El Rey Network Got Nerdy: ‘Constantine,’ ‘Almost Human,’ and More Airing in 2016

by Eric FranciscoOctober 3, 2015

We’re a bit late because the press release got buried in my email, but El Rey Network just locked down a deal with Warner Bros. and will begin airing reruns of cult TV shows making their basic cable debut for the first time. Among them? Constantine, Almost Human, Mortal Kombat: Conquest, and both iterations of the sci-fi series V.

El Rey just got hella nerdy.

“We are proud to have these extremely popular titles make their off network cable debuts on El Rey Network,” said El Rey Network founder and chairman Robert Rodriguez in the press release. “This is the kind of distinctive, action packed content that viewers have come to expect on our air and these franchises will be the perfect compliment to our existing line-up of iconic and thrilling originals and acquisitions.”

Uh. Yuh-up. Constantine and Almost Human begin airing on Nov. 3 and Nov. 9 respectively, while the rest of the acquired shows will air sometime in 2015 and 2016. Check out the full list of shows with the press release’s description (Almost Human strangely leaves out the fact that it starred Karl Urban) being added to El Rey’s rotation.

Constantine (Begins Nov. 3, airs Tuesdays at 8pm ET)

Almost Human (Begins Nov. 9, airs Mondays at 8pm ET)

Human Target

Mortal Kombat: Conquest

Freddy’s Nightmares

V: Miniseries and V: The Series (2009 remake)

The Twilight Zone (2002 remake)

Night Visions

Yeah, that it’s the remake of The Twilight Zone and not the original is lame, but it’s dope that El Rey got Constantine. It’s the next best thing to happen to the show aside from a total revival. We’ve got his one Arrow appearance to look forward to, and without any foreseeable Netflix availability, a regular spot on El Rey is still a blessing. Almost Human too, which I was totally into until Fox pulled the plug.

So, are you excited as we are for the new shows coming to El Rey? Let us know!

Ten Reasons Almost Human Needs a Season 2

by S.J. BorgerMarch 11, 2014

Fox recently announced a slate of shows renewed (and cancelled) for next season. There were reasons for celebrations (Brooklyn 99, New Girl), reasons for sorrow (Raising Hope), and reasons to agonize as Fox’s silence over the fate of others left us waiting.

Almost Human deserves a second season. It’s done with its world-building, the characters are set, the twisty through-plot is just about to make sense (or pay-off, or be forgotten in favor of a new, better one, maybe?) and it’s ideally placed to have strong, fan-rific, possibly-the-best-show-(think-Fringe)-you-should-be-watching second season.

And we’re not the only ones, the website Save That Show shows a whopping 88% of people who take the poll support saving Almost Human (yes, we’re aware that the sample population of this poll is probably slanted. Yay statistics!)

Karl Urban as Det. Kennex and Michael Ealy as Dorian in Fox's Almost Human. — Karl Urban as Det. Kennex and Michael Ealy as Dorian in Fox’s Almost Human.

So without further ado, here are our Top Ten Reasons to Renew Almost Human:

1.Firefly. That’s right, we said it. Fox Executives still owe us for cancelling Firefly, and we are calling in that debt—because we are not afraid to play that card, and we will probably play it again. It is the television equivalent of that thing you said that one time to your brother that comes up every Thanksgiving, Christmas and occasional birthdays.

2. It’s a good show. It’s a really, really, really good show. It’s not the most innovative when it comes to plots (it’s still a procedural cop show) but the world is interesting, the characters are invested and it’s just getting better. It got second place in TV.com’s Best of 2013, and was in the top 5 Best Sci-Fi/Superhero Series 2013.

3. The wall! What’s behind the wall? Who lives out there? Why is there a wall?? The series jumped up a notch when it introduced that particular element and it needs to be explained!

4.The show combines elements of Asimov’s robotics, fringe science, and a tech-noir grit with laugh-out-loud humor. Its nods to the films, books and other works that went before it—and where Almost Human clearly draws inspiration from—are subtle and usually done with tongue-placed-firmly-in-cheek.

Almost Human promo picture. Courtesy of Fox.

5. Ealy and Urban—who play mismatched partners Dorian and Kennex—have an undeniable chemistry and their on-screen friendship and banter contributes a great deal to what makes the show so good. Also, we would watch Dorian and Kennex banter in the car anywhere. It should be a web series. Traveling in Cars with Kennex…

6.It’s good sci-fi. It’s smart sci-fi. It offers an intriguing look at our future, with a mixture of both cynicism and hope in terms of where humanity might find itself. And good, smart sci-fi—where the science isn’t just ’magic’—is hard to find. Especially on network TV.

7.While the two leads are men, the show’s two supporting roles, Captain Maldonado and Detective Valerie Stahl (played by Lili Tayler and Minka Kelly, respectively) are strong, effective, commanding women. And those are even rarer on network TV than good sci-fi.

8.Almost every great show had a rough first season. Especially world-building shows, where so much has to be built up before the series can really take off. Almost Human’s first season wasn’t that rough (ok, ok, the through-plot with the Syndicate-whatever wasn’t great…) and it is poised to really have a phenomenal second (and more!) season.

9. Firefly. Yup, twice in one list.

10. It consistently got better with every episode, and a second season would probably continue the trend, if the final six episodes are any indication. AND Season One finished up with any number of exciting plot points and new characters just waiting for more exploration.

Capt. Maldonado (Lili Taylor) talks to her officers via super smart speaker phone. Courtesy of Fox.

‘Ok, ok,’ you’re saying. ‘You had us at Firefly. But what can we do?’

Amazingly enough, letter writing campaigns work. You can write directly to Mr. Kevin Reilly, FOX Broadcasting Co, 10201 W. Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90035. Or, go to Fox and watch it. You can follow the fan campaign here, or sign this petition here.

Also a ‘save Almost Human’ google search can point you in other directions.

You can catch up with Almost Human at Hulu.com.

What do you guys think? Should we save this show?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ns91hBJqsDM

Geekscape Recap: Almost Human “The Bends”

by S.J. BorgerDecember 4, 2013

Almost Human continues its strong premiere season with its fourth installment, “The Bends.” The titular item is a new drug made from seaweed (and causes a weird green-y algae growth on its overdose victims) that would be wildly popular if it could be processed with a high enough level of purity (shades of Breaking Bad here, without the, you know, cancer and stuff).

Rudy Lom (Mackenzie Crook) goes undercover in this week's Almost Human episode, "The Bends." Courtesy of Fox. — Rudy Lom (Mackenzie Crook) goes undercover in this week’s Almost Human episode, “The Bends.”
Courtesy of Fox.

Lom, Rudy Lom

The episode starts with our intrepid lab geek, Rudy Lom, in some sort of about-to-get-violent situation. It seems as if Rudy is undercover and his cover his blown—he releases a steam vent (handy how those are always around, just at elbow height, in these situations) and runs. His pursuers shoot, one getting him in the arm.

