TVSquad

According to preliminary data, and as reported by Variety, Tin Man appears to have beaten virtually every record the Sci Fi channel has ever seen. It's 6.4 million viewers surpassed the 6.1 million who saw Steven Spielberg's Taken, back in 2002. Demo ratings were equally as strong, where Tin Man unseated 2000's Dune in adults 18-49, and Taken again in adults 25-54.

With reviews coming in either mid-range to downright negative, it'll be interesting to see how these numbers continue through the mini-series' three-night run.

It's hard to believe that the previous three set visits happened in one day, not to mention the three panels. The next day we were up at the crack of dawn and ready to embark on the last stop of our tour, the set of the new Flash Gordon series. We'd also be seeing some footage and artwork from the new Sci Fi miniseries and "re-imagining" of The Wizard of Oz, Tin Man.

They really should release this show on DVD. As Adam noted before, it really is quite amazing how clever and ahead of its time it was, and equally amazing the caliber of talent that worked on the show in front of the camera and behind the scenes.

After the jump are several videos of Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert on The Dana Carvey Show. They've gone their separate ways, but if you include their work here and on The Daily Show and as Ace and Gary on Saturday Night Live, they could have been the next great comedy team. And then they would have gotten sick of each other and broken up and not spoken for 20 years and then reunited by Jon Stewart on a telethon.

The Sci Fi channel has brought in two writers from 24, Steven Long Mitchell and Craig Van Sickle, to reimagine The Wizard Of Oz as a mini-series called Tin Man. I suppose saying you hired writers from 24 sounds better than saying you hired writers/producers from She Spies...

I kid. I saw every episode of She Spies. Anyway, the post at Warp Section has some of the details for what they have in mind. Dorothy has become a "goth hottie named DG" while Oz is now the Outer Zone, an ethnically diverse alternate universe setting for DG's adventure.

The post also mentions that it will be a six-hour story, but Sci Fi Wire says it will be four. I guess we'll have to wait and see on that. This could really go either way. It's tough to mess with a classic, but I think Sci Fi has earned the benefit of the doubt with what they have done with Battlestar Galactica. Plans call for a 2007 release.

[ via Netscape.com ]

(S03E03) This was an interesting episode. When Allison 'woke up' from the first dream, I wasn't sure about the whole groundhog day idea. It's something we've seen before, my favorite version being "Run Cleo Run" from Cleopatra 2525, but it holds the potential to get boring. As the mystery unfolded though, this version of the story turned out to be pretty good. The changes between the different versions of the day were big enough that things didn't feel repetitious.

Unfortunately, I was spoiled on the aftermath of the car crash from the first dream. Glenn Gordon Caron mentioned it in his live blog for the premiere last week. I'm sure it was much better for those that didn't know it was coming, but even knowing, that was a nice bit of effects work with the amputation. The car crash that led to it was good too, but points out two things I had issues with in the episode.

(S10E05) The 200th episode of SG-1 had to be a party to make, because it's friggin' hilarious. Right after the little 'previously on stargate bit' (which worked better this time) meet the furlings... and they're wearing little furry costumes... Wait a minute. The crazy story lines start up right from the beginning.

As SG-1 reads scripts and discusses plots, we're treated to all sorts of possible story lines. The changes are usually pretty obvious, but they keep us on our toes with sneaky cuts from actual show to campy scenes. The whole episode total unadulterated fan service - I loved it.