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TV Log
Hailing Frequencies #388
2.18.08
HELLO
And here's the three hundred and eighty-eighth edition of "Hailing Frequencies."
If you want to be notified when this newsletter is updated, email me to be put on my "notification" list.
The sun is FINALLY out today! I swear, I was getting photo depressive. It'd be a perfect day to walk around the zoo, except it's closed on Mondays. bleh Watch it rain tomorrow.
NEW AT THE SITE
Updates at Ozzie's Corner Hut!
STRIKE OUT
Wheee! The Writers Guilds East and West voted by a 92.5% margin to end the strike. Patric M. Verrone, President/WGA West reads in part: "This was not a strike we wanted, but one we had to conduct in order to win jurisdiction and establish appropriate residuals for writing in new media and on the Internet. Those advances now give us a foothold in the digital age. Rather than being shut out of the future of content creation and delivery, writers will lead the way as TV migrates to the Internet and platforms for new media are developed." No word on the affect to sci-fi stuff, but SNL will be back with a new show on the 23rd.
Post-Writer's Strike Updates:
CBS:
- March 17: How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men with 9 eps each
- March 24: CSI: Miami with 8 eps
- March 30: Cold Case with 5 eps
- April 2: Criminal Minds and CSI: NY with 7 eps each
- April 3: CSI and Without a Trace with 6 eps each
- April 4: Ghost Whisperer and Numb3rs with 6 eps each
- April 8: NCIS with 7 eps
- April 11: Moonlight with 4 eps
- April 14: Rules of Engagement with 6 eps
- The CBS dramas Shark, The Unit and Cane will remain on a previously announced hiatus to allow mid-season launches of Dexter, Big Brother and Jericho. Production will also begin again for the new drama series Swingtown which has not been scheduled yet.
NBC:
- April 3: My Name Is Earl with one-hour episode
- April 10: 30 Rock, The Office, Scrubs and ER
- April 15: Law & Order: SVU
- April 23: Law & Order
- Medium continues its current run and the network will announce plans for other series soon. In addition, NBC picked up two freshman dramas Chuck and Life as well as Heroes for the 2008-2009 season. NBC will re-launch all three series next year.
CW:
- March 3: Everybody hates Chris with the first of its 12 remaining originals
- March 23: The Game with 9 eps
- April 14: One Tree Hill with 6 eps
- April 17: Smallville with 5 eps
- April 21: Gossip Girl with 5 eps
- April 22: Reaper with 5 eps
- April 24: Supernatural with 4 eps
- Aliens in America completed 18 eps with the 8 remaining originals scheduled to air between March 2-23 and April 27-May 18.
HARRY POTTER
J. K. Rowling will be getting the James Joyce Award from the Literary and Historical Society at the University College Dublin in Ireland, which is a good thing, considering how she's been laboring in obscurity for so long.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is in production and has a tentative opening date of November 21, 2008.
HIGHLANDER
Highlander: The Source makes its DVD debut on February 26, with Adrian Paul as Duncan MacLeod. There will be the usual behind-the-scenes featurettes.
Sniff. In the old days, they would have sent me the DVD by now, so I could tell you if this is going to be any good. :-(
THE IMAGINARIUM OF DR. PARNASSUS
Heath Ledger, as you probably know, died from an accidental OD January 22, in the middle of filming Terry Gilliam's movie about a man who uses major mirrors to transport into different dimensions. According to Ain't It Cool News, Jude Law, Johnny Depp and Colin Farrell will play "Tony" in the other dimensions. Other stars of the film include Christopher Plummer, Tom Waits, Lily Cole, Andrew Garfield, and Verne Troyer. Look for it in 2009.
INDY IV
USA Network has picked up the exclusive cable rights to the Paramount/Lucasfilm's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which it will air in 2011. USA picked up the other Indy films as well, and the window on those earlier titles will tie in with the Skull theatrical release.
Teaser trailer. The movie opens May 22.
JERICO
Jerico's second-season premiere on averaged 7.1 million viewers and a 2.5 rating/7 share in the adults 18-49 demographic, which is on par with its first season ratings.
Check it out: Jericho: 15 Keys to the Story So Far at EW.
LOST
TV Guide says ABC may move Lost back an hour on Thursdays to 10 PM, to follow Grey's Anatomy, beginning in late April.