We then get the ’24 Hours Earlier’ super-title (we understand the use of the flash-forward, and it wasn’t done badly here, but it seems to be getting a tad overused in television these days. Just our personal opinion.) and go to Kennex and Dorian, eating lunch (dinner?) at a sushi place. Well, Kennex is eating, Dorian is clearly in a hurry to get someplace (where is never established). After declaring he can’t leave until he has eaten everything on his plate, per Japanese culture, Dorian has the chef serve Kennex some sort of clear-ish, wriggling, still very much alive slug thing (having lived in Japan for two years, we can clearly state that that is NOT something usually served in a Japanese restaurant). Tricked by his own words, Kennex eats it.

Ah, male bonding.

Cut to someone we’ve never seen before, with a nifty phone-in-palm device (why doesn’t EVERYONE have these?? Is it new tech? Is it super expensive? He’s the only one we’ve seen with this!) talking to his wife, who clearly doesn’t know he’s in a obviously-where-crimes-happen alley. After lying through his teeth about where he is, Frank Cooper—we find out that’s his name—meets up clearly-not-good-guys. We quickly discover that he’s there to introduce a new cook to THE drug pin of this city, The Bishop. Apparently there’s 600 liters of raw product just waiting for the next Walter White (sorry, we got our shows mixed for a second); the next cook-extraordinaire to brew up the drug.

But things go wrong when the Bishop finds a subcutaneous wire (another piece of cool tech) on Cooper, and bam, bam, both Cooper and his cook buddy are dead.

We didn't have a picture of the newly deceased friend, but here's Kennex, looking resolved and sad that his friend is dead. Courtesy of Fox. — We didn’t have a picture of the newly deceased friend, but here’s Kennex, looking resolved and sad that his friend is dead.
Courtesy of Fox.

Because All Dirty Cops Keep Incriminating Evidence In Their Trunks, Uh-Doy

The next morning, Kennex and Dorian are called to the crime scene—a dead cop (clearly Cooper), whose car’s trunk his full of illegal drugs, clearly making Cooper out to be a dead, dirty cop. But wait, no, Kennex was buddies with Cooper (of course he was!) and he knows in his gut Cooper wasn’t dirty. Also, Kennex points out, if Cooper was dirty, why wear a wire?

Of course, all those drugs in the trunk and multiple dead bodies at what is clearly a drug deal gone wrong is enough for Detective Paul (whose sole purpose so far is to be the one guy who doesn’t like Kennex…), who declares Cooper guilty and then pretty much disappears for the next fifteen minutes of air time.

Oh, we also get some new info on the drug, the Bends. It’s highly toxic, and the Bishop is poised to take over the streets with it (a la The Wire; again, we’re not saying this show is breaking new ground, only that its execution is a lot of fun to watch). This is mostly info-dumped by Detective Stahl (Minka Kelly), who seems to be regulated to that quite a bit. Not that she doesn’t do it well, but we wish we’d see a few more women doing some kicking-ass and taking names.

This is Stahl's "I am going to read out loud what the computer is telling me because I have one job in this precinct and I'm going to do it" face. — This is Stahl’s “I am going to read out loud what the computer is telling me because I have one job in this precinct and I’m going to do it” face.

The Case of the Dirty-Or-Just-Mildly-Dusty Cop

Kennex meets with the widow (was it just us or was there some ‘my-best-friend’s-wife-is-the-woman-I-loved subtext going on with Kennex? We never do find out why he and Cooper aren’t friends anymore…). Of course the widow proclaims her husband’s innocence.

Maldonado meets with Captain Barros, Cooper’s commanding officer, who doesn’t want to believe Cooper was dirty either, but admits that Cooper wasn’t assigned to any official undercover work; Barros does say that Cooper was the type of cop to work something on his own. Nonwithstanding, since Cooper’s financials show suspicious activities, Maldonado is going to have to investigate.

The widow tells Kennex that Cooper went up to their cabin the day he died, so that’s where Kennex and Dorian head. It’s already been torn apart, but thanks to the helpful clue from the widow that Cooper was working on the fireplace, Kennex finds the receiver for Cooper’s wire. Unfortunately it doesn’t prove anything in terms of Cooper’s innocence but it does prove that The Bishop was there, which apparently is a big deal since no one knows what Bishop looks like.

Cue the ‘let’s find a new cook and go undercover and get Bishop plan.’ Except they need a cook…and that’s when they bring in Rudy. Who apparently is a bio-tech, cybernetic, computer programming…chemist. Don’t think on that one too much. A geek is a geek, right? Clearly we all have expert levels of knowledge in all fields related to geekdom. There’s probably a Venn diagram somewhere.

Rudy jumps at the chance to go undercover (a great subtle touch, when Kennex is pitching the idea to Rudy, is when Rudy sees his reflection in a tux, a la James Bond, in the metal surface of his instruments). He even has a fedora ready and waiting.

Rudy Lom (again, sorry). But come on, he is rocking that fedora. Courtesy of Fox. — Rudy Lom (again, sorry). But come on, he is rocking that fedora.
Courtesy of Fox.

Time for the “Live Your Cover” Speech

While Detective Paul (who is apparently the undercover expert) drills Rudy, Kennex and Dorian go find a bad guy that can set up a meet with The Bishop.

They find someone relatively easily (Patrick Gallagher of Glee), who agrees to set up the meet after a little kind-of-sort-of blackmail from Kennex.

Rudy holds up under Det. Paul’s grilling, though the fedora gets nixed (though we liked it, Mackenzie Crook can rock a fedora) and the operation is a go—except for one thing. Rudy drinks a nasty liquid (which makes him fart, ha ha bathroom humor) but also turns his whole body into a GPS-locater. It’s in beta, he says, and it’s top-secret.

So, off Rudy goes to his meet, followed by two cockroach-cameras (a lovely bit of tech), where he meets the Bishop and almost blows the whole thing; Dorian has to go in to provide support (but the cover is still intact). Bad guys convinced of Rudy’s nefarious-ness, they agree to take him to the ‘real lab’–but first he has to drink some gross-milky looking liquid—and when he does, his GPS signal cuts off.

The bad guys then take Rudy to the ‘real lab’ after revealing that guy we think is the The Bishop isn’t, in fact, The Bishop. It’s a solid reveal that played out well.

Dorian and the bad guys robot (with head, at this point). Courtesy of Fox. — Dorian and the bad guys robot (with head, at this point).
Courtesy of Fox.

You Dirty Double Crossing Double-Crosser!

Back at the base, Kennex rolls out as soon as Rudy’s signal disappears—but even though no one exited the building, Rudy’s is nowhere to be found; because bad guys, apparently, use sewers. The bad guys and Not-Bishop bring Rudy to a lab and demand he cooks—and he does, creating a product that’s 94% pure.

Meanwhile, back with Kennex, they figure out that the only way the bad guys could have known to have Rudy drink the GPS-signal block juice was if one of the bad guys was a cop. Maldonado puts two and two together, and figures out that Barros is The Bishop.

