWO-HOUR DEBUT WITH THE INTRODUCTION OF A MYSTERIOUS CARNIVAL CLAN WHOSE INTENTIONS ARE UNKNOWN, WHILE FAMILIAR FACES ADJUST TO NEW STAGES OF THEIR LIVES THAT WILL CHALLENGE THEIR PERCEPTIONS OF THE WORLD AND THEIR ABILITIES. ROBERT KNEPPER JOINS THE CAST. RAY PARK, ZELJKO IVANEK, MADELINE ZIMA, AND DAWN OLIVIERI GUEST STAR — Claire (Hayden Panettiere) struggles with adjusting to her new life in college when a mysterious death thrusts her into the spotlight once again. Elsewhere, Hiro (Masi Oka) and Ando (James Kyson Lee) continue their noble quest to help people by promoting their abilities. Angela (Cristine Rose) fears Nathan (Adrian Pasdar) will soon discover his true identity; while Matt (Greg Grunberg) is haunted by an unexpected visitor seeking something he has lost. Tracy Strauss (Ali Larter) and H.R.G. (Jack Coleman) join forces, looking for the key to unlock the motive behind a horrific crime. Meanwhile, Peter (Milo Ventimiglia) uses his abilities for good, but he is soon called upon to aid an old friend. While the heroes adjust to their new surroundings, a mysterious carnival clan, led by ringleader Samuel (Robert Knepper), sets their sights on familiar faces.

[SpoilerTV]

So we already mentioned that Hiro's doomed love Charlie will be back. And it turns out her diner coworker Lynette (Sally Chaplin) will be in three episodes too — and there will be at least one scene which we saw back in season one, but we'll see it again from a different vantage point. [The ODI]

Chuck:

Season three, episode four, "Chuck Vs. Operation Awesome," will feature an old Thai woman who speaks both Thai and English. (And I'm betting there'll be some joke where people think she doesn't understand English, but then she does?) [SpoilerTV]

True Blood:

Sam makes the "ultimate sacrifice" in the season finale. And the bit about Eric dying is a joke — probably. [EW]

FlashForward:

Here's a promo that was blasting off a massive screen in Times Square. Not sure if there's any new footage there.

Plus a couple of other new promos:

One of the visions of the future involves a wife seeing a glimpse of her future lover — a man her husband walks past unknowing in a hospital corridor. In addition to the FBI agents played by Joseph Fiennes and John Cho, there's their boss, Stanford Wedick (Courtney B. Vance). And Fiennes' wife (Sonya Walger) is a surgeon. She saves a series regular who was injured in an attack that resulted from the FBI investigation.

We will get quick answers to some questions early on, and it's not the sort of show where you'll be lost if you don't watch every episode. But devoted fans will be rewarded with more easter eggs and stuff. All of the questions raised in the pilot will be answered by the end of the season. The show is planned for five seasons but could go longer and shorter. Not only do the producers know how it ends, they also know how the penultimate season ends. [USA Today]

Sonya Walger describes her character:

Olivia is a strong, complicated woman who's a working mother. She's a trauma surgeon and a loving wife. She's devoted to her work and trying to make time for her kid. Olivia's plate is full long before the flash forward happens I think.

[IGN]

And here are a ton of pics from the first episode, some of which we may have shown you before. [SpoilerTV]

Warehouse 13:

A couple of tiny pics showing Michael Hogan (Saul Tigh) and his wife Susan Hogan, playing Myka's parents in the upcoming episode "Nevermore." Myka's dad Warren Bering gets a mysterious object in the mail. And I guess maybe we'll find out more about why Myka's parents insisted on including "And Sons" in the name of their bookstore, despite having no sons. [Chicago Tribune via Battlestar Blog]

Eureka:

Here are descriptions of a couple upcoming episodes:

Episode 3.17 - Have an Ice Day. Tess hopes her first day in charge of Global will be uneventful; the arrival of an Arctic ice core brings a new Ice Age to Eureka.

Episode 3.18 - What Goes Around, Comes Around. Zoe prepares to leave for college; Tess receives a job offer in Australia; a magnetic disturbance hovers above Eureka.

[SpoilerTV]

Additional reporting by Alexis Brown.

I'll admit it; as soon as I realized that "You Don't Know Jack" was less a real episode and more an excuse to save budget by giving an excuse for a clip show, I kind of switched off a little; if the show's creators weren't giving the episode their all, after all, why should I? But midway through the episode, I was hooked again, anyway. Yeah, half the episode was throwaway clip show, but the other half was... well, it was a Eureka episode, with a ridiculous hook and faux danger, but done with their usual humor and character. Just more rushed, and less developed, than usual.

