Club Jade

Both Robot Chicken: Star Wars and Family Guy: Blue Harvest have received Emmy nominations in their respective animation categories, while Carrie Fisher is in the running for Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy Series for her turn as Rosemary Howard on 30 Rock.

Robot Chicken is up for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour) against episodes of Creature Comforts America, King of the Hill, SpongeBob SquarePants and The Simpsons. Blue Harvest is up for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming One Hour Or More) against South Park’s Imaginationland and Justice League: The New Frontier.

Other genre programs up for Emmys include Sci-Fi’s Oz reimagining Tin Man (Outstanding Miniseries, Art Direction, Costumes, Hair, Makeup, Editing, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Visual Effects,) Battlestar Galactica ( Writing, Editing, Visual Effects,) Battlestar Galactica: Razor (Cinematography, Sound Mixing,) Heroes (Editing, Visual Effects,) Lost (Outstanding Drama Series, Supporting Actor: Michael Emerson, Editing, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing) The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Editing, Visual Effects, Stunts,) Stargate Atlantis (Visual Effects,) Chuck (Main Titles, Stunts,) Masters Of Science Fiction (Score,) and Pushing Daisies (Music, Editing.) And if I messed anything up there you’re going to have to forgive me.

Producers are starting to drop tidbits to get us all excited for the upcoming season.  (And I am all for that.)

It looks like Heroes is going to go for the more philosophical bent in the upcoming volume.  And E!’s Watch with Kristin has some dish on which cast members will be regulars and which will be floating.

And Kristin also finds out that our favorite nerd, Chuck, will get to see a bit more catfighting with the guest appearance of tabloid darling Nicole Richie.  (Yeah.  Really.)

We just have to hold out until the end of September!

So many genre offerings this year, so little audience to go around. How are things going?

In the happy news category, Chuck has gotten the order for a full season. And Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is gearing up by asking for fan-made posters. And now that series 1 of Torchwood is wrapping up, the teasing begins with all the cool guest stars for series 2 (i.e., James Marsters).

In the sad news category, Journeyman appears about to leap into the Land of Cancellation. He apparently won’t be terribly lonely as Bionic Woman is about to join him. And even though all of this is speculation, at the very least, Katee Sackhoff hasn’t exactly given it much enthusiastic support on the con circuit.

This is shaping up to be an odd TV season. Things are good. (Many new attempts at genre shows.) Things are bad. (Writers’ strike.)

- After a strong start Bionic Woman is on life support.

- However, Chuck (okay…not technically sci-fi, but still geeky) is picking up steam; even while Heroes struggles.

- And why is Heroes struggling? Well, producer Tim Kring is admitting to making some mistakes with how this season’s story is unfolding. (I’m still enjoying it, but there are some valid points.)

- Lost fans have some happy and not-so-happy news as the season will start, but the writers’ strike will mean that it will abruptly stop.

The commitment-phobic Big Three networks are apparently giving the TV version of a promise ring to several new genre shows. According to E!’s Watch With Kristin, Chuck, Bionic Woman and Journeyman have gotten orders for a few more scripts.

Okay, not the ringing endorsement of the rest of a full season, but better than dropping them altogether. And it gives them a little time to either find some audience or hang it up.

Upfront season has begun, when the networks announce their programming for fall. First to bat is NBC, which is retaining the genre hit Heroes and giving it a spin-off, Origins, which will run in the same time slot in the off season (whenever that may be.) Among the brand-new shows is the Bionic Woman remake and Journeyman, in which Rome’s Kevin McKidd as a time-traveling reported, and Chuck, about a computer geek who becomes a government agent. Check out NBC.com for previews of the new shows.