Thor

Stan Lee has been tweeting about his cameo:

Due to Thor, I must start rehearsing my thee's and thou's. So, if thou objecteth not, I wish thee well! 'Nuff saideth.

He could be yanking our chains, but perhaps Lee won't be walking amongst the modern mortals. [Twitter]

John Carter of Mars

We get a casting call for several human characters and one Martian:

Synopsis: A damaged civil war veteran finds himself mysteriously transported to Mars where his involvements with warring races of the dying planet force him to rediscover his humanity.

[STABLE BOY] 9 yrs old, Mestizo – a mixture of European and Native American or Mexican decent, no lines, 1 scene

[DIX] The storekeeper, 40's – 50's, built like a lumberjack/longshoreman, strong & husky, 5 lines, 1 scene

[1ST ROWDY] Late 20's – early 30's, rough and dirty, worn looking, 1 line, 1 scene

[2ND ROWDY] Late 20's – early 30's, rough and dirty, worn looking, 1 line, 1 scene

[CAVALRYMAN/SERGEANT] Early 30's, clean cut, 2 lines, 1 scene

[US STOCKADE PRISON GUARD] Mid 20's – early 30's, clean cut, 4 lines, 2 scenes

[APACHE LEADER] 40's - 60s, Native American, must speak Apache, wise and experienced with a weathered face. Multiple lines, 1 scene

[TWITCHY CORPORAL] 20's - 30s, a shifty bad guy, not to be trusted. 1 line, 1 scene.

[YOUNG THARK WARRIOR] 20'S, tall (6' PLUS), athletic, experience working on stilts, MOTION PICTURE CAPTURE ROLE

[SpoilerTV-Movies]

Deadpool

Rumor has it that Zombieland writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick will pen the Deadpool script. [Cinematical]

Green Lantern

Ryan Reynolds wants to quell fears that he'll play the Green Lantern too close to Deadpool:

"I think there was some concern that I would make Green Lantern some kind of wise-cracking Wade Wilson-type, and that's not the case at all," he explained. "If that's what they wanted, why would I have screen-tested for the movie?"

[MTV]

Avatar

The final poster gives us more floating heads. [/Film]

Lesbian Vampire Killers

New images give us some busty bloodsuckers. [ShockTillYouDrop]

The Wolfman

The werewolf movie has earned itself an R rating from the MPAA "for bloody horror, violence and gore." [ShockTillYouDrop]

True Blood

We'll be seeing more of vampire Pam next season. Kirstin Bauer is being upgraded to series regular, and Pam is getting a "meaty" storyline — and maybe a girlfriend. [The Hollywood Reporter]

Lost

Jin and Sun have been filming scenes set in the alternate reality at the Turtle Bay Hilton. In those scenes, we'll also see Keamy, Omar, and Russian Other Mikial. [DarkUFO]

Striptease workout entrepreneur Sheila Kelley will be in at least four episodes this season, but won't be playing corporate spy Kendall. As for whether her stripping skills will coming into play:

"Once you see what I'm doing on Lost, you'll get the humor in that. I guess you can say I'm bringing some of the skills onto Lost, but not as obviously as you might think."

She also says she (Kelley, not her character) is "obsessed" with Sayid, leading to speculation that she'll have some scenes with Naveen Andrews. [E!]

And a set spy grabbed a photo of the new submarine. Larger image at the link. [DarkUFO]

Fringe

Walter's wife and Peter's mother has been cast at last. Irish actress Orla Brady will play the smart and likable third member of the Bishop family. [EW]

Better Off Ted

Creator Victor Fresco says that we'll see some progress in Linda and Ted's relationship by the end of the season, and the relationship between Linda and Veronica will begin to thaw. The two women will have a few adventures together and will develop a grudging, but mutual, respect. Ted's wilder brother comes to town, played by Eddie McClintock. Ted's brother hasn't had a lot of luck with Jobs, so Ted gets him a job at Veridian Dynamics. But his brother screws up one too many times, so Ted lands him a job selling lab equipment. Phil and Lem end up being his best customers, buying all sorts of stuff they don't need, including a cadaver supply membership. Key line: "Every day we get a new dead body whether we're finished with the old one or not." The show also gets a new cast member in Merrin Dungey. She appears in three or four episodes, including one episode where Linda tries to comfort her and ends up accused of sexual harassment. But Veridian deals with its sexual harassment problem by having it reclassified as a disease so that no one can sue for it. [E!]

Heroes

This season's 19th episode is titled "Brave New World." [Spoiler TV]

Additional reporting by Josh Snyder.

In "The Five Stages," he can't. Which is just one of its many, many problems as an episode. Unfortunately it was also an episode where we finally get to take a good, long look at the carnival and it's so painfully pasteurized that you'll want to inject your eyes with heroin just to feel normal. So what's brewing among the carnies, anyway? Well, now that Hot Tattoo has told swordy Edgar that Samuel killed his brother, and Edgar escaped with help from Hiro, Samuel needs a new right-hand man. He picks a guy who has about a zillion right hands because he's a "multiplier," which means he can make a ton of copies of himself. In addition, this adds further evidence to the idea that every single power on Heroes was ripped off from X-Men. Honestly, they can't pay somebody to come up with a few cool, interesting powers that we haven't seen before?

Anyway Samuel is playing around with MultiBoy now, and asks him to deliver a message to HRG and the other Primatech emeriti. He also starts lecturing everybody within earshot about how awful the world is, and speculating about whether "we are the last generation on Earth." This lecture eventually merges spongily with a mishmash of Magneto-isms about how the mutants should live proudly out in the open (or at least in the scrubby fields of Southern Ohio) and have a homeland (in Southern Ohio). I think we all know what this mega-quake-causing dude is leading up to. MAKE US YOUR CARNIE RULERS OR WE'LL SHOVE THESE TECTONIC PLATES UP YOUR ASS.

Meanwhile, inexplicably, Hot Tattoo is still sucking up to Samuel even though she's said she knows what he did. I guess that's because her Sprint-sponsored daughter wants to stay in the carnival.

Then, in the only interesting subsubsubplot of the episode, Lauren comes over to HRG's place and he thinks he's on a date. When he confesses that he got married "before the sexual revolution," so he has no idea how to act, Lauren suddenly gets all weird and says, "Who said anything about sex?" Excuse me, missy, but I have a lot to say about you having sex with HRG because you guys are the only interesting couple on the show and you've been totally flirting with him. But OK, fine, I guess it's non-sexual flirting. I can accept that. But NO! I can't accept it because then when HRG gets a call and has to go to work, Lauren gets all up in his face and whiny about how he's canceling their date. WTF??? Are we on a date or not? And if we ARE on a date, then don't get all mean about how HRG used the word "sexual revolution." Is her mutant power killing anybody who has sex with her? Because if it's not, then she needs to be a little bit nicer when her DATE uses a phrase that contains the word sex. What is my point here? Don't fuck with my ship.

But in the meantime, on the date that might not be a date, Lauren isn't afraid to use all her CIA powers to help HRG use a phone to locate Claire and the carnival on Google maps. Did you know that SPRINT CAN USE TEH GOOG? Thankfully, Heroes has told you. Also, again with the bad product placement - why would you want to buy a phone that allows off-duty CIA agents to track you recreationally on Google? Isn't that bad somehow? My point ultimately is that Lauren and HRG are sublimating all that ambiguous sexual stuff into engaging in an extremely illegal game of stalk-the-Claire.

But that's just nothing compared to how Sylar and Peter are sublimating THEIR sexual tension. Oh my goodness. We join our buxom boys right after Mama Petrelli tells Peter that he hasn't entered the fifth stage of grief - you know, the one where you realize that your dead brother has been reconstituted as a mindfrak inside the head of a serial-killing mutant. So Peter, always the overachiever, decides to leapfrog right to the seventh stage of grief, where you take the powers of Rene the Haitian so that you can turn off Sylar's powers, beat the crap out of him, breathe heavily into his face while you lie on top of him dripping sweat and other bodily fluids, and tell him to give himself "body and soul" to your brother Nathan. Oh yeah, that stage of grief. We've all been there.

The fight scene between the newly-enhottened Peter and the always-smokin Sylar is probably the greatest moment in homoeroticism since I watched that Billy Herrington video. The fact is that Sylar has gone from being an extraneous character who should have died at the end of season 1, to being a cocktease for every person who wishes he would just have a giant gay mutant moment with Peter and then go around using his powers to turn every other hot guy on the show gay. Maybe they could bring back Invisible Man Christopher Eccleston for a Very Special Sylar Mutant Gay Episode. Seriously, how are we supposed to watch this "we are using wrestling as an excuse to give you some softcore homotastic moments" and not feel frustrated?

I'll tell you how: First of all, the lameness; Second of all, the drooly, dorky look on Peter's face when the homogasm is over (see video). Let's begin by investigating the aforementioned lameness. Why would Peter be so stupid as to believe that Nathan is really inside Sylar, or that even if he WERE, that Sylar isn't faking letting him out so that Peter will get all shmoopy with him? More to the point: WHY DOES PETER BELIEVE THAT SYLAR HAS BECOME NATHAN AGAIN? We don't know. The double lameness is that Peter doesn't kill Sylar when he has a chance, especially given that he should know Sylar is in there AND given that he never really liked Nathan anyway. Seriously, what is this, the millionth time that somebody had a chance to kill Sylar and didn't?

