Doctor Who S6 To Be Aired In Two Halves

Following an announcement at the Edinburgh International Television Festival by benevolent Who overlord Steven Moffat, the BBC have issued a press release confirming that season 6 of Doctor Who will be split into two parts, with the first part to air in Spring and the second to air in Autumn.

This is at the request of Moffat himself, who states that this move will allow him to craft a story arc that allows for more “event stories” and a potentially-massive mid-season cliffhanger.

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Doctor Who producer promises ‘game-changing cliffhanger’

Steven Moffat said:

“Looking at the next series I thought what this show needs is a big event in the middle.

“I kept referring to a mid-season finale. So we are going to make it two series—seven episodes at Easter building to an earth-shattering climax, a cliffhanger we could never normally do because it would be too long before it came back. An enormous game-changing cliffhanger that will change everything.

“The wrong expression would be to say we are splitting it in two. We are making it two separate series.”

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Supernatural Season 4 Companion and War of the Suns Books Giveaway (3 sets total)

CW’s Supernatural starring Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles returns on September 24 to kick off its sixth season. To coincide with the show’s return, Titan Books has just released a pair of Supernatural books: The Supernatural Season 4 Companion Guide and Supernatural: War of the Sons novel.

We have teamed up with Titan to offer three Supernatural fans the opportunity to win both of these books. For a chance to win, please fill out and submit the entry form below. You can increase the odds of winning every additional day you enter for as long as the contest is open.

Enter the contest here.

Greg Grunberg thinks ‘there has to be’ a Heroes movie coming

During an interview with the New York Post while promoting his Lifetime Original Movie Bond of Silence—in which he also plays a cop—Grunberg predicted that creator Tim Kring would return to the Heroes universe:

No, I think there has to be [a movie]. But I also predicted they wouldn’t just out and out cancel it, so what do I know [laughs]. It makes business sense to do something—there’s a huge fanbase that wants some sort of conclusion and I think the actors want to do it. It’s not about making a fortune to come back—we all appreciate the fans so much, I think if the call went out, we’d all be on board.

source

What do you think of a Heroes movie? IMO it’s beating a dead horse.

Are you glad you’ll be getting about 2 season from Doctor Who?

‘Doctor Who’ wins sci-fi heroes poll

By Morgan Jeffery at Digital Spy

Doctor Who has come top in a poll listing the greatest heroes in science-fiction film and television.

The Doctor was awarded the title of ‘Favorite Hero’ in the list compiled by SFX, beating Firefly‘s Malcolm Reynolds into second place.

The character has been played by eleven actors since 1963, with Matt Smith the current incumbent of the role.

Other high-ranking characters included Dean Winchester from Supernatural, Star Wars smuggler Han Solo and Ianto Jones from Who spinoff Torchwood.

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Daleks top sci-fi monster poll

By Morgan Jeffery at Digital Spy

The Daleks have topped a poll listing the greatest monsters in science fiction films and television.

The Doctor Who villains beat Angel character Lorne (Andy Hallett) into second place in the SFX survey.

Another Who foe, the Cybermen, placed 15th in the list.

Both races reappeared in the most recent series of the show to battle Matt Smith’s 11th Doctor.

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Alexander Skarsgard Doesn’t Wear a Sock During Nude Scenes

via Us Weekly

The cast of HBO’s True Blood not only strip down for the new Rolling Stone — they also bare all about shooting the show’s racy sex scenes.

Says Alexander Skarsgard (who plays sexy vamp Eric): “I don’t want a sock around it, that feels ridiculous. If we’re naked in the scene, then I’m naked. I’ve always been that way.”

Anna Paquin says she covers up — somewhat. She reveals that she wears a “patch” – a thong-like attire with the sides cut off – while filming nude scenes as her character Sookie Stackhouse.

