# New Pilot shows for 2003



## Dave (Mar 26, 2003)

*New Pilot shows announced by UPN*

UPN is attempting to build on it's Sci-Fi audience (well the SciFi Channel, Showtime and Fox clearly don't want to) and to add to it's continued support for _Enterprise_ and _The Twilight Zone_ it has announced new pilots for 2003.

_*Weapon X*_ 

A government agent who gains superpowers after having computer chips implanted in his body. Silvio Horta (The Chronicle) wrote the pilot and will executive produce with Gina Matthews and Grant Scharbo.

_*Newton*_

From writer Craig Silverstein (The Dead Zone) and producer Joel Silver (The Matrix). The pilot tells the story of a family that moves to a new town, which also happens to be the testing site for an array of high-tech gadgetry.

_*Juggernaunt*_

A group of warriors assembled by thee United Nations to fight alien creatures invading Earth.

_*Kamelot*_

A dramatic retelling of the classic King Arthur story, but set in the future. In this version, Arthur is a young revolutionary overseeing a society of the future.

Wes Craven is on board to executive produce with Marianne Maddelena (Scream),  Ron Milbauer and Terri Hughes. The hour long drama is written by Ron Milbauer and Terri Hughes.

=============

I would much rather see _Odyssey 5_ and _Firefly_


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## sweetbabe (Mar 26, 2003)

shame i cant watch any of them


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## Tabitha (Mar 26, 2003)

*Re: New Pilot shows announced by UPN*



> _Originally posted by Dave _
> *
> Kamelot
> 
> ...


I wonder if this bears any relation to the 80s "Camelot 3000" comic books?


> _Originally posted by Dave _
> *I would much rather see Odyssey 5 and Firefly  *


Ditto - but at least we'll be getting Firefly on the SciFi channel in May!  Plus the unaired eps!


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## Krystal (Mar 28, 2003)

> _Originally posted by sweetbabe _
> *shame i cant watch any of them  *



I understand completely your sentiment, is the same here.  Specially when the series about  Kamelot really get my attention when I read about it. 
 

Krystal


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## Lonewolf89 (Apr 26, 2003)

UPN tends to get the shows at the bottom of the pile. Sure, BtVS is good, and Enterprise is entertaining enough to watch, but when it comes down to it those are the only decent shows they have. Personally it's not worth pay the extra money to my Dish provider for.


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## HeyLynny (May 14, 2003)

*Interesting*

I'll check these out, but I don't have high hopes yet.  You never know.


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## Dave (May 15, 2003)

*Jake 2.0*

According to SciFi Wire UPN have another new show for the autumn



> *Jake - Yes, Zone - No*
> 
> UPN has ordered the SF series Jake 2.0 from executive producer Silvio Horta for the fall, but has canceled The Twilight Zone after only one season, Variety reported. David Greenwalt (Angel, Miracles) will serve as show runner of the one-hour drama Jake 2.0, the trade paper reported.
> 
> ...



Errr.... Should they call this 'Robocop 5.0'?


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## Dave (May 27, 2003)

*update*

'Dreamwatch' #104 has some further details on these and other new pilot shows.

*Weapon X*

Christopher Gorham of Odyssey 5 has been cast as the lead in this.

*Newton* 

Penned by The Dead Zone's Craig Silverstone. Produced by The Matrix's Joel Silver. CSI's Amy Pietz has been cast as the mother of the Pryor family who move to the town used to test new products.

*Interman*

Paramount have optioned the graphic novel by Jeff Parker -- concerning an assasin created in a Cold War lab able to instantly rewrite his DNA to adapt to his surroundings.

*Dead Like Me*

Showtime have ordered 13 episodes plus the 2-hour pilot.

*MacGyver*

Believe it or not, MacGyver is back with the 20-something nephew of RDA's Angus MacGyver taking over the reigns at the Phoenix Foundation think tank.

Jared Padalecki will play the lead in this new WB series.

