The 2017 International Comic-Con in San Diego is in full swing, so what would be a better time to bring back The Pit?

Stargate began on the big screen before moving to the small screen and spinning off into a number of different shows, and now is being revived as a digital series. Stargate Origins will consist of 10 episodes that are approximately 10 minutes long each and will follow the early adventures of Catherine Langford. The character was in the original movie and made scattered appearances in Stargate SG-1. The new series will be streamed on Stargate Command, a new subscription platform from MGM, and could be the first of many new adventures in the Stargate universe (hey, maybe they can eventually resolve the cliffhanger from Stargate Universes). Check out the teaser here.
The Walking Dead was back in Hall H at Comic-Con with a panel and new trailer for season eight. Go right ahead and watch the trailer for “All out War” (ripped form the pages of the comic) then come back and finish this article! Robert Kirkman, The Walking Dead creator and producer, commented that the season will be “very action-packed and very fast-paced,” which would be a bit different than past seasons. Dead is known to draw out events and arcs from comic, so it will be nice to contain the war to season 8 (and the final shot in the trailer hints at this big time!).

August 18. We are one month away from Marvel and Netflix’s Defenders. Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist teaming up to save New York. First of course there is a new trailer. We get a great look at Sigourney Weaver’s villain along with our best look of the return of Elektra. The action and interactions between the four heroes is spot on and the series looks like it will be the perfect climax for the various Marvel/Netflix shows. Also discussed at the panel was the upcoming The Punisher series, which is spinning off from Daredevil’s second season and starring Jon Bernthal as the title character.

Have you been following this year’s Comic-Con? What have been the standouts for you?

It has been a while since we took a trip into The Pit and I can honestly say that I’ve missed writing the column. What started as a way to throw out some opinions on various news stories turned into a fun way to spotlight multiple topics without the need to do a full blown articles on any of the subjects. I can’t promise that I’ll be able to write this column daily, but I’m going to try to make it a weekly thing.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is getting closer and closer (the movie is only a little more than 6 months away!!!). New photos from the movie has been released online, you can check them out in a Gallery on the movie’s official website (the site also features the movie’s trailer and some other goodies).

A new rumor cropped up today via Heroic Hollywood that Warner Brothers is so trilled with Ben Affleck’s performance that they want even more Batman in the film and are working to make that happen. Personally I hope they don’t over do it. Sometimes, less is more. If the movie is working and Batman is the standout, keep it that way. Don’t try to force more of a good thing, just let it happen organically. Either way, I’ll be seeing  Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice on opening night.

Unfortunately, Hugh Jackman is sticking to his story that Wolverine III will be his last movie as the beloved gruff X-Man. On the plus side, there is rumor has it that he has a role (or cameo) in the upcoming X-Men: Apocalypse, so while Wolverine III might be his last ride as the hero, it will not be the only movie we have to look forward to with Jackman in the role.

Another awesome rumor is that we will see the return of Victor Creed, aka Sabretooth, in the new solo Wolverine outing. Creed was played by ex-wrestler Tyler Mane in X-Men, but recast with Liev Schreiber in the prequel X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Schreiber was easily the best part of a otherwise disappointing first Wolverine solo outing, but I’d welcome seeing him have another go at the villain. Hopefully the material in the new movie will be up to par (it better be if its the last time we’ll see Jackman as the Wolverine.

We are just a month and a half away from the premiere of Ash vs Evil Dead on STARZ! I can not wait to see Bruce Campbell return to the iconic role and face-off with a new crop of Deadites!

The series has a new official description: “Ash vs Evil Dead follows Ash, the stock boy, aging lothario and chainsaw-handed monster hunter who has spent the last 30 years avoiding responsibility, maturity and the terrors of the Evil Dead. When a Deadite plague threatens to destroy all of mankind, Ash is finally forced to face his demons –personal and literal. Destiny, it turns out, has no plans to release the unlikely hero from its “Evil” grip.” The show also has a new behind the scenes video, click here to watch the “First Look” for Ash vs Evil Dead.

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The San Diego Comic Con has begun and with it we are being flooded with awesome geek news- from both the actual con and the lead up to it. Lets start with one of the biggest comic book movies that is currently in production…

Bishop (Omar Sy- pictured to the left in costume) has been confirmed to appear in X-Men: Days of Future Past! The time traveling mutant has been rumored to be part of the cast, but we did not get confirmation until this past week. With Day of Future Past‘s story involving time travel, he was a good candidate for a role, especially when you consider the other notable time traveling mutant and fan favorite Cable, has had his parents killed off before he could be born (Scott Summers is his father and a clone of Jean Grey is his mother- but the real Jean Grey raised him in the future in someone else’s body… yeah, we don’t have to get into the specifics. Maybe it is a good thing that Bryan Singer choose Bishop instead of Cable). I just hope Bishop’s role is not a cameo.

