Sunday 10 February 2008

Strike Over: When Do We Get New US Drama?

Sunday 10 February 2008
Now that the writers' strike is pretty much a case of crossing the t's and dotting the i's, TV Guide have released a handy rundown of what many beleaguered productions will be doing...

24. The stalled seventh season might debut in autumn '08, or be kept on the back-burner till early-'09. Sky are likely to show episodes a few weeks after their US debut.

Bionic Woman. No new episodes are expected to be ordered, meaning this problematic 70s remake is dead in the water, following criticisms and poor ratings. The show starts on ITV2 very soon.

Heroes. No official announcement yet. My guess? They'll start a proper 23-episode run of a third season in early-autumn. The shortened second season starts on BBC Three in the next few months.

Lost. The 6 episodes completed before the strike are currently airing in the US and UK. It's likely that the production team can crank out the remaining six -- meaning Lost will get its intended 16-episode third season done before summer. Great news!

Pushing Daisies. 9 episodes have aired in the US, with the last episode acting as a makeshift season finale. No new episodes will air till autumn. The show starts in the UK on primetime ITV1 soon -- the first US drama to do so since 1996's Millennium.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. 5 episodes completed before the strike are yet to air in the US. After that, the network will make a decision about making more. Ratings have been quite healthy -- despite the fact 18m viewers for the Pilot slipping to 8m by episode 4. But is this purely because the show had so little competition during the strike period? The show starts on 21 February @10pm on Virgin 1.

The full list from TV Guide can be read here.

UPDATE: A more comprehensive list, already with some amendments to what's above, has been released here. Check it out, as they've promised to keep it updated. Prison Break endangered? 24 put back till '09? Episodes 9-16 of Lost delayed till Autumn?