TV with MeeVee

Fox Announces 2008-09 Season Plans

Fox wants you to feel their electricity. No, really. "“Broadcast television needs a jolt. We feel it’s our responsibility, as the No. 1 network for the last four seasons, to provide that electricity,” Fox Broadcasting Entertainment Chairman Peter Liguori says in remarks  prepared for his upfront presentation to advertisers in New York today.

The schedule announced this morning puts the most focus on dramas from J.J. Abrams ("Lost") and Joss Whedon ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer"). The network is not exactly reinventing the wheel, but they are putting something besides repeats on Friday night. And the bloated "American Idol" results show gets cuts back to a half hour in '09.

Fox executives on a conference call with reporters this morning admit that, like the other networks, Fox has fewer new shows due to the writers strike's disruption of the development cycle. Of course, when you're the most-watched network among total viewers as well as viewers 18-49 ...no worries mon. And they say they actually have shows in development now for all the way to the start of 2010.

Two new series debut in the fall:

"Fringe" (above), a thriller from Abrams, stars newcomer Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson and John Noble as allies thrown together to investigate weirdness emanating from a mysterious Boston plane crash. Think "Lost" meets "The X-Files." It will air behind "House" on Tuesday nights in the fall.

"Do Not Disturb" is a comedy with Jerry O'Connell as a manager at an upscale New York hotel; Jason Bateman of "Arrested Development" will direct some episodes.

The "24" prequel also airs in November, as we reported earlier this morning. One Fox exec on the call just termed it "a really cool piece of standalone business."

Coming after the first of the year - along with "24" and "American Idol" - are four more new series, including another giving-it-away reality show, called "Secret Millionaire."

The year's most anticipated drama is Whedon's "Dollhouse" (right). Eliza Dushku, who enlivened the final seasons of "Buffy," stars as one of an underground group who have their personalities "wiped" and replaced with new ones in order to better carry out their secret missions.

In the spring we'll see two comedies, the unlikely "Family Guy" spinoff "Cleveland" and the animated "Sit Down, Shut Up," from "Arrested Development" creator Mitchell Hurwitz. That's about a group of less-than-dedicated teachers, with Bateman leading the voice cast.

Tidbits from the conference call:

Someone just asked the execs how they decided whether to give "Fringe" or "Dollhouse" the fall launch. Entertainment President Kevin Reilly - I think it was him, anyway - said it was "a high-class problem to have." Whedon had seven scripts written from the get-go, but Abrams finished pilot production sooner. Whdeon welcomed the extra time, the execs said.

Afternoon links, because it's too early for gin

• Could there be some "Gossip Girl"-on-girl action coming up? (E! Online)
• Whoever was watching "American Idol" on Tuesday was not a solitary man, sez Nielsen. (TV Decoder)
• Apparently they still give Emmys for daytime television, because the nominations were announced today. (TV Squad)
• Who's tops with the demo that matters? (TV By The Numbers)
• On "Idol," Carly Simon sez, Brooke is tops. (AP)
• "Terminator" Summer Glau wants more action. Write your own joke. (EW.com)

Oyster Shooters Of Afternoon TV News

• News about Katie Couric's "CBS Evening News" exit strategy didn't do anything good for the broadcast's ratings. (TV Decoder)
• Losing that next Democratic debate can't help her either. (ShowTracker)
• Considering the identity of the final Cylon on "Battlestar Galactica." (BuddyTV)
• As everyone has known for a while, really, "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" will be back on Fox next season. What wasn't known till now is that Brian Austin Green has joined the cast as a regular. (E! Online)

"Terminator" Invades Video Game Store

The "Terminator" concept has inspired more than just the expected sequels, spinoffs, and licensed merchandise. It's also come to mean absurd amounts of computing power. For example, Futureshop, a Canadian video game retailer, has included notes about using the Skynet software and a T1000 to play the new game Crysis.

What Now, Summer Glau?

She's off air for now, but she'll be back. (Sorry, had to use the "I'll be back" line somehow.) In one recent interview, Summer Glau (Cameron on "Terminator") told Canada.com that she's wanted to do a Western or period film since she was a child, and that she's still in touch with all the "Firefly" people. Glau is also featured in the April 2008 issue of Vanity Fair; you can find a scan of her page with a short profile over at summer-glau.net.

