Silas Weir Mitchell's Monroe is one of the best things about Grimm.

NBC’s Grimm is one of the new shows this TV season that has surprised me the most. In the right way.

A few months ago, before the premiere of this supernatural series inspired by the tales of the Brothers Grimm, there was a sense that it might struggle to find an identity (see here). Such fears have since been allayed: Grimm has turned out to be an effective, if sometimes agreeably loopy, creepfest with a good deal of suspense, decent procedural smarts and a tendency not to take itself too seriously.

If Grimm lacks anything for a horror-themed show pitched at a mainstream audience, it’s a strong female lead. That said, its writers have provided some high profile roles for female guest stars, another of which is central to ‘Tarantella,’ the new episode airing this Friday at 9/8c on NBC in the U.S. and CTV in Canada. The character is a black widow spider, a female villain with a macabre appetite for male innards played by Texan actress Amy Acker.

Fans of genre TV might already know Acker from Angel, Alias and shows that don’t begin with ‘A’ such as Dollhouse. Appropriately, she also voiced the character of The Huntress in Warner Brothers’ Justice League Unlimited cartoon series along with Smallville‘s Michael Rosenbaum, the incomparable Clancy Brown and a host of other familiar names from science fiction and fantasy television.

Speaking about her Grimm character to zap2it.com, Acker suggested that despite the black widow’s gruesome acts, the arachnid angle was particularly appealing.

“I’ve played some interesting characters, but nothing quite this complex,” she said. “The spider aspect adds a different dimension to it.”

She also explained that she got executive producer David Greenwalt to think differently about the character’s decesion to disguise herself for each kill. She asked him if the black widow often changed her look because she doesn’t want to be recognized or because she doesn’t like what she does to her victims.

“He was like, ‘Yeah, it’s because she doesn’t want to be recognized’,” Acker said. “But then he says, ‘But I kind of like the other thing too.’ So I sort of added a little of that into [the role],”

Back in November of 2011 the website TVbytheNumbers noted that Grimm‘s ratings had been surprisingly good for a Friday night show on NBC. However, in the same report it sounded a warning that viewer numbers were falling and Grimm would have little chance of renewal if they sank below a 1.4. That’s exactly where it sat in last Friday’s final ratings, according to stats the same site published a few days ago.

If that website’s assessment is right, Grimm‘s future could yet be a homophone of its title. If its fate is hanging by a thread, more appearances by strong female actresses like Acker might give it a lift. Let’s hope so because if they don’t, we could loose another appealing genre show with lots of potential. Experience tells us that where low ratings are concerned, networks, like spiders, have no compunction about killing.

In Canada Grimm also airs on SPACE on Sundays at 9 ET.

Peek-a-boo! Hopefully this isn't all we get to see of the spirits in ABC's The River.

Remember The Blair Witch Project, the 1999 movie that started a subgenre of first person, pseudo-documentary-style horror films with its tale of unfortunate campers taunted by supernatural forces deep in the American woods?

It touched a cultural nerve in the United States that was lost on me when I saw it in Britain (probably because we don’t have any wilderness left). Nonetheless, I thought it offered an intriguingly original approach to storytelling that could produce some serious chills if used well (see the excellent short film Oculus for an example). The technique has since been revisited in the likes of Cloverfield, the underrated Diary of the Dead and the Paranormal Activity series. One could argue that it also inspired the handycam approach to shows like The Shield, Battlestar Galactica and Stargate Universe.

Dive into The River, ABC ‘s new scary series that was co-created by Orin Peli of Paranormal Activity fame (airing on CTV in Canada), and you’ll see the same technique as well as numerous other similarities to Blair Witch. This time the setting is the steamy Amazon jungle rather than the scary woods, which also means that our victims are essentially explorers rather than campers. Other than that, though, we are in familiar territory. There’s a lot of shaky handheld camerawork and several shots of people faking casual poses because the script says they think they are off-camera. Surprise: There’s even a scene where someone with a camera goes into a dark room while being filmed by, yes, another camera.

I’m really not taken in by this kind of filmmaking any more. I think that’s because, ironically, I always feel like I’m watching a TV show. A really well-made and conventionally filmed sci-fi or paranormal drama like Fringe or Supernatural sucks me in so that I feel invested in the characters and events and forget about reality. Paradoxically, I feel the opposite when watching films showing something people have supposedly filmed. Of course, that is partly the point: You are meant to think you’re watching actual filmed events. The trouble is, I don’t because I know it’s not real. That’s only emphasised in those scenes that always seem to crop up where people overact their underacting in order to try to seem natural. There are those in The River, too

To be fair, no show should be written off on the basis of its pilot and despite being formulaic, the premiere of The River does have some decent periods of suspense. Where the pseudo-doc filming style is concerned, I should also admit that I made much the same criticisms of Stargate Universe that I’ve made here early in that show’s run and then I went on to become a big fan of it.

Also in The River’s favor is that it’s refreshing to watch something not set on the streets of a large American conurbation (although refreshing is perhaps not the right word for the jungle setting, which feels suitably claustrophobic and steamy). Even as I write this, Josh Gates, a seasoned traveler and presenter of Syfy’s entertaining ‘real’ monster-hunting first-person documentary series Destination Truth, has tweeted that ‘#TheRiver is nonsense.’ He should know because he does the sort of thing we see in The River for a living (lucky bugger). Even so, it makes a change to watch nonsense that’s not taking place on the streets of L.A. or New York.