If nothing else, you have to give the writers credit for pushing a major event into what could've been an otherwise entirely skippable episode: The birth of Jenna Stark, Allison's baby, is something that weirdly feels oddly overdue - perhaps because we're used to television-time pregnancies? - but surprising, nonetheless. Maybe I'm too used to the show's flair for the dramatic, but seeing her born without two heads, laser beams shooting from her eyes or some kind of life-threatening illness that has to immediately be dealt with wasn't what I expected, in a good way. Maybe it's because we're heading into the last couple of episodes of the season and this is time to clear decks and give people their last happy endings for awhile, but the episode ended up being a nice, and welcome, palate cleanser reminding you why you like the show even as it frustrated by being an sneaky Greatest Hits package.

Better luck next time, perhaps?

In fact, Eureka plans to up the ante from where Xena, Buffy and the upcoming Batman: The Brave And The Bold left it: their musical episode will be two episodes long, according to star Erica Cerra:

"We're doing a musical episode-well, a two-part musical episode-next season... That will be very, very, very interesting. I have no idea what that will be about. I suppose the network and the writers feel comfortable with the fact that the cast can sing... I don't sing. I can't, and I don't, so I'm going to have to take some singing lessons. I'm a little nervous.

The musical two-parter will have to go some way to beating this last attempt at bringing song and dance to Syfy's sci-fi town:


Cerra also told SciFi Wire that the show's fourth season will be 22 episodes long:

Last year they made an attempt to do 21, I believe it was, and we got cut down to 18 because of the writers' strike. So we're thrilled, and the way we found out was so much fun, getting word before the end of the season.

Eureka's third season concludes over the next two Fridays on Syfy; the regular recap of last night's episode will be up later this afternoon.

Why Eureka renewal has Erica Cerra singing [SciFi Wire]

That's right — it's just like wife swappers, except it's writer swappers! So put the keys to the writers' room in a bowl, and let's get swinging...

Lost and Supernatural

In some ways these shows are opposites, even though they have so much in common — they both have long, pull-your-hair-out plots and complex characters who stray to the dark side regularly.

But Supernatural keeps it lean and mean — you pretty much just have the Winchester brothers, and one to four supporting castmembers at any given time. And Supernatural's big mysteries are relatively few, and relatively straightforward: What did the yellow-eyed demon want with baby Sam? What does Ruby want with grown-up Sam? Why did the angels pull Dean out of Hell? And we get answers to those questions on a regular basis. What's complex on Supernatural is the tangled theology of the Angel/Demon war. And few relationships on television are as barbed and complex as the troubled love between the two brothers.

Lost, meanwhile, thrives on complexity — there are easily two dozen characters you're supposed to be keeping track of at any given moment, and oftentimes, they all seem to be equally important. The show's creators have already told viewers not to expect answers to all the show's mysteries — You have to piece things together on your own, or just accept that some things are not knowable. Meanwhile, the show gives us characters whose family relationships are mostly dismal (except Hurley's, oddly) and whose relationships with each other are frequently defined somewhat straightforwardly by rivalry, love triangles, or unrequited love.

So we'd love to see the writers change places for a bit — the Supernatural writers could bring a bit of immediacy to Lost's slow-boiling storylines, and also show us a bit more of how all these people stuck on an island together have become each other's family, and have grown to love each other even as they piss each other off.

And the Lost writers could give us a world of spirits and monsters that's foggier, and weirder, than Supernatural has ever quite given us. Imagine Supernatural with more weird clues, and more of a sense that there's a massive chess game going on in which the Winchester brothers are just pawns. It could be quite a ride.

Dollhouse and Torchwood

These two shows both unkinked our brains, in different ways, last month. We finally got to see Dollhouse's unaired season finale, in which some brilliant new adaptations to the Dollhouse's business model end up destroying civilizaton itself. And Torchwood served up the shocking, twisted "Children Of Earth" miniseries, in which we find out just how valuable our children really are — and just how dark Captain Jack is prepared to get.

These shows both operate in murky waters, with heroes who have huge dark sides and make difficult (and frequently wrong) choices. They're the dark side of escapism, showing how becoming part of a secret world of amazing tech and cool fantasies can be dreadful as well as wonderful. But Dollhouse is a good deal nastier than Torchwood, giving us a for-profit venture that is bent on making people's dreams come true — but only at the expense of its "employees"' personhood. Torchwood, meanwhile, is about people who actually do try to save the world — but often as not, they make things worse.

So what would happen if Russell T. Davies and his gang started writing Dollhouse, and Joss and friends moved to Cardiff?

Well, for starters, Dollhouse would get a lot sexier. The relationship between Boyd and Whiskey/Claire Saunders would probably heat up quite a bit. (And the already-homoerotic tension between ex-cop Boyd Langton and ex-FBI agent Paul Ballard would become way more intense.) But more than that, the assignments would get a lot freakier — Just imagine what sort of missions Russell T. Davies' gnarled, twisted brain would come up with for the mindwiped "dolls" who can be anyone or anything. And if you think the Dollhouse is morally grey and disturbing now, wait until RTD wrote a few scripts. And what could RTD would do with Adelle DeWitt, the sly, wicked, frosty madam of the Dollhouse's empty-headed bordello?

