Digital Spy: 8 of television's biggest unresolved cliffhangers

Yesterday over at Digital Spy, inspired by the cancellation of BBC3's In the Flesh, I compiled a selection of television shows that also went off-air and left audiences with unresolved cliffhanger endings...

TERMINATOR: GENESIS casts GAME OF THRONES' Emilia Clarke

As a fan of the Terminator franchise and Game of Thrones, I thought I'd mention this news here. Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) has been cast in the iconic role of Sarah Connor, beating out contenders like Brie Larson and Margot Robbie. Her screen son John Connor could be played by Jason Clarke (no relation), best-known for The Chicago Code and Zero Dark Thirty, but talks are ongoing.

Poll: Which is your favourite Terminator?

Last week I asked you to vote for your favourite entry in the Terminator franchise. The most popular vote was for Terminator 2: Judgment Day (38%), followed by The Terminator (27%), and the surprise runner-up was TV's Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (22%). The big losers were the latest installment, Terminator: Salvation (8%), and Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines is still the least popular movie with 5% of the vote. 123 people took the time to register their vote, so thanks to everyone who participated.

Land Of The Rising Summer

Summer Glau and Brian Austin Green were in Tokyo last week to promote the DVD release of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles in Japan, during which they were asked to strike a pose for the cameras. And I find it funny how Glau goes straight into shark-eyed Terminator mode, while Green appears to be channeling his Beverly Hills 90210 days.

Josh Friedman on the demise of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

io9 have a good exclusive interview with Josh Friedman, showrunner of the recently-cancelled Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

"I think the finale can be looked at both as an end and also as a springboard to a new part of the story—that's what I intended, at least. I wanted to bring an end to many of the questions that I'd raised in the episodes previous but it's dramatically unsound to try and create a rogue's gallery of scenes just to check off every narrative box. I knew there was a chance we were being cancelled but I also needed to let the network see where we could take the story if given the chance. So I tried to close one door while opening another. There's obviously different opinions as to how successful I was hitting that target. But I'm very proud of the episode." Continue reading...

Josh Friedman responds to fans regarding Sarah Connor Chronicles' cancellation

Josh Friedman, executive-producer of the now-defunct Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, has posted a message to fans who campaigned to get the show renewed on the T:tSCC blog:

"By now most of you have heard the news that T:SCC is cancelled. I received a call earlier today from Peter Roth at Warner Bros. and I appreciate both his personal and professional support throughout this show’s life. I know a lot of you are angry about the cancellation and want to find a place to direct your anger and to that I say do yourself a favor and find a way to move past it." Continue reading...

Hasta la vista, Sarah Connor! Welcome back, Chuck!

Predictably, Fox's Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles won't be back for a third season, so the game-changing finale will have to remain a talking point for fans. Still, there is good news to compensate: NBC has decide to renew Chuck for a third year, albeit reduced to a 13-episode run with a budget cut. It's rumoured this means the cast won't all appear together very regularly, and it's possible one cast member could be fired to save expenses. Any suggestions?

P.S. If you didn't hear at the weekend; Dollhouse has been picked up for a second year thanks to strong DVR/online ratings and the fact Joss Whedon has agreed to drastically reduce his overheads. Apparently, the mythical thirteenth episode "Epitaph One" was created on a shoestring for the DVD, and Whedon used it as an example to execs that Dollhouse can be done much cheaper.

To recap: Boo! No more Summer Glau kicking ass in tight jeans! But... hooray! More Yvonne Strahovski kicking ass in her underwear!

Chuck, Dollhouse & Sarah Connor Chronicles: rumours of renewal

Those are the three "on the bubble" shows I'm hoping will get picked up for another year. We'll find out their fates on Monday (Fox) and Tuesday (NBC), when the networks give their Upfronts presentations. However, weekend rumours are surfacing that....

... the impressive Save Chuck campaign has worked, but the spy-comedy will be moved from Mondays to Fridays and reduced to 13-episodes to save money...

... Dollhouse will be back for a 13-episode run (thanks to strong DVR/online ratings, the fact execs liked the last batch of episodes, and that sci-fi shows traditionally sell well on DVD.) But, showrunner Joss Whedon will have to work with a big reduction in budget as a compromise...

... Sadly, there's no optimistic gossip about Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles floating around, which I'm taking as a bad sign. But, star Thomas Dekker did find time to send a word of thanks to campaigners, and call Fox to ask for a third season himself, all while smoking and topless in front of his laptop...

TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES 2.22 - "Born To Run"

[SPOILERS] It's strange to remember that mid-season T:tSCC had sunk to near-unwatchable levels, as the final batch of episodes have been amongst the best ever. "Born To Run" is a very intriguing beast, too; a season finale that positions events for a radical third season (still unconfirmed at time of writing), and yet works adequately as a series finale to feed our imagination...

After the events of "Adam Raised A Cain", Sarah (Lena Headey) is an imprisoned fugitive being interrogated by Detective Auldridge over: the murder of Miles Dyson (see: T2), a bank vault explosion (see: "Pilot"), the kidnapping of Savannah Weaver, the whereabouts of her "dead" son John (Thomas Dekker), etc. Of course, Sarah isn't talking. She always prefers to simper, and history has shown that chatter about time-travelling cyborgs only gets you a one-way ticket to the funny farm...

Meanwhile, John is debating whether to rescue his mom with the help of Cameron (Summer Glau), who surprises him by revealing she may be responsible for Sarah's predestined cancer if her nuclear power-source has become unshielded. Later, there's a beautifully peculiar, sexual scene between Cameron and John in his bedroom, where the sexy Terminator takes off her top, lies on the bed, asks John to lie on top of her... and symbolically "penetrate" her with a knife. This enables him to feel around in her insides for signs of malfunctioning power-cells. Luckily, he doesn't find any...

Sarah manages to get a message out to her son, thanks to Father Bonilla (Carlos Sanz), the Hispanic priest from season 2's premiere whom she can persuade to believe her story, and who can't legally be recorded talking to her. Bonilla arranges new fake IDs for John and Cameron at Sarah's behest and gets a woman to drop them round, together with a message to leave as soon as possible and not to attempt a rescue...

At ZeiraCorp, Catherine (Shirley Manson) becomes determined to meet with John Connor, as she has many questions for him and wants to thank him for protecting Savannah. Ellison (Richard T. Jones) later arrives to speak with John, passing on a message to Cameron from his flame-haired employer: "will you join us?" It's the same message the liquid-metal Terminator passed onto Cameron in the future, after escaping from the sinking Jimmy Carter submarine. Is Catherine the same Terminator..? Or is her message a coded phrase used by a renegade faction of Skynet machines?