The keys to whether The River will be worth watching will be how much we can care about the characters and whether the scripts are interesting. On that first point, the travelers we are following up the titular tributary so far seem like a ragged, self-interested bunch and none is especially likeable. So far I’ve found Thomas Kretschmann’s gun-totting hard man to be the most appealing, although that might only be because he was in Peter Jackson’s King Kong, one of my favorite movies ever (and also jungle-based nonsense). As far as the scripts are concerned , we should know in a couple of weeks whether the show can provide more than just a series of dark corners and shadowy evil spirits with ties to native mythology. And for all my criticism of the approach, I do think it’s worth heading upstream to find out.

What do you think of The River? Let us know below.

Terra Nova is in danger of disappearing down TV's time tunnel.

Terra Novasaurs listen up: The show needs your plastic dinos! According to the jolly good British periodical SciFiNow, star Jason O’Mara is calling on you to send toy Triassic fauna to FOX to show the network that descendants of Cro-Magnon man and woman want a second season.

FOX’s expensive dinosaur-centric series finished its first season late last year with less than stellar ratings and there is no guarantee about renewal, despite the presence of Steven Spielberg’s name in the credits. O’Mara is encouraging fans to preempt the decison makers and not wait for cancellation before standing up for the show. His last series, the U.S. adaptation of the excellent British drama Life on Mars, was driven extinct after only one season.

“If you want to address your package of little plastic dinosaurs to somebody at FOX, send them to president of the network,” O’Mara is quoted as saying on the website of the British magazine. “He’s a good guy so keep it friendly please. Mr Kevin Reilly, Fox Broadcasting Co, PO BOX 900, Beverly Hills, CA 902130.”

O’Mara, who was born in Dublin, plays Jim Shannon in Terra Nova. Shannon and his family join a group of colonists who go back to prehistoric times in an alternate reality to escape dire environmental conditions that have developed on Earth.

To express support for Terra Nova, you can check out SciFiNow, this Save Terra Nova Facebook page and Twitter account or follow the Twitter hashtag #saveTerraNova. As a British expat sci-fi fan, I say, “Rather.”

Plot summary: When an unexpected enemy emerges that threatens global safety and security, Nick Fury, Director of the international peacekeeping agency known as SHIELD, finds himself in need of a team to pull the world back from the brink of disaster. Spanning the globe, a daring recruitment effort begins.

The Joss Whedon-helmed film continues the epic big-screen adventures started in Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger.

Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård and Samuel L. Jackson star.

The Avengers opens in conventional, 3D and IMAX 3D theaters on May 4.

Columbia Pictures' The Amazing Spider-Man arrives in theaters on July 3.

Thanks to this past weekend’s Super Bowl and all the TV spots showcasing this summer’s blockbuster films, expect a flurry of additional movie promo material in the coming days. Not to feel left behind, Columbia Pictures has, today, revealed the new trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man, which you can watch using the player below.

The Amazing Spider-Man is the story of Peter Parker (Garfield), an outcast high schooler who was abandoned by his parents as a boy, leaving him to be raised by his Uncle Ben (Sheen) and Aunt May (Field). Like most teenagers, Peter is trying to figure out who he is and how he got to be the person he is today. Peter is also finding his way with his first high school crush, Gwen Stacy (Stone), and together, they struggle with love, commitment, and secrets.

As Peter discovers a mysterious briefcase that belonged to his father, he begins a quest to understand his parents’ disappearance—leading him directly to Oscorp and the lab of Dr. Curt Connors (Ifans), his father’s former partner. As Spider-Man is set on a collision course with Connors’ alter-ego, The Lizard, Peter will make life-altering choices to use his powers and shape his destiny to become a hero.

This is definitely a ‘lankier’ Spider-Man, in keeping with the early comics, and while the trailer sports plenty of the expected CGI FX, some of us around here are not fully sold on Andrew Garfield’s rendition of Peter Parker. Not just yet, anyway. Time may prove us wrong. Watch the trailer and let us know what you think in the comments section below.

Directed by Marc Webb, the July 3 release stars Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Denis Leary, Campbell Scott, Irrfan Khan, with Martin Sheen and Sally Field.

The film stars Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby and Lena Headey.

Plot synopsis: Dredd takes us to the wild streets of Mega City One, the lone oasis of quasi-civilization on Cursed Earth. Judge Dredd (Urban) is the most feared of elite Street Judges, with the power to enforce the law, sentence offenders and execute them on the spot – if necessary.

Directed by Peter Travis (Vantage Point) from a script by Alex Garland (28 Days Later), Dredd is set to hit conventional and 3D theaters on September 21.

Do Americans really love the Super Bowl?

The numbers are in: According to TV Line the NFL’s Super Bowl XLVI is the ‘Most-Watched TV Program Ever.’ Apparently the broadcast of the event was watched by 111.3 million viewers in the U.S., making it the most popular television program in that country’s history. To quote that commendable website, “[these] numbers were appropriately giant [their emphasis].”

So you could be thinking that the crowning of the New York Giants as World Champions in Super Bowl XLVI also ranks as one of the world’s most successful televised events and most Americans love football.

Err, maybe not.