And as for the tragic edge-of-the-roof goodbye suicide moment, whoa. Peter does NOT look good from that angle. And of course as soon as Sylar falls out of range of Rene's powers, he reSylarizes and looks mega-hot while Peter is still in crumple-face mode. I am going to have to take back everything I said about Peter rehottening, because that scene just drained all the sex out of every relationship on this show, and I think we can probably blame it for making Lauren not want to jump HRG's bones right away.

As if all this wasn't awful enough, Claire decides to stay at the carnival for a while after watching some meathead non-mutant beat up on Samuel - which is all part of Samuel's plan to make himself appear sensitive even though he's a dirt-loving protofascist. Turns out the meathead even has a good reason for punching Sammy, since the carnival's business model is using mutant powers to rip people off. I love the idea that Claire thinks the carnival is where "we can all be ourselves" - which means cheating and lying to regular folk for cash. During the carnival scenes, which Gretchen correctly identifies as a "bad Fellini movie," I kept wishing the Jim Rose Sideshow would come in and beat the shit out of everybody. Especially when Hot Tattoo gives Claire a "reading," and a tattoo of Claire shows up on her back over the words "indestructible girl."

Claire laughs and says, "So I'm going to have a circus act?" And Hot Tattoo is all, "no, that isn't your future - it's your desire." WTF kind of power is "I show you your desire represented as a circus freak act"? And also, that doesn't explain what she showed Samuel at the beginning of the season - people who were clearly in his future, not his "desire." Unless he "desires" Hiro and Sylar (which could be kind of awesome, once I wash that image of Peter's face out of my neocortex).

There is even a fuckwitty scene of Claire integrating into the carnie life by telling a bunch of carnie kids a story about a very special frog who wanted to be special. But then the thing that really clinches her wish to join up is running into the puppetmaster guy who mind-raped her and her mother and tried to murder them. But now he's better because he's a carnie who cheats people out of small amounts of cash? Why would she want to join a group where people use their powers to mess with unwitting tourists and her former mind-rapist is hanging out having a blast?

Could it be that she's persuaded by Samuel's dumb speech about how families are about love, which is why the carnies need to recruit as many mutants as possible to come live in their "a homeland." Are the mutants supposed to be Jews now? Wandering in Southern Ohio until they find their homeland? Seriously? Wow, I have just discovered that my mutant power is an ability to slap my palm into my face 40 thousand times per second.

Tune in next year when nobody has sex and Sylar remains completely irrelevant unless he has some gay and/or "questioning" mutant experiences. Seriously - Zach Quinto needs hot mutant boy action that doesn't end in scrunchyface tears.

Green Lantern:

Like last year's Iron Man movie, we'll get a sense of why Hal is in the Green Lantern costume, not just what the costume is, and the most interesting scenes will involve Hal out of his costume. Also, this won't be a traditional origin story, that labors over setting up the character, says Ryan Reynolds:

It is [an origin story] to a certain degree, but it's not a labored origin story, where the movie [truly] begins in the third act. The movie starts when it starts. We find out Hal is the guy fairly early on, and the adventure begins.

[MTV via Cinemablend]

Jonah Hex:

Here's a new synopsis for this fantastical cowboy movie, releasing next June:

Jonah Hex (Josh Brolin) is a scarred drifter and bounty hunter of last resort, a tough and stoic gunslinger who can track down anyone…and anything. Having survived death, Jonah's violent history is steeped in myth and legend, and has left him with one foot in the natural world and one on the "other side." His only human connection is with Leila (Megan Fox), whose life in a brothel has left her with scars of her own. But Jonah's past is about to catch up with him when the U.S. military makes him an offer he can't refuse: in exchange for his freedom from the warrants on his head, he must track down and stop the dangerous terrorist Quentin Turnbull (John Malkovich). But Turnbull, who is gathering an army and preparing to unleash Hell, is also Jonah's oldest enemy and will stop at nothing until Jonah is dead. Based on the legendary graphic novel, "Jonah Hex" is an epic adventure thriller about one man's personal quest for redemption against the vast canvas of the battle between good and evil.

[CinemaBlend]

Doctor Who:

Fans are speculating based on watching the filming that Rory (Arthur Darvill) will be traveling in the TARDIS, and will turn up in episodes 1, 6, 8, and 9. Possibly, he joins the TARDIS crew after Amy meets River Song and finds out about the great future that River and the Doctor share. And apparently "The End Of Time" features Sinead Keenan as Addams, one of the mysterious shape-shifting Vinvocci.

And the fans have come up with this somewhat speculative list of the season's episodes, with writers and directors:

1. "The Eleventh Hour" (w: Steven Moffat, d: Adam Smith)
2. "TBA" (w: Moffat, d: Adam Gunn)
3. "TBA" (w: Mark Gatiss, d: Adam Gunn)
4/5 "The Time Of Angels"/"The Flesh And Stone" (w: Moffat, d: Smith)
6. "Vampires Of Venice" (w: Toby Whithouse, d: Jonny Campbell)
7. "TBA" (w: Gareth Roberts or Amanda Coe, d: ?)
8/9. "TBA"/"Cold Blood" (w: Chris Chibnall, d: Ashley Way)
10. "Vincent And The Doctor (working title?)" (w: Richard Curtis, d: Jonny Campbell)
11. "TBA" (w: Gareth Roberts, d: ?)
12/13. "TBA" (w: Moffat, d: ?)
14. Christmas special (w: Moffat, d: ?)

[GallifreyBase and GallifreyBase]

And here are a couple of new photos (which aren't particularly startling) from "The End Of Time Part 1". [Den Of Geek]

Dollhouse:

The show is casting its last ever episode — unless you all convince every Nielsen family you know to tune in on Friday! — and we'll meet a new Active, named Romeo. He's a big bruiser with a shaved head and tattoos — which you might think would limit his versatility. He can be programmed to be anything — as long as it involves having lots of tattoos. [E! Online]

Fringe:

Don't let the mentions of Kirk Acevedo in press releases for upcoming episodes fool you. Acevedo is gone, and won't be coming back. [E! Online]

In episode 2x15, we'll meet Carla, a "smart, interesting, quirky" scientist in her late 20s or early 30s. [SpoilerTV]

FlashForward:

Dominic Monaghan was on KTLA talking about what's next for his character on this show. [SpoilerTV]

And because the U.S. is now behind Australia on this show, here's the promo for next week's episode, "Buddha In The Ruins":

And also because of that fact, here are some details about Thursday's episode, "A561984." The mystery lady who's called about Demetri's murder looks over some newspaper articles, and then Demetri and Mark go after her, and it ends in a gunfight. Lloyd makes a statement to the public which ends up with a gun shooting at him. Simon goes to the FBI and looks at the towers, saying they are his towers — but he designed them in 1992 and they were created in 1991. Mark loses his job. The mystery of Demetri's wedding is explained. D. Gibbons is revealed — and turns out to be linked to someone we know. Lloyd and Olivia seem to be getting along, and the episode ends with a Lloyd/Olivia cliffhanger. [The ODI]

True Blood:

Prison Break's Marshall Allman is joining the cast as Tommy Mickens, Sam Merlotte's long lost brother who works at a Tire Depot in Arkansas. [Hollywood Reporter]

And in the season's second episode, we'll meet two more members of the Mickens clan, the fiftysomething Melinda Mickens and her husband Joe Lee. Plus Crystal Norris, a barefoot sundress-wearing woman who shares an electric connection with Jacob before vanishing into the forest. And Ruby Jean Reynolds, a homophobic African American woman being cared for in a private facility; a German werewolf seen in a World War II flashback; Calvin Norris, a rugged, bare-chested man who's upset when the police search his trailer; and Shane And Kris, two hillbillies who disrespect the dead — and when Shane won't apologize, Tara beats him up. Plus a biker/werewolf who menaces Sookie. [SpoilerTV]

Smallville:

And in case you didn't already know this, the CW is still hot to trot to get a tenth season of this "wake me when he's Superman" show. [E! Online]

And just in case we didn't already share them, here are a couple new pics of JSA members Stargirl and Dr. Fate, plus a higher-res pic of Hawkman. [OSCK]

Heroes:

Here are some new season four promo pics. [SpoilerTV]

Additional reporting by Josh C. Snyder.

Monday

It's the usual Monday evening decision between Fox's House, wherein the West Wing's Joshua Malina guests as a former patient of Wilson's who's now a little bit too close to dying for everyone's comfort, and NBC's Heroes, which promises an "unexpected destination" for Claire and Peter, who are struggling to come to terms with the truth. Both of them air at 8pm, so feel free to choose House and read our Heroes recap, instead. You know it'll be easier on everyone.

Tuesday

Prophets of Science Fiction on the Science Channel at 9pm is about it, now that V has slunk its way off-screen for a few months (And am I the only person who spent the last episode waiting for a big lizard reveal, only to be thwarted? They even talked about skinning an alien just to tease us, the bastards). But in many ways, this documentary about science fiction creators whose work predicted the future is likely to be less frustrating than ABC's alien drama, even if it may not be more entertaining.

