Comparing a show that hasn’t even aired yet to sci-fi heavyweights like The X-Files and The Twilight Zone is a gutsy maneuver (and one that usually reeks of desperation and quick cancellation) but in the case of Fox’s upcoming show Fringe, it might be justified.

Co-created by J.J. Abrams (Lost, Cloverfield) and two guys who apparently had something to do with the Transformers movie (not sure why that’s a selling point), here’s a summation care of Variety:

Net has made a series commitment to the Warner Bros.-Bad Robot production, which will start off with a two-hour pilot budgeted at more than $10 million. Abrams, Kurtzman and Orci — the brain trust behind Par’s new “Star Trek” feature — wrote the project on spec and shopped it to nets this week.

Trio will exec produce “Fringe” along with Bryan Burk (”Lost”). A search has begun for a pilot helmer as well as a series showrunner.

Deal also marks Fox’s acceptance of a new digital template hammered out by Warners and ABC last month (Daily Variety, Sept. 6). Pact gives Fox broad streaming rights to Warners shows in their first season and lets Warners start monetizing skeins via digital platforms by season two.
More than one option

“Fringe” mixes elements of “The X-Files” and Paddy Chayefsky’s “Altered States” with what Abrams calls “a slight ‘Twilight Zone’ vibe.” It will focus on brilliant but possibly crazy research scientist Walter Bishop, his estranged son and a female FBI agent who brings them together.

Episodes will explore self-contained mysteries of the paranormal, as well as the relationships between the three leads.

You remain unconvinced, you say? Well, check out the trailer below.

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Okay. As a Canadian, I am alarmed by the following news.

TORONTO (Hollywood Reporter) - The Fox network will help to develop “The Animated Adventures of Bob & Doug McKenzie,” a Canadian primetime cartoon that reunites Second City TV alumni Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas.

Thomas said Monday that Fox became involved in the pilot episode of a cartoon based on the SCTV characters Bob & Doug McKenzie, to be voiced by himself and Moranis.

The animated sitcom is based on the beer-addled Bob & Doug characters, who began as a two-minute SCTV skit in 1980 on the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

The “hoser” characters, played by Thomas and Moranis, grew a cult following as they went on to star in TV commercials and the 1983 dumb-buddy feature film “Strange Brew.”

SCTV is all right in my book, and Strange Brew had its charms (and was filmed primarily down the street from my house) but… exactly who at Fox said to themselves, “Hey, you know what would make a great cartoon for kids? An adaptation of characters from 20 years before they were born centering around substance abuse!”

This is a very important question to be answered. Whoever this was at Fox, please send us an email. We need to talk to you about possibly freelancing some articles.

Attention Lost devotees! The Verdict crew will be assembling a special recap podcast on Thursday night immediately following the finale of Lost, which will surely involve a lot of confused stutters, swear words and frozen donkey wheels. Don’t miss it!

Look for it either late Thursday night or early Friday morning, depending on how many curse words we have to bleep out. That kind of post-production work takes time, after all.

Lost fans worldwide are twiddling their thumbs in anticipation of this Thursday night (9/8c), when the two-hour season finale airs and hopefully (for once) answers more questions than it presents. An unlikely proposition, considering producers have already hinted at the “big surprise” by ts internal production codename: Frozen Donkey Wheel.

Call me cynical, but it is shockingly unlikely anything involving a frozen donkey wheel will clarify any of my questions, at all.

What do you guys think? There are a lot of outstanding questions to be wrapped up. Will we get to see the Orchid station? Will we (finally) get to know who the heck was in the coffin back in the finale of Season Three? Will we get to see the events that lead up to the rescue of the Oceanic Six? So many questions… so little time.

Also, if you haven’t seen the Orchid Orientation video yet, do not pass GO or collect $200 until you have seen it. It is essential viewing going into the finale, and one of the rare occasions where content that exists outside the “official” canon of the episode content is vitally important.

We’ll be back Thursday to recap. Until then, patience.

On such rare and fanciful moments when Saturday Night Live can still make people laugh, we here at TV Verdict must celebrate by posting a clip:

PS. The sketch? It’s a MacGyver joke. FYI.

Some Monday morning math for you television fans:

Arrested Development creator Mitch Hurwitz + two producers from The Simpsons = a new Fox animated series.

Comedy gold, right? Fox seems to think so, and seems to be getting close to green lighting production of Sit Down, Shut Up, attaching Simpsons vets Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein on board.

Oakley and Weinstein will add plenty of animated comedy experience to “Sit Down, Shut Up,” which was initially set up by “Arrested Development” creator Mitch Hurwitz (who also wrote the first script) and his producing partners, Eric Tannenbaum and Kim Tannenbaum.

[…]

“Sit Down, Shut Up” is based on a live-action sitcom from Australia. The animated U.S. version revolves around the lives of seven staff members at a dysfunctional high school in a small northeastern fishing town. Action centers on faculty members, as their egos and personal agendas trump the students’ needs.

