TV News

TV Projects Deals: Spies, Witness Protection (Sort of) and Teenage Games

With this year’s fall season now well underway, broadcast networks are turning their attention towards 2012. NBC, Fox and the CW were in the news this week with TV series project acquisitions.

Fox, unlike Hugh Jackman who has apparently turned down an offer to play 007, sees spies as such good commodities that it might be bringing them to our TV sets next year. The network bought a spy drama written by Joe Weisberg (Falling Skies, Damages), himself a former employee of the CIA. The show centers on young assistants of senior officers in the U.S. intelligence community (CIA, DIA, NSA and FBI), and will be, in all likelihood, produced by Imagine TV for Fox. [via: Deadline Hollywood]

More Zombies on TV Next Year?

If you were among the 7.26 million viewers who tuned into AMC to watch the season premiere of The Walking Dead
on October 16, you may have one more reason to rejoice or lament. Your
attraction to that particular brand of the undead (as opposed to
vampires for example) might be even more satisfied come fall 2012.

‘Chuck’ Co-creator Adapting the UK’s ‘Misfits’

America may soon be getting it’s own
version of young punks with superpowers. Vulture reported that Josh
Schwartz(Chuck) will be teaming up with the creator of the original
UK series, Howard Overman, to pen a US adaption of Misfits.
No deal with a network has been made as of yet, and the pair plan to
complete a pilot script before taking it shopping. This unusual move
will allow them to avoid the creative input of networks that
typically come after presenting just a pitch.

Misfits is centered on a group
of young offenders assigned to community service, who find themselves
imbued with superhuman abilities after being caught in a freak
lightning storm. The sci-fi dramedy has already found some fans on
this side of the pond, thanks to Hulu featuring the episodes, and the
critical response has been equally positive.

The Walking Dead Sets Ratings Record With Season Premiere

It seems
as long as the zombies keep piling up for Rick Grimes and company so
too will the ratings for The Walking Dead. The second season
premiere of AMC’s hit horror series not only beat out its own
impressive numbers from last year, but set a new record for cable
television. Drawing in 7.3 million viewers in total for it’s
premiere, with encore airings adding to that number, “What Lies
Ahead” also earned the highest ratings in the 18-49 and 25-54
demographics to ever be recorded for cable.

Besting
the 2002 premiere of USA’s The
Deadzone, The
Walking Dead brought in 4.8
million viewers in the key 18-49 demo and 4.1 million of the 25-54
year-old crowd. Those numbers put it up 36% in the key demo over the
series’ first season premiere. AMC President Charlie Collier
expressed his joy for the show’s incredible commercial success; “That
The Walking Dead
is now the most-watched drama in the history of basic cable is
staggering, just like our zombies.”

ABC Cancellations and Full Season Orders

ABC has joined the fray with the cancellation of its freshman series Charlie’s Angels and full season orders for the debuting Revenge and Suburgatory.

Charlie’s Angels falling under the swing of the cancellation ax comes as no surprise as there were clear signs of trouble in paradise. After the respectable premiere (8.76 million viewers), the ratings dropped abruptly and never recovered. Since then, the series has been systematically outperformed by all other shows in its Thursday time-slot and has not only been canceled, but production on the show has been stopped.

The Walking Dead Season 2 Behind the Scenes Photos

The Hollywood Reporter recently added
to the anticipation building for Sunday’s premiere of The Walking
Dead’s second season with a collection of behind the scenes
photos taken during filming in Atlanta. The pics include cast, crew,
and sets from the hit AMC series and were shot by David Strick.
Capturing some candid moments, the majority of the photographs were
snapped while the cameras weren’t rolling.

Special effects artist(and consulting
producer), Greg Nicotero’s Emmy winning work is on display in several
of the shots, and despite budget cuts the “Walkers” still look as
beautifully gruesome as they did in the first season. If only being
undead meant you didn’t feel the heat from the Atlanta sun.

2011 New York Comic Con TV Schedule

The annual New York Comic Con begins this weekend, and the world of
television will have its fair share of representation at the four day
event.  The schedule includes panels featuring cast and crew, as well as
footage and news from a slew of TV shows.  The NYCC officially kicked
off today, but Friday will mark the beginning of it’s television
coverage with ABC’s new fairytale inspired series, Once Upon a Time.

One of the highlights from the event will be another screening of the Locke and Key
pilot that Fox passed on back in May, and which still has not been
picked up by any other network.  Fox will also be featuring a series
that did make it through pilot season with Terra Nova, whose panel will include showrunner and Star Trek alum, Brannon Bragga.  The Walking Dead
will be premiering it’s second season this Sunday, but the day before
numerous members of the cast, as well as comic creator Robert Kirkman,
will be in NYC for a Q&A at the fan convention.

Haven Renewed for a Third Season

It was announced today that Syfy has picked up supernatural drama series Haven for a third season. Keeping with the tradition set by the first two seasons, the show is touted to be returning for 13 new episodes in 2012.

Based on Stephen King novel The Colorado Kid, Haven follows an FBI agent sent to Haven, Maine to help investigate a murder, only to get involved with the small town’s paranormal secrets. The series stars Emily Rose as lead FBI agent Audrey Parker, along with Lucas Bryant as the local police chief’s son and Eric Balfour as the town smuggler.

Boardwalk Empire Renewed for Third Season

HBO’s president Michael Lombardo has confirmed today that the show had been renewed for a third season based on the “triumphant first season” and the continued critical success of the currently airing second season.

“I was eager to see what Terry Winter, Martin Scorsese and the rest of their stellar team had in store, and they continue to surpass our highest expectations,” said Lombardo. “The response from the media and our viewers has been extremely gratifying.”

Keith Carradine Heading Back to the Wild West Via Gateway

Keith Carradine, who played “Wild” Bill Hitchcock in HBO’s western drama, Deadwood, is set to return to the wild west. No, I’m not talking about Cowboys and Aliens, although he did also star in that film as Sheriff John Taggart. Starting to see a pattern here?