Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Fall TV schedules

NBC has announced their fall and midseason schedules (not just the shows but the timeslots). Pending more info on the new shows, it looks like I will be watching 1 hour per week - Monday at 8pm will be Heroes in the fall and Chuck at midseason. Contrary to an earlier report, NBC has dropped Medium. CBS picked it up though. Sources: Futon Critic schedule, Ausiello report on Medium & My Name is Earl

More info on the Chuck renewal and Subway's part in it at: Futon Critic announcement, EW Interview with producer, What's Alan Watching interview with producer

ABC announced their fall schedule and midseason shows too. They have the most new shows of any network, so the midseason schedule (where most of the shows I watch will be) is going to be determined by what works and what fails. Some of their new shows look promising though. Sources: Futon Critic schedule, NJ.com analysis, Futon Critic trailers for new shows

CBS announced their fall schedule (they don't have a separate midseason schedule). Major changes: Big Bang Theory moving to 9:30 on Monday and Medium will now be on CBS Fridays at 9pm (between Ghost Whisperer and Numbers). They don't have many new shows, but they have good casts. I'm sure more info will be available soon to help determine if they are watchable. Sources: Futon Critic, NJ.com, Futon Critic trailers for new shows

And, continuing on a theme, Fox announced their fall and midseason schedules. Considering their obsession with clustering shows in timeslots that were already busy, I may watch most of their programming on Hulu. Sources: Futon Critic schedule, Futon Critic trailers for new shows, NJ.com analysis

5/21 Update:
CW fall schedule has now been announced. Reaper is gone (although apparently it might continue in syndication). The only new show even remotely tempting is Vampire Diaries, but I think it is going to be too soapy for me (it is trying way too hard to get the Twilight audience). Supernatural (the only show on their schedule I actually care about) is staying in the same horrid timeslot. Sources: Futon Critic schedule, NJ.com, pictures for new shows,

Monday, May 18, 2009

5-18-09

Chuck has been renewed! Unfortunately, it is for only 13 episodes with a reduced budget (so we'll probably see the recurring cast rotate in and out instead of in every episode), but I'm glad to see it will be coming back anyway. Sources: EW Ausiello Files, Futon Critic

Fox has released their Fall schedule. Renewals: Bones (for 2 years), House, Fringe & Dollhouse (with reduced budget). Canceled: Sarah Connor Chronicles. New shows picked up are also described. Sources: Futon Critic schedule, Futon critic renewals, EW Ausiello Files Sarah Connor, EW Ausiello Files Bones, EW Ausiello Files Dollhouse

Scrubs has been renewed
for a 9th season (although Zach Braff will only be in 6 episodes).

Warner Brothers just got the movie rights for Primeval. I'm trying to decide if this is good or bad news.

Check out the NASA Flickr photostream for pictures of the shuttle Atlantis repairing the Hubble telescope in front of the sun.

DVR timers for the week:
Mon 5pm Greek
Mon 8:30 How I Met Your Mother
Mon 9pm 2.5 Men
Mon 10pm Medium
Tues 8pm Reaper & Nova (PBS "Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives" episode)
Sat SYN Legend of the Seeker (season finale)
Sat 6pm Primeval

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

5-13-09

A&E is planning a bunch of new scripted series (included in this article is a series from Jerry Bruckheimer which for some strange reason sounds to me like a modernization of Magnum PI).

NBC is dropping the new David E. Kelley show (and paying a huge penalty to do so). This will make more room for other shows (Chuck's chances just improved).

SF Gate lists the massive set of pilots contending for places on the ABC schedule, which will be announced next week.

Space.com has a new image from Hubble that looks like a giant eye.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

5-7-9

Space.com has some great pictures today:
* New Saturn images from Cassini - Link to article or link to gallery
* Favorite Hubble images of the crew going to repair it.

The Onion has a mocking video about Star Trek (which I haven't seen yet, since I can't watch videos on this computer, but have heard is funny).

i09 has the Top 10 Rules of Space Opera, which seem a bit confused but humorous.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

5-6-09

The Onion is ceasing publication in SF and LA. It will still be available in print in some other cities, and online. I've only read the online version for several years, but this makes me sad and nostalgic.

Amazon revealed the new Kindle DX today with a larger gray-scale screen, pdf support, rotating screen, and more storage. It is designed for textbooks (publishers representing 60% of the market have deals with them) and newspapers. I know if this had been an option when I was buying incredibly heavy and expensive textbooks I would have jumped at it. Sources: New York Times Gadgetwise, Apple Insider, Engadget, CNet Digital Media, Wired Gadget Lab

However, as the new Kindle was announced, rumors are circling that Apple is going to be releasing an iPad (larger media tablet) soon. Sources: Wired, PC Magazine

Other recent e-book related stories I haven't linked yet:
* Wired roundup of all the readers (from when Samsung announced Papyrus)
* Sony-Google partnership making all out-of-copyright scanned books available for Sony Reader (reported by Wired & CNet)
* Publishers making free books available on Scribd

It looks like the FDA is pushing to have stem cell treatments labeled as a pharmaceutical preparation, not a medical process. Huge ramifications, delays, and barriers to research if this goes through.

Singularity hub has a bunch of videos of robots climbing stairs.

CNN has an article on geeks in popular culture - which includes an interview with the creator of The Big Bang Theory.

An electronic nose developed to test air quality on the space shuttle is proving effective in detecting brain cancer.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Happy Cinco de Mayo

RIP Dom DeLuise. The actor died last night at 75. Sources: Newsday.com, Zap2It, Yahoo, SF Gate, EW.com has a film clip tribute

Waste from chocolate factories is the source of biofuel for a new racing car (the interior also uses carrots and potatoes). I've heard of people running on chocolate, but not cars.

Friday, May 1, 2009

5-4-09

The Ausiello Files has a list of shows on the bubble he's updating as news is reported.

Fox has confirmed what the rest of us presumed since the announcement of Leonard Nimoy's casting - Fringe has been renewed for a 2nd season.

NBC has announced their fall lineup. However, there is no mention of there bubble shows. Apparently we have to wait another week or two while they figure out how many episodes of which shows, what will be kept for midseason backup, etc. before they tell us what to expect for Chuck and My Name is Earl. Medium was announced as renewed later than some of these articles, and Life was canceled. Sources: Futon Critic press release, video teasers for new shows, Ausiello Files announcement & Zach Levi interview, Zap2It

Jo Walton reviews Patricia Wrede's new book Thirteenth Child at Tor.com. I heard an excerpt of this at Worldcon last year and have been waiting eagerly to read it. How did I miss that it was already out?

CNet has a slideshow from an amateur underwater photography contest. There are some amazing pics there.

The process Google is using to scan books without distortion or damaging the books has been revealed.

Rumors are that Amazon is going to announce a large-format Kindle this week (mainly to allow reading newspapers & textbooks in a better scale). If this will help or hurt newspapers seems to be in disagreement. Sources: VentureBeat, Reuters, CNet.

DVRs for the week:
Mon 5pm Greek
Mon 8pm House & Big Bang Theory
Mon 830 How I Met Your Mother
Mon 9pm Medium & 2.5 Men
Tue 8pm Reaper & Scrubs
Tue 9pm Fringe
Tue 10pm Cupid
Wed 8pm Scrubs (season/series? finale)
Wed 9pm Lost
Wed 10pm CSI:NY
Thur 8pm Bones & My Name is Earl
Thur 9pm CSI & Supernatural
Fri 8pm Ghost Whisperer
Fri 9pm Dollhouse (season? finale)
Fri 10pm Numb3rs
Sat SYN Legend of the Seeker