Doux News: April 8, 2012

This week: Supernatural gets a new boss -- Community's Chevy Chase problem -- The Fades -- True Blood -- Haven -- Hugo nominations -- Hot guys who love animals

Renewals and cancellations

So it's not an official renewal, but it was announced this week that Sera Gamble, Supernatural's showrunner for the past two seasons, has stepped down and Jeremy Carver is returning to take over. You don't announce a new showrunner if a show is ending, so I think we can safely assume that an eighth season of Supernatural is in the bag. (Why won't they announce it already?)

Along with co-producing and story editing duties, Jeremy Carver wrote several outstanding episodes of Supernatural, including "In the Beginning," which might be the best episode of the series; "A Very Supernatural Christmas" which is by far and away the most twisted Christmas episode I've ever seen of any show; and "Changing Channels", television satire extraordinaire, as well as many others. Carver left Supernatural a couple of seasons ago to co-run Syfy's Being Human with his wife, Anna Fricke, who will be staying with Being Human.

I'm not going to criticize Sera Gamble, but I think every Supernatural fan will acknowledge that the last two seasons haven't been quite as strong as the first five. Do you know what I want? Supernatural is one of my favorite shows ever, and I want a final season, or even a couple of final seasons, dominated by a strong story arc and a powerhouse ending that will knock my socks off. They could do it, too.

No news yet on the renewal of Community, but the odds are looking better all the time. TVLine actually lists it as "a safe bet." That's encouraging.

Apparently, showrunner Dan Harmon doesn't get along with Chevy Chase. Apparently, no one gets along with Chevy Chase. And apparently, the show would survive without him. I wonder if Community might be returning without Chevy Chase? Not a problem for me, since I think Pierce is the least likeable and most easily replaced character. Except maybe Chang.

The Fades has been secretly cancelled. Maybe the BBC is hoping we won't notice. Mark Greig, who reviewed it for us, says,

"And another one bites the dust. The Fades has been axed. One of the cast has confirmed it. Since the BBC clearly can't be bothered to put out a press release. I'm not that surprised by this. The ratings were good but they were never great. And with all the budget cuts being forced on the BBC by our coalition government, once Being Human was renewed right away it was obvious The Fades was done for."

Returns

The fifth season of True Blood begins Sunday, June 10 at 9:00 on HBO, and I'll be there reviewing it. I've also been reviewing the entire run of Sookie Stackhouse books for the past few months for billiedoux.com as well as True-Blood.net.

Haven will be going back into production next week. No premiere date has been announced yet, but I think it's been premiering in July. Dr. Nana Mom reviews Haven for us.

Hugos

The 2012 Hugo Award nominations have been announced. There are several nominations of note, like that Game of Thrones thingy that Josie likes, as well as the book series it's based upon. Best Dramatic Presentation (short) pits Doctor Who against Community, making it particularly difficult for Mark Greig to pick one to root for.

Hot guys who love animals

As a follow up to a previous bit of news I posted about Ian Somerhalder rescuing kittens born on The Vampire Diaries set, we have a photo of the actual kittens in mid-rescue (below, left). And we even have a second entry in this category today: a photo posted on Twitter of John Barrowman wrapped around his dog (below, right).



Today is a holiday for some. If it's a holiday that you celebrate, I hope you're having a good one.

That's it for this week. Opinions, raves, rants, questions? Post a comment!