Sure enough, Rudy (now in a super-secret lab) meets Barros, who asks Rudy how he cooked such a pure form of the drug.

Maldonado called Barros to ‘update’ him, and manages to track the phone to get a location. Kennex and Dorian speed to him.

While Rudy explains how the cooking process is more of an art than a science, the goons are alerted to something-not-right and now we’re back to where we were at the beginning of the episode. Rudy escapes, gets shot in the arm—

And Kennex and Dorian get there. Two henchman are instantly disposed of, then Kennex goes after Barros while Dorian goes at it with Barros’ android, which was a great fight that ends with the bad robot’s (see what we did there?) head getting ripped off his body, spine still attached. Awesome.

Kennex, Lom and Dorian safe and sound after their adventures. Courtesy of Fox. — Kennex, Lom and Dorian safe and sound after their adventures.
Courtesy of Fox.

All Wells That Ends Up at a Cop Bar

Kennex gets Barros, clears Cooper’s name, and he, Dorian and Rudy go out to celebrate—to Kennex’s cop bar, much to his dismay.

Another really good episode. Seriously, if you’re not watching this, you should be. The ratings aren’t great (though the numbers went up this week) and Fox isn’t known for its generosity with freshman shows and middle-ish ratings. So watch it! Tell your friends to watch it! While not perfect (Dorian is supposed to be ‘troubled’ but he seems the saner of the two, for example) it’s still better than most of what’s on TV, and certainly the world and its characters are intriguing enough—and the episodes are doing an excellent job expanding and building the world—that this show could be one with a lot of mileage in it.

Almost Human airs on Fox on Mondays at 8 p.m.

You can catch up on all the episodes so far on Hulu or Fox.com.

Geekscape Recap: Almost Human: Are You Receiving?

by S.J. BorgerNovember 26, 2013

Almost Human is rapidly becoming our favorite new show of the 2013 season. Is it groundbreaking? Not really—but what it does it does well, including playing on tropes and concepts that are familiar without making them seem cliché or—worse—lazy.

With episode three, “Are You Receiving?” we get a standard hostage situation (the show continues it’s good-hearted, um, emulation of themes and motifs by pretty much recreating Die Hard in 2048) but the this show is not so much about the what is happening as it is about who it’s happening too, and Karl Urban and Michael Ealy—not to mention the show’s robust ensemble cast which includes veterans Lili Taylor and Mackenzie Crook (Pirates of the Caribbean)—have an endearing chemistry and are well on their way to forging a great TV partnership.

They Give Great Car Conversation

Almost Human's futuristic cityscape. Courtesy of Fox. — Almost Human’s futuristic cityscape. Courtesy of Fox.

The episode starts with Kennex (Urban) going about his morning ablations—including the addition of rubbing some olive oil on his prosthetic leg (a nice nod to episode two), which does, as Dorian (Ealy) had promised, stop the squeaking.

Urban is really captivating as Kennex, giving the gruff-cop-everyman-with-a-heart-of-gold his own personal touch, and he and Ealy have already settled into an appealing back and forth dialogue that feels organic and natural; well written repartee and the chemistry of the two leads lend this show a great deal of its charm.

We go to a large, modern-y business building where a security guard brings a package up to the 25^th floor. He flirts with one of the girls—there’s business about a keyed lock versus a bio lock that we thought was going to pay off later but doesn’t—and then he goes back to his desk in the lobby, where he is, sadly, shot by the bad guys. The bad guys then shoot a janitor (bad day to be a minimum wage employee at whatever building this is) and plant a bomb-looking device in the basement. Apparently Fox isn’t too concerned about that whole 8 p.m. time slot, because blood sprayed and everything.

We also learn that the bad guy likes to ask people what their name is before he kills them. You know, because without our manners where would we be?

Back to Kennex, who is being mildly lectured by Dorian about his tardiness in picking up Dorian.

Sidenote: So, apparently, Dorian has an apartment of his own somewhere not in the Police precinct. Which is fine, we just assumed he would just go back to the…lab/basement place or whatever and, you know, hibernate for the night. If he does have an apartment, that was fast. Or maybe there’s a like a robo-hostel for all the cybernetic cops? Now that’s an idea for show!

The two partners engage in some mild ribbing about the use of olive oil and coffee temperature—entertaining, as both actors have solid comedic timing and there is a sense that they genuinely like each other—when a call comes in about a gunshot victim at—you guessed it—our super classy office building.

Kennex (Karl Urban) and Dorian (Michael Ealy) arrive at the scene of the crime Courtesy of Fox. — Kennex (Karl Urban) and Dorian (Michael Ealy) arrive at the scene of the crime
Courtesy of Fox.

They Just Walked Right In and Shot Him

Kennex and Dorian get to the building and Dorian is able to pull a sketchy image of our bad guys going up to the 25^th floor from the shattered security system—which means they’re still in the building. As the bad guys have disabled the elevators, Kennex and Dorian start up the stairs.

The bad guys, meanwhile, have rounded up the employees on the 25^th floor—including a young-ish girl who was huddled under a desk. Main Bad Guy (Damon Herriman) has a mildly existential monologue about the importance of honesty before hauling her out with the rest of the hostages and telling Bald Henchman to “start now,” resulting in the triggering of the bomb they had set earlier. Kennex and Dorian run out to see a gaping hole where the lobby used to be.

So there’s nothing like an explosion in the business district to get the attention of law enforcement; while Kennex and Dorian still heading up, Stahl (Minka Kelly) and Maldonado (Lili Taylor) connect in through some weird open-air speaker phone that oddly knows when to turn the mute on and off.

Maldonado tells Kennex to not ascend and to stay and assist with the evacuation, leading Kennex to the old fake-static-to-drop-call trick, which leads to one of our top three lines of the night:

Dorian: Did you just hang up on Captain Maldonado?

Kennex: It was a boring conversation, anyway.

Ha. Funny. Well-delivered, both self-aware and situationally appropriate. And an excellent encapsulation in two lines of what makes this show work: yes, it is unashamedly stealing, but it knows it, and you know it, and it’s done well, with just enough tongue-in-check self-awareness mixed with a kind of geeked-out respect.

The guys keep going up, and Maldonado, on the advice of Kennex, jams all communication signals—including Kennex and Ealy’s phones/wifi/whatever it is, leading the Main Bad Guy to pronounce how predictable the police are.

Sidenote: this is where, we admit, we clued into the it’s-not-really-about-the-hostage-it’s-about-the-money ‘twist,’ mostly because that’s almost exactly what both the Die Hard 1 and 3 baddies say at roughly the same point in those movies. So.

Don’t Overthink the Phone Thing

With all of the phone calls not being able to get out, Dorian ends up getting any calls placed in the building bounced to him. After a amusing interchange with a Portuguese woman (where Dorian speaks flawless Portuguese as a woman), they get a call from a women trapped with the gunman (Dorian, answering the call as Kennex, adds a nice bit of humor just as the show get serious).

