From the Upfronts: The CW Shuffles Schedule with Tomorrow People after Arrow and The Originals Leading In Supernatural, Plus Josh Holloway Returns to Sci Fi with Intelligence

The CW's Tomorrow People

Yesterday, fifth place network The CW was the last of the broadcast networks to announce their Fall schedule at the upfronts, and they presented one dominated by genre entries.  Of the ten hours that the network progams from Monday through Friday in Prime Time, six of them will be genre entries (with three more waiting in the wings for mid-season).  This involves shuffling their three highest rated shows (Vampire Diaries, Arrow, and Supernatural) across three nights to spread out the ratings wealth and anchor the schedule a bit better for the network.  Supernatural gets moved to Tuesdays--where The CW has struggled for quite a while--and will stay in the 9 PM EST timeslot while Vampire Diaries spin-off The Originals will lead out the night at 8 PM.  The network must have a lot of faith in that one if they are giving it the start-off hour for the night and perhaps they can finally see some ratings gains on Tuesdays (where unfortunately Cult was cast to die a quick death this past season).  Arrow will remain on Wednesdays and new series The Tomorrow People will take the lead-out slot for that night.  That sounds like a pretty solid genre pairing and gives the new entry a pretty good chance of succeeding.  Vampire Diaries will stay on Thursdays with non-genre historical soap Reign taking the lead-out slot for that evening (which proved less than cushy for The Secret Circle and Beauty and the Beast the last two seasons).  Moving to Monday nights is low-rated series Beauty and the Beast which will pair with equally low-rated non-genre entry Heart of Dixie.  The prospects for those two on that night where The CW has struggled for some time does not look good.

In addition to the six genre shows scheduled for Fall, The CW has three (and possibly more as they are retooling their Wonder Woman pilot) waiting in the wings.  The post-apocalyptic series The 100 has been picked up as has the aliens-among-us soap opera Star-Crossed.  Both of those will hit the schedule a mid-season (perhaps after Beauty and the Beast and Heart of Dixie get cancelled).  Also returning at some point will be spy fi entry Nikita which has been picked up for a shortened, six episode final season.  All in all, The CW is definitely gambling high on genre appeal, even if it most of their entries do appeal to a younger-skewing crowd.  But the general sci fi community should be able to find several shows they like among these offering, particularly Arrow, Supernatural, The Tomorrow People, and The 100.

The least sci fi friendly network, CBS, announced their schedule on Wednesday and had no new genre entries on the schedule for the Fall line-up.  But they do have one targetted for mid-season that genre fans will want to check out.  Lost alum Josh Holloway will star in Intelligence, a series about a man (played by Holloway) with a computer chip implanted in his brain that he can use to tap into the worldwide information grid (whether he can uplink to The Machine from Person of Interest is yet to be seen, but it would make a cool cross-over).  Sounds like just another procedural with a twist, but it will be good to see Holloway back in action (again playing a bad boy-type character) and should be worth a look (the full description for the show is below).  CBS's other (quasi) genre entry Person of Interest will be getting moved to a new night and time: Tuesdays at 10 PM EST.  That's not a particularly great landing spot, but the show should still be able to keep itself afloat there throughout its third year.

I will be compiling the full schedule of genre shows for the Fall 2013 season shortly and also pointing out the shows that are in the best position in the new lineup as well as those that have hard times ahead based on these scheduling moves.  Keep an eye out for that as well as my recaps from this past season.

