Updated on 3/25/2009 at 1:05PM: The final numbers for the episode were 2.36M viewers. Among the demos, it drew 1.5M adults 18-49 and 1.6M adults 25-54. In terms of the season 4.5 average (based on live + same day DVR playback) the show averaged 1.77M viewers. SCI FI reports that the season 4 average (based on live+7-day numbers with the exception of the penultimate episode and the two-hour series finale) is 2.3M.
Original article follows below.
The two-hour series finale of Battlestar Galactica drew 2.4 million viewerslast Friday, according to preliminary data (final data will be released by Tuesday/Wednesday). While on its own, that’s not all that impressive (after all, a normal airing of Ghost Hunters on the network drew 2.7 million viewers the week before last), but when compared to its most recent episode, the show was up 41%. Overall, the 10-episode season 4.5 averaged 1.77M viewers.
The finale was also the most-watched episode of the series since the season 2.5 premiere nearly 3 years ago on January 6, 2006.
ABC has picked up Impact, a four-hour miniseries about humanity’s efforts to survive after the moon is hit by a meteor and enters into a collision course with Earth. The $14 million production was directed by Michael J. Rohl and stars David James Elliot, Natasha Henstridge, Steven Culp and James Cromwell.
The SCI FI Channel has second-window rights, while Sony Pictures Home Entertainment acquired the video rights to the miniseries.
The cast for SCI FI’s new Stargate original series is expanding. SCI FI has announced that Lou Diamond Philips, Ming-Na, Elyse Levesque and Alaina Huffman have been added to the cast of the new series, SGU: Stargate Universe.
SGU follows a band of soldiers, scientists and civilians, who must fend for themselves as they are forced through a Stargate when their hidden base comes under attack. The desperate survivors emerge aboard an ancient ship, which is locked on an unknown course and unable to return to Earth. Faced with meeting the most basic needs of food, water and air, the group must unlock the secrets of the ship’s Stargate to survive. The danger, adventure and hope they find on board the Destiny will reveal the heroes and villains among them.
Lou Diamond Phillips (Che, La Bamba) is Colonel Telford, a proud lifelong military man, who puts his faith in the chain of command. Stubbornly confident, he’s highly regarded by his superiors. He is the chosen leader of the ill-fated expedition.
Ming-Na (ER, Vanished) is Camile Wray, a human resources executive with the international oversight committee that governs the Stargate program. Now the highest ranking member of that division left stranded on the ship, she carries herself with a misguided sense of superiority over the other military and civilian survivors.
Elyse Levesque (Smallville, Men in Trees) stars as Chloe Armstrong, the daughter and aid of a U.S. Senator. Politically savvy, but with a wild side, she is considering following in her father’s footsteps, until she finds herself trapped on the ship. As tensions rise, her character will be tested and her place among the group revealed.
Alaina Huffman (Smallville, Painkiller Jane) portrays MSGT. Tamara Johansen. Unable to afford medical school, the Air Force was the best option for the strong-willed field medic. Faced with the mounting pressure and a lack of in-depth experience, she will be forced to rise to the extraordinary occasion of needing to treat the seriously wounded.
SGU: Stargate Universe launches this October with a two-part opening episode directed by Andy Mikita. The full press release announcing the new additions, can be read in full after the jump. (more…)
The upcoming fourth season finale of Battlestar Galactica, the show’s final season, will run three hours. The first episode of the three part episode is titled “Daybreak”, and will air in its normal timeslot on March 13th from 10:00-11:00pm. Then the following week on March 20th, the remaining two episodes (“Daybreak, Part 2” and “Daybreak, Part 3”) will air from 9:00-11:00pm. SCI FI will also air a repeat of the first part at 8:00pm, allowing fans to watch the complete three-hour finale straight through.
