You’re here. I’m here. Let’s talk what’s going on in television this week. There were two big new TV show announcements this week that you should be aware of. Star Trek is coming back to TV in some form, while we’re getting what sounds like a post-apocalyptic Van Helsing somewhere down the line.
Anyway, back when we started this feature, it was my stupid idea to put a video here at the top. After six weeks it’s practically a tradition, so find out what happens when Jimmy Kimmel helps one of his writers pull a prank on his roommate:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggMNWji6WzA
News
Star Trek Coming Back To TV
Boldly going back to where the whole thing started in 1966, Star Trek is set to return to television with a new series. No details have yet emerged about cast or story, but CBS have revealed a tentative date of January 2017 for when the new Trek will drop.
epictimes.com
Since the last Star Trek TV show, Enterprise, was cancelled in 2005, the focus of the franchise has been on the frontier of cinema. Two big screen reboots, following Captain Kirk and the characters of the original 60s TV series, have failed to deliver as box office juggernauts, however. A third, Star Trek Beyond, will hit movie theatres next year, but it looks like TV rights holders CBS aren’t interested in waiting any longer.
Exactly where the show will go is unclear. The involvement of Alex Kurtzman, a writer on the recent reboots, could suggest the new show will follow this continuity. At this stage though, it is only speculation. Kurtzman apparently has an existing deal with CBS and won’t actually be writing the series. Interestingly, the show will be exploring at least one new frontier, as it will air mostly on CBS All Access, the company’s streaming service.
Van Helsing TV Show
Val Helsing last showed up as a 2004 fantasy movie starring Hugh Jackman. Now it’s getting a TV adaptation with a distinct Buffy the Vampire Slayer vibe to it. SyFy’s Van Helsing will follow Vanessa Helsing, daughter to the famous Van Helsing who hunted Dracula.
zombieapocalypse.net
Does anyone else remember The Adventures of Shirley Holmes? This sounds a lot like that. On the other hand, this version of the vampire hunter’s saga will be, you’ve guessed it, a “new take” according to Deadline. Vanessa Helsing will wind up asleep for five years only to find a world overtaken by vampires when she wakes up.
It’s an interesting direction to take a story like Van Helsing. Still, it feels a lot like the long awaited post-apocalyptic Zorro movie – both are stories heavily wedded to their traditional settings in the popular consciousness. A gothic Victorian vibe has always suited Van Helsing, but we’re not going to complain if they give us an interesting female central character.
Jon Stewart
It’s been months now since Jon Stewart bowed out as the host of The Daily Show after sixteen years. We’re already itching for more though, like coffee addicts who haven’t had their daily fix. Now it seems our wait may be over.
Stewart has signed a four year deal with cable network HBO to produce content for their online streaming platforms HBO NOW and HBO GO. Unlike former Daily Show colleague John Oliver, Stewart will not be hosting his own regular show – at least not yet. It’s not quite the same as getting him half an hour every weekday, but we’ll take it.
In fact, the content Stewart will be producing will come in the form of digital shorts giving the comedian’s unique take on current affairs. If Cinemablend are to be believed, we could get these shorts multiple times a day occasionally. Is that enough of a fix for you?
Lucifer
Fox’s supernatural cop show Lucifer has been picked up by Amazon Prime in the UK. We can thank this deal for a new trailer, which shows a little more than the original trailer did earlier this year. It’s about a retired Satan teaming up with a tough LA cop.
Netflix And Iron Fist
Everyone’s looking forward to Jessica Jones, the new Marvel TV show hitting Netflix later this month. You may not know that two more Marvel shows had been planned for the streaming service. Luke Cage, set to arrive in 2016, is still on track. Martial arts adventure Iron Fist, however, is proving harder to adapt. Rumours circulating this week suggest this series could instead take the form of a straight to Netflix TV movie. Netflix recently stepped into movie distribution with the Idris Elba starring Beasts of No Nation, so anything’s possible.
Twin Peaks
Bad news for Twin Peaks fans, as the show’s much vaunted revival has been pushed back a year. Initially expected to air on Showtime in 2016, it now seems the murder mystery series will not return until 2017. Co-creator David Lynch is still on board, and star Kyle MacLachlan is still slated to return.
X-Files Spin-off
Take this with a pinch of salt, but there’s a crazy rumour going around that Fox have considered using the X-Files revival as a launch pad for a new spin-off series. The show, which for the time being seems to have been shelved, would have seen Robbie Amell (The Flash) and Lauren Ambrose (Six Feet Under) star in a new set of alien conspiracy adventures. Both Amell and Ambrose will be showing up in the six episode revival next year though, so who knows what could happen?
The Muppets
Things are not going well over at The Muppets. The puppets’ TV revival, which follows the characters behind the scenes of a late night talk show, has been received poorly by most critics. Now its showrunner Bob Kushell has apparently been given the pink slip, and the whole series is headed for a soft reboot. The first series will continue to run for a total of 16 episodes, but there’s no news yet on a second season.
Amazon and Darkover
Amazon Studios are upping the stakes of the television streaming wars with plans to adapt a massive science fiction book series called Darkover. The books, written by Marion Zimmer Bradley between the 50s and the 90s, take place on a lost colony of earth called Darkover. A quick yet mind-boggling Wikipedia search indicate the series takes place over thousands of years. Amazon must be feeling in a pretty ambitious mood.
Viral Videos
Excited for Deadpool? Ryan Reynolds shows how committed he is to the movie succeeding here, as he dons the red costume and recruits his own Halloween X-Men.
If you’ve never seen Jimmy Kimmel’s Mean Tweets you need to check them out. Here’s the latest edition.
With Back to the Future Day the other week, Universal on Youtube remembered that we were supposed to have Jaws 19 by now. They fill us in on the plot of the other 18.
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