Wednesday

While Mythbusters carries on Kari-less on Discovery at 9pm (Adam and Jamie look into whether you can escape from jail using antacids, while I continue to unfairly criticize newgirl Jessi Combs purely because of my love for the missing Ms. Byron), ABC's Eastwick begins to draw to a conclusion with new episode "Tasers and Mind Erasers."

Thursday

With the CW shows on reruns, your evening viewing is wide open for a helping of Flashforward at 8 pm on ABC and Fringe at 9 on Fox. This week's FF promises to reveal more about Demetri's future death, Zoey's flashforward and, most excitingly, what actually caused the flashforward itself. Meanwhile, Fringe gets out the Lovecraftian influence as "Snakehead" reveals a spooky squidlike creature burrowing into host bodies. Calamari will never be the same again.

Friday

If new episodes of Ghost Whisperer and Medium on CBS (at 8pm and 9, respectively) or Stargate Universe and Sanctuary on Syfy (at 9pm and 10, respectively) don't float your boat — Although, SGU sees Young handing over command of the Destiny to Camille when he's accused of murder aboard the ship, so maybe you should tune into that just in case — then there's only one thing that could take your attention (Well, beside Star Wars: The Clone Wars on Cartoon Network at 9).

And that's the return of Dollhouse, with two new episodes starting on Fox at 8pm. "The Public Eye/The Left Hand" sees Senator Wesley From Angel finally stop talking and start doing something in his so-far-useless campaign against the Dollhouse, while Topher and Adelle meet a programmer with a connection to Echo and - Oh, never mind. All you want to know is this: It's the episode with Summer Glau. See? Now you'll tune in.

Saturday

NBC is showing the best Fantastic Four movie ever made, The Incredibles at 8:30pm. I'm sure most of you already own it on DVD though, right?

Sunday

Sure, Sunday night still belongs to The Venture Bros (a new episode is on Cartoon Network at midnight), but we're still kind of tempted by Syfy's Alice revival, from the people who brought you Tin Man. Bringing the story up to date and adding in various contemporary re-readings of famous scenes, there's always the possibility of things going totally wrong and it turning out to be another Prisoner, but we have hope nonetheless...

There have been only a few notable Thanksgiving episodes of science-fiction TV shows — after all, not all SF stories even take place inside the United States. But science fiction and fantasy are always happy to remind us that gathering a bunch of characters together at a table is a recipe for stress and disaster.

Cuddly sitcom alien Alf was a huge fan of Thanksgiving, as this bizarre moment from the 1989 Macy's Thanksgiving Parade shows. But Alf went further — his show devoted a whole two-part episode, "Turkey In The Straw," to the holiday.

In that episode, everybody's favorite lovable alien puppet causes a stir when he eats the family turkey, raw. And it all goes downhill from there, when no replacement can be found the Tanners end up at dinner with the crazy neighbors. Then you add in the homeless person that Alf has been leaving clothes and food, and it's a "very special episode" to remember. You can watch it on Youtube

Buffy the Vampire Slayer featured a slayer Thanksgiving in the episode "Pangs." After her mother announces she's leaving town for the holiday, Buffy decides to take over Thanksgiving duties herself. She ends up so obsessed with the idea of the perfect meal that she starts neglecting her slayer duties, as the vengeful spirit of the Chumash tribe starts murdering people. Maybe we don't all have Native American spirits infecting our best friend's penis with horrible diseases, but most people can relate to craziness and stress that our expectations of "the perfect Thanksgiving" can create. Not to mention the final moment when someone lets a secret slip and creates an awkward silence.

Plus, now all geeks everywhere can call the holiday a "ritual sacrifice with pie" and complain about yam shams.

And then of course, there was the Heroes episode the other day, which proves we're still working through our emotions with respect to this particular holiday. Once again, one of our protagonists wants to create the perfect family Thanksgiving, and as always their plans are entirely thwarted by drama.

But even apart from those three examples of Thanksgiving in media SF, there are plenty of other warnings that a table spread with food is a dangerous thing. In Star Wars, our heroes almost become part of the celebratory meal. In Alien, as soon as everybody tucks into their food, somebody's chest bursts open.

But two recent fantasy films prove that the most dangerous combination in film is children and food.

In Pan's Labyrinth, Ofelia has been denied food, when the faun appears to her and tells her to perform another task for him. She's sent into the lair of The Pale Man, who sits motionless in front of a sumptuous and tempting feast. The faun has told Ofelia not to eat anything from the table, and at first she listens and completes her task. But the temptation is too great, and when she samples the food The Pale Man comes to life and pursues her in what is one of the most frightening scenes in recent cinema history.

In another film about a little girl with a huge imagination, Coraline is drawn into a world populated by her Other Mother and Other Father, who have buttons for eyes. In her real world, the food her mother makes is unappetizing and sparse. But in this other world, there is more than enough home-cooked food to go around. The animators worked hard to sculpt food that looks completely delicious, no matter what it may have been made of. The Other Mother's table includes a gravy train, and cakes that with magic icing. All Coraline has to do to stay there and eat her fill is agree to have buttons sewn over her eyes.

But let's not leave things on a downer note — it's not always true that every fantastical feast has to end miserably. In the Lost episode "Everybody Hates Hugo," the survivors have found a cache of food in the hatch. Hurley is given the task of cataloging it and rationing it. This makes him remember the things he went through when he won the lottery, and after briefly considering blowing up the pantry, he instead decides to give all the food away all at once. The survivors enjoy the food together, in a moment of good will and companionship.

So before you sit down to your meal with your family, friends, or fellow superheroes, tell us in the comments what your favorite science-fictional feast scene is. And please pass the plate of mashed potatoes shaped like Devil's Tower.

Doctor Who:

In an interview with Bullz-Eye.com to promote Pirate Radio, fifth series writer Richard Curtis revealed who will be playing featured guest star Vincent Van Gogh:

Well, we've got a brilliant guy playing Vincent van Gogh – which is who it's about – who you should look up on YouTube. He's a guy called Tony Curran, who really could not look more like. He's a wonderful actor who was in this brilliant movie called "Red Road" that came out, a rather serious movie.

He also mentioned they start shooting the episode in about a month. [Blogtor Who]

Elsewhere, a very Scottish-sounding John Barrowman appeared on GMTV with Lorraine to promote his new concert DVD and talk about "The End of Time." Skip to 2:15 as he slips back into his American accent to discuss his role, which apparently is just "an appearance." [Planet Gallifrey]

Dollhouse:

I think it's been fairly well reported that Alan Tudyk is coming back as Alpha, but now we've got a photo of him and a description of episodes 2.7 and 2.8, in which he appears:

DOLLHOUSE season 2 episode 7 and 8 "Meet Jane Doe/A Love Supreme" - Echo struggles to control her multiple memory downloads; Topher discovers the dangers of science that will have devastating effects on the future; the Dollhouse fears Alpha has returned to seek his revenge; the Actives turn against their handlers.

And here's that picture. [Spoiler TV]

Michael Ausiello reports English actor Adam Godley, probably best known to American audiences for his role as Father Ybarra in The X-Files: I Want to Believe is joining the cast as Clyde, "a genius who holds secrets to the Dollhouse." The role is recurring as any role can be when there are less than ten episodes left in the series. He also has a complete breakdown of the air dates for the remaining episodes: [EW.com]

Dec. 4: two episodes
Dec. 11: two episodes
Dec 18: two episodes
Jan 8: one episode
Jan 15: one episode
Jan 22: one episode (series finale)

Finally, here are a bunch more promo pics for the next four episodes. [Spoiler TV]

Thor:

Another day, another casting possibility for Kat Dennings. Apparently, Dennings twittered something about "loving Hell", which naturally means she will play Hela, the Asgardian goddess of death. [Spoiler TV]

Meanwhile, Variety reports she's playing "Darcy, who works with Natalie Portman's Jane Foster character." That's probably the same person as the previously reported Marcy Lewis, but who really knows? At this point, it's probably just safe to assume Kenneth Branagh has actually turned Thor into a one-woman show, starring Dennings in all the parts, including Thor. [IGN]

Chuck:

Here's a six-minute preview of the third season, complete with clips from the first five episodes:

According to Michael Ausiello, co-creator Chris Fedak says Anna Wu won't be in the first thirteen episodes, but she could be in the newly ordered last six, if only because they haven't been written yet. He also notes that her character's absence from the Buy More will be mentioned early next season. Finally, Fedak says the extra six episodes forced them to either slow down the story they were already telling or expand it. They opted to expand it, and are treating those last six as "Season 3.2" of Chuck. [ChuckTV.net]

And, last and sort of least, here are a couple photos tweeted from a season 3 photo shoot.

Fringe:

Here are three promo pics for episode 2.10, "Grey Matters", in which Walter gets a glimpse of the past: [Spoiler TV]

Heroes:

Here's a sneak peek and a promo for episode 4.11, "The Fifth Stage": [Spoiler TV]

For those who prefer to keep their audio and their visual separate, here are some promo pics:

And here's a scoop from Adam of TV Guide Mega Buzz: [Spoiler TV]

Todd Stashwick (The Riches) kicks off his guest role in Monday's episode. He plays Eli, who fills the void as Samuel's right-hand man now that Edgar (Ray Park) has split from the carnival. Also, expect to see a lot of Eli: He has the ability to replicate.