As for Torchwood — sure, "Children Of Earth" was one of the best pieces of television we've seen in recent years. But just imagine Torchwood done in the style of Angel or Buffy, with more weird humor, more out-and-out struggle against the forces of evil, and more identity crisis for our heroes. Torchwood could use some more memorable villains, like the Mayor of Sunnydale or Glory. And Captain Jack needs to have a few episodes of spouting Whedonesque dialogue as he sluts around Cardiff and hits on every adult sentient being he meets. And even though Torchwood took a major leap into darkness this last time around, the show could always go darker and dirtier — especially now that the Hub and the team have both been wrecked. We can just see the story of Torchwood crawling out of the ashes and trying to figure out their role now, as told by Joss Whedon and co.? Where do they go from here?

House and Fringe

Two shows about unconventional teams who deal with weird science stuff — even as the most brilliant, curmudgeonly member of the team skirts the edge of insanity. Can't you just imagine J.J. Abrams and the rest of the Fringe team getting their claws into House's drug-addled, dysfunctional life, while the House gang goes full-throttle on Walter and the Fringe Division?

Of course, House has been on the air longer and has had more time to delve into the neuroses and relationships of its main characters. But also, one major difference between the shows is that House has romance and sexual intrigue — there's Foreteen, of course, plus the ongoing will-they, won't-they with House and Cuddy.

What the Fringe writers could bring to House: more weird science, and less weird psychology — in the most recent season, we've spent more more time figuring out the mysteries of House's mind than we have tackling medical mysteries, like weird parasites or insect-bites in unlikely spots that cause mysterious paralysis. Sure, House has been on for longer and we've been delving into the character more deeply, but the Fringe writers could pump up the show's weirdness levels satisfyingly.

Meanwhile, Fringe could use the opposite — we could use a lot more speculation about the psychology of its characters. Sure, we get hints about the weird experiments that characters like Olivia underwent as kids. But that's not psychology, it's plot development. Fringe could stand to delve a bit more into what makes its characters tick.

And think about it — this is the right time for the two shows to swap writing staffs, too — House is going into a mental institution (where we first met Walter Bishop) and Walter is going to become a lot more independent and autonomous, letting him become more like House.

True Blood and Heroes

What would happen if these two soap operas traded off writing staffs? Bringing Alan Ball and his gang to the perennially conflicted mutants might do them the world of good — and maybe Heroes' writers would get their groove back if they got to write for Lafayette, Eric and the rest.

It's weird to think that both Heroes and True Blood are soap operas, but they kind of are — the main difference is, True Blood is a lot stickier (both in the sense that people obsess a lot more about True Blood's characters, and in the sense that there are weird fluids everywhere), while Heroes often has much higher stakes and more of a comic-book, action-adventure feel.

So it's easy to think of ways that the True Blood team could revitalize Heroes. As Lauren points out, "Sylar would actually eat brains." The weird murder-flirtation between Sylar and Claire would get a lot deeper, and all of the show's relationships would suddenly be much more gothic and byzantine.

The dark, secret world of the Company, with its endless family drama going back decades, would gain a whole new layer of murkiness and detail, much like all the stuff we're learning about vampire society on True Blood. We'd get a lot more fun, quirky world-building moments on Heroes. And can you picture Alan Ball writing HRG, the tormented-but-suave-but-dorky family man? He would suddenly have a lot more layers. And he'd be naked.

But the much-maligned Heroes team could also bring some fun to True Blood. One of the things Heroes does really well is come up with out-of-left-field superpowers and then imagine how they would really work, and how they'd affect your life, in reality. If the Heroes writers ran True Blood, Jason would probably get powers similar to Sookies — except, of course, he would see the future. You might see a bit more of how the strange mixture of powers in Bon Temps actually messes with people's lives. Plus maybe the Heroes writers could cut loose and write the kind of beyond-dysfunctional, messed-up characters that they don't get to create that often. And it would be fascinating to see Heroes deal with the added theme of religion that crops up a lot in True Blood.

Breaking Bad and Eureka

These are both shows about science, and about the quirky people who make a living off science. In AMC's critically acclaimed Breaking Bad, we follow Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher who's got a pregnant wife and a son with cerebral palsy, and then he finds out he's got terminal lung cancer. His insurance won't pay for the treatments, so he decides to start making and selling methamphetamine to secure his family's future. Meanwhile, in Eureka, there's a whole town full of science geniuses who create oddball projects for fun and profit, with often disastrous (but never horrifying) results.

So they're both about people using science to get ahead, but Breaking Bad is about the dark, nasty side of science, while Eureka is happy and easy-going. Everybody's rich, or at least comfortable, in Eureka, while Walter White is barely getting by and needs to resort to drug-dealing to save his family from ruin. (Walter's drug-dealer name is "Heisenberg," and he uses mercury fulminate, an explosive, as a weapon. He also uses his chemistry-teacher knowledge to quadruple his meth production.)

