And then they go and cancel Stargate Universe

I lost most of last week to a bunch of doctors appointments. Between that and the up coming holidays I am starting to get behind in my school work so I am not a happy bunny. Throw in the news that Syfy has just canceled Stargate Universe apparently out of the blue as it wasn’t on the bubble then I am about as far removed from a joyous rabbit as you can get.

Seriously, what is up with Syfy at the moment? I feel like they are trying to remove the “space” element from their sci-fi rosta. First we loose Caprica and now SGU. Both shows explored dark themes with strong casts. And, SGU had Hamish MacBeth in space! He’s like the Scottish Eddie Olmos.  Are they only keeping shows where you can do fun holiday episodes? I love EUReKA as much as the next nerd who dreams of drinking lattes in Cafe Diem but I want drama like the Greeks invented. Conflict. People being haunted by the furies. Gender reversal. Individual vs. state.  And on that note I better get back to re-reading Antigone otherwise I will never catch-up.

Dog Days Are (Almost) Over

The dog days of summer are dragging on (it’s still too warm and my course materials haven’t shipped yet) BUT tonight kicks off the fall TV season. Who cares if we are still running the AC and it’s not yet hot latte weather we can slump in front of the telly and watch something other than Food Network. Last week we switched over from Comcast to FIOS and that means having to reprogram in all the season passes:

Monday: Chuck & House (8pm), The Event (9pm) & Hawaii Five-0 (10pm)
Tuesday: NCIS (8pm), The Good Wife (9pm), Caprica & Stargate Universe (10pm)
Wednesday: Nothing – I honestly can’t face the 400th season of Hell’s Kitchen
Thursday: Fringe (9pm) & The Menalist (10pm)
Friday: Supernatural (9pm) & Blue Bloods (10pm)

There are only three new shows (The Event, Hawaii Five-0 and Blue Bloods) that have piqued my interest. The Event has a solid cast and is intriguing but I have no faith in NBC, Hawaii 2.0 looks fun and has Boomer from Battlestar Galactica, and Blue Bloods has Donnie Wahlburg (the underrated Wahlburg brother in my opinion). Each show will be on parole and we’ll see who makes the cut.

Of the returning shows I am all a Comic-Con tingle about Chuck. Linda ‘Sarah Connor’ Hamilton is Chuck and Ellie’s mum, the Buy More has been taking over by the CIA, and SARAH CONNOR!!! Fringe left us on a knife edge with Olivia having been replaced by Alt-liva and the evil Walternate holding our Olivia. I’ve read that this season they will have alternating episodes between the two worlds. Fingers crossed. House seriously needs to up its game this season and please can we ditch Thirteen already. There doesn’t seem to be all that much love for the ‘Huddy’ entity but I am hopeful that it will shake things up (whether it works out or not).

I have a crush on everyone in The Good Wife. I love Kalinda (Archie Panjabi) for not being a stereotype and for her correct handling of fire arms. I love having Christine Baranski (Diane Lockhart) on primetime again and Alan Cummings. I love that Chris Noth doesn’t overshadow Julianna Margulies (Alicia Florrick). But most of all I love that Alicia is kicking ass and taking names. The Winchester brothers have been moved to Friday nights. Will this hurt Supernatural? It survived the last five seasons in a Thursday night death spot so I think it will be just fine with its niche fan boy following, but which direction will the new show runner take it in.

And finally, Caprica and Stargate Universe. These are dark, intelligent shows that need more people to watch them otherwise they won’t get much deserved second seasons.

Nice Things To Say About Stargate Universe

Things are tough for Stargate Universe. It’s not dark enough to fill the void left by Battlestar Galactica, too slow paced for normal Stargate fans and even reviews of V are slagging off SG:U.  I ran across an article that said the cast and crew were upset by the poor reviews so I decided to do my bit to cheer them up with five nice things that I have to say about SG:U. And, I will not refer to it as Stargate: Voyager once!

1. The cast make great wallpaper. In my post BSG world I needed new wall paper for my work PC, and since there wasn’t any for Caprica (yet) I decided to go with SG:U. A light sprinkling of Syfy in my working environment really lifts my days as a corporate slave
2. I am not going to deny that the show is slow to find its feet but last week’s episode “Earth” was pretty darn good.  The tensions between Col. Young and command back on Earth really came to a head. Young is almost the benevolent dictator who wants to run things by his “crew” especially when it is a fool hardy way to bring them home. Plus Col. Young’s wife is up to some twisted high jinx
3. The “crew”.  I am hoping for some episodes that delve into what makes the “crew” tick as there is potential amongst the huddled masses
4. The magic communication stones. I like that we are not just trapped on the ship but that there is a way to not only communicate with earth but also come for a visit
5. And finally the morally ambivalent Dr. Rush, played by Robert Carlyle with an alarming restrained and manicured Scottish accent. Can we trust him? What is he really up too? And should I add Hamish MacBeth to my Netflix list

Stargate Universe

Stargate Universe is SyFy’s latest offering in the Stargate franchise,  it is a blend of Star Trek: Voyager, Battlestar Galactica & Lost in Space. The drama is centered around a group of refuges from the ill named Icarus project who find themselves stranded on a spaceship built by the Ancients. The group ended up on the spaceship ‘Destiny’ because they were fleeing an attack which may or may not have been triggered by them trying to switch on the Icarus project stargate in the first place, and when they did manage to boot up the stargate they ended up there. One of their many problems is that the Ancient’s ship is so ancient that it is not functioning properly, they can’t figure out how to get life support working and they are many light years away from Earth. But, if they only have a day of air left then that last point is moot.

It’s fraught and tense, plus there is a devious scientist (Hamish Macbeth himself Robert Carlyle) who is harboring many secrets and may have done this all on purpose. The opening sequences of the refuges being flung through the Stargate reminded me of the brutality of Battlestar Galactica episode ’33’ though it didn’t quite keep up the intensity through out. Overall I quite liked it, though I do realize that I am easy to please, and we’ll see how it develops over the next few weeks.