[Televisionary]

Just a few days after unveiling the world premiere of the new trailer for Torchwood: Children of the Earth , the third season of the Doctor Who spin-off series, the digital cabler has announced an official launch date for the Russell T. Davies-scripted event series. BBC America will premiere Torchwood: Children of Earth on July 20th at 9 pm ET/PT. The third series, comprised of five serialized episodes, will air across five consecutive nights that week. The timing of Torchwood 's return to the schedule is linked to the launch of BBC America HD, a high-definition simulcast of the BBC America channel, which will also bow on July 20th to digital cabler subscribers. "BBC AMERICA is a truly unique channel in the cable landscape," said Garth Ancier, President of BBC Worldwide America in a statement. "We bring viewers some of the best programs on television and now with the option to experience them in HD, they’re going to be even better. The launch of BBC AMERICA HD coup

"A man who can't die has got nothing to fear." With less than two months to go until the debut of Season Three of Torchwood , BBC One and BBC America have released a world premiere of the new trailer for the third season of the Doctor Who spin-off, kicking off in July. The five-night event series--entitled Torchwood: Children of Earth --is written by Russell T. Davies, John Fay, and James Moran and directed by the incomparable Euros Lyn. Torchwood: Children of Earth stars John Barrowman, Eve Myles, and Garth David-Lloyd, and features guest stars such as Kai Owen, Tom Price, Peter Capaldi ( The Thick of It ), Lucy Cohu ( Meadowlands ), Susan Brown ( Dalziel and Pascoe ), Nick Briggs ( Doctor Who ), and Paul Copley ( The Lakes ). The full trailer for Torchwood: Children of Earth can be found below. Torchwood: Children of Earth will air on BBC One and BBC America this July.

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. Good news: pay cabler Starz has renewed comedy series Party Down , from creators Rob Thomas, John Enbom, Dan Etheridge, and Paul Rudd, for a second season. The entire cast of Season One of Party Down will return for a sophomore season, though Jane Lynch's commitment to FOX's upcoming series Glee could create complications for her return and the actress is the only cast member who isn't already signed on for a second season. Party Down will return to production this summer for a Season Two launch date sometime in 2010. Also returning: directors Fred Savage and Bryan Gordon, who will direct episodes of the series, along with Ken Marino, who is locked to helm an installment as well. ( E! Online's Watch with Kristin , Variety ) FOX has reportedly ordered pilots Human Target , from Warner Bros Television, and comedy Sons of Tucson , from 20th Century Fox Television, to series. FOX had no comment on the news, which is

Fans of Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood have been eagerly awaiting a first look at the series' third season, a five-night event entitled "Children of Earth." The wait is over. BBC One and BBC America simultaneously released the gorgeous and evocative trailer for Torchwood: Children of Earth today, giving us a 60-second look at the new season of Torchwood . From what I can make out, Season Three of Torchwood , directed by Euros Lyn, concerns the strange phenomena of children all over the world suddenly stopping... and standing still. Members of the British government call in Torchwood, believing that it's the work of aliens, who have done this before. Oh, and Peter Capaldi ( The Thick of It ), Lucy Cohu ( Meadowlands ) and Paul Copley ( The Lakes ) guest star, things go boom, Gwen fires some guns, Jack gets smoochy, and the end of the world may be nigh. In other words: just another day for the gang at Torchwood. For those of you who missed the 60-second trailer, no wo

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. The CW has unveiled a scheduling shakeup that will feature the launch of Season Two of Reaper earlier than expected. Reaper will take over the Tuesdays at 8 pm timeslot--currently inhabited by 90210 --on March 3rd and will air 13 episodes without interruption. 90210 will then move to 9 pm on Tuesdays, taking over Privileged 's timeslot. So what happens to Privileged ? That series will wrap its run February 14th, much earlier than originally planned after it aired fewer repeats. No decision has been made yet about a second season of Privileged . ( Hollywood Reporter ) Torchwood fans should keep their eyes on the internet on Thursday as the 60-second trailer for the series' five-episode Season Three, entitled "Children of Earth," will be released... simultaneously around the world at 4 pm ET. Season Three is set to air later this year on BBC One and BBC America over five consecutive nights. (via press release) Mi

Torchwood fans have something to look forward to next month at New York Comic-Con. Digital cabler BBC America has announced that it will bring its highly rated sci-fi series Torchwood to New York Comic-Con 2009, presenting a sneak peek of the series' third season, Torchwood: Children of Earth , and a panel session with series lead Eve Myles and director Euros Lyn. The Torchwood panel will be presented on Saturday, February 7th at 4:15 pm and marks Myles and Lyn's first U.S. panel appearance. Myles, of course, plays Torchwood mainstay Gwen Cooper, while Lyn directed the entire five-episode third season of Torchwood . (Of note: Lyn will also direct David Tennant’s final two episodes as the Tenth Doctor on Doctor Who .) Torchwood: Children of Earth will air later this year on BBC America as a five-part television event that finds the Torchwood team battling for the future of the human race against the fiercest force they have encountered to date. “Torchwood face their toughest

