Club Jade

As you have hopefully already heard, Mark Hamill will be guesting on Chuck next season.

During a break in filming, Zachary Levi and Joshua Gomez indulged every fan’s dream by getting Mark to go back to his old Jedi ways. Sweet!

It’s that time of year when the major networks start to announce their renewals.  Here is what I’ve been able to gather, thus far:

• Chuck – Renewed for 13 episodes.  Not ideal, but not cancellation.
• Heroes – No decision, but Grunny is saying the Fat Lady may or may not be warming up.  (Does this mean a 13-episode, like the others?) [I'm guessing no. - Dunc.]  And the Fat Lady sings….
• V – Renewed for 13.
• Flash Forward – Axed.
• Supernatural – Already renewed.
• Vampire Diaries – Already renewed.
• Smallville – Already renewed.

The SyFy shows don’t tend to announce, yet.  So while we know that Stargate: Universe got the greenlight for Season 2 (they’re currently in production), the fact that MGM is financially shaky makes that tenuous for Season 3.  But, hey, at least we know that wrestling is safe.

Now that everyone has gotten over Johnny Depp’s appearance and that smooch between John Barrowman and David Tennant, Airlock Alpha catches us up on all we missed with sci-fi TV:

• Joss Whedon tells all about the Dollhouse renewal surprise, the upcoming Buffy comics and his gleeful anticipation of Glee (along with half of Club Jade).
• NBC embraces the whole Comic-Con experience by posting incredible amounts of video to watch from Chuck and Heroes.
• Warehouse13 has mental stress to thank for its cast.

And now let’s see what scoopage E! is covering:

• No surprise here:  HBO picks up True Blood for another season.
• Kristin gets some scoopage on how long you’ll get to see Dominic Monaghan on Lost.
• And they examine the Heroes trailer.

And one final tidbit for crushed Jericho fans:  it looks like they’re trying for a wrap-up movie.

The Emmy Award Nominations are out and the geeks seem to be doing the same as always.  But hey, the folks who do all the technical stuff work hard on it.  Let’s congratulate the great crew of our favorite geeky shows on jobs well done.  (And there are some major ones in there.)

• Robot Chicken - Animation Series,  and Voiceover for the Star Wars Episode II episode
• The Big Bang Theory – Best Comedic Actor, Art Direction
• Lost - Best Drama Series, Best Supporting Actor, Sound Editing (Series), Writing (Drama)
• Heroes – Art Direction, Visual Effects (Series)
• Battlestar Galactica – Directing (Drama), Single-Camera Editing (Hour-Long), Sound Editing (Episode), Sound Editing (Series), Visual Effects (Series) and Short-format Live-Action Entertainment Program
• Legend of the Seeker – Original Music Composition
• Smallville - Sound Editing
• Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog - Short-format Live-Action Entertainment Program
• Terminator – Sound Editing
• Sanctuary – Visual Effects (Series)
• Chuck – Stunts

We scour the complete PDF so you don’t have to!

No. No it is not. But it will be soon, and thus details about the con are coming thick on the ground. We got the general Star Wars event schedule earlier in the week, but now StarWars.com gives us Del Rey’s, including some signings and giveaways like a double-sided Fate of the Jedi/Deathtroopers poster, above. (Far more tempting is the possibility of getting free copies of The Essential Atlas, The Complete Vader and The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia)

• I’m not going to get a chance to watch/review all the Fan Movie Challenge Finalists before the Friday deadline, so consider this your reminder to head over there and vote for Audience Choice.

• The Fan Club Breakfast ticket deadline has come and gone, but if you nabbed one, they have a plethora of raffle prizes, including one of those wacky Force Trainers.
• The Official Pix guest list includes Mark Hamill, Edward James Olmos, several Clone Wars voice actors and some dudes from Chuck.
• Also… Kotobukiya will be giving away stuff; The Slave Leias will be out in force.

Word on the street is that Chuck is surviving: Like Dollhouse, it’ll go for at least 13 more episodes following some budget cuts.

The news is not so good (though a great deal more vague) for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: Michael Ausiello is reporting that it’s been officially canceled.

It’s no wonder genre shows are struggling when you have to wait so long to see new episodes.  But NBC is trying to rally us back around to their Monday night line-up with gimmicks and fun.

Chuck will not only be in 3-D, but will feature appearances by Dominic Monagahan and Scott Bakula (as Chuck’s dad?!).

And Heroes will try to stop hemorrhaging viewers by doing a spot during the SuperBowl in which we explore what it would look like if Heroes played football.  (It’ll also be the start of the supposedly-tightened-up Volume 4.)

Another NBC-owned show, Battlestar Galactica, gets some squee from the Watch with Kristin staff who are celebrating them some love.  (By the way, have you been catching the Best Of…series on the website?)

And finally, an interview with Sanctuary star/producer Amanda Tapping, who talks about having a great first season and what might be to come if they make it back on air by October.

Now that the actors have decided to postpone their strike vote, we can get back to worrying and fretting about the fates of our favorite genre shows.

SciFi is jumping on the prediction wagon by rating the chances of show survival for:  Chuck, Heroes, Eleventh Hour, Life on Mars, Sarah Connor and Knight Rider.

Personally, I’m voting for Chuck and all his unabashedly geeky enthusiasm

Maybe it’s the ramp-up for the upcoming November sweeps period? Maybe it’s just some cosmic alignment of the stars. But there are all sorts of tidbits about genre TV to be found:

• Battlestar Galactica supposedly has a return date of January 16th. Just in time, too. The speculation over the last Cylon is running rampant with i09 the latest to jump in.
• Speaking of coming back, how about more of David Tennant‘s doctor? Grovel to the BBC, folks.
• In yet another stunning show of lack of originality (including flashbacks to BSG’s revival), ABC is supporting the remake of V. I’m not sure I can get behind it. There was just something about the total 80′s look of the original that would be a shame to lose.
• However, in a newer twist, Ron Moore’s new series Virtuality will feature a married gay couple. Sure, they aren’t quite interesting, as yet, but nice to see some movement in this area.
• Maybe networks are willing to cut some slack for new genre shows? Additional scripts have been ordered for Sarah Connor and Knight Rider. (Really? Knight Rider?)
• And finally, E!’s Watch with Kristen provides some spoilery goodness on Heroes and the upcoming chick fight on Chuck.

Entertainment industry strikes have an interesting way of shaking up the following season.  This one is no exception.

• Heroes is steadily dropping with each episode:  down 18% from the already-sluggish season premiere.  However, according to EOnline, it’s doing really well on Hulu.  (Have you people learned nothing from Stargate?  TV execs and advertisers don’t understand this whole alternative viewing thing, yet.  Watch it live if you want to keep it!)
• Sarah Connor is, according to SyFyPortal, on the verge of cancellation, but also thriving in the alternative market.
• Chuck is holding on, but has also dropped 11%. 

So let’s focus on the happy, shall we?

• Clone Wars set a new record for Cartoon Network with 4 million viewers.
• Fringe won the coveted 18-49 demographic
• And even Sanctuary drummed up strong numbers for SciFi with 2.7 million viewers.  (Although I suspect this will be another that soon bleeds off to online and DVR viewing.)

Remember, fellow geeks, only you can save TV shows:  watch them live!