Let’s look beyond the hyperbole and focus on the statistics. A quick Google search will show that the U.S. population is roughly 310,000,000 people. The most obvious point that jumps out from this number should be that two-thirds of Americans didn’t watch the Super Bowl. Most American’s were doing something else.

The other stat that stands out from these numbers is that on a per capita basis the Super Bowl was watched by roughly 1 in 3 Americans. Of course, not everyone captured by the Nielsen ratings is necessarily American (or even real, for that matter) but this is a reasonable, if rough, estimate. It’s also a lot, right?

Sure. Compared with popular network shows, 1 in 3 is a good number for United States TV broadcasts. It’s less impressive when compared with ratings for the most popular programs in some other countries, though.

For example, according to the Broadcasters Audience Research Board (the organization responsible for providing official measurements of UK television audiences), the 1996 Christmas episode of the BBC1 sitcom Only Fools and Horses pulled in 24.35 million viewers. Based on data taken from sources published by Britain’s Office for National Statistics, the UK population in 1996 was an estimated 58,164,000 people. Ergo, almost half of the UK population is estimated to have watched that festive show.

Similarly, an average audience of 16.6 million Canadians, or around half of that country’s population, is estimated to have watched the Gold medal game of the men’s hockey tournament at the 2010 Winter Olympics, according to NHL.com. Hence, Canada beat America not only in that game but also in per capita viewers for each country’s most popular TV show.

While we’re puncturing the balloon of hype in which the Super Bowl’s viewing figures seem to be floating, it seems fitting to take a stab at the misleading grammatical content of any headline that says the televised coverage was ‘the most watched TV show ever.’ At a rough guess I’d estimate that the majority of people have only watched Super Bowl XLVI once, which means it has been watched far fewer (not less) times than, say, an episode of Star Trek. Heck, several episodes of the prematurely canceled SGU: Stargate Universe have probably been watched more times than this year’s Super Bowl.

To be fair, as a headline, ‘Super Bowl XLVI Is Most-Watched TV Program Ever’ is a lot shorter than ‘Super Bowl XLVI Watched by more Americans than any Previous Network Broadcast but Nowhere Near as Many Per Capita as The Proportion of Canadians who Watched the U.S. Get Beat at the 2010 Olympics’ (and grammatically better). Moreover, TV Line is aimed at an American readership. Let’s not get carried away, though. Sport and television matter but perspective matters more (at which point we should note that CinemaSpy is based in Canada).

Got a comment on this story? Throw one in below.

A scene from Universal Pictures game adaptation, Battleship.

The Super Bowl spot for Universal’s Battleship has debuted, and you can watch it using the player below.

Based on Hasbro’s classic naval combat game, Battleship stars Taylor Kitsch as Hopper, a Naval officer assigned to the USS John Paul Jones; Brooklyn Decker as Sam, a physical therapist and Hopper’s fiancée; Alexander Skarsgård as Hopper’s older brother, Commanding Officer Stone of the USS Samson; Rihanna as Lt. Raikes, Hopper’s crewmate and a weapons specialist on the USS John Paul Jones; and international superstar Liam Neeson as Hopper and Stone’s superior (and Sam’s father), Admiral Shane.

Produced and directed by Peter Berg, the Universal Pictures adaptation arrives in theaters on May 18.

On the other hand, the premise promises much, but it remains to be seen whether or not the filmmaker can match or exceed the visceral reputation of 1979′s Alien.

In the story, a team of scientists and explorers embark on a thrilling journey that tests their physical and mental limits, and strands them on a distant world, where they discover the answers to our most profound questions, and to life’s ultimate mystery.

Also starring Michael Fassbender, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba and Charlize Theron, Prometheus opens in theaters on June 8.

They don't have an army but they have got a Hulk.

Whereas those of us from Britain long ago saw the luster lost from our annual premiere sporting fixture, formerly known simply as the FA Cup Final, American’s have experienced no similar decline in the public appeal of the NFL’s Super Bowl.

To add to this year’s fun, fanboys and fangirls watching hunky overweight men literally bash their heads together on TV got a glimpse of another much-anticipated event of 2012: Marvel’s The Avengers. Joss Whedon’s movie adaptation of the comic book superhero ensemble hits theaters in May and a new selection of highlights lasting just over a minute made it’s debut during the Super Bowl broadcast today.

Although it is worth spending 65 seconds of your life on, in doesn’t show much that we haven’t already seen. There are explosions, people screaming, shots of all our heros in action and some witty words from Tony Stark. We do get to see a teensy bit more of Hulk and Loki than we did in the first trailer, though.

Still wanna see it? Of course you do. Check out the video below.

Hollywood favorite J.J. Abrams has had two new pilot projects ordered by the networks. One sounds interesting, the other one not so much.

J.J. Abrams, the man who can do almost no wrong in film and TV these days, has won over the networks again with two new pilots that he is co-creating, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The first of those two projects to be announced, Shelter, sounds like a drama, sans Abrams’ usual fascination with fantasy. It will focus on a New England summer resort where “the new and returning staff attend to the practical, emotional and often comical needs of the guests while navigating friendships, rivalries and romances of their own.”

Hmm, that sounds a bit too much like Grey’s Anatomy for my liking. Throw in the occasional ghost or alien, J.J., and I might be more interested.

