New SciFi Television Shows

So there are several new shows coming out this fall. As always, it's hit or miss whether they will still be around ala Chuck (YES!) or Journeyman (NO! BOO!). Still, it's worth pursuing anything that sounds interesting to you. After all, you'll never know if it's going to be a hit.

Fringe - From JJ Abrams, yes, that JJ "Star Trek, Lost, Among Others" Abrams. This show premieres tonight on Fox @ 9PM EST/8PM CST.

Brief synopsis from About.com.

When Flight 627 lands at Boston's Logan Airport with no signs of life on it, a special task force led by FBI Special Agent Olivia Dunham is sent to investigate. Olivia's partner, Special Agent John Scott, is almost killed during the investigation, which leads her to seek the help of Dr. Walter Bishop, an incredibly brilliant man who has been institutionalized for the last 17 years.

http://tvdramas.about.com/od/fringe/p/fringesynopsis.htm

I don't know why, but this reminds me of an updated X-Files, not that there is anything wrong with that as long as it's good. And with JJ Abrams involvement, the chances are high that it will be. Set your Tivo's, you do have one right, tonight and check this out.


My Own Worst Enemy - Hey, what can I say... Christian Slater returns to the Tube....

Brief synopsis from About.com

Henry Spivey is your typical middle-class family man with 2.3 kids. Edward Albright is a highly trained operative who can speak 13 languages and has the skill to kill with only his teeth.

Henry and Edward share the same body and when their wall begins to crumple, the two are forced into dangerous situations only the other man can handle. However, the biggest challenge of all is, who can you trust when you can't trust yourself?

http://tvdramas.about.com/od/myownworstene...tenemysynop.htm

True Blood - I've said it before and I'll say it again, I <3 Vampire flicks, even the really, really bad ones. I don't have HBO, but I'll find a way to check this out. Besides, who doesn't love a little bloodlust on a station that can actually show the real thing?

The idea behind this show is that Vampires can live among us now because there is a synthetic drug that prevents them from having to drink human blood or something like that. But like several recent vampire movies, there are good vamps (Blade, Underworld) and there are bad vamps (everything else). This seems like a soap opera that added some vampires to spice things up. I'm not sure about the whole Vampires as a Race, you're holding us down mentallity, but I gotta see it through. Damn Bloodsuckers.

Brief episode synopsis from About.com

http://horror.about.com/od/trueblood/a/trueblood1.htm

Dollhouse - Ok, this doesn't start until the spring is Joss Whedon with Eliza Dushku and Angel Fans will remember Amy Acker. It has a lot of the talent behind the previous Joss Whedon hits, so I'll watch it for that reason alone.

The synopsis is simple. Human "robot" Dolls go out programed for a certain reason and return to the Dollhouse when they are done. The Dolls can then be reprogrammed. I'm sure I'm not doing this justice, but did I mention it was Joss Whedon?

Ok, so Wikipedia did a better job.

In Dollhouse, Dushku plays a young woman named Echo, a member of a group of people known as "Actives" or "Dolls." The Dolls have had their personalities wiped clean so they can be imprinted with any number of new personas, including memory, muscle memory, skills, and language, for different assignments. They're then hired out for particular jobs, crimes, fantasies, and occasional good deeds. On missions, Actives are monitored internally (and remotely) by Handlers. In between tasks, they are mind-wiped into a child-like state and live in a futuristic dormitory/laboratory, a hidden facility nicknamed "The Dollhouse". The story follows Echo, who begins, in her mind-wiped state, to become self-aware.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollhouse_(TV_series)

Atomm wrote:So there are several new shows coming out this fall. As always, it's hit or miss whether they will still be around ala Chuck (YES!) or Journeyman (NO! BOO!). Still, it's worth pursuing anything that sounds interesting to you. After all, you'll never know if it's going to be a hit.

Fringe - From JJ Abrams, yes, that JJ "Star Trek, Lost, Among Others" Abrams. This show premieres tonight on Fox @ 9PM EST/8PM CST.

Brief synopsis from About.com.

http://tvdramas.about.com/od/fringe/p/fringesynopsis.htm

I don't know why, but this reminds me of an updated X-Files, not that there is anything wrong with that as long as it's good. And with JJ Abrams involvement, the chances are high that it will be. Set your Tivo's, you do have one right, tonight and check this out.


My Own Worst Enemy - Hey, what can I say... Christian Slater returns to the Tube....

Brief synopsis from About.com

http://tvdramas.about.com/od/myownworstene...tenemysynop.htm

True Blood - I've said it before and I'll say it again, I <3 Vampire flicks, even the really, really bad ones. I don't have HBO, but I'll find a way to check this out. Besides, who doesn't love a little bloodlust on a station that can actually show the real thing?

The idea behind this show is that Vampires can live among us now because there is a synthetic drug that prevents them from having to drink human blood or something like that. But like several recent vampire movies, there are good vamps (Blade, Underworld) and there are bad vamps (everything else). This seems like a soap opera that added some vampires to spice things up. I'm not sure about the whole Vampires as a Race, you're holding us down mentallity, but I gotta see it through. Damn Bloodsuckers.

Brief episode synopsis from About.com

http://horror.about.com/od/trueblood/a/trueblood1.htm

Dollhouse - Ok, this doesn't start until the spring is Joss Whedon with Eliza Dushku and Angel Fans will remember Amy Acker. It has a lot of the talent behind the previous Joss Whedon hits, so I'll watch it for that reason alone.