The Terminator that attacked Savannah is also still around, arming itself at a gun shop in an echo of Arnold Schwarzenegger doing the same in James Cameron's original movie. The cyborg arrives at ZeiraCorp to complete its mission and kill Savannah, but is thwarted easily by Catherine -- who surprises him by lancing him with her arm-blades and terminating him by conducting electricity through his body from a nearby mains supply. John Henry (Garret Dillahunt) speculates that "his brother" must have sent the cyborg...

The big set-piece of the finale is Cameron's solo attack on the L.A prison to rescue Sarah, against her wishes. This allows the show to indulge its action side (again, echoing a similar scene in the '84 movie), and the make-up crew even get to give Glau the iconic Terminator battle-damage of an exposed, crimson eye ball. Sarah is extricated during the ensuing prison-wide breakout, leaving with John in a getaway car, determined to investigate Savannah's claim that ZeiraCorp have a sentient machine living in the basement.

After arriving at ZeiraCorp and being escorted to see Catherine by Ellison, Cameron is secretly tasked with killing John Henry in the basement. In her office, Catherine confirms audience suspicions that she's not technically a villain, as she claims they share a common enemy (the forces sending a Terminator to kill the Connor's and Savannah -- who must be important in the future, somehow.) As Catherine speaks, one of the "drones" Sarah investigates mid-season is spotted flying towards Catherine's high-rise office window on a kamikaze run, prompting Catherine to protect them when the drone impacts, by turning into a metal shield (finally outing herself as a cyborg to the Connor's and Ellison.)

Interestingly, it seems that Catherine and Sarah are two sides of the same coin -- both have sons called John who will decide the fate of mankind; John Connor will lead the resistance, but Catherine claims he can't do it without her "son" John Henry. They race to the basement, aware that Cameron has been instructed to murder John Henry, arriving to find Cameron disabled and slumped in a chair with her chip missing. Catherine claims that Cameron must have given her chip to John Henry, and they notice the phrase "I'm sorry John" printed on nearby screens from Cameron.

But where is John Henry? Catherine corrects that their question should be where is John Henry -- as she reveals equipment around the room that she's gathered to fight Skynet (including The Turk), and triggers a time displacement bubble. John and Catherine step inside, the former determined to find the now-mobile John Henry to retrieve Cameron's chip, as Sarah and Ellison watch on.

In the future, John and Catherine appear naked together (time-travel must reset liquid-metal Terminators to a default naked setting; it happened to the T-1000 in T2, too.) Shortly after finding clothes, John is discovered by a search team as Catherine vanishes, and is shocked to see that one of the team is his dead uncle Derek! Only, this future-Derek doesn't recognize John... or even know the name "John Connor". Clearly, time has been altered as a result of John's trip into the future (as he clearly didn't live through Judgment Day to become resistance leader). Adding to the familial crisis, John's dead father Kyle is also part of their group, as well as Cameron -- only, it's not actually Cameron, it's her physical template Allison (as otherwise the group's dogs would be barking in her presence.)

Fade out...

Well. I'm going to be mightily frustrated if we don't get a third season, for the simple fact "Born To Run" sets up some wonderful possibilities. The narrative appears likely to divide its time between 2008 (with Sarah and Ellison, possibly involving the search for Miles Dyson's missing son Danny, which is mentioned), and in the war torn future with John.

And what a crazy situation that will be for the teenage John! Will his family believe his insane story, as they now exist in an alternate universe where John didn't have any impact on events? Either way, John can get to know his dad, who died before he was born! Derek's been "resurrected"! Summer Glau would get to play a girl with emotions, whom John doesn't have to feel strange about fancying! And who is this alternate future's resistance leader, if not John Connor? What is John Henry actually planning to do in the future? Is he trying to find his brother? Does he have good intentions? Why did he need Cameron's chip? To become mobile? Does this mean John Henry is part-Cameron now? What will Catherine do in this timeline to help? Is she upset that John Henry fled? How did he know about her time displacement gizmo? She must have told him, surely...

As you can see, there are an abundance of compelling questions with which to fuel another season, or two! I sincerely hope T:tSCC gets a chance to answer them, now that it's belatedly found a way to capitalize on its two-season build-up in such fine, creative style. Or maybe writer/developer Josh Friedman knew the chances of renewal were low, so threw a lot of crazy-fun ideas into the mix for the heck of it? I mean, is it viable to set half of the show in the future, budget-wise? How will that play to TV audiences being treated to a big-budget dystopia in Terminator: Salvation this summer? And would you really have left Sarah stranded in the past with Ellison if you knew you were coming back next year? Their options for a story feel limited... beyond making their own time-machine to jump ahead to get John back, while avoiding more Terminators.

For now, we'll have to wait a few weeks until T:tSCC's fate is decided by Fox, but if it really is a case of "hasta la vista, baby", I'm pleased the series went out with all guns blazing and provided fans with a finale that (even if never resolved) will spark debate, theories and fan-fiction for years to come.


30 April 2009
Virgin1, 10pm

Writer: Josh Friedman
Director: Jeffrey Hunt

Cast: Thomas Dekker (John), Lena Headey (Sarah), Summer Glau (Cameron), Richard T. Jones (Ellison), Brian Austin Green (Derek), Shirley Manson (Catherine), Garret Dillahunt (John Henry), Shane Edelman (Matt Murch), Sabrina Perez (Chola), Linden Goh (Fuller), Joshua Malina (Agent Auldridge), Carlos Sanz (Father Armando Bonilla) & Cooper Huckabee (Salesman)

TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES 2.21 – "Adam Raised A Cain"

||SPOILERS|| Toni Graphia's one of the better writers on T:tSCC, and her script for "Adam Raised A Cain" is definitely a series highlight. After the coordinated attack on her family last week, Sarah (Lena Headey) and Derek (Brian Austin Green) have taken time to reflect on a field of unmarked graves, one of which contains the remains of Kyle Reece. John (Thomas Dekker) discovers a photo of Savannah (Mackenzie Smith) on a dead assailant's phone, recognizing her as the little girl at Dr. Sherman's office weeks back, and deduces that she is their next target...