So what would the writers of Eureka bring to Breaking Bad? Probably a lot more science shout-outs. In addition to using Heisenberg as his drug-dealer name, Walt would probably start finding himself experiencing things that are right out of classic science fiction movies. And the science would get a lot odder, with Walt possibly coming up with wild new additives to lace his meth with — meth that makes you start aging backwards? Maybe Walt would come up with some zanier ways of dealing with the drug lords he runs up against, like catching them in zero-gravity fields or something?

As for Eureka, the Breaking Bad writers might delve a little bit more into the underside of the little town of geniuses. Exactly how does their relationship with the Defense Dept. work? And what happens when some of their more potent inventions really do fall into drastically wrong hands?

Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Venture Bros.

These are two of the most vivid and fascinating animated shows on TV right now — so what would happen if you turned the Lucasfilm writers loose on the Venture Bros., and let the Venture staff have a crack at the Clone Wars?

The main difference between these shows, says Graeme, is that the Venture Bros. writers are deeply bitter whereas the Clone Wars' writers are, at their heart, very sincere.

So maybe if the Venture Bros. writers got to take a turn writing the Clone Wars, you'd immediately have more weird pop-culture humor. But you'd also get more investigation into the bitterness that's just under the surface of the Star Wars universe — the fact that Anakin is a jerk who's destined to become the scourge of the galaxy. Plus the fact that the clone army is made up of helpless slaves. All of the characters in Clone Wars would become a lot more neurotic, and the clones would become like the Venture Bros.' henchmen. Inevitably, the show would start pointing to more of the darkness in its premise, but also poking fun at it — and it might become like a better written version of Robot Chicken Star Wars along the way. Plus, it would be fantastic to see what the Venture Bros. scribes would do with Anakin.

Meanwhile, if the Clone Wars staff came over to Venture Bros., that show would become much more of a straightforward action-adventure show — it might become a bit like Johnny Quest, even. But we'd also suddenly see a lot more weird politics, and the show would start showing us different factions scheming and intriguing against each other. There might be less resolution in each episode — which is saying something, considering how little resolution Venture Bros. already gives us. And a revamped Venture Bros. would start giving us morals at the end of each episode, like "Remember, Brock, Sometimes violence ISN'T the answer."

Additional reporting by Graeme McMillan, Lauren Davis, Meredith Woerner and Annalee Newitz.

Now, I'll be the first to admit that a lot of real-world science, never mind fictional super-science, is beyond me, but can someone explain exactly how last night's last-minute save of Tess actually worked? I get that it worked on the same theory that melted Kim2 into readable data (Although that, too, was pretty much a "I'm really not sure how it works, but I'll just go with it" thing), but exactly what was the difference between the solution (breaking down the compression molecules so that the water was released from Tess' body safely) and the danger of the solution (breaking down the compression molecules so that the water was released from Tess' body "too quickly," therefore drowning her), other than in the writers' heads?

That climactic bump aside - and it's one that I'm willing to forgive, because (a) I'm sure I misunderstood it when watching, and (b) it was really a McGuffin to move the Carter/Tess relationship along, and I'm all in favor of that - I really enjoyed "Shower The People"; it managed to mix the character beats and science problems together more cleanly than usual, it pushed a couple of characters outside of their comfort zone (Fargo's initial attempts at autopsy also providing comedy that wasn't entirely filler), and it featured journeyman actor Bill Campbell (The 4400, The Rocketeer, guest spots in hundreds of other things you've seen) as an apparently hard-nosed but really just misunderstood scientist (Eureka's favorite kind).
It was also, unusually for the show, a mystery that offered up chances for the viewer to guess the who - or what - dunnit without making the answer too obvious: Why were people turning up drowned and surrounded by water when they shouldn't be, and was it connected to what was going on with Carter, who happened to attend Allison's baby shower with the victims? Even with the magic-science resolution to both those questions, it was a nice, if unexpected, touch, and something I'd like to see them take further: Let's have a locked room murder mystery that plays fair sometime soon. I'd even happily volunteer Zane as the victim.

As part of the ongoing soap opera, Kim2's "death" seemed somewhat out of the blue and arbitrary, as if the writers had suddenly realized that they'd left her alive last episode by mistake; unless it's part of some greater story arc about Henry - and I almost hope it's not, considering his last real story-arc was also about Kim's death - it feels rushed and makes the entire "Signal/Kim2" plot that's run since the show's return feel meaningless, unless there's going to be some bigger reveal about the nature of the data Kim2's death released further down the line. Nonetheless, I wish it was something they'd pushed out for at least an episode - I found it hard to really care about her going, considering she's only just arrived. While I like shows that don't drag storylines out for years (*koffX-Fileskoff*), this was kind of the opposite: I was left wondering what the point was.