Morning Reading

• "The Wire" ends. (Buddy TV)
• Showtime is parting ways with its lesbian lovers. (Hollywood Reporter)
• "Sopranos" movie? Not so much. (AP)
• Did I mention "The Wire" ended? (NY Times)
• "Dirt" still stains. (TV Squad)
• Rumors of a "Terminator" that won't die. Ironic, no? (TV Squad)
• Oh, and by the way, "The Wire" ended. (TGTV)

"Terminator" Brings The Hot Robot Love (And Doom)

I mentioned yesterday that I really hope that "Terminator" gets a second season because I want to see Cameron (Summer Glau) go to the prom, but io9 is even more into the whole robosexual thing than I am. To be honest, I'm beginning to think that robot love is the sci-fi theme of the moment. Maybe it reveals a widespread cultural anxiety about technology, and maybe it's just that robots are kind of sexy, I'm not sure. But bear with me here.

First we had the "Battlestar Galactica" Cylons and their spines glowing during hot Cylon sex (left). It's inspired a lot of jokes, but they're still drawing attention to the question of where to draw the line between where's the line between humans and technology.

And now there's John Connor developing an unwholesome attachment to Cameron. Is a tame Terminator more trustworthy than a wild human? Will his distrust of humans and his trust in robots eventually kill him? Plus, of course, his teenage lust and Cameron's careful notes on seduction. As io9 says "The moment where John Connor cuts Summer Glau's head open and lovingly rips out her cyber-brain was actually weirdly tender and sweet, and yet ridiculously sexual. (And then when Summer reboots, she catches John giving her the post-coital moon-eyes.)"

We've had this sort of pop-cultural moment before, of course, but it seems more and more possible than it did back in the 1980s, when the rapidly increasing power of computers helped to inspire Short Circuit and Electric Dreams. In this decade, we've seen plenty of trend pieces in which people worry about the opinions their technology has formed - the "my TiVo thinks I'm gay" moment. And don't get me started about the way people tend to treat Roombas like pets instead of vacuum cleaners.

This summer, we'll get family-friendly treatment of the same theme, with WALL-E, a movie about a robot who falls in love. No glowing spines or reproductive organs, sure, but look under the hood. It's got the same basic circuitry as "Terminator:" Humans cause some kind of apocalypse through arrogance and stupidity, while robots become human and replace us.

"Terminator" Plus Johnny Cash Equals Explosions

Last night's "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" was a triumph, from Cameron the "good" terminator learning to smile and make idle conversation all the way through to the Johnny Cash song over the final minutes. And it left me wanting more: Will they catch the Armenian gangster who bought the Turk? Will they ever stop Cromartie, now that Agent Ellison and Sarah's ex know that he's a terminator and Sarah is right? What will happen to the girl who is the sole survivor of the Latino gang that sold Sarah the fake IDs? How hilarious will it be if Cameron goes to the prom?

We may or may not find out: Last week, Sci-Fi blog Io9 interviewed exec producer Josh Friedman, who says the show has a good chance of getting a second season, but it's not a guarantee. Want to boost the ratings and/or find out what happened? Watch the final hour right here:

What's Next For "Sarah Connor Chronicles"

"Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" is the latest piece of the massive and well-loved Terminator franchise. Plenty is familiar in the new show - there are guns and monotone bad guys and the Connors themselves - but plenty is new as well. One of the new additions to the storyline is Derek Reese, brother of Kyle Reese (that's John's father from the future, if you're not up on your Terminator mythology), played by Brian Austin Green - yeah, that guy from "Beverly Hills 90210." (Left, Green with Thomas Dekker as John.)

"The Sarah Connor Chronicles" will wrap up its first season with a bang this coming Monday. The season will conclude with a two-hour finale airing on Fox at 8pm. This week, Brian Austin Green and head writer Josh Friedman sat down with journalists to discuss the show and what's coming next.

The big question on everyone's mind is whether the show will be renewed. Friedman couldn't give any answers on that, but did say that the show wasn't as expensive to produce as people might think, and that it was currently in the top 5 most Tivo-ed shows. They'll be sitting down with the networks to pitch season 2 and find out what's next, but right now it's anyone's guess.