Savannah herself is growing closer to John Henry (Garret Dillahunt), who is communicating with her online while she's at school. This raises suspicions in the teacher, who calls her mother Catherine (Shirley Manson) in for a chat, presuming that "John Henry" could be a paedophile. Of course, JR has no such intent, and is more intrigued about the idea he has a brother –- the fellow AI that hacked into his system recently – and discusses his thoughts on a likeminded sibling, the human brain, and heaven to Agent Ellison (Richard T. Jones).

Then we're dropped into one of T:tSCC's best ever sequences, as Savannah does her homework alone at the Weaver residence with her nanny, oblivious to the approach of a Terminator assigned to kill her. John Henry is fortunately keeping watch through the house's security cameras, detects the danger, and guides Savannah around her home via a Bluetooth earpiece, keeping her one step ahead of the enemy until security can arrive.

Luckily, John, Sarah, Derek and Cameron (Summer Glau) arrive, to prevent Savannah from harm. It's here that we're dealt a genuinely punishing blow that I give the series maximum respect for meting out: Derek, rounding a corner during the assault, receives a gunshot straight to the head from the Terminator, and drops down dead. No blaze of glory, no last words, no dramatic music, no ultimate point -– just a quick, raw, unexpected death. It wasn't even used as a climax to an act! And I have to say, it was so surprising and senseless that I still feel a lead weight in my stomach thinking about. Anyway, the whole sequence continues in an impressive fashion (we've really missed the cyborg-et-cyborg action), until Cameron manages to hurl the villainous Terminator off the Weaver balcony onto the hillside, as they make their escape...

The LAPD start a manhunt for Savannah's "kidnappers", although Ellison's made aware of Sarah Connor's involvement through John Henry's own surveillance recordings. Ellison arranges to meet with the Connor's to get Savannah back, and they agree to hand her over if they can meet with her mother Catherine. Savannah herself has made reference to her friend with "the cord in the back of his head" who "lives in the basement", causing John to realize that ZeiraCorp have created artificial intelligence using Cromartie's body.

However, before the Connors can confront Catherine, the LAPD capture Sarah after the exchange with Ellison for Savannah is made at a cinema¹, and she's taken into custody as John and Cameron are forced to abandon her. Even the manner of her capture is problematic, as the area is surrounded by press and her face is plastered all over the television news...

"Adam Raised A Cain" was compelling stuff, throughout. That said, T:tSCC is definitely a show that's better at individual moments than anything too sustained. There's been a pacing issue throughout the series, but this episode contains so many memorable sequences that it's difficult to get bored. John Henry keeping Savannah safe, the Weaver residence attack, Derek's death, Sarah's capture, the bookending grave scenes, and a creepy denouement with John Henry singing "Donald, Where's Your Trousers?²" were all excellent, and it's a shame the series doesn't reach that level of quality with greater regularity.

Character-wise, this was another strong outing for Thomas Dekker, Mackenzie Smith was adorable as Savannah (her relationship with John Henry being a particular highlight), and Garret Dillahunt is once again nothing less than magnetic. As a penultimate episode, it definitely raised the game and set things up for a thrilling finale, too –- will Sarah escape custody? Will John Henry find his brother? Will Ellison realize Catherine's a machine? What will Catherine say to the Connor's if they find her? Whose side is Catherine on? And why do Terminators want Savannah dead? And, wow, is Derek really dead? I still can't believe it.


23 April 2009
Virgin1, 10pm

Writer: Toni Graphia
Director: Charles Beeson

Cast: Thomas Dekker (John), Summer Glau (Cameron), Brian Austin Green (Derek), Richard T. Jones (Ellison), Garret Dillahunt (John Henry), Shirley Manson (Catherine), Lena Headey (Sarah), Mackenzie Smith (Savannah), Larry Cedar (Det. Crayton), Jeffrey Pierce (Water Delivery Guy), Austin Highsmith (Debbie) & Jill Remez (Teacher)

1. I know the boring reason for this, but it always amuses me that people in television shows go to the cinema to watch black-and-white classics. I'm sure Savannah would have preferred Monsters vs Aliens.

2. John Henry lost points for not pronouncing "trousers" as "troosers". But, like last season's Johnny Cash sequence, T:tSCC really knows how to pull off a musical sequence.

TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES 2.20 - "To The Lighthouse"

||SPOILERS|| An introspective episode, capped by moments of great action; "To The Lighthouse" was a very good installment that gave Lena Headey a few touching moments that actually worked, for once...

Following the conclusion of the Riley/Jesse storyline in last week's two-parter, "To The Lighthouse" finds Sarah (Headey) taking John (Thomas Dekker) to a brand new safe-house, away from all the bad memories of their season 2 home. This turns out to be a quaint lighthouse on the edge of the ocean, where Sarah's ex-fiancé Charlie (Dean Winters) has been living since the death of his wife. It's a reunion that helps both John and Sarah get over their recent trauma, and Sarah finds Charlie a sympathetic shoulder to cry on after discovering a lump on her breast, and reveals that the cancer she's destined to die of may have come.

I've never felt terribly comfortable with Headey's performance as Sarah Connor in T:tSCC, as it's just too aloof and dull for my taste. However, her awkward style worked perfectly for this storyline. Headey's scene with Winters, confronting her self-diagnosis of cancer, was beautifully handled by both actors.

Elsewhere, John Henry's (Garrett Dillahunt) storyline finally begins to develop, in a surprising and frightening way; while talking to little Savannah (Mackenzie Smith), the serene AI suffers some kind of "malfunction" that leaves him juddering and holding Savannah in a tight grip, scaring her away. Fortunately, ZeiraCorp techie Mr. Murch (Shane Edelman) manages to pull John Henry's power cord to turn him off, so he can assess the damage.

Catherine (Shirley Manson) and Agent Ellison (Richard T. Jones) are told that John Henry was the victim of a cyber-attack from an outside source, and upon being rebooted they discover that John Henry considers the moment his first taste of "death". And he didn't like it. After he assesses his own code, John Henry concludes that a similar artificial-intelligence to him was responsible for hacking his mainframe. Not only that, but the computer "worm" that has been trying to find him has infected nearly every computer on the planet in its search, and can be traced back to Cyberdyne Systems.