“It’s extremely character based, like ‘Arrested Development,’ and has different rhythms than other animated shows like ‘The Simpsons’ or ‘King of the Hill,’” Oakley said. Voice talent includes several thesps from Hurwitz’s “Arrested Development”: Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Henry Winkler. Show also features Cheri Oteri, Will Forte, Regina King, Tom Kenny, Nick Kroll and Maria Bamford.

Animator and children’s book author Mo Willems, who was behind Cartoon Network’s critically acclaimed “Sheep in the Big City,” is handling animation on the show.

Could be something good? Admittedly, Fox has a tendency to cancel shows before they even get a chance for the ink to dry. Still, they have a better track record with animated shows than any other prime time network, so if anyone can pull it off, it’s the big “F”.

(via Variety)

The fourth season of the rebooted and reanimated Doctor Who airs Saturday, April 5th on the BBC, much to the ire of every fan who doesn’t live in the United Kingdom. For those of us stuck in Canada, it will be many moons before the CBC gets around to airing Season Four, but we can take minor consolation in knowing it will be infinitely faster than you unlucky Americans tucked down there. You guys have some serious Who lag.

If you find yourself more inclined to follow the good Doctor on his adventures regardless of your particular citizenship, join the club. Alas, your options are painfully limited.

The newly re-launched BBC iPlayer streams new BBC programming right from your browser, and even allows high-quality downloaded versions to be saved for 30 days… provided you can convince the website you live in the UK. It will check your IP address based on region and weed out the unfaithful. There are ways to get around this sort of thing, ahem, but obviously we can’t help you in this regard.

There are also, ahem, more unscrupulous methods of acquiring television content via the internet involving black-and-white flags with skulls on them, but we do not do that around here. We are good and proper people, thank you very much. Our mothers love us dearly, and we enjoy pie. Cherry, apple, you name it. No eye patches whatsoever. Just sweet, sweet pie.

To summarize: I curse the British.

Update: Actually, I curse Canada! As it turns out, Sci-Fi will be airing Season Four of Doctor Who on April 18, while the CBC has been painfully mum on future plans to show the new episodes. Looks like for the first time, the US will be ahead of the curve on this one. Lucky you guys!

Happy April, loyal television viewers! This has been a rough few months, with the strike annihilating our viewing schedules and dousing us in mediocre reality-themed programming and re-runs. But fear not! Today is April 1st, and April will be a fantastic, fantastic month, because the vast majority of hiatus shows will be returning to the airwaves! Rejoice!

Just to recap, below is a list of shows returning in April, so get your calendar cleared:

April 2 - Criminal Minds, CSI: NY
April 3 - Without A Trace, My Name Is Earl, CSI
April 4 - Battlestar Galactica, Numbers, Ghost Whisperer
April 8 - NCIS
April 10 - The Office, 30 Rock, Scrubs, ER
April 11 - Moonlight
April 14 - Rules of Engagement, One Tree Hill, Bones
April 15 - Law & Order: SVU
April 17 - Smallville
April 20 - Brothers & Sisters
April 21 - Gossip Girl
April 22 - Reaper
April 23 - Law & Order
April 24 - Lost, Ugly Betty, Supernatural, Grey’s Anatomy
April 28 - House
April 29 - Shark

Shows missing in action until next Fall: 24, Private Practice, Heroes, Friday Night Lights (if it doesn’t get canceled)

April is going to be a busy month. My Tivo has been dangerously under-used lately. I hope the poor girl can take the strain.

(via EW)

In case you were wondering, TV Verdict is in actuality not a Battlestar Galactica fan site, but you would be hard pressed to know this.

There has been a lot of pent-up excitement around here lately about the new season debut, and I see no reason not to continue the trend by sharing the latest comic from Slackerz, which pretty much sums up the past three seasons in a few short comic panels.

Warning: foul (possibly NSFW) language, and your mom might scold you if she sees you reading it.

(via Slackerz)

In the latest of a long and sensible list of smart career decisions made by unglued pop icon Britney Spears, the AP reports that the permanent paparazzi fodder will guest star in an upcoming episode of How I Met Your Mother on CBS. Details below:

Spears will guest star in a March 24 episode of the cult series, CBS spokeswoman Kelli Raftery told The Associated Press on Tuesday. The pop star will portray a receptionist in a dermatologist’s office named Abby who becomes “smitten” with Ted (Josh Radnor), Raftery said.

Craig Thomas, the show’s creator, told Usmagazine.com that Spears attended a table reading with the cast on Monday, and that her scenes will probably be filmed later this week. He said representatives for Spears approached the CBS about “Mother” because “she was looking for a small part on a funny show.”

With both Spears and Mother currently ranked #53 in the ratings (common sense and viewing audiences, respectively) this will no doubt boost the popularity of both for a grand total of 22 minutes, excluding commercials. Assuming she has hair. Otherwise, the numbers get more difficult to tabulate.

(via AP)