As for her costar (and real-life fiance) Stephen Moyer (who plays Sookie’s vamp love Bill Compton)? He wears a sock on set — out of consideration for others

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Getting Lost with Damon Lindelof and ‘Heroes’ creator Tim Kring

By Dennis Nishi at The Wall Street Journal

Tucked between the Porn Star Guide to Great Sex and a coffee table book on Vanessa Del Rio, Tim Kring (”Heroes”) and Damon Lindelof (”Lost”) put on a show for eager fans at Book Soup in Hollywood Tuesday night. They were there to promote and sign copies of Kring’s first novel “Shift,” which was released last week by Crown Publishing. They also chatted about their careers and future plans. The two writers had previously worked together on the now defunct NBC series “Crossing Jordan,” which Kring created in 2001. Lindelof was a writer on the show for three years before he left to work with J.J. Abrams on “Lost.”

From then on, Kring’s interest in the supernatural became a reoccurring theme in his writing and he went on to write and/or produce “Teen Wolf Too,” “Chicago Hope,” “Providence,” “Crossing Jordan” and most recently, “Heroes”. In regards to the later, both denied any implicit plot connections between “Lost” and “Heroes,” though Kring did say that the two shows were first cousins thematically. Lindelof added that the shows were actually first cousins that had sex with each other regularly.

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Do you think Doctor Who should be the number one Sci Fi hero? What do you think about the Tom Kring interview? What do you think about the nude scenes in True Blood?

Vampire Diaries Season 2 To Create New Triangle With Bonnie & More

Posted by Andre at On The Flix

MTV’s Hollywood Crush caught up to CW “Vampire Diaries” producer Kevin Williams at the recent 2010 Comic-Con event,and he revealed some new season 2 spoiler info for characters Bonnie,Caroline,Matt,and Tyler. There’s also going to be a new game changing event that takes place.

He stated, “Something happens in the first episode that’s sort of a game changer. Everyone here was sworn to secrecy because it involves everyone. It’s going to help launch us into the second season in a fresh way and it will be fun.”

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Uncut script reveals classic Doctor Who villain who ALMOST returned

By Nathalie Caron at Blastr

Doctor Who‘s return in 2005 meant more than just a comeback for the Time Lord—a ton of classic villains have returned as well, such as Daleks, Cybermen and, most recently, the Silurians. But one old villain who was intended to return … DIDN’T. And an unexpurgated draft of a recent script reveals exactly which villain got derailed.

In an interview given to Doctor Who Magazine, Gareth Roberts explained that in earlier drafts of his episode “The Lodger” there “was a different villain at its center.” The villain in question was to be Meglos, a sentient, shape-changing (wait for it) cactus, who appeared in a Doctor Who story starring the fourth Doctor, Tom Baker, back in the 1980s.

The four-part story, simply titled “Meglos,” was apparently not one of the more fondly remembered Doctor Who episodes.

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Who could Bonnie be in a triangle with? What do you think of the cactus villain returning in Doctor Who? (How did a cactus get that wool scarf on?)

6 ways Torchwood’s new season will change everything

By Fred Topel at Blastr

Torchwood: The New World doesn’t even start filming until next year, but did we get big news today! Series creator Russell T. Davies attended the Television Critics Association fall press tour to preview his return to Torchwood and revealed six ways the new Torchwood will be bigger and better than ever before.

1) There’s one event that will take 10 episodes to deal with: Davies isn’t telling what kind of global event brings Torchwood back together, but he guarantees it will require the full 10-episode run of The New World when it comes to Starz, the American cable channel.

“It’s far more complicated than just a monster,” Davies said. “I think it’s a brilliant idea, and when you hear it, it will make sense and you’ll see how big it is. It could have filled 20 hours. It’s a big 10-hour story.”

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Australia picked for Spielberg TV series Terra Nova

Michael Bodey at The Australian

The Queensland government today confirmed it will be the location of the sci-fi family TV series from October.

The special effects-heavy Terra Nova was destined for shooting in Australia because it needed locations that could resemble prehistoric lands that were home to dinosaurs. However, a stubborn Australian dollar, relative to the greenback, conspired against an early decision for the Spielberg production.

As late as last week, the US state of Florida was a possible home to the series, and Mexico was also touted, although security remained a major concern there.

The series centres on a family that time-travels backward to save a ruinous future world.

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Couple More ‘The Walking Dead’ Photos (PICS)

via Dennis at Think Hero

These probably were released earlier but I just saw these and realized I hadn’t posted them. I’m really looking forward to the TV show based on Robert Kirkman’s comic book series which I just ordered the first 5 chapters and can’t wait to read it.

