Terminator Producer Talks Finale, What Would Have Been

SCI FI Wire has post snippets of an interview with Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles exec producer James Middleton. The interview provides some interesting insights on the season finale that turned into the series finale when the show was recently axed.

Included are Middleton's thoughts on what the events of the finale meant for the character of John Connor and what would have happened if the show had been picked up for another season. To check out the interview snippets, click here. [SCI FI Wire]

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TV News: Emmys Coming Early, More Hannah on the Way

- The Emmys will air on September 13 (8:00-11:00PM, live ET/delayed PT) this year, one week earlier than the orignally announced date. A spokesman for CBS cited the possibility of broadcast delays on the orignal award show date due to an NFL doubleheader airing on The Eye that Sunday. The original date for the Emmys was set before the NFL released their 2009 television schedule. This year's Primetime Emmy nominees will be announced July 16 at 5:40AM. [Emmys.tv]

-Disney Channel has ordered a fourth season of its franchise-generating hit show Hannah Montana. Tween queen Miley Cyrus will return as the titular character, though "goodbyes will be will be an ongoing theme in an arc that will see Cyrus' character and her family leave their beachfront Malibu enclave." The Mouse also renewed the freshman comedy series Sonny With a Chance, which stars another tween darling, Demi Lovato. [Variety]

- Brian Austin Green (of the recently cancelled Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) is in talks to join the cast of The CW's One Tree Hill. The hour-long drama faces big changes going into its seventh year after last season's departure of two of the show's original leads, Chad Michael Murray and Hilarie Burton. If Green comes aboard, he would be a series regular -- a "brash sports agent" who is also "enjoying the spoils that come from being a wealthy, handsome single guy." Sounds like Green would be moving back toward his 90210 roots with this character. [Hollywood Reporter]

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TV Cancellation News: The Sarah Connor Chronicles gets terminated

Bad news for Terminator fans: It looks like FOX's Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles has officially been canceled (at least according to Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello). It seems a bit premature, considering the fact that Terminator: Salvation will be out later this week. But even though I was a fan of the series, I will admit that it had a tendency to be fairly inconsistent -- maybe things would have been different if we'd had more episodes like the last season finale.
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Should FOX executives be crucified for this move? As much as it pains me to say it, I don't think so. I would have loved to see Terminator continue for another season, and some are speculating that it could in the form of DVD movies. However, let's not forget that the show did get another chance after a first season hampered by an industry-wide writers' strike. This was not another situation (a la Firefly) where the show's episodes were consistently aired out of order. Maybe it has been prematurely canceled -- this is something we may never know. But the fact remains: the show got two seasons, which is more than most well-liked, but poorly-rated shows tend to get.

Another thing I've noticed is that many fans are railing against Dollhouse as if that show really had anything to do with Terminator's cancellation. And I don't get it, even though I was a Terminator fan first and didn't even like Dollhouse much until its sixth episode. Though Dollhouse has a polarizing effect on viewers, and though many say its Whedon's weakest show, it does happen to have fans. And it's still a triumph for a poorly-rated science fiction show to be saved for at least one more season.

For all you know, Dollhouse will ultimately yield a poor profit for FOX (I'm sure they'll be watching those DVD sales this summer) and wind up getting canceled as well. So let's not turn this into a war. As a creative person, I'm extremely disappointed to hear about Terminator's cancellation, and I genuinely sympathize with the show's actors and production team. But even though we hate to admit it, TV is ultimately a business. And since this is not a colossally cruel cancellation of Firefly proportions, we can't be surprised (though we can still be disappointed) by this news.

[Entertainment Weekly]

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