The SCI FI Channel has added four to the cast of the networks upcoming original series Stargate Universe. The four are Justin Louis, David Blue, Brian J. Smith and Jamil Walker Smith. The full press release follows after the jump. (more…)
Battlestar Galactica fans take note. The SCI FI channel is letting fans know that the January 16th return of the series at 10pm will run 3 1/2 minutes long, so make sure you set your DVR if it doesn’t catch the change.
For those who miss it, SCIFI.com will post the extra minutes following the West Coast debut of the series, which ends at 11pm PT/2am ET.
There was no bump to be had for the season five/series finale of Stargate Atlantis last Friday. While registering season highs among key measures including total viewers (2.02M), Adults 18-49 (973,000) and Adults 25-54 (1.15M), the show actually posted slight declines in all three categories vs. the season four finale on March 7, 2008: 2.12 million total viewers, 1.06M Adults 18-49 and 1.25M Adults 25-54.
Measured against that season four finale, ‘Atlantis’ was off by 5%/100,000 among total viewers , 8%/80,000 among Adults 18-49 and 8%/100,000 among Adults 25-54.
Both episodes received an identical 1.5 rating among households.
The first season finale of Sanctuary aired out of Stargate Atlantis and drew a 1.6 household rating, 2 million total viewers, 900,000 Adults 18-49 and 1.13 million Adults 25-54. Those numbers were the highest for the show since its series premiere back on October 3, 2008 among total viewers and Adults 18-49.
I have to admit that while I’ve watched every episode of Stargate Atlantis, I’m not much of a fan these days so I don’t much care one way or the other about its cancellation (but I always, always feel for the fans) but I do find it very interesting that the new series Sanctuary is performing only as well as the just-canceled five-year series.
Moving back to the ratings, the fifth season of Stargate Atlantis (including all available timeshifting data), averaged a 1.6 HH rating, 2.1 million total viewers, 1.06M Adults 18-49 and 1.24M Adults 25-54. Compared to season four, ‘Atlantis’ was up (again, this includes live+same day and all available timeshifting data): 14% in HH ratings, 5% in total viewers and 5% in Adults 25-54. SCI FI didn’t list the yearly change for Adults 18-49 so I imagine the show actually decreased some in that all important demo figure. (Incidentally, while it’s not nearly as important in cable television as in broadcast television, Adults 18-49 is considered the most important demo).
Sanctuary, meanwhile, had a slightly better season than ‘Atlantis’, save among Adults 18-49 where the later had a ever-so-slight advantage, drawing an average (live+same day plus all available timeshifting data) 1.8 HH rating, 2.35M total viewers, 1.04M Adults 18-49 and 1.36M adults 25-54.
SCI FI notes that this is the best performance for a first-year original scripted series on the network since the 2006 debut of Eureka. The network introduced three scripted shows in 2007: The Dresden Files; Painkiller Jane and Flash Gordon, but they were all poorly received and were canceled after just one season.
And about that SGA finale — SPOILERS for any one who hasn’t seen it yet — please tell me I’m not the only one that finds it — oh what’s that word I’m looking for..oh yes– stupid that the show ended with Atlantis on Earth? I know they’re working on a TV movie, but Earth, really?
Following its hit second season, the SCI FI Channel has renewed the reality series Destination Truth for a third season. Josh Gates will return to host nine all-new episodes, slated to premiere on SCI FI in fall 2009.
The show premiered in the summer of 2007, but season two was its strongest, outperforming that first season in all key demographics: household rating (+9%) , total viewers (+15%), Adults 18-49 (+17%) and Adults 25-54 (+28%).
Robert Carlyle (24: Redemption) has been cast as Dr. David Rush in SCI FI Channel’s new series Stargate Universe. ‘SGU’ is the third installment in the network’s successful cable franchise and comes from Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis co-creators Brad Wright and Robert Cooper. Both producers will write and executive produce the new series. The show is expected to receive a 20-episode first season order.