Next week: Everyone in town forgets themselves, which means we might be headed down that old "Let's see how everyone really feels" stock plot route. Here's hoping that there's a surprise or two on the way, at least.

Inception:

We brought you the first set pics from Christopher Nolan's new movie, Inception, the other day. Here's another set, showing Leonardo DiCaprio and Ellen Page filming a scene on a bridge in Paris. More pics at the link. [JustJared]

And People Magazine has a description of the scene they were filming:

Monday's scene on the closed set utilized two giant mirrors, each the size of a storefront and slowly rotating and reflecting each other. The leading man – dressed in a grey-green Armani jacket, black trousers and looking very tanned and blond – stood between them, creating a funhouse-mirror effect of a thousand reflections before the mirrors pulled away to reveal him walking the bridge with Ellen Page amid a sea of extras.

An argument develops between them and Page turns violent, shoving him, knocking him down. What followed were shots of the extras, standing as still as statues, as though they were frozen in time.

[People]

And someone got hold of a callsheet, which includes the names of the film's main characters, except for DiCaprio's. Ellen Page plays Ariadne, Joseph Gordon Levitt plays Arthur, Tom Hardy plays Eames, Ken Watanabe plays Saito, Dileep Rao is Yusef, Cillian Murphy is Fischer and Tom Berenger is Browning. And there's a character named COBB,
who has no actor listed. Chances are, he's either a code name for DiCaprio, or he's a computer-generated character. (Oh, and apparently Oliver's Arrow is a fake working title.) [CloneWeb via NolanFans via Slashfilm]

Wolverine 2:

Liev Schreiber says he's open to returning as Sabretooth in this sequel, and he'd love to see how his version of the character became the more animalistic rendition Tyler Mane gave us in X-Men. [MTV]

Iron Man 2:

Scarlett Johansson hints her character, the Black Widow, could be back in the Avengers movie — and could possibly have her own spin-off film as well, if the fans take to her skintight catsuit. Supposedly ScarJo is signed for several movies. [IOL via ComicBookMovie via Comic Book Resources]

Legion:

In a fairly hilarious interview, Paul Bettany talks about the tattoos he wears as the angel Michael:

They actually go all over my body, including my – I don't want to talk about it. The application of those tattoos is a private matter! They developed the sort of typeset. In actual fact [the language] was developed by a man called John Dee, and you'll have to check this but he was a Necromancer and he was apparently in touch with angels and they gave him their language. This actually all says stuff, but you'll have to forgive me because I have about 60 tattoos or more, I think. So I don't know what each of them say, but they say stuff. This one I know says "If you're freeze-framing this film, you're really weird."

And he clarifies that, yes, Michael does lose all his supernatural powers when he clips his own wings, and he also sheds some kind of heavenly obedience collar. And there's a totally awesome fight scene with Gabriel. [ShockTillYouDrop]

Shorts:

Some more details about Robert Rodriguez' latest kids' movie. Apparently James Spader's character, Carbon Black, has two kids: Helvetica Black is a tiny terror, and Cole Black is the leader of a gang of bullies who target our hero, Toe Thompson, mostly by shoving him in trash cans. They live in Black Falls, a company town where everyone works for Carbon Black's firm, and they're all obsessed with upgrading the mysterious all-purpose product that Black Box Industries makes. Until one day, the rainbow wish-granting rock descends from space. [Yahoo! News]

Battle: Los Angeles:

The mayors of Shreveport and Bossier City, LA will hold a press conference today to discuss the location filming of this alien invasion film. For now, though, Shreveport director of film, media and entertainment Arlena Acree says the movie includes explosions, battleground scenes, car chases, crashes, smoke, helicopters, and street closures. "This is the first project where we have been attacked by aliens," she says of Shreveport. [Shreveport Times]

Twilight: Eclipse:

The third movie has started filming, and a press release lists the entire supporting cast. And no, the part about there being an actor named BooBoo isn't a typo:

Bryce Dallas Howard as Victoria, Xavier Samuel as Riley, Catalina Sandino Moreno as Maria, Jack Huston as Royce King, Julia Jones as Leah, BooBoo Stewart as Seth, and Jodelle Ferland as Bree. Also continuing in the saga as The Cullen Family are Ashley Greene as Alice, Peter Facinelli as Carlisle, Elizabeth Reaser as Esme, Kellan Lutz as Emmett, Nikki Reed as Rosalie, and Jackson Rathbone as Jasper. Billy Burke also returns as Charlie Swan.

