Here’s some bad news regarding Moonlight: the show’s runner has just been let go. Michael Ausiello of TVguide.com

“I’m told that Chip Johannessen has been let go as show-runner just as the freshman drama is fighting for a second season.”

As Ausiello also states that Moonlight was missing from the list of shows released last week that CBS is renewing, I’m officially worried about the future of my favorite vampire show since Angel went off the air. I’m also wondering about what’s going to happen with the four new episodes that are supposed to go into production and begin airing on April 11. Will they still be produced if a replacement for Johannessen isn’t found soon?

Is anybody else worried about Moonlight? Does anybody have any suggestions on who should take over the show next?

Update: Ausiello updated his report about the firing of Johannessen today with this news

“Joel Silver, along with what’s left of the Moonlight writing team, will oversee production of the show’s four remaining episodes.”

I think it’s good news that somebody who has been involved with the show since the beginning is going to oversee the last four episodes of this season. Maybe Silver will even do well enough to take over the show for next season as well.

What do you guys think about this latest development?

We heard that Big Bang Theory was renewed, and HIMYM was on the bubble. In an attempt to gauge viewer appreciation they have swapped the timeslots of the 2 shows. The press release lists:

Mondays, Effective March 17

8:00-8:30 PM THE BIG BANG THEORY (NTP)

8:30-9:00 PM HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER (NTP)

9:00-9:30 PM TWO AND A HALF MEN

9:30-10:00 PM THE NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD CHRISTINE*

10:00-11:00 PM CSI: MIAMI

This is an interesting change that is speculated by TVSquad as a way of determining if it is the “show or the timeslot” causing the difference in ratings. One thing this shows is there confidence in Big Bang. I’m a big fan of both, although I never watch them live.

Will this affect your viewing habits?

One of the new mysteries in the season premiere of Lost was the polar bear skeleton in Tunisia found by Charlotte. During this weeks Official Lost Podcast, Damon Lindelof addresses this by saying that if you want clues, to check the Orchid Station orientation” video. I’ll avoid describing the video to prevent spoiler talk, but Lindelof says:

“that polar bear has certain things in common with say, bunnies with ‘8s’ on their backs.”

This explanation is not a stretch, and I’m sure others came to this conclusion without this statement. Having the producers confirm this theory shows that they are getting more comfortable with providing answers. Also, during the podcast they give more hints to the island mysteries.

Click here to see the Orchid Video.

With the WGA strike over, many shows are jumping right back into production. Well, not so for Big Love. According to BuddyTV, co-creator Will Scheffer says they are taking their time.

“It’s great we can have that much time to work on the quality of the show,” Scheffer told the Los Angeles Times. “A lot of networks will be rushing things into production, and people won’t have much time to think.”

Recent reports also indicate that Big Love’s third season, which, like fellow HBO series Entourage, originally had been scheduled to begin in the summer, won’t hit the screen until late this year or even early 2009.

Scheffer goes on to say that with the strike they had time to “revisit all the scripts” and that it “changes your creative mandate”. I have mixed feelings about that. Most of the time, too much time spent is a bad thing. I hope no major storylines are changed. Big Love was going very well towards the end of last season, and I was looking forward to seeing it continue.

ABC has announced who is filling the next set of ballroom dancing shoes on their hit Dancing With the Stars. According to their press release:

Twelve celebrities - six men and six women - attempt to outshine one another on a sixth season of the hit series, Dancing with the Stars, which returns MONDAY, MARCH 17 (8:00-9:30 p.m., ET) on ABC. The season six cast includes some of our most lauded stars yet: an Academy Award winner, a Tony Award winner, an Olympic Gold medalist, a nine-time Grand Slam tennis champion, and the NFL’s current Man of the Year.

The cast includes:

Adam Carolla
Cristian De La Fuente
Shannon Elizabeth
Steve Guttenberg
Mario
Marlee Matlin
Penn Jillette
Priscilla Presley
Monica Seles
Jason Taylor
Marissa Jaret Winkur
Kristi Yamaguchi

This might actually be the first season of the show I will watch. There are quite a few celebrities that will be interesting to see try to master the mambo. Who is your pick to take it all this time?