“We couldn’t be more excited to set Robert Carlyle for Stargate Universe. He brings a depth, intelligence, and complexity to his roles, which will fit perfectly with the fresh, new reinvention of this franchise, ” said Mark Stern, Executive Vice President, Original Programming for SCI FI & Co-Head Original Content, Universal Cable Productions.
SCI FI’s new 10-part Battlestar Galactica web-series is now online. The Face of the Enemy premiered last Friday afternoon and will be posted on SCIFI.com at 12PM Eastern every Monday and Wednesday up through the on-air return of the series on January 16, 2009.
“The Face of the Enemy” follows the action and suspense inside a stranded Raptor carrying a group of passengers, including Lt. Felix Gaeta (Alessandro Juliani) and a Number 8 Cylon (Grace Park). When passengers suddenly start dying in alarming ways, fear, panic and chaos erupt within the confines of the small ship as suspicion grows that there is a killer among them. Michael Hogan (Col. Tigh) and Brad Dryborough (Lt. Hoshi) also star.
Here’s the full schedule:
Friday, December, 12: Chapter 1
Monday, December, 15: Chapter 2
Wednesday, December, 17: Chapter 3
Monday, December, 22: Chapter 4
Wednesday, December, 24: Chapter 5
Monday, December, 29: Chapter 6
Wednesday, December, 31: Chapter 7
Monday, January, 5: Chapter 8
Wednesday, January, 7: Chapter 9
Monday, January, 12: Chapter 10
SCI FI also released a new poster advertising the new season of Battlestar Galactica. Which I have posted to the right. Click to enlarge
The SCI FI Channel has greenlit the Battlestar Galactica prequel Caprica. The network has already produced a two-hour backdoor pilot, and plans are to air the show in early 2010, with production set to begin around the middle of next year.
Caprica stars Eric Stoltz, Esai Morales, Paula Malcomson and Polly Walker, and will be set 50 years prior to “Galactica’s” seminal attack on human civilization by those dreaded ‘droids the Cylons. Family-drama-themed series will focus on the Earthlike planet of Caprica as two rival families deal with, among other topical issues, the broader implications of their society’s emerging artificial intelligence technology sector.
” ‘Battlestar Galactica’ was absolutely our flagship show. It put us on the map and helped transform the perception of the network,” said Sci Fi prexy Dave Howe, noting that the cabler hopes to draw a broader audience to a series it sees as more compelling family drama than “space opera.”
“We want people to come to this who have never heard of ‘Battlestar Galactica,’ ” he added. “I think, because (‘Galactica’s’) backdrop was space and spaceships, there was a barrier to entry for some viewers. ‘Caprica’ has none of that. It’s an intense family drama set on an Earthlike planet, in the near future, speaking to a lot of the ethical dilemmas that we as a human race are going to have to face very shortly.”
The decision to wait until 2010 was made to give the producers time to regroup the core of the ‘Galactica‘ writing staff, says SCI FI programming executive Mark Stern:
“One of the other things we have going for is, this is one of the first shows we’ve done in conjunction with our new cable studio,” Stern added. “There will be a lot of coordination between the studio and the network, not just on production, but how the series is launched, as well.”
The final 10 episodes of the fourth and final season of Battlestar Galactica begin airing on January 16th, culminating with the series finale on March 20th. A two-hour movie adaptation, Battlestar Galactica: The Plan, is slated to air in early summer.
The rumors about whether or not David Tennent will be leaving Doctor Who can now cease. BBC has confirmed that the actor will indeed be leaving the series at the end of the 2009 specials.
Tennant made the announcement after winning the outstanding drama performance prize at the National Television Awards.
“When Doctor Who returns in 2010 it won’t be with me,” he said.
“Now don’t make me cry,” he added. “I love this part, and I love this show so much that if I don’t take a deep breath and move on now I never will, and you’ll be wheeling me out of the Tardis in my bath chair.”‘I’ll miss it’
In an exclusive interview with BBC,Tennant said that three years was “about the right time” to play the role.