Intelligence (CBS Mid-Season Entry)
INTELLIGENCE is a dramatic thriller starring Josh Holloway as a high-tech intelligence operative enhanced with a super-computer microchip in his brain. With this implant, Gabriel (Holloway) is the first human ever to be connected directly into the worldwide information grid and have complete access to Internet, WiFi, telephone and satellite data.  He can hack into any data center and access key intel in the fight to protect the United States from its enemies. Leading the elite government cyber-security agency created to support him is Director Lillian Strand (Marg Helgenberger), a straightforward and efficient boss who oversees the unit’s missions. Strand assigns Riley Neal (Meghan Ory), a Secret Service agent, to protect Gabriel from outside threats, as well as from his appetite for reckless, unpredictable behavior and disregard for protocol.  Other skilled members of the Cybercom team include Chris Jameson (Michael Rady) and Gonzalo “Gonzo” Rodriguez (James Martinez), two resourceful federal investigators. The brains behind the design of the chip is Dr. Shenendoah Cassidy (John Billingsley), whose son, Nelson (PJ Byrne), is jealous of Gabriel’s prominent place in his father’s life. As the first supercomputer with a beating heart, Gabriel is the most valuable piece of technology the country has ever created and is the U.S.’s secret weapon. Michael Seitzman, René Echevarria, Tripp Vinson, and David Semel (for pilot) are executive producers for ABC Television Studios in association with CBS Television Studios.

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From the Upfronts: ABC Fall Schedule - SHIELD Leads Off Tuesdays and Once Upon A Time Spin-off Gets Tough Slot

ABC just announced their Fall schedule as they prepare to go into this afternoon's upfront presentation with the advertisers.  Of course the question that everybody is asking is where will Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. land, and the answer is that it will be leading off Tuesday nights in the 8 PM EST timeslot.  I don't know if that move was planned in advance of NBC unveiling their schedule earlier this week, but it definitely shows ABC taking advantage of its rival's move of ratings juggernaut The Voice.  I expect S.H.I.E.L.D. to be one of this coming season's breakout hits, and not having to compete with the singing competition show will help it out even more.

Not so lucky is spin-off series Once Upon A Time in Wonderland.  That show gets the brutal Thursday 8 PM EST hour which squashed two genre entries this current season (Last Resort and Zero Hour).  However, OUaT in Wonderland does have in its favor that it is a more family friendly entry, something that I believe worked heavily against those other two shows in that timeslot.  Still, ABC has not had much success in that hour for quite a while, so I can't say I like this move and you have to wonder why they didn't just pair it up with the original series (which retains its Sunday 8 PM EST timeslot).  Maybe if it falters out of the gate, ABC will make that more logical move, but then scheduling shifts to help a struggling show seem to be few and far between among the networks of late.


The much-maligned aliens-among-us sitcom The Neighbors received a late renewal announcement last week, but it's getting bumped from its previous Wednesday night timeslot to land on Fridays at 8:30 PM EST.  Getting moved to low-viewership Fridays isn't necessarily a knock against the show, though, and could actually work in its favor.  Sitcoms are not held to the same ratings standards as hour-long dramas because they are usually much cheaper to produce.  So if The Neighbors manages to pull ratings between a 1.0 and a 1.5 on that night--which is quite doable following the decently performing Last Man Standing--then it could find itself in a comfortable spot to ride its way into a third season renewal.

New shows Resurrection and Mind Games are not on the Fall schedule and it looks like they will be held over for mid-season.  The former series has definite genre elements and the latter looks like it might have some genre appeal as well. You can get more detail on all of ABC's new genre entries at this link.

CBS presents their schedule on Wednesday (though the only genre show they have to offer is Person of Interest) and The CW presents its genre-heavy schedule on Thursday.  Stay tuned to this site and the Cancellation Watch Twitter Site for more information on schedule announcements and for a full run down of the sci fi/fantasy shows that will air on Prime Time beginning in Fall.

