[Televisionary]

Last year's Comic-Con featured a huge crowd for BBC America's supernatural drama series Being Human , which hadn't even premiered in the US yet when the stars of the BBC Three series made their way to San Diego. A year later and the enthusiasm for the series--part Gothic horror, part soap, part buddy comedy--hasn't diminished. Televisionary special correspondent Lissette Lira attended the press room for Being Human and spoke to the cast about illegal downloading, the US version of Being Human that Syfy is developing, what's coming up on Season Three of the UK version, and Barry Island. Wait, Barry Island? Yes, you read that correctly. Just why are Mitchell, George, and Annie headed to the pleasure park? Read on in Lissette Lira's full report on just what went down behind the press room's closed doors at the Marriott Marina last weekend: After a warm reception at last year’s San Diego Comic-Con, the Being Human cast--Russell Tovey, Lenora Crichlow, and Aid...

Appearing on SFX's SFX presents The British Invasion panel, Toby Whithouse, the creator of the BBC Three supernatural drama Being Human , responded to a question about his feelings surrounding the American adaptation of Being Human , which is currently being cast and which will air on Syfy. "It will be a wrench, but I will console myself with the money," joked Whithouse when asked by moderator Dave Bradley about how it would feel to see his series adapted for American audiences. Whithouse's full answer to to the question can be found below, courtesy of Televisionary special correspondent Mark DiFruscio, who was on hand to film Whithouse's response. Season Two of Being Human launches tomorrow night on BBC America.

San Diego Comic-Con is upon us. Over at The Daily Beast, you can check out my latest feature, entitled "Angelina Jolie & Other Nerd Bait at Comic-Con," which rounds-up the 14 most anticipated--and thus buzzy--panels from both film and television. Among the standouts that are sure to be action-packed this year: Salt, True Blood, Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World, Green Lantern, The Expendables, Being Human, Red, The Walking Dead, Tron: Legacy, Thor, Let Me In, Paul , all of WBTV's many shows, and the J.J. Abrams/Joss Whedon Visionaries panel, presented by Entertainment Weekly , among others. What are you most looking forward to and what panels do you think will live up to the hype? Head to the comments section to discuss.

Welcome to your (slightly delayed) Thursday morning television briefing. A few headlines to get through on Emmy nomination day... Score another genre hit for Mark Pellegrino. The former Lost and Supernatural co-star is heading to Syfy's US adaptation of supernatural drama Being Human , where he will play Bishop, described as the "charismatic and menacing mentor" to Sam Witwer's vampire Aidan. Pellegrino's casting nearly rounds out the cast for the American adaptation, though there's still one role outstanding (that would be Josh, the werewolf, though there have been rumblings about several actors auditioning for the role). Elsewhere, Patrick J. Adams ( Friends With Benefits ) has been cast as the lead in USA legal drama A Legal Mind , where he will play Mike Ross, described as "a brilliant but unmotivated college student who gets recruited by a top Manhattan corporate law firm despite not being a lawyer" and who must "use his book and street s...

Where is the Doctor when you need him? BBC Worldwide America has announced their lineup for next month's San Diego Comic-Con International, bringing back supernatural drama Being Human to the convention, along with cult comedy Look Around You , newly available on DVD Stateside this summer. The big news, however, is that Doctor Who won't be returning to the convention this year, which means no fanfare and audience of thousands for new cast members Matt Smith and Karen Gillan and newly installed head writer/executive producer Steven Moffat. "While the [ Doctor Who ] team is currently filming and unable to attend Comic-Con, that doesn’t mean the Doctor’s presence won’t be felt in San Diego," writes the production entity in an official statement. "BBC America will host an exclusive U.S. premiere fan screening of this season’s two-part finale, along with the all-new season opener of Being Human ." (For their part, the Doctor Who team will be hosting Doctor Who...

Cabler BBC America today announced that it had concluded a deal to acquire the second and third seasons of British supernatural drama Being Human . Series regulars Russell Tovey, Lenora Crichlow and Aidan Turner all return in their respective roles as werewolf George, ghost Annie, and vampire Mitchell. Season Two of Being Human is set to air on BBC America in late summer, with Season Three to follow "shortly" thereafter. (Season Two of Being Human is set to wrap its run on BBC Three in the UK at the end of February.) Looking for details about Season Two of Being Human ? Here's what BBC America had to say about the upcoming season: "After the death of vampire leader Herrick at the end of season one, the supernatural friends are hoping they can now get on with their lives, but an even greater danger is lurking, within the very human world of which they want to be a part. Werewolf George is coming to terms with the fact that he has Herrick's blood on his hands, an...

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. Great news for fans of NBC's killer comedy Parks and Recreation : the Peacock has renewed the series for a third season, set to launch this fall. News of the renewal was broken by The Wrap's Josef Adalian, who reported that due to "certain production timing issues," an early renewal was required on the Universal Media Studios-produced comedy, which is executive produced by Greg Daniels and Mike Schur. ( The Wrap ) Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Torchwood 's John Barrowman is joining the cast of ABC's Desperate Housewives for at least five episodes this season. Barrowman, who is slated to appear beginning in April, will play "the Big Bad at the center of the Angie (Drea de Matteo) mystery," writes Ausiello. ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) BBC Three has commissioned a third season of supernatural drama Being Human and announced that all three of the ser...