At the hospital, Sarah is relieved to find that her breast lump isn't cancer, it's just a cyst that's formed around an electrical implant: a transmitter! Sarah realizes that she was tagged while captured by Ed Winston in "Some Must Watch, While Some Must Sleep" and his accomplices at the Desert Canyon Heating & Air cover-operation must be hot on their tail. She's proven right, when strange men in overalls pull of a coordinates attack on her family. Sarah manages to disabled the transmitter by shocking herself with a defibrillator, then using the paddles on one assailant who has traced her to the hospital, while John and Charlie come under attack at the lighthouse. But can Charlie's beach defenses protect them, as they flee to an escape boat moored on a jetty?

Meanwhile, Derek (Brian Austin Green) and Cameron (Summer Glau) have been sent to retrieve weapons from storage, both unaware they're no longer trusted by Sarah, despite John's insistence that Derek just made a mistake in trusting Jesse and keeping her a secret. When returning, both face an attack by the same utilitarian goons after Sarah and John, one of whom manages to kidnap Derek and use him as bait to disable Cameron when she attempts a rescue at a warehouse (by throwing a bucket of water at her feet and electrocuting her.) These guys certainly know how to immobilize a cyborg quickly and efficiently! However, Cameron's more tenacious than they give her credit, and she regains mobility to retrieve Derek (love his silent response to her arrival, which she responds to with a terse "you're welcome.")

So, interesting to note that John Henry's brush with death has caused him to consider the possibility of a divine power (he reawakens by displaying the paraphrased Bible quote "why has God forsaken me?" on his screens), and it can't be a good thing when machines find spirituality. If they decide to answer to a higher power, pesky humans just get in the way. Also interesting to discover there's another John Henry-style AI out there somewhere (perhaps in the possession of the men attacking the Connor's), and their worm has infected global IT -- is that perhaps a precursor to Skynet assuming control of the world's computer infrastructure?

Really, it was just great to see a working balance between the human drama (Sarah, Charlie, John), the mytharc (John Henry) and some long-overdue action -- particularly for Cameron, who has been ridiculously marginalized for the latter-half of season 2. Seeing her chase after the kidnapper's car, bullets thudding into her chest was perhaps more satisfying than it might have been, because I can't actually remember the last time Summer Glau was kicking ass. And she kicks ass good.

Overall, "To The Lighthouse" was a great, varied, episode. We had some real developments, a few surprises, and a death that (while not heartbreaking) still dug a pit in my stomach given its relevance to Sarah.


16 April 2009
Virgin1, 10pm

Writers: Natalie Chaidez
Director: Guy Ferland

Cast: Lena Headey (Sarah), Brian Austin Green (Derek), Summer Glau (Cameron), Thomas Dekker (John), Shirley Manson (Catherine), Garret Dillahunt (John Henry), Richard T. Jones (Ellison), Mackenzie Smith (Savannah), Shane Edelman (Matt Murch), Dean Winters (Charlie), John DeVito (Young John), Gina Gallego (Dr. Martinez), Luisa Vitor (Receptionist), Massi Furlan (Delivery Man #2) & Dominic Flores (Male Nurse)

Sarah Connor: Terminated?

Michael Ausiello is reporting (well, speculating thanks to inside gossip) that Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is almost certainly cancelled. Fox won't make a decision public until 18 May, but that's the word on the street. I have to say, I'm disappointed. Fortunately, season 2 ended very cleverly -- in a way that can be perceived as a series end (for your imagination to carve a relatively "happy ending"), but also as a season end (for fans to forever speculate about what season 3 might have given us.) Oh yeah, and the last three episodes (which begin this Thursday in the UK) are damn good. I'm glad T:tSCC overcame its mid-season slump to go out fighting.

Please, NO SPOILERS in the comments below about events in "To The Lighthouse", "Adam Raised A Cain" and "Born To Run", as we're following T:tSCC at the British pace here at DMD... but, how do you feel about perhaps losing this show?

Update: Writer-producer Ashley Edward Miller has "tweeted" on this news, saying: "Time for Ausiello's semi-annual SCC termination report. False again. (Remember 'sets were destroyed' report? Now you know context, people)." So... it may still be back! Keep 'em crossed.

TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES 2.19 - "Today Is The Day" (Part 2)

||SPOILERS|| A huge improvement over the entertaining but hollow first part, "Today Is The Day: Part 2"¹ delivers an episode of intrigue, tension and surprisingly strong acting from Thomas Dekker, Stephanie Chaves-Jacobsen and Brian Austin Green...

Jesse (Chaves-Jacobsen) is taking a nighttime swim in a public pool; a sequence interspersed with flashbacks to her time aboard the U.S.S Jimmy Carter, having just retrieved a mysterious package from an oil rig full of Terminators, on the secret orders of resistant leader John Connor, carried out by T-888 helmsman Queeg (Chad L. Coleman). Jesse is prepared to trust Connor by transporting the package back to him, but finds the sub's crew are uncomfortable with the whole situation...

What's to say the package isn't a bomb? Shouldn't a human have been told about Connor's plans? Why should they entrust their safety to "metal" that might malfunction, or lying? All valid concerns, and curiosity gets the better of the sailors, as they open the Pandora's Box before Queeg and Jesse can stop them, unleashing a liquid-metal Terminator that proceeds to kill the nearest crewman with a speared-arm to the gut, assume their shape, and disappear down an air vent.

Sadly, the episode misses a trick in failing to crank up the tension about having a shape-shifting entity aboard such a claustrophobic place, so a riff on The Thing isn't forthcoming. I guess Star Trek: Deep Space Nine got there first. Instead, Jesse begins to find merit in her crew's concerns, and eventually takes steps to remove Queeg from duty -- although official means are superseded by his secret mission, leaving her no choice but to terminate Queeg with a gunshot to the head. After that, the crew abandon ship, letting the Jimmy Carter sink to crush-depth to destroy their chameleonic interloper.

In the present (well, technically the past), John has quietly pieced together the mystery surrounding Riley's death, and confronts Jesse in her apartment after she returns home from her swim. As I mentioned last week, Thomas Dekker doesn't get a lot of credit for how he plays the teenaged John Connor (troubled and whining), but this episode is a big step towards rehabilitation. Once again, by limiting Sarah (Lena Headey) in the storyline, it gives John room to stand on his own two feet and step out from his mother's shadow. His two-hander with Jesse, quietly confronting her over the murder of his girlfriend as part of a misguided attempt to change his future self's dependence on "metal", was superb. Quite possibly the best work Dekker's done on the show.