[L.A. Times]

Lost:

John Hawkes (Deadwood) is joining the cast as Lennon, the scruffy, edge spokesperson and translator for a foreign corporation who's more powerful than you'd guess from his position. (We posted the casting call for this role the other day.) [THR]

Warehouse 13:

Bondage and games of possum, in this clip from next Tuesday's episode, "Duped":

Supernatural:

Creator Eric Kripke says we'll never learn how Ruby's demon knife got its powers, because a little mystery is good. But we will see the magical kill-anything Colt pistol again — it pops up early in the season, and then plays a major part in episode ten. The Colt is the Winchester boys' best chance at shooting Lucifer in the face. And there's always a possibility Jeffrey Dean Morgan might pop up again at some point. [EW]

Fringe:

We already showed you this season two poster, but now here it is in ridiculously high resolution. Click to enlarge. [Fringe Television]

Oh, and speaking of clues, a whole new set of cast pics for season two includes a pic of Peter where his shadow looks different than everyone else's. [Fringe Television]

FlashForward:

This show's future-glimpsing premise is summed up, in one of the ugliest posters I've ever seen. Gah! [TVOvermind via SpoilerTV]

Eureka:

Here's a new clip from tomorrow night's episode, "Shower The People," featuring guest star Billy Campbell:

Smallville:

A pretty cool twist, involving Chloe, will take place within the first ten episodes of the new season. [EW]

Star Wars: Clone Wars:

Things get a bit darker in the second season, says Dave Filoni:

We have the rise of the bounty hunters entering the war - bringing in a lot of chaos and a whole new set of problems for Anakin and Obi-Wan.

And we'll start to see the seeds of Anakin's turn to the dark side, but we'll also see more of his heroism and the fact that he could have been the saviour of the galaxy. Also, we'll discover more of Obi-Wan's past. [Wired]

Additional reporting by Alexis Brown.

Monday:

Clash of the Gods -
On a realllly slow night, catch up on what made Hades keeper of the Underworld, as well as Greek beliefs in the afterlife. On History Channel at 10 PM.

Movies:
Watch Paul W.S. Anderson's Death Race starring Jason Statham and dream of what the prequel/sequel will be like. On Cinemax at 8:15 PM.

Tuesday:

Nova -
Learn about personal genetic profiles, which could predict your likelihood of certain diseases, and discover a Texas algae farm, where they turn the green stuff into biofuel. On PBS at 9 PM.

Warehouse 13 -
Pete and Myka have to repossess a samurai sword that is about to be given to the President, and they discover an evil version of their Warehouse. There's a rival "collector" competing for their items — maybe we'll finally get a recurring adversary for our duo. That's on Syfy at 9 PM.

The Universe -
A new season of Universe begins with dying stars, stars turning supernova and their effects, and the real threat posed by Earth's nearby stars. Discover a whole new danger, on the History Channel at 9 PM.

Movies:
An earthquake drops a little-league baseball player into Camelot — yes, that Camelot — in A Kid in King Arthur's Court. The best part is keeping your eyes peeled for appearances from Kate Winslet and the newest James Bond, on Disney XD at 5 PM.

Wednesday:

MonsterQuest -
Large tigers, or maybe jaguars, which roam the eastern states, take a bite out of the season finale on the History Channel at 9 PM.

Movies:
Isaac Asimov's stories "inspired" the 2004 Will Smith vehicle I, Robot, but will you be inspired to watch it on FX at 5:30 PM?

Thursday:

CSI: -
On an extremely slow night, CSI is a repeat of an episode that sends the team to Comic Con-esque convention where a TV producer who's planning on remaking a beloved science fiction series is murdered. Watch to make fun of the obvious stereotypes, and keep an eye open for Ronald D. Moore, on CBS at 9 PM.

Movies:
It's scifi movie throwback day on FMC, beginning with 1956's On the Threshold of Space at 10:30 AM and culminating with the attack of live mold from space in 1958 in Space Master X-7 at 8 PM.

Friday:

Eureka -
Allison's baby shower means eco-friendly gifts! Also, drowned scientists are found, where drowning isn't really the most logical explanation. Time to celebrate, on Syfy at 9 PM.

Monk -
Monk faces is up against what may or may not be an alien abduction, when a girl goes missing a and small town has reports of a UFO, on USA at 9 PM.

Movies:
Soothe your apprehensions about the upcoming "next generation" sequel by watching the original Ghostbusters, on AMC at 8 PM.

Saturday:

Being Human -
Mitchell gets sucked into the vampires plot and before he learns a tad bit about what they're really all about, he's recruiting the terminally ill. Meanwhile, George struggles not to tell Nina about his ... time of the month. Annie has had enough of the household poltergeisting and decides to put it to good use, but with mixed results. On BBC America at 9 PM.

Movies:
Syfy continues it's epic run of original movies with Phantom Racer. It's a beautifully fast race car with 550 horsepower, that only runs ... on blood. Yes, I just said blood. Starring Greg Evigan of My Two Dads fame — watch the racer's hood clamp down on people at 9 PM.

Or if possessed cars aren't your thing, Batman Begins is on AMC at 8 PM.