The synopsis is simple. Human "robot" Dolls go out programed for a certain reason and return to the Dollhouse when they are done. The Dolls can then be reprogrammed. I'm sure I'm not doing this justice, but did I mention it was Joss Whedon?

Ok, so Wikipedia did a better job.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollhouse_(TV_series)

I'll give FRINGE and WORST ENEMY a shot. I guess I'll give the DOLL HOUSE a shot too, though I have serious misgivings about a show that features ppl who change personalities every episode. How can you get to like/hate them? It says that one becomes self-aware, so I guess the show is gonna hang on that. It's Wheden, so it deserves a chance.

Dunno about he vamp flick. HBO has a reputation for putting out kick-ass series, so maybe I'll watch that too.

I watched Fringe last night. It was ok. I will probably watch a few more episodes, but it didn't have that punch that makes me want more. In fact, here is my wife's analysis of this SciFi Drama/Action series.

"It was funny"

Yep, she liked it because it was funny. WoW!

A few things kind of bugged me.

They used the infamous drawn out sound from lost. You know, the won that winds down, then has the 2-3 jarring sound effects. Except this time it was just the winding down sound witout the jarring effects.

The big bad appears to be a corporation ala The Hanso Foundation or at least that is what they reminded me of.

It starts off with an incident on a plane. How about a bus or a train, but not a plane.... again....

Joshua Jackson's character is interesting. High School dropout with an IQ of 190 who was a published college Chemistry professor. At least until they found out he didn't have a degree.

His dad is borderline nuts, and the main source of comedy relief.

It feels XFile'sish. Is that Klingon? sheesh. This in itself wouldn't be bad except it's a hard act to follow.

It's pseudoscience based, so none of it will be real, but it will be presented as "real" science in the basis of the show. This isn't bad really, but it can make or break the show. If it's too nutty, then I'll tune out. If it's too real, then it will get boring.

Anyone else watch this?

recorded it but haven't watched it yet.

I saw Fringe. SPOILED for Sarge.

After the first hour, I was ready to turn it off. I didn't think much of the leads (no chemistry, not interesting), but I kept it on. Eventually, I decided the scientist's son might be OK, but that sarcastic "Babe" comment he keeps putting out there has to go.

The scientist looks like he might be OK. The first hour he was too introverted, too incapable of conversing to be anything but annoying, but it looks like he's opening up more. He'll still be very strange and somewhat difficult to 'get', but if he at least TALKS, he can make it interesting and/or funny.

I'm glad the love interest is dead. He needed to go for the sake of the show. The show itself looks great: good sets, lighting, cinematography.

Regarding the pseudo-science: I was rolling my eyes in the first five minutes when the plane landed itself, but at least they explained that within the context of the show, so I went with it. I didn't even attempt to make sense of the melting faces and the transparent skin. I'll roll with whatever they put out there as there's internal logic. Heck, I've listened to 2 decades of "modulate the shields" on the various Star Trek shows. . . 🙂

It redeemed itself enough in the second hour, and opened up enough possibilities that I'll give it another couple episodes.

FYI, 3 episodes later and I'm starting to like it. This may be a keeper....

I've heard a lot of other people say good things about it too....

I watched the first episode and thought "not bad". It took me a long time to figure out that the Doctor is Denethor from LOTR.

I'm going to keep watching I think.

Denethor? I can't remember which one that was. I'll look it up.

He really makes the show.

http://l.yimg.com/img.movies.yahoo.com/ymv...ohn_noble22.jpg

Ah, he was Boromir's father. I remember now. Cool!

...Look the nerds they are cocooning. 😛

Now that Bubba has been taken care of, let's get back to business.

I'm really digging Fringe. It seems interesting and Fresh. The wife likes it, so that is a plus.

I watched Sanctuary the other night. It's the new SciFi show with Amanda Tapping aka Sam Carter of Stargate. Both the wife and I liked it. This feels like something original that has the potential of being fun to watch. If you get a chance, check out the premiere. It's SciFi. I know it will be on 100 more times this week alone. ;-)

Here's an interesting article about Amanda's moving away from Stargate and into Sanctuary. BTW, she's actually british. Maybe we are hearing her real voice for the first time.

http://scifi.about.com/od/sanctuary/a/SANC_tapping.htm

And last by not least, Heroes.

I don't know about this season. It feels like we have done it all before. Now there is another guy making paintings of the future. Parkman is on another quest. Peter is trying to save the world from ultimate destruction. Someone will blow up. Hiro is on a quest again. This is worse than world of warcraft.

And why the hell did Peter need Sylars power? Didn't he already have the power to pull other's powers? That made absolutely no sense to me what so ever.

Sylar as a Good guy was the one shinning moment of this episode, but we know how that went.

I feel like the writers are stuck in a rut. They need some new fresh writers with original ideas. I'm tired of doing the same thing over and over.

I'll hang in there, but I am quickly starting to get bored. I almost wish Journeyman was still on. It at least kept me wondering what would happen next.

I know my wife is watching the fringe. Is that the show that everytime I come into the living room there is a half dressed woman? Cause whatever show that is that my wife is watching seems good.

I believe that is called the Girls Nextdoor.