The caller—Paige—is hiding in a closet with a view of the hostage situation. As she’s talking to Kennex, the bad guys grab a random hostage—Lou–and execute him, throwing his body out of the window, where it lands feet from the mobile police command center. Turning him over, Detective Paul (Michael Irby), he of the I-don’t-like-you-Kennex attitude of last week, finds a note attached to the front of the body demanding: “No Cops, Stay Out.”

Maldonado initiates hostage protocol. And sends a drone with a phone (which somehow works? Why didn’t Kennex have a phone like that??) and gets Lead Bad Guy’s demands (airlift for escape and a fission igniter).

Using facial recognition, Maldonado identifies Lead Bad Guy as Lucas Vincent, a lieutenant in the Holy Reclamation Army (never a good combination of words).

Lucas gives Maldonado a 43 minute deadline or a hostage dies.

Kennex (another top three line) asks Dorian if a fission igniter is as bad as he thinks it is…and it is. It’s a detonator for a mega-ton explosive device (though why they would have a mega ton explosive and not the detonator, we don’t know).

Paige, meanwhile, is pretty close to breaking down. We find out the young-ish girl hiding under the desk earlier is Jenna, her sister, and that Jenna was only there to have lunch with Paige.

Kennex, trying to calm Paige down, tells a story of a near-death experience he had with his father when they were ice-fishing. It works mostly because Urban excels at that gravelly, hero-of-the-day tone. With Paige calmer, and having gleaned some crucial information from her, Kennex and Dorian continue up the stairs.

It's just this guy I shot. No biggie. Courtesy of FOx. — It’s just this guy I shot. No biggie.
Courtesy of FOx.

Just The Igniter, Ma’am

Back at police headquarters, Maldonado can’t get a fission igniter (apparently approval for that is a much higher paygrade), so Rudy Lom (Mackenzie Crook) offers to make a fake one that could pass an initial scan. Maldonado approves it.

Stahl decants a load of exposition; Holy Reclamation Army is an anti-Western religious group known for taking hostages in order to further their political gains, with no qualms at taking life.

Back with Kennex and Dorian, their leisurely trip up the stairs is interrupted with gunfire—two bad guys have spotted them up above. The firefight moves into a deserted office floor, where Dorian takes out one bad guy and the other one, injured, flees.

Kennex comes up to Dorian and discovers Dorian has been injured—a glancing blow to the head. Dorian, who is glitching a little, still manages to discover that their bad guy—originally id’d as Michael Demerais—has a facemaker (it does what it sounds like)—and once disabled, the bad guy is revealed to be Gregor Stone, not a member of the Holy Reclamation Army, just a petty criminal.

He also finds a small red plastic disc with the word “start” on it; but then it becomes obvious that the gunshot has injured Dorian more than he let on—he won’t be able to walk within five minutes.

Dorian wonders why the gang is going through the trouble of faking identities instead of just wearing masks while Kennex has to try to repair Dorian using an old q-tip (ew) and lying through his teeth about the cleanliness of his tools, leading to our third top three lines of the night, Kennex in regards to the bundle of wires/tendons revealed in Dorian’s injury and being unable to find the “magenta one,” tells Dorian “there’s 50 shades of purple in there.” Ha. In fact the whole trying-to-fix-Dorian-scene was classic.

Back at the precinct, Lom is trying to finish the fission igniter while a newer robot watches. He only has four minutes…

Kennex, who has accidently knock Dorian unconscious, talks to Paige in another effort to calm her down. While connecting wires with (used) chewing gum, we learn Kennex’s middle name is Reginald (his father was an Elton John fan, apparently).

ALMOST HUMAN: Det. John Kennex (Karl Urban, R) assists Dorian (Michael Ealy, L). Cr: Liane Hentscher/FOX — ALMOST HUMAN: Det. John Kennex (Karl Urban, R) assists Dorian (Michael Ealy, L).
Cr: Liane Hentscher/FOX

Phone’s Haven’t Gotten Any Smaller, but the Guns Got Huge

The injured bad guy makes it up the 25^th floor to tell Lucas there’s two guys in the building. Lucas tries to bluff with Maldonado to see if they’re cops but she (nicely) calls his bluff and he ends up not knowing—but he still sends three guys to the stairwells with really big guns.

Paige decides she can’t hide out in the closet while her sister is one of the hostages, so she sneaks out when the Bald Henchman’s back was turned and joins the hostages (against Kennex’s advice). She keeps her head though, and manages to plant her phone (with its open line) so that Kennex can hear what happens in the room. She does tell Kennex before she gets off the phone that the bad guys keep going to the window in the corner for some reason.

Lom, the unsung hero of the day, gets the igniter finished and Det. Paul sends it up. Kennex and Dorian, knowing the stairs aren’t safe, are stymied on how to get to the 25^th floor.

Lucas gets the igniter and tells Bald Henchman to send ‘the message to the other crew.’ He also says they won’t be taking the igniter—leading Dorian to realize the hostage situation is a decoy.

Kennex and Dorian figure out that the other crew is outside the building, and the red discs are being used as a reflective/point-to-point communication—and the only thing of value nearby is the palladium depot. Where the other crew is, stealing lots and lots of palladium.

Kennex than gets to say “it’s a heist,” a la John McClane in, well, all the Die Hards. Points to Urban for saying it believably and without any McClane mannerisms.

He totally doesn't look anything like John McClane, though. — He totally doesn’t look anything like John McClane, though.

So, It’s Kind of Like Die Hard. Only with Robots.

The bad guys plant a bomb with the hostages (a light bomb), and Kennex realizes the bad guys are going to kill all the hostages. There’s no way for Kennex to get up the floor in time, but Dorian can—by climbing up the elevator cables. They know it’s a suicide mission, but there’s no other option. Dorian goes up the elevator shaft before Kennex can stop him.

Dorian then gets to be pretty bad ass, punching through the air ducts (ah, where would we would be without air ducts??) and taking out four bad guys before Lucas takes Dorian down.

Lucas goes through his ‘what’s your name?’ spiel and, then, just before Lucas can pull the trigger, Kennex—wearing the Facemaker disguising him as one of the gang—comes in and finishes off the rest of the baddies. He grabs the negotiating phone and tells Maldonado to drop the comm jam—the other bad guys were using it to jam the alarm at the palladium depot.

They do so, and the alarm goes off, trapping crew 2 in the vault.

Dorian disables the light bomb, and yay, day saved.

Paige and Jenna meet Kennex face to face and mutual admiration ensues.

"There's like 50 shades of purple in there, man!" Courtesy of Fox. — “There’s like 50 shades of purple in there, man!”
Courtesy of Fox.

He’s not Injured, He’s My Partner

Dorian and Kennex go back to the station, where they are greeted with applause—a far cry from the last week’s sullen muttering—and Kennex, having completed the I-don’t-like-my-partner phase and firmly moving into the he’s-weird-but-he’s-mine odd couple phase, bypasses Lom’s lecture about fixing Dorian with chewing gum and takes Dorian out for noodles. Aw. They’re buddies now!

