From SciFi Weekly:
http://www.scifi.com/sfw/current/screen.html
(Please follow the link for the complete article. There are photos at
the site.)
2004 Fall SF TV Preview:
Part II
By Kathie Huddleston
**snippity doo dah**
Which brings us to cable. The ability to offer alternative television
is one of the reasons the SCI FI Channel and USA Network have become
so popular. So, yes, we've lost syndication (and Mutant X). And yes,
network television is evolving into a more marginal area of the genre
that the genre-phobic folks can appreciate. However, the list below
of upcoming projects, movies and miniseries holds great promise.
Ratings for the SCI FI Channel are growing by leaps and bounds with
the help of Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis and miniseries events
such as Dune and Taken. Andromeda moves to SCI FI, while Farscape:
The Peacekeeper Wars premieres in October. Ursula K. Le Guin's
Earthsea will air in December, and the Battlestar Galactica series is
set for early next year.
As for USA Network, the summer run of The 4400 was a ratings success,
and The Dead Zone has been renewed for another year. Other cable
channels with sci-fi or fantasy interests include TNT, Lifetime,
Showtime, HBO, The Cartoon Network, The Hallmark Channel, MTV, Court
TV, BBC, Nickelodeon, The Disney Channel and Bravo. That's not a bad
list. And these cable channels know something that the networks have
just figured out: You can put on good television any time of the year
and people will watch. Maybe not 20 or 30 million of them, but enough
to do cable proud.
Returning and Continuing Shows
Stargate Atlantis
SCI FI, Friday, 10 p.m.
Season one resumes January 2005
As season one of Stargate Atlantis got under way, the team from Earth
made some friends and some enemies in the Pegasus Galaxy. But the
worst of it was the awakening of the life-sucking Wraith,
intergalactic vampires who chow down on whatever local population is
at hand. They were supposed to stay in hibernation for decades, but
the Earthlings accidentally took care of that. In the midseason
finale, the new Atlantians discover an enormous storm is headed their
way, which may destroy the city. They realize they have to gate
offworld. Unfortunately, the Genii discover their plan and seize the
facility, taking Dr. Weir and Rodney hostage. When Maj. Sheppard
kills two of the bad guys who were sent to kill him, Weir is about to
be executed in retaliation just as the storm bears down on Atlantis.
The Outlook: In many ways, Stargate Atlantis revisits the early days
of SG-1, when the team was still more busy exploring and getting into
trouble than it was fighting intergalactic wars and saving the Earth.
Both shows are doing very well for the channel, and Atlantis should
have a nice long life ahead of it. That is, assuming Weir doesn't get
shot and that nasty storm doesn't wipe out the city. Oh, and that
Sheppard manages to kick bad-guy butt and take Atlantis back. He just
might be able to do that, you know. He's not quite Jack O'Neill, but
he's working on it.
Stargate SG-1
SCI FI, Friday, 9 p.m.
Season eight resumes January 2005
After his big promotion, Brig. Gen. Jack O'Neill has been getting
settled in his new job running the SGC. He has to meet with aliens
and the president while his old team gets to have most of the fun and
go on missions. In the midseason finale, Jack even had to tell the
president that the Stargate had vanished. Lt. Col. Carter and Dr.
Daniel Jackson leapt into action to hunt down the missing gate, while
Teal'c was trapped offworld, only to discover that millions of Jaffa
had been killed in separate attacks with some sort of weapon. It
seems The Trust, those nasty rogue agents from the NID, hijacked the
gate, cooked up some symbiote killing gas and used a missile to
attack. Fortunately, Carter, Daniel and Teal'c managed to save the
day and get the gate back where it belonged. In the second half of
the season, look for The Trust to cause more trouble and for Jack to
figure out a way to go on a mission or two.
The Outlook: In its eighth season, Stargate SG-1 has been getting big
ratings, which have only been outshined by the new upstart Stargate
Atlantis. While I'd like to see the series be a little less Earth-
bound than it has been in recent weeks, it's still good to watch
these old friends and their Stargate adventures. So will there be a
ninth season? There's no doubt SCI FI will want one. Look for
Stargate to continue as long as Richard Dean Anderson wants to do it.
**MAJOR snippity doo-dah**
|*|(*)|*|(*)|*|
Morjana
SG1-Spoilergate
http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/SG1-Spoilergate/
Richard Dean Anderson Fans
http://movies.groups.yahoo.com/group/rdandersonfans/
Proof-Positive
http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/Proof-Positive
http://www.scifi.com/sfw/current/screen.html
(Please follow the link for the complete article. There are photos at
the site.)
