[Televisionary]

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. It took just one episode, apparently, before HBO ordered a second season of New Orleans-set drama series Treme , from creators David Simon and Eric Overmyer. "We would have picked up this show last week," HBO president Michael Lombardo told The Hollywood Reporter 's James Hibberd. "We've seen the first nine episodes it's as strong as any show we've seen. Much like The Wire , the audience is so passionate and so invested. We're about servicing our subscriber base and I believe that people will become addicted to this show. We have to be a place where this kind of excellence is giving space to continue." According to Lombardo, Season Two of Treme is being targeted for a spring 2011 debut, where it will likely be paired with the first season of fantasy drama Game of Thrones . "They should be ready about the same time," said Lombardo. "[ Game ] looks beautiful, the compelling scri...

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. Billy Campbell ( The 4400 ) has been cast as one of the leads in AMC drama pilot The Killing , where he will play Darren Richmond, a City Council President in Seattle. Series, executive produced by Mikkel Bondesen and Veena Sud, revolves around three interlocking stories that are connected by the murder of a young girl. ( Hollywood Reporter 's The Live Feed ) TBS' deal with Conan O'Brien for a latenight talk show is described as a "watershed moment" by Variety 's Stuart Levine, who reports that the cabler's deal with O'Brien will bring more viewers to the channel who may not have come to the comedy-centric cabler before. Deal will create a two-hour latenight block (with George Lopez's Lopez Tonight that will air Mondays through Thursdays on TBS. ( Variety ) The Wrap's Josef Adalian has an interview with Turner Broadcasting Company's Steve Koonin about TBS' surprising deal with Conan ...

For the survivors of the European flu, things have not been going so well lately. During Saturday night's season finale of BBC America's Survivors , members of the group were alternately kidnapped, shot, and forced to participate in a child thief gang that would have felt quite at home in Charles Dickens' Oliver . In other words: things couldn't really get much worse. And yet... In tonight's gripping second season premiere, the loose band of survivors discovers that things can in fact get a lot worse, as they face their toughest challenges yet and continue to become increasingly splintered by outside forces. Tonight's episode pushes them to the brink of death itself, as several characters find themselves trapped in untenable situations from which escape seems futile while one of them makes a selfless sacrifice in an effort to earn her place among the group. Survivors has thrived by offering a heady blend of post-apocalyptic suspense and a meditative exploration...

BBC America's post-apocalyptic thriller Survivors will live on... on Tuesday nights. The Adrian Hodges-executive produced Survivors , which wrapped up its second season in the UK earlier this year on BBC One, will conclude its first season Stateside on Saturday, March 20th... before the digital cabler launches Season Two just three days later on Tuesday, March 23rd at 9 pm ET/PT. Given that Survivors had previously aired on Saturdays, the move could mark a return for the network to scripted drama series during the week. (Fingers crossed.) In recent years, the network has programmed mostly reality series during the week with a few notable exceptions such as Skins, The Inbetweeners , and Gavin & Stacey ... though it's worth noting that the series will now go up against ABC's Lost . Here's how BBC America described Season Two of Survivors : "Season Two shows the group now struggling not just against the difficulties of day to day life amid the ruins of the post-...

Looking for more information about BBC America's post-apocalyptic drama series Survivors ? Head over to The Daily Beast to read my latest piece, entitled, "The Lonely Life of Survivors ," which is an interview with writer/executive producer Adrian Hodges in which we discuss the differences between Survivors and Terry Nation's original 1970s drama series, H1N1 fears, hope versus hopelessness, the human condition, and much more. Survivors premieres tonight at 8 pm ET/PT on BBC America.

"There are so few of us left, every new person feels like a gift." - Abby Grant BBC America's gripping and provocative drama series Survivors recounts the aftermath of a viral outbreak that wipes out 99 percent of the world's population. It's a nightmarish scenario that places these characters under the most gruesome of circumstances as they struggle to not only contain their grief and anger but also look for some way to survive. Based on Terry Nation's novel and adapted by Adrian Hodges ( Primeval ), Survivors is gritty sci-fi at its most painful and realistic. The opening installment's first 45 minutes might be some of the most brutal and emotionally raw sequences ever to air on television as the virus spreads at an alarming rate and kills just about everyone. There's a palpable sense of loss and fragility as England comes tumbling down, but there's also a sense of hope emerging from the ashes as well. For a group of strangers who band together...

BBC America held its session today at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour in Pasadena, offering panels on Survivors and The Choir allowing critics the opportunity to pose questions to Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear via satellite. Post-apocalyptic drama Survivors will launch on February 13th with the first two seasons airing back-to-back on Saturday nights. Top Gear Season 13 premieres Monday, January 25th at 8 pm and The Choir is set to debut later this spring. Promotional videos for BBC America's Survivors , The Choir , and Season 13 of Top Gear can be found below. Trailer: Survivors: Sneak Peak: BBC America's The Choir : Trailer: Top Gear Season 13: Stay tuned.

BBC America has announced the launch date for post-apocalyptic drama series Survivors . The much-delayed Survivors , which is an adaptation of the cult classic 1970s series (itself based on Terry Nation's novel), will have its US premiere on Saturday, February 13th at 8 pm ET/PT, before shifting to its regular timeslot at 9 pm ET/PT the following week. The series tracks the adventures of a group of people who survive a global viral holocaust that wipes out 99 percent of the human race's population and who struggle to stay alive in the face of unspeakable odds following this global catastrophe. In the official scheduling announcement, BBC America refers to the "twelve-episode season" of Survivors , which is a sign that the digital cabler intend to air the first two UK seasons of Survivors back-to-back. Season One, which aired in the UK in 2008, was comprised of six episodes and the second season of Survivors will launch early next year in the United Kingdom. This ver...

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...