HBO’s surprise hit last season had to be The Flight of the Conchords, the series about the adventures of a Kiwi folk duo after moving to New York. The success of the show has already led to its renewal for a second season, and now they’re Grammy winners, too!

The Conchords, otherwise known as Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement, were awarded with the “Best Comedy Album” Grammy for their debut EP, “The Distant Future”. McKenzie and Clement weren’t on hand to pick up their statue, as they were at home in Wellington, enjoying a Writers’ Strike holiday. But the usually media-shy duo did grant a post-Grammy interview to New Zealand’s TV3.

Season Two of FOTC is rumoured to be slated for a fall 2008 start, but in the meantime, they’re preparing their first full length CD for an April 22nd release. Will a CD be enough to tide over FOTC fans until the new season? I’m hoping there might be a TV special, or perhaps a North American tour.

The upcoming portion of Heroes is called “Villains” and some people aren’t thrilled with the idea.
io9 says:

Now that we know volume three of Heroes will be called “Villains,” it’s not too soon to start bracing ourselves for the worst. After all, that show hasn’t had the greatest track record in creating and sustaining villains so far. There’s no surefire way to make a villain scary and memorable. But there are some proven methods for making your villains dull and wimpy, and Heroes has used a few of them.

I personally think that Sylar has been unbearably dull this season, and I can’t imagine why they bothered to bring him back. He was fantastic last season, but I think there’s not a lot of places they can go with him this season. It reminds me of that idea of the fans having too much power: did they keep Sylar around just because he was so popular? Should he have died as Peter exploded over Manhattan?

I also agree with their assessments of Bob, HRG, and Ms. Petrelli. I think Ms. Petrelli has more wasted potential in one scene of her storyline than any other character on the entire show (except, perhaps, Claire, who conveniently went back to being a petulant teenager after a season of character growth and became so annoying I was wishing she could die). Ms. Petrelli schemes and plans tend to make a twisted kind of sense, and more than once she’s been proven right in the long run. So why hasn’t she been used to her full potential yet? Why is she still just there to drop a bit of information, be a kink in the plans, and then be forgotten?

So what do you want out of the new episodes of Heroes when the show comes back? Who do you want to learn more about?

Some of the results are no surprise, but at least one hit show hasn’t been renewed yet, according to The New York Times:

CBS has renewed 11 series in total. “Cold Case,” “Ghost Whisperer,” “NUMB3RS,” “Two and a Half Men,” and “Without a Trace” were also renewed by CBS.

CSI Franchises are all in, along with Criminal Minds, NCIS, and The Big Bang Theory. Cane is likely to get canceled (which is no loss, from what I’ve heard) and Moonlight’s future is uncertain.

But one renewal I’m astonished not to see: How I Met Your Mother. The show was consistent in the ratings, ranking above it’s competitor at NBC (but usually losing to Dancing With the Stars). The critics are in love with it, everyone I know who watches it absolutely loves it. Why would CBS be hesitant to renew? Are there contract negotiations we don’t know about?

The time is upon us retro movie geeks. The Knight Rider TV Movie airs tonight.

It might just suck balls, and the retro purists will hate the voice (Val Kilmer digitized) and the car not being a TransAm, but we will have to see. If this actually gets good reviews, rumour has it they will base an ongoing TV Series on it.

Check your local listings.

And in case you missed the teaser trailer:

After only having a short run, Bionic Woman has been on her knees, limping, and begging for mercy for a while, but it doesn’t seem likely that the Great Executive will be merciful, according to Daily Mail.

Now, with the Hollywood writers strike coming to an end, producers at America’s NBC/Universal network have decided not to renew the show for a second season, the Daily Mail can reveal. A source said: “Barring a last-minute miracle, the show won’t be coming back. Inside the network, there’s just no appetite to see more episodes, and it was an incredibly expensive show to make week in and week out.       