Morning Reading

• Actors aren't always the same age as their characters? My word is turned upside down. (TV Squad)
• The inside poop on the end of "Las Vegas." (TV Guide)
• Interview with Richard T. Jones of "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles." (TV Addict)
• Dennis Miller is a d.b. Not exactly news, but we never tire of saying it. (TV Barn)
• ABC goes VOD with ADS. (TV Squad)
• "Prison Break" is looking good for a fourth season. (BuddyTV)
• TV station honchos in Alabama swear it was technical difficulties that blocked their transmission of a controversial "60 Minutes" report about some local pols. Then when they got caught, they broadcast the segment on their local news. (NY Times)
• Keeping the books fair and square in Hollywood? That. Will. Never. Happen. (United Hollywood)
• The sad song choices may not be "American Idol" contestants' fault. (ET Online)
• Those poor performances have made Simon Cowell a mint, though: The "Idol" judge just paid about $80,000,000 for a house in London. That's equal to the amount of foreign aid that the UK sends to Zambia each year. (Heatworld) (Real Estalker says it ain't so, though.)

Morning Reads: Saturn Awards Find "Lost"

• "Lost" leads the TV nominations for the Saturn Awards from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy And Horror Films. Best Network Series nominees are: "Heroes," "Journeyman," "Lost," "Pushing Daisies," "Supernatural" and "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles." "Journeyman"? Really? (TV Addict)
• Lorne Michaels knows that "Saturday Night Live" is in a tough place as it returns to the air this week. (NY Times)
• Fox now has the highest average network rating for the season. Yikes. (AP)
• I guess "K-Ville" really isn't coming back. Anthony Anderson is going to replacing Jesse L. Martin on "Law & Order." (Hollywood Reporter)
• "Jericho" and "Big Brother" both had really bad weeks for CBS. (tvbythenumbers.com)

Cameron From "Terminator" Learns Empathy

There was some fun dialog in this week's "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" - John saying "I call shotgun" and Cameron replying "I call 9mm," but the best moment was totally silent. It's the moment when Cameron manages to kill the T88, and then looks somehow troubled by killing it. After all her murderous failure to understand human death and empathy, she finally gets it when she kills one of her own.

Casting Madness: "Knight Rider" And "Terminator" Surprises

Will Arnett has been dropped as the voice of Kitt in "Knight Rider," says IESB. Apparently the acting job - as the voice of a Ford - conflicted with a contract he signed to do voiceovers on ads for GMC trucks, and so now all the dialog has to be redone by someone else. Fortunately for fans, it's someone good: Val Kilmer.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the sci-fi spectrum, The TV Addict has spoilers and stills from next week's "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles," including Brian Austin Green with a big freaking gun.

"Terminator" Talk With Summer Glau

I knew the conference call with Summer Glau of Fox's "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" was going to draw a lot of sci-fi adepts who would ask her about "Terminator" mythology and her role as the cyborg Cameron. So I took an early turned and asked her about the poster. Seen here on the left, it was the most talked-about promotional image of the entire season. What was it like, I asked her, to see yourself up there on the wall with wires coming out...

She laughed in a way that made clear it was an experience.

"I remember when we were on set and James Middleton, who's one of our producers, was describing this concept for me about this awesome poster, and I was going to be naked, and I wasn't going to have any legs, and my guts were going to be hanging out, and I was trying to act excited, but I was terrified," Glau said.

"I thought, Oh my God this sounds so scary, and I'm going to be up on a billboard looking like that, and I said, 'Oh come on, let's just use a normal picture of me holding a gun.' ... Aand then I saw the poster and I thought, Wow, I understand the concept now, and I though it's really different and it's going to make people wonder. It's interesting and it says a lot about the show," she said and laughed. "But I remember they were talking about how the campaign was going to start in December, but I went home for Christmas, for New Year's, and when I got home, that's when all the posters were up. I can't even describe how it feels, it doesn't feel like me...I just think about the team of people that pulled it together, it doesn't even register that it's me."

"Terminator" Cliffhanger: Ratings

Pins and needles for some in Hollywood this morning, and I don't mean the Oscar nominations or even the resumption of "informal" talks in the writers strike. It's the ratings for Fox's "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles." Last night's episode was excellent, opening new stories for Sarah, John and Cameron, and the evil Cromartie.

But today's ratings revelations may be even more dramatic. The "Terminator" premiere on Jan. 13 scored over 18 million viewers, by far the year's best debut, but dropped by nearly half in its second episode the next night. No doubt Sunday's audience was pumped up by huge promotion and a football lead-in, and the second night's rating was pretty good by itself. But another big drop for last night's episode would be bad news indeed.

In the meantime, you might want to check out this interview with Summer Glau, aka Cameron, by our friend The TVAddict. And let us know what you think of "Terminator" after three episodes in the comments. Good enough to keep watching?