MISC...
- Wanting from of that Webkinz success, Ty is coming out with Beanie Baby 2.0, which all come with a secret code that unlocks an interactive virtual world. The new Beanie Baby line is distinguished by a blue and gold lighting bolt button, and like the previous lines, the characters will eventually be retired.
- LEGO Group is ready to open Legoland Discovery Center Chicago/Schaumburg, its first US indoor center, August 2008. Like the Berlin locale, the 30,000-square-foot indoor theme park is aimed at K-12 and has a dragon ride, adventure trail, Duplo play area, and 4D cinema, as well a cafe, store(s), exhibition room and birthday party rooms. A second German location will open in May 2008.
- The fabulous Joel and Ethan Coen will direct Sony's Columbia Pictures' Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policemen's Union, which deals with an AU where Jewish settlers are to be displaced by the government's plans to turn their town of Sitka, Alaska, over to Alaskan natives. Ya? Oh, ya!
- USA Today has a publicity picture and a brief report on the now-shooting X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
- Crayon Shin Chan, the Japanese manga and TV anime series, is coming to American comic-book store through DC Comics' imprint CMX. The first 128-page black-and-white collection, Crayon Shin Chan Volume 1, goes on sale Feb. 27 for $7.99. Written and illustrated by series creator Yoshito Usui, these comics have been translated into English by CMX.
- And T4 will star...Sam Worthington (and his dog Spot!), based on a recommendation from James Cameron, who just worked with him in Avatar.
NARNIA
Disney Interactive Studios will release the Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian videogame May 16, 2008, the same day the movie comes out. The home consoles and Windows-based PC game comes from Traveller's tales, while the action/role play Nintendo DS version of the game was developed by Fall Line Studio.
RANDOM DIALOG QUIZ
Can you name the movie? "I passed through the seven levels of the Candy Cane forest, through the sea of swirly twirly gum drops, and then I walked through the Lincoln Tunnel."
Highlight to read the answer: Elf (2003)
RATINGS THIS WEEK
- ABC: Lost [r] 3.9/6, Lost 8.1/13
- CW: Smallville 2.4/4, Supernatural 1.8/3
- CBS: Ghost Whisperer [r] 4.2/7
- CW: Reaper [r] 1.3/2
- FOX: Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles 5.1/8
SPIDERWICK CHRONICALS
McDonald's, Paramount Pictures, and Nickelodeon Movies have gathered together to bring us eight character figurines that light up and promote The Spiderwick Chronicles in your March Happy Meals.
CNN has a positive review here.
STAR TREK
Though Eric Bana's role in Star Trek XI has been described as a cameo, it now looks like it's going to be more along the lines of "main villain." Hnmmm. In other cast news, Lucia Rijker will be playing a Romulan communications officer, and Kelvin Yu is appearing as a Starfleet medtech.
Post production blues? Paramount's J.J. Abrams' Star Trek's end will hit theatres May 8, 2009, not December 25, 2008, as originally planned.
STAR WARS
Congrats to Seth Green, for winning the Annie for best directing in an animated TV production for Robot Chicken Star Wars, from ShadowMachine.
Cartoon Network will premiere George Lucas' Star Wars: The Clone Wars after the property's North American theatrical release this August 15, from Warner Bros. Pictures.
STARGATE
Gateworld has some nice goodies: an "exclusive peek at the DVD bonus features from Stargate: The Ark of Truth," and a pic of actress Leela Savasta as Captain Alica Vega...and an interview with Amanda Tapping.
TRANSFORMERS 2
Writing under cover of night during the strike, Michael Bay has finished the script for Transformers 2. Although, seriously, that's not a lot of writing, is it? The sequel is supposed to roar into theatres June 2009.
WALL-E
RottenToms reports that Peter Gabriel is working on the WALL-E soundtrack, Pixar's movie about a small robot left behind on Earth to clean up garbage after mankind moved to the stars: "The environmentally conscious musician says that Pixar consulted with NASA and, based on descriptions of bone deterioration in space, humans are being made to look like 'flat blobs in armchairs.'"
Hey, my chances of getting a date in the future are looking good!
WORLD OF QUEST
Cartoon Network got the UK broadcast rights for World of Quest (26x22) from Cookie Jar Entertainment and will play it in 2009. A smart-aleck young Prince Nestor and his unwilling protector, Quest, need to save the Prince's parents and their kingdom. The series is based on the Komikwerks graphic novel series, by Jason Kruse, ed. Stephen Sustarsic.
