If you thought part one of the two part Fringe season 4 finale was spectacular, just wait. After watching this movie-like trailer for “Brave New World: Part Two” you will surely see what I mean. (Spoiler!) Leonard Nimoy’s William Bell is back and he’s off his rocker. Will the Fringe team–including Bell’s former parter Walter Bishop (John Noble)–be able to stop him from collapsing the two universes so he can control a new one like a God? Ramp up anticipation for tonight’s epic season finale that airs at 9PM on FOX by watching this revealing clip. After the break you’ll find a bonus video featuring Nimoy and Noble discussing the new chapter that is about to unfold as we make our way to the final thirteen episodes of one the best sci-fi shows in history.
The brilliant contemporary Sherlock returns to US airwaves tonight. The Brits were privy to the three episodes that make up series two of the Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss intellectual dramedy earlier this year in January, and now with springtime in America it’s our turn to revisit the wildly entertaining adventures of Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman’s Dr. John Watson.
Tonight’s series 2 premiere is entitled “A Scandal in Belgravia” and the log line goes like this: Picking up from season 1’s gripping cliff-hanger, the whip-smart dominatrix Irene Adler (Lara Pulver, True Blood) takes on Sherlock in a game he is ill-prepared to fight…love.
The three episodes will run consecutively over the course of three weeks (May 6, 13, and 20) on PBS at 9PM as part of the Public Broadcasting Service’s Masterpiece Mystery hour. Click here to view a schedule highlighting what’s in store this season for Sherlock. Don’t fret; Sherlock’s arch-nemesis Moriarty still looms as a major threat.
After lengthy negotiations, the network (FOX) and the studio (Warner Bros. TV) have come to a decision that will make TV sci-fi junkies around the world explode in excitement: the low-rated but fan-acclaimed Fringe has been granted another season. FOX will air a shortened 13-episode fifth season, and it will mark the series’ last.
FOX president Kevin Reilly–a vocally staunch supporter of Fringe–released this brief statement: “Fringe is a remarkably creative series that has set the bar as one of television’s most imaginative dramas. Bringing it back for a final 13 allows us to provide the climactic conclusion that its passionate and loyal fans deserve. The amazing work the producers, writers and the incredibly talented cast and crew have delivered the last four seasons has literally been out of this world. Although the end is bittersweet, it’s going to be a very exciting final chapter.”
Co-creator and executive producer J.J. Abrams shared his thoughts on the renewal, too: “We are thrilled and beyond grateful that Fox – and our fans – have made the impossible possible: Fringe will continue into a fifth season that will allow the series to conclude in a wild and thrilling way. All of us at Bad Robot are forever indebted to our viewers and the amazingly supportive Fox network for allowing the adventures of Fringe Division to not only continue, but to resolve in a way that perfectly fits the show.”
And so did showrunners J.H. Wyman and Jeff Pinkner: “This pickup means the world (both of them) to us, because we love sharing these stories with our enthusiastic fans. On behalf of the cast and crew, we applaud our fans and Fox for allowing us to imagine the impossibilities together for so long. Season Five is going to be a conclusive thrill ride for all of us.”
Though an additional 13 episodes is significantly shorter than a typical 23 episode order, this deserved extension gives the creative team a larger canvas to paint a proper ending for the show. Instead of getting abruptly cancelled, Fringe will now have a chance to ease fans toward the light at the end of the tunnel. With rather dismal ratings (and the fact that the show “is los[ing] a lot of money” for FOX according to Reilly), Fringe fanatics can’t really ask for anything more than this.
Recently it was reported that Wyman and Pinkner imagined two separate endings for the current season; one would serve as a series finale, and the other a cliffhanger to lead into a now official fifth season. With the latter course being taken, what can we expect in season five? Under a week ago Josh Jackson hinted, “The door to the fifth season is opened in Episode 19. If you watch that, you’ll have an understanding of where they want to take the series.” As you should already know, “Letters of Transit” teleported Fringe Division to the year 2036, a time when The Observers have taken over our world. Will the final season mostly take place in this not-so-distant future? Clues are planted in the clip embedded above… next season we shall “witness Fringe Division’s final stand; and Peter hints that “everything we’ve been through has just been preparation for what we face here, now.” Also, notice that the art for “FRINGE: THE FINAL SEASON” is all blocky and metallic, just like it was in the alternate “future” title sequence in Episode 19.
Watch said Fringe season 5 announcement trailer the network whipped up, get your speculation on, and don’t forget… rejoice!
Not that you have to be reminded or anything, but Arrested Development is making a comeback in a big way, with a brand new season and a feature film on the way. At this week’s National Association of Broadcasters convention, creator Mitch Hurwitz dropped some delicious nuggets pertaining to the smart comedy we’ve all missed so dearly. Netflix’s Ted Sarandos was on hand to confirm that all ten episodes that make up season 4 will be released simultaneous on the same day at the same time. So get ready for an Arrested Development binge…it’s not like you haven’t done exactly this at least once before with previous seasons.
