Have a question about something fantasy-related? Ask the Oracle! (Be sure to include your first name and the city, state, and/or country you are writing from.)
Q: Will Renee O’Connor guest-star on Lucy Lawless’ upcoming series Spartacus: Blood and Sand? — Jan, Albuquerque, NM
A: The Oracle can reveal that she definitely won’t be appearing in the first season.
“Once Lucy’s there, [having Renee join her] spins it all different for a different group of people and so it’s just not appropriate,” Xena creator (and Lucy Lawless’ husband) Rob Tapert tells the Oracle.
Still, Tapert does leave the door open for a possible future guest spot. “That’s this season,” he adds.
Q: What in the world is going on with V? — James, Key West, FL
A: Whatever it is, it’s not good. ABC will still air the first four episodes of the series in November as scheduled (leaving the series on a cliff-hanger), then hold the remaining nine episodes until March. This was a major surprise, because the buzz for the show has been great (and the Oracle has seen the pilot and can confirm that it’s terrific). ABC says they don’t want the show to be interrupted by the Winter Olympics, which the network is also airing. But ABC has long known about the Olympics.
So what gives? The Oracle thinks it’s two things: the network was genuinely unhappy with the direction the show was going. They shut down production for an initial two weeks (and then an additional four weeks), replacing many of the key creative players.
But there also suddenly seems to be renewed skepticism in the industry for sci-fi in general, what with unexpectedly disastrous ratings for the Fox’s returning Dollhouse and Fringe. NBC recently announced that they’re airing a sci-fi thriller called Day One as a four-hour mini-series, and not as the series it was originally planned to be (it’ll be interesting to see how this works out, because two hours of the “series” had been shot before they decided to turn it into a “mini-series” — something that required creative writing to, more or less, wrap-up the storyline after the fourth hour.)
If Day One, the mini-series, does well, a full-fledged series could still be green-lit. But the fact remains, industry folks are openly wondering if sci-fi can maintain the viewership needed to produce these often expensive, effect-laden shows.
The Oracle cautions viewers to expect more “SyFy”-like rebranding of “sci-fi” projects in the years ahead. Already Flash Forward, whose numbers are also down, is being sold as more of an “action-drama” than as the science fiction series it actually is.
Q: What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow? — HolyGrailFan, Prince Edward Island
A: Oh, you’re proud of that one, aren’t you? And you think the Oracle doesn’t know, don’t you? Well, the Oracle knows all: the velocity is eleven meters per second, or 24 miles an hour.
How do I know this? Somebody figured it out.
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Have a question about something fantasy-related? Ask the Oracle! (Be sure to include your first name and the city, state, and/or country you are writing from.)
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Sadly, I can see his point about Renee…
I concur with Mark.
Spartacus should be given the chance to stand on its own two feet, before becoming a “reunion” show for Xenaverse and Hercverse fan-favourites.
That typed, it would be great to see ROC appear in Spartacus. Or “The Legend of the Seeker”. Thank goodness “B*&^h Slap” is finally headed towards a release and we can see LL and ROC camp it up as a couple of naughty nuns (although I’m sure there appearance will be nothing more than a tease of the potential greatness of a “Naughty Nun” spin-off film).
The V and Day One news is definitely not encouraging. Caprica is also facing rumours of troubles, although they’ve all been very quickly debunked by TPTB (including Jane Espenson (sp?) herself).
Ah sci-fi, in the nineties it was untouchable from Star Trek, through Farscape and Battlestar Galactica (all of which I watched some of) yet now its getting short shrift. I think perhaps the increase in Brit actor based crime shows (there are loads now) and fantasy has made a lot of sci-fi look out of touch by comparison, even the good ones.
As for RoC on Spartacus, its a new show with only one or two well known names (Lucy Lawless and John Hannah, the latter of which is awful in serious drama) that will want to establish its own viewer base before it even thinks of leaning into the nostalgia cupboard. If she was in it then it would be to bring something to the show rather then holding it back, which would occur if they brought them both back straight away. I cant see it happening at all really, but if it was to happen then it wouldnt be in its first season.
I don’t know people continue to ask about Renee O’Connor being in Spartacus — it isn’t Xena. Is it because she hasn’t done anything else?
She has done bits and pieces (mainly smaller movie work and a bit of TV, havent seen any of it bar one role) but I think its more to do with nostalgia to see the two work together again.
To be honest if people want that they can just watch Bitch Slap when it comes out at some point.
Who wasn’t expecting the “disastrous ratings” for Dollhouse and Fringe?
Whedon can try to blame the failure on the suits all he likes, but the premise of the show is lame and that is all his fault. A secret organization has developed the tech to transfer memories and they use it to create a chain of whorehouses?
The reason Fringe had around 10 million viewers the first season is because it was on right after the biggest show on TV, American Idol (30 million viewers). If it had been on its own it probably would have had less than half of that. Now that it is after Bones (10 million viewers) it is bringing in about 6 million. I’m actually surprised it is pulling in that many.
I completely agree with you about DOLLHOUSE: the premise was fundamentally flawed from the start (although I think it’s more than the main character didn’t have a personality!).
Part of the problem with FRINGE is that they’ve put all the sci-fi together on the same night opposite each other. Crazy!
Yeah, 4 shows on Thursdays and 7 shows on Fridays. My DVR will only record 2 shows at a time. Luckily, I don’t watch all those shows, but pretty much impossible for anyone who does.
Hey, Day One looks GREAT and it sounds like they’re doing a lot of multi-media stuff too, so maybe it’ll make it! Don’t know much about V but I’m sure it’s good too. Ultimately it’s up to the audience, so tune in!!!
Renee would be great on anything.she can act circle around lucy but i am glad she not on this soft porn show-who the hell wants to see 41 year mother of three lucy shag john.god that could blind you,sad day for lucy letting her ass of a husband pimp her out like a whore.