While many of us were at Comic-Con this weekend, BBC America launched their latest sci-fi tinged series, Being Human , on Saturday night. While you read my advance review of the first three episodes of Being Human a while back, I am curious to know how many of you tuned in to catch the first episode and what you thought. Did you enjoy the heady mix of horror, comedy, and angst that the series projected? Did it feel even a little like a British Buffy the Vampire Slayer from the POV of the monsters? Did you root for Russell Tovey's George? Did you feel sorry for Lenora Crichlow's ghostly Annie? Where do you think the story is heading? Did you find the concept innovative or derivative? What did you think of the cast and their characters? And, most importantly, will you tune in again this Saturday to watch another episode? Talk back here. Being Human airs Saturday evenings at 9 pm ET/PT on BBC America.

It's easy to sympathize with the characters in BBC America's newest drama series Being Human . Each of them in their own way wants to fit in, to embrace society's definition of normal, and live a life that's bounded by the same pleasures and principles that you or I do. But there's a catch. The three lead characters in Being Human , created by Toby Whithouse ( Torchwood, Doctor Who ), are actually a vampire, a werewolf, and a ghost. Which makes their quest to understand their own fragile hold on humanity and fit in with mainstream society all the more fraught with peril. On its simplest level, Being Human is about the relationship between three very different twenty-something roommates: there's polyglot hospital porter George (Russell Tovey) who transforms into a savage werewolf when the moon is full, hospital cleaner Mitchell (Aidan Turner) whose vampiric tendencies leave him hungering for blood even as he attempts to peacefully co-exist with humans, and ghost...

Holy TARDIS! BBC America just shocked the hell out of me by announcing that they will be bringing Doctor Who 's David Tennant--yes, the Doctor himself--and writer/executive producer Russell T. Davies, director Euros Lyn, and executive producer Julie Gardner to Comic-Con San Diego next month. The quartet will be participating in a panel for Doctor Who , shortly after Tennant has completed his legendary run on the British sci-fi series, that is scheduled for Sunday morning at 10 am PT. And if that weren't enough to get you salivating, BBC America also had me jumping for joy by announcing that Julian Barratt, Noel Fielding, Michael Fielding, Rich Fulcher, and Dave Brown--the stars of the surreal and hysterical comedy series The Mighty Boosh--will also be dropping by Comic-Con this year with a panel slated to run on Friday afternoon at 3:30 pm PT. The digital cabler also announced panels for such series as Torchwood and Being Human on Sunday. I don't know about you but I am j...

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...

Digital cabler BBC America has announced a launch date for supernatural drama series Being Human . The six-episode series, which stars Russell Tovey ( Doctor Who ), Lenora Crichlow ( Sugar Rush ), and Aidan Turner ( The Clinic ), will kick off on Saturday, July 25th at 9 pm ET/PT. BBC America won't be airing the original pilot episode for Being Human , which aired last year on BBC Three and--other than Tovey--featured an entirely different cast including Guy Flanagan, Andrea Riseborough, and Adrian Lester. While the pilot is considered canon, it wasn't included on the recent Region 2 DVD release for Being Human and isn't necessary viewing in order to understand--or enjoy--the series itself. The full press release from BBC America and the original trailer for Being Human from BBC Three can be found below. SOME ROOMATES ARE SCARIER THAN OTHERS –The U.S. premiere of co-production, Being Human– Mixing the mythic with the commonplace, the farcical with the horrific and the dom...

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. Former Hex star Christina Cole has been cast as the lead in FOX's untitled Ian Biederman drama, where she will play a female surgeon who suffers from adult-onset schizophrenia; Cole Hauser ( K-Ville ) will star in CBS drama pilot Washington Field , where he will play the squad's supervisor; Michael Nouri ( Damages ) has been cast in ABC drama pilot Empire State, where he'll play the wealthy father of a girl involved in a star-crossed romance with a blue-collar worker; and Anthony Carrigan, Michelle Borth, Bob Stephenson, and Rochelle Aytes have been cast in ABC's untitled Jerry Bruckheimer drama pilot (formerly known as The Unknown ). ( Hollywood Reporter ) NBC has ordered reality/comedy hybrid series The Marriage Ref , from executive producers Jerry Seinfeld and Ellen Rakieten, in which celebrities offer advice to real-life couples battling "classic marital disputes." So far there is no launch date for t...

BBC America has announced three sci-fi dramas that will premiere later this year. The digital cabler has announced that it will air supernatural drama Being Human , a co-production between Touchpaper Television and BBC America that recently launched on BBC Three in the UK, as six one-hour installments. It follows the lives of three roommates in Bristol, a vampire, a werewolf, and a female ghost, all struggling with what it means to be human. Apocalyptic drama Survivors , a remake of the 1970's drama series (itself based on a Terry Nation novel) about the survivors of a worldwide viral holocaust, will air as a 90-minute pilot and five subsequent one-hour installments. BBC America also announced that it had acquired Season Three of ITV's Primeval , comprised of ten one-hour episodes. Full descriptions of the three series, slated to premiere later in 2009, can be found below. BEING HUMAN - U.S. PREMIERE Mixing the mythic with the commonplace, the farcical with the horrific and th...