Hurwitz went on to explain how he’s planning on taking advantage of all the episodes launching at once. “There’s something exciting about trying to break the form again,” he said. “There’s going to be some mystery sprinkled throughout this [but] instead of watching one a week and try to get ahead of it, the hope is [fans] will watch them all together and then go back and look for clues and connections.” He added, “We’d also like to use the technology to provide additional material, where you might be able to access another part of the story.” Curious. Is he worried about people spoiling important plot details the day and date the episodes come out? Nope: “It’s comedy. The twists really aren’t as important as the characters.” True dat.
Previously Hurwitz was planning to focus on “almost one character per episode.” This week, however, he admitted that the new season “is now kind of evolving into becoming more like the old show again.” Another reveal: Bob Loblaw Attorney at Law (played by Scott Baio) is coming back. “We will bring him back,” Hurwitz said. “It’s kind of a one-joke thing. But if you guys don’t mind bringing it back, we’ll give it to you.” Yup, we don’t mind. Also, STEVE HOLT!
Last, Hurwitz dropped this bombshell. This may in fact mark just the beginning of the return of Arrested Development. Though Hurwitz kept his mouth shut regarding the Bluths coming to the big screen, he did share that there’s a possibly that Development will live on to see a fifth and even sixth season on the streaming service. “We would love this to be the first first of many visits,” he said and a thousand fans screamed in joy.
Arrested Development is set to return sometime in 2013.
At a TV event in Hollywood this week, American Horror Story co-creator Ryan Murphy excited fans of the FX psychological thriller by revealing some important facts about what they can expect when season 2 rolls around this October. As we already know, Golden Globe winner Jessica Lange is back but not as Constance Langdon; she’ll be playing an entirely new character as will be the other returning cast members from AHS season one (namely Zachary Quinto, Lily Rabe, Sarah Paulson, and Evan Peters). Murphy also previously let slip that the next season will take place at an “horror institution” on the East Coast. But now we know more.
“[Season 2] is set on the East Coast at an institution for the criminally insane that is run by Jessica [Lange’s new character],” Murphy said this week. And what was the clue pointing to this that was planted in the first season’s “Birth” episode Murphy once alluded to? It was “something that Sarah Paulson’s character, Billie Dean, says to Jessica and Taissa [Farmiga] as she’s sage-ing the house and talking about places where evil collects: We talk about institutions and prisons and things like that. That was the clue.” Mystery solved.
Also new: “[Season 2] is a completely different world and has nothing to do with Season 1; there’s not a mention of Season 1,” Murphy added. “The second season is set in a completely different time period.” Farewell, little demon child? Chew on that.
Murphy made sure to reiterate that other actors from season 1 (i.e. Dylan McDermott, Connie Britton, Taissa Farmiga, Frances Conroy, Alexandra Breckenridge, Denis O’Hare) might show up in the new season. “The idea is to work with actors that you love and are excited by,” he said. “The second season, everybody who was announced, there will be other people up on this stage who are not announced who will also be in it but are playing the polar opposite of what they were in the first season in every way.”
In addition to all this, also announced was a new character that will be played by Maroon 5 frontman and a judge from The Voice Adam Levine. Said Murphy: “He’s a sexy guy, so he needs to play a sexy guy — but the guy that is different than who you think he would play. I pitched him the part and he listened, slack-jawed, and simply said, ‘I’m in.’ The second season is fun, sexy and baroque. It has a lot of meat to it; it’s a really gritty part. He’s with a girl, and they play characters called The Lovers.”
And just like that AHS season 2 is starting to come more into focus.
Can’t wait any longer for the Tron sequel to get off the ground? This should hold you over. This June Disney is going to introduce the sci-fi animated series Tron: Uprising to its Disney XD programming slate. The events in the show take place in between the original 1982 movie and the recent Tron: Legacy. The protagonist Beck is voiced by Elijah Wood (The Lord of the Rings) and Emmanuelle Chriqui (Entourage), Mandy Moore, Paul Reubens (aka Pee-Wee Herman), Lance Henriksen (Aliens), and Tron‘s very own Bruce Boxleitner round out the stellar cast of voices. Tron: Legacy producer Sean Bailey is behind the series, along with Once Upon A Time and Lost‘s Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz. If you’re a fan of the Tron universe, this 10-part animated series is a must-see.