Smallville:

Michael Ausiello has the scoop on whether Warrior Angel is really going to be Chloe's love interest:

He is, but per exec producer Brian Petersen, "There's a wink behind it." And what about a real, non-winky love interest? "I have promised that we're going to give Chloe a relationship this year, and rest-assured, that was not just a tease. She will have a relationship this year." Does this guy have a name? Teases BP: "We'll know [who he is] in ‘Warrior.'"

Also, there will be Justice Society members seen in the upcoming movie Absolute Justice beyond Hawkman, Doctor Fate, and Stargirl, but these will be only glimpses. Brian Peterson does promise there will be several of them, though. Let's hope Ma Hunkel finally gets her due. [EW.com]

Finally, though V is on a break, there's apparently no chance Laura Vandervoort will return as Supergirl, much as she might like to. [Spoiler TV]

Green Lantern:

Ryan Reynolds spoke to MTV about his next big movie, and he mentioned how awesome the constume is: [IGN]

"Seeing the prototypes for the Green Lantern costumes was a huge moment," he says. "It was a moment when I was like, 'This is happening, and it's happening in the right way.' That's a pretty cool, definitive moment for me."

Deadpool:

Reynolds also talked about what he wanted to see in his upcoming Deadpool spinoff movie: [IGN]

"Everyone is always looking for that one line, 'What is that character?' and for me it's kind of like, 'There's a guy, and he's in a highly militarized comedic fame spiral,'" the actor explains. "That's not an easy thing to write — an entire screenplay, let alone a franchise. I had a blast playing Wade [in Wolverine]. Every line I had in that was stuff I thought he would say. It wasn't something that a writer said to me. It was fun to really create that character, including everything he spits out of his awful mouth."

V:

As the series heads into hiatus, star Morena Baccarin talked to E! Online about the dynamic she has with Scott Wolf's character, the conflicted newsman Chad Decker: [E! Online]

The relationship is definitely going to keep going in whatever strange direction it's going now. You don't really know if they're going to fight each other, love each other, or if she's going to eat him. You don't know what's going to happen! It gets really interesting in the episode that comes out on Tuesday. Something happens to his character that makes him very dependent on us. He has to sort of battle with his will to see what he's going to do. It's a very interesting dynamic.

Lost:

A tweet-sized filming update for season six. Apparently, "characters Sun, Locke & Claire spotted at Manoa trail head yesterday." [Lyly Ford Blog]

Avatar:

Here's a new Norwegian poster that's all about the disembodied heads.

Wolfman:

Benicio Del Toro's upcoming Wolfman movie has a new international poster:

The Book of Eli

Denzel Washington's post-apocalyptic thriller has a new poster out that is long on Denzel Washington, short on the post-apocalyptic:Cinema Blend

For some reason, everything related to Claire is great this season. Her lesbotic leanings brought in a cool new character, Gretchen, along with the chance that we might actually see some homo action on this rather straightlaced series. Her father, HRG, has left the mutant oppression business and is trying to find himself, along with his long-lost special agent partner/proto-lover Lauren (another great character). Meanwhile, Claire's mom has found a boyfriend who loves dogs as much as she does. And lucky for us, all these plot developments make for a beautifully awkward Thanksgiving dinner at HRG's apartment.

What I thought was genuinely fun about this scene, excerpted for you above, is the way it seamlessly combined an ordinary moment of family meltdown with HRG's evil agent past and Claire's mutant powers. This is Heroes at its best, speculating about how extraordinary people continue to lead rather ordinary lives. Even better is when Gretchen finally shows up, flirting ensues, and the two girls secretly decide to roadtrip out to Samuel's carnival with a compass that Claire stole from HRG. Lesbotic road trip with carnie action, here we come!

And then there was the Petrelli family dinner, which began with scary Mama P having her servants bring a bunch of prepared food to Peter's apartment where Nylar (AKA Body Sylar, Head Sylar, and Head Nathan) are brooding broodingly about being all screwed up by Mama. All the emo ends quickly when Sylar returns in an insanely cheesy burst of lightning and eats an entire pumpkin pie (but leaves the crust! WTF?). So now Sylar is back, but Nathan is still somehow able to fight him. In fact, by the end of the episode Nathan has emerged again to take over Body Sylar. The whole thing was a perfect scenario for a family controlled by scary Mama, whose sons are just pawns in a game so complicated we've completely lost track of it.

The episode was capped off by a lovely moment with the carnie family, where scary Samuel toasts everybody menacingly and Sprint sponsored a subplot where Hot Tattoo's hot daughter is in danger of becoming Samuel's little plaything. While everybody prepares turkey with their mutant stove powers, Hiro and Hot Tattoo sneak off into the past and witness (bum bum bum!) Samuel murdering his brother! It turns out his brother had given HRG that compass so he could find Samuel and reel him in.

Before Samuel shoots a rock into his brother's neck, he also reveals that Samuel's power could move mountains and cities and "kill millions," which gets our boy pretty excited. "I knew I was missing out on something!" he cries. Yeah, putting on eyeliner and black nailpolish all day is nothing compared to making whole cities do the pogo. So now Hot Tattoo and Hiro know the truth about Samuel's brother, and Hot Tattoo told Edgar too. But Edgar isn't really that smart, especially when he's not wearing his Sith gear. So he jumps up at the T-day table and accuses Samuel of doing the dirty deed, and then Samuel counter-accuses him of doing it.

You've gotta love a carnie Thanksgiving where the guys argue over who killed their brother. Meanwhile everybody else is all "this is aaaaawkward" and tries to pretend the mutant stuffing is super tasty. When Samuel tries to hurl rocks into Edgar, Hiro stops time and rescues the speedy knife-thrower. Then he puts the smackdown on Samuel and is like, "You need me. I'm not going to do anything for you until you tell me where Charlie is." I like Hiro with a backbone. But then one of the carnies does a brain-mangle on Hiro that is supposed to make him easier to control but instead causes him to disappear. Samuel's plans are just not going well! That's just what happens when you get the carnies together for family dinner - fratricide, time-hopping, dirt-hurling, and mind-scrambling. It's a fine American tradition.

Thor

Although initial speculation had Kat Dennings playing the Enchantress, some folks think it's more likely that she'll be playing college student Marcy Lewis based on the previously mentioned casting call:

[MARCY LEWIS] (20) Is a college student. Aloof, jaded beyond her years, she thought her internship with scientist Kate Spelling would be an easy 6 college credits. However, she's been stuck for months in this small New Mexico town and relegated to a wide range of unglamorous activities. Kate has been particularly hard on Marcy, making it her personal project to see that Marcy lives up to her potential. Marcy deals with her situation both by using subtle irony and by being an overt wiseass.

After all, Dennings is known for playing overt wiseasses. [Cinema Blend]

Iron Man

The latest issue of Empire Magazine has our hero on the cover. It looks like the new Iron Man is essentially the same as the old Iron Man. [via Cinema Blend]

Avatar

We get another good look at Pandora in CNN's feature on the film. [CNN]

And, in case you didn't get enough of him on 60 Minutes, CNN does an interview with James Cameron. [CNN]

Zoë Saldana says that to prepare for the role of Neytiri, she had to study wushu, a Shaolin kung fu that bases its stances on wild animals. [Details]

The Wolfman

The latest behind-the-scenes featurette plays on our nostalgia for old Universal horror flicks. [via Cinema Blend]

The Hobbit

Peter Jackson says that the studio has seen the first script for Guillermo del Toro's The Hobbit, and they're happy with what they've seen so far. [/Film]

Zombieland 2

Sony is very interested in making a sequel to the hit zombie comedy, and it looks like we'll see it in 3D, with zombies, weapons, and teeth flying around the screen. [Cinema Blend]

The Lovely Bones

Two new clips from Peter Jackson's heavenly movie introduce us to the soon-to-be-murdered Susie Salmon and the man who kills her. [via Collider]

Doctor Who

The TV magazines take a quick look at David Tennant's last episode. [Blogtor Who]

More significantly, we get a fresh image from "The End of Time." Is this one of Tennant's final scenes with the TARDIS? And notice the book Tennant is holding — Finding The Future by Joshua Naismith. You might recall the bus in "Planet Of The Dead" had ads that mentioned Naismith's telecommunications company, Neon by Naismith. Naismith turns up as a character in "The End Of Time." [Den of Geek]

Clone Wars

Uh-oh. It looks like that Geonosian zombie infection might be catching. The Galactic Senate has issued the following health warning:

Lost

More confusing comments are emerging about these darned alternate timelines. Although everyone's been seeing tons of spoilers about the timeline where Oceanic 815 lands safely, supposedly something necessary for he alternate timeline to occur doesn't happen. Is that vague enough for you? Also, it's not a coincidence that the season premieres on Groundhog Day. [E!]

Fringe

After February 11th, the producers are apparently going to leave us hanging for a seven-week hiatus. Bah. [E!]

But before that happens, we get a whole mess of interviews from Lance Reddick, Anna Torv, John Noble, Michael Cerveris, and executive producer Jeff Pinkner. [Fringe Television]

V

Morris Chestnut talks a bit about being a human-aligned Visitor and audience feedback.