*Tarzan*

I'm not kidding you! Tarzan too is returning for the ???? time in this WB series. An Australian underware model, Travis Fimmel, is Tarzan. It is set in present day New York with Sarah Wayne as Jane, a NYPD detective, and Mitch Pileggi as Richard Clayton, CEO of Greystoke Industries and his guardian. 

*Flash Gordon*

No, only kidding now! That's next year!


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## Tabitha (May 27, 2003)

Tarzan?  Macguver?  To quote the Architect... "_Please..._"

There are some others out there too that look like they have potential.

*Tru Calling*
In which Eliza Dusku (Faith in Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel) plays a morgue worker (nice!) who gets all groundhog-day with her patients, with the clock being turned back 24 hours while she frantically tries to prevent the deaths of the corpses-to-be.

*Wonder Falls*
Which, to be honest, I know very little about, apart from that it is set at Niagara Falls, and has some kind of fantasy element.

And... am I stupid or does *Jake 2.0* (  Jake 2.0 centers on a National Security Agency agent who's implanted with computer chips) sound exactly like *Weapon X* (A government agent who gains superpowers after having computer chips implanted in his body. )???

I notice that they both seem to have the same producers, so maybe it IS the same show, but with two different titles.


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## Dave (May 27, 2003)

It must be the same show.

None of those really grip me, though I felt the same way last year, then I really loved Odyssey 5 and Firefly!


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## Tabitha (May 28, 2003)

Yep, that's how I feel too.  
In the "Is SciFi becoming ashamed of itself?" thread it was recently touched upon that authors writing SF/Fantasy were trying to convince us that they weren't *really* writing science fiction, more "future reality".  There is an article in this months SFX (the one with the Hulk on the cover) by Dave Langford, about this very state of affairs, and he mentions another up and coming pilot NYPD 2069 as yet another victim of a show trying to pretend it isn't really scifi, when it blatantly going to be a pretty straight SF conceit.

Here's some info from www.thefutoncritic.com :
"(NYPD 2069 is a) ...drama that revolves around a present-day new york city cop (josh hopkins) who finds himself transported to 2069"

I swear.
Somewhere on this board I joked about how we could probably only look forward to futuristic versions of CSI and Law and Order.  Looks like I might have (unfortunately) been right.


And as for Firefly - well, there have been all kinds of movie rumours recently, and we do have those unaired eps, and the official DVD sets with actor and producers commentary on!
Sadly I think we'll never know what happens to the Odyssey 5 crew.

With Buffy ending, Firefly and Odyssey 5 cancelled, the only show I am definitely going to be watching next year is Angel, and I suppose I will test out the first few episodes of SG1, just in case they pull a miraculous recovery out of nowhere. 
I agree that none of those pilots sound interesting.  I'll watch Jake 2.0 because I liked Chris Gorham in O5, and Tru Calling because I liked Dusku in Buffy.

Wait a minute, what I actually mean is:  I'll watch these shows if any of our lame channels actually buy them!


I suppose less tv to obsess over is a good thing, maybe I'll do something productive with all those free hours I'll have from now on


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## Dave (May 28, 2003)

Yes, how is it that no UK terestrial channel has yet picked up Firefly (or Odyssey 5 for that matter.) It is expensive, but it was easily the best Sci-Fi TV from last year. (Didn't it win awards?) Can it really be as expensive as some of these detective shows, natural history shows and period dramas? And TV studios have money to burn, I know they film things that they just throw away.

Reality shows are the current staple diet, but only because they are relatively cheap to make. When people get sick of them they will need to make drama again.


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## Tabitha (May 28, 2003)

Well, Channel 5 is making all kinds of inroads into the SF (and drama) market.  It has just purchased Angel, after Channel 4 really messed up and decided not to buy and new eps.  Five also has Dark Angel and is getting The Dead Zone soon I think.  I think Five is also picking Alias up from Channel 4 - which isn't an SF show in my opinion, but it does seem to get lumped into the genre.

