Catching Up a Bit, TV & Doctor Who News

Catching Up

I'm getting caught up a bit, between LepreCon 34, going back to Kansas for my father's funeral, and bringing a nasty cold back from Kansas, I've not been keeping up with a lot of stuff, including the SFTV Blog.

I have gotten the SFTV Schedules updated, including schedule information for the new NBC series Fear Itself, the new ABC Family series The Middleman (and the fan site, Middlefan), and new to SciFi series Charlie Jade (more details at the Wikipedia Charlie Jade web site). Check it out on the SFTV Schedule links to the right of the blog. I'll have some more details on the new stuff as well as information on the broadcast networks Up Fronts soon (highlights are in the SFTV Schedules News section if you can't wait).

Doctor Who New Executive Producer - Steven Moffat
The BBC announced that writer/producer Steven Moffat will take over as Executive
Producer and Head Writer of Doctor Who starting with Series five in 2010. Russell
T. Davies will step down after producing the four planned specials in 2009. Moffat has been the writer of the Hugo award winning episodes The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances and The Girl in the Fireplace (and is also nominated this year for Blink) and the upcoming Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead two-parter is highly anticipated). It is good to see another well-respected writer/producer who is also a fan take on the show. I've had a chance to talk with Moffat at the Gallifrey One conventions and, while he indicated last year that he wasn't interested in the job, being much too busy doing things like scripts for Tin Tin movies for the likes of Steven Spielberg, I have a feeling it was already in the works and he was just trying to avoid the question. I'm looking forward to seeing what he will do with the series as well as who he might bring in to write an episode or two that hasn't yet had the chance. The only downside I can see is that he may no longer be able to join us at Gallifrey One now that he is the person in charge. But, since he is the person in charge, he may be able to change the current BBC policies.

Other Doctor Who Writer News
Paul Cornell recently survived a nasty car crash which he documented quite thoroughly on his blog. I'm glad to hear that Paul and his wife, Caroline, both escaped with relatively minor injuries when it sounds like it definitely could have been a lot worse. Paul has been a fun guest at Gallifrey One for the last ten or so years and it has been fun hanging out with Paul and Caroline occassionally at WorldCon and World Fantasy recently. Besides some of the better received Doctor Who episodes (including Human Nature/Family of Blood, also nominated for a Hugo this year), Paul has recently written for Robin Hood and Primeval and has been working on pitching his own series to the UK production companies. He's also started doing comics for Marvel, having done a Wisdom miniseries last year and having just launched a new series, Captain Britain and MI-13 with a Fantastic Four miniseries on the way (and who knows what else is coming up that he can't talk about). Here's a nice list of all of the recent and upcoming comics Paul has done for Marvel. Paul has also published a few novels as well, including British Summertime, recently published in the US by Monkeybrain Books. He'll be at WorldCon in Denver in August, hoping to take home his first Hugo award for Doctor Who.

James Moran has been writing about his experiences writing for TV on his blog. He's started a series of posts on his experience writing for Torchwood and promises a detailed report on his experiences at Gallifrey One. He wrote The Fires of Pompeii episode for the current series and has episodes in the new series of Primeval as well as the new UK version of Law and Order. He's also got several other things in the works that he can't yet say what it is. James was a big hit at Gallifrey One this past year with the fans and he is already scheduled for a return visit next year.