Shelter is definitely the soapier of Abrams’ two new pilots. Hence, its no surprise that it has been ordered by The CW. Co-creating credits go to One Tree Hill‘s Mark Schwahn. To a large extent One Tree Hill is a soap opera. More interested now? Err. no.

The second pilot appears to favor more familiar Abrams territory. Titled Revolution, it is described as an an “epic adventure” that focuses on the travails of a diverse group of characters in a world “where all forms of energy have mysteriously ceased to exist” (it’s safe to assume that this description has either been written by a publicist who knows nothing about human biology or is a bit of an exaggeration because if all forms of energy literally disappeared, we’d have no adenosine triphosphate in our bodies and we’d all die).

Revolution is a Warner Brothers Television project. The pilot has been ordered by NBC, which has a decent track record of genre entertainment on its main network and its cable associate formerly know as SCI FI Channel (now called something else). Furthermore, Revolution will be written by some guy named Eric Kripke who worked on a show you might have heard of called Supernatural. So it sounds promising then? I’d say very promising.

Currently on TV Abrams has, of course, already got his name on the brilliant Fringe, the moderately entertaining Alcatraz and the underpublicized Person of Interest (why is that one not on iTunes, I ask?). Also, he is currently working on a science fiction film for theatrical release next year called Star Trek.

Are you an Abrams fan? Do these projects sound interesting? What do you think of Alcatraz? Do you know why Person of Interest is not available on iTunes or Amazon VOD? And most importantly of all, can you get Fringe renewed for another season? Talk to us below.

There is speculation that Avatar sequels could be filmed in New Zealand.

According to Reuters, land records show that Cameron-who also directed Aliens, The Terminator, The Abyss and some film about a boat-bought an area of land in excess of 1,000 hectares in the Wairarapa region, which is close to Wellington. That gives him ownership of two properties in an area known for its livestock operations, dairy farms and vineyards. The cost of the land is said to have been around NZ$20 million ($16.7 million).

Cameron apparently plans to maintain the properties as working farms and reside In New Zealand indefinitely. His new pad would give him the opportunity to swap directing notes with a certain Peter Jackson, who owns an estate not far from the lands Cameron has bought.

Based on Cameron’s decision to spend a lot of time in New Zealand and the country’s stellar reputation as a base for fantasy film making, the notion that it could be used as a location for shooting the Avatar sequels seems reasonable.

Bond will be back on the big screen later this year.

The first official picture has been released from the new James Bond film, Skyfall. You can see it below.

The image was published on the official James Bond 007 website 007.com at 8 am UK time on February 1.

Skyfall is the 23rd Bond film and will see the return of Daniel Craig as 007. Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes, Judi Dench, Albert Finney and Ben Whishaw have also been named as members of the cast. Sam Mendes directs.

Skyfall is scheduled for release in the UK in October and North America in November.

First official still from Skyfall. © 2012 Danjaq, LLC, United Artists Corporation and Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Green Arrow in DC Comics' New 52 (image copyright DC Comics).

The network has signed Stephen Amell instead, according to TV Guide. The news was originally reported on Deadline. Amell has previously appeared in Private Practice, 90210 and The Vampire Diaries.

The pilot for The CW’s new wanna-be show, simply titled Arrow, is said to be ‘a modern retelling’ of the DC Comics’ character’s adventures. The same could be said for Hartley’s interpretation, of course, which was an integral part of later seasons of Smallville. Whether Arrow has the appeal to match the longevity and popularity of its predecessor or even get as far as a season order remains to be seen.

You can read more about The Green Arrow as part of DC Comics’ New 52 here.

Are you ready to spend time in the company of another superhero named after the color of grass given what happened with Green Lantern? Would you have liked Hartley to have been given the role? Comment below.

Is your name John Carter? If so, watch the video below...

As part of its promotional campaign to generate interest in it’s upcoming big budget sci-fi blockbuster John Carter, Disney is on the lookout for anyone who shares the name of its titular character.

If you have the same name as JC—a human who finds himself mysteriously transported to a fictional version of Mars where he gets caught up in some spectacular CGI battles and hot kissing—get in touch with Disney and you might win admission to a special preview screening of the film and the chance to go on an adventure of your own. Check out the video below for Disney’s promo.

John Carter is based on the books about the same-named character by Edgar Rice Burroughs, creator of Tarzan and The Land That Time Forgot. Frankly, it looks to yours truly like nothing more than a facile visual spectacle with crummy dialogue, all the substance of a Kleenex tissue and aliens that look worryingly like Jar-Jar Binks. Even so, it might be really entertaining.

If your name is John Carter, you might still get something out of it either way. John Carter opens in theaters in March.

Have you ever read ERB? Will you be coming out to see John Carter? Comment below.

Michael Fassbender will be back for the sequel to the prequel - X-Men: First Class.

Whether it be due to the X factor or mutant genes, it seems that you can’t keep the X-Men down. Cineplex.com is reporting that 20th Century Fox has got important people to put pen to paper for the sequel to the Marvel superhero prequel X-Men: First Class.

Deals have reportedly been signed with the original film’s principal cast of Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy and Jennifer Lawrence. Director Matthew Vaughn and producer Bryan Singer are also on board.

Simon Kinberg will write the script for the as-yet untitled film. One thing’s for sure, it won’t be called X-Men: Second Class.

