We've already taken a look at the shiniest movies coming down the pike. Now here's the pick of the new year's television litter, chock-full of Time Lords, swords and sorcery, zombies and Spielberg.
BEING HUMAN
Syfy, January 17
This refashioning of the supernatural BBC hit follows a trio of most unlikely roommates: a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost. They're all ridiculously attractive. And did we mention they're roommates? It's like Stephen King's Three's Company.
GAME OF THRONES
HBO, April
If you happen to pass by anyone who's read George R.R. Martin's saga A Song of Ice and Fire, and they're silently chuckling to themselves with a far-off gaze, it means one of two things: Martin has announced when the next chapter, A Dance With Dragons, will be released or they've seen footage from HBO's upcoming series, starring Sean Bean, Lena Headey and Peter Dinklage.
CAMELOT
Starz, April
This reimagining of the classic Arthurian legend—which seems to get reimagined once every 18 months or so—boasts a rather impressive cast: Shakespeare in Love's Joseph Fiennes as Merlin, Casino Royale's Eva Green as Morgan and Twilight: New Moon's Jamie Campbell Bower as Arthur. And, yes, there's a sword in the stone, a lady of the lake and, because it's on cable, hopefully some delightful sex and violence.
TERRA NOVA
Fox, May
Don't know a whole lot about this Steven Spielberg production, other than that it follows a family that travels back in time to a prehistoric Earth, it stars Jason O'Mara (Life on Mars) and Stephen Lang (Avatar), and it will be ridiculously expensive to shoot, at $4 million an episode. Oh, and that veteran Buffy executive producer David Fury left the show over creative differences and the writing staff was fired. But still ... Spielberg and dinosaurs, together again!
FALLING SKIES
TNT, June
How does humanity persevere in the wake of a devastating alien invasion? That's what this summer drama from Steven Spielberg and Saving Private Ryan's Robert Rodat tries to answer, with Noah Wyle leading a very rough-and-rugged resistance against our new alien masters.
TORCHWOOD: THE NEW WORLD
Starz, Summer
Picking up after the harrowing Torchwood: Children of Earth miniseries, this fourth season of the Doctor Who spinoff will see Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) and Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles) adventuring on this side of the pond. Bill Pullman, Mekhi Phifer and Dollhouse's Dichen Lachman are along for the ride.
THE WALKING DEAD SEASON 2
AMC, Fall
Those six episodes that made up the first season were terrific ... but not enough. So here's hoping that Frank Darabont, Robert Kirkman and Gale Anne Hurd deliver unto us a much meatier second round.
LOCKE & KEY
Fox, TBD
Based on Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez's twisty, trippy IDW comic book—about the Locke family, coping with the patriarch's murder and a series of supernatural threats that invade their lives—this pilot comes with an awful rich pedigree. Star Trek's Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci are executive producing, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles' Josh Friedman is running the writers' room, and Never Let Me Go's Mark Romanek is directing the pilot, which will star Lord of the Rings' Miranda Otto.
OUTCASTS
BBC, TBD
Hey, it's Jamie Bamber, the once and future Apollo, back in outer space. Sort of, anyway. More like trying to forge a new life on the planet Carpathia and facing all sorts of attendant peril.
DOCTOR WHO SEASON 6
BBC, TBD
The TARDIS, in America? And, like, really real America, not a back-lot re-creation? It's enough to make a Time Lord ditch his fez.
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: BLOOD AND CHROME
Syfy, TBD
As the press release put it: "Ensign William Adama, barely in his 20s and a recent Academy graduate, finds himself assigned to the newest battlestar in the Colonial fleet ... the Galactica. The talented but hot-headed risk-taker soon finds himself leading a dangerous top secret mission that, if successful, will turn the tide of the decade long war in favor of the desperate fleet." Sweet.
Honorable Mention
POWERS/AKA JESSICA JONES
Both of these Brian Michael Bendis comics—the first about cops working the beat in a world with superheroes and the second about a female private investigator trying to escape her own past as a costumed adventurer—are in development. Maybe they'll make it to the air this year, maybe they won't. But we're holding our collective breath. LINK
Posts