Sunday:

True Blood -
Hell is itching to break out in Bon Temps as Bill, Sookie and Jason return home to town controlled by a very different power. Sam and Andy, meanwhile, have been lured to Merlotte's and are avoiding the bloodthirsty townfolk at all costs. Maryann can't be controlled by a simple glamour (did anyone except Bill really think she could?); Hoyt and Jessica confront Maxine; Sookie reaches out to Tara. Hopefully we'll see the return of fighting Tara and stronger Sam soon, because this maenad is seriously getting on my nerves.

Defying Gravity -
When does stop mean stop forever? The crew decides where their own limits are, way out in space, on ABC at 10 PM.

Movies:
The Showtime series about a girl who turns into a grim reaper and collects souls has a movie wrapping up loose ends: Dead Like Me: Life After Death is on Syfy at 9 PM.

To be fair, there really was a lot to enjoy in "Ship Happens" - Not least of all, the unexpected return of Kim Anderson (Well, kind of), who's been dead since the end of the first season. Her return, in the form of a living computer using her DNA, offered not only a chance for Joe Morton's Henry to frown and get a B-plot to himself, but also a McGuffin for the show's A-plot, a computer virus that's managed to jump over and infect humans. It also showcased that, while the show works well as a character-based dramedy (Yes, I hate the term, too, but it fits here), it kind of falls apart as a science-fiction show.

Here's the thing: The idea of a virus infecting "organic computers" (that interface with users through gel, just like BSG's cylon systems in either a smart shout-out or odd coincidence) and jumping to users? Fine idea. But curing the virus by downloading the antidote via a special light that magically manages to go throughout the town despite no apparent light source other than one inside an underground bunker with no windows... Not so much, even with the techspeak about using the eye's natural translation of visual input into electrical information as an attempt at an explanation. It's a problem that the show constantly runs into; being unable to resolve the science plot of the week without resorting to semi-magical fixes in order to fit within the timeslot (See also "It's Not Easy Being Green"'s "That herbal medicine just happens to be able to kill the organism we've been hunting for! WHAT A COINCIDENCE!"), and it's one that just seems to be part of the show's make-up: Every now and again - or every week, whatever, you're just going to have to suck up the occasional Deus Ex Machina in the last ten minutes.

And yet, I'm not sure I really care that much. Because the Science Gone Wrong Of The Week isn't why I watch or enjoy Eureka; it's just the razzle dazzle that occasionally brings the laughs. But what brings me back are the characters, and this week I was as happy to see Carter and Tess go on that quasi-date as anything else that happened (Sorry, I can't really fall for the Zane/Jo thing, mostly because of Zane's distracting forced-unkempt hair. What can I say? I'm shallow). As long as they get the character stuff right - and with actors like Colin Ferguson, Joe Morton and even Salli Richardson-Whitfield, continually given the thankless role of pregnant exposition machine, even cliche and lazy dialogue can be made to sing - I'll keep watching. I just wish they'd make the science as worthwhile.

Captain America:

The Incredible Hulk director Louis Leterrier says he's seen the concept art for Captain America:

It's a period piece and it's like "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and with more gadgets...[I]t's "Raiders" meets "Rocketeer" and "Saving Private Ryan." It's going to be so cool.

[LA Times]

The Avengers:

Tim Roth revealed that his has signed to play the Abomination in three films, leading to some speculation that the Abomination could appear in The Avengers film, or in some of the potentially interlocking films leading up to it. [Comic Book Resources]

True Blood:

A new promo is up for Sunday's episode, "I Will Rise Up:"

And we're told not to worry about the fates of Godric, Sookie, Bill, and Jason after the suicide bomber appeared in Sunday's episode. Eric may catch some silver shrapnel, but it will lead to an intimate moment between him and Sookie. [E! Online]

Lost:

The title of the sixth season premiere will be "LA X." The space is deliberate. [DocArzt's Lost Blog]

Eclipse:

Kellan Lutz and Jackson Rathbone say Eclipse is much heavier on the action than the previous two films, and the actors have been in horseback training and fight training. At some point, Jasper puts his fellow Cullens through fight training, so the actors have all been working on their stunts and hitting the gym. [MTV Movies Blog]

FlashForward:

Producer Marc Guggenheim talks a bit about Dominic Monaghan's character, Simon:

[He] is the smartest man in the world, and he definitely knows it. He's mysterious, but not just for story reasons. He's a mysterious kind of person. He's someone that's so intelligent that he has a difficult time interfacing with people on a human level, because he's just so much smarter than them. He's an enigmatic figure whom I hope you'll want to get to know over the course of the first season.

[E! Online]

Stargate Universe:

SGU is looking to cast a brilliant waif:

[ELEANOR PERRY] (35-40) and quite attractive. A brilliant scientist who happens to be a quadriplegic. Affected since childhood, her disability has rendered her body physically useless. However, after being brought on board the Destiny as the only person who may be able to save the ship and her crew from certain annihilation, she is given temporary powers that enable her to walk again and to finally experience intimacy.sptv050769..Strong guest lead. NAMES PREFERRED. ACTRESS MUST BE PHYSICALLY THIN. (THINK CALISTA FLOCKHART).

