CBS All Access Continues to Boldly Go Further Into the Star Trek Universe
Alex Kurtzman has renewed his deal with CBS and that has him working on more Star Trek for their streaming service. He has been part of Star Trek: Discovery since early development and now he will be the sole showrunner of the series after Aaron Harberts and Gretchen Berg recently exited. In addition, he will be developing new series and mini-series as well as a possible animated series. Word also broke in conjunction with this that a new Trek show was in the works which would have Patrick Stewart reprise his role as Captain Jean-Luc Picard. That has not been confirmed at the moment, but apparently talks are underway. It appears that Star Trek: Discovery has proven quite a success for the CBS All Access streaming service and perhaps the franchise will continue to find new life on the small screen seeing as it the theatrical reboots have stalled (though a fourth movie is allegedly in the works).
Amazon to Get Invincible
The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman has his next television series in the works as Amazon has placed an eight-episode order for an hour-long animated version of Invincible. Hollywood Reporter gives the following description of the comic book series it is based on:
[Invincible] revolves around Mark Grayson, a normal teenager except for the fact that his father is the most powerful superhero on the planet. Shortly after his 17th birthday, Mark begins to develop powers of his own and enters into his father’s tutelage. The series is suspenseful, action-filled and emotion-packed, yet builds upon poignant and heartwarming moments of love, friendship and humanity.
The comic was first released in 2003, shortly before the first issue of TWD came out, and recently wrapped up with its 144th issue. There is also a feature film in the works based on the property that Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg are writing, but there is no word at this point if it will be tied to the Amazon animated series. Expect the show to land on the streaming service at some point in 2019.
Lucifer Writers Will Break the Originally Planned Fourth Season into Two Parts
The supernatural fantasy Lucifer has been picked up by Netflix after FOX cancelled it, and the show’s upcoming fourth season will consist of ten episodes, less than half of the 22 ep order that FOX typically placed. But the writers are not discouraged by this and plan on breaking up the story they originally planned for the fourth year into two parts. That of course means that they are expecting a fifth season pickup, but that is a typically a good bet with Netflix. My guess is that part of the deal with Warner Bros. (the studio that owns the show) is that the streaming service will get the show to around the 88 episode mark (it will be there after three ten-episode seasons) in order to make it more attractive to the syndication market. That may not be a guarantee, but there is a good chance WB would give Netflix the show practically for free in its fifth and sixth season in order to benefit from the syndication profits down the road.
Sci Fi TV Status Report: Reverie‘s Ratings and Chances for Survival Slip, Colony Sees Some Improvement
On Wednesday, NBC’s new series Reverie slipped to a 0.4 rating based on same day viewing for the 18-49 demographic with 1.8 million total viewers. That’s the lowest level yet for that show and I will be moving it to Cancellation Likely status. It had originally been planned as a mid-season entry but was kicked to Summer, which is never a good sign. At this point, NBC appears to be just burning off its episodes before casting it to the TV wasteland. Over on USA, alien invasion series Colony improved slightly to a 0.20 rating with 729K total viewers. That show’s ratings have been up from where it started its third season the last few weeks, but its 0.17 ratings average is 35% down from last season’s numbers so it remains On the Bubble. Be sure to follow CancelledSciFi.com and the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site to keep track of the renewal / cancellation prospects of your favorite shows.
Sci Fi TV Schedule: The CW and NBC Announce Fall Premiere Dates
We are still three months from the beginning of the Fall season, but two of the broadcast networks are busy getting their schedule set. The CW has announced the Fall premiere dates for its shows, which of course includes all of the Arrow-verse entries as well as the Charmed reboot and Legacies, the spin-off from The Originals. NBC has also announced its Fall premiere dates which includes new entry Manifest as well as returning series The Good Place. Here are the premiere dates (all times are EST):
Monday, Sep 24
10 PM Manifest (New Series)
Thursday, Sep 27
8 PM The Good Place (Returns for 3rd season with one-hour premiere)
Tuesday, Oct 9
8 PM The Flash (Returns for 5th season)
9 PM Black Lightning (Returns for 2nd season)Wednesday, Oct 10
8 PM Riverdale (Returns for 3rd season)
Thursday, Oct 11
8 PM Supernatural (Returns for 14th season)
Sunday, Oct 14
8 PM Supergirl (Returns for 4th season on a new night)
9 PM Charmed (New Series)Monday, Oct 15
8 PM Arrow (Returns for 7th season on a new night)
Monday, Oct 22
9 PM Legends of Tomorrow (Returns for 4th season)
Thursday, Oct 25
9 PM Legacies (New Series)
Note that all of these dates are subject to change. You can see the preliminary Fall schedule at this link.
As for this coming week, Salvation will have its second season premiere on CBS Monday at 9 PM EST and AMC’s Preacher will return for its third season on Sunday at 10 PM EST. You can see the full Summer schedule of sci fi and fantasy shows at this link and you can keep up with the weekly listings at this link.