"Terminator" Timeline Could Be Gordian Knot. Or Not.

This week's debut of Fox's "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" added two hours to the tale but about a million twists and turns for those trying to parse the "real" chronology of future resistance leader John Connor and the robot apocalypse. Blogger Todd Seavey has taken on the thankless and possible task of untangling them. It's entirely possible to enjoy the TV series without caring about any of this, of course. But there's a certain appeal, not unlike rapture of the deep, in paragraphs like this:

At the end of the second film, a new timeline is created (branching off from the point in 1995 [though the film came out in 1991] when CompuDyne HQ was blown up, two years before it could trigger the nuclear war). In this new timeline, though (as we learn in the third film), the nuclear war still happens eventually (“Judgment Day iss inevidduble”) — specifically in 2004 (though the film came out in 2003) and more dueling robot assassins are still dispatched to the past from sometime around 2032 (when vengeful robots, operating after the destruction of Skynet, kill the adult John Connor).                                                                           

(Thanks to TV Squad for pointing us to this one.)

Morning Reading: Writers Strike And More

Feast your eyes on the image of Randy Jackson and Renaldo Lapuz, one of the "American Idol" loons from last night, while you enjoy these morning links:

• AP updates the networks' stock of new shows at this point in the strike. (AP)
• Barnhart has a long and substantive interview with Shawn Ryan, creator of "The Shield" and a member of the Writers Guild negotiating team. And he takes issue with some of those numbers. (TV Barn)
• The WGA gets ready to make reality an issue. (Scribe Vibe)
• Matt Roush says it's "Nip/Tuck" that needs reconstructive surgery these days. (TV Guide)
• Chris Daughtry has backed off his comments dissing "Idol." Taken out of context, blah blah blah. (Page Six)
• A closer look at "Lipstick Jungle." I'm having a hard time caring, myself. (Televisionista)
• First look at Brian Austin Green on "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles." (TV Addict)
• Stephen Colbert's portrait has made it into the National Portrait Gallery. It'll be in the hallway next to the bathroom. (TV Squad)

"Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles" - Talking With Lena Headey

"Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" stars British actress Lena Headey as, well, you can guest. With the second hour of the hotly anticipated series airing tonight, Headey and executive producer James Middleton met the press on a conference call to talk about all things Terminator. There may be a spoiler or two...

Question: When you were with us back in July at the press tour, there was extensive discussion of how the school shooting scene in the pilot was going to be changed. From what I can tell, it mostly hasn’t been. Were there changes that I just couldn’t see?
J. Middleton: Yes, we are very sensitive in the show in general to the ramifications of violence, and to this actual event. We did make quite a few edits in the school shooting to cut down the number of shots, and to remove any implication that those students had been shot. We really focused on the chase.
We also changed the location of the gunfight in the opening dream sequence to a public library from a school, so those are the changes we made to the pilot.
Question: Was that all sort of editing changes for the actual school scene?
J. Middleton: No, we actually reshot some footage, and did extensive editing.

(Left: Headey and Thomas Dekker as John Connor.)

Question: When you’re looking at a subject matter such as this over the course of, let’s say, a 90-minute movie, if people are on the edge of their seats, and it’s high tension, and high peril all the time, you can sort of live with that. ... If everything is always peril, and every sort of victory is met immediately by more peril, I’m just wondering if there’s a concern of wearing the audience out over time, and do you have to be wary of that.
J. Middleton: Well, one of the things we felt we had by doing a television show based on the Terminator franchise, was an opportunity to explore character, to explore Sarah Connor’s character, and the problems this mother would encounter raising a 15-year old son, and trying to teach him to be a good man, while being in extreme danger.
That’s something we feel we can do better in a television show, than in a two-hour movie. The other thing the show allows us to do is change the narrative dynamic. The movies are a chase dynamic, and in our show, Sarah Connor is on the attack. She is the one that is searching, and trying to root out Skynet, and Skynet being this pernicious evil force from the future. What she finds, is there’s a vast conspiracy in L.A., it’s not just one terminator, or two, there are many aspects of this technology, and how it’s formed, and she has bitten off a little bit more than she can chew. The difference is she is proactive.

"Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles" Rocks Out With Its Cyborg Out

Do you miss explosions and gunfire and desperate peril and cybernetic hotties? Have I got a show for you.