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From the Upfronts: NBC Moves Revolution to Wednesday and Adds Dracula to Schedule, FOX Goes for Short Seasons for Sleepy Hollow and Almost Human

Both NBC and FOX have their upfront presentations today when they unveil their Fall lineup for the 2013-14 season and they sent out their Prime Time schedules in advance.  For NBC's upcoming schedule, we see one major move for a genre show as Revolution (which will be returning for its second season) gets moved to Wednesday nights at 8 PM EST.  This is a very interesting schedule change because that series--which started out the current season strong--fell pretty far by the end of the TV year despite its monster lead-in from NBC's singing competition The Voice.  Without its cushy Monday 10 PM EST timeslot, I wonder just how well this one--which turned into a ratings slacker at season end--will do having to anchor Wednesday nights for its network.  If it has barely been pulling a 2.0 rating in the 18-49 demo these last few weeks with the network's strongest lead-in, how will it manage to do any better out on its own? I see the possibility that this one could follow the same path as V and Touch, both of which started strong then fell fast and still received tenuous second season renewals before ultimately heading into cancellation.  I've said it before, Revolution needs to retool because fans became disenchanted with it pretty quickly and NBC needs to give the show a major push going into next season, otherwise it could be gone by the time the Winter hiatus rolls around.

In other scheduling moves, NBC will put Grimm back on Fridays at 9 PM EST (I never expected it to stay on Tuesdays) and will add Dracula in the 10 PM lead-out slot for that night.  That latter series was announced by the network a while back, but it was uncertain up until now where it would land.  The post-Grimm hour seems like the perfect fit and could help the network develop a fantasy block for the night.  I had heard that Dracula (which will be helmed by Carnivale creator Daniel Knauf) will be a limited series, so I don't know if they have a contingency to continue it if it does well in the ratings.  If it does carry on, I'm thinking at mid-season they could add Hannibal to the night and have a pretty solid three hours of genre programming.

As I mentioned previously, NBC has yet to make an announcement on Hannibal (the only show from this current season still awaiting word on its fate) and they have said that they will defer on making a decision for a few weeks.  I'm guessing that property has some strong licensing ties and they don't want to be too quick to cancel it when it seems to be developing a notable cult following.  Personally, I think it would be a much better fit on one of the cable networks like FX (where it could pair up with the equally creepy American Horror Story), but joining Grimm and Dracula on Fridays might be a good move as well.  Keep an eye on this site and the Cancellation Watch Twitter Site for the final word on that show. 

FOX also released their schedule for the upcoming season which includes the two new genre entries Sleepy Hollow and Almost Human (more info on those at this link).  Interestingly, the network appears to have both of them set for thirteen episode runs instead of the twenty two episode stretch that the broadcast nets usually go with.  But then that worked pretty well for FOX with The Following, so they seem to be continuing that trend with these new entries.  Sleepy Hollow will take up The Following's Monday night post-Bones 9 PM EST timeslot in the Fall with the Kevin Bacon series set to return at mid-season.  Then Almost Human will slip into the Monday 8 PM EST hour late Fall, I assume while Bones is on hiatus.  This is probably not a bad way to go and these shorter runs are how many of the cable networks have been doing it for years (and FOX has made noise about abandoning the free airwaves and going to pay cable over the last few months).  This will mean less padding for the shows and hopefully more focused stories that will keep viewers' interest from waning.  We will see how well this move actually plays out next season.

There are more schedule announcements to come over the next few days as ABC is next up to present (tomorrow), followed by CBS (Wednesday), and The CW (Thursday).  I will continue to cover where the genre shows land on the schedules over the next few days and will be compiling a full rundown of the 2013-14 landscape once everything is finalized.  So stay tuned to this site and the Cancellation Watch Twitter Site.

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From the Upfronts: ABC Officially Picks Up SHIELD and Also Orders Once Upon A Time Spin-Off and Resurrection