2004 Fall SF TV Preview:
Part II
By Kathie Huddleston
**snippity doo dah**
Which brings us to cable. The ability to offer alternative television
is one of the reasons the SCI FI Channel and USA Network have become
so popular. So, yes, we've lost syndication (and Mutant X). And yes,
network television is evolving into a more marginal area of the genre
that the genre-phobic folks can appreciate. However, the list below
of upcoming projects, movies and miniseries holds great promise.
Ratings for the SCI FI Channel are growing by leaps and bounds with
the help of Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis and miniseries events
such as Dune and Taken. Andromeda moves to SCI FI, while Farscape:
The Peacekeeper Wars premieres in October. Ursula K. Le Guin's
Earthsea will air in December, and the Battlestar Galactica series is
set for early next year.
As for USA Network, the summer run of The 4400 was a ratings success,
and The Dead Zone has been renewed for another year. Other cable
channels with sci-fi or fantasy interests include TNT, Lifetime,
Showtime, HBO, The Cartoon Network, The Hallmark Channel, MTV, Court
TV, BBC, Nickelodeon, The Disney Channel and Bravo. That's not a bad
list. And these cable channels know something that the networks have
just figured out: You can put on good television any time of the year
and people will watch. Maybe not 20 or 30 million of them, but enough
to do cable proud.
Returning and Continuing Shows
Stargate Atlantis
SCI FI, Friday, 10 p.m.
Season one resumes January 2005
As season one of Stargate Atlantis got under way, the team from Earth
made some friends and some enemies in the Pegasus Galaxy. But the
worst of it was the awakening of the life-sucking Wraith,
intergalactic vampires who chow down on whatever local population is
at hand. They were supposed to stay in hibernation for decades, but
the Earthlings accidentally took care of that. In the midseason
finale, the new Atlantians discover an enormous storm is headed their
way, which may destroy the city. They realize they have to gate
offworld. Unfortunately, the Genii discover their plan and seize the
facility, taking Dr. Weir and Rodney hostage. When Maj. Sheppard
kills two of the bad guys who were sent to kill him, Weir is about to
be executed in retaliation just as the storm bears down on Atlantis.
The Outlook: In many ways, Stargate Atlantis revisits the early days
of SG-1, when the team was still more busy exploring and getting into
trouble than it was fighting intergalactic wars and saving the Earth.
Both shows are doing very well for the channel, and Atlantis should
have a nice long life ahead of it. That is, assuming Weir doesn't get
shot and that nasty storm doesn't wipe out the city. Oh, and that
Sheppard manages to kick bad-guy butt and take Atlantis back. He just
might be able to do that, you know. He's not quite Jack O'Neill, but
he's working on it.
Stargate SG-1
SCI FI, Friday, 9 p.m.
Season eight resumes January 2005
After his big promotion, Brig. Gen. Jack O'Neill has been getting
settled in his new job running the SGC. He has to meet with aliens
and the president while his old team gets to have most of the fun and
go on missions. In the midseason finale, Jack even had to tell the
president that the Stargate had vanished. Lt. Col. Carter and Dr.
Daniel Jackson leapt into action to hunt down the missing gate, while
Teal'c was trapped offworld, only to discover that millions of Jaffa
had been killed in separate attacks with some sort of weapon. It
seems The Trust, those nasty rogue agents from the NID, hijacked the
gate, cooked up some symbiote killing gas and used a missile to
attack. Fortunately, Carter, Daniel and Teal'c managed to save the
day and get the gate back where it belonged. In the second half of
the season, look for The Trust to cause more trouble and for Jack to
figure out a way to go on a mission or two.
The Outlook: In its eighth season, Stargate SG-1 has been getting big
ratings, which have only been outshined by the new upstart Stargate
Atlantis. While I'd like to see the series be a little less Earth-
bound than it has been in recent weeks, it's still good to watch
these old friends and their Stargate adventures. So will there be a
ninth season? There's no doubt SCI FI will want one. Look for
Stargate to continue as long as Richard Dean Anderson wants to do it.
**MAJOR snippity doo-dah**
|*|(*)|*|(*)|*|
Morjana
SG1-Spoilergate
http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/SG1-Spoilergate/
Richard Dean Anderson Fans
http://movies.groups.yahoo.com/group/rdandersonfans/
Proof-Positive
http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/Proof-Positive