Upcoming TV
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Upcoming TV SummariesThe summaries for the Upcoming TV Section are below:
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Burn Notice is an American television action dramedy series created by Matt Nix The show stars Jeffrey Donovan, Gabrielle Anwar, Bruce Campbell, and Sharon Gless. The series premiered on June 28, 2007 on the USA Network. On July 28, 2009, Burn Notice was renewed for a fourth season
The title refers to the burn notices issued by intelligence agencies to discredit or announce the dismissal of agents or sources who are considered to have become unreliable. When a spy is burned, they are "wiped off the grid". According to the narration during the opening credits, the burned spy has no prior work history, no money; in essence, no identity. The television series is a first-person narrative (including frequent voice-overs providing nuggets of exposition) from the viewpoint of covert-operations agent Michael Westen, played by Jeffrey Donovan.
After fleeing a Nigerian operation blown apart by the sudden and unexplained non-cooperation of his U.S. contact, Westen finds himself in his hometown<Actinic:Variable Name = '3'/> of Miami, Florida, attended to by his ex-girlfriend, Fiona Glenanne, but abandoned by all his normal intelligence contacts, under continuous surveillance with his personal assets frozen. Extraordinary efforts to reach his U.S. government handler eventually yield only a grudging admission that someone powerful wants him "on ice" in Miami; if he leaves the city he will be hunted down and taken into custody, whereas by staying there he can remain relatively free. Consumed by the desire to find out why he has been burned, and by whom, Westen goes to work as an unlicensed private investigator/spy/soldier of fortune for anyone in town who can pay him any money in order to fund his personal investigation into his own situation as a blacklisted agent. Throughout the series Westen battles and outwits an array of mobsters, con artists, contract killers, professional thieves, drug traffickers, sex traffickers, deadbeat dads, arms dealers, kidnappers and war criminals. The series makes frequent use of jury rigging, with the characters improvising devices to do the job of more expensive, harder-to-obtain items.
At the end of Season Two, Westen has an encounter with "the Management" who threatens to put him "back on the radar" if Westen doesn't cooperate with their agenda. After a dramatic leap from a helicopter into the Atlantic Ocean, Westen finds himself arrested by Miami police who think he is an illegal immigrant after he washes up on South Beach. Season Three picks up with Westen under surveillance by Detective Paxson (played by Moon Bloodgood), who has been tasked with monitoring his activities.
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Stargate Universe (abbreviated as SGU is an upcoming military science fiction television series, part of the Stargate franchise. The series was greenlit on August 22, 2008 and is scheduled to debut on October 2, 2009 as a two-hour movie and then begin regular weekly airings on Syfy in the United States in October 2009. Sky1 will air the series in the United Kingdom and Ireland in the autumn of 2009. Brad Wright, Robert C. Cooper and Carl Binder serve as executive producers and writers. Stargate Universe started filming on February 18, 2009.
Stargate Universe follows the adventures of a present-day, multinational exploration team on board the Ancient spaceship Destiny. Transported to Destiny in a distant corner of the universe and unable to return to Earth, members of the team are forced to remain on the vessel and fend for themselves. The announced main cast is Robert Carlyle as Dr. Nicholas Rush, Justin Louis as Colonel Everett Young, David Blue as Eli Wallace, Brian J. Smith as Lieutenant Matthew Scott, Jamil Walker Smith as Master Sergeant Ronald Greer, Alaina Huffman as Lieutenant Tamara Johansen, Elyse Levesque as Chloe Armstrong, and Ming-Na as Camille Wray.
Stargate Universe will be set on the Ancient ship Destiny, which was part of an Ancient experiment to seed the galaxies with Stargates millions of years ago. While a first ship was sent to seed the galaxies with Stargates, the Destiny was to follow a pre-programmed mission to explore these galaxies until the Ancients ascended and left the ship unmanned. In order to reach this ship, an address would have to be dialed consisting of nine chevrons, a possibility that had been unknown in the previous Stargate series.
The series begins when a team of soldiers and scientists from present-day Earth step through the Stargate to find the Destiny after their base is attacked. They are unable to maneuver the ship or even return to Earth, but they can use the Stargate to visit planets when the Destiny comes into the range of another Stargate and stops for brief periods of time. Life support including air supply is also a problem at first. There will be three major deaths in the pilot episode and one suicide by episode six. The writers have discussed the possibility that each season represents a voyage of the Destiny through a different galaxy.