Likewise, when Jesse is allowed to go free by John (so she can live with her demons, as he has to), there's another excellent electric encounter waiting in the car park with her lover Derek. Derek breaks off their relationship now he knows the awful truth. But, unlike merciful John, he's not above shooting her -- although his shot is blocked by Jesse's quick-thinking to throw her jacket at him and sprint for the nearest exit. We see Derek squeeze the trigger... but does he hit his target?

Overall, after a depressingly sluggish mid-season, this episode appears to signal a tidal change. We got some real progression in several areas, and the future-set storyline also continues to provoke some thought. Before the liquid-metal Terminator manages to escape from the sinking sub, it tells Jesse to pass on a message to John Connor: "the answer is no". Later, Jesse meets with John's aide/concubine Cameron, who reveals that the question John posed was "will you join us?" So, it seems that Skynet's forces are less loyal to their AI leader than we imagine, and John is trying to persuade them to join the human resistance? That would confirm our suspicions from earlier in the season. Cameron also reveals to Jesse that the events aboard the sub have caused a miscarriage of a baby she didn't even know she was pregnant with (Derek's the likely father), which was interesting but a little hollow. I suppose it was meant to give Jesse's character even more of a reason to hate "metal", for indirectly killing her child.

So yes, a very strong episode that has finally restored some energy and excitement to the series, as we approach the season (and perhaps series) finale...


9 April 2009
Virgin1, 10pm

Writers: Ashley Edward Miller & Zack Stentz
Director: Guy Norman Bee

Cast: Lena Heady (Sarah), Summer Glau (Cameron), Brian Austin Green (Derek), Thomas Dekker (John), Richard T. Jones (Ellison), Shirley Manson (Catherine), Garret Dillahunt (John Henry), Stephanie Chaves-Jacobsen (Jesse), Bill Tangradi (Pool Attendant), Erin Fleming (Goodnow), Krishna Cole (Blake), Yuri Lowenthal (Garvin), Chad L. Coleman (Queeg), Drew Rausch (Rick), Theo Rossi (Dietz) & Chris Ellis (Hayes)

1. This episode is known as "The Last Voyage Of The Jimmy Carter" on a few sites, owing to an incorrect press release from Fox, before the producers decided to make "Today Is The Day" a two-part episode.

TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES 2.18 - "Today Is The Day" (Part 1)

Spoilers. The best episode in months, but recent quality had plummeted to yawning depths, so that's not really saying much. "Today Is The Day" is an oddly-scheduled two-parter as we approach the finale, and it succeeds in giving us momentum regarding Riley's demise and to unmasking Jesse (Stephanie Chaves-Jacobsen) as her killer. However, the fact remains that Jesse's an annoying and joyless character, so you can't even love-to-hate her, which makes it makes it difficult to care about the outcome either way. I just want her gone; I don't care how.

Sarah (Lena Headey) learns about Riley's death in a roundabout fashion and surmises that Cameron (Summer Glau) must be responsible because her son's girlfriend was becoming a threat to their cover. But John (Thomas Dekker) isn't convinced their cyborg minder woud be so callous. Of course, the Connor's don't know that Riley was murdered by Jesse (who they likewise have no clue about), but John later notice defensive wounds on Riley's hands when he visits her body in the morgue.

The much-derided Dekker was actually pretty good in this episode, but particularly in those emotional scenes saying goodbye to his girlfriend (and link to a "normal life"), as well as a scene where he visits Riley's oblivious family as their household receives a phonecall from "Riley" (actually Cameron, replicating her voice) to try and assure them their foster daughter's safe -- for now. It's all part of John's plan, but Cameron drags the conversation out to an upsetting length for John, supposedly to make it sound more credible.

Elsewhere, Jesse proves she isn't a wholly impassive bitch, by hitting some local bars after disposing of Riley's body and picking a fight with some USAF pilots. Or did she only do that so she had an alibi for her cuts and bruises sustained after grappling with Riley? After winding up in jail after the resulting brawl, she's bailed out by Derek (Brian Austin Green), who seems to be picking up on her odd behaviour. Will he start to crack the riddle about why Jesse's been sent back in time? He's not the sharpest tool in the box.

The episode also contains a flashback(-forward?) to Jesse's tour aboard the "Jimmy Carter", a US submarine in the wartorn future of 2027 A.D, being piloted by a reprogrammed Terminator called Queeg (a reference to a character in "The Cain Mutiny" and not Red Dwarf's evil computer, I assume), headed towards Serrano Point. This mission is clearly going to be the moment where Jesse lost faith in using "metal" as tools, as Queeg (Chad L. Coleman) mysteriously changes course for an offshore oil rig under secret orders from John Connor. Quite an interesting development, as the oil rig is populated by Terminators, so is Future John collaborating with a faction of the enemy? Is it a good thing that the future-set concurrent storyline in T:tSCC is twice as interesting as the present-day stuff? Not really.

The subplot at ZeiraCorp has become incredibly tedious now, as John Henry (Garrett Dillahunt) plays Hide & Seek with ginger moppet Savannah, meaning Catherine (Shirley Manson) becomes concerned about her whereabouts. Ellison (Richard T. Jones) arrives to help question the inquisitive A.I, but John Henry just wants to play the game through to its conclusion -- and Catherine is happy to go along with her creation's wish, to Ellison's confusion. When will the dullard Fed twig that Catherine's a machine? He's aware that these cyborgs can look completely lifelike, so it's plain bizarre that he hasn't even entertained the possibility that his stilted boss is an automaton.

Overall, I found this episode was good in certain areas, but still difficult to enjoy -- for a number of reasons: the budget wasn't available to do justice to the flashfoward submarine sequences (it was particularly sad we didn't see Skynet's attacking "Kraken"), the languorous Catherine subplot is long overdue a shot of adrenaline in the arm... and, most crucially, the audience have been way ahead of the characters (regarding Riley and Jesse) for months now, so we're waiting for the show to catch-up. And that's no fun.


2 April 2009
Virgin1, 10pm

Writers: Ashley Edward Miller & Zack Stentz
Director: Guy Norman Bee

Cast: Lena Headey (Sarah), Summer Glau (Cameron), Thomas Dekker (John), Brian Austin Green (Brian), Stephanie Chaves-Jacobsen (Jesse), Busy Philips (Kacy), Yuri Lowenthal (Garvin), Krishna Cole (Blake), Erin Fleming (Goodnow), Chad L. Coleman (Queeg), Drew Rausch (Rick), Theo Rossi (Dietz), Chris Ellis (Hayes) & Gregg Edward Perrie (Aaron)

TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES 2.17 - "Ourselves Alone"

"I'm not here to stop the war, sweetie. I'm here to win it."