“I think it’s better to go when there’s a chance that people might miss you, rather than to hang around and outstay your welcome,” he said.
Russel T. Davies, the show’s executive producer who will be stepping down as showrunner when the fifth season returns in 2010, said the following about Tennant stepping down:
“I’ve been lucky and honoured to work with David over the past few years – and it’s not over yet, the Tenth Doctor still has five spectacular hours left!
“After which, I might drop an anvil on his head. Or maybe a piano. A radioactive piano. But we’re planning the most enormous and spectacular ending, so keep watching.”
Steven Moffat takes over as showrunner for the fifth season in 2010. BBC has not announced who will replace Tennant, but rumors are swirling around the net that has Paterson Joseph as a possible replacement. Others rumored include David Morrisey, James Nesbitt and John Simm.
The SCI FI Channel has given a green light to yet another spinoff of its popular Ghost Hunters franchise. The network ordered a pilot of the new show, titled Ghost Hunters: College Edition (working title). The series will feature a group of college students, led by seasoned investigators, searching for the paranormal in haunted hot spots around the country and world.
Ghost Hunters remains as strong as ever for SCI FI and is currently celebrating its best season ever. The show will air its third-annual live investigation on Halloween night this year at the historic Fort Delaware from 7 pm ot 2am ET.
Ghost Hunters International premiered this past January and aired a successful run of seven episodes.
The yearly charity event Children In Need will have a special treat for viewers this year. The first two minutes of the Doctor Who Christmas special, titled “The Next Doctor”, will be shown on the BBC special this November 14th.
NBC Universal has announced via press release that the SCI FI Channel has recorded its most-watched summer ever. Over the summer, the network broke records for total viewers (1 million), young adults aged 18-34 (253,000), men 18-34 (143,000) and among the women demos of 18-34 (110,000), 18-49 (278,000) and 25-54 (310,000).
Leading the way in terms of individual programming were Eureka with an average audience of 3.1 million viewers thus far, Ghost Hunters International (2.6 million), Scare Tactics (2 million) and Saturday Night Original Movies (2 million).
Cheer up Stargate fans, the long-running franchise, which began with a film in 1994, then became a TV series (Stargate SG-1: 1997-2007) and another series (Stargate Atlantis: 2004-2009 )is getting a new spin off. MGM and SCI FI have announced that a go-ahead has been given on Stargate Universe. The new show will kick off with a two-hour movie in 2009, followed by a regular weekly run in the summer. Brad Wright and Robert Cooper, co-creators of Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis, will serve as executive producers and writers on the new series. The news comes just a day after the confirmation that Stargate Atlantis would not be renewed for a sixth-seasonorder. The two-hour movie that was also confirmed yesterday will still go forward.
The goal with the new show is to involve more space-based action than was shown on the two prior series:
“We’ve had great success with ‘Enterprise’ repeats on Monday night, and there’s clearly an appetite for space opera as ‘Battlestar’ goes away,” Sci Fi president Dave Howe said. “There’s an opportunity to keep the space opera as part of our programming strategy.”
“This is an opportunity to reinvent this franchise and make it relevant to a new generation,” Howe said. “We really don’t want to be more of the same. It’s going to build clearly off the existing franchise but with a cast that gives it a younger vibe.”
Said co-creators Wright and Cooper: “In ‘Universe,’ we plan to keep those elements that have made the franchise a success, such as adventure and humor, while breaking new ground in the relationships between mostly young and desperate explorers, thrust together and far from home. Above all, we believe the Stargate itself remains an enduring icon with infinite potential as a jumping-off point for telling stories.”
Here’s a complete description of the new series (and click after the jump for the full press release):
After unlocking the mystery of the Stargate’s ninth chevron, a team of explorers travels to an unmanned starship called the Destiny, launched by The Ancients at the height of their civilization as a grand experiment set in motion, but never completed.