As a fan of Fassbender after seeing him in Centurion, yours truly rates this as as 7+ on the ‘one-to-look-forward’ scale. Long before it arrives, though, we’ll get to see him in Prometheus. That one is already off the scale.

Are you eager for more X-Men or pumped for Prometheus? Tell us below.

Sarah Jones as Rebecca Madsen in FOX's Alcatraz

On Saturday we brought you a preview of the next episode FOX’s new sci-fi thriller Alcatraz, ‘Todd Sweeney,’ which debuts tonight. Following up on that FOX has released another promotional video introducing the character of Rebecca Madsen (played by Sarah Jones).

Madsen is a young cop who is part of the team of investigators hunting down former prisoners of Alcatraz who disappeared 50 years ago and are turning up in present day San Francisco. You can watch the FOX video profile of her below.

To be honest, Madsen isn’t this viewer’s favorite character, although Jones does well enough with the material she is given. Madsen seems too young to be convincing as the lead detective on such an important project and her selection could have been more convincingly scripted. It was made to look off-the-cuff, which is hardly what you would expect in the circumstances.

Admittedly it has been suggested that her involvement is not as coincidental as it at first appeared: She has a familial connection with the reappearing Alcatraz prisoners because her own grandfather was shown killing her former partner early in the pilot. Yet, neither she nor her boss in the Alcatraz team, played by Sam Neill, appears to be in a big hurry to track him down. That’s odd considering that the capturing of all the other returning convicts is handled with desperate urgency in every episode and the investigative team has been portrayed as sitting around waiting for signs that another one has turned up.

Still, as with all new series, Alcatraz should be given time. It definitely has some decent dramatic qualities (not the least of which is the excellent Jonny Coyne, who plays the warden of Alcatraz in flashbacks). Your’s truly currently gives it a tune-in-again-rating of 65%.

Alcatraz airs tonight on FOX in the US and CityTV in Canada. Tell us what you think of the show below.

Spartacus has returned to Starz with a new leading man.

Fans who don’t keep up with the entertainment news might have been surprised to see an unfamiliar face now in the leading role. This season Liam McIntyre has taken over the character portrayed in the critically-acclaimed first season by Andy Whitfield. Sadly Whitfield passed away last September after a battle with lymphoma that forced him to drop out of the series before the new season.

McIntyre was selected as Whitfield’s replacement after a long and gruelling audition process. The job can’t have got any easier for the new guy after he landed the role, though, given that Whitfield’s interpretation of the heroic character was still fresh in the fans’ memories.

Nonetheless, McIntyre has chosen to put his own spin on Spartacus while taking on board the best qualities of Whitfield’s portrayal. None of these made a greater impression than Whitfield’s humanity, McIntyre told The Hollywood Reporter.

“The thing that appealed to me as an actor and just as a viewer of the show was the way Andy captured Spartacus’ humanity, as a human being,” McIntyre said.

McIntyre added that he also admired other qualities about Whitfield’s portrayal, including his voice.

“With Spartacus being from Thrace, I liked that Andy kind of roughed it up with a kind of a little bit of an Australian accent in that British accent. I thought it gave it a regional quality and even though I didn’t want to copy his voice, I liked the choice he made for his accent. The way he portrayed the accent, I kind of went for that. As far as a performance level, I didn’t want to copy him but I wanted to get the same spirit of Spartacus.”

Spartacus airs on Starz on Fridays at 10 pm. It has already been renewed for a third season. In Canada the first episode of the new season will be broadcast on TMN at 10pm tonight (Sunday).

Alcatraz airs on FOX in the US and CityTV in Canada.

FOX’s new sci-fi series Alcatraz reaches its third week (but technically its fourth episode) on Monday and the network has released a preview of the upcoming episode, ‘Cal Sweeney,’ which you can see below.

Alcatraz is a serialized procedural that revolves around the mystery of what happened to the dangerous criminals imprisoned in Alcatraz when it closed down 50 years ago. The official story is that they were transferred elsewhere but the premise of the show is that they mysteriously disappeared and are now reappearing in the present day having not aged since they vanished. No-one knows who took them or why but there are indications that they are being returned in our time on a mission.

Alcatraz stars Sarah Jones, Jorge Garcia, Parminder Nagra, Jonny Coyne and Sam Neill. Yours truly was ho-hum about the show after the two-hour premiere but last week’s episode stepped things up in disturbing fashion and the series is showing promise now that the characters are getting some background.

Jones, Lost‘s Garcia, Neill and Parminder are the investigative team who have to track down the reappearing prisoners in San Francisco before these escapees commit new crimes. The standout actor in this viewer’s opinion, though, is Coyne, who plays the prison’s sinister warden in flashback’s to 50 years ago.

In ‘Cal Sweeney’ Jones’ detective has to break the titular character‒who was imprisoned originally for bank robbery‒out of a hostage-filled bank before people can find out who he is.

Alcatraz is produced by Bonanza Productions Inc. in association with Bad Robot Productions and Warner Bros. Television. The series is executive-produced by J.J. Abrams, Bryan Burk, Jennifer Johnson, Daniel Pyne, and Jack Bender, who also serves as a director. Elizabeth Sarnoff, Steven Lilien and Bryan Wynbrandt co-created the series.

Alcatraz airs in the US on FOX and in Canada on CityTV on Monday evenings.