-- Jesse (Stephanie Chaves-Jacobsen)

Spoilers. Having served up three of its worst episodes in a three-part stench, "Ourselves Alone" is mild improvement -- if only because it gives Summer Glau more to do, and actually developed a major storyline.

Cameron (Glau) is suffering from involuntary motor reflexes that cause her to crush a pigeon she was intending to free after it became trapped indoors (also a subtle echo of that "upturned turtle" story from awhile back, confirming that Cameron has a sense of empathy not part of her programming.) Sadly, that interesting development isn't utmost on the writers' minds, as Cameron's physical dysfunction is instead seen as a possible warning sign that the cyborg protector could malfunction and turn against its masters.

Meanwhile, John (Thomas Dekker) and Sarah (Lena Headey) are concerned that Cameron will kill Riley (Leven Rambin) if she starts perceiving her as a threat to their cover. They know that Riley tried to commit suicide for some unknown reason, and now suspect it had something to do with her discovering their real identities. Riley doesn't help matters when she spies Cameron self-repairing her lower-arm (using spare parts collected from defeated Terminators, in violation of Sarah's orders), and thus arouses Cameron's suspicions further.

Sarah visits Riley's foster parents and is surprised to hear about Riley's history of freaking out about an apocryphal future, lending credence to her theory that Riley knows more than she's letting on. Of course, we the audience know that Riley's a street kid from a future dystopia, brought back in time by resistance soldier Jesse (Stephanie Chaves-Jacobsen) to stop John falling in love with his cyborg protector and put the future of mankind at risk as a result. Sarah later meets with Riley's guidance counselor looking for more answers about Riley's state of mind, who turns out to be Jesse in disguise, manipulating the situation.

It's taken so long to get any progress with the Riley/Jesse storyline that "Ourselves Alone" just felt like too little, too late. There are some interesting moments contained therein (John helping fix Cameron by slicing open her wrist, echoing his girlfriend's means of suicide), and I like the ambiguity that surrounds Cameron these days. Ever since the car explosion that damaged the Terminator's circuits in the premiere, we're less certain about Cameron's motivations and fidelity. Summer Glau is at her best when making us uncomfortable with her china doll pout and twitchiness, and there's plenty of creeping threat throughout this episode. Really, it's all about whether or not Cameron would kill Riley to maintain their cover and reassert herself on John's life, knowing how much that tactically-sound idea would hurt John emotionally.

Of course, the big news in this episode is the reveal that Jesse's plan was for Cameron to eventually kill Riley, as that would be a tragedy large enough to turn John against Cameron forever. When Riley realizes this callous plan, an extended cat-fight ensues back at Jesse's apartment, culminating with Jesse shooting Riley dead. Rambin was particularly good in her dramatic scenes this week, helped by the simple fact that Jesse is one of the most unpleasant, manipulative and irritating characters on TV right now. Extremely unlikeable, but intentionally so.

Finally, Cameron gives John a detonator encased inside a fob watch, linked to an explosive charge she's implanted in her head. The idea being that if she ever poses a threat to their safety, he now has the ability to terminate her at the push of a button. Cameron's interest in Riley's suicide is perhaps explainable as a recent interest in "self-termination", too, which was a nice bit of shadowing.

Overall, "Ourselves Alone" wasn't especially fantastic, but it was a damned sight better than the previous three episodes and it was nice to see some definite movement with the Jesse/Riley storyline, which also gave Rambin and Dekker better opportunities to stretch themselves. The main problem is that the sense of momentum season 2 once had has long since vanished, and this episode arrives about seven episodes too late. I'm no longer particularly interested in any of the storylines (beyond Catherine's project with A.I John Henry), and T:tSCC still needs to find a sense of narrative drive and direction.


26 March 2009
Virgin1, 10pm

Writers: Toni Graphia & Daniel T. Thomsen
Director: Jeff Woolnaugh

Cast: Lena Headey (Sarah), Thomas Dekker (John), Summer Glau (Cameron), Brian Austin Green (Derek), Leven Rambin (Riley), Stephanie Chaves-Jacobsen (Jesse), Mackenzie Smith (Savannah Weaver), Alex Carter (Ko Samuels), Gregg Perrie (Aaron), Leslie Thurston (Nurse), Tina Casciani (Working Girl) & Alison Martin (Molly Malloy)

TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES 2.16 - "Some Must Watch, While Some Must Sleep"

Spoilers. This episode heralds the end of an unofficial trilogy of Sarah-centric episodes -- thank God. And how apt that a story revolving around the notion of dreams would resort to showing Summer Glau in her bra to wake its audience up.

If you're fighting to save humanity, regularly pursued by lethal cyborgs from the future, what do you do when you have a few sleepless nights? That's right, you check into an expensive sleep clinic! Well, if you're soporific Sarah Connor (Lena Headey), that is -- someone who could ironically send anyone to sleep by just talking to them for five minutes. Glau shows more emotional range than Headey, and she's the robot.

Anyway, Sarah checks into said clinic, under the care of Nurse Hobson (Julie Ann Emery), and meets an English roommate called Dana (Michelle Arthur) who has recurring nightmares of being burned alive. As is typical of this series, Derek is AWOL for the entire episode without explanation, but John (Thomas Dekker) and Cameron (Glau) float around to lend their support in-between Sarah's treatment for "night terrors" -- particularly a regular dream she has about being kidnapped by Ed Winston (Ned Bellamy), the craggy goon she killed awhile back at the Skynet-affiliated factory, before attending his funeral last week.

The story dances between Sarah in the clinic -- where she begins to suspect strange goings-on, particularly when her roommate is burnt to a crisp while she sleeps (as you would) -- and Sarah's recurring nightmare of being kidnapped by Ed Winston and thrown into the back of his van.

Clearly, one of these storylines is a dream, and predictably it's the one that least resembles a dream. I can understand the thinking behind this episode, and it admittedly did grow more interesting once the reveals started to appear, but the narrative was fatally wounded by the simple fact that... well, Sarah Connor is the least interesting heroine ever conceived. Which is some going, considering her movie progenitor was one of the best. Headey just seems to struggle with this character nearly every week -- hamstrung by the writing, and forced to mumble her lines, wince, furrow her brow, then perhaps throw out a crooked smile she immediately looks guilty about.