Fringe season 4 has finally made it to episode 19, and it promises to be an especially out-there and revealing tale. Showrunners J.H. Wyman and Jeff Pinkner have designated No. 19 to be a freaky affair; just look back to previous season efforts “The Road Not Taken,” “The Man From the Other Side,” and of course last season’s animated “Lysergic Acid Diethylamide.” This year “Letters of Transit” will transport viewers to the year 2036, a future where The Observers play a significant role in society. The episode’s logline reveals that 19 will feature a “game changing battle” between the bald-headed scientists from the distant future and our Fringe team. Guest starring in this episode are Austrian actress Georgina Haig and everyone’s favorite Scottish man from Lost–Desmond David Hume himself–Henry Ian Cusick.
What makes “Letters of Transit” especially exciting is that it will contain the seeds for a potential fifth season. “The door to the fifth season is opened in Episode 19,” Joshua Jackson (Peter Bishop) told TVLine. “If you watch that, you’ll have an understanding of where they want to take the series.”
In related news, the Fringe cast also spilled that they’ve shot multiple endings for the current season. One will be used if FOX renews the show for a fifth season, and the other will air if the network ultimately decides to declare the current season Fringe’s last. “The writers have given themselves a device by which we can tell a fifth season story without having to leave this season’s story open,” says Jackson. Add Lance Reddick (Phillip Broyles): “The way [season four] ends could function as a series finale, but there’s one storyline left open that could end up as a cliffhanger for the beginning of the fifth season…We’ll see what airs depending on what [FOX and WBTV] decide.”
As of this writing, FOX and Warner Bros. TV are in discussions about the fate of the show. The two options that are supposedly on the table are these: the network and the studio will either cancel Fringe and the show will wrap at the end of this season, or they’ll renew it for one more shortened 13 episode final season. John Noble (Walter Bishop) is keeping positive. “I hear warm and fuzzy things — but I’ve been hearing them all the time,” he said. “We just picked up [TV Guide Magazine‘s] fan award for Best Drama and so forth, and the fans have always been very supportive… [and] I know the Fox executives actually like Fringe very much. But they run a business. I think we’ll be back, but we’ll wait and see.” Noble is right; FOX execs, including president Kevin Reilly, are vocal supports of the sci-fi series. At this year’s winter TCAs, however, Reilly made it clear that Fringe is in danger due to budgetary and ratings concerns: “We lose a lot of money on the show. At that rating on that night it’s almost impossible for us to make money. We are not in the business of losing money, so we’re trying to figure out if there is a number at which we can continue with the series.” To echo Noble, we’ll have to wait and see. Everyone, cross your fingers. Tight.
With all that said, check out the freaky clue-ridden teasers for what looks to be a stand out episode 19. One teaser is embedded above, and three more are posted after the break. Also, peek in the gallery below to see some stills plucked from “Letters of Transit;” one of them includes a white-haired Nina (from the future?), and the others feature a concerned Walter. How will Lost’s Cusick factor into all of this? Tune in tonight (4/20, appropriate for Walter, yes?) at 9PM on FOX.
In a recent interview with EW, Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller shed light on his most recent TV project Mockingbird Lane. Here are some choice quotes from the extensive interview that can be read in full right here.
Fuller on the inspiration behind the Munsters reboot: “It started when I was at the Tim Burton exhibit in New York and he had all these monster family portraits. And I thought there should be a show about a family of monsters. But any show about a family of monsters is going to be calling back to the original show about a family of monsters. We are reinventing The Munsters because if we didn’t everybody would just say, “You’re ripping off the Munsters!” So why not just make it official?”
On why he decided to change the name of the show from The Munsters to Mockingbird Lane: “The script is such a dramatic departure from the tone and style of the original show. If we continued to call the show The Munsters, people are just going to to think we’re doing The Munsters. We’re doing a reinvention and re-imagination of this property. I love the Universal monsters. I love The Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Invisible Man, The Wolfman, Phantom of the Opera, The Mummy. There’s so many great characters we can run through this metaphor of family storytelling that it just felt it was ripe to do as a one-hour dramedy. Having all those elements to play with, the toy box is really, really full.” (Note: the title is a direct reference to the Munsters’ address: 1313 Mockingbird Lane.)
On what viewers can expect in the pilot: “There’s some great stories going forward in the series. Any story you can tell onParenthood we can run through a Universal monster prism and tell it in a very twisted, off-kilter way. What I love about the pilot story is it’s about a family who loves each other and they have a child [Eddie, the werewolf] with a disability and they’re trying to craft a path for that child so he can have a happy life — they just happen to be monsters. And, unlike in the original, we’re going to see our monsters do monstrous things.”
Fuller’s grand vision for the show: “We want this show to be an American Harry Potter. To have that sense of a magical world that you get to go to with your family and find stories told in a fantastical way that are instantly relatable. It’s an American Horror Story that the whole family can watch.”
Since the pilot is still being tweaked, no actual footage has been released from Mockingbird Lane…until now, that is. EW got their hands on a still that reveals the Munsters‘ mansion. “We wanted [the mansion] to have feeling of the original,” Fuller comments. “We wanted a house in the neighborhood that children would walk past faster than other houses.” The image looms above.