What starts as a simple reconnaissance turns into a never ending mission, as the Stargate Universe crew discovers the ship is unable to return to Earth, and they must now fend for themselves aboard the Destiny.
The crew will travel to the far reaches of the universe, connecting with each of the previously launched Stargates, thus fulfilling the Destiny’s original mission. Challenges will arise though as the ship comes into range of Stargates placed centuries ahead of the Destiny and the crew is unable to control the ship’s navigational schedule. If someone is left behind, there is no way to go back for them, adding to the drama of encountering new races, enemies and adventures.
UPDATED ON AUGUST 22ND AT 4:00PM:Because some wondered how the other SCI FI shows have fared, I’ve gone ahead and posted a chart detailing the ratings of Stargate SG-1, Battlestar Galactica and Eureka as well as Stargate Atlantis. Check it out by clicking this link.
UPDATED ON AUGUST 21ST AT 2:45PM: I’ve attached the press release from SCI FI confirming the cancellation and announcing the two-hour TV movie (then video release). Check it out after the jump.
The SCI FI Channel is ending Stargate Atlantis after five seasons on the air, that according to a report by Multichannel News. There is still good news, however, as MGM and SCI FI will continue the straight-to-video venture that has proven successful thus far with the first Stargate TV franchise Stargate SG-1, which has already had two movies released on DVD to financial success. The movie will air on the network in 2009 and then be released on DVD (and presumably Blu-ray as well).
Airing in 10-episode blocks since its premiere in July 2004, the series has seen declines with each string of episodes, until the later half of last season. Its current viewership level of a little over 2 million viewers (includes a mix of live and delayed ratings data per Multichannel’s report) and a 1.22 household coverage rating (Live+Same Day only) through the first five episodes of this season is an increase over the comparable season four start. However, it’s still barely half of where the show started off at (4.2M viewers and a 3.2 household coverage rating) for its series premiere in 2004. Season five’s household rating average of 1.22 is 15% higher than the beginning of season four.
Nevertheless, and regardless of the fact that it picked up viewers when Live + 7-day ratings were factored in, a show with a respectable budget going into its sixth season of production on a cable network available to more than 80% of the nation should be attracting a larger audience.
In the meantime, fans can appreciate that SCI FI has decided to air the season straight through, foregoing their hiatus between 10-episode halves (I suppose that announcement was a hint at things to come huh?) as well as an extended life through straight-to-video movies:
“We’re excited to tell Atlantis stories on a bigger canvas,” Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper, co-creators of Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis and currently executive producers on Atlantis, said in a statement. “The successes of the two original Stargate [direct-to-video] movies The Ark of Truth and Continuum have shown us the opportunities that the movie format offers. We have plans for both SG-1 and Atlantis to remain vital as we expand the franchise.”
Other than it being announced thatStargate writers and producers (and current show runners) Joseph Mallozzi (who has a blog you can check at this link and confirmed the cancellation in this comment on his site) and Paul Mullie will write the first Atlantis movie script, there is no information about what the movie would be about, how many of the cast members would participate and who would direct. GateWorld.net’s report of the news indicates that MGM will make an official announcement on Thursday, so perhaps will get some more details at that point.
I know cancellations are hard to handle for some people but keep in mind that this is a business and sometimes regardless of how much you enjoy a show, the economics don’t warrant it staying on the air. At least it got five seasons,much more than several other series even get a chance at. Plus in this age of DVD and Internet entertainment there’s always the opportunity to revisit the material in some other form.
Also, Wright and Cooper are developing a third TV series in the franchise — called Stargate Universe –- and pitched it to the network in late 2007 (read a report on that from an April 2007 GateWorld.net article here). SCI FI has made no announcement regarding that proposed new series.
I’ve included a chart below tracking the entire run of the show via the household coverage rating (click to enlarge).
Note: Two-hour episodes/nights are counted as one rating. All data based on live or live+same day ratings.
Ratings for Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, Battlestar Galactica and Eureka (click to enlarge)
My complete analysis, including a season-by-season breakdown, of the above chart follows directly after the jump.
