Whedon, Abrams, 24 Prequel, Oh My
Fox speaks geek.
The network unveiled falland springschedules fit for Comic-Con, replete with new series by Joss Whedon and J.J. Abrams, a Family Guy spinoff, a returning Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and a 24 prequel.
The autograph lines are to the left.
Today's announcements were not all fanboy fun. There were sober assessments of American Idol. There were cancellations, most notably of the heavily promoted comedy Back to You.
And there was a ringing endorsement of Paula Abdul.
"We love Paula. She's coming back," Fox Entertainment President Kevin Reilly said of the oft-judged Idol judge.
But asked if he was happy with Idol overall this seasonthe show is down 5 percent on Tuesdays, and 10 percent on Wednesdays, neither an unusual decrease for television, circa 2008Fox Entertainment Chairman Peter Liguori sounded surprisingly like he wasn't. Not entirely, anyway.
"I would say I'm satisfied creatively," Liguori said, "but not necessarily satisfied with the performance."
"Both the network and the producers really want to take a look at the show for next year."
No specific changes were discussed. And after Reilly reminded that Idol, seven seasons old and still bigger than anything else on TV, was "not exactly in its death throes," Liguori chimed in, "This show still has a lot of juice in it."
Out of juice were the likes of New Amsterdam, Unhitched, The Return of Jezebel James, K-Ville, Nashville, The Next Great American Band and Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton's Back to You, all shunned for spots in the fall and spring.
Though Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles was never as big as its big premiere in January, it earned a fall berth. Ditto for 'Til Death, a perennial borderline show that will live to see its third season.
24, which sat out all of this past season because of the writers' strike, will launch its long-delayed seventh season in January. Viewers' reward for the wait: the two-hour prequel that'll air in November. Fox says the story will find Jack Bauer in South Africa. In the timeline of the series, it'll take place "a few months" before the clock on season seven begins ticking.
In all, Fox announced two new fall shows, including Fringe, a sci-fi-ish thriller from J.J. Abrams featuring the prime-time return of Dawson's Creek's Joshua Jackson.
Dollhouse, the Joss Whedon project starring Eliza Dushku as the leader of gang of personality swappers, will launch in the spring as part of Fox's annual American Idol-is-back schedule.
The other new shows:
- Do Not Disturb (working title): A fall comedy about the antics at a hotel, starring Carpoolers survivor Jerry O'Connell.
- Sit Down, Shut Up: A spring animated series about the antics at a high school, from Arrested Development's Mitchell Hurwitz.
- The Cleveland Show: The Family Guy spinoff, set for a spring launch, starring the Griffin family's neighbor, Cleveland Brown.
- Secret Millionaire: A new reality series in which millionaires are dispatched to rub elbows with the little people, and make their rich selves feel better. Oh, and do good and stuff, too.
Here's a night-by-night look at Fox's fall lineup:
Sunday: The OT (football postgame show), The Simpsons, King of the Hill, Family Guy, American Dad
Monday: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Prison Break
Tuesday: House, Fringe
Wednesday: Bones, 'Til Death, Do Not Disturb
Thursday: The Moment of Truth, Kitchen Nightmares
Friday: Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, Don't Forget the Lyrics
Saturday: Cops, America's Most Wanted
And here's a night-by-night look at Fox's spring schedule:
Sunday: Various reruns, The Simpsons, King of the Hill/Sit Down, Shut Up, Family Guy, American Dad/The Cleveland Show
Monday: Dollhouse, 24
Tuesday: American Idol, Fringe
Wednesday: Bones, American Idol (30 minutes), TBA comedy
Thursday: Hell's Kitchen, Secret Millionaire
Friday: Bones, 'Til Death, Do Not Disturb
Saturday: Cops, America's Most Wanted
Head over to Watch With Kristin for more on the new TV schedules!
Hollywood Kryptonite?
So, if you're Superman, and you heard this week that ThorThor!got a release date for his movie, do you wonder what on your adopted planet you have to do to get on the calendar?
The answer might be: Be a Marvel character.
This week, hot off Iron Man's $102-million opening weekend, Marvel issued a "partial" list of eight upcoming superhero movies, everything from Iron Man 2 to Thor. All but Ant-Man had scheduled release dates.
Meanwhile, rival DC Comics' characters, from Aquaman to Wonder Woman, and with the very large exception of Batman, remain in various stages of, if you'll pardon the vulgar Hollywood expression, development.
"I really don't see a big difference between the potential of Marvel versus DC characters on the big screen," wrote Mike Voiles, editor of Mike's Amazing World of DC Comics, in an email interview.
