Prescription for (Tepid) Fiction: Sci Fi Dumps "Painkiller Jane"

Um, ouch? It looks like it's time for the scrap heap for Painkiller Jane.

Cabler Sci Fi has announced that it has canceled the action series, which will wrap its first (and only) 22-episode season, on September 21st.

The series starred Kristanna Loken as a woman with the ability to feel no pain who is conscripted into a top secret organization that tracks down criminals with superhuman abilities.

Sixteen episodes of Painkiller Jane have aired to date. While no reason was given for the cancellation, the series has been plagued by low viewership, a situation compounded by the (relatively) high numbers for the launch of Sci Fi's latest drama Flash Gordon.

Could the move mean that Sci Fi will stop foisting low-budget, low-quality dramas on an unsuspecting audience? Or just focus on "better" low-budget series? Only time will tell...

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Power of 10 (CBS); Most Outrageous Moments (NBC); America's Next Top Model (CW); According to Jim/According to Jim (ABC); So You Think You Can Dance (FOX; 8-10 pm)

9 pm: Criminal Minds (CBS); Last Comic Standing (NBC); America's Next Top Model (CW); Primetime (ABC)

10 pm: CSI: New York (CBS); Dateline (NBC); NASCAR in Primetime (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

10 pm: Top Chef on Bravo.

On tonight's episode of Top Chef ("Restaurant Wars"), it's the moment we've all been waiting for as the chefs must battle to launch two new restaurants and develop the most innovative burger, Tre gets stuck in the weeds, and all of the chefs face guest judge Daniel Boulud.

Comments

Anonymous said…

I think that sci fi programs are really hard to do on a low budget and I think that Painkiller Jane and Flash Gordon are proof of that. They should stick to better quality programs like "Battlestar" instead of putting out mediocre shows that look like leftovers from the eighties.

8/15/2007

Anonymous said…

Goodbye, Painkiller Jane. May you rot in hell.

8/15/2007

Anonymous said…

Yawn. PJ won't be missed anytime soon.

8/16/2007

What's Done is Done: The Eternal Struggle Between Good and Evil on the Season Finale of "Lost"

Every story begins with thread. It's up to the storyteller to determine just how much they need to parcel out, what pattern they're making, and when to cut it short and tie it off. With last night's penultimate season finale of Lost ("The Incident, Parts One and Two"), written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, we began to see the pattern that Lindelof and Cuse have been designing towards the last five seasons of this serpentine series. And it was only fitting that the two-hour finale, which pushes us on the road to the final season of Lost , should begin with thread, a loom, and a tapestry. Would Jack follow through on his plan to detonate the island and therefore reset their lives aboard Oceanic Flight 815 ? Why did Locke want to kill Jacob? What caused The Incident? What was in the box and just what lies in the shadow of the statue? We got the answers to these in a two-hour season finale that didn't quite pack the same emotional wallop of previous season

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Have a Burning Question for Team Darlton, Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, or Michael Emerson?

Lost fans: you don't have to make your way to the island via Ajira Airways in order to ask a question of the creative team or the series' stars. Televisionary is taking questions from fans to put to Lost 's executive producers/showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse and stars Matthew Fox ("Jack Shephard"), Evangeline Lilly ("Kate Austen"), and Michael Emerson ("Benjamin Linus") for a series of on-camera interviews taking place this weekend. If you have a specific question for any of the above producers or actors from Lost , please leave it in the comments section below . I'll be accepting questions until midnight PT tonight and, while I can't promise I'll be able to ask any specific inquiry due to the brevity of these on-camera interviews, I am looking for some insightful and thought-provoking questions to add to the mix. So who knows: your burning question might get asked after all.

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Pilot Inspektor: CBS' "Smith"

I may just have to change my original "What I'll Be Watching This Fall" post, as I sat down and finally watched CBS' new crime drama Smith this weekend. (What? It's taken me a long time to make my way through the stack of pilot DVDs.) While it's on following Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars on Tuesday nights (10 pm ET/PT, to be exact), I'm going to be sure to leave enough room on my TiVo to make sure that I catch this compelling, amoral drama. While one can't help but be impressed by what might just be the most marquee-friendly cast in primetime--Ray Liotta, Virginia Madsen, Jonny Lee Miller, Amy Smart, Simon Baker, and Franky G all star and Shohreh Aghdashloo has a recurring role--the pilot's premise alone earned major points in my book: it's a crime drama from the point of view of the criminals, who engage in high-stakes heists. But don't be alarmed; it's nothing like NBC's short-lived Heist . Instead, think of it as The Italian

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