Stargate Universe is written to appeal to both veteran fans and newcomers. It will be firmly entrenched in pre-established Stargate mythology without relying on it too often. Although it will still have the familiar Stargate themes of adventure and exploration,the show will focus mostly on the people aboard the ship. SGU will be more serialized than its predecessors, but the writers attempt to resolve each character story within the episode. There is a conscious effort to avoid making SGU too serialized, and the serialization will mainly stem from character development.The industry describes the show with the buzz words "dark and edgy". According to Robert C. Cooper, the essence of the story is "that sort of fear and terror of a tragedy combined with the sense that there is hope for us in the basic ways in which human beings survive". The increased levels of drama will still be balanced with humor to avoid pretentiousness. The differences between good and evil will be less apparent, as the ship will be populated with flawed and unprepared characters who were not supposed to go here. According to Brad Wright, the show will "hopefully explor<Actinic:Variable Name = 'e'/> the truly alien, and <Actinic:Variable Name = 'avoid'/> the rubber faced English-speaking one". There will be aliens, but not a single dominant villain race like SG-1's Goa'uld and Atlantis' Wraith
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Entourage is a American comedy-drama broadcast on HBO and created by Doug Ellin, that chronicles the rise of Vincent Chase, a young A-list movie star, and his childhood friends from Queens, New York City, as they navigate the unfamiliar terrain of Hollywood, California. The first episode of Entourage aired on HBO on July 18, 2004. The show is currently in its sixth season.
Mark Wahlberg and Stephen Levinson serve as the show's co-executive producers, and the show's premise is loosely based on Wahlberg's experiences as an up-and-coming movie star. The series deals with themes of male friendship and with life in Hollywood. In accordance with this, numerous celebrities have guest-starred on the show.
Entourage revolves around Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier), a young, up-and-coming actor who eventually becomes an A-list star. His experiences are loosely based on those of Mark Wahlberg, who is also executive producer on the show. His best friend and manager is Eric Murphy (Kevin Connolly) "E", as his friends call him, is based on Wahlberg's friend and executive producer Eric Weinstein. He's also been reported to be inspired by Stephen Levinson, Wahlberg's manager.
Vincent's older brother Johnny "Drama" Chase (Kevin Dillon), is also Vince's personal chef and trainer. Johnny is a D-list actor who was in the fictional show Viking Quest during his younger days. His role in the new fictional hit show Five Towns has begun to resurrect his fame and career. This character is based on Johnny "Drama" Alves (cousin of Mark Wahlberg), whom Donnie Wahlberg had hired to keep his younger brother out of trouble.
Rounding out the entourage of friends is Salvatore, known as "Turtle" (Jerry Ferrara), who is another of Vince's old friends from childhood. Turtle's official role is as Vince's driver and assistant, though his value as such is often brought into question. This character is based on Mark Wahlberg's former "gofer" Donnie Carroll aka "Donkey". Carroll auditioned for the role, but the Boston-native was turned down when it was decided the actors would have to be New Yorkers. Carroll died on December 18, 2005 after an asthma attack.
Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven) is Vince's abrasive but lovable agent. The role has led to several nominations and Emmy Awards for Piven. Ari is based on Wahlberg's real-life agent Ari Emanuel.
Kevin Connolly, Adrian Grenier, Kevin Dillon, Jerry Ferrara, and Jeremy Piven have been credited in every episode in the opening credits since season one. Debi Mazar who had a recurring guest star role as Shauna in season 1 began to receive opening credits billing in season 2. Her appearances in season 3 were limited due to her pregnancy and Mazar made her final regular appearance in episode 42. She made appearances in seasons 4, 5 and 6, Mazar was credited as a special guest star. (Perrey Reeves) Mrs. Ari and (Rex Lee) Lloyd had recurring roles in the first two seasons. Starting in season three, Reeves and Lee were credited as "starring" in the end credits in the episodes that they appeared in. After Debi Mazar left on maternity leave, Reeves began to receive in the opening credits starting in season 4 replacing Mazar's credit, and is now credited whether she appears in the episode or not. Rex Lee's name also now appears in the opening credits as of season 5 whether he appears in the episode or not. Also In season 4, Rhys Coiro's recurring character Billy Walsh was given a bigger role in the storyline, and Coiro was credited as "starring" in the first six episodes of the season. However, when his character returned in episode 52, he was again credited as a guest star. Gary Cole guest starred in three episodes of season 5 as agent Andrew Klein, beginning with season 6 he was credited as "starring" in the end credits. Canadian actress Emmanuelle Chriqui has portrayed E's on-again, off-again girlfriend Sloan McQuewick (daughter of Malcolm McDowell's character Terrance McQuewick) as a recurring guest star from season 2 to 5, beginning with season 6 she was credited as "starring".