Lets stay on topic with some more Marvel Comics adaptation news. (SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!) Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD just keeps sounding better and better. First they got Joss Whedon on board to write and direct it. They put together an awesome writing/producing team of  Maurissa Tancharoen and Jed Whedon (Dollhouse, Dr. Horrible). Brought Clark Gregg’s Phil Coulson back to life after his tragic Avengers death. Put together a damn good cast with Ming-Na Wen, J. August Richards, Brett Dalton, Chloe Bennet, and Elizabeth Henstridge. And now from the floor of the San Diego Comic Con and the show’s first public screening we have confirmation of the return of Agent Maria Hill (played by the wonderful Cobie Smulders). I am so excited for this show (premieres on September 24th). I just can not wait for the further adventures of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.

The Walking Dead premiered a first look trailer for season 4 and my jaw is still on the floor. The footage might be spoiler-y or it could just be misleading. We’ll have to wait for the show to return on October 13th to really find out. You can watch it here. The trailer gives us a first look at Lawrence Gilliard Jr as a very (and I mean very) different Bob Stookey than the one we met in the comics, along with Tyreese in a scene that looks like it is ripped from the comics but in a different location, Michonne on a horse, Rick and Tyreese ready to trade blows, and a bunch of new faces (both alive and getting eaten). We can’t be sure if this was footage from the first episode back or the first few episodes, but it looks like when The Walking Dead returns, it will waste no time in jumping back into the action and racing forward. For better or worse, there was no sign of the Governor in the trailer… We’ll have to wait and see what he might be planning.

Keep checking back as we try to round of the most exciting news coming out of San Diego and we’ll be giving away another DVD this week. What movie? You’ll have to keep checking back to see!

There is so much going on, so lets just jump right in and focus on some television news today.

After clearing house with cast members via a plane crash the season before this past one, Grey’s Anatomy is upgrading four recurring cast members from this past season to regulars… “Grey’s 2.0”? “Grey’s: The New Class”? All four, Camilla Luddington, Gaius Charles, Jerrika Hinton and Tessa Ferrer (pictured to the left), took on the roles of the new class of interns along with Tina Majorino. Sadly, due to being attached to the new TNT drama Legends, Majorino has not joined the others as a regular next season. Personally, I preferred the Veronica Mars and  Napoleon Dynamite alum to the others. We’ll see if she’ll be back recurring and depending on how her new show does, if she’ll be upgraded at some point.

While on the subject of a Shonda Rhimes show, lets turn to another one. Scandal has been red hot for ABC and the drama just made another smart move. They have upped Scott Foley to a series regular for the shows upcoming third season. This past season he recurred as Jake Ballard, who ended the season with his fate being a cliffhanger. I guess we can say that he survives “the pit” (sorry, I can never resist a bad pun).

Foley has been busy on TV in recent years, with recurring gigs on Cougar Town, Grey’s Anatomy and True Blood, along with a regular role on the dead-before-it-aired The Goodwin Games. It’ll be nice for him to stick around a series for more than a season and grow into a new role.

Moving away from ABC and Shonda Rhimes, how about we turn to some lighter fare? The well received Cartoon Network Teen Titans Go! has been renewed for a second season. The series features DC Comic’s younger generation of heroes, including Robin, Beast Boy and Raven, being teenagers and doing normal teenage things. Things like taking your driving test and messing with a pizza man. The cartoon is over the top and zany.

Season one is still ongoing with new episodes airing every Tuesday at 7:30pm, then reairing throughout the week. The series is surprisingly enjoyable and I can’t wait to see what they have in store for future episodes. Shut off your brain, sit back, and enjoy.

We’re back with some television news for you to fall into.

Only a handful of years since his last retirement from The Tonight Show, it appears that the curtain is closing on Jay Leno once again in 2014. As expected, he will be passing the torch to Saturday Night Live alum and Late Night host Jimmy Fallon. This time around it seems much more likely that Leno will not steal the show back as he did when Conan O’Brien took over the hosting duties in 2009. Speaking of Conan, his own late night show over on TBS has been renewed through November of 2015.

With Fallon moving to The Tonight Show, rumors have begun about who might replace him on Late Night with the frontrunner seemingly being fellow SNLer Seth Meyers. Personally I think Meyers would be a great fit.

USA Network has announced their summer slate premiere dates! Lets start with Burn Notice (pictured left), the spy action series will start its seventh season on Thursday, June 6 at 9pm. It will be followed by the new series Graceland, which stars Daniel Sunjata and Aaron Tveit. Like Burn, the series is an action drama (and I’m sure it will have its share of lighthearted fare).  A week later on Wednesday June 12th, Royal Pains and Necessary Roughness’ new seasons begin. Pains at 9pm and Roughness at 10pm. Then you’ll have to wait almost another week for the return at Covert Affairs and Suits on Tuesday June 16th (also 9pm and 10pm).

The only standout USA Network show missing from the lot is White Collar, which will return with a new season in the fall (hey, they have to save something for their fall schedule).

Spoilers! Turn away if you have not watched the season finale of The Walking Dead. The third season of the zombie survival drama was really strong up until the last couple episodes. It went out without the bang everyone was expecting and that AMC hyped so loudly. It did have its fair share of surprises, including the fact that the season’s villain, the Governor (David Morrissey), survived. Everyone that I know (and myself) included counted on him being killed and we were taking bets on who would/should do it (Maggie and Michonne topped the list of would-be killers). AMC has announced that Morrissey will indeed be back next season as a regular. I honestly have no idea where they could take this character. I guess he can go out and build a new army to attack the prison- but how can they do this and keep things fresh? We shall see when The Walking Dead returns in October.