Hero or villain? Benedict Cumberbatch of the BBC's excellent Sherlock is a welcome addition to the Star Trek sequel.

Fans of J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek reboot have been eagerly waiting to find out who will be the villain in its follow-up. Since it was revealed recently that Brit actor Benedict Cumberbatch—who has plays Sherlock Holmes in the BBC’s fabulous updated version of the Great Detective stories—would be in the upcoming film, there has been speculation that he would be filling the bad guy role.

But maybe not.

Even Cumberbatch himself is apparently not sure what his role will be, if comments he made at last Sunday’s Golden Globes are anything to go by.

“I don’t think we do know that, actually. That’s just supposition,” Cumberbatch told MTV’s Josh Horowitz, according to blastr. “And that’s all I’m going to say about it.”

Whatever Cumberbatch’s connection with the film, it hits it up our anticipation of it by a few notchs. Cumberbatch has become a darling of discerning TV and film viewers since he broke out with Sherlock and parts in the likes of Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy. His role in the untitled Trek sequel will also contribute to a long tradition of connections between that franchise and Sherlock Holmes (see our feature on that here).

Hopefully Cumberbatch’s superior acting talent will be backed up by a better script than the one for Abrams’ first Star Trek film. Not suprisingly, Cumbarbatch himself is talking up what is to come.

“[Abrams has] great ideas,” he said. “It’s been great fun to prep. I start [shooting] next week, which is really exciting, and I can’t say any more than that.”

The Star Trek sequel (which we refuse to call Star Trek 2) is slated for release next year.

It seems that 20th Century Fox isn't going to give us a heads-up on the plot of Prometheus.

Six months is a long time to sustain intrigue but the makers of Prometheus are doing their best. Unless you were on Mars you will know that 20th Century Fox released the first official trailer for Ridley Scott’s sci-fi chiller just before Christmas. The studio have also tormented us with a few tantalizing still images.

This past weekend they feed the press another puzzling picture from Scott’s much-anticipated return to genre filmmaking and the Alien universe. Initially published in the Los Angeles Times, it shows Prometheus star Noomi Rapace in what appears to be the corridor of a space ship belonging to the space jockey race depicted in Alien. The presence of two jockeys in the background seems to confirm this (see below).

Other than these details, there is nothing in the picture that gives anything away. Nor were there any clues in the accompanying interview with writer Damon Lindelof. The co-creator of Lost and producer on J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek reboot stuck largely with the kind of general statements about the film that the cast and crew have made before. One thing he did say was that Prometheus will be “definitely epic in its scope.”

“One of the filmmakers that we ended up talking about to a fair degree of redundancy was David Lean, who directed ‘Lawrence of Arabia,’” Lindelof told the LA Times. “We wanted to make the movie feel big by having the characters be small in big spaces.”

So much is evident from the trailer.

Lindelof also said that what Alien and Prometheus have in common is that the universe in which each takes place shares a “similar aesthetic.” The fact that we are seeing so much of the space jockeys and their ship suggests that it goes a bit further than that. Only time and more tantalizing tidbits from Twentieth Century Fox will tell, though. Bring ‘em on, we say.

New image from Prometheus (Kerry Brown/20th Century Fox).

Not your conventional roommates.

The North American adaptation of Being Human returns to SPACE in Canada and Syfy in the United States tomorrow night for its second season. We have two short clips from the premiere for you below, which the latter channel released last week. Readers in Canada can see a SPACE preview on spacecast.com.

Being Human centers on three paranormal roommates—a vampire, werewolf and ghost—who are trying to live normal lives. It was adapted from a BBC series with the same name, four season of which have been produced.

The North American adaptation premiered on Syfy early last year and averaged 1.8 million viewers over the season. At the time those numbers made it Syfy’s most successful scripted series launched over the last six years in its winter season. The show was also a hit on SPACE.

Being Human, North American-style, stars Sam Witwer (Smallville, CSI), Meaghan Rath (Prom Wars, 18 to Life) and Sam Huntington (Fanboys, Superman Returns). These regulars will be joined in Season Two by Dichen Lachman (Doll House, Torchwood). The series is produced for SPACE and Syfy by Muse Entertainment in association with Zodiak Media. The first three episodes of the new season are being directed by Adam Kane and Paolo Barzman (The Last Templar, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde).

Season 2 of Being Human premieres Monday, January 16th, at 9/8c on Syfy and 10E/11P on SPACE.

Daniel Craig says that the script for 'Skyfall', the next Bond film, is better than the one for 'Casino Royale'.

His latest film is the David Fincher-directed The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, but Daniel Craig is already filming the next Bond movie, Skyfall. And the actor says the script is better than the one for Casino Royale, which convinced him to play the British secret agent in the first place.

In an interview with Time Out London, Craig reveals that he and Marc Forster, director of the scorned Quantum of Solace, were forced to develop a script because the writers’ strike prevented the production from hiring a writer to flesh out the “bare bones” they had. “There was me trying to rewrite scenes,” said Craig, “and a writer I am not.”

Craig also explained that he had a hand in getting Sam Mendes on board to direct Skyfall. “I said to him, ‘We have to do this together, we have exactly the same reference points, we both like the same Bond movies and we both like the same bits in the same Bond movies we like.’,” said the English actor.