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True Blood is an American television drama series created and produced by Alan Ball. It is based on the The Southern Vampire Mysteries series of novels by Charlaine Harris. The show is broadcast on the premium cable network HBO in the United States. It is produced by HBO in association with Ball's production company, Your Face Goes Here Entertainment. It premiered on September 7, 2008.
The show's second 12-episode season premiered on June 14, 2009. On July 30, 2009, HBO confirmed that a third season of True Blood will be released in the summer of 2010. Alan Ball has said that he plans to start shooting the third season before Christmas 2009.
True Blood details the co-existence of vampires and humans in Bon Temps (meaning "good times" in French), a fictional small northern Louisiana town. The series centers on Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), a telepathic waitress at a bar, who falls in love with vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer).
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Party Down is an American comedy television series created by John Enbom, Rob Thomas, Dan Etheridge, and Paul Rudd that airs on the Starz network in the US
The show follows a Los Angeles catering team, a sextet of aspiring Hollywood wannabe actors, writers and musicians stuck working for tips while hoping for their "big break." Each episode of this half-hour comedy finds the hapless catering team working a new event, and inevitably getting tangled up with the colorful guests and their absurd lives
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Fringe is an American science fiction television series co-created by J. J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. The series follows an FBI Fringe Division team based in Boston, Massachusetts under the supervision of Homeland Security. The team uses unorthodox "fringe" science and FBI investigative techniques to investigate "the Pattern", a series of unexplained, often ghastly occurrences which are occurring all over the world. The show has been described as a cross between The X-Files, Altered States, The Twilight Zone, and Dark Angel.
The series premiered in the United States on September 9, 2008, on the Fox network. Fringe is part of a new Fox initiative known as "Remote-Free TV". Episodes of Fringe are longer than standard dramas on current network television. The show airs with half the commercials, adding about six minutes to the show's run time. On October 1, 2008, Fringe first season was extended to 22 episodes. This has since been cut back to 20 episodes with the season finale airing May 12. The series has been renewed for a second season. Season 2 will premiere Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 9:00 PM.
Fringe follows the exploits of FBI special agent Olivia Dunham, mad scientist Walter Bishop, and his son jack of all trades Peter Bishop as they investigate aspects of fringe science (rare diseases, chimeras, transhumans with psychic abilities, teleportation, and so forth). All over the world, a series of apparent experiments collectively referred to as "the Pattern" (e.g., a newborn baby who rapidly ages and dies within a few minutes, a bus full of passengers trapped in a strange substance like mosquitoes in amber) are occurring for reasons unknown. Olivia, Peter, and Walter are in charge of investigating these strange events to determine their source. Connected to the Pattern is Massive Dynamic, a leading global research company that holds the patents for a number of new and important technologies. Their enemy is ZFT, a bioterrorist organization which is orchestrating all of the strange occurrences in order to prepare for a destructive technological singularity. Tying both sides together is a nootropic drug, called Cortexiphan, that was developed by Walter and his partner, William Bell (now chairman of Massive Dynamic), which Olivia and a number of others were treated with as children. The first season closes with Olivia meeting William in a parallel universe where, among other differences, the World Trade Center was never destroyed by the September 11 attacks.
Unlike his other series, Lost, J.J. Abrams promises the series' story arc will be easier to follow and more accessible for those who skip the odd show. In an interview first published in September 2008, Abrams said: "Lost has garnered a certain reputation for being a very complicated show and one that you have to watch every episode. Fringe is in many ways an experiment for us, which is, we believe it is possible to do a show that does have an overall story and end game, which Fringe absolutely does We can do a show that has that, so that there's a direction the show is going and there's an ultimate story that's being told, but also a show that you don't have to watch episodes one, two and three to tune into episode four.
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Caprica is a television series set in the fictional Battlestar Galactica universe. Beginning 58 years before the events seen in Battlestar Galactica, Caprica tells the story of how Colonial humanity first created the robotic Cybernetic Lifeform Nodes or Cylons, who would later plot to destroy human civilization in retaliation for their enslavement.
An extended version of the pilot premiered exclusively on DVD and digital download on April 21, 2009. The first season, composed of the two-hour pilot and 18 one-hour episodes, is expected to begin airing on Syfy in the United States on January 22, 2010.The rights to broadcast the series have also been picked up by Sky1 in the UK and Ireland,
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Dexter is an American television drama series that airs on the premium channel Showtime. Set in Miami, the series centers on Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall), a covert serial killer governed by a strict moral code who works for the Miami Metro Police Department as a blood spatter analyst.
The show is based on characters invented by Jeff Lindsay for his series of "Dexter" novels. It was adapted for television by Emmy Award-winning screenwriter James Manos, Jr., who wrote the pilot episode.