It looks like the picture for next season is coming into focus now as most all of the pickups and renewals have been announced and the upfronts this coming week will be mostly about unrolling the official schedules for each of the broadcast networks.  ABC was the last of the networks we were waiting to hear from and they have now officially picked up Joss Whedon's Marvel's Agents of SHIELD (which will bring back Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson) and also ordered the spin-off series to Once Upon A Time titled Once Upon A Time in Wonderland (plus the pickups of SHIELD and Resurrection, more on those at this link).  In addition, they have picked up the supernatural series Resurrection as well as the Christian Slater starring Mind Games which may have some genre elements.  The descriptions for each of these series can be found below.  And ABC also announced the official renewal of Once Upon A Time for a third season which would be expected with its spin-off getting a series pickup.  CBS has announced its series pickups for the coming season as well which include no new genre entries.  That's no surprise for that network as they move forward with only one (quasi) genre series on their schedule, Person of Interest.  At this point, the only remaining question is whether NBC will renew Hannibal.  We should know that by tomorrow evening as they will likely release their schedule then to precede their upfront presentation on Monday morning.  I will pass that along on the Cancellation Watch Twitter Site as soon as any news is available.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Clark Gregg reprises his role of Agent Phil Coulson from Marvel’s feature films as he assembles a small, highly select group of Agents from the worldwide law-enforcement organization known as S.H.I.E.L.D.

Together they investigate the new, the strange, and the unknown across the globe, protecting the ordinary from the extraordinary. Coulson’s team consists of Agent Grant Ward (Brett Dalton), highly trained in combat and espionage, Agent Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen) expert pilot and martial artist, Agent Leo Fitz (Iain De Caestecker); brilliant engineer and Agent Jemma Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) genius bio-chemist. Joining them on their journey into mystery is new recruit and computer hacker Skye (Chloe Bennet).

From Executive Producers Joss Whedon (“Marvel’s The Avengers,” ”Buffy the Vampire Slayer”); Jed Whedon & Maurissa Tancharoen, “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” pilot co-writers (“Dollhouse,” “Dr.Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog”); Jeffrey Bell (“Angel,” “Alias”); and Jeph Loeb (“Smallville”) comes Marvel’s first TV series.  “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” is produced by ABC Studios and Marvel Television.

Once Upon a Time in Wonderland
Logline: In Victorian England, the young and beautiful Alice (Sophie Lowe) tells a tale of a strange new land that exists on the other side of a rabbit hole.  An invisible cat, a hookah smoking caterpillar and playing cards that talk are just some of the fantastic things she’s seen during this impossible adventure.  Surely this troubled girl must be insane and her doctors aim to cure her with a treatment that will make her forget everything.  Alice seems ready to put it all behind her, especially the painful memory of the genie she fell in love with and lost forever -- the handsome and mysterious Cyrus (Peter Gadiot).  But deep down Alice knows this world is real and just in the nick of time, the sardonic Knave of Hearts (Michael Socha) and the irrepressible White Rabbit (John Lithgow) arrive to save her from a doomed fate. Together, the trio will take a tumble down the rabbit hole to this Wonderland where nothing is impossible.
Cast: Sophie Lowe, Peter Gadiot, Michael Socha, Emma Rigby, John Lithgow Paul Reubens (voicing the White Rabbit)
Team: W/EP Eddy Kitsis, Adam Horowitz; EP Jane Espenson, Zack Estrin, Steve Pearlman
Studio: ABC Studios

Resurrection
Logline: What happens when the people you have mourned and buried suddenly appear on your doorstep as if not a day's gone by? The lives of the people of Aurora Arcadia are forever changed when their deceased loved ones return. Based on a novel by Jason Mott.
Cast: Omar Epps (House), Devin Kelley (Covert Affairs), Matt Craven, Frances Fisher, Samaire Armstrong, Sam Hazeldine, Nicholas Gonzalez, Mark Hildreth, Kurtwood Smith, Landon Gimenez
Team: W/EP Aaron Zelman (Criminal Minds); EP JoAnn Alfano, Jon Liebman, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner; D Charles McDougall
Studio: ABC Studios, Brillstein Entertainment, Plan B

Mind Games
Logline: Provocative workplace ensemble centered on the complicated relationship between two brothers (SteveZahn, Christian Slater) who head a unique agency designed to attack their clients’ problems using the real science of human motivation and manipulation.
Cast: Steve Zahn, Christian Slater, Megalyn Echikunwoke, Cedric Sanders, Gregory Marcel, Wynn Everett, RonRifkin (guest star)
Team: W/EP Kyle Killen (Awake); EP Keith Redmon; D Miguel Sapochnik
Studio: 20th Television