Mockingbird Lane, starring Eddie Izzard as Grandpa, comes to TV this fall on NBC.
The ratings boon that is AMC’s The Walking Dead isn’t enough for Robert Kirkman, the comic book writer and executive producer behind the zombie hit. He is preparing to bring a new series to the network based on another one of his graphic novels called Thief of Thieves. Per Deadline, this new comic “centers on master thief Conrad Paulson who, while attempting to reconcile with his estranged wife and son, vows to walk the straight and narrow, only to discover he’s completely addicted to the thrill of stealing. Now he must feed his addiction by stealing only what has been stolen, as the “Thief of Thieves.”
Says Kirkman: “Much like The Walking Dead brought horror to television in a unique and groundbreaking way, I feel Thief of Thieves can do the same thing for heist stories, showing the humanity of all the characters, including the criminals.” Unlike The Walking Dead, Theif of Thieves is “going to be very grounded in the real world,” Kirkman spilled to EW. “No zombies, no space aliens, no superheroes. It’s just going to be real human characters doing somewhat horrible things to each other.”
Kirkman will executive produce alongside fellow Walking Dead collaborators Charles Eglee (The Shield, Dexter) and David Alpert. If AMC picks up the show, Eglee will also serve as showrunner. More as this story develops.
After five weeks of being on the air, FOX is pulling the Christian Slater comedy Breaking In from their schedule. New Girl repeats will fill in the Tuesday night at 9PM time slot through May. FOX says that the remaining eight episodes of Breaking In will air “at a later date,” likely this summer.
So what happened? Poor ratings, obviously. After being cancelled last year, FOX decided to resurrect Breaking In and use it as a midseason player and squeeze it with their other quirky Tuesday night comedies New Girl and Raising Hope. The show’s most recent airing attracted a meager 2.6 million viewers and scored a low 1.3 rating in the coveted 18-49 adult demo. Simply put, the newfound workplace comedy didn’t spark interest and couldn’t hold onto the audiences who watch the two comedies that precede it on the night.
Having been a fan from the first season, I must admit that the revamp the show went under (namely, going from a break-in-of-the-week to a more typical workplace comedy) hurt the show creatively. Switching formats was risky and in the end didn’t help the show find the spark it desperately needed to flourish in the ratings. Though season one was a sleeper, it did strike a chord due to the fun and wacky dynamics of the characters, three of which departed the show for season two (Odette Annable’s hottie Melanie, Michael Rosenbaum’s douchey Dutch, and Trevor Moore’s master of disguise Josh). The addition of Megan Mullally and British hottie Erin Richards added a nice kick to the Contra Club, but ultimately their roles in the show diminished the influence so effortlessly executed by the hilarious Christian Slater. His character Oz dominated the first season. Once Mullally entered the picture and took over as Contra boss, Oz’s mystery and intrigue rapidly dissipated and he just became “one of the guys.”
And so in the end, even though the ratings decline might not have been affected by it, I believe that it was a poor decision to drastically change the dynamic of the show. The antics of Breaking In will be missed. As the old saying goes, we’ll always have season one.
No surprise here. Today HBO made it official that its highly rated and praised fantasy series Game of Thrones will return for a third season in 2013. Like the two seasons before it, the next one will also consist of ten episodes. What’s different, however, is that ten episodes isn’t enough time for the show to tell the entirety of A Storm of Swords, the third book in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire book series. So the tale will be told over the course of two seasons–that is, if Thrones lives on to see a fourth season (and it most certainly will). Martin confirms on his blog that he will pen the script for season three episode seven already titled “Autumn Storms.”
HBO president Michael Lombardo commented on today’s not surprising but nevertheless great news. “Series creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss raised our expectations for the second season – and then surpassed them. We are thrilled by all the viewer and media support we’ve received for the series, and can’t wait to see what Dan and David have in store for next season.”
Great news comes your way today from our friends at FOX. Tuesday night comedies Glee, New Girl, and Raising Hope have been renewed for a fourth, second, and third season, respectively.
Fox president Kevin Reilly: “Over the past season, New Girl has become the hottest new appointment series for young adults; Raising Hope has established itself as one of the smartest and most unique offbeat comedies on television; and Glee has continued its success as a genre-defying, global cultural phenomenon. All three of these comedies add a fresh and distinctive flavor to our Tuesday nights, and I’m really happy to bring them back to our air next season.”
Bringing back Glee is a no-brainer, New Girl started off hot continues to buzz, and Raising Hope has found its groove. These shows join the previously renewed Bones and will find a spot on FOX’s schedule next season. Still no news on whether or not the network plans to bring back the funny but ratings-downer Breaking In.
