Cannon Fodder

Some new shows coming to US TV with some familiar faces. I've listed a few that sound interesting, and a couple that are purely there because there are people we know in them.

I've also posted the media blurb about each show. I'm lazy, I admit that.

Bones
Forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance Brennan (Emily Deschanel, “Boogeyman”), who works at the Jeffersonian Institution and writes novels as a sideline, has an uncanny ability to read clues left behind in a victim’s bones. Consequently, law enforcement calls her in to assist with murder investigations when the remains are so badly decomposed, burned or destroyed that the standard identification methods are useless. Brennan often finds herself teamed with Special Agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz, “Angel”) [What a ridiculous name!], a former Army sniper who mistrusts science and scientists when it comes to solving crimes. Brennan and Booth clash both professionally and personally, but so far the chemistry between them has only played out in a fictionalized account in Brennan’s latest mystery novel.

Threshold
In the middle of the ocean, a cargo freighter makes a chilling discovery: an extraterrestrial craft has landed on earth. Enter Molly Anne Caffrey (Carla Gugino), recruited to await the planet's first contact, along with a carefully assembled team made up of a brilliant physicist with strong religious beliefs, a language and communications expert and a highly trained covert operative. Together they implement the long-gestating Operation: Threshold, charged with finding out the purpose of the landing and the fate of the ship's crew, and preparing for the worst-case scenario of an alien invasion.

Surface – Formerly known as Fathom.
Ever wonder what life would be like if a new form of sea life began to appear in locales all over the Earth? Naval officers in the South Antarctic Sea, a family in San Diego, the Oceanographic Institute in Monterey, and fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico are about to find out. The organisms are beautiful, but are these innocent creatures more than what they seem? Embark on this unfathomable journey to discover what might be lurking just below the surface. Cast: Lake Bell, Jay Ferguson, Rade Sherbedgia, Carter Jenkins, Leighton Meester.

Supernatural
Gilmore Girls' breakout star Jared Padalecki and Smallville's Jensen Ackles are Sam and Dean Winchester; two young brothers bound by tragedy and blood to a dangerous, "other-worldly" mission. Crisscrossing the country in their '69 Chevy Impala, they carry on their missing father's quest to seek out and silence the supernatural forces responsible for their mother's murder twenty years ago.

How I Met Your Mother - Alyson Hannigan’s new sitcom.
Marshall has just dropped a bombshell on best friend Ted. He's going to propose to his long-time girlfriend. Now don't get Ted wrong: he's thrilled with the news. But it makes him realize that he had better get a move on if he hopes to find the kind of true love that Marshall and all his other friends have. Rest assured, and flash-forward to a happy ending for Ted as he recounts, in flashback, to his young children (and us) the story of how he finally met his one true love, the story of HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER. And with the eccentric company that Ted kept as a young man on the hunt, it's amazing that he met any girls at all.

Ghost Whisperer
Jennifer Love Hewitt returns to series television in a riveting look at the link between the living and the dead, between life and death. Inspired by the cases of famed psychic James Van Praagh [Eeek! Scary psychic guy.], it focuses on a young newly-wed endowed with the unique ability to communicate with spirits, who has spent her entire life coping with this extraordinary gift, but who also yearns to lead an ordinary life--if only the dead would stop talking. And what they are saying leads her to some unusual psychic investigations.

To me this sounds like an attempt to cash in on Medium’s well deserved success. We’ll see whether it can bare the same scrutiny.

If you’re a fan of Lindsay from Angel, then catch him in his new Jerry Bruckheimer drama Close to Home.

Show’s we’ve not seen but have been cancelled already:

The Inside - out already
Tim Minear was responsible for most of the best moments of seasons 3 and 4 of Angel, he took on Firefly then, when it got chopped, took up Executive Producer on Wonderfalls. So when the net started to rumble with news of a new Minear show TV looked to have another interesting show on its way. Again, airing on Fox is a bad omen for any show.

The Inside follows Rebecca Locke (Rachel Nichols), a young special agent who joins the FBI’s Violent Crimes Unit (VCU) in Los Angeles. We learn that a very dark chapter was written into Rebecca’s life long before she began training with the FBI.

Another Whedon alumae's ill-fated show:

Point Pleasant
A show by Marti Noxon (former Buffy show-runner, the one who made season six so dark...), Point Pleasant looked to be the new Buffy, capturing that unique mix of drama, comedy and the supernatural. Sadly, it was on the Fox network, and like so many before it (Firefly and The Inside for example), the plug was pulled.

And returning to our screens next year, probably, is:

Battlestar Galactica Season two. 20 episodes continuing the fight for survival.
As often happens with fantasy series, Galactica's complex mythology can pose a barrier to newcomers. If you have trouble breaking through, let go of the story and focus on the characters. You'll understand them, their conflicts and their desires, because they're recognizable humans in all their glorious complexity.
And that's what makes Galactica a great TV series.

Is Lost, lost?