Apparently Craig told producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson that he wanted to be involved in the production process beyond being an actor who walks on set and pretends to be James Bond. They seem to have given him that chance.

Skyfall is scheduled for release on November 9, 2012.

The film, being released on June 8, 2012, stars Idris Elba, Michael Fassbender, Guy Pearce, Noomi Rapace, Charlize Theron and Patrick Wilson. It’s the tale of a group of scientists and explorers who end up stranded on a distant world and the degree to which the movie is a prequel to Scott’s 1979 classic Alien depends on who you talk to.

What we do know is that the ship in the film is called the Prometheus, that Fassbender plays an android and that Scott told a crowd at Comic-con that the film will “scare the living shit out of you.” Okay then.

Robert Vaughn and David McCallum starred in the 1960 televison series, 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.'

Deadline is reporting that Guy Ritchie has made a deal to take over the Man From U.N.C.L.E. reboot for Warner Bros. He’ll be joined by producing partner Lionel Wigram. The duo’s last project was Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows, which releases on December 16.

The original television series ran from 1964–1968 and starred Robert Vaughn as Napoleon Solo and David McCallum as Ilya Kuryakin, agents of the United Network Command for Law Enforcement (U.N.C.L.E.). Every week they went up against the Technological Hierarchy for the Removal of Undesirables and the Subjugation of Humanity (T.H.R.U.S.H.).

Scott Z. Burns (Contagion, The Bourne Ultimatum) penned the script, which maintains the 1960s setting of the television series. Until a couple of weeks ago, Steven Soderbergh was to direct but he left the project due to budget and casting differences with the studio.

Harry Morgan and Gary Burghoff on the set of MASH.

Harry Morgan, who portrayed Colonel Sherman Potter in the television version of M*A*S*H, died Wednesday at his Los Angeles home. He had been suffering from pneumonia.

His role as Col. Potter won Morgan an Emmy in 1980, but he was also well-known as Officer Bill Gannon in Dragnet, the 1967 television series.

The actor also appeared on The Partridge Family, Gunsmoke, The Love Boat and Murder She Wrote, and starred in films like High Noon and How the West Was Won.

Bruce Campbell starred in the original 'The Evil Dead', released in 1981.

The remake of cult classic The Evil Dead, which established the careers of Bruce Campbell, Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert, will be released on April 12, 2013. Sony, the studio behind the remake, made the announcement today.

Campbell, Raimi and Tapert are all producers on the remake, which is expected to shoot in New Zealand, familiar territory for the trio who developed the Hercules and Xena television series there. The new film is being directed by newcomer Fede Alvarez. Alvarez and Rodo Sayagues wrote the script, which was revised by Diablo Cody (Juno). The shoot is likely to occur in New Zealand, which is familiar territory for

The remake is reported to have a much different tone than the original, giving up the near-slapstick comedy for a more serious take with themes of drug addiction and demonic possession. The set-up of a group of friends visiting a secluded cabin in the woods is the same, however.

Kiefer Sutherland stars in 'Touch', a new series premiering on Fox in January.

American Idol, which premieres on Wednesday, Jan. 18 and Thursday, Jan. 19, anchors the midseason for Fox. Ryan Seacrest is back to host the 11th season of the show along with Randy Jackson, Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler as judges.

Alcatraz, from J.J. Abrams, the Bones spin-off The Finder, and Kiefer Sutherland vehicle Touch are new series to the schedule. Napoleon Dynamite is a new animated series.

Bones, Glee and I Hate My Teenage Daughter return to the schedule in the spring.

The full Fox 2011-2012 midseason schedule:

MONDAY

Monday, Jan. 16:
8:00-10:00 PM ALCATRAZ (Series Premiere)

Mondays, beginning Jan. 23:
8:00-9:00 PM HOUSE (Time Period Premiere)
9:00-10:00 PM ALCATRAZ (Time Period Premiere)

Monday, March 12:
8:00-10:00 PM ALCATRAZ (Two-Hour Episode)

Mondays, beginning March 19:
8:00-9:00 PM HOUSE
9:00-10:00 PM TOUCH (Series Premiere)

TUESDAY

Tuesdays, beginning Jan. 17:
8:00-9:00 PM GLEE
9:00-9:30 PM NEW GIRL
9:30-10:00 PM RAISING HOPE

Tuesdays, beginning March 6:
8:00-8:30 PM NEW GIRL (encore)
8:30-9:00 PM BREAKING IN (Season Premiere)
9:00-9:30 PM NEW GIRL
9:30-10:00 PM RAISING HOPE

WEDNESDAY

Wednesday, Jan. 4:
8:00-9:00 PM GLEE (encore)
9:00-10:00 PM MOBBED

Wednesday, Jan. 11:
8:00-9:00 PM MOBBED (encore)
9:00-10:00 PM MOBBED

Wednesday, Jan. 18:
8:00-10:00 PM AMERICAN IDOL (Season Premiere, Part One)

Wednesday, Jan. 25:
8:00-9:00 PM AMERICAN IDOL
9:00-10:00 PM TOUCH (Special Preview)

Wednesdays, beginning Feb. 1:
8:00-9:00 PM AMERICAN IDOL
9:00-10:00 PM MOBBED

Wednesdays, beginning Feb. 15:
8:00-10:00 PM AMERICAN IDOL (Two-Hour Episodes)