People have been saying that this for a short while now, even our own Elizabeth briefly mention it in this article on the WGA strike. It’s almost a definite , but it’s cancellation is not set in stone. NBC hasn’t confirmed anything yet. Ironically, the original Bionic Woman series didn’t last so long either. It was cancelled from ABC after it’s second season, then picked up by NBC only to get cancelled again after one season.

The Writer’s Strike will not affect Battlestar Galactica, Chud reports:

The SciFi Channel has told Ron Moore that they want to complete the entire 22 episode season four order! The network will be giving Ron Moore, David Eick and their embarrassingly good writing staff a lot of hours to wrap up the show’s story without rushing or trimming.

With so many shows being cut short or having altered timelines to make up for the strike, it’s glad to see one network and one show saying they’ll still do everything they planned. I’m sure things will be delayed, but I think it would have been a travesty if Battlestar hadn’t been allowed to finish telling their story as planned.

There were jokes about striking writers taking minimum wage jobs, but one has come forward to say that’s exactly how he passed his time. The Hollywood Reporter says:

[My Name is Earl creator Greg] Garcia spent the month of January working at an occupation in a world perhaps better suited to his lead character, Earl Hickey (Jason Lee): as a cashier and janitor in a fast-food restaurant that Garcia prefers to keep anonymous. And anonymous also happened to be what he remained throughout his 30-day gig, taking the job without revealing his identity until he was about to turn in his uniform.

Garcia enjoyed his time there, and liked one of his co-workers so much that he gave an unnamed employee $10,000 as a parting gift.

He brings up an interesting point: writers sometimes run out of life experience to write about. I’ve often wondered how long it’s been since Hollywood types have been out in the “real world” and I think this was a great thing for him to do.

What would you do if you found out the guy at the next register was a millionaire looking to learn more about life? If you were a millionaire, would you be willing to work fast food just to see what it was like?

Oh, How I love me some UK telly! And last Thursday saw the return of DCI Gene Hunt in the spinoff series from Life On Mars (which if you haven’t seen… DO!!), Ashes To Ashes.

This time, a police psychologist, one Alex Drake, wakes up to find herself in July of 1981, meeting characters she’s read about in the file of Sam Tyler. And much like Sam, all she wants to do is get home.

And if there was anyone who was worried that lightning wouldn’t strike twice, don’t worry, just seeing Hunt and his gang at it again, this time in my favorite decade, will put those worries to rest.

He’s still the same, and he’s awesome!

What I do like, and am now keen to go back through the two series of Life On Mars, are all the little Bowie nods that we see going on. Sure there are the series titles, both great Bowie tunes, but if there were more in the original series I haven’t found them (any help?). In this series, so far, the two that really jumped out at me were the fact that the first time we see the main baddie of the episode in the 80s, he’s got a Bowie shirt on. Then the really spooky one is the Bowie clown as seen on his Ashes To Ashes album cover reflected in the table top of the interrogation room. Spooky stuff!

But most of all, I was just happy seeing Gene back, doing what he does best, being the best cop he can be!

Ashes To Ashes airs Thursdays on BBC One.

Anyone else see it yet? What are your thoughts?

The strike may be over, but not many shows are going right into production, therefore many workers are still not getting a paycheck. Grey’s Anatomy showrunner Shonda Rhimes just announced a benefit night to support those workers. Most of the principal actors from Grey’s and “Private Practice” are going to be there, “singing for charity”. Shonda says in her blog:

FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY, February 29, 2008 at UCLA’s Royce Hall in Los Angeles, CA we are presenting GOOD MEDICINE. A little singing, a little funny, a lot of raising money.

Come on out and join the casts of Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice. See TR KNIGHT SING! Hear Tony Winners Audra MacDonald and Sara Ramirez! See Katie and Kate! See Ellen and Sandra! SEE THEM ALL! CAUSE THEY WANNA SEE YOU! And help raise some money to help others

This would be a very entertaining experience. At only $85 (the price of a good concert ticket), I wouldn’t pass it up (if I lived in L.A.). Also, it’s nice to see the show giving back to the less fortunate members of their staff.