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. I'm off in a bit to FOX's panel for the Television Critics Association, but here are a few headlines first. Torchwood 's John Barrowman will collaborate with artist Tommy Lee Edwards on an original comic strip entitled "Captain Jack and the Selkie," which will run in the fourteen issue of the bi-monthly Torchwood magazine. The strip will feature a story in which Jack faces" a deadly threat on a remote Scottish island, where people are disappearing one by one... To his horror, Jack starts to suspect he may know who – or perhaps more specifically what – is responsible." (via press release) Entertainment Weekly 's Doc Jensen offers some clues to understanding Season Five of Lost , which premieres Wednesday, January 21st, and recommends five previous episodes for essential viewing before the season premiere, including "There's No Place Like Home (Parts 2 & 3)," "Flashes Before Y

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. It's been a busy few days, between the ongoing Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour and the Golden Globes, so let's dive right into today's headlines. Pushing Daisies might (sadly) be canceled but working relationship between creator Bryan Fuller and former co-star Swoosie Kurtz looks to continue. Kurtz has signed on to appear in at least one episode of Heroes , where she will play Millie, a society friend of Cristine Rose's Angela Petrelli. Kurtz's episode, written by Fuller, is slated to air in April and there is the potential that her character could be recurring next season. ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) Buffy the Vampire Slayer 's Amber Benson will guest star on ABC's Private Practice , where she will play a young woman who "in the aftermath of being brutally attacked seeks not just medical care ... but perhaps something more ." Benson will appear in the series&#

Production has begun in Cardiff on Season Three of Torchwood , which is set to return in 2009 with a limited series event entitled Torchwood: Children of Earth . In the UK, BBC One will air the five-part season across a single week, while BBC America have not yet indicated what their scheduling of Torchwood: Children of Earth will be. Season Three will follow Torchwood as they "battle for the future of the human race against the fiercest force they have encountered." "The new series of Torchwood is hugely bold and promises to be bigger and better than ever – the audience is in for an amazing ride," said series creator/executive producer Russell T. Davies. "This series is one big serial and the most ambitious story we've ever made, and we've got plenty of surprises in store." Returning to Torchwood for Season Three are John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness, Eve Myles as Gwen Cooper, Gareth David-Lloyd as Ianto Jones, Kai Owen as Rhys Williams,

Good morning (on what appears to be a spectacularly grey day here in LA) and welcome to your early morning television briefing. Hungry for more Torchwood ? The official Torchwood magazine, published by Titan, has the details for the third season's story arc... or at least the title of the five-part story. Creator Russell T. Davies has revealed the title to be "Torchwood: Children Of Earth." The series' third outing is set to air over the course of one week on BBC1 in Spring 2009. "I usually give you all one or two tone words when we have a meeting like this," Davies told the production team during his tone meeting last month, "But if I were to give you two words this time, they would be 'Euros Lyn'. More than ever before, this series of Torchwood will be director-led, and it will look absolutely amazing." Euros Lyn directed such Doctor Who episodes as "The End Of The World," "The Girl In The Fireplace," and the two-pa

Will Captain Jack Harkness hang up his trademark trench coat and suspenders for a certain star-spangled shield? The rumor mills are all abuzz that Torchwood 's leading man John Barrowman seems to be in the running to play iconic comic book hero Captain America in an upcoming Hollywood feature film scheduled to be released in 2011. At the Torchwood panel at Comic-Con, Barrowman--between bursting into song with Torchwood co-star Naoko Mori (poor, departed Tosh!) for a duet of "Sun and Moon" from Miss Saigon (the two starred in a stage production of the musical a LONG time ago) and offering some sexual innuendo-laced dialogue about his, er, "boys" and the physical dimensions of one of cast mate Gareth David-Lloyd's body parts--teased the audience about the possibility that he might be up for the role of Steve Rogers when questioned by a fan if he would be up for "rocking the blonde hair" of Marvel superhero Captain America. "I would love to pl

Do you want the good news or the bad news first? The good news is that BBC import Torchwood WILL be back for a third season of Rift-related mayhem and saving the world next season though we'll have to wait until at least next spring in order to catch Season Three. (BBC America hasn't yet announced that it has acquired the third season or scheduled an airdate yet.) And John Barrowman's dashing ex-time agent Captain Jack Harkness will be back as well, leading the Torchwood team (whoever they might be, though I am keeping my fingers crossed that Eve Myles will return) into the fray once more. And now for the not-so-good news: Torchwood 's third season will be a greatly compacted one. Rather than the thirteen episodes Torchwood aired in its first two outings, Season Three will be comprised of one five one-hour installments. While this had been the rumor about the series' return, TV Guide has now confirmed this as fact : Season Three's five episode arc will compri