And Morena Baccarin explains a bit about Anna, and why she's drawn to science fiction projects.

Chuck

We get a four-minute preview of the new season, and witness how Chuck's new Intersect powers can make Sarah swoon. [via Screen Rant]

FlashForward</>

Joseph Fiennes creates a hostage situation in this clip from "A561984."

Heroes

Peter tries to save Nathan in this still from the November 30th episode, "The Fifth Stage." Incidentally, the fifth stage of grief is acceptance. [Spoiler TV]

The season's sixteenth episode is titled "The Art of Deception," and the seventeenth is "The Wall." [Spoiler TV]

Outer Space Astronauts

Syfy's new quasi-animated series premieres December 8th, but you can watch the first episode in its entirety below. [via Cinema Blend]

Additional reporting by Josh Snyder and Charlie Jane Anders.

So here are the most insane SF soaps we could think of — but I bet we missed some good ones. What are your favorites? Pipe up in comments with the lurid details!

Top image by Dennys Ilic. Additional reporting by Josh C. Snyder.

Heroes

You can pick any character from this show and get a headache trying to figure out all the story twists he or she has gone through. Take Matt Parkman: He's trying to keep his marriage together — No, wait! Now he's living with Mohinder and co-parenting Molly the mutant-detecting girl! — No, wait! Molly is out of the picture! And now Matt is becoming an African-esque shaman! — No, wait! Now Matt is in love with Daphne the speedster, who's the Love Of His Life! — No, wait! Now Matt is back with his wife, and will never think about Daphne again! — No, wait! Etc. etc. etc. My favorite, though, is probably Peter's girlfriend trapped in an alternate dystopian future — whom we will never mention again! Ha ha ha ha urk. (Matt Loves Daphne wallpaper from Fanpop.)

Alias

This show started off pretty coherent — but around the third brainwashing or the tenth revelation that Sidney's mother's cousin was really the spy behind brainwashing Sidney to think her half-sister was a chicken. I defy anybody to explain to me the tangled backstory of the Bristow family.

The Cat Who Walked Through Walls by Robert A. Heinlein:

I made a dreadful mistake: This was the first Heinlein book I ever read — and it may have ruined me for Heinlein forever. In the late Heinlein novels, every character ever shows up, and they mostly have sex together, interspersed with a lot of drama and philosophizing. It's a sequel to The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress as well as Number Of The Beast, and features characters from several other books — including Jubal Harshaw, Lazarus Long and Hazel Stone, and it turns out that all of Heinlein's characters have previously unsuspected connections to each other. As reviewer James W. Harris puts it:

Having all of his "good" guys sound like a convention of smarmy talking wife-swappers is just gross. I hate to sound like a teenage girl, but damn, Heinlein's kissy-kissy talk and innuendo just made me want to puke. And making his classic characters act out in this limp-dick porn flick is just tragic. Having them go on and on about how they were going to kill people for bad manners is just a little psycho to me. Evidently a lot of people and situations annoyed the hell out of Heinlein and he used this book to vent. Some people want to call this satire but I think that's whitewash.

Maybe Heinlein lost his mojo and these multiverse stories were the best he could do. Personally, I thought The Rolling Stones was a perfect novel, and bringing back Hazel Stone was a fictionally fuck-up of an idea, ditto for the cast of The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Maybe I am a prude because I just don't want the Hazel Stone, grandmother of Castor and Pollux, joking about being stretched out of shape by giant 25 centimeter cock.

All of Heinlein's personally favorite characters get put into a fictional juicer and blended into weird rabble of sex obsessed mob that chirp a weird innuendo patter and are almost impossible to tell apart. When I read these multiverse stories I can't help but believe that horniness was driving Heinlein crazy. These later stories are preoccupied with sex, killing people, responding to annoying people, the reliability of witnesses, rude people deserving capital punishment, and so on.

Venture Bros.:

At least this show is ridiculous on purpose — the ultra-demented story of the Venture clan has gotten more and more involved, with Sergeant Hatred's struggle against his pedophilic past taking center stage, and deformed clones and weird villain love affairs aplenty. Most of all, there are the labyrinthine family elements crossing over into everything, like the revelation that Dean was also the head of the Guild. The same characters and their families end up being connected in ever more improbable and weird ways, making our heads spin.

Battlestar Galactica:

I have four (or possibly five) words for you: "Hotdog is the father." Whaaa? There's also the great way Baltar went from being a slimy scientist to being a slimy politician to being a slimy cult leader — and what happened to the baby that Baltar and Six were going to have together? Oh and while we're on the subject, what about Saul Tigh being crazy-chicken in love with Caprica Six — until she has a miscarriage, and then he never thinks about her again? It all makes you want to grip your television and scream (in a Krazy Starbuck voice) "You're going the wrong way!"

Sonic The Hedgehog (comics):

According to the always great TVTropes website, this comic-book tie-in to the popular video game went whirling off on crazier tangents than a flying hedgehog on crack. To quote TVTropes:

The Archie Comics Sonic The Hedgehog series twisted Sonic's love life into a Gordian Knot: Originally hooked up with Sally Acorn, she got stuck ruling the country and shoved the relationship to the side to focus on her new duties, prompting Sonic to fall in with Mina Mongoose, starting a rivalry between the two women for Sonic's affection. He then started seeing Fiona Fox on the side, which not only pissed off Mina and Sally, but Tails, as well, who had a crush on her due to falling in love with a robotic duplicate created by Robotnik several years earlier (don't ask). Eventually, Mina got her own boyfriend, Sally got Sonic once again, and Tails got tossed into a brick wall by Fiona, who gave them all the finger to have a relationship with Sonic's evil clone from another universe. And that's not even counting the mini-tangle between Antoine, Sally, Bunnie Rabbot, and Antoine's evil clone from the same universe Fiona's new beau comes from.

Got it? Great.

Gundam Wing:

Okay, let's get this straight... Relena Darlian discovers she's really adopted, and her real name is Relena Peacecraft, one of the last survivors of the pacifistic (duh) Peacecraft tribe. And then it turns out that Zechs Marquise is her long lost older brother. Meanwhile, she gets obsessed with Heero, a young whackjob who keeps announcing he's going to kill her, not unlike the "I'm going to rape you" guy in Welcome To The Dollhouse. And that's just scratching the surface of the most confusing, tangly saga of all time, involving endless backstory and weird family crap.

Angel:

I was going to do Charmed, Angel's fellow WB series which had the whole "my ex-husband is a half-demon" thing, but Angel is so much more ridiculous — mostly because of Cordy, who is in love with Groosalugg, until she's in love with Angel instead, but meanwhile she's turned into a half-demon and then she becomes a Higher Power, until she comes back and has sex with Angel's son — who, as someone points out, is practically her stepson since she helped care for him as a baby — and then becomes pregnant and evil — until she gives birth to an evil god. Nothing on parent show Buffy was as incestuous and ridiculous as Cordy's arc on Angel. Oh, actually, wait — Cordelia was pregnant twice on Angel.

Robotech:

Sure, it was supposedly about the giant mechas, but it was really all about the tragic loves and the tormented Rick-Minmei-Lisa love triangle. To quote Wikipedia,

In early 2013, while sitting at an outdoor cafe, [Lisa] contemplates the love triangle between the three of them when she overhears two men talking about how women were "dealt all the aces" when it comes to relationships, to which Lisa says to herself "that's all you know...here's one woman who would trade every ace in the deck for one Rick Hunter.

Sigh. Twoo Love. Here's a great fanvid featuring the music of White Town. Yay!

X-Men (comics):

This, of course, is the most insane soap opera imaginable. At this point, the X-men have had illegitmate babies from the future, secret love affairs, doomed passions and multiple bad transcriptions of all sorts of accents, from Cajun to Scottish. My favorite ridiculous soap-opera twist might be Madrox's night of passion with two female members of X-Factor: Siryn and Monet, resulting in a pregnancy that isn't quite a normal pregnancy. But then there's also the whole insane Rogue/Gambit thing, the Scott/Jean/Wolverine/Emma love doodaddle, and of course Professor X turning out to be secretly in love with Jean Grey. That's just scratching the surface, really. If you want more info, check out the X-Men relationship map — which is probably already out of date!

Thor:

Natalie Portman let slip that her friend Kat Dennings (Nick And Norah's Infinite Playlist) will be in this film with her — and speculation is, she'll play Enchantress. [MTV via Cinematical]

Spider-Man 4:

No real news about this movie, which starts shooting early next year, but Tobey Maguire says he likes the idea of the Lizard as the main villain, because the Lizard has a history with Peter Parker, and "we often will go towards that kind of stuff." And he echoes Sam Raimi's comments about not knowing much about Carnage, who came to the wall-crawler's supporting cast much later on. He also likes Mysterio. [MTV]

Star Trek:

Continuing with the always-awesome vein of "actors making random predictions," Leonard Nimoy says he doubts J.J. Abrams and friends will call him to ask him to be in the sequel. He'll be happy to talk to them if they do call, but he figures he's already served his purpose. (And I bet J.J. is a lot more desperate for Nimoy to come back and do more Fringe appearances, something he's seemed a bit leery of doing lately.) [TrekMovie]

Doctor Who:

The Beeb released official summaries of David Tennant's final two parter, coming soon but not soon enough:

Part One: It's the Tenth Doctor's final journey – but his psychotic nemesis the Master has been reborn, on Christmas Eve. With both determined to cheat death, the battle ranges from the wastelands of London to the mysterious Immortality Gate, while the alien Ood warn of an even greater danger approaching, as a terrible shadow falls across the entire Universe.

