[Televisionary]

Just four days after the end of Torchwood: Children of Earth here in the US, BBC Video is releasing the two-disc set for the epic mini-series from writers Russell T. Davies, John Fay, and James Moran. While I've not only reviewed the mini-series in full (my advance review of the five-night event can be found here ), I also wrote up each installment of the series' limited run ( Day One , Day Two , Day Three , Day Four , and Day Five ) and offered up a two-part interview with executive producer Julie Gardner (which can be found here and here ). Over the course of the five taut installments, Davies and Co. manage to break the alien fighting team in half, push the series' characters well beyond their breaking points, and bring us piece of a politically and socially-minded action-adventure-sci-fi television making that is absolutely extraordinary in its scope. Make no mistake: this is an alien contact story unlike any other but the writers wisely craft a series that tells para

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. Battlestar Galactica 's Jamie Bamber will guest star in the season premiere installment of FOX's Dollhouse next season. According to E! Online's Watch with Kristin, Bamber will play a character who is "heavily involved in an engagement Echo (Eliza Dushku) and her new handler Paul Ballard (Tahmoh Penikett) have been assigned to." ( E! Online's Watch with Kristin ) In other Dollhouse -related news, Joss Whedon has confirmed that Season Two of the FOX drama will feature some familiar faces from the Whedonverse including Dr. Horrible 's Felicia Day (who appeared in the unaired "Epitaph One" episode), Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles ' Summer Glau, and Angel 's Alexis Denisof. ( TVGuide.com ) Syfy has announced that Battlestar Galactica spin-off Caprica will debut on Friday, January 22nd at 10 pm. Of course, if you read my coverage of the Caprica/BSG: The Plan panel at Comic-Con ,

Proving that it's possible to kickstart a franchise after fifteen years on the air, Stargate Universe creators Brad Wright and Robert Cooper and stars Robert Carlyle, Elyse Levesque, Ming-Na, Brian J. Smith, David Blue, Alaina Huffman, and Jamil Walker Smith appeared at San Diego Comic-Con this weekend to talk up the newest addition to the Stargate franchise, which launches this October. After screening an intense and gripping trailer for Stargate Universe (see below, though the music is slightly different than what screened at SDCC), the cast and creators took to the stage to discuss the impetus behind the darker, more verite Stargate Universe , why it's accessible to new viewers and old alike, and what to expect from the first season. "We really had to keep the franchise going and make sure that Stargate fans have something to watch," said co-creator Robert Cooper. "It is quite a different feel. It will reintroduce what a Stargate is. It will give you a who

What a difference a year makes. While last year's panel for Fringe at the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con was barely half-full, now that Season One has wrapped, Fringe played to a standing-room-only crowd in the cavernous Ballroom 20 this year, something even the cast and crew immediately noticed. "This is much better," said John Noble, who plays the somewhat mad scientist Walter Bishop, "Thank you." Noble was joined on stage by co-stars Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, and Jasika Nicole, as well as executive producers Jeff Pinkner, Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, and Bryan Burk. The enthusiasm felt by the crowd towards Fringe was more than palpable. "Nobody knew what Fringe was [last year]," said Pinkner, who said that the first season of Fringe was a "like raising a child," with the writers looking to see what worked and what didn't and adapting as a result. "I think the first season was identifying the threshold of these characters," sai

Didn't make it down to San Diego for Comic-Con this year? Or were stuck waiting in line for the final Lost panel and didn't get to see this year's Chuck panel, moderated by Alan Sepinwall? You're in luck, my friends. Thanks to the folks at NBC and Hulu, the entire Chuck panel can be viewed in full below. (Yes, the entire panel.) Chuck Josh Schwartz, Chris Fedak, Zachary Levi, Yvonne Strahovski, Joshua Gomez, Adam Baldwin, Sarah Lancaster, Ryan McPartlin, Vik Sahay and Scott Krinsky as "epic" rockers Jeffster (performing "Fat Bottomed Girls, no less"!), and Mark Christopher Lawrence can all be seen celebrating the nearly-killed NBC series in their Comic-Con panel on Saturday morning. Plus, if you listen carefully, Televisionary itself gets a shout-out from none other than Chuck creator Josh Schwartz for having a hand in saving the series from cancellation. Aw, I'm blushing! Chuck returns to NBC at midseason.

I couldn't stick around for yesterday's Torchwood/Being Human panel at Comic-Con as I had to get back to Los Angeles (the trains wait for no man) but I sent my two fantastic freelancers to cover the BBC America dramas panel on the final afternoon of Comic-Con 2009. Series creator Russell T. Davies was joined by Torchwood: Children of Earth director Euros Lyn, executive producer Julie Gardner, and series star John Barrowman on the panel for Torchwood . The main topic, of course, following the conclusion of Torchwood: Children of Earth on BBC America last week: Ianto Jones, who perished in "Day Four" of Children of Earth . "Everyone's going to answer this question in their own way, but they always said it as people die young in Torchwood ," said Barrowman of the death of Ianto Jones. "They just do. It's a dangerous world. It was sad, yes. But we were all sad. but that's the way it is." "It's the right thing for the story,"

Rumors of a Doctor Who feature film have been greatly exaggerated. Appearing at the Doctor Who panel at Comic-Con, executive producer Julie Gardner dismissed claims that they were prepping a script for David Tennant to reprise his role as the Tenth Doctor for a big-screen adventure. Untrue, said Gardner, though she admitted that the rumors have led them to think a Doctor Who feature film might be a good thing. David Tennant, executive producer Russell T. Davies, and director Euros Lyn (who also directed all five installments of Torchwood: Children of Earth ) participated in the panel discussion, which featured a standing ovation for Tennant. "It is said that in the final days of the planet Earth, everyone had bad dreams." The real treat was a gasp-inducing advance look at Tennant’s swan song on the series, the 2009 Christmas Special entitled Doctor Who: The End of Time , which features the aforementioned worldwide nightmares, Catherine Tate’s Donna Noble, Lucy Saxon (Alexa