Well, actually, there is one big difference, as comic experts like Voiles are quick point out: Marvel is its own entity, cutting its own deals, and even financing its own movies. DC Comics is a subsidiary of Warner Bros.
"Even higher profile DC properties have to fight through other Warner priorities and projects to get made," Voiles wrote.
To Jim Littler, webmaster of ComicBookMovie.com, the long-planned Wonder Woman movie is a prime example of the superhuman challenges a DC superhero can face.
"Warner Bros. was able to get Joss Whedon at the helmAND THEN THEY REJECTED HIS SCRIPT! Joss Whedon of Firefly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and more!" Littler wrote in an email. "I'll bet the DC people were crying when that fell apart."
More than a decade ago, it was Marvel heroes who were having all the rotten luck in Hollywood. Spider-Man wasn't much more than a 1970s TV washout. The Fantastic Four were fit for an unreleased Roger Corman B-movie. Captain America was singed in a direct-to-video bomb.
Now, it's DC's turn. While the comic giant's characters continue to be huge small-screen players, on Smallville and in various animated series, they're getting swamped by Marvel's gang at the multiplex. Superman vs. Batman was scrapped. Justice League of America fell apart. And all sorts of cape- and tight-wearers are cooling their bootseven Superman, who's doesn't yet have a definitive start date for his next movie, two years after Superman Returns grossed $200 million.
According to Littler, DC's troubles have nothing to do with DC's characters.
"Many comic fans think DC has a much stronger lineup than Marvel does," Littler said. "I can think of at least three or four more franchises that they haven't even touched yet that could be as big as anything Marvel has put out."
Few, in fact, expect any comic-book movie to be bigger this summer than The Dark Knight, starring DC's own Batman (with an assist from Christian Bale). Filmmaker Christopher Nolan's much-anticipated Batman Begins sequel opens July 18.
Even in star-crossed times for his JLA colleagues, the Caped Crusader reigns. "I've never run into any comics fan who doesn't like Batman," Littler said.
Now, if only some of his mojo could rub off on the Green Lantern.
Here's a look at some of the upcoming Marvel-based movies, and their scheduled release dates, per the company:
- The Incredible Hulk (June 13)
- Punisher: War Zone (Dec. 5)
- X-Men Origins: Wolverine (May 1, 2009)
- Iron Man 2 (April 30, 2010)
- Thor (June 4, 2010)
- The First Avenger: Captain America (working title) (May 6, 2011)
- The Avengers (July 2011)
- Ant-Man (no announced date)
And here's a look at the statuses of some of the planned DC-based movies, per ComicBookMovie.com:
- Aquaman: "According to Comic Book Resources, the producers want to make a screwball comedy of it."
- The Flash: Wedding Crashers' David Dobkin was signed to direct last year.
- Green Lantern: Greg Berlanti (Brothers & Sisters, Eli Stone) is writing a script; Jack Black won't starat least he promised as much back in 2006.
- Justice League of America: "Tabled."
- Superman: The Man of Steel: Director Bryan Singer's on board. Superman Returns star Brandon Routh's on board. Filming might begin "early next year," per Routh, who admittedly doesn't have the power to schedule such things.
- Wonder Woman: "Sitting uncomfortably on the backburner."
Fox Upfront Day: Dollhouse, Dancers and David Boreanaz!
Greetings, tuberinos! Today is Fox’s big day at the New York upfronts. It isn’t just huge fun, it’s scoopy good too.
Click in to find out what I learned from Emily Deschanel on what’s in store for Booth and Bones. Also, check out Summer Glau spilling on Cameron’s fate and Wentworth Miller dishing about Michael Scofield’s messed-up love life.
Live From the Red Carpet
Bones: From the sound of it, the finale has good stuff on the Bones-Booth front. According to Emily Deschanel, Bones is very “emotional” about Booth being shot, and it sounds like it advances their romance a bit!
Dollhouse: More on this later, but for now let me just say that when I talked to Joss Whedon about how awesome it was that two of his best Whedonverse girls (Eliza Dushku and Summer Glau) were here together, he said, “Yes. It’s such a waste. I don’t even have a casting couch. Just a chair.” Love.
Fringe: Joshua Jackson is back! The man is hilarious, and when I pried about where the series might go after the pilot, he said, “What? Do you think this is my first time at the rodeo? I can’t tell you that! I’ll be killed.” (He was being chaperoned by Bad Robot badass Bryan Burk, so perhaps his fears were legitimate.)