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From the Upfronts: The CW Picks Up The Tomorrow People, The 100, and Star-Crossed. SHIELD Reportedly Close to a Pickup with ABC

From the looks of it, The CW is working on becoming the broadcast network sci fi channel.  They announced yesterday the pickup of three new genre shows for the 2013-14 season as well as the renewal of spy fi show Nikita.  The most noteworthy of the pickups is the reboot of the British TV series The Tomorrow People from Arrow's Greg Berlanti and Vampire Diaries' Julie Plec.  The other two are the post-apocalyptic series The 100, and the aliens-among-us series Star-Crossed.  All of these do skew toward younger viewers (as do most of The CW's shows), but with Vampire Diaries and its upcoming spin-off The Originals, as well as Arrow, Supernatural, Beauty and the Beast, and Nikita, nine of that network's ten hours of Prime Time programming per week will be genre related.  Now some of these shows may come in as mid-season replacements and Nikita will only return for a partial season, so it may not be nine hours all year long (got to work in time for reality shows).   But still, it is a notable shift from the network's previous line of programming.  You can see the descriptions of the three new pickups (courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter) below.

In other news of note, the word is that ABC is close to picking up the Joss Whedon produced Agents of SHIELD series.  That comes as no big surprise, but genre fans have been eagerly awaiting the official announcement

The Tomorrow People
Logline: Based on the U.K. series created by Roger Price, the drama tells the story of several young people from around the world who represent the next stage in human evolution, possessing special powers, including the ability to teleport and communicate with each other telepathically. Together they work to defeat the forces of evil.
Cast: Robbie Amell, Peyton List (Mad Men), Luke Mitchell, MarkPellegrino, Madeleine Mantock, Aaron Yoo
Team: W/EP Phil Klemmer (Political Animals); EP Greg Berlanti (Arrow); Julie Plec (The Vampire Diaries); co-EP Melissa Kellner Berman; D Danny Cannon
Studio: Warner Bros. Television, Berlanti Productions, FremantleMedia

The 100
Logline: Ninety-seven years after a nuclear war has destroyed civilization, a spaceship housing the lone human survivors sends 100 juvenile delinquents back to Earth to investigate the possibility of re-colonizing the planet. Based on the forthcoming The Hundred book series (initial two-book order), written by Kass Morgan and published by Little, Brown.
Cast: Eliza Taylor, Henry Ian Cusick (Lost), Kelly Hu (Arrow), Isaiah Washington (Grey's Anatomy), Eli Goree, Bob Morley, Marie Avgeropoulos (Cult), Paige Turco, Thomas McDonell, Christopher Larkin
Team: W/EP Jason Rothenberg (Body Politic); EP Leslie Morgenstein, Gina Girolamo; D Bharat Nalluri
Studio: Warner Bros. Television, Alloy Entertainment

Star-Crossed
Logline: Passion and politics threaten the peace and an epic romance ignites between a human girl (Friday Night Lights' Aimee Teegarden) and an alien boy when he and eight others of his kind (The Orion 9) are integrated into a suburban high school ten years after they and hundreds of others landed on Earth and were immediately consigned to an internment camp where they’ve been imprisoned ever since.
Cast: Aimee Teegarden, Matt Lanter (90210), Malese Jow, Titus Mankin Jr., Grey Damon, Natalie Hall, Chelsea Gilligan, Greg Finley, Maggie Elizabeth Jones
Team: W/EP Meredith Averill (The Good Wife); EP Josh Appelbaum, Andre Nemec, Scott Rosenberg, Richard Shepard, Bryan Furst, Sean Furst, Daniel Gutman; D Gary Fleder
Studio: CBS Television Studios, Ole Productions, Isla de Babel, 360 Powwow

