Channel Flipping

Some assorted TV news from the pages of Variety...

SciFi Channel is renewing BATTLESTAR GALACTICA for another season.

The series has averaged more than 3 million total viewers in its Friday at 10 p.m. timeslot. "Battlestar" has also ranked No. 1 among cable shows in adults 25-54 and men 25-54 for every week the show has been on the air.

"We all really felt there was something special about this show, that the creators delivered on their promise to take a new approach to space opera. But we honestly weren't sure if the show was going to be embraced," said exec VP of programming Mark Stern . "The show is dark and gritty and sexy and, first and foremost, a character drama. Yes, there is a lot of action, but it certainly wasn't the typical space opera our viewers expected. Thankfully, they get it and they keep showing up in big numbers."

... no word yet from the honchos at the  Colonial Fan Force on how this will impact their important campaign to convince the Hollywood suits to do a big-screen version of the original show with the original cast.  Herb Jefferson and Laurette Sprange stand ready to clear their busy schedules to be in the movie.

MGM is desperately trying to raise DEAD LIKE ME from, well, the dead. Showtime cancelled the series,  which doesn't have enough episodes to syndicate... meaning its worthless. So MGM is trying to strike a deal... somewhere, anywhere... to crank out new episodes so they have
enough to sell the series in reruns.

An MGM spokeswoman declined to comment, but 29 hourlong episodes for Showtime (including the 75-minute pilot) are too small a number to make the reruns of any series salable in basic cable or TV syndication. But if a network such as Sci Fi were willing to pony up a license fee to bring "Dead" back from the beyond, MGM would do a package deal with that network that would include the reruns.  Time is running out, however, because the options on the services of the stars Mandy Patinkin and Ellen Muth are close to an expiration date.

The studio tried this some years back when CBS cancelled a new version of  THE TWILIGHT ZONE... MGM took the show up to Canada, churned out 22 episodes on the cheap, and hired Page Fletcher, the star of the erotic thriller anthology THE HITCHHIKER, to be their new Rod Serling.  Maybe they can get Herb Jefferson and Laurette Sprang for DEAD LIKE ME.

Lifetime has cancelled WILD CARD and it looks likely that they will renew MISSING for a third season, which could be good news for yours truly (I have been a writer/producer on the show for two seasons).