Axiom’s Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy

Sam and Dean, Meet your Brother: In an upcoming episode of Supernatural, Sam and Dean Winchester will find out that they have a brother (half-brother that is).  Jake Abel will play eighteen year old Adam Milligan, the product of one of their father’s liaisons during his demon-hunting expeditions.  The new sibling will be introduced in an episode scheduled to air in April.  No word on whether he will stick around as a regular.

Chuck Amok: Even though NBC’s Monday night spy/comedy series has not received a third season pickup, its creators are already thinking that far into the future.  Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak have said that the Season 2 finale for the series will be “game changing” and will set up a new direction for the show, though they have not elaborated further on the changes.  Chuck struggled in the ratings earlier this season though it has seen its numbers trend upward.  Last week’s Super Bowl-teased 3-D episode scored the show’s best numbers for the season with a 3.0 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 8.35 million viewers.

Reaper Premiere Changed: The CW has announced some tweaks to their schedule which includes bumping up the Season 2 premiere of Reaper.  The show was originally set to bow on March 17th in the 9 PM EST hour.  Now the network has decided to let the Devil loose two weeks on March 3rd earlier and has moved the show to the 8 PM timeslot.  The good news here is that Reaper will not have to battle with powerhouses The Mentalist and Fringe at 9 PM.  The bad news is that it will have to face off with the monolithic American Idol.  The CW plans to air the complete second season without preemptions or reruns.

Caprica Heads to DVD and Download: While the Sci Fi Channel recently announced a series pickup of the Battlestar Galactica prequel, they remained mum about the completed pilot for the show.  The cable network will not air it until the series proper debuts in 2010, but the pilot will be available for viewing prior to that.  It will be released to DVD and digital download on April 21st so that BSG fans can get a preview of what is to come.  Check back at the Axiom’s Edge Webstore for availability in April.

Nielsen Delays Sweeps to March: February is usually sweeps month for Nielsen, but that will get moved to March for 2009 because of the switch to digital television originally scheduled for February 17th.  Nielson moved sweeps, the period that stations use to set advertising rates, in the case of “potential disruptions” that might follow from the move to digital transmissions.  This means that February will have an inordinate amount of reruns and preemptions (and probably act as a dumping ground for failed pilots and shows).  Of course Congress pulled a fast one on the networks and just announced an extension of the deadline for the switch-over to June 12th.  But schedules are set, so don’t expect the networks to shuffle things based on this change.

More Pilot Announcements: FOX has picked up a pilot from Prison Break veteran Paul Scheuring.  The show, titled Masterworks, involves a hunt for some of the best known artifacts around the globe and sounds like another spin on the Da Vinci Code idea (and hopefully it will be better than NBC’s dreadful The Last Templar).  The CW will sink its teeth into the vampire genre, picking up a pilot based on L.J. Smith’s Vampire Diaries series of books.  It will come from the same people who produce Gossip Girl and will likely skew toward the audience recently flocking to the Twilight books and movies.  Also, further news on the Witches of Eastwick pilot has David Nutter attached as the writer.  He previous penned the pilots for Terminator:The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Supernatural.

Network Ratings for the Week of February 1st: Chuck and Heroes get a Boost; Life on Mars goes to Red Alert.

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