The SCI-FI Channel has announced that they’ll be airing a brand new Battlestar Galactica TV movie in 2009, following the conclusion of the series’ final 10 episodes. The movie will then be released on DVD. Series star Edward James Olmos will direct and Jane Espenson will write. Shooting begins at the end of this month and so far the cast includes Michael Trucco, Aaron Douglas and Dean Stockwell. More cast should be announced in the coming weeks. Here’s the synopsis (the press release follows after the jump):
Starting before the events of the miniseries, our story focuses on familiar characters including Cylon Number One, known as Cavil (Stockwell), Resistance Leader Sam T. Anders (Trucco) and Chief Galen Tyrol (Douglas). In the beginning, the Cylons had a plan, but it didn’t account for one thing: survivors. During the chaotic aftermath of the destruction, two powerful Cylon agents struggle with plots and priorities on the human ships that got away, and among the resistance fighters who were left behind.
Some good news for Stargate Atlantis fans. In past seasons, its been common practice for SCI FI to air its original series in two batches of 10 episodes. That looks to be changing this season as it appears Stargate Atlantis will be returning with its last 10 episodes of season five in the fall, not next season as originally expected. The Futon Critic reports that after its 10th episode airs on September 26th at 10pm, the show will take a one-week break (for the premiere of two-hour premiere of Sanctuary on October 3rd from 9-11pm) and then return the following week in a new time slot: 9pm.
Through three weeks (we don’t yet have the numbers for the fourth episode of the season that aired this past Friday) Stargate Atlantis has averaged a 1.2 household rating. That’s slightly above what the fourth season averaged through episodes (1.1 household rating).
A new episode of Stargate Atlantis airs this Friday on SCI FI at 10pm.
The panel for the SCI FI Channel show Eureka took place on Saturday night. Here are some highlights courtesy TV Squad.
Two new characters will be introduced this season. One will be Eva Thorne (Frances Fisher) who is known as “The Fixer”. The other characters will be Jack’s sister, named Lexxie.
Colin Ferguson (who plays Jack Carter) said that Lexxie will turn Jack, and the town of Eureka, upside down. She does this by becoming friendly with everyone in the town, which took Jack much longer to do: “It’s like reliving my childhood,” Ferguson said.
He added that it’s great to have some new blood in the series and that the actress playing her sister is very much like his real sister.
The Artifact mythology has been wrapped up and the introduction of Eva Thorne will start a new arc.
Sara will be Twittering online about the goings-on around the house and Eureka. If you write she’ll respond back.
A new site, Eureka Unscripted, has been created to give viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the writers putting the episodes together.
A podcast will be released one to two days after the last original episode airs.
Beverly, the psychologist, will not be returning this season.
Jim Taggert (played by Matt Frewer) will, however. He’ll have a recurring role during the second half of the season.
Both Sally and Joe will be directing episodes of the series this season.
Fargo and Henry may be getting love interests.
More of Deputy Jo Lupo’s background will be revealed this season. Also, she will be the focus of one episode.
After the panel for Devil’s Due, where writer Justin Marks discussed the comic book Hack/Slash coming to the big screen, /Film had the opportunity to speak with the writer and he revealed that he is penning a new SF film in the style of Children of Men.
It deals with man’s exploration of the universe. I grew up on 2001, Alien, Aliens, Alien 3 even, are movies that I kind of love, but they have kind of steered science fiction towards horror. I want to bring the genre of space travel back to contemporary science fiction. The movie starts with a murder in zero gravity and goes from there.
UPDATED 7/25/2008 AT 12:15pm: TV Squad has put up their report from the panel. Read it at this link.
———————–
There are several panels going on at Comic-Con this week related to the SCI FI series Battlestar Galactica, and the Galactica SitRep blog is on top of all the events. Here is some of what’s going on:
SCIFI.com forums members have a pinned thread at the site set up to discuss the Con and share experiences and photos and what not.