With the demise of Buffy and Farscape, perhaps BBC 2 will be casting around for some new shows,  C4 has obviously got gaps in its schedule now, and Five is all about the new programming.  I guess we have a fairly good chance of seeing these shows on sometime soon, but I can't belive the relative lack of interest in Odyssey 5.  I know Sky still own the rights, but have stated that they have no interest in airing it again.  Hopefully once these rights lapse, someone else will pick them up.  It would be nice to see both these shows in pretty anamorphic widescreen on Beeb2 or Five.

Maybe last year was just a bit of an anomaly?  And we'll see some better stuff on our television sets come Autumn and the new year.


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## ZachWZ (Jun 6, 2003)

I will give Tru Calling and Jake 2.0 2 weeks to see if their still around.  Then if the word is good I will give them a glance.

ZachWZ


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## HeyLynny (Jun 23, 2003)

Dead Like Me looks really cool!  And as for Tarzan...i just saw a pic of him in Entertainment Weekly....well, thats all it took because...WOW!!!!! I'll be tuning in to see him half naked on a weekly basis!


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## Krystal (Jun 28, 2003)

At first when I hear about Dead Like Me, I think I wouldn't like it but have to admit that I really enjoy the premiere. It is fun in a kind of morbid way. 

Krystal


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## Tabitha (Aug 13, 2003)

I give my heartfelt support to *Dead Like Me*.  I think it will go some way to filling the void I feel after the loss of Buffy and Odyssey 5.  It is a little like both of these shows, like Buffy in absudist black humour, and like O5 in terms of its fairly accurate protrayal of real human beings in a really weird situation.  Maybe a wee splash of Ally McBeal in there too.

I have seen the pilot of *Tru Calling*, and found it middling at best.  Eliza Dusku is going to find it hard to escape the role of Faith (Buffy) on the tv, and while I can see this show lasting for at least a whole season, I doubt it will last much longer.  It has a Sixth Sense thing going on, and like so much scifi tv, uses the device of having the hero or heroine race against time to right some terrible wrong.  In the vein of Quantum Leap etc.  And boy does she race - a good 15% of the pilot's footage seemed to be of Dushku running somewhere.

Another one that is bordering on sf is *Fearless*, with Dawson's Creek/She's All That/Antitrust babe Rachel Leigh Cook in the central role, playing an impossibly young FBI agent (come on, an FBI agent at the age of 23????), who was born without whatever bit of your brain makes you feel fear.
Been trying to get my hands on the pilot for this, but haven't managed it yet.  Could go either way, as it sounds suspiciously like it might be a bit Alias-like.

*Tarzan and Jane* has been picked up (!), but sadly *Young Macguyer* was passed over - not too sad to see this one go.

*Jake 2.0* - this has been picked up and I'll watch it if only to see Odyssey 5 alumni Christopher Gorham in a leading role, but I am pretty sure it won't last beyond the season.


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## thor4713 (Aug 25, 2003)

when does kamelot air in the uk


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## Tabitha (Aug 25, 2003)

According to the Futon Critic Kamelot has been dropped from development.  Looks like it didn;t get very far as no cast were ever even attached to star.

I have now managed to see the pilot episode of *Fearless*, and I can tell you this, it is dullsville.  The cast are all very young, and didn't manage to pull off their supposed crime-fighting expertise very well.  Eric Balfour (Veritas, 24, and he was 'Jesse' in season one of Buffy) was pretty good, and Bianca Lawson ('Kendra' in Buffy) was also strong, but the lead actress, Rachel Leigh Cook was just boring, unsympathetic and dull dull dull.

I read somewhere that Bianca Lawson and half of the writing staff have since been jettisoned from the show.  Not sure whether that is a good thing or not.

Still looking forward to seeing Jake 2.0, and ideally some news about Dead Like Me making it across the pond.


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