With television coming back from its “winter break” lets take a look at some new television and webTV news.

Over at the Television Critics Association’s press tour this morning, FOX revealed that they renewed Bones for a ninth season. They implied but did not outright say that it would be the final season of the long running crime drama, I guess it depends on the rest of FOX’s future slate of shows. The series stars Emily Deschanel as doctor  Temperance “Bones” Brennan, a “socially inept” forensic anthropologist who uses her unique skill set to solve long cold cases along with her partner FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth, portrayed by Buffy the Vampire Slayer‘s David Boreanaz.

Bones joins a bunch of other shows that the network has already renewed, including American Dad, Bob’s Burgers, Family Guy, The Simpsons, and The X Factor. The only show I actually care about on FOX at the moment is New Girl, which stars Emily’s sister Zooey. New Girl keeps getting better and funnier with every episode. Hopefully they announce a renewal soon.

Well it took longer than expected, but it looks like Prospect Park is pulling through with its revivals of canceled ABC Soaps One Life to Live and All My Children. News was leaked last month that the company had closed deals with the DGA and SAG/AFTRA. Now comes word that PP has hired Executive Producers on the shows,  Jennifer Pepperman on OLTL and Ginger Smith on AMC, both of whom worked on the shows in the past, and the two show’s creator Agnes Nixon has signed on as a consultant. A few AMC cast members have signed on to the show, including Lindsay Hartley, Vincent Irizarry and Debbi Morgan. Even more interesting is the new plan for airing the soaps. Both OLTL and AMC will be half an hour long and air four days a week on The Online Network, with recap shows every Friday. Production begins in Stanford, CT in February. Maybe we’ll start seeing episodes as soon as March? Keep your fingers crossed!

While on the subject of soaps, lets shift online where the third and forth episodes of Lenox Avenue have been released over on its official website. The series is described as a “sexy soap-opera-style drama” that follows three male friends, Owen (Al Thompson, “A Walk to Remember”), Sellars (Dorian Missick, “Southland”), and Vaughn (Ryan Vigilant, “Gossip Girl”), who are navigating the complex dating scene while dealing with the pressures and messiness of their careers and friendships. The series is set in and spotlights the beauty of Harlem. In the third episode, Owen encounters a mysterious new woman while Sellars learns some stuff about his wedding. Then in the forth episode Vaughn learns that the single life is not nearly as easy as expected.   Find out more over on the show’s Facebook page.

In the last Pit column we talked about some movie news, including Ghostbusters 3, the next Muppets adventure, and FOX’s upcoming reboot of Marvel Comic’s Fantastic Four. Today lets look at some television news bits.

Lets start with a show that has been breaking Cable ratings records left and right, the AMC zombie horror series The Walking Dead. The show had it’s Mid-Season finale and left us with a reunion and a cliffhanger to keep us on our toes until it is back on the air come February 10th. The network will also be giving us something pretty cool to chew on starting on February 14th; an encore presentation of the first and second season of the show broadcast is beautiful black and white- just like the comic the show is based on. AMC previously did this with just the pilot, but it will be pretty awesome to see more episodes in a style that is close to the comic book. Speaking about the comic (spoilers), this past week issue #105 hit stands and sees Carl across enemy lines after confronting Neegan last issue. The official description for the issue is short and to the point, “Sing me a song.” Will Carl live through this?

Cult fan favorite Gillian Anderson will be returning to television after a ten year break. The X-Files star will be joining NBC’s upcoming prequel to the Hannibal series of books for an undetermined amount of episodes. She joins Mads Mikkelsen, who portrays the title character made famous by Anthony Hopkins, and Hugh Dancy who steps in as FBI agent Will Graham, who was expertly portrayed by William Petersen in  Michael Mann’s Manhunter and later by Edward Norton in Brett Ratner’s sub-par Red Dragon. Anderson’s character will get to look into just what makes Hannibal tick as she is described as “Dr. Lecter’s personal psychiatrist” by Bryan Fuller, the creator of the new series. Fuller is the man behind Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls, and Pushing Daisies. Most recently he tried to revive/reboot the Munsters with Mockingbird Lane.

After failing hard last year with H8R and more recently having mediocre results with the musical chairs inspired game show Oh Sit! (which was renewed for a second season), The CW is getting back into the reality game with two new shows; The Hunt and Perfect Score. The Hunt is the CW’s attempt at building their own version of Survivor meets The Hunger Games. They describe the show as an “intense wilderness competition” that sees twelve teams of two players facing off in games to test their survival skills and endurance.  The second new show, Perfect Score,is a dating game show that gives players the chance to win cash prizes if they are able to identify their “perfect match”. Neither show has a premiere date. On the narrative side, The CW also has a young Wonder Woman series tentatively titled Amazon in the works as a complement to Arrow. In the very least you need to give props to the Network for keeping their slate fresh and with a lot of variety.