Wired, Discover blog, and io9 have observations from today’s BSG 30th Anniversary panel that included Richard Hatch, Bear McCreary, Tom DeSanto and Kevin Grazier.
io9 has a post up discussing the 2001 aborted Bryan Singer BSG project: “…Singer’s production company was working on a $13.5 million backdoor pilot for a new BSG, which would air on Fox and then on the Sci Fi Channel. The episodes would have been letterboxed, and the repeat airings on Sci Fi would have had extra footage. DeSanto said the story of the humans “forgetting their purpose” and living in super-capitalist decadence on New Caprica mirrored what he was seeing of his friends during the tech boom around 1999-2000, with people obsessing about their stock portfolios. And just like the Cylon attacks in the abortive Singer pilot, 9/11 brought people back to a sense of purpose.”
UPDATED 7/25/2008 AT 12:15PM: The trailer for the Doctor Who Christmas 2008 special that was screened at the panel has been leaked on YouTube. Check it out at this link, or embedded after the jump.
———————————
Writers Julie Gardner and Steven Moffat were in attendance today at the Doctor Who panel. Here are some highlights courtesy TVSquad:
Series 5’s premiere was being written on the plane over by Steven Moffat.
Steven Moffat is hilarious. When asked about writing for the show: “I decided to give up a life of friends to write for it” and “a life of virginity has kept me pure.”
Gardner asked Moffat about the first time writing “INTERIOR: Tardis” in a script. Moffat said it was like giving him “an enormous toy to play with.”
Some highlights were shown from episodes Steven Moffat wrote. One was an episode about a spaceship from the 51st century stalking a woman from 18th century, ‘Blink’, an episode about “The Library,” though not an episode about “The Empty Child,” which Moffat wrote and he was disappointed wasn’t shown.
An attendee mentioned attending a reading by Niel Gaiman where she asked him if he’d write an episode of Doctor Who with Moffat, to which he said “would be nice.” Moffat replied with the same “that would be nice.” So who knows? Hell I’d start watching this show if that happened!
Lots of questions were asked that could be big spoilers, and Moffat simply wouldn’t say a word about them or would jokingly whisper the answer to Gardner. There was one mention of one character having met more than one of the Doctors before, but I’ll have to go back to listen to that again.
When asked about whether he had a hard time getting into the country for Comic-Con, Moffat joked, “Yes! I don’t know if you know this about your country, but you hate us!”
We were treated to an extended trailer for the 2008 Christmas episode, featuring the return of the Cybermen.
There was also a panel for the Doctor Who spin off Torchwood, where it was revealed that the series was just this morning given a green light for a third season. It will air first in the U.K., followed by a US release shortly thereafter.
Also, Steven Moffat gave an interview with ComingSoon.net. Click here to read it.
Also, John Barrowman, star of Torchwood, was just asked at the panel forthe show if ther was any possibility he would be playing Captain America in the upcoming film The First Avenger: Captain America (May 6, 2011). Here’s what Barrowman said (via ComingSoon.net):
He smiled and gave the stock answer that he’d love to play the character and that Captain America has always been his favorite comic book superhero. Clearly, though, the notion did not take him by surprise and he ended up admitting there had been discussions with his agents and meetings on that very issue.
SCI FI has released a trailer for the upcoming two-hour backdoor pilot, Caprica. Caprica is a prequel to the networks critically acclaimed series Battlestar Galactica. Check out the trailer below.
ABC has picked up Impact, a four-hour miniseries about humanity’s efforts to survive after the moon is hit by a meteor and enters into a collision course with Earth. The $14 million production was directed by Michael J. Rohl and stars David James Elliot, Natasha Henstridge, Steven Culp and James Cromwell.
The cast for SCI FI’s new Stargate original series is expanding. SCI FI has announced that Lou Diamond Philips, Ming-Na, Elyse Levesque and Alaina Huffman have been added to the cast of the new series, SGU: Stargate Universe.