On the way to the noodle shop, Dorian admits that when the gun was pointed at his head, he discovered he did not want to die.

That’s intriguing. It’s hard to write a world with robots or any type of AI and not have to grapple with the sentient beings versus human technology moral dilemma, and the writers seem to laying the groundwork for this.

The episode ends with Dorian singing (reasonable well) along with Benny and the Jets. And calling Kennex ‘Reginald.’

All in all, a really good episode. Like all great TV, the experience was more than just a sum up of what happened.

Come back next week for more on our favorite odd couple!

Almost Human airs on Fox on Mondays at 8 p.m.

Geekscape Review: Almost Human

by S.J. BorgerNovember 19, 2013

The images are nothing new to us; the world is clearly pulled from the great sci-fi futures of our past; in the opening scenes we see Asimov, Orwell, Philip K Dick, Arthur Clark, William Gibson. We see Blade Runner, Demolition Man, Robocop, Alien and Cameron’s dark tech-noir worlds.

Almost Human does not reinvent the near-future dystopia, with its slums of neon and Chinese ideograms, black markets for tech and drugs not invented yet; nor does it offer a new version of luxury, all glinting silver and glass. It is not a brave new world, perhaps, but it’s certainly a fast-paced, well-developed, well-acted and for the most part well-written world, and if you join J.H. Wyman and J.J. Abrams in their new project—part sci-fi adventure, part buddy-cop comedy, part humanist philosophy essay–you will not be disappointed.

The pilot and episode two aired in a one-two punch this week, on Sunday and Monday, in an effort by Fox to capitalize on both the after-football audience and the pre-Sleepy Hollow viewers. The move seems to have worked, with the Almost Human pilot pulling in 9.1 million viewers and a 3.1 rating (not the strongest debut this Fall, both Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and Sleepy Hollow premiered to larger numbers, but still a solid debut); the numbers slipped a little on Monday (episode two: Skins) to a 6.8 million viewership, which was still a 10% bump from the numbers Bones pulled in in the same time slot.

All in all, viewers would do well to tune back in to the show; the pilot, while entertaining, was not as strong as the second episode and things only look to get better from here.

Almost Human follows John Kennex (Karl Urban, Star Trek, Judge Dredd), an LAPD Detective in the year 2048. All detectives are now required to have an android as a partner, but Kennex don’t need no stinking robots, especially since he blames them for the death of his human partner two years prior in a bust gone wrong.

Of course our snarky Kennex has secrets—including visits to a black market doctor to access memories lost to him from his injuries during the ambush—and the other Detectives aren’t entirely thrilled he’s back, except for his Captain (the lovely Lili Taylor, Mystic Pizza, Six Feet Under, The Conjuring) and Detective Stahl, the computer guru (Minka Kelly, Friday Night Lights, Parenthood).

After throwing his first android partner out of the car (while moving at high speeds), Kennex gets assigned a DRN (or Dorian) model, one that had been discontinued due to its emotional programming making it unstable. Dorian (Michael Ealy, Sleeper Cell, For Colored Girls, Common Law) has the ability for empathy and deductive reasoning, something the new models do not, and through the course of the first episode (with a fairly basic get-the-bad-guy-foil-the-dastardly=plan plot) the two—both outcasts—form a bond.

Not to lie, these two are also an attraction... — Not to lie, these two are also an attraction…

The attraction of this show is not (or at least not yet) the story. The plots are basic procedural whodunits, well written and paced but nothing surprisingly evocative…yet. However, the interaction between Urban and Ealy is engaging and enjoyable—the two already of a steady repartee with genuine chemistry. J.J. Abrams and Wyman have solid experience in making a procedural more than just about the crimes being solved, and Almost Human looks like it could mature into the Fringe successor we’re all waiting for.

What do you think, dear reader? Will you be tuning in next week for more?

Check back next week for our recap! And follow our twitter for live tweeting during the episode!

Geekscape Score: 4/5

Almost Human airs on Fox on Mondays at 8 p.m.

Episodes can be viewed here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykwxg534yAw

Geekscape’s Guide To The 2013-2014 TV Season

by S.J. BorgerSeptember 4, 2013

Below is the definitive list of new and returning shows on network and cable (excluding the smaller niche channels such as Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon) that could possibly have a fandom, be near a fandom, or be fandom adjacent…

Peruse through the list, watch some trailers (though not every show has a trailer yet), and have fun!

So. Alphabetical order. Nice and neutral.

Starting with:

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D

ABC, Tues, 8 to 9 p.m. Air Date: 9/24

Whedon’s back on the small screen, folks, and he’s brought Coulson. And Lola. While not necessarily a super-hero show (Coulson runs a small team of normal, if talented, people who track and contain—if needed—new superhuman talent), it lives and breathes at the intersection of Marvel and Whedon so really, anything could happen. Whedon has said that the new series is Avengers adjacent, taking place after the events of The Avengers, but focusing on the normal people on the peripheral of the super-hero action. It is expected that the show will interact with both Captain America: The Winter Soldier as well as the upcoming Avengers sequel.

Clark Gregg reprises his role as Phil Coulson (you could hear the screams of joy as far as Montana when he was revealed as being alive at the 2013 South by Southwest Festival this year). He is joined by Ming-Na Wen (Mulan, Stargate Universe, Eureka), fan favorite J. August Richards (Angel), Cobie Smulders (How I Met Your Mother, Avengers), and Ron Glass (Firefly, Serenity) along with a host of new, interesting characters that round out the team of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Quite possibly the most anticipated show airing this season—the pilot has gotten high scores at IGN as well as positive reaction from the San Diego Comic Con crowd—its pedigree and fan base should guarantee significant support—the question is will it appeal to a larger audience? Hopefully its adventure-of-the-week, underdog format will make it accessible enough for both the fans and the soon-to-be fans.

Once Upon A Time in Wonderland

http://youtu.be/vqOwV-2B5_w

ABC, Thurs, 8 to 9 p.m., 10/10

A spin-off of ABC’s hit Once Upon a Time, now in its third season, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland follows a now grown-up Alice, almost convinced her adventures were the ravings of an insane mind, as she escapes from a Victorian London insane asylum and goes back down the rabbit hole.

Wonderland, however, is also a victim of the same curse as the residents of Storybook, Maine, prompting Alice into new and—hopefully— thrilling adventures.

The show is expected to cross over with Once Upon A Time and share characters and settings, as well as having the blending of ABC/Disney mythology that Once Upon a Time is known for (Once Upon A Time deals entirely with the Disney version of fairytales, stretching the premise as far as possible to include other characters, such as Mulan, Peter Pan, etc.).

Once Upon A Time had a similarly exciting premise that was never fulfilled, stuck instead in a mire of bad dialogue, over-exposition, predictable ‘twists’ and flashbacks with painfully obvious ‘lessons’ (only Rumpelstiltskin, played by Robert Carlyle, was ever able to convincingly play both sides of his characters). Hopefully Alice will not be plagued by the same issues.