On October 21, 2008, Showtime renewed the series for a fourth and fifth season, each consisting of 12 episodes. Production was stated to begin in early 2009, with season four premiering September 27.
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Hung is a comedy series from HBO, created by Dmitry Lipkin and Colette Burson. It stars Thomas Jane as Ray Drecker, a struggling suburban Detroit high school basketball coach who resorts to prostitution.
The show's pilot is directed by filmmaker Alexander Payne. Payne serves as executive producer along with Lipkin, Burson, and Blueprint Entertainment. Lipkin and Burson’s script was the first major purchase by the network’s new entertainment president Sue Naegle in April 2008. This move led the writers to immediately work on five more episodes for the series, a total of ten episodes. On December 18, 2008, it was announced HBO picked up the dark comedy. The show premiered on June 28, 2009.
The theme song for Hung is "I'll Be Your Man" by The Black Keys.
On July 30, 2009, HBO renewed Hung for a second season
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Nurse Jackie is an American dark comedy series that premiered on June 8, 2009 on Showtime, Movie Central and The Movie Network.
The series stars Emmy- and Golden Globe Award-winner Edie Falco as title character Jackie Peyton, a "flawed" emergency room nurse at All Saints' Hospital in New York City. For Jackie, "Every day is a high wire act of juggling patients, doctors, fellow nurses and her own indiscretions. Showtime says the half-hour series "is at turns wicked, heartbreaking and funny.
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V is an upcoming television series remake to be broadcast on ABC during the mid season of the 2009-2010 television season. It is executive produced by The 4400 creator Scott Peters, Jace Hall, Steve Pearlman and Jeffrey Bell and is based on the science-fiction franchise created by Kenneth Johnson. The series will premiere on November 3, 2009
Giant spaceships appear over all major cities of the world, the alien "Visitors" claiming to come in peace. As some humans begin to doubt the sincerity of the Visitors, Homeland Security agent Erica Evans discovers that the aliens have spent decades infiltrating our governments and businesses and are now in the final stages of their plan to take over the planet. Erica joins the resistance movement, which includes Ryan, a Visitor sleeper agent who wants to save humanity. However, the aliens have won favor among the people of Earth by curing a variety of diseases, and have recruited earth's youth, including Erica's son, to serve unknowingly as spies.
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The Vampire Diaries is an upcoming TV drama based on the book series of the same name by L.J. Smith. The plot revolves around Elena Gilbert, a stereotypically tragic young heroine who is the object of passion for two vampire brothers one good, one evil who are at war for her soul and for the souls of her friends, family and all the residents of the small town of Mystic Falls, Virginia.
It is scheduled to premiere on The CW on Thursday, September 10, 2009 at 8 p.m., filling the network's previous Smallville slot. The show will premiere in early 2010 on ITV2 in the UK. It will be paired with Supernatural as part of a horror-themed night.
The television series has changed many things in adapting the novels to screen. Some minor changes include characters' last names being changed and their relationships to each other somewhat altered. Some major changes include renaming the town the story is set in to Mystic Falls from Fell's Church, as producers were unable to get legal clearance for the name. Also, Jeremy Gilbert, Elena's younger brother, is not a character in the novels (Elena instead has a little sister named Margaret). Similarly, the character of Jenna Moyer, Elena's aunt, was originally named Judith Gilbert in the novels.
Both Damon's and Stefan's backstories have also been changed. Instead of hailing from Renaissance Italy, Stefan and Damon appear to be from Civil War-era Mystic Falls. Another addition is Zach, Stefan and Damon's human relative, as this character never appeared in the novels. Also, in the novels, Elena is described as a blonde, blue-eyed, "ice princess", whereas in the show she is a brown-eyed brunette. In the books, Caroline is also depicted as an "Egyptian Princess", where in the show she has blonde hair and blue eyes.<Actinic:Variable Name = '6'/> Also, in this version of the story Elena's friend Bonnie is descended from the witches of Salem. Elena's other best friend Meredith from the novel is not in the TV series. However, it has been hinted that she will eventually appear
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Warehouse 13 is an American science fiction series which premiered on July 7, 2009 on Syfy. Executive-produced by Jack Kenny and David Simkins, the dramatic comedy from Universal Media Studios has been described as "part The X-Files, part Raiders of the Lost Ark and part Moonlighting. The series follows United States Secret Service agents Myka Bering (Joanne Kelly) and Peter Lattimer (Eddie McClintock) as they are reassigned to the government's secret Warehouse 13, which houses supernatural objects. They are tasked to retrieve missing objects and investigate reports of new ones
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