The upcoming fourth season finale of Battlestar Galactica, the show’s final season, will run three hours. The first episode of the three part episode is titled “Daybreak”, and will air in its normal timeslot on March 13th from 10:00-11:00pm. Then the following week on March 20th, the remaining two episodes (“Daybreak, Part 2” and “Daybreak, Part 3”) will air from 9:00-11:00pm. SCI FI will also air a repeat of the first part at 8:00pm, allowing fans to watch the complete three-hour finale straight through.
The SCI FI Channel has added four to the cast of the networks upcoming original series Stargate Universe. The four are Justin Louis, David Blue, Brian J. Smith and Jamil Walker Smith. The full press release follows after the jump. 
There was no bump to be had for the season five/series finale of Stargate Atlantis last Friday. While registering season highs among key measures including total viewers (2.02M), Adults 18-49 (973,000) and Adults 25-54 (1.15M), the show actually posted slight declines in all three categories vs. the season four finale on March 7, 2008: 2.12 million total viewers, 1.06M Adults 18-49 and 1.25M Adults 25-54.
Following its hit second season, the SCI FI Channel has renewed the reality series Destination Truth for a third season. Josh Gates will return to host nine all-new episodes, slated to premiere on SCI FI in fall 2009.
Robert Carlyle (24: Redemption) has been cast as Dr. David Rush in SCI FI Channel’s new series Stargate Universe. ‘SGU’ is the third installment in the network’s successful cable franchise and comes from Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis co-creators Brad Wright and Robert Cooper. Both producers will write and executive produce the new series. The show is expected to receive a 20-episode first season order.
The SCI FI Channel has greenlit the Battlestar Galactica prequel Caprica. The network has already produced a two-hour backdoor pilot, and plans are to air the show in early 2010, with production set to begin around the middle of next year.
The rumors about whether or not David Tennent will be leaving Doctor Who can now cease. BBC has confirmed that the actor will indeed be leaving the series at the end of the 2009 specials.
The SCI FI Channel has given a green light to yet another spinoff of its popular Ghost Hunters franchise. The network ordered a pilot of the new show, titled Ghost Hunters: College Edition (working title). The series will feature a group of college students, led by seasoned investigators, searching for the paranormal in haunted hot spots around the country and world.
Cheer up Stargate fans, the long-running franchise, which began with a film in 1994, then became a TV series (Stargate SG-1: 1997-2007) and another series (Stargate Atlantis: 2004-2009 ) is getting a new spin off. MGM and SCI FI have announced that a go-ahead has been given on Stargate Universe. The new show will kick off with a two-hour movie in 2009, followed by a regular weekly run in the summer. Brad Wright and Robert Cooper, co-creators of Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis, will serve as executive producers and writers on the new series. The news comes just a day after the confirmation that Stargate Atlantis would not be renewed for a sixth-seasonorder. The two-hour movie that was also confirmed yesterday will still go forward.
The SCI FI Channel is ending Stargate Atlantis after five seasons on the air, that according to a report by 
The SCI-FI Channel has announced that they’ll be airing a brand new Battlestar Galactica TV movie in 2009, following the conclusion of the series’ final 10 episodes. The movie will then be released on DVD. Series star Edward James Olmos will direct and Jane Espenson will write. Shooting begins at the end of this month and so far the cast includes Michael Trucco, Aaron Douglas and Dean Stockwell. More cast should be announced in the coming weeks. Here’s the synopsis (the press release follows after the jump):
The panel for the SCI FI Channel show Eureka took place on Saturday night. Here are some highlights courtesy 
After the panel for Devil’s Due, where writer Justin Marks discussed the comic book Hack/Slash coming to the big screen, 
Writers Julie Gardner and Steven Moffat were in attendance today at the Doctor Who panel. Here are some highlights courtesy 
Your Entertainment Now 