Created by the same team as Once Upon a Time, Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz (who were also responsible for Tron: Legacy), Alice stars newcomer Sophie Lowe as Alice, with Emma Rigby (Hollyoaks, Prisoners Wives) as The Red Queen, John Lithgow (Third Rock from the Sun to name one….) as the voice of the White Rabbit, and Naveen Andrews (The English Patient, Lost, The Adventures of Sinbad) as Jafar.

Midseason

ABC also has two shows slated for a midseason premiere which skate along the borderline of geekdom:

Mind Games

http://youtu.be/s2P9Qc5tgzo

ABC, Sundays, 10 to 11 p.m., 3/9/14

From Kyle Killen (Lone Star, Awake), Mind Games stars Christian Slater and Steve Zahn as brothers who use psychological manipulation to help their clients solve problems; from the preview it looks a little like Franklin and Bash meets Leverage with some Lie to Me thrown in for good measure.

Resurrection

http://youtu.be/8MFrquHzlWA

ABC, Sunday, 10 to 11 p.m., Limited Series, 2/24/13

Based on Jason Mott’s novel The Returned, and co-produced by a long list of people including Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Resurrection stars Omar Epps (House), Francis Fisher (Eureka, Sons of Anarchy, Torchwood: Miracle Day) and Kurtwood Smith (That ‘70’s Show, Star Trek IV, 24). The show follows the lives of the citizens of Arcadia, Missouri as their loved ones begin returning from the dead—not as zombies, but as living, breathing, alive people the same age as they were when they died.

Castle returns to ABC on Monday, Sept. 23rd.

Returning Shows:

With renewals for both Once Upon a Time (Sun 8 to 9 p.m., 9/29) for its third season, and Castle (Mon, 10 to 11 p.m., 9/23) for its sixth season, ABC is a strong second among the networks for geek friendly fare.

BBC America—known for quality geekfare such as Merlin, Torchwood, Orphan Black, Being Human, Misfits, Vex, Spaced, Black Books and, of course, Doctor Who, Red Dwarf and Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy—only has one new offering for the Fall 2013 season.

Atlantis

BBC America, Saturday, 11/23, Time TBA

Atlantis is a fantasy adventure program created and written by Howard Overman (Misfits and Vexed) and Johnny Capps (Merlin). The show’s main cast reads like a Guide to Greek Myths (Jason, Hercules, Medusa, The Oracle) and the series is set to be one of the most expensive projects on the BBC Wales studio. There is no official preview/trailer yet, but numerous six-second teasers can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/bbcatlantis

Atlantis looks to be very much in the BBC Sword-and-Sandals adventure genre, and we can safely expect well written, well-acted episodes with the occasional extremely cheesy special effect.

Midseason

The Musketeers is slated for midseason debut, but there is little information on it other than the newest incarnation of the Doctor, Peter Capaldi, was filming the show (he’s Cardinal Richelieu) when he was offered the role of the Doctor. Also starring Santiago Cabrera (Heroes, Merlin) and Luke Pasqualino (Skins).

The Doctor Who 50th Anniversary is slated for 11/23/13

Returning Shows

While disappointingly low on the new shows slate this season, the returning shows more than make up for it. With the Doctor Who 50^th Anniversary special on 11/23/13, as well as season 8 coming up (and a new Doctor), Orphan Black returning midseason (March 2014), and of course, the ubiquitous Top Gear (I won’t say which season, its re-run so much it’s nearly impossible to tell).

Sherlock Holmes will return for its third season as well, but will air in America on PBS.

CBS is next in our little alphabetical list…and they have nothing. Not the geek-friendliest network, CBS. Mid-season has a new show coming out called Intelligence (Mon, 10 to 11 p.m., air date 2/24/14), which basically looks like a not-as-funny Chuck. Which makes sense for the network that also has The Mentalist, which is basically a not-as-funny Psych.

Ah, the CW. Where else could we find such unabashedly sexy fare? As well as very, very, very geek friendly. And quantity, one might say, over quality. We have to at least give them credit for trying: of all the networks, the CW continuously has the most fantasy/sci-fi/speculative/comic-book based shows every season. And they don’t even require proficient storytelling or decent ratings when it comes to renewing them. This throw-it-at-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks approach has brought us Arrow and Beauty and the Beast; but it also brought us Supernatural and Nikita.

However, it has to be said that most CW shows can be boiled down to “pretty (mostly white) people with (Insert bad guy/thing here) problems hook up with each other while maintaining bouncy, shiny hair and flawless skin.”

This year the CW gives us five—that’s right, five—sci-fi/fantasy shows. Three premiere this fall, the other two have mid-season dates. True to mold, they all have a large cast of young, nubile and extremely good looking people who seem to spend a lot of time with their shirts either off or unbuttoned. Not to complain: sometimes it’s nice to sit back and watch the pretty.

The Originals

http://youtu.be/WTKj52BUEeU

CW, Sneak Peek: Thurs, 9 to 10 p.m., 10/3; Regular Timeslot: Tues, 8 to 9 p.m., 10/8

A spin off of the popular Vampire Diaries, The Originals follows the lives of various supernatural characters (vampires, witches, werewolves, half vamp/half wolves…) in hot, steamy New Orleans. For some reason that sounds really familiar…but we just can’t place where we’ve seen something like that before.

The series focuses on the Klaus (Joseph Morgan), Elijah (Daniel Gillies) and Rebekah (Claire Rhiannon Holt) Mikaelson, vampire siblings–and the world’s original vampires–as they return to New Orleans—a town Klaus founded, centuries before—and enter a power struggle with the local supernaturals to reclaim to city.

The Originals has a sneak peek immediately after the season premiere of The Vampire Diaries before it moves to its normal timeslot on Tuesdays, leading into Supernatural.

Reign

CW, Thursdays, 9 to 10 p.m., 10/17

CW’s attempt at The Tudors; Reign follows the young Mary, Queen of Scots, as she is courted by rival princes: the French (Catholic) and English (not-so-Catholic). The history of Queen Mary is fascinating. She had a legitimate claim to the English throne and was backed by English Catholics; she was married three times and was viewed as a powerful player in the socio-religious politics of the time; she survived multiple assassination attempts and was put under house arrest by Elizabeth I of England for eighteen years before eventually being executed for treason.

Unsurprisingly, the CW’s version is about high school age girls being flirted with by high school age boys who all just happen to be princes and princesses. Lots of pretty costumes and slow motion while a song that sounds a whole lot like Bones from MS MR plays underneath (clearly a lot of people saw the Game of Thrones season three preview and said, wow, we should make ours look just like that).

Oh, and Nostradamus as an articulate, court-going prophet. Who knew?

That’s not to say it couldn’t be the surprise hit of the season. Stranger things have happened.

The Bible, airing on the History Channel, was the surprise hit of the 2012-2013 season.