AMC’s The Walking Dead series premieres in October 2010.

See the rest here

Crazy like a Fox – When Diluting your TV Brand is the Best Strategy

via rbr.com

Blatant Brand Dilution? For a generation the rules of TV branding have been clear and unequivocal–find a specific niche audience, then hyper-serve that niche with specialized programming. But lately, that rule has been turned on its head by some of the industries most powerful players.  Now you will find cooking shows on the Syfy Channel, Mike Tyson on Animal Planet, standup comedians on History, and obsession-disorder reality shows on VH1.

What’s going on?  After a generation of building specific content niches, programmers now have their sights set on broader audiences.  It appears that TV history is reversing itself.

SciFi’s recent rebrand to SyFy is a classic example of this strategic brand expansion.  After spending years doing all they could to nurture and woo the science fiction audience, the programmers realized that the genre was maxed out.  No matter how great their marketing, there just weren’t enough people interested in science fiction to allow much further growth.   SciFi was forced to make a hard decision -  be content with paltry growth or expand its original programming mission to bring in new audiences.

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I think calling SyFy’s rebrand a good example is horrible. The rebrand isn’t what drew in a bigger viewership (if anything, the rebrand pissed off loyal viewers who felt the phonetic spelling was demeaning). Better shows saved the network. Shows that were doing very well before SyFy changed it’s name (Ghost Hunters and Battlestar Gallactica, especially) brought a much bigger audience. When SyFy did try to expand with non-sci fi programing, the shows tanked (does anyone remember that wrestling thing they had?) And I’m insulted that the article called the genre “maxed out”.  How many new sci fi shows have come out in the last year, done well, and been on prime networks? Look at Lost! Interest in the genre wasn’t the issue, it was the stigma around Science fiction…but the patronizing revamp wasn’t the right answer. If SyFy wants more viewers, they should stop making craptacular “original” movies. People care about content, not a fancy new logo. As for the other channels, I miss the days when I could turn on The History Channel and see history, or when TLC wasn’t about home decorating or weddings. Specialized channels exist for a reason, and they should stick to what they’re named for.

What do you think about Torchwood moving to Starz? Are you glad Terra Nova will be shot in Australia? Do you think channel rebranding is a good or bad thing?

‘True Blood’ season finale scoop: Sookie mulls light after [spoiler alert]!

by Michael Ausiello at EW

True Blood‘s third-season finale airs on Sept. 12, and HBO has just released the perfect appetite-whetter. An extremely spoilery description of the Alan Ball-penned episode!

“Eric (Alexander Skarsgård) grapples with his conscience while plotting his perfect revenge against Russell (Denis O’Hare). Fed up with being “vampire crack,” Sookie (Anna Paquin) considers a new life without Bill (Stephen Moyer)—or any other vampire.

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Lost epilogue leaked online: Our spoiler-laden review!

By Scott Edelman at Blastr

We thought we were going to have to wait until those Lost DVDs and Blu-rays were released Aug. 24 to catch that 12-minute epilogue and learn what Ben and Hurley got up to during the post-Jack era. But we were wrong. (And you won’t believe who’s back!)

YouTube user oilery has posted the full epilogue “The New Man in Charge” (which is probably vanishing even as we type these words), but we thought we’d tell you what we saw and what we thought of it.

And let’s just say it one more time—spoilers ahead!

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Josh Jackson Contemplating Vampire Diaries Guest Spot! (And Perfecting His Best “Brooding” Look)

by Kristin Dos Santos at E!

Some guest casting seems just too good to be true, but hello, universe? This one needs to happen!

Joshua Jackson tells me that he is talking to his former Dawson’s Creek boss Kevin WIlliamson about coming on The Vampire Diaries (you know, Kevin’s new show?) for an upcoming guest stint.

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How Walking Dead made the lip-less zombie girl a reality

By Meredith Woerner at io9

One of the most disturbing members of the undead in Robert Kirkman’s Walking Dead comic series is the “bicycle girl.” AMC has released video on how they made this nightmarish rib cage-wagging zombie a reality.