Fox's "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" could be the smokin' sci fi thriller that people expected NBC's "Bionic Woman" to be. Or it could be another flash in the pan. But it will definitely liven up a scripted-TV landscape decimated by the writers strike.

SPOILER ALERT: I didn't think there was anything major here that you wouldn't already have figured out from the ads, but a couple of people have excoriated me for revealed plot items, so proceed at your own risk...

Debuting with hourlong episodes Sunday at 8 and Monday at 9, "Terminator: TSCC" features zingy dialogue and the kind of full-tilt action sequences that have become increasingly rare on TV. The only question is how long they can sustain the pace.

Sunday's pilot delivers the most pedal-to-the-metal action you'll see outside of "24" - which we're not going to see this season, so get it where you can. Although a school shootout scene was supposedly toned down after the Virginia Tech massacre, there's plenty of terminator-on-terminator action and all kinds of high-caliber bang-bang. The pace barely slows long enough to explain the back story, which most folks will know from the movies. (Pictured: Lena Headey and Thomas Dekker; below, Summer Glau.)

Here it is anyway: Sarah Connor is the mother of John Connor, who in the future will save mankind by leading the resistance against a robot holocaust. The robots send terminators back from the future to take out John while he's still a teenager. Mom is determined to save him and thus humanity.

Lena Headey ("300") is terrific as Sarah, who has the furrowed brow of a parent and the commando tradecraft of a Navy SEAL. Headey is dark-haired, brooding and English in real life, but otherwise nothing like Michelle Ryan, who apparently underwhelmed audiences for "The Bionic Woman."

The weak link in the "Terminator: TSCC" cast might be Thomas Dekker ("Heroes") as John. His brooding-teen charisma is lost on me; he just seems like a mope. But then, he's playing a callow lad who resents the burden he bears, so maybe that's just good acting.

This mother-son duo gets backup: a good terminator sent back from the future by adult John to help protect his younger self. She's called Cameron, a nod to director James Cameron, who created the "Terminator" franchise. Summer Glau kicks ass, often literally, as this sexy gal with the robot logic of Spock and the blank stare of a web-porn avatar.

In the second episode, she also gets the best line, at the end of a bravura action sequence involving a terminator, a crotch-rocket bike and a passing car. It ain't "I can kill you with my mind," but it's pretty good in a cartoony, action-movie way, and I won't spoil it for you here. She's the show's breakout character, the one everybody's talking about, and Glau makes it look easy.

Summer Glau Can Kill You With Her Mind

The stars were out for a special screening of "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" last night, with Summer Glau looking... well, a little off. I may not be a makeup expert, but I don't think you're supposed to match your cheeks to your dress.

Nonetheless, I've seen the rough cuts of the new "Terminator" show and it's freaking fantastic, and Summer Glau is freaking fantastic in it. The rest of the actors are nice and all, but daaaaamn, she kicks ass six ways to Sunday.

This kind of review might be a little frustrating to Glau. It suggests that her roles in "Firefly" and "Terminator" have overshadowed everything else she's capable of, and that she's getting typecast as an otherworldly ass-kicking beauty.

Still, there are worse ways to be typecast: She could be stuck with Queen Latifah's roles.

Terminate This!

One of the few bright spots to look forward to on a strike-afflicted winter TV schedule is the Jan. 13 premiere of  Fox's action-packed "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles." And one of the best parts of the show, at least in the pilot, is Summer Glau as a high school hottie soon revealed to be a good terminator named Cameron. All of which I write just so I can show you this creepy poster:

Go ahead, tell me that doesn't creep you out just a little.

"Sarah Connor Chronicles" Paired With "24"

As our friends over at GMMR point out, this is a pretty badass Monday lineup. The show, now titled "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles," will bow Jan. 14 at 8, right before "24." The pilot was one of the best of the season, a full-out, balls-to-the-wall action thriller, with Sarah (Lena Headey) on the run in today's America, protecting her son John (Thomas Dekker) from the future's wrath with the help of a hottie who happens to be a good cyborg (Summer Glau).

One scene in which a classroom gets shot up has been tweaked after the Virginia Tech massacre, but I don't think that will slow up the show. The only question is whether the pace can be maintained week after week on a series TV budget. This ought to be a gi-normous hit, although the post-time-travel mother-son nudity was a little creepy. Dekker's picture will adorn many an issue of Tiger Beat. But much as with Katee Sackhoff on "Bionic Woman," the ass-kicking Glau steals the show.