Back in 2009 we talked about Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks TV striking a deal to bring Stephen King’s Under the Dome to television, and after three years the project is finally happening! Out is DreamWorks TV and in is Spielberg’s Amblin Television along with CBS Television Studios and producers Neal Baer, Stephen King, Justin Falvey, Darryl Frank, Stacey Snider and Brian K. Vaughan. The show is skipping the pilot stage and going straight to series with a 13-episode pickup slated to premiere in summer 2013.Under the Dome focuses on a small New England town that is cut off fromt he rest of the world by an invisible force field that causes ecological effects and a fight for control within the isolated population. It is perfectly suited for being adapted for television.

From out of the blue it looks like the potential DC Comic Booster Gold television series is still a possibility thanks to SyFy channel and Arrow showrunner Andrew Kreisberg, who is heading up the potential Gold series. IGN asked Kreisberg for an update on the project and he told them; “Booster Gold is going in in the next couple weeks before Christmas. We’ll see what happens from there. It’s such a different project even though they’re both DC Comics properties. Booster is much more candy and popcorn, being about time travel and changing the future and being a superhero who can fly. But they’re both super-fun projects. As a lifelong DC Comics fan, I am beyond blessed to be working on these projects with all these amazing characters.” There is so much potential for the series. Timecop meets superheroes with a lighthearted/comedic underlining. If they are allowed to use other DC characters throughout time it would be even better. Have Booster Gold travel to the golden and silver ages of the DC Comics universe and showcase different heroes and villains that are well known. I just hope that SyFy doesn’t hold it back and make the series take place in present day.

Wow. We have come a long way since 1998’s Nick Fury: Agent of SHEILD that featured David Hasselhoff in the starring role and was written by Batman Begins writer David S. Goyer. While I do admit that Hasselhoff was the spitting image of Fury, the movie was a joke like most of the efforts to adapt Marvel characters (remember Captain America‘s helmet or Roger Corman’s take on Marvel’s first family, the Fantastic Four).

Now enter Marvel Studio’s shared movie universe, which will be expanding onto the small screen and could provide us with as many as 20 new hours a year of content. ABC and Marvel have announced that they are going into production on a SHIELD pilot to be written and (possibily) directed by Joss Whedon, who not only helmed the big screen Avengers but created cult television shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Dollhouse, and Firefly. Joining Whedon on the new Marvel series will be usual contributors Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tanchareon, who both wrote for Dr. Horrible and Dollhouse and helped shape both of those properties.

At this time it is unknown whether we’ll see familiar faces such as Sam Jackson’s Nick Fury or Cobie Smulders’ Agent Maria Hill, or any of the big guns like Ironman, Hulk, Thor, etc. Depending on the time period of the show, there is always the chance to see Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson again. I think it is a given that we’ll see everyone from the Marvel universe in some capacity (even archive footage) at one point or another. The most exciting thing about the series is that they’ll be able to present so many more characters; including heroes, villains, and smaller supporting characters. What would bring in the ratings more than an episode that introduces Doctor Strange or Black Panther? Here is hoping that they will go all out- with Whedon directing the pilot and developing the series, they are taking all of the right steps. I can’t wait to hear more about SHIELD.

This past week at the San Diego Comic Con, fans of Twilight got a treat with a panel that featured author Stephenie Meyer, and cast members including Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Peter Facinelli, Elizabeth Reaser, Nikki Reed, Kellan Lutz, Ashley Green, Jackson Rathbone, and new to the cast Mackenzie Foy. During the panel they introduced footage from “Breaking Dawn Part 2”. Included in the footage was Bella (Stewart) dealing with being a vampire and the bloodlust that comes with it. She also hunts down a mountain lion.

Personally, I’m not a fan of the Twilight series and while it has had a positive effect of bringing vampires back in the spotlight, these are not vampires in any classic sense of the word. They go out in sunlight (and sparkle), have reflections, and none of the classic weaknesses (ugh). Pardon the pun, but the vampires of Twilight are completely toothless.

Thankfully we do have reasons to care about vampires again! With Twilight going away, the doors will be open for some good vampire movies and fiction to return.

It’s funny how easily it is to forget that Shia LaBeouf is actually a good actor. The three unwatchable Michael Bay Transformers made him into a laughable caricature of himself, but this is the same kid who starred in A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, Disturbia, and Holes. He has talent, he just isn’t able to show it that much. Hopefully Lawless changes that trend.

In the movie, based on the book The Wettest County in the World, LaBeouf co-stars with Tom Hardy as the Bondurant Brothers. The brothers are two bootleggers in Prohibition-era Virginia who are threatened by authorities who want in on their profits. The movie’s awesome cast includes Gary Oldman, Jessica Chastain, Mia Wasikowska, and Guy Pearce.

In addition to Lawless, Shia LaBeouf also has an illustrated book of poetry called Let’s Fucking Party. With no more Transformers in his future, let’s hope Shia is able to rebuild his credibility. 