Okay, now that the second season finale of Torchwood has aired on BBC America, we can finally get down to what I've been wanting to talk about for the last week or so: that ending! If you read my original review of the sophomore season ender of Torchwood ("Exit Wounds") the other day, you know that I was kind enough to dance around a few issues rather than spoil the entire episode, but the spoiler warnings are off now, so beware! Sniffle. I was completely heartbroken by Toshiko's death. We all knew that not everyone from Torchwood 3 would make it out of this episode alive but I didn't really expect them to kill off both Tosh and Owen in the same episode. I understand that Owen's story has really come full-circle at this point--dying, being brought back and discovering he can't truly die, and then, well, disintegrating--and there really wasn't anywhere else for the series' writers to take his character. His "King of the Weevils" status p

In this day and age, we've all gotten used to hyperbole in our television promos: this is the episode where everything changes; nothing will ever be the same after this episode; etc. However, in the case of the second season finale of Torchwood ("Exit Wounds"), airing this Saturday on BBC America, the hyperbole is--for a refreshing change of pace--completely apt. It's funny because while I was r eviewing fellow Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures yesterday , I made an offhanded remark about the poor staff of Torchwood 3 never getting a happy ending. Never has that been more true than in this brilliant, heartbreaking episode, written by the talented Chris Chibnall and directed by Ashley Way. While this series has always been a far darker, more grim reality than that presented in Doctor Who (or the bubblegum and sunshine of Sarah Jane Adventures ), I didn't quite expect to get as emotional as I did watching this installment. For two seasons, we've s

So Owen is dead? Or is he? Rather than paint themselves into a corner with the untimely death of team member Owen Harper (Burn Gorman), the producers of Torchwood have decided to use the storyline to further develop Owen's character while making some, well, drastic life changes for the team's resident doctor. I was happy to see that it doesn't appear that Owen will be going anywhere (any time soon, anyway) and will be sticking around at the Hub for a while longer. This week's episode of Torchwood ("Dead Man Walking") was extremely Owen-centric, yet it gave all of the team members their own individual moment to shine: whether it was Tosh's attempt to come clean to Owen, Jack's acknowledgment of his own battle with Death, or Gwen's tear-filled conversation with fiancé Rhys, each of them had a moment that advanced their characters, played up their strengths and/or flaws, and reminded us that a team is only as strong as its individuals. After his sho

If you haven't yet watched this week's episode of Torchwood here in the US, stop reading now. For those of you who did watch the Doctor Who spin-off series this weekend, I have to admit that I was surprised and shocked by the end of this week's pivotal installment ("Reset"), which appeared to kill off snarky series regular Owen Harper (Burn Gorman) after he saved the life of his new colleague (and Doctor Who transplant) Dr. Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman). "Reset" managed to capture precisely the sort of tone and scope of Torchwood that I always want every single episode to have and brought its audience just the right mix of mystery, aliens, intrigue, and murder, along with the first of a multiple-episode arc with Martha. I had a feeling someone was meant to die, what with the promo depicting a gun-toting Alan Dale (here playing the head of a pharmaceutical research firm called The Pharm which was experimenting with alien DNA) and the fact that Toshiko

I am absolutely hooked on Torchwood , the sleek and sexy spin-off of the BBC's venerable Doctor Who franchise, which is poised to kick off its sophomore season this week on sister network BBC America. For those of you who have missed out on this addictive series, fret not: Torchwood 's first season DVD is due out, well, today in fact. Giving you no excuse not to be up to speed when Torchwood launches its second season this weekend. Thanks to the good folks at BBC America, I was able to take a sneak peak at Torchwood 's season opener ("Kiss Kiss Bang Bang"), written by Chris Chibnall, and it is a doozy, to say the least, reuniting the Torchwood team and sending them out into the field to face a threat unlike any other they've battled so far, while they get a long overdue glimpse into Jack's past. During Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman)'s mysterious absence from the alien-fighting team he assembled (during which he teamed up with the Doctor and M

Lovelorn Spike fans will rejoice to know that they can catch James Marsters, the former Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel cast member, on Season Two of Brit import Torchwood, which launches here in the US on January 26th. Marsters will play the charismatic and psychotic rogue Time Agent Captain John Hart, who shows up in Cardiff after he comes through the Rift, on the hunt for Captain Jack, in the series' second season opener. It's clear from the below clip that John Hart and Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) share some sort of history and it's clearly a mix of the kissing and killing kind... “He is what Jack used to be,” explains Marsters. “Though I have a feeling that Jack was even meaner and nastier, if that’s possible. I think it’s my job to make that old life seem as seductive as I can, so it’s a question of which path Jack will choose. He’s just come back, and his team are mad at him. So is he going to be a responsible leader, or is he going to screw it up?&qu