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From the Upfronts: NBC Picks Up J.J. Abrams Supernatural Series Believe

More pre-Upfront announcements are coming out as NBC has picked up the supernatural J.J. Abrams series (because he doesn't already have enough in his pipeline) Believe.  They also announced the pickup of the conspiracy-themed series Crisis which may hold some interest for genre fans.  Following are the details of the shows courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter:

Crisis
Logline: When Washington's most powerful players are pulled into an international conspiracy, an unlikely puppeteer will bring everyone from CEOs to The President of the United States to their knees by threatening the things they hold most dear.
Cast: Dermot Mulroney, Max Martini, Gillian Anderson, Rachael Taylor, Stevie Lynn Jones, Halston Sage (How to Rock), Lance Gross (House of Payne), Joshua Erenberg, Max Schneider, Michael Beach, James Lafferty, Max Martini
Team: W/EP: Rand Ravich (Life); EP Far Shariat
Studio: 20th Television

Believe
Logline: An unlikely relationship develops between a young girl named Bo (Johnny Sequoyah) with a gift and a man named Tate (Jake McLaughlin) sprung from prison who has been tasked with protecting her from the evil elements that hunt her power.
Cast: Jake McLaughlin (Savages), Kyle MacLachlan, Delroy Lindo (The Chicago Code),Sienna Guillory (Resident Evil), Jamie Chung (Once Upon a Time), Johnny Sequoyah, Arian Moayed
Team: W/EP Alfonso Cuaron (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban), Mark Friedman (The Forgotten); EP J. J. Abrams, Bryan Burk
Studio: Warner Bros. Television, Bad Robot

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From the Upfronts: FOX Picks up Sleepy Hollow and J.J. Abrams Robot Cop Series Almost Human for Upcoming Season

The upfronts are fast approaching when the broadcast networks announce their schedules for the coming season.  By the end of next week, we should know the status of all the genre shows currently airing (there are only a few that have not been cancelled or renewed) as well as the new shows that will be added to the schedule.  Here is the when each of the networks will make their presentations:

May 13 Morning – NBC
May 13 Afternoon – FOX
May 14 Afternoon – ABC
May 15 Afternoon – CBS
May 16 Morning – CW

Expect some early announcements this week and everything should be solidified for each network by the time they present.  Yesterday, FOX announced the pickup of two genre series Sleepy Hollow from Alex Kurtzman and Bob Orci and Almost Human from J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot productions.  Following are the descriptions of each of the shows courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter:

Sleepy Hollow
Logline: A modern-day retelling of Washington Irving's classic. The supernatural thriller centers on Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison) who is resurrected and pulled two and a half centries through time to find the world on the brink of destruction. With Crane as humanity's last hope, he's teamed with a contemporary police officer (Nicole Beharie) to unravel the mystery.
Cast: Tom Mison (Salmon Fishing in the Yemen), Nicole Beharie (Shame), Orlando Jones, Katia Winter, John Cho (guest star)
Team: W/EP: Alex Kurtzman, Bob Orci (Fringe); W/Supervising producer: Phil Iscove; EP: Heather Kadin; D/EP Len Wiseman
Studio: 20th Television, K/O Paper Products

Almost Human
Logline: The action-packed police drama is set 35 years in the future, when police officers are partnered with highly evolved human-like androids. An unlikely connection is forged when a cop with an aversion to robots and a robot with unexpected emotional responses investigate cases in a brave new world.
Cast: Karl Urban, Michael Ealy (Common Law), Lili Taylor, Mackenzie Crook, Michael Irby, Minka Kelly, Mekia Cox (guest)
Team: W/EP J.H. Wyman (Fringe); EP J.J. Abrams, Bryan Burk; co-EP Kathy Lingg, Reid Shane; co-EP/D Brad Anderson
Studio: Warner Bros. Television, Bad Robot Productions, Bonanza Productions

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