Part Two: The Doctor faces the end of his life as the Master's plans hurtle out of control. With the sound of drums growing louder, and an ancient trap closing around the Earth, the Doctor and Wilf must fight alone. But sacrifices must be made, and the deadly prophecy warns: "He will knock four times."

[BlogtorWho]

Meanwhile, remember the filming a while back, from Matt Smith's first story, which takes place in the idyllic fictional village of Leadworth? Apparently they needed a few extra shots for that story, because Leadworth was resurrected the other day for a bunch of minor pick-up shots. (And they had to make it look like summer, which can't have been fun.) Scenes included Smith running in his Chaplin-esque way, and poking his head out of a window. Karen Gillan was there in her oddly sexy police uniform, with her little red car. More pics at the link. [Alun_Vega on Flickr]

Lost:

Are the alternate timelines making you dizzy yet? The show was filming a scene by a lovely scenic waterfall, featuring Sayid, Locke, Jin, Cindy and a bunch of others — all decked out as "Others." Have our gang joined the Others? (One eyewitness thought Kate was among them, but apparently not.) Also on set, but not filming yet, Sheila Kelly, the L.A. Law vet who will play Kendall, who's caught committing corporate esipionage and has to lie her way out. And meanwhile there are more set pics showing Miles and Sawyer as cops in L.A. [The ODI]

Supernatural:

As we mentioned, the 100th episode will focus largely on Dean. But it'll also fill in a lot of pieces of the puzzle, says Eric Kripke:

We're aiming for it to be a big mythology episode. The Archangel Michael plays a very large part as we explore his relationship with Dean

[EW]

Heroes:

Some new set pics actually look pretty intriguing — Claire is running, and Sylar is minus an eye. If they make Sylar a cyclops permanently, I might have to start watching again. Just so I can call him Cylar. (Or SyClops?) [SpoilerTV]

And of course, because this is Heroes, Masi Oka hints that "you never know" if Nathan will come back from the dead. [Zap2It]

Chuck:

And there are some new promos:

Additional reporting by Josh C. Snyder.

Monday

If you'd rather not think about Turkey Day, you may want to skip both House (Fox, 8pm) and Heroes (NBC, 8pm) this week; both shows are having holiday-themed episodes.

House and his team treat "an exceptionally brilliant physicist" more successfully than they handle their own relationships, and the Petrellis have a "surprise guest" for their special turkey dinner. Maybe we'll see Sylar eat some turkey brains or something.

Tuesday

V wraps up its four-episode mini-run on ABC at 8pm with the lying title of "It's Only The Beginning" Here's the official network blurb:

Erica works with newly-formed allies to uncover a biological threat they suspect the Visitors have been plotting. Aboard the Mothership, Anna meets with a special guest while managing the investigation into the murder of a V. Chad does a segment on the V Healing Centers, demonstrating their amazing medical abilities, but then finds himself conflicted by some of his findings.

Findings like them eating mice, Chad? We can but hope.

Meanwhile, BBC America provides a non-fiction alternative with Apollo Wives (8pm), a documentary where the wives of the Apollo mission astronauts talk about what it was like for them to watch their husbands risk their lives flying to the moon and then return as some of the most famous people on the planet.

Wednesday

If you're not interested in Mythbusters taking on dumpster myths on the Discovery Channel at 9pm (Kari fans, it's her last episode before maternity leave), and the idea of another episode of ABC's Eastwick at 10pm leaves you cold (Roxie gets seduced by Darryl's art world connections, Joanna learns about the magical version of Einstein's theories and Kat stays away from the dating world, if you care), then all is not lost.

Cartoon Network's latest live action Ben 10 movie, Ben 10: Alien Swarm debuts at 7pm and, to be honest, you could watch worse this week.

Thursday

It's Thanksgiving, which means all of the usual Thursday night confusion takes a break to go eat with its family, and we're left with the choice of two marathons. The Discovery Channel lets rip with a Mythbusters marathon from 9am through to 3am, while Syfy, surreally, goes with a James Bond movie marathon, starting at 8am. Because... someone had to?

Even stranger is the order of the movies they're showing: Dr. No at 8am, License To Kill at 10:30am, Live And Let Die at 1:30pm, The Spy Who Loved Me at 4pm, Tomorrow Never Dies at 6:30pm, Casino Royale at 9pm, For Your Eyes Only at midnight, and The Man With The Golden Gun at 2:30am. Um... Okay?

Friday

Thanksgiving takes out all of today's regular programming as well, leaving us with the second day of Syfy's Bond In No Obvious Order Whatsoever Marathon, again starting at 8am. Today's movies are Thunderball at 8am, From Russia With Love at 10:30am, You Only Live Twice at 1pm, Diamonds Are Forever at 3:30pm, Casino Royale again at 6pm, GoldenEye at 9pm, Goldfinger at midnight and, finally, Never Say Never Again at 2:30am.

Seriously, are these being shown in order of someone's particular preference or something?

Saturday

Things begin to get back to normal with the appearance of a crazy gimmicked Syfy Original Movie: Beyond Sherwood Forest takes Robin Hood and his Merry Men and then puts them head to head with magic and monsters. It's kind of genius in its simplicity, really. Plus, look! Lois Lane!

Sunday

Of course, as usual, the week ends with a new episode of The Venture Bros on Cartoon Network at midnight. You're all watching this by now, right? It's probably the best season to date, even if we haven't approached anything as compelling as The Nozzle yet...

Thor

Idris Elba, whom fans of The Wire know as Stringer Bell, has been cast as Heimdell, the Asgardian who stands guard at BiFrost Bridge, always ready to defend Asgard from intruders. [/Film]

Iron Man 3

We haven't even seen Iron Man 2, but there are already rumors for the third movie. Faran Tahir, who played Raza in the first movie, was asked about the third film and mentioned that Favreau and the producers want to introduce the Mandarin as a villain at some point. Since both Raza and the Mandarin are leaders of the Ten Rings, that affects whether Tahir will return to the franchise. [Moviefone]

Star Trek 2

Karl Urban would like to see his character, Bones McCoy, become more the third part of the Kirk-Spock-Bones triumvirate. He also wants Bones to be a bit preachier:

"I would love to play scenes being essentially Kirk's moral compass or point of conscience. The way McCoy was written he really sort of verbalized the war going on in Kirk's conscience, and I certainly would love to see more arguments of passion versus logic with Spock because they're always fun. So it's going to be really interesting to see what they come up with."

[IGN]

Daybreakers

Ethan Hawke and Willem Dafoe prepare to take on the vampires (and the vampire virus) in two new stills.

Legion

Shock Till You Drop saw 20 minutes of the angel apocalypse, and they're still a bit on the fence about the film. In one clip, the archangel Michael crashes to Earth, slices off his wings, breaks the halo (as known as the heavenly LoJack system) from his neck. Then he heads off to a gun shop to load up on weapons and ammo. When a pair of cops try to stop him, we get to see the unpleasant effects of angelic possession: the possessed cop goes all twitchy, his eyeballs turn black, and his teeth sharpen. Another clip comes straight out of the trailer, with Gladys, the old lady who quickly transforms from sweet to demonic when she tells Charlie that her "fucking baby is gonna burn," and then starts scuttling across the ceiling. In another scene, the protagonists drive into a storm of flies (the first plague of Egypt), and a group of diner patrons head to the roof to take out a group of possessed folks, including the frosty treats man. [ShockTillYouDrop]

Doctor Who

It's official: the title of the first hour of the Christmas special is The End of Time Part One. No surprise there. [Den of Geek]

Lost

Season six officially has a premiere day: February 2 at 9pm. Lost now airs on Tuesdays. Adjust your DVRs accordingly. Also, Richard Alpert, Miles, Frank Lapidus, and Ilana are now series regulars, and Claire is back full-time. Desmond, however, is not a regulat this season. [E!]

Carlton Cuse confirmed via Twitter that Rebecca Mader who plays Faraday's deceased love Charlotte, has been filming, though he offered no indication of what context we'll be seeing Charlotte in. [Cinema Blend]

However, a source at Dark UFO claims to have the scoop on Charlotte's reappearance. Sawyer is trying to run his usual con on Charlotte, knowing that she has been to the island. However, Charlotte catches on to Sawyer's act and calls him out on it. Sawyer tells her everything: that she knows she was raised on the island and that everything connects back to Charles Widmore. He says he wants "on the boat," but Sawyer isn't acting alone; a man he talks to on the phone gives him instructions and seems to be in charge. Throughout their conversation, Charlotte keeps looking toward an Asian man, something Sawyer notices. Apparently, there is a fight scene in a different location involving Sawyer and the Asian man. [Dark UFO]

Michael Emerson described the final season as "very dark and bloody," and said of the episodes:

"I thought I would be able to see the ending that was coming, but I can't," he says of the series finale. "It's still so opaque."

