TVSquad

We already know about the in-development reboot of Alien Nation at Syfy. What I somehow missed in all the hoopla about that is that Syfy is also in talks with creator Don Bellisario about a possible relaunch of Quantum Leap. Or a sequel or, really, whatever Bellisario would be interested in. Syfy is looking for a great time travel show, and other than Doctor Who, was there ever a better executed one than Quantum Leap?

Hell, with Scott Bakula all over our television screens on Chuck and The New Adventures of Old Christine among other appearances, and Dean Stockwell already familiar to SyFy's core fan-base, why not just go ahead and do a continuation of the original series with Sam's daughter in the lead role, or something like that?

Ordinarily I do not do a fanboy squeal when I hear of an attempt at a science fiction program revamp of an old series, but this one has Battlestar Galactica potential. Tim Minear (Angel, Firefly) is taking on a remake of Alien Nation for Sci Fi or SyFy or whatever they're calling themselves.

The original television series on Fox was one of the cases where the spin-off actually exceeded the quality of the movie it was based on. The only mistake that was made was taking the show off the air after one year (although it did spawn a set of television movies).

Tim Minear is a good choice as showrunner since he's used to sci fi shows that rely on characterization. I have to give props to Sci Fi for this decision. Hopefully it will last longer than its predecessor and be leaps and bounds better than their attempted remake of Flash Gordon.

Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.

• Alien Nation - The Ultimate Movie Collection
• American Dad - Vol. 3
• College Hill: Interns
• The Goldbergs - Best Of
• How The Earth Was Made
• Jupiter Moon - Set 3
• Masterpiece Theatre - Room with a View
• Melrose Place - Season 4
• SpongeBob SquarePants - Pest of the West
• The Woody Woodpecker Show - Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection Vol. 2

Every Tuesday morning here on TV Squad , we will highlight the week's TV-on-DVD releases. Some noteworthy releases today, January 3, 2006:

• 1st & Ten - Season 1; Season 2
• Alien Nation - The Complete Series
• All in the Family - The Complete 5th Season
• Gunsmoke - 50th Anniversary Edition - Volume 1; 50th Anniversary Edition - Volume 2; 50th Anniversary Edition Giftset
• Have Gun Will Travel - Season 3
• Hunter - Season 3
• Silk Stalkings - Season 4