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 fan-favorite series The Librarians–which was a spin-off from The Librarian films–was cancelled by TNT back in 2018 causing the show to end without any resolution. But now there may be a chance to revisit some unfinished storylines as a sequel series is in the works at The CW. Deadline gives the following description of the project:
The Librarians: The Next Chapter is a spinoff of the original TV series The Librarians, which followed the adventures of the custodians of a magical repository of the world’s most powerful and dangerous supernatural artifacts. The new series centers on a “Librarian” from the past, who time traveled to the present and now finds himself stuck here. When he returns to his castle, which is now a museum, he inadvertently releases magic across the continent.
Dean Devlin, who created the original series, will be onboard as showrunner and executive producer, but there is no word at this point if any of the actors from the 2014 series will be reprising their roles. The show will likely not make it to the schedule until mid-season at best seeing as production cannot start until that pesky writers’ strike is resolved.
And while that series did get the greenlight, several projects that had been in development at the network will not be going forward. The live-action reboot of The Power Puff Girls had already been passed over by the prior regime once, but it was held over for possible future development until the new owners decided to pass as well. And the slight chance that the Arrow-verse could continue with the John Diggle-led Justice U has ended as they have passed on that one as well. There is no word at this point on the Babylon 5 reboot that was in the works, but it seems unlikely that will happen at The CW as it does not fit into the network’s low-cost, older-skewing model for programming.
Most of the broadcast networks have unveiled their Fall 2023 schedules (only FOX is holding out at this point), but there is very little of interest to sci fi and fantasy fans. Quantum Leap will be back for a second season on NBC, but it is unclear how many episodes were completed before the writers’ strike halted production. The supernatural comedy Ghosts is scheduled to be back on CBS, but it could be subjected to delay due to the strike. And that is pretty much it at the moment (FOX did not have any genre entries in development, so nothing is expected when it announces its schedule). The third (and likely last) season of NBC’s La Brea and the second season of ABC’s Not Dead Yet have been pushed to mid-season, and The CW’s The Librarians: The Next Chapter is likely a mid-season entry as well. Superman & Lois and Gotham Knights are still awaiting word on their fates, but if one or both are picked up, they won’t be ready before mid-season. This continues a trend of less and less sci fi and fantasy on the linear networks, and I expect that to be business as usual going forward.
Disney+ and Hulu will be going through a purge of their catalog for alleged “cost-cutting” reasons, and as usual several genre entries will be impacted. Among the shows that will be pulled as of May 26th are Willow, Y: The Last Man, Little Demon, and The Mysterious Benedict Society. These will likely get moved to one of the FAST (Free Ad-supported Streaming TV) channel spaces at some point, but nothing has been confirmed on that. This is a disturbing trend among the streaming services as sometimes the FAST channels only have the shows available for live-streaming as is the case with HBO’s abandoned The Nevers. But hopefully, these will eventually be made available VOD or on DVD/Blu-ray so that they are at least somewhat accessible.
And speaking of shows that are not available, Disney apparently has a ten-episode Alien vs. Predator anime series sitting in its vault with no plans to release it. It was produced prior to when the Mouse House bought 20th Century Fox and it was intended as a direct-to-DVD release. But nothing has been done with it and there are no current plans for a release. Perhaps it could see the light of day at some point, but these companies seem to be burying stuff more often these days, so who knows?
In the streaming ratings, the Apple TV+ sci fi series Silo debuted as the number one drama in the history of that streamer according to Deadline. The numbers from the Nielsen Streaming Rankings are not available yet, but the early viewership has been strong and has apparently increased in subsequent weeks. A second season of that show is already in the works. You can keep up with the viewership numbers and the renewal/cancellation status of all the current sci fi TV shows at CancelledSciFi.com.
In scheduling news, several premiere dates for genre shows were announced this past week. Hulu’s highly-anticipated revival of Futurama (which brings back the original cast) will premiere on July 24th. The first ten episodes of the eighth season will start streaming on that date with the second half of the season held for a later release. There were rumors that the second season of Disney+’s Loki would not arrive until 2024, but that show has now received a release date of October 6th. And the Hawkeye spin-off series Echo will have its premiere on November 29th. In a change of pace for that streamer, all episodes will be available on the premiere dates. You can see the premieres for May 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.