As for Ben himself, Emerson said we will see Ben at his manipulative best, and that he will surprise the audience. [Starbulletin]

At yet another Lost shoot, fans spotted Sawyer and Charles Widmore filming a scene at the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum in Pearl Harbor. Is someone planning an underwater voyage, or is Widmore the one pulling Sawyer's strings? [Hawaii Blog]

Fringe

John Noble says that there have been discussions about Walter meeting his alternate self toward the end of the season. [Korbi TV]

Anna Torv also talks about what's in store for Olivia's family and her love life. [Korbi TV]

Chuck

The new season premieres Sunday, January 10th, with two back-to-back episodes. A third episode will air during its regular timeslot on Monday, January 11th, at 8/7c. Here's a promo to that effect, plus a new clip:

And here's the Season Three poster:

[Chuck TV]

V

Morena Baccarin talks about Anna and Chad's evolving relationship, and what happens when one of the Visitors is murdered. [Spoiler TV]

And we get a promo for the year's last episode, Tuesday's "It's Only the Beginning."

Heroes

A two-hour "event" airs Monday, January 4th, a 8pm EST; after that, the show's regular time slot will be Mondays at 9pm. [Spoiler TV]

FlashForward

The actors ask their questions about the show's mysteries, and manage to get some answers. [Spoiler TV]

Additional reporting by Josh Snyder.

What I like about Heroes is that the writers are never afraid to give us some gratuitous semi-nudity. And where Claire is concerned, this nudity has to have lesbotic overtones. In the case of "Brother's Keeper," overtones were helpfully supplied by Tracy. Our favorite political slut freezy girl starts having ice power panic attacks and she races over to HRG's place to get help. But she finds only Claire, doing her laundry. Of course Claire decides to best cure is to stick Tracy in a warm bath and make her some tea. Which sort of backfires, as you can see in the clip we've shared with you here.

Even though Tracy snaps off Claire's frozen foot, the two ladies wind up in a sodden pile of girl-bonding, drinking tea together and talking about how "it's hard out there for girls like us." Could it be . . . LESBOTIC DOUBLE-MEANING? I choose to believe that it is. I don't care what you Heroes-hating naysayers think. Heroes has a lot of deep meanings, and that's why it's such an important show for people who believe in social progress and girls taking baths together.

Anyway, after all the wetness and ice and stuff, Claire tells Tracy that maybe "her body is telling her" to go become a carnie. And we all know how smart it is to listen to your body. That's why the episode ends with Tracy meeting up with Samuel so she can join his carnies.

I never thought I'd be grateful to see Suresh back in the picture, but I was. Even though he seems to have inexplicably lost his Jeff Goldblum powers. Samuel the megacarnie with dirt powers apparently killed Suresh nine weeks ago, but now he's kidnapped waitress Charlie so he can force Hiro to go back in time and grab a movie from Suresh before the whole murder thing. Turns out Suresh found an old movie of his father's from when he was working in that mutant concentration camp run by the US government. And the movie reveals - ta dum! - that Samuel was actually born in the concentration camp, and that his powers go beyond dirt. Apparently there is a measurable amount of energy generated by "powers," and Samuel can harness that energy to give himself mega-dirt powers. Maybe that means he can do things like move the Earth out of orbit or something? I have no idea. But if this show suddenly turns into Space 1999 with Earth instead of the Moon, let's just say I told you so.

So anyway nine weeks ago stupid Suresh leaves his hot girlfriend back in Chennai to go hunting for Samuel - WHY? - and discovers that Samuel's older brother has been hiding these mega-dirt powers from little bro all his life. Probably because all Samuel does is wear glittery black denim vests and eyeliner. Obviously, he's just too glam for mega-dirt. Unfortunately, Samuel overhears his brother telling Suresh all this, and promptly goes after Suresh to get the old movie showing how he caused a giant earthquake when he was born among all the mutants whose powers he harnessed.

Suresh has burned the film, so Samuel does the old Magneto-with-rocks thing and kills Suresh - except luckily Hiro has traveled back in time and put a bullet-proof vest on Suresh! Which he technically shouldn't need because he has spider superpowers, right? Wait, did he lose his powers? I can't even remember anymore, but I'm sure you'll tell me smugly in the comments and then add something about how I always get details about the show wrong.

Here's one thing I don't have wrong: Samuel stopped wearing the sparkly vest after his brother "died accidentally" (probably from a dirt-related injury!). Why did they have to take that vest away from him?

Probably for the same reason that I have to tell you now about what happened to Head Sylar, Head Parkman, Body Parkman, and Body Sylar. And that reason is that I did something bad back when I used to eat people in the Middle Ages and I'm still atoning for it by becoming a detective in Toronto. And writing Heroes recaps.

So let me try to sum up the Sylar/Parkman, Head/Body thing in a sentence, just for fun. Peter and Body Sylar heal dying Body Parkman/Head Parkman/Head Sylar, then Head Sylar touches Body Sylar and lands back in his own head. I am glossing over a long scene which is supposed to be full of tension but is really not. The upshot is that everybody is back in their own damn body, though Body Sylar has a Head Sylar because he's still got Nathan occupying most of his body or something.

Throughout this whole ordeal I kept wishing that Head Parkman would wear a sexy red dress like Head Six did in Battlestar. It would make everything so much easier to deal with.

Also, THERE WAS ACTUALLY A GOOD LINE IN THIS EPISODE. At one point when Fake Nathan is whining about how weird it is to be in Body Sylar with a Head Sylar rattling around too, he says to Peter, "Nathan is just some random thoughts in a mass murderer's head." Yes, that is a great sentence.

Plus we really have no idea what is up with the whole Nathan thing, but since Adrian Pasdar got fired from Heroes I'm assuming that Nathan isn't long for this plotline.

My favorite moment after the whole Head/Body resolution for Parkman was when he called his ex-wife and baby mommy, and was like, "Hey remember how I had this guy in my head who was making me act insane? Well now he's gone so I can come home honey!"

Basically there are still a bunch of things that remain unresolved. When will Body Sylar give in to Head Sylar? Is Head Sylar actually inside Peter, because a Sparkly Thing passed between Body Sylar and Peter? What will Tracy be doing for Samuel? When will Hiro ever see Charlie again, and why did Hiro stick Suresh into a mental hospital for safekeeping? When will Sprint realize that advertising their phones in a series of webisodes about how Samuel abuses teenage girls might not be a good way to get people to buy their crappy product?

Tune in next week when Sprint phones bring all the mutants together to become a giant, homicidal megaentity with geotagging powers.

Spider-Man 4:

Are we going to meet Peter Parker and Mary Jane's baby in the fourth movie? There's a casting call for a baby boy (aged two to three years) with red hair. (Actually, they want twins, so that they can keep filming and swap them out when one of the kids has to take a break. But it's almost certainly for just one kid.) A lot of fans are jumping to conclusions, assuming this means Spidey will have a kid — but as SpoilerTV points out, this could be a baby Cletus Kasady, who grows up to become Carnage. Or it could be any number of other things. All we really know is that they're starting to cast this movie, and apparently there's a red-headed kid in it. [SpoilerTV-Movies]

Superman Returns Again:

James McTeigue is still super-interested in directing the next Superman film, but sounds less certain that it'll ever happen. But he does offer one more hint of how he'd approach the Man of Steel: "It's ripe for a retconning." Whatever that means. [MTV]

Planet 51:

But screw all this superhero shit — you really want to know about this animated film, in which The Rock is an astronaut who lands on a 1950s planet where he's the alien invader. Right? Apparently in the movie, an alien teenager decides the only way to protect himself from an anal probe is by using a champagne cork. There's a cute Mars Rover robot named Rover (who probably doesn't say "Gadget Gadget," alas) and an alien Chihuahua shaped like the creature from Alien, and something quasi-hilarious happens when he pees.

When The Rock first lands, he hums "Thus Spake Zarathustra," and then realizes he's interrupted an alien barbecue in which all the 1950s aliens are dancing to old-time rock 'n' roll. Chuck (The Rock) says to himself that "Kennedy's going to freak" when they find out about "sea monkeys dancing to the oldies." Other classic SF movies referenced in this film include Plan 9 From Outer Space and E.T. [Kansas City.Com]

Lost:

A new and exciting twist on the "alternate universe where Flight 815 landed safely" concept: a dapper Sawyer was spotted filming a scene at the upscale Diamond Head restaurant, part of the Lotus hotel, and his lunch companion? Was Charlotte (Rebecca Mader) last seen dying on the island. [Hawaii Weblog]

Fringe:

Here are the first two minutes of this week's Observer-centric episode. Plus a new photo. [Fox]

And here's a new promo for the episode. [Fringe Television]

And a load of promo pictures from episode 2x09, "Snakehead." [SpoilerTV]

Supernatural:

Mark Pellegrino explains more about his approach to playing Lucifer and what's coming up:

As you know, the angels in the show can be, well, a—-holes. It is Lucifer who is kind and empathetic and truthful. So, play the "Prince of Lies" as the most sincere one of the bunch and you have a fresh take. But I have a feeling things are gonna change. Lucifer has a big chip on his shoulder and that can't be restrained for long... The proverbial crap is gonna fly. Hell, it's the apocalypse for crying out loud. Something's gotta give. If I tell you more than that I'll have to kill you.