The Tomorrow People

http://youtu.be/3wi0PnEIdjc

CW., Weds., 9 to 10 p.m., 10/9

A remake of the popular 1970’s BBC show of the same name, The Tomorrow People follows a group of young, pretty people who are the next stage in human evolution. The Tomorrow People have psi powers that ran the usual gamut of telepathy, teleportation, telekinesis, etc., and the use them to fight the good fight against evil, bigoted humans.

It’s unclear how closely it will follow the BBC show, where the group was not only involved in saving humanity from threats on a weekly basis but also part of a galactic organization that monitored and assisted telepaths—the trailer features a lot of Mark Pellegrino (Lucifer from Supernatural)–random trivia, he’s the uncle of Stephen Amell, aka Arrow–as Jedikiah Price chasing down our super-evolved heroes because, as Price says,: “I’m systematically rounding up your kind and wiping you out, because I am evil.”

While the shows seems to be gleefully stealing from all manner of sci-fi before it (the teleporting looks a lot like Jumper, at one point there is a force lift, followed by a frost-shock, followed by a force choke, and the hidden subway station HQ has been seen, well, everywhere) and there are clear parallels to Alphas as well as X-Men (Marvel even used the term Tomorrow People, starting in 1963, as a taxonomic designation for the X-Men and other Mutants in the Marvel Universe).

The Tomorrow People was created by Phil Klemmer (Chuck, Veronica Mars) and stars Robbie Amell (cousin to Stephen Amell of previously mentioned Arrow fame) as Stephen Jameson, Luke Mitchell as John Young and Peyton List as Cara Coburn.

Midseason

Not content with just three new casts of incredibly good-looking people with powers, The CW has The 100 and Star Crossed set to premiere midseason.

The 100 is based on the book of the same name by Kass Morgan, and it centers on 100 petty thieves and criminals (all young and pretty, with excellent muscle tone for people born and raised on a space station) who are sent from their space station homes to post-apocalyptic Earth to see if mankind can survive on the harsh surface.

Star Crossed looks rather like District 9, if the aliens were all super-hot models who were trying to integrate into all-human US High Schools. The trailer seems to have a lot of imagery that’s set to invoke the civil rights battle of the 1960s, which doesn’t quite ring true as the only seemingly physical difference between humans and aliens are an abundance of six-packs and some tattoos. There’s also a Romeo and Juliet plot between a human girl and an alien boy. Because why else would you travel light years across galaxies if not for true love?

Supernatural returns for season 9 on The CW in October.

Returning Shows

The CW has renewed The Vampire Diaries (Thurs, 8 to 9 p.m., 10/3), Beauty and The Beast (Mon, 9 to 10 p.m., 10/7), Supernatural (Tues, 9 to 10 p.m., 10/8), The Arrow (Weds, 8 to 0 p.m., 10/9) and Nikita (Fall 2014, no air date as of yet).

FOX, which seems to be aware that it will never, ever, ever make up for cancelling Firefly, is trying to retain some geek cache with two new shows this Fall.

Sleepy Hollow

FOX, Monday, 9 to 10 p.m., 9/16

The second most anticipated show of the Fall, directly behind Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Sleepy Hollow is created by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (Fringe, Transformers, Star Trek) and is based on the short story, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, by Washington Irving.

Sleepy Hollow follows Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison from Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, One Day, Parade’s End) as he is mysteriously transported to modern day Sleepy Hollow, and attempts to hunt down and stop the Headless Horseman (in the original story the Horseman is an 18^th century German mercenary brought in by the English to fight during the revolutionary war) who was brought to the future as well.

Ichabod must join forces with local Sheriff Abbie Mills (Nicole Beharie, Shame, 42) and adjust to cultural, societal and technological difference of the 21^st century (including radically changing his racial and gender stereotypes) in order to stop the Horseman’s nightly killing spree.

With a strong cast and an all-star writing team, expectations are high the Sleepy Hollow will be the show to watch this Fall.

Sleepy Hollow rounds out its cast with Orlando Jones (Godzilla, Evolution, MadTV) as Captain Frank Irving and John Cho (Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle, Go On) as Andy Dunn.

Almost Human

http://youtu.be/ykwxg534yAw

Fox, Mon, 8 to 9 p.m., 11/4

JJ Abrams—who doesn’t seem to be content unless he has four or five projects going—is producing this sci-fi procedural starring Karl Urban (Star Trek, RED, Chronicles of Riddick, Riddick, Doom) and Michael Ealy (Sleeper Cell, Flash Forward, Underworld: Awakening) as unwilling partners in the LAPD thirty-five years in the future.

It’s typical buddy cop formula: an off couple forced to work together and eventually growing to trust and even like each other.

The twist? Karl Urban’s tough-as-nails cop, John Kennex, doesn’t trust Michael Ealy’s Dorian for one good reason: Dorian is a robot. And not just a normal, super-efficient robot, but a slightly malfunctioning one.

While the trailer gives a Deus Ex meets I, Robot vibe, and doesn’t really introduce any new themes or arguments that sci-fi fans won’t already be thoroughly versed in, both Urban and Ealy are worth watching and the trailer certainly captivated interest.

Almost Human was created by J.H. Wyman (Keen Eddie, Fringe) and J.J. Abrams is one of the executive producers, so hopes are high.

With Neil deGrasse Tyson hosting, Cosmos is set for Jan 2014 debut.

Midseason

Midseason has two more shows set to debut; Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey and Wayward Pines, though the air dates are still not announced.

Cosmos will star Neil deGrasse Tyson and was produced by Seth McFarlane and Carl Sagan’s widow (the original show was hosted by Sagan and aired on PBS). When it does air, it will air simultaneously on Fox and the NatGeo channel, expecting to launch in 48 countries in over 140 languages. Also, the bridge of Tyson’s ship looks almost exactly like the Illusive Man’s from Mass Effect. Just saying.

Wayward Pines brings Blake Crouch’s mystery/thriller novel of the same name to the small screen. M. Night Shyamalan has developed it as a multi-part series for Fox. It has been compared to Twin Peaks by just about everybody, and Fox hasn’t released very much information other than a 2014 release.

24--and Jack Bauer--are back on Fox in May 2014. — 24–and Jack Bauer–are back on Fox in May 2014.

Returning Shows

Fox does not have much in the way of the Geek returning; The Following is set for a midseason premiere on Mondays, 9 to 10 p.m.; and under the heading of old-shows-don’t-die-they-go-to-mini-series, 24 is slated to return as a limited run in the Spring.

NBC is not offering much this year for us geeks, with only one offering in the Fall. We’re hoping this is an improvement; previous years, which have had a glut of nerd-tastic shows, perhaps in some desperate attempt by NBC to gain some geek-cred (The Cape, The Event, Flash Forward, V, Bionic Women, Journeyman). This make anything with a slightly Lost-like feel strategy hasn’t fared well for the Peacock, so maybe just one new show means NBC knows it has a hit. And it case it doesn’t, it has two midseason shows ready to wash the taste from your mouth.