Frank Darabont’s Walking Dead TV series airs in October on AMC.

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Keck’s Exclusives: Jane Badler to Revive Diana on V’s Season Premiere

by William Keck at TV Guide

Thank you Scott Rosenbaum for just making V a thousand times cooler. After the executive producer let slip at Comic-Con that he’d be introducing Anna’s mother in V‘s November season premiere — and that her name would be Diana, fans went bonkers. I personally begged Rosenbaum to cast Jane Badler (so deliciously evil as lizard villainess Diana in NBC’s original ’80s V series) as this new incarnation of Diana, and word has just reached me that he has indeed awarded Jane the role. Woo-hoo!

When V returns, we will learn that Anna (Morena Baccarin) is keeping her mother prisoner on the mother ship in a never-before-seen section that has been designed to look like the Visitors’ home planet.

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‘Primeval’ star ‘loves sci-fi shows’

By Morgan Jeffery at Digital Spy

Alexander Siddig has revealed that he enjoys playing roles in science-fiction shows.

The actor played Dr. Julian Bashir on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and will join the cast of Primeval for the show’s upcoming fourth series.

He told UGO: “I will always have a soft spot, as long as I live, for doing crazy, geeky sci-fi shows. And I hope to goodness that people keep offering me them because I love them.”

However, he admitted that he was initially keen to distance himself from the genre when Deep Space Nine ended in 1999.

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The 11 greatest, craziest sci-fi crossovers in television history

By Alasdair Wilkins at io9

Tonight’s conclusion of the already epic Eureka/Warehouse 13 crossover is just scratching the surface of science fiction’s greatest TV crossovers. Well, we really ought to start here, shouldn’t we? We’ve already gushed about how much we’re loving this awesome crossover between Syfy’s two biggest shows, and I’ll have more to say about the Eureka side of the crossover tomorrow morning. Until then… Claudia. Fargo. Spiders. Lightsabers. Kissing. Enjoy.

Star Trek: The Next Generation meets Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: As the only two Star Trek shows to share the airwaves and the same quadrant of space, The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine were the two most natural crossover partners. And although there were occasional guest appearances and even a couple characters who moved permanently from one show to the other, we never got the big epic team-up that we all know we deserved.

See the Rest (with videos) here

Do you like crossover episodes? What do you think of the True Blood and Lost spoilers? What do you think of the call-back to the original V series?

DOCTOR WHO SPOILERS – NEIL GAIMAN AND EPISODE 6.03

Source: tvovermind.com

If you’re a science fiction fan at all, you know Neil Gaiman. The man has crafted some of the best sci-fi and fantasy literature ever. He’s responsible for the Sandman series of graphic novels, he wrote the books behind the films Coraline, MirrorMask, and Stardust, and his 2008 novel The Graveyard Book won both the Carnegie, Hugo, and Newberry Awards. It’s inevitable, then, that the episode of Doctor Who that he writes will be one of the most amazing things ever, correct?

The answer is most certainly, though what the episode is about, no one really knows aside from Gaiman. The episode was alleged to be called “The House of Nothing,” back in 2009, though Gaiman insisted through his Twitter feed that the now-infamous title only stuck around “for about 20 mins in Feb 2009, when it still had a house in it. & some nothing.”

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VAMPIRE DIARIES’ ZACH & SARAH TALK ABOUT THE SHOW & MORE IN NEW CLIP

Source: ontheflix

Vampire Diaries’ Zach & Sarah talk about the show & more in new clip. CW Vampire Diaries stars Zach Roerig and Sarah Canning recently interviewed with WGN news (video below), and talked about the success of Vampire Diaries,getting cast for the show, doing the pilot,getting renewed,and more. Zach Roerig plays character Matt Donovan and Sara Canning plays character Jenna Sommers on the show.

The clip (below) started off showing a clip from the show. Then they introduced the two stars. They talked about filming in Atlanta,and that they’re isolated so they don’t know what’s going on in the outside world at the time of filming. Zach revealed that they got cast,shot the pilot at first,and hoped that it would get picked up,and of course it did. However, as an actor, you can’t always rely on that.

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