[PopStar via SpoilerTV]

FlashForward:

Here are some promo pics from episode 10, "A561984". [SpoilerTV]

Assuming this show gets a second season, we'll see more of Mark Benford in season two — there will be new mysteries, but the second season is definitely a continuation of the first, says Jessica Goyer. [PopCorner.PL via FlashForward.PL]

Smallville:

Lois arrives in the future, in a new clip from Friday's episode:

Michael Shanks explains about his version of Hawkman, appearing February 5:

When we first meet Carter Hall he's in his museum. We'll learn he's a reincarnated prince from a thousand years ago. There is a reference to The Justice Society's time in the ‘70s, but we have since disbanded.

And apparently there's lots of flying and mace-swinging, but no bare chest — instead Hawkman has a weird bronze chestplate thingy. And here's a picture. (Full version at the link.) [TV Guide Magazine]

Stargate Universe:

But Shanks isn't just flying around Metropolis and giving Clark Kent advice — he's also a figment of Dr. Nicholas Rush's imagination in the upcoming Rush-centric episode "Human," in which we discover more about how he recruited Rush into the Stargate program. Shanks and Richard Dean Anderson also appear in the 18th episode, "Subversion." [Gateworld]

And here's a sneak peek at Friday's episode.

Heroes:

And here are five clips from the "Thanksgiving" episode. What are you thankful for? [The ODI]

Additional reporting by Josh C. Snyder.

Monday

The week starts off softly, with nothing worth watching until 8 p.m., when you have too many shows even for TiVo to choose from. Shall it be the second night of the so-disappointing-I-may-cry The Prisoner on AMC? New episodes of House on Fox (in which House treats a porn star and decides to bring together his dream team of minions) or Heroes on NBC (in which Tracey loses control of her ability, Matt fights inside his mind with Sylar and OH MY GOD PLEASE MAKE IT STOP ALREADY)? Or a marathon of nature doc redux Planet Earth on the Discovery Channel, which offers six hours of stunning footage and soothing Sigourney Weaver voiceover?

I'm saying TiVo Planet Earth for when you need to be reminded how amazing life can be, and watch House, because you know they'll get some good jokes out've the porn star patient.

Tuesday

While The Prisoner finishes up its run over on AMC at 8pm, ABC's V decides that it's time to copy - Sorry, I mean, "homage" - another sci-fi classic as Erica is forced to team up with a Visitor officer to protect Visitors from death threats in this week's episode, "Wow, do you remember Alien Nation with its buddy comedy pairing of human and alien cops? We sure do." Oh, wait. It's actually called "A Bright New Day."

(If you're in the mood for something a little more classic, Syfy is running an Outer Limits marathon from 8am through 3pm.)

Wednesday

With no new episodes of Mythbusters, you might as well spend the day either (a) not watching television, or the much-more-likely (b) flipping between Syfy's The Twilight Zone marathon (8am through 3pm) and AMC's classic run of Young Frankenstein (1pm), Ghostbusters (3:30pm) and, um, Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines (8pm). Someone's told them that T3 isn't a comedy, right...?

Thursday

As if the traditional Thursday evening crush isn't enough, Syfy are willing to suck your life away with a First Wave marathon from 9am through 3pm, and AMC are willing to contribute with the original Stargate movie at 2:30. Before you know it, you'll be choosing between Flashforward on ABC (Everyone keeps trying to solve their FFs just like they've been for the last few weeks, except Bryce is finally getting off his ass and wondering about his future girlfriend a bit more) and Vampire Diaries on the CW (Jeremy takes up drawing and Elena discovers something terrible, which may just be a future script for the show), both at 8pm.

And then you have to choose again between Fringe on Fox (The truth behind the Observer! And Walter wants a milkshake, with guest-star Kelis. Okay, sadly that part about a guest-star isn't true) and Supernatural on the CW at 9 (The Winchester Bros. team up with Bobby, Ellen and Jo to send Lucifer back to Hell. Don't be surprised if things don't go to plan, considering it's still relatively early in the season). We might just watch Community and 30 Rock instead, though, and catch up with everything else online later, if that's okay with you guys.

Friday

Relive the first wave of post-Lost network television with Syfy's Invasion marathon (8am through 3pm), before switching over to watch Dustin Hoffman worry about his paycheck in Outbreak on AMC.

Let's be honest, Fridays are really all about the evening shows, though; Smallville finally tries to get to the bottom of Lois' future abduction/visions on the CW at 8pm (Kneeling before Zod is optional, I believe), while CBS' Ghost Whisperer is worried about someone dying at the same time, which makes no sense. Wouldn't that just mean she'd have someone else to whisper to? Why do they never think these things through?

At 9pm, you can choose between Medium on CBS, wherein Allison develops a strange sensitivity to light, or Syfy's Stargate Universe, wherein everyone catches their breath and uses those weird psychic projection stone things to talk to those they've left behind. Alternatively, you could switch over to Cartoon Network for a new episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, before ending the night with the latest episode of Sanctuary at 10pm on Syfy.

Saturday

Syfy tries to get your attention with a triple bill of cut-rate dragon movies (In The Name Of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale at 9pm, Fire And Ice at 11:30 and Dragon Sword on Sunday at 1:30 in the morning), but there's no way that can compete with AMC's quadruple bill of the Alien movies: Alien starts at 5:30, followed by Aliens at 8pm, Alien 3 at 11 and Alien: Resurrection at 1:30 on Sunday morning. The first two, at least, are worth it.

Sunday

Oh, people. You all know by now that Sunday is Venture Bros day, right? I don't know what else to tell you aside from that, apart from the episode being entitled "Self-Medication". Oh, and that it's on Cartoon Network at midnight, and is really the most essential piece of television in the entire week. Don't leave home without it.

Lost:

So we already mentioned that alternate-universe Ben is working as a teacher at a high school where his adopted daughter Alex is one of the students — but apparently Ben and Alex are still "close." And Locke is working at the school too! Also sighted around the school: Rose and Doc Arzt. But no sign of Bernard. And William Atherton's new character is the principal, but that may not be his only role. [SpoilersLost]

Doctor Who:

The second special episode "Waters Of Mars" already aired in the U.K. (and we'll have our recap later today) but it's still new to many of us — and here are some more promo pics that came out at the last minute. [BlogtorWho and BlogtorWho]

And here are some screencaps from the new trailer for "The End Of Time" that aired at the end of "Waters Of Mars." More pics at the link. [Life, Doctor Who And Combom]

And here's that trailer, in case you missed it:

John Simm says he will not be at all subtle as the Master this time around:

If you thought I was hamming it up in the last one, wait till you see this. I like to be quite subtle, but this doesn't call for subtle. The Master is insane. I also used a bit of Caligula and a bit of Tony Blair. But in this, The Master is off the leash. Unhinged. Totally unplugged!

[Digital Spy]

David Tennant tells Simon Mayo there's a chance he might get called back for a "three Doctors" special, and he keeps a version of his costume around under lock and key just in case, because if you come back, you have to bring your own kit. [BlogtorWho]

Russell T. Davies explains the meaning of the phrase "He will knock four times."

Fringe:

Here are some set pics, showing Joshua Jackson at the scene of a Boston accident. [SpoilerTV]

Anna Torv talks about Olivia's relationships on the show. [BuddyTV]

V:

Here are a whopping nine clips from tomorrow night's new episode!

Supernatural:

Some new clips from this Thursday's new episode, the last one of 2010. Mark Sheppard in full effect. [SF Universe and Chicago Tribune]

FlashForward:

A new set video shows people running down a street. Is it the present — or next April? [Flashforward.PL]

Episodes 12 and 13 will be called "Kairos" and "Better Angels" respectively. [SpoilerTV]

And the world's most globe-trottingest FBI agents are at it again in episode ten:

Against Wedeck's orders, Mark and Demetri travel to Hong Kong in search of the woman claiming to know details of Demetri's fate; Lloyd tries to come clean about his and Simon's involvement in the global blackout - against Simon's better judgment — and Zoey discovers the true meaning of her flashforward.

[SpoilerTV]

New Moon:

Screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg says the second movie in a trilogy is the hardest to write, and explains what this film is about:

The second film in a trio of films is always the diciest because you don't want to do the movie as just a set-up for the [third film]. I was really conscious of wanting this movie to stand alone in its own right, and there is a very standalone story in this book. That is Bella's heartbreak and recovering from heartbreak and so the theme that comes out of that is that which doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I think it is Bella's evolution of becoming a stronger person; I mean, every book takes her further along that path of becoming her own person. So I think that is the standalone theme in this movie.

And she says she worked hard to make Bella sympathetic despite the fact that she takes advantage of Jacob's feelings for her in this film. [Cinematical]

Stargate Universe:

Amanda Tapping confirms she'll be back as Sam Carter towards the end of the first season, but she doesn't get to play with anybody. "I'm kind of off on my own ship." [Gateworld]

And here are a slew of promo pics from the episode "Life". [SpoilerTV]

Heroes:

Ellen Tigh is back! Kate Vernon has joined the cast of this show, according to Greg Grunberg's Twitter. [Digital Spy]

And here's a behind-the-scenes featurette for the "Thanksgiving" episode:

Additional reporting by Mary Ratliff.