Dracula

http://youtu.be/Z1jVcmDH43Y

NBC, Friday, 10 to 11 p.m., 10/25

A limited series with only a ten episode run, Dracula is a retelling of the classic tale by Bram Stoker. Created by Cole Hadden, with Daniel Knauf (Carnivale) as showrunner, Dracula stars Jonathon Rhys Meyers (The Tudors, Mission Impossible III) as Dracula, who returns to Victorian London to seek revenge for a betrayal years before. This is another show whose trailer draws heavy inspiration from Game of Thrones.

The plot stays somewhat in line with the book; Dracula falls for the lovely Mina, there’s a Van Helsing on hand to fight him…there’s a lot of pretty people in period clothing walking around dark London streets. If they weren’t all in their thirties it’d be a CW show.

Dracula stars Katie McGrath (Merlin), Nonso Anozie (Ender’s Game, Game of Thrones) and Thomas Kretschmann (King Kong, The Pianist, Blade II, 24).

Midseason

Two shows are slated for a midseason release: Believe, another J.J. Abrams produced show, directed by Alfonso Cuaran (Harry Potter) about a little girl with special powers and the ex-con who has been tasked to protect her (Sundays, 9 to 10 p.m.); and Crossbones, created by Neil Cross (Luther) and starring John Malkovich as the pirate Blackbird. Slated to air in 2014 on Sundays, from 10 to 11 p.m., there is little other information out there as of yet.

NBC also recently announced a mini-series adaptation of Stephen King’s Tommyknockers in 2014, but no dates or casting information has been forthcoming.

Returning

Returning to the Peacock this Fall are Revolution (Weds, 8 to 9 p.m., 9/25) and Grimm, Fridays, 9 to 10 p.m., which if you are not watching, start—there’s still time to catch up before the new season airs on 10/25. Community is slated for a midseason release.

Black Sails is set to debut on Starz in 2014.

Networks Waiting for Midseason to Debut All Their Geekery

Not every network has new content slated for the Fall, but midseason will serve up some highly anticipate premieres:

SyFy announced Helix with a premiere date of Jan, 2014. Ronald D. Moore (BattleStar Galactica) created the series about a group of CDC scientists sent to the Artic only to discover the fate of mankind may rest in their hands. Starring Billy Campbell (Eureka, The Killing, The 4400) and Hiroyuki Sanada (Speed Racer, Lost, The Wolverine).

TNT is bringing two shows that may not deal with a fandom in their content but certainly do with their talent: Mob City (formerly Lost Angels) stars Simon Pegg and is written and directed by Frank Darabont. The series follows the LAPD/Mob wars in Los Angeles in the 1940’s.; and Legends with Sean Bean as the best-of-the-best undercover agent who is struggling to find where his cover ends and he begins. Both shows are slated for 2014 premiere.

Simon Pegg in Frank Darabont's new cable drama, Mob City, on TNT. — Simon Pegg in Frank Darabont’s new cable drama, Mob City, on TNT.

The Last Ship isn’t set to premiere on TBS until Summer 2014, but this Michael Bay produced end-of-the-world-via-virus show looks to be next summer’s big cable hit. The show stars Adam Baldwin (Firefly, Serenity, Chuck) and Eric Dane (Grey’s Anatomy).

Penny Dreadful is set to premiere on Showtime in 2014. Called a pschyo-sexual horror series, produced by John Logan (writer: Rango, Gladiator, Skyfall) and Sam Mendes (director: Skyfall, American Beauty) it stars Josh Hartnett, Eva Green and Billie Piper. The series will be set in turn-of-the century London and will deal with the origins of literary horror monsters such as Dorian Gray, Dracula and Frankenstein’s Monster.

Starz has Black Sails set to debut in January 2014. It is a prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel, Treasure Island, set twenty years before the events in the book. Fan reaction at the San Diego Comic Con was so strong Starz has already ordered a second season. It’s got pirates, islands, beaches and rum, so all things point to a hit.

The Outlander is also set to premiere in 2014 on Starz. Based upon the bestselling novels by Diana Gabaldon, the series follows the adventures of time-traveler Claire and her Scottish husband, Jamie Fraser, as they live through historical events from the Scottish revolt under Bonnie Prince Charlie to the revolutionary war. Lots of adventure, lots of romance (and sex, to be clear) and a great deal of historically accurate details made the books a must-read; if Starz follows HBO’s example and lets the novels guide the show than expectations should remain high.

This image--and a short clip--have been teasing the internet about J.J. Abrams new show for weeks now. — This image–and a short clip–have been teasing the internet about J.J. Abrams’ new show for weeks now.

Rounding off our report are two shows which are nothing more than whisper and rumor at the moment:

The Stranger, J.J. Abrams’ bit of marketing masterpiece: just a grainy black and white video with no information at all.

The Sector is a Ridley Scott produced, sci-fi procedural a la Blade Runner. Originally picked up by Cinemax, it was dropped in 2011 but the Science Channel recently announced it is picking up the series.

American Horror Story: Coven premieres on Oct 23rd.

Returning Shows to Keep An Eye Out For

The Walking Dead returns to AMC on Sunday, Oct. 13th at 10 p.m. Season four has yet another new showrunner in Scott Gimple, who will guide the show through a season set to introduce a host of new characters joining our ragged crew in the prison as they attempt to shore up and defend against walkers and humans alike.

The American Horror Story: Coven will be returning to F/X on Weds., October 9th, at 9 pm. Continuing the tradition set in season 2, season 3 will have returning actors but a completely different st of characters and plot. Returning this season are Jessica Lange, Sarah Paulson, Francis Conroy and Dermot Mulroney; Kathy Bates, Patti Lupone and Angela Bassatt round out an all star cast. Coven focuses on the secret society of witches and an outside evil which is attacking them. The season will flash between modern day and 1830’s.

http://youtu.be/TkPwDPt4JOA

HBO will be bringing back Game of Thrones in the Spring of 2014. Be prepared, the show’s finished seasons are now more numerous then the remaining books…R.R. Marting better write fast.

SyFy is bringing back three shows this season: Being Human, slated for a Jan. 2014 premiere; Warehouse 13 will come back (if only for six episodes) for its fifth and final season in 2014; and Haven premieres its fourth season on September 13 at 10 p.m. (with a guest star stint from everybody’s favorite Sheriff, Colin Ferguson).

Starz has renewed Da Vinci’s Demons for a 2014 premiere. If you didn’t see season one, now’s the time to go back and watch (the complete season can be pre-ordered on iTunes). Created by David S. Goyer, co-writer of the The Dark Knight Trilogy, Da Vinci’s Demons is a solid show steeped in mythology and renaissance Italian/Catholic politics.

TNT is bringing Falling Skies Back for a fourth season in late Spring/Summer 2014, so check back for more information on what will happen to Mason and his regiment later.

That’s it! We hope you enjoyed our guide, and be sure to let us know if there are any titles that we missed!