Buffy’s little sister will be moving to Manhattan, according to The Hollywood Reporter:

Trachtenberg will play Georgina Sparks, a character who appears in the novels on which the series is based. Georgina rolls into Manhattan from rehab, shaking up and torturing the life of Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively).

Trachtenberg seems to be doing well, and I think it will be interesting to see her on Gossip Girl. But while she seems to be working a lot, her roles don’t really seem to be taking off and getting her all that much buzz.

While I never liked Dawn on Buffy (did anybody?) I do think it’ll be great to see Trachtenberg take on a character like this.

The episodes of course will air during sweeps.

The CSI empire is expanding again, this time they’re taking over amusement parks. Variety reports:

Half-hour production will let audience members witness a fake crime, then guide them through the “whodunit” process by using the scientific techniques featured in the series. Parkgoers will act as witnesses, suspects and crime investigators.

I’m highly intrigued by the idea, because I am fascinated by forensics. But CSI is not really a show about forensics (or at least, not an accurate one). But there is an interesting point later in the article when they say the crime will not be a murder because it’s a “family friendly” show.

How exactly is crime and investigating crime “family friendly?” I’m not saying that kids shouldn’t be allowed to view the show, or that kids can’t benefit from learning about how crimes are solved. I was raised by a police officer, so fingerprinting and forensics were dinner conversations. But it’s very different from saying the CSI: Live show will be PG and that it will be family friendly.

I also wonder if we might be reaching the saturation point with CSI. How much of a good thing is too much? How long with the nation’s love affair with Gil Grissom last?

So would you take a trip to Six Flags: Magic Mountain to check out CSI Live? And if you do, will you take pictures and tell me all about it?

The cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer got together, five years after the show went off the air, to remember the good times. CNN has the highlights:

Gellar also reminisced about auditioning 11 times before landing the role of Buffy Summers.“All my friends felt sorry for me because I was on a midseason replacement on a network no one had heard of on a show based on a movie that wasn’t all that,” the 30-year-old actress said.

Whedon made sure to say that there was little to no chance for the show to come back on the air, or any sort of official reunion to happen.

But I have been keeping up with the Season Eight comics that have been coming out monthly for the last year or so. I’ve been enjoying them, and while I miss the show I was actually glad it bowed out when it did, rather than overstaying it’s welcome.

As rabid as I think Buffy fans still are, I think most of them have moved on. So while a reunion movie would be sweet, I’d rather just see the cast get together and talk about the good times.

Now if Fox would just let the “Buffy Horror Picture Show” events to start back up again, all would be well.

Update!

I’ve found an excellent article on TV Guide that contains much more juicy information from the panel!:

Quote of the day: Summing up the appeal of writing for a show like Buffy, Greenwalt said, “There’s nothing like taking all your pain and misery and shoving it into good-looking people’s mouths.”

This article has a lot more information, and Buffy fans should definitely go check it out. They also have a little more context for Whedon’s remarks about a Buffy movie:

Whedon acknowledged that “so many stars would have to align” in order to pull off a Buffy movie. “But,” he added, “I think it would be really cool.”

I still think that a Buffy movie wouldn’t really be necessary or needed. But if they brought back Oz, I’d be first in line for my tickets.

There’s a new food related reality show coming to the market, thanks to NBC and the company behind Hell’s Kitchen, according to Variety:

“Chopping Block,” to be exec produced by David Barbour and Julian Cress, will feature would-be chefs competing as couples in a bid to win their own restaurant.

The host will be Marco Pierre White, who replaced Gordon Ramsay on the British Hell’s Kitchen last year.

I am absolutely addicted to Top Chef, but I think we’re reaching critical mass with competitive reality shows. Bravo alone has more than their fair share, so I’m curious if this show can get off the ground and get it’s own following or if it’s doomed to failure.

I’m pretty sure if I ran a network, right now I wouldn’t be reaching for more competitive reality to fill out my schedule. But I guess lather, rinse, repeat is the way scheduling works these days.

Fans of Chuck will be able to get more of their favorite not-quite-super-spy. TV Guide reports:

The upcoming series will be created by WildStorm, the DC Comics imprint that has also put Supernatural to comic paper. Chuck Bartowski and his cohorts will be available in comic form starting June 11.

Considering what I’ve heard about the Supernatural comics, I don’t know that this is a good idea. I don’t follow Supernatural (yet) but I’ve heard a lot of bad things about the comic spin-off. So does this bode well for Chuck or not?

I think Chuck is probably my favorite of the new shows that came out this year, but I don’t think I’ll look to the comic book for more fun. Part of the charm of the show is the cast, and I don’t think you can capture that with ink and paper.

Will you be picking it up?