It looks like ABC is doing the Daytime shuffle come September as Katie Couric’s new syndicated talk show will take the east coast timeslot that General Hospital has held for as long as I can remember. That will move General to an hour earlier into the current spot of the cancelled talk show, The Revolution, and the spot that was long held by One Life to Live. The shift begins on September 10th. This past week ABC’s last soap took home five Daytime Emmys including Best Drama, Best Lead Actor Anthony Geary, Best Supporting Actor Jonathan Jackson, Best Supporting Actress Nancy Lee Grahn, and Outstanding Directing Team. This news comes off recent news that One Life to Live actress Kassie DePaiva will reprise her role of Blair Cramer on General for the second time since One Life went off the air. Another bit of casting news concerns the hiring of Richard Steinmetz, formerly on Loving, who has been cast as the son of an unknown former character who will have a big upcoming storyline with Sonny.

BJ Novak joins Mindy Kaling and James Spader and will not return as a series regular in a season that is shaping up for a lot of change on The Office. That doesn’t mean that we’ve seen the last of Novak’s Ryan as he is scheduled to make reoccurring appearances in the ninth season of the NBC comedy. Novak of course has been a producer and writer on the series, but it is unknown if he’ll continue writing episodes. He joined Mindy Kaling over on her new show, The Mindy Project, as an executive producer on the pilot, but it does not appear that he will be a regular producer on the project. Returning to The Office next season are co-stars Ed Helms, John Krasinski, and Jenna Fischer who are all in long contract talks that thankfully ended successfully for the show. Catherine Tate has been upgraded to a series regular (here is hoping they continue to make her character a bit more likeable as they started at the end of the eight season). Also interesting to note is that this season will try to launch a Rainn Wilson lead Dwight Schrute spinoff. Will any other Office regulars join him? Maybe Angela Kinsey’s Angela Martin, the mother of his child. We’ll have to wait and see.

Is the Merc with a Mouth finally getting his own spinoff film? Maybe. Total Film talked with X-Men movie producer Lauren Shuler Donner and she told them that the Deadpool solo movie is back on track with Ryan Reynolds set to star in it. Donner went on to say that they are hoping “redeem him” after the crapfest that was X-Men Origins: Wolverine. While I loathed the horrible prequel, Reynolds still shined as the wisecracking Wade Wilson — even though they otherwise wrecked the character when he finally became “Deadpool”, if you want to call that thing at the end of Origins Deadpool. With a stylistic director, an upbeat comedic tone, and a R rating due to a bloody good time I could see the film being pretty awesome. Just please let it be its own thing and not a cameo fest like Origins.

While making the press rounds for her latest film, Johnny English Reborn, Scully herself Gillian Anderson is reigniting rumors of a third X-Files film being made. She told an Australian TV program that she hopes that the movie moves forward and that a script is being written. 2008’s The X-Files:  I Want to Believe wasn’t a huge blockbuster but it did pretty well and was made for a relatively low budget of 30 million dollars. Keeping the costs down and doing a new film focusing on Agents Scully and Mulder (David Duchovny) would be a smart move for 20th Century Fox. We are far enough removed from the series that they could do pretty much anything storywise. And I hope that they would reach for the stars (pun intended).

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Maybe the cast and crew broke in to an executive’s house and stole some incriminating documents? Somehow the Fox series Breaking In has survived being cancelled twice (yeah, I said twice). The series from Adam F. Goldberg and Seth Gordon has been picked up for a second season of 13 episodes. The show is actually really funny and witty, it stars Reaper‘s Bret Harrison, Christian Slater, Michael Rosenbaum, Odette Annable, and Alphonso McAuley. Not to mention a great line up of guests including Alyssa Milano and Mike Tyson. The series centers around a high-tech security firm that uses extreme and questionable methods for their clients.

The success of the brilliant cable series Mad Men has made Broadcast Networks mad for period dramas. Next season of television will include Pan Am, set around airlines in the sixties, The Playboy Club, Hugh’s famed club during its heyday (also in the sixties), and Gilded Lillys, which is set in the 1980s at a New York City hotel. Now you can add into the mix an untitled wrestling drama from Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Jerry Bruckheimer for NBC. This one is set in the world of wrestling during the 1980s. While the show will be set in a fictional world, in the real world the eighties was the rise of Hulkamania and when the World Wrestling Federation (now known as WWE) excelled wrestling from a sport to entertainment. Personally I think there are so many places this series could go and I’m very excited about it. The Rock is a perfect producer on this as he is a third generation wrestler who not only grew up through this time period, but also even had his hand wrestling against Hulk Hogan.

You must have heard by now that after Ridley Scott is done with his Alien “prequel”, that he will be returning to the world of replicants and the dystopian future society in Blade Runner. Now, as much as I would love to see Ridley Scott direct a follow up to Blade Runner, I can’t help but worry that it will take something away from the original. The mystery that we were left with at the end of the movie. Sure, he could be crafting a new story set in the world, heck it might even take place before or around the time of the original movie (again like his new Alien universe movie Prometheus). But will he be able to capture the magic of the original? Harrison Ford’s Deckard? Rutger Hauer’s Roy Batty? Will modern CGI make the world seem a little too clean?

Recently we were treated to new images and a plot synopsis for the new entry into the Underworld series, and now we have a full trailer! After a one film break Kate Beckinsale returns as Selene, and much has changed over the years. Vampires have been revealed to the world, hunted down and imprisoned. Only few remain in hiding. Will Selene be able to rally them and save her people? As an audience member are we supposed to be rooting for the vampires to defeat the humans? Because that seems kinda off. The lovely Beckinsale is joined in this installment by Michael Ealy, India Eisley, Stephen Rea, and Theo James. It comes out January 20th, 2012. Click here to check out the film’s trailer.