Sci Fi TV Week in Review: Johnny Jay’s irreverent, snarky, and caffeine-fueled look back at the past week in sci fi TV in five minutes or less.
The animated Babylon 5 movie that J. Michael Straczynski has been teasing for the past month or so now has a release date and a synopsis. The film will be titled Babylon 5: The Road Home and it will be released direct-to-video, available VOD, 4K UHD, and Blu-ray on August 15th. Following is the synopsis:
Travel across the galaxy with John Sheridan as he unexpectedly finds himself transported through multiple timelines and alternate realities in a quest to find his way back home. Along the way he reunites with some familiar faces, while discovering cosmic new revelations about the history, purpose, and meaning of the Universe.
A trailer was also released this week and you can see that at this link. With the live-action reboot of the franchise likely not going forward, it will be interesting to see if more animated B5 movies taking place in the original universe could follow should The Road Home prove successful.
As I previously predicted, it is looking like some streaming originals could make the jump to the linear broadcast networks this Fall. With the writers’ strike still going on, there will be little in the way of scripted programming available once the Fall 2023 season begins, and CBS boss George Cheeks has already indicated that they are looking to fill in gaps with Paramount+ shows. The network previously did that during the COVID-impacted Fall 2020 season by airing an encore run of the first season of Star Trek: Discovery. They could air the second season this coming Fall or perhaps the first season of Strange New Worlds or Picard. And I expect other networks could draw from their digital partners as well going forward (ABC from Disney+/Hulu, NBC from Peacock, and The CW from Paramount+ or Max). This also may be the future of scripted programming on the linear channels with shows first launching on the streaming services and getting encore runs over the air at a later date.
Superman has fought many villains over the years including some of the most powerful in the universe and survived the likes Darkseid, Doomsday, and Brainiac, but he is powerless to defeat the network budget monster as The CW’s Superman & Lois will be experiencing huge cuts in the upcoming fourth season. The renewal was announced earlier this week with the caveat that the show would only have ten episodes and that it would trim back its cast. It has since been announced that seven series regulars will be cut leaving only the four principles in the main cast as well as the new addition of Michael Cudlitz’s Lex Luthor. Dylan Walsh, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Erik Valdez, and more will be dropped as regulars, though they may still have recurring roles. The early word is that the show will move more to a focus on family stories, though obviously Lex Luthor will factor in as well.
With the renewal of Superman & Lois came the announcement that freshman series Gotham Knights will not be continuing to a second season. There apparently was an attempt to shop that series around, starting before the cancellation, but showrunners James Stoteraux and Chad Fiveash have indicated that the studio was not able to find it a home. Of course, you have to wonder how hard the studio tried because there is no reason that Max could not have picked this one up, especially after the show got off to a good start in its broadcast run. You also have to wonder why The CW didn’t pick this one up and let Superman & Lois go over to Max. Gotham Knights is less expensive to produce and more in the budget range of a CW show, whereas S&L is getting gutted in its upcoming fourth season on that network. But then who are to question the decisions of the all-wise and all-knowing network execs and studio heads?
In renewal news, Apple TV+ has officially given the greenlight to a second season of its new sci fi drama Silo. Production of the second season had already been announced by Production Weekly, but the streamer has now confirmed that will be going forward. Also, the adult-animated Scooby Doo spin-off Velma will be continuing to a second season on Max. That show was not well-received in its first year, currently holding only a 40% Tomatometer rating and a 7% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes. And yet the streamer is still moving forward with a second season while failing to pick up fan-favorite, WB-owned shows like Gotham Knights and The Winchesters.
In the streaming ratings, the final season of Manifest moved to Number 1 in the Netflix Top 10 for the week of June 5th to 11th. That was the week after the release of the show’s final ten episodes and the fourth season pulled in 78 million hours of viewing. That one is coming to an end, but series star Josh Dallas has suggested that a sequel series could happen. You can keep up with the viewership numbers and the renewal/cancellation status of all the current sci fi TV shows at CancelledSciFi.com.
Next week brings the premiere of the Secret Invasion mini-series on Disney+ which sees Samuel L. Jackson return as Nick Fury. The first episode will be available for streaming on Wednesday. Also next week, the Skull Island animated series will premiere on Netflix. You can see all of the premieres for June and beyond at this link and you can keep up with the current schedule at this link.
Be sure to keep up with the news during the week at r/SciFiTV.
SciFiTVSite.com: Follow our Sci Fi TV Schedule for all the currently airing and upcoming sci fi and fantasy television shows, and you can see the premieres for all the upcoming genre entries at this link.
CancelledSciFi.com: Keep up with the status updates on all the airing, returning, and upcoming sci fi and fantasy shows for the current season with our Cancellation Watch posts. And be sure to follow the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for breaking news and updates.