Beyond the problem of basing a whole episode around the mental state of someone it's impossible to care about, "Some Must Watch, While Some Must Sleep" also continued a tepid storyline about Sarah feeling bad about killing someone -- but this attempt to humanize Sarah, by showing us she isn't the type who can kill and just get over it, flies in the face of events in T2. And it just isn't interesting or insightful. If the writers are so wary of writing Sarah as a butch killer in the Linda Hamilton mould on network TV, then simply making her into the exact opposite isn't going to fly. Even the writers are unsure what Sarah should be, as the climax of this episode involves their heroine mangling her own wrist to escape from hand-cuffs, before jabbing a man in the eye with a hypodermic needle -- all very hardcore, and more in-keeping with the Hamilton incarnation!

And then there are Sarah's pretentious voiceovers, which you could playback on tape and market as audio valium. They walk a fine line between insight, affectation, tedium and amusement. This week's ponders the notion of succubus (spectral beings that torment sleepers) and was perhaps most irritating because you can see what the writers were aiming for... but the execution is just flat, plodding and unintentionally hilarious. Sarah was right about one thing in her closing line, though; this was a real "bad bitch" of an episode.


19 March 2009
Virgin1, 10pm

Writers: Denise Thé & Natalie Chaidez
Director: Scott Lautanen

Cast: Lena Headey (Sarah), Thomas Dekker (John), Summer Glau (Cameron), Richard T. Jones (Agent Ellison), Ned Bellamy (Ed Winston), Julie Ann Emery (Nurse Hobson), Michelle Arthur (Dana), Sashen Naicker (Night Tech) & Manny Montana (Hector)

TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES 2.15 - "Desert Cantos"

Spoilers. Considering T:tSCC has been dumped in the Friday "death slot" in the States, it's unforgivable that episodes since its mid-season hiatus have been so lackluster. The series should be renewing efforts in the face of likely cancellation, but "Desert Cantos" ranks as one of the show's worst efforts. Certainly the dullest since season 1's growing pains.

Indeed, it's so poor that it's difficult to summon the will to actually pick through the debris. I'd rather just ignore this and move on. Suffice to say, Sarah (Lena Headey), John (Thomas Dekker), Derek (Brian Austin Green) and Cameron (Summer Glau) decide to attend the mass funeral for all the factory workers killed by Catherine during last week's subplot. The dead all resided in the same desert town, and the citizens are united in their grief at the alleged accident that claimed the lives of friends and family.

This episode actually reminded me of a joke in Austin Powers (where the death of a lowly henchman takes on great meaning, as we see the effect it has on his loving family at home.) Likewise, the man Sarah killed a few episodes ago in the factory returns to haunt her, as Sarah meets his mourning family -- all oblivious to the fact he was working on a dangerous project that will aide doomsday, and would have callously murdered Sarah given half the chance.

I understand and appreciate T:tSCC's reticence at overloading itself with action and avoiding becoming a "terminator-of-the-week" series (as we originally feared), but I'm growing irritated by its lackadaisical attitude and pretentious airs. To wit, this episode is split into six parts named after a funeral's constituent parts (Vigil, Service, Processional, Burial, Wake and Recessional) to little effect beyond narrative posturing.

The loss of Terminator stalker Cromartie, with actor Garrett Dillahunt now repackaged as childlike A.I John Henry, has also lost the show its sense of lurking threat. I think it's time for a new Terminator to get on the hunt for the Connors, or for the series to stop dilly-dallying and show some strength of character -- plots like the new "drone" project, the three-dots symbol, Riley and Jesse's deception, the vague hints at a Skynet civil war (remember those?), and Catherine's shadowy mission, have been left to simmer for too long now. We need big answers and developments now -- particularly since the US ratings are dwindling in its new Friday slot. Even loyal fans are becoming concerned by the mid-season collapse. Another sign for the US networks that a dozen episodes is enough for a serialized drama -- a la cable shows like Mad Men, Dexter, etc? T:tSCC actually benefited from a short, punchy nine-episode run in season 1. Season 2 doesn't feel prepared to stretch into double digits.

To be fair, "Desert Cantos" eventually started to get interesting towards the end, when we learned that the whole town is under Prisoner-style 24/7 surveillance, as a microcosm of Skynet's ambitions in the near-future. The confirmation that the local factory was working on Hunter-Killer prototypes was welcome (but was there any doubt?), and a final moment with a mini-HK launching from a swamp, proving to everyone that Sarah didn't hallucinate her vision of one, was a cool visual. But what are these aerial drones intended for, anyway? Recon? Weapons?

Despite a few neat visuals and a mildly interesting final act, "Desert Cantos" was a plodding bore for 95% of its runtime, and another episode that gave Cameron and Derek nothing of interest to do (and, let's be honest, they're the characters it's actually worth watching T:tSCC to see.) Catherine had another subplot where her inhumanity was noticed by Ellison (Richard T. Jones), having forgotten to be with her daughter on the anniversary of her dad's death. Later, Catherine paraphrased Ellison's words about his own father's death to her daughter, in an icy attempt at being comforting. Not a bad few scenes, but essentially a reworking of a dynamic we've already seen performed before. Again, it's time they just moved the story on and started revealing what Catherine's up to.


12 March 2009
Virgin1, 10pm

Writers: John Wirth & Ian Goldberg
Director: J. Miller Tobin

Cast: Lena Headey (Sarah), Thomas Dekker (John), Summer Glau (Cameron), Richard T. Jones (Ellison), Brian Austin Green (Derek), Shirley Manson (Catherine), Leven Rambin (Riley), Garret Dillahunt (John Henry), Shane Edelman (Matt Murch), Ned Bellamy (Ed Winston), Max Perlich (Walsh), John Pyper-Ferguson (George McCarthy), Jim Jansen (Minister), Mackenzie Smith (Savannah), Alanna Masterson (Zoe McCarthy), Adam Wylie (Henry Douglas, Jr.), Susan Floyd (Stella McCarthy), Thomas Garner (Mourner) & Cyd Strittmatter (Diana Winston)

TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES 2.14 - "The Good Wound"

"First, this is going to hurt. Second, this is really going to hurt."

-- Dr. Felicia Burnett (Laura Regan)

No kidding...

Spoilers. After a fun, confident start, season 2 of T:tSCC has unfortunately hit a mid-season slump in recent weeks. "The Good Wound" effectively spins a whole episode on the thin idea of Sarah (Lena Headey) trying to get a bullet wound tended to, without the authorities discovering she's a fugitive...