Ben Browder has said that he’ll reprise his role as John Crichton if a proposed set of Farscape webisodes gets off the ground. SciFi Wire reports:

Executive producer Brian Henson and creator Rockne O’Bannon are talking about how to revive Farscape on the Web in a series of 10 webisodes.

“At the moment, that’s Rockne and Brian’s job, and I’m aware that they’re figuring out what they’re going to do with it, but I don’t know how far along in the process they are,” Browder said.

While I admit that I think Farscape suffered a bit in it’s later episodes, I have to also say that that the Peacekeeper Wars mini-series was some really fine television.

With his commitment to Stargate SG-1 at an end, it seems the perfect timing for this project. Not to mention that I have rarely seen a fandom as loyal and excitable as Farscape fans (outside of Browncoats).

At the same time, I wonder about all the returns to old series we seem to be having. Where’s the new content? Whatever happened to letting a show go when it was over? We’ve got new Babylon 5 stories, SG-1 isn’t really over, and every show I watched as a kid is being revived.

Do you think they can do something great, or should they let Farscape go?

The CW wants to take us all back to Beverly Hills. They’ve courted Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas to create a contemporary “spin-off” of Beverly Hills 90210, according to The Hollywood Reporter:

Details about the spinoff — including which if any of the characters on the original series will make the transition to the new show — remain sketchy. CW is expected to make a decision whether to order a pilot by the end of the month.

I’m not sure if I’m highly amused, or depressed at this news. On the one hand, 90210 was a large cultural phenomena when I was growing up (which is dating me a bit, I suppose) but on the other hand, I was never a fan of it myself.

What do you think: yet another senseless resurrection of an old series, or a great idea to go with modern teen shows?

Leonard Roberts, who portrayed D.L. Hawkins on Heroes, has a few things to say about show the show has gone so far. He believes the show needs to get cater to the fans more, according to Digital Spy:

I mean the fans put the show where it is and it’s only right that the creative element behind it respects that audience and gives them something that is worthy of their respect. I hope that they’ve had some time to do that – I think they have – and when everybody gets back to work I have no doubt that it’s going to be a stellar season.”

It’s good to see that he has faith in it, but as I’ve noted before I wonder if the fans having so much power is a good or a bad thing. While most people would agree that the romances were bringing the show down, I’ve met people who loved Mia, and who hated her. There are people that really enjoyed the Hiro-in-the-past storyline.

So maybe what the creators can do that would cater most to the fans is really get back to their roots, and to the enjoyment of the first season. They should concentrate on making a good show, and we’ll be pulled along for the ride.

Though not having any more romance would make me a much happier fan, I admit.

Former Love Line and Man Show host Adam Carolla is saying he’s been hired to host Top Gear’s US Version. Jalopnik reports:

Adam Carolla, on his show on KLSX today, announced he’ll be one of the hosts of Top Gear USA. We’ve got no confirmation from anyone at NBC and frankly, we don’t even know who to call to confirm it.

I’m hoping that this turns out to be fake news. I personally have never been a fan of Carolla, and think that him being hired to host the show would be a very big sign that they’re not going the proper direction with the U.S. version. But perhaps I am underestimating how much he loves cars. The reason I like Top Gear is because the hosts are all very much Car Guys, and they know their stuff.

Carolla seems like the type that likes cars, but doesn’t really know much about them. I could be proven wrong.

The Oscars were Sunday, but apparently nobody really cared to tune in. The Hollywood Reporter says:

Following the lowest-rated Emmys since 1990, the strike-hindered ratings performance of a severely truncated version of the Golden Globes and a nonstruck airing of the Grammys that nonetheless disappointed, Sunday night’s presentation of the 80th Annual Academy Awards on ABC hit an all-time ratings low.

Only 32 million viewers tuned in to Hollywood’s biggest night. The question is, why? Many people (myself included) are calling it the best ceremony in years. They stripped out all of the ridiculous performances to include only the five nominated songs (a move I’ve been begging them to take for years). They had a few silly montages, but by making fun of the useless montages, I was willing to let it go.

There was sadly still a ridiculous animated character presenting the animated short Oscar (really, we know you can put cartoons on the stage, it’s not funny anymore). But for the most part, Jon Stewart didn’t tell too many jokes. Most of the ones he told were funny. Speeches were short and heartfelt, and very few people had scripts or needed them. There was less attempts at witty banter, and overall the night was dignified and fun.

So, did you tune in? If so, what did you like about this slightly changed ceremony? If not, well why not?

Jerry Bruckheimer is helming another American remake of a British show, according to
C21 media:

Hollywood über-producer Jerry Bruckheimer (CSI) will re-version UK sci-fi miniseries Eleventh Hour for US terrestrial network CBS, and has signed a British actor to star.

Bruckheimer has signed Rufus Sewell to play a role originally played by Patrick Stewart.