Prison Break: Wentworth Miller said that if he had to describe the fourth season, the phrase “the Dirty Seven” comes to mind, as all our fave guys join forces to defeat the Company. He also confirmed that Michael might finally get some action this year and that he’s getting his tattoo removed. Wentworth said that the tattoo removal is a bittersweet thing for him, since that was such a key part of the character in the first two seasons. As for the move to Los Angeles, Dominic Purcell said, “It’s about time!” Apparently the actors were promised such a move in the middle of season one, but it’s just now that it’s come to pass.
Terminator: Thomas Dekker and Summer Glau seemed extremely excited about season two of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles—not just that there is going to be a season two, but what it’s going to be about. I got the distinct impression something radical happens in the first episode. Speaking of radical, Thomas has shaved his head—he did a movie about a cancer patient—but he wouldn’t say anything about whether John Connor was having a similar style switch, because apparently that plays into the upcoming plot twists. And Summer assured me Cameron is definitely back, even though she got blowed up in the finale. I suspect that her return has something to do with that radical change…
Presentation Nearly Live Liveblog
3:53: Can someone please explain to me how it is that Joss Whedon, J.J. Abrams, Mitchell Hurwitz and WBTV boss Peter Roth are seated in the next section over from me? This seems confused and wrong. Perhaps their tickets were misprinted?
4:10: Montage, baby! Featuring, yes, Dollhouse footage. It involves three automatic weapons and Eliza Dushku. Hells yes.
4:13: Dude, Fox has all its stars arrayed on stage in lines like they’re up for Miss America. It’s very competitive to see who gets the most applause. So far? Wenty wins. And no one prepped this announcer about how to pronounce any of these names. He’s breaking his mouth.
4:13: David and Emily are doing the first intro! Emily tells David to stop lying about him picking out her shoes.
4:23: Fox boss Peter Liguori is a tall drink of water.
4:29: Kevin Reilly is definitely the most dapper network president. Kevin says Fringe is going to be the event appointment series in the fall. Ya think? “J.J. has a remarkable track record discovering ingenues.” The latest of these, says Kevin, is Anna Torv and…Yay! Preview.
4:31: Fringe looks scary and awesome! Flight 627 is the new Flight 815…but less attractive. Instead of Josh Holloway and Naveen Andrews, you get dead goo people—like zombies made of snot. Josh Jackson’s character tells Anna Torv’s character that his mad-scientist father will (eventually) kill her. Awww, in-laws are so crazy.
4:37: Dollhouse looks sexy and awesome! The music track is waaay too loud. I can’t hear all the Jossy talk, but Olivia Williams appears to be magnificent. Check it out for yourself at dollverse.com/trailer.
4:41: Prison Break and Bones come back the week of Aug. 25.
4:56: Kiefer is here! He uncynically thanks Fox and the advertisers for what he calls “the best seven years of my life,” and the audience applauds heartily. He tells us the writers had time this year to arc out a season-long map and that he believes this is the best season ever and then shows us the new-season trailer: Jack Bauer is being investigated by Congress for torture (he says he’d do it all again), Tony Almeida is trying to bring down the utility grid through the CTU computer system, and cars are falling out of the sky. What’s not to love?
5:01: According to Reilly, Idol will have primarily half-hour results shows next season.
5:05: Whee! The guy who plays Vinnie Van Lowe on Veronica Mars is in Fox’s new single-camera family comedy Outnumbered. I adore that dude.
5:11: The Cleveland Show trailer involves a family of bears and cracks about Kevin Reilly’s faaah-bulous hair.
5:15: Reilly says it’s cliché to have dancing at an upfront, but what the hey. The So You Think You Can Dance kids are here! Benji, Lacey, Sabra, Ivan, Nick, Hok, Travis and many more. They do a little of everything: hip-hop, ballroom, swing and ballet. Talked to Cat Deeley this morning and will fill you in on it all in Monday’s chat, but she says Utah is the dance hot spot of the nation.
Meanwhile, the Fox party at Wollman Rink in Central Park is the hot spot of the moment, so I have to run, but I’ll check back in later!
Joss Whedon Reunites with Angel's Amy Acker
This Dollhouse casting news just in from Joss Whedon via Whedonesque.com:
"November (who will be recurring but does not appear in the pilot) will be played by the luminous Miracle Laurie. And Dr. Claire Saunders will be played by… yet another name I'm gonna have trouble remembering how to spell… Amy Acker."
Woot! Woot!
Joss also reveals that the table read begins today and: "All in all, pound for pound, soup to nuts, man vs. beast, it's a pretty amazing ensemble. I'm not sure how I landed this troupe, but rest assured I'm gonna write bestest good word for talkacting to them yes! They're in good hands."
Um, ya think?!
Unleash your Dollhouse butterflies below…