No explanation is given for how Sarah (who received her injury outside a remote, secret factory in episode 13) finds herself an inner-city hospital without her knowledge, but it's not long before she's left her bed and kidnapped a doctor in the parking lot. Dr. Felicia Burnett (Laura Regan) is held at gunpoint and taken to a motel, where Sarah instructs her to remove the bullet from her leg -- despite Felicia's concerns that Sarah needs proper treatment in hospital.

This episode is most notable for including Kyle Reese (Jonathan Jackson) in the storyline; appearing throughout as a sympathetic hallucination for Sarah through the pain. Unfortunately, Jackson is a very poor interpretation of this character -- lacking any of the charisma exhibited by movie predecessor Michael Biehn, and mainly chosen because he half-resembles screen son John Connor (Thomas Dekker).

An attempt is made to toughen Kyle by giving him a mottled beard, but that only adds to the feeling of an inadequate playing dress up. It's also frankly ridiculous to believe Lena Headey would look twice at this trenchcoated twerp, and disappointing that the show's casting agents (who did such a great job signing Brian Austin Greene as Kyle's brother Derek) got the more iconic role so wrong.

Mild relief is provided by a few scenes between John Henry (Garrett Dillahunt) and Catherine (Shirley Manson), as we learn that fledgling A.I John Henry has detected the fact Catherine isn't human, and is beginning to form inquisitive questions for God (like, why the human body's ball-and-socket joints were designed so poorly, compared to the fully-rotatable robot action figures' he's started playing with.)

There's also a strange decision to follow two cops, led by Sheriff Alvan McKinley (Star Trek Enterprise's Connor Trinneer), who essentially hovers around the sidelines, two-steps behind on his search for Sarah Connor, and channeling Tommy Lee Jones' character in No Country For Old Men. It's the role season 1 handed to FBI Agent Ellison, resurrected for a one-episode encore, with a silly and over-convenient surprise at the end -- involving Sheriff McKinley's association with Felicia, and the latter's identification with Sarah, whom she wrongly believes is beaten by her boyfriend.

The third weak subplot (we're so blessed) comes from John and Derek, who take Riley (Leven Rambin) to hospital following a suicide attempt to escape her covert mission -- both still unaware Riley's from the future and working with Jesse (Stephanie Chaves-Jacobsen) to ensure John doesn't fall in love with cyborg inamorata Cameron (Summer Glau). All very slack, tedious and forgettable because nothing really progresses this mired storyline. I think we're all waiting for John to realize his perfect girl's a liar, and that Derek's secret lover is a manipulator, but until those big reveals come... it's difficult to summon much enthusiasm for just seeing John and Derek kept in the dark.

Overall, a very uneven episode that squanders a modicum of potential, and ultimately feels like a terrible waste of time. If Sarah hadn't been shot last week, we could have foregone all this nonsense. Perhaps its biggest crime is the wholly unsatisfying TV version of Kyle Reece, and the rather laughable way the subplot with the good ol' boy Sheriff came to an abrupt end. The best moment was superficial, but still good fun, with Catherine slaughtering a factory full of workers single-handed, by lancing indiscriminately with her liquid metal forearms, before destroying the whole building and exiting through the ensuing wall of flame.


5 March 2009
Virgin1, 10pm

Writers: Ashley Edward Miller & Zack Stentz
Director: Jeff Woolnough

Cast: Lena Headey (Sarah), Thomas Dekker (John), Summer Glau (Cameron), Richard T. Jones (Agent Ellison), Brian Austin Green (Derek), Shirley Manson (Catherine), Leven Rambin (Riley), Stephanie Chaves-Jacobsen (Jesse), Nicole Pettis (Secretary), Clark Koelsch (Security Guard), Patrick Faucette (Administrator), Julie Remala (Nurse), Jonathan Jackson (Kyle Reese), Laura Regan (Dr. Felicia Burnett), Connor Trinneer (Sheriff Alvan McKinley), Jamison Jones (Deputy Harrison), Chad Lindberg (Deputy Simmons) & Sanjay Madhav (Dr. Manny D'Costa)

TV Ratings: Can PVR's save Dollhouse and Terminator?

We know that the Friday night ratings for Dollhouse and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles have been unsurprisingly poor. But, will both shows survive for another season off the back of PVR recordings? New figures released show that Dollhouse's ratings improve by 30% if you take into account the number of people opting to record the show and watch later. No surprise there, what with it being a Friday night. Even more impressive, Sarah Connor's numbers increase by 36% (if those people were watching on Friday, it would beat the evening's best performer, Ghost Whisperer). It all proves there's a sizeable audience for these shows... it's just that they have better things to do on a Friday!

Of course, "time-shifted" viewing doesn't create revenue for advertisers, so that's a big issue. Still, factoring in overseas sales and the sci-fi genre's traditionally strong business in DVD sales, and maybe it's too early to write off Dollhouse and T:tSCC just yet. Particularly in the latter's case, which may get some "bounce" because of the Terminator: Salvation movie this summer, and at least it's a known quantity for Fox.

Ratings: Dollhouse & Sarah Connor Chronicles

I don't often bore everyone with dry talk about TV ratings, but I thought it was worth mentioning Friday night's ratings in the US for Fox's double-bill: Dollhouse and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Both shows have been controversially scheduled to air on Fridays, a traditional "death slot" for sci-fi shows...

Unfortunately, it's bad news for both. Sarah Connor's ratings took a 27% drop from their lowest Monday night figures (which were already 43% down on its season 1 average), attracting 3.7 million viewers. It was the third most watched show in its hour. If things don't massively improve in the coming weeks, a third season doesn't seem likely -- and that would be a shame. T:tSCC has its faults, but it's a lot of fun.

Joss Whedon's new show, Dollhouse, performed better than its lead-in Sarah Connor, but still had the second-worst ratings for a major network premiere this season (just behind the now cancelled Crusoe.) 4.7 million viewers tuned in, meaning it was beaten in its timeslot by Supernanny.

Dollhouse was originally intended to air on Mondays, after American Idol, which would certainly have boosted its figures. Producers on both Dollhouse and Terminator have been trying to put a positive spin of their Friday night timeslot (pointing out how network expectations are much lower there), but can either series survive with so few people watching? These shows aren't cheap to make, y'know. For Dollhouse, there's still time to build an audience. For Terminator, it's becoming clear that its fanbase is dedicated, but far too small to justify another year's commitment.