THURSDAY

Thursday, Jan. 12:
8:00-9:00 PM BONES (encore)
9:00-10:00 PM THE FINDER (Series Premiere)

Thursdays, beginning Jan. 19:
8:00-9:00 PM AMERICAN IDOL (Season Premiere, Part Two)
9:00-10:00 PM THE FINDER

FRIDAY

Friday, Jan. 6:
8:00 PM-CC ET FOX SPORTS SPECIAL: 2012 AT&T COTTON BOWL CLASSIC (Live)

Fridays, beginning Jan. 13:
8:00-9:00 PM KITCHEN NIGHTMARES
9:00-10:00 PM FRINGE

SATURDAY

Saturdays, beginning Jan. 7:
8:00-8:30 PM COPS
8:30-9:00 PM COPS
9:00-10:00 PM DRAMA ENCORES
11:00 PM-Midnight ENCORES
Midnight-12:30 AM ENCORES

Saturday, Feb. 11:
8:00-10:00 PM AMERICA’S MOST WANTED SPECIAL EDITION
11:00 PM-Midnight ENCORES
Midnight-12:30 AM ENCORES

SUNDAY

Sunday, Jan. 8:
7:00-7:30 PM BOB’S BURGERS (encore)
7:30-8:00 PM THE CLEVELAND SHOW (encore)
8:00-8:30 PM THE SIMPSONS
8:30-9:00 PM THE CLEVELAND SHOW
9:00-9:30 PM FAMILY GUY
9:30-10:00 PM AMERICAN DAD

Sunday, Jan. 15:
8:00-8:30 PM THE SIMPSONS
8:30-9:00 PM NAPOLEON DYNAMITE (Series Premiere)
9:00-9:30 PM FAMILY GUY
9:30-10:00 PM NAPOLEON DYNAMITE (Special Time)

Sunday, Jan. 22:
6:00 PM-CC ET FOX SPORTS SPECIAL: NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME (Live)
10:00 PM ET/7:00 PT AMERICAN IDOL (Special Broadcast; Approximate Start Time)

Sundays, beginning Jan. 29:
7:00-7:30 PM BOB’S BURGERS (encore)
7:30-8:00 PM THE CLEVELAND SHOW
8:00-8:30 PM THE SIMPSONS
8:30-9:00 PM NAPOLEON DYNAMITE
9:00-9:30 PM FAMILY GUY
9:30-10:00 PM AMERICAN DAD

Sundays, beginning March 11:
7:00-7:30 PM ANIMATION DOMINATION ENCORES
7:30-8:00 PM THE CLEVELAND SHOW
8:00-8:30 PM THE SIMPSONS
8:30-9:00 PM BOB’S BURGERS (Season Premiere)
9:00-9:30 PM FAMILY GUY
9:30-10:00 PM AMERICAN DAD

Asa Butterfield plays Hugo in the Martin Scorsese film of the same name.

The National Board of Review has named Hugo, Martin Scorsese’s film about a young orphan who lives in the walls of a Paris train station, its film of the year. Scorsese was also named best director.

“Hugo is such a personal film by Martin Scorsese,” said Annie Schulhof, president of the National Board of Review. “It is a tribute to the early years of cinema that uses today’s cutting edge technology to bring the audience into a completely unique and magical world.  It is visually stunning and emotionally engaging.”

Acting awards went to George Clooney and Tilda Swinton for their work in The Descendents and We Need to Talk About Kevin, respectively. Christopher Plummer and Shailene Woodley picked up supporting acting nods.

The complete list of National Board of Review winners:

Best Film: Hugo
Best Director: Martin Scorsese, Hugo
Best Actor: George Clooney, The Descendants
Best Actress: Tilda Swinton, We Need to Talk About Kevin
Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Best Supporting Actress: Shailene Woodley, The Descendants
Best Original Screenplay: Will Reiser, 50/50
Best Adapted Screenplay: Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash, The Descendants
Best Animated Feature: Rango
Breakthrough Performance: Felicity Jones, Like Crazy
Breakthrough Performance: Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Debut Director: J.C. Chandor, Margin Call
Best Ensemble: The Help
Spotlight Award: Michael Fassbender (A Dangerous Method, Jane Eyre, Shame, X-Men: First Class)
NBR Freedom of Expression: Crime After Crime
NBR Freedom of Expression: Pariah
Best Foreign Language Film: A Separation
Best Documentary: Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Special Achievement in Filmmaking: The Harry Potter Franchise – A Distinguished Translation from Book to Film

WIth a tag line, “You think you know the story,” the image is of a log cabin, in the woods, but twisted and rotated as if it was a Rubik’s Cube. The poster debuted at Ain’t It Cool News this morning. The synopsis: “If you think you know this story, think again. A mind blowing horror film that turns the genre inside out. A group of five friends going on a quiet cabin retreat scratch the surface of something so massive and horrific that they can only begin to fathom what might possibly be going on just as time quickly runs out.”

Chris Hemsworth (Thor, Snow White and the Huntsman) stars along with Amy Acker, Kristen Connolly, Richard Jenkins, Fran Kranz, Bradley Whitford, Brian J. White, and Jesse Williams.

Whedon co-wrote the script for the horror film with Drew Goddard (Cloverfield), who also directs. The film had been delayed while with MGM, but was picked up by Lionsgate in July.