The L.A. Times talked to four showrunners to see what it’s like getting back into the swing after the strike. Bryan Fuller of Pushing Daisies is making waffles for his writers, My Name is Earl creator Greg Garcia is saying that anybody who doesn’t get down to business is back out on the street, and he may or may not be joking. The most interesting bit of news? Lost’s Damon Lindelhof doesn’t know if his writers even remember where they were:

“Everything I’ve forgotten about the Dharma Initiative is best left forgotten,” Lindelof said. “The good news about time away from the show is that you remember the good stuff. If you’ve forgotten about it, it’s probably best not to be reminded.

I think Lindelhof has a good point. Lost seems to have gotten so complex and so complicated that maybe ditching large portions of backstory is exactly what’s needed. One thing that is hard about writing and world building is that you come up with these brilliant ideas, these amazing details about how things work. But if you aren’t careful, those ideas and that world take over and your plot and characters take a back seat.

If taking a break allows them to settle themselves and get down to the stories that are important to tell, then I say that’s a good thing. But I’m surprised that a show with so complex a mythology doesn’t have a “show bible” to tell them all those things they could easily have forgotten.

The man who helped create Jack Bauer is stepping aside, according to Variety:

“I’ve done seven years, almost eight years at the same place with the same great group of people,” Surnow said. “During the strike I started thinking about different things I’d like to do independently, and decided it was time to see if there were other opportunities I wanted to pursue.”

The show seems to be getting one big shakeup after another, but it seems like good timing. I had heard a lot of buzz that it was getting a little stale, so maybe this is exactly what they need to stay fresh.

NBC has announced that they will be bringing back Chuck, Heroes, and Life for the 08-09 season.
The official press release states:

All three series will have major re-launch campaigns next year.

“We are thrilled to be bringing back the high-energy dramas ‘Chuck’ and Life’ for next season,” said Silverman. “Additionally, we will be saving and re-launching our #1 drama and most successful franchise, ‘Heroes,’ so that it will run in all original episodes in the fourth quarter.”

This isn’t particularly groundbreaking news, I couldn’t imagine NBC losing Heroes, but Chuck and Life were in a strange limbo with their orders of a “back nine” put on hold by the strike. It’s good to know that they’ll be back.

Everyone has wondered how the Showtime series Dexter would be edited for broadcast television. The graphic gore and violence present in the original show worried fans that the show would be chopped to pieces. Over at Slice of SciFi they have clips from a screener sent out by CBS.

Click here to see the clips.

An example is, in the first clip, the scalpel is not shown cutting into the flesh. From what I understand, Dexter gets more graphic as the season goes on. So well have to stay tuned to see how CBS address it. The clips are promising.

CBS has unveiled it’s post-strike schedule, according to TV.com. Among other shows, Moonlight is returning April 11 and is expected to have four more new episodes.

I’m excited to hear that Moonlight has more new episodes coming this season. A lot of the freshman dramas for this season are just pushing the remaining number of new episodes to the beginning of next season, so it’s nice to hear that CBS isn’t doing that with Moonlight

Is anybody else excited to hear this news?

Tina Fey is a very intelligent and funny actress. Not to mention a talented writer. As writer/producer/star of 30 Rock she’s proven that she’s a Hollywood powerhouse. According to The New York Times, she will be the first host of the post-strike Saturday Night Live:

The first show back on the air since the strike by the Writers Guild of America was expected to end on Tuesday, after three months, will probably be the NBC series “Saturday Night Live,” which returns on Feb. 23. (Tina Fey will be the host that night; Ellen Page of the film “Juno” is committed for March 1.) That NBC late-night production missed nine shows during the strike and will try to replace a number of those between now and May.

I love Fey, and greatly miss her from SNL both at the Update desk, as well as the writers’ room. In my opinion, SNL is usually best watched on Sunday morning via DVR, because there is usually only 20 good minutes to watch. But occasionally the guest host seems to improve the show, and Fey definitely has the potential to turn out a great show.