[Spoiler TV]

And, to sate your voyeuristic urges, Syfy will be releasing 30 webisodes centering around the kino, the sphere that floats through the Destiny, spying on members of the crew. The webisodes won't form a discrete episode, but will instead tie into aired episodes. [GateWorld]

Heroes:

The sixth episode will be called "Tabula Rasa."

There's also a new primetime promo for the new season:



[Spoiler TV]

Smallville:

The Smallville season premiere will feature a few familiar faces. Battlestar Galactica actor, Alessandro Juliani, better known as Felix Gaeta, will appear, as will Stargate
Atlantis' Amelia Banks. Banks will likely play Fiona, described as a super-tough soldier, and her role may be recurring. [GateWorld]

We'll also be visiting Zod's past this season with flashbacks to his days in Kandor, Krypton's capital city. [E! Online]

Eureka:

Eureka gets a spaceship promo for episode fourteen "Ship Happens:"

[Spoiler TV]

Chuck:

Fans of Chevy Chase shouldn't get their hopes up for the comedian's return. Chase says his character, Ted Roark, is definitely dead. [E! Online]

Additional reporting by Alexis Brown.

Monday:

Is It True? -
This new reality series searches out the truth about monster sightings, urban legends and plain old stories circulating the web. In tonight's premiere, the host sets out to discover the truth behind the Florida Skunk Ape sightings, and see if it really is possible for an airplane to land with only one wing, on Discovery at 10 PM.

Movies:
The beginning of the middle — Star Wars Episode IV — is on Spike at 6 PM. Or you can watch the second coming of the Ice Age in The Day After Tomorrow on FX at 5:30 PM.

Tuesday:

Better Off Ted -
Tonight ABC gives us an hour of Better Off Ted as a bittersweet season finale. First Linda gets a phony "green" project to keep her busy. Then Veronica's secret life is revealed by an invention, and Linda decides to play matchmaker ... for Ted. The final first-season episodes are on ABC at 9 PM. and then we have to wait until its midseason premiere for more.

Warehouse 13 -
A former Warehouse agent left some unfinished business for Pete and Myka to complete, on Syfy at 9 PM.

That's Impossible -
This show features mind-reading and mind control, along with the possibility of brainwave technology to enable mental communication. Also, computers that can read minds. Why didn't the Enterprise have that? I feel it would have made ordering food so much easier. On History Channel at 10 PM.

Movies:
Spike continues the saga with Star Wars Episode V at 6 PM.

Wednesday:

MonsterQuest -
Wild chimps are explored and reports of chimp attacks are researched. Chimpanzees may be cute but tonight discover their viciousness and their survival skills. On History Channel at 9 PM.

Movies:
Keep your fingers crossed for a third Christopher Nolan Batman, while Batman Begins is on AMC at 10 PM.

Thursday:

Eureka -
There's nothing new tonight, but catch up on Season 3.5, when Syfy begins its mini-marathon from 7 PM till midnight.

Movies:
The ridiculous adaptation of Doom, starring The Rock, is on TBS at 10 PM. Rob Zombie's family drama sequel The Devil's Rejects is on IFC at 10:15 PM.

Friday:

Eureka -
Carter has to determine if the return of Henry's ship is linked to the electrical anomalies scaring the town. That's on Syfy at 9 PM.

Movies:
A slacker tries to pull his life together ... while battling the zombies taking over London. The horror spoof Shaun of the Dead is on Comedy Central at 4:30 PM. Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind, about visitors from space and awesome potato sculptures, is on TV Land at 9 PM.

Saturday:

Being Human -
Mitchell befriends a 12-year-old and Lauren returns to test his willpower, or does she? Meanwhile, since Annie has finally figured out Owen's true nature, she becomes, well, a terror. And George and Nina's romance slows down on BBC America at 9 PM.

Movies:
The Terminators pits human resistance fighters against cyborgs built to serve mankind. This straight-to-video knock-off of James Cameron's classic airs on Syfy at 9 PM.

Sunday:

True Blood -
Eric gets inside Sookie's head, as we get even closer to the greatest bloody love triangle of the year becoming a reality. Hoyt sticks up for Jess and their adorably awkward relationship. Tara's family members finally try to pry her from the grips of Maryann (but for the wrong reasons) and Sam is still avoiding the obsessed Maenad. Meanwhile, AVL spokesperson Nan Flanagan reacts to the Dallas events and Godric surprises the vamp community, all on HBO at 9 PM.

Defying Gravity -
The ship's operating systems shut down for no apparent reason, leading to a severe reminder of Virtuality and more bewilderment as to why that show never had a chance. Meanwhile, we wait for Ron Livingston to use his acting chops, on ABC at 10 PM.