second season

If you were a fan of FOX's mid-season drama The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and you were wondering if the show was going to come back or not, the following information should give you a bit of relief. Or, at least a bit of hope as to the future of the series given FOX's erratic pattern of pickups and renewals.

According to Kristin over at E! Online, the sci-fi series that takes place in the universe of the Terminator movies (even though some die-hard fans scoff at it), the show will be coming back for a second season in the fall. That information comes from Thomas Dekker, who portrays the young John Connor on that program. Dekker was reported to say that Chronicles' producers are currently pitching second-season stories to the network at this time. In addition to this tidbit of information, unnamed sources are saying that production for the show will resume in mid- to late-June.

There's good news and bad news coming out of the Heroes' universe. The good news: despite the ongoing WGA Strike, the current 'Generations' story arc running on the hit NBC show will conclude on December 3rd in an episode entitled 'Powerless'. The bad news: should the strike extend through the new year 'Powerless' may be the season finale for Heroes.

That's what Jeph Loeb, co-executive producer and writer of the series, is saying in press reports. Luckily, Loeb and executive producer/creator Tim Kring saw this strike coming ahead of time so they, and their crew, worked like crazy to get the first story arc done before the strike deadline. This made people like comic book artist Tim Sale, who creates art for the Isaac Mendez character, nearly have a nervous breakdown. Even with the hectic work schedule Loeb states that fans should be satisfied with the end of the first story arc as many hanging plot threads will be resolved.

A few days before an advanced copy of Robot Chicken Season Two arrived in the mail, I had been watching my Mission Hill DVD. For those who don't know, Mission Hill was the creation of Simpsons writers Josh Weinstein and Bill Oakley. It focused on a college graduate named Andy French, living the typical slacker existence of an aimless college grad. The series aired when I myself was an aimless, slacking twentysomething, so I found the series funny, poignant, and often heartbreakingly real.

I realized while watching it that Adult Swim hasn't had a series with that kind of substance in a long time. Series like Baby Blues and Home Movies have been replaced by weird post-modern fare like Aqua Teen Hunger Force* and the works of Tim and Eric, with very little programming left with any real emotion.

We like to complain when networks don't give series a fair chance, so it's nice to see NBC getting behind the new season of Friday Night Lights with such enthusiasm. Teaming with HouseParty.com, the network is sending out party kits to 1,000 Friday Night Lights fans, including an advance copy of the season opener. The season officially begins on October 5 at 9:00 p.m. You can apply for a chance to host one of these parties on September 14 on the House Party site. The party kits will include various trinkets and ephemera, as well as episodes from season one and a sneak peek of the new Bionic Woman series.

Well, no wonder I missed this news: it was buried in some Variety article with "R. Kelly" in the title. You might as well slap a "poison" label on a jar of Skippy and expect me to open it. Seriously, people.

Anyway, yes, The Whitest Kids U Know will be heading to IFC for its second season after completing its first season on Fuse, IFC's sister channel. IFC has also acquired rights to the first season of the series. Fans of the series should be happy about this move for two reasons: IFC does not censor anything, and, it's commercial-free. The troupe is currently shooting the second season.

Well, it looks like two of TNT's Monday primetime dramas are coming back for another season. Last week we reported that The Closer was returning for a fourth season. Now it looks like Saving Grace will be returning as well.

Grace, which stars and is produced by Holly Hunter, has received a network order for an additional 15 episodes. Since premiering on July 23rd the show has ranked tops among new cable shows. With its lead-in of The Closer the show has averaged 5.5 million viewers each week.

This leaves Heartland, which stars Treat Williams, as the only TNT Monday night drama yet to be renewed. Hopefully the curse of Everwood doesn't hang over this medical drama.

We knew it was coming back, we just didn't know when. Well, we still don't know officially, but Paul Scheer, one-third of the sketch comedy trio Human Giant along with Aziz Ansari and Rob Huebel, blogged yesterday that the series would likely return in January 2008. Paul's exact words were: "we are looking towards an air date of Jan 2008," which is not the same as "you will definitely see new episodes in January," but I'm not going to complain. It's coming back, that's all that matters.

Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader kicks off its second season next month with four one-hour episodes and a two-hour season premiere.

The premiere airs Thursday, September 6 at 8:00 p.m., followed by a new episode every Thursday, save for one episode airing on Friday, October 5.

I've only watched a few episodes of this series, but I can only take so many minutes of a yammering jackass behaving in a manner that proves he's not only less smart than a fifth grader, he's also vastly more immature.

Remember when I told you Army Wives was worth checking out, despite being on Lifetime? Well, I wasn't the only one who thought it was a good series. It scored record ratings and has now been picked up for a second season. Look for the first of thirteen new episodes to pop up sometime this spring.

VH1's World Series of Pop Culture returns for a second season on July 9 at 9:00 p.m. for a two-week run, airing Monday through Thursday each week. You can also catch episodes from the first season starting this Thursday at 2:00 p.m.

The trivia completion pits teams against one another to see who knows the most about movies, music and television. The grand prize is $250,000.

The series is a lot of fun of you're a trivia and pop culture nut, but what's really cool is VH1's WorldOfPop.com site, where you can play various games to test your knowledge. I'm already addicted to the site, it's like a game of Trivial Pursuit you can play by yourself rather than trying to convince friends and family to play with you who have no interest in the game because they are people who suck.

Sorry, I didn't mean to get upset, but I'm a trivia nut surrounded by people who care not for it. Can I help it if my brain is packed with completely useless information?