Off The Radar: Knight Rider Et Al.
Somehow having slipped off my Wikipedia radar it appears that unbeknownst to me the Knight Rider miniseries has indeed resulted in the green light for a new show, set to air on Wednesdays on NBC this fall. Good for them. It would be cool if they brought KARR back but as the older model, they could even have some fun with it in dialogue, I can picture it now, “its name is KARR? Are you sh*tting me?”
In other TV news…
In case you haven’t been following, the date has been set for the 24 TV movie: November 23rd, so mark your calendars (for some reason this isn’t on the official website). Manny Coto is Co-Executive Producer; Tony Todd and Jon Voight will appear.
The next episode of Doctor Who, ‘The Stolen Earth’, features no less than 5 companions plus at least two additional visitors from Torchwood and at least one additional visitor from The Sarah Jane Adventures – I have reserved and reinforced the edge of my seat in preparation.
Speaking of Torchwood apparently next year they’re only doing 5 episodes but in the form of an epic miniseries set to air one episode per day for a week BUT they’ve also left to door open to do more episodes later that same year. John Barrowman has already signed on for the whole season. Since it’s launch Torchwood has kicked Doctor Who’s butt in the awards category (BAFTA, Hugo, etc) but Doctor Who is still the ratings leader, I wonder if this might be Torchwood’s attempt to gain more audience share for it’s award-winning content? It seems a nearly forgone conclusion that SOMEONE from the Doctor Who universe will be joining the show next year but rumours of who specifically are inconsistent at this time.
And if you can’t get enough John Barrowman (and let’s face it, who can?) he’s appearing as a judge on the painfully hosted How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? on the CBC. That’s right, John Barrowman has me watching reality television that isn’t Last Comic Standing – this could be the end of civilization as we know it, thankfully John has experience with that sort of thing.
A second season of The Sarah Jane Adventures is already shooting; there will be 12 episodes in the new season, no word on when that will air. They were originally going to film two seasons in one stretch but RTD got wind of it and shut it down, probably for fear of declining quality with an insane work schedule. Personally I don’t care a whit about production schedules so long as my need for Whoniverse content is filled. Please don’t make me go back to the pre-Sylvester McCoy episodes…
The Big Bang Theory has been picked up for a second season, no word yet on when exactly it will return to air beyond it being in the fall, seems like Leonard and Penny are on the longest date ever. Season 1 comes out on DVD on September 2nd though.
In movie news…
The Transformers sequel has a name: Revenge Of The Fallen. And, oh yes, it will be in 3-D. That’s 50% more D than the last film. With an expanded budget we can look forward not only to more screen time for the actual transformers but double the number of them and some actual scenes for the Decepticons on their own. Arcee will appear, perhaps because Susan Blu is desperate for real work. You may think I’m being harsh but check out the special features on the anniversary edition of the animated movie and you’ll know what I’m talking about. I’m actually being kind; a ‘will do voiceover for food’ sign, now that would be harsh.
You may have heard the odd rumour regarding a Tintin movie, it’s been in developmental hell for about 25 years now but it finally seems to have some real momentum but that’s not all – it’s now a trilogy! Steven Spielberg is set to direct the first movie (as was Herge’s wish), Peter Jackson the second, and they will co-direct the third. Steven Moffat, soon to be the new show runner at Doctor Who, is writing all 3 movies, completely isolated from studio interference (a key sticking point in his contract). Tintin and Haddock have been cast, the actor to play Tintin comes from a Doctor Who 2-parter and the Haddock is a mainstay of films I haven’t seen. A whole new technology is being used combining motion capture and CGI to create characters that look both completely photo realistic yet also completely Herge. Shooting is set to begin in September so I guess it’s a little early for me to look to pre-buy tickets.
A potential Cloverfield sequel has taken a back seat to other projects so you can probably safely say it’s now officially in developmental hell.
People keep telling me there’s no way there would be a Sex & The City sequel but Michael Patrick King has twice expressed an interest and the movie made $271 million on a $65 million budget, it’s simple math people.