Weekend Box Office Estimates: Feb 15-17, 2008
Jumper (Fox) $27.2 million - opening weekend
Step Up 2 The Streets (Buena Vista) $19.7 million - opening weekend
The Spiderwick Chronicles (Paramount) $19.1 million - opening weekend
Fool's Gold (Warner Bros.) $13.1 million - 2 wk total $42.0m
Definitely, Maybe (Universal) $9.7 million - opening weekend
Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins (Universal) $8.9 million - 2 wk total $29.1m
Juno (Fox Searchlight) $4.6 million - 11 wk total $124.1m
The Bucket List (Warner Bros.) $4.1 million - 8 wk total $81.1m
Hannah MontanaConcert Tour (BV) $3.3 million - 3 wk total $58.4m
27 Dresses (Fox) $3.2 million - 5 wk total $69.9m
Source: Box Office Mojo
TOP BOOKS
SCI-FI/FANTASY @ Amazon, 2.11.08
1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J.K. Rowling
2. The Road (Oprah's Book Club),
3. Breaking Dawn (Twilight Saga, Book 4)
4. The Host: A Novel
5. His Dark Materials Trilogy (The Golden Compass; The Subtle Knife; The Amber Spyglass)
6. Dream Chaser (A Dream-Hunter Novel, Book 3)
7. Dawn's Awakening (The Breeds, Book 4)
8. Confessor: Chainfire Trilogy, Part 3 (Sword Of Truth, Book 11)
9. Blasphemy
10. World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
TOP DVDs SCI-FI/FANTASY @ Amazon, 2.11.08
1. Battlestar Galactica - Season Three
2. Lost - The Complete Third Season
3. Stargate - The Ark of Truth
4. Cinderella (Two-Disc Special Edition)
5.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Widescreen Edition)
6. Battlestar Galactica - Razor (Unrated Extended Edition)
7. Lost - The Complete Second Season
8. Lost - The Complete First Season
9. Heroes - Season One
10. Blade Runner - The Final Cut (Two-Disc Special Edition)
INSANE TREK TRIVIA (no googling!)
This Week's Question: Where did Thelev hide his transmitter?
Send your answer to julia.houston@gmail.com. All correctly answering trivia maniacs will have their names mentioned in the next letter. The first winner gets to make a request, anything they like -- within reason -- for the next "Hailing Frequencies" issue. Please let me know if you don't want me to post your email address if you win.
Last Week's Question: A certain someone once quoted the first two lines (almost) of a dirty limerick. Can you?
Answer: Data: "There once was a lady from Venus/Whose body was shaped like a --" ("The Naked Now").
First winner
Joanie
Second winner
Lou
Third winner
Doug
Fourth winner
Jim
Fifth winner
Michael
CAPTION CONTEST
Send in your best caption for the picture below. The best (as in, my favorite) entry will appear in next week's issue.
[Insert caption here.]
THIS WEEK'S WINNER:
An exclusive look at a scene from the upcoming J.J. Abrams STAR TREK. "Our work here is done. Beam us up, Scotty!" - BrownRd226
Honorable mentions
"…And with Orbitz Traveler Updates, I get real time updates from travelers just like me." - Neil
"As the UN delegates posed for a picture they wondered just who would win the Democratic nomination." - Kat
Christ, Marx, Wood and Wei,
Led us to this perfect day.
Marx, Wood, Wei and Christ,
All but Wei were sacrificed.
Wood, Wei, Christ and Marx,
Gave us lovely schools and parks.
Wei, Christ, Marx and Wood,
Made us humble, made us good. - evay
"Oh, heck! The tribulation's started and I didn't rapture all those evangelicals! Tim LaHaye is gonna be pissed!" - tkitfox
"And the riots should start in 5...4...3...2..." -- BTCHONWHLS
"You never know who works for the IRS." - Elaine
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR"
Last week's topic: Anybody thinking the next Trek movie may actually not totally suck?
Evidently not!!
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Next week's topic: What was the last sci-fi or fantasy movie you saw and got excited about?
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Send me something if you've got something to say. It can be about anything that's on your mind!
HAILING FREQUENCIES CLOSED