While the series looks interesting enough, this begs the question once more: why are we making our own versions when we could just air the British one? It’s not like American audiences don’t already adore Patrick Stewart.

Dexter is thriving on CBS, airing to amazingly high ratings. But that is exactly the problem for one group, according to Defamer:

Just after adorable homocidal[sic] freak Dexter made his debut on CBS to triumphant ratings, the Parents Television Council is trying to take the show off the air (or at least back to Showtime, where skeeviness and scandal rules).

The group states that corporate greed is the only reason that CBS thinks the show is appropriate.

There’s a problem with their logic though. While the show might be different in having it’s main character be a sympathetic serial killer, at the same time you can’t say that he’s the first character of his kind. How many people, of all ages, are watching Heroes and rooting for Sylar to eat more brains? The bad guys, the killers, the sociopaths, are almost always just as popular as the main characters.

Perhaps the show is more graphic, but Defamer also hits the nail on the head: “The only problem with the PTC’s anti-Dexter statement is their examples of oh-so-gruesomeness, which only make us want to watch more and more.”

The other problem with protesting Dexter? I was under the impression that modern technology enabled parents to stop their kids from watching just about anything they didn’t approve of. So why take Dexter off the air to protect the children who could be watching, and take it away from those of us who enjoy a good anti-hero?

NBC has decided that the long held tradition of premiering new shows in the fall is at it’s end. The New York Times reports:

NBC Universal took a big step toward undoing one of the television industry’s oldest traditions by announcing Tuesday that it would move to a year-round schedule of staggered program introductions. The move is intended to appeal to advertisers, who crave fresh content to keep viewers tuned in.

Different networks and shows have been chipping away at the idea of “fall = new shows” for a while now. Sci-Fi in particular never seemed to adhere to that plan, and USA often has new shows premiering in the winter (both are networks owned by NBC Universal). So I’m not entirely surprised to find out that NBC is planning to ditch the idea. But I find it interesting because it’s going to change television in so many ways.

When all the new shows premiere at once, there’s a specific type of advertising push. It’s easier to remember that something new is coming on. But at the same time, that means each freshman show has a lot of competition, and often they don’t get a chance to find their audience before they’re gone forever.

I have missed out on the premieres of several of my favorite shows because they came at an odd time (Stargate seems to get me every season, I almost always miss the first one). Can viewers adjust to this new way of doing business? Do you think it’ll help you find great new shows, or will it just spread things out so much that new shows won’t drum up excitement anymore?

NBC is trying to find a way to save Friday Night Lights, according to Variety:

NBC Universal execs have decided they want to go the extra yard to ensure the drama returns for a third season. To make sure that happens, conglom is having serious conversations with several networks about a plan to carve out multiple broadcast windows for the show…

NBC has a similar deal for Law and Order: Criminal Intent. However that deal was with USA, which is also owned by NBC Universal. I find it fascinating to see which shows networks are willing to fight to keep on the air (like the Law and Order franchises) and which they’re willing to let die, even if the numbers are similar. Is it simply critical reaction that keeps them fighting? Or is it that there’s just one exec at NBC who is a huge fan of Friday Night Lights?

You have to agree that the remote control completely changed the way we watch television. It is one single invention that has had a huge impact on our lives, even though it really only performs a small function. But according to io9 it wasn’t created to help us be lazy:

Television was a new medium in the late 1940s, with few shows and still fewer channels, but McDonald already felt it was being ruined by advertisers. Unlike the untold legions who have shared his opinion, then and now, McDonald was in a position to do something about it. He was the president of Zenith Electronics Corporation. McDonald ordered his engineers go to work on a device that would allow viewers to mute the damn things, thus making ads unprofitable and leading to their demise. Or so he hoped.

This is fascinating, because if you look at a lot of television’s peripherals, so many of them are designed to help us avoid advertising. Tivo and DVRs? Sure, they help us watch things later, but most people admit that fast forwarding through the commercials is their favorite part.

In fact, avoiding ads is one of the reasons I tend to watch tv through websites or on DVD instead of when it originally airs. In fact, there’s so many ways not to avoid advertising that it has become a very big deal to television producers everywhere. When you try to watch The Sarah Conner Chronicles on Fox’s website, you have to sit through the same ad multiple times during each “break.” It’s only one ad at time, but really, I’m no closer to buying a Juke than I was when the show started. To watch quick clips on most network websites, you have to sit through an ad first. Plus, just like on TV, they’re usually louder than the show. I tend to reach for the mouse and mute the computer during ads, or I’ll switch to another tab to quickly check my email before the show starts.

So what is your favorite way to avoid advertising? Is there any chance that McDonald’s dream of eradicating commercials will ever come true?

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?

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 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?