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The two television shows have practically nothing in common, except for the fact that they will both air on SciFi Channel, but that's not stopping the network from pairing together its highly anticipated series "The Dresden Files" with its workhorse series "Battlestar Galactica."

While the space-faring, Cylon-starring "Battlestar Galactica" can make even CNN's most dismal coverage look happy, "The Dresden Files" is looking to take more of a "Doctor Who" approach, mixing strong stories with even stronger character development with a dash of lightness.

Or are they?

"In the first episode, we have three suicides," joked executive producer David Simkins, best known for his consulting producer work on such series as "Dark Angel" and "Roswell." "Seriously, 'Battlestar' is its very own successful beast. There is humor, there is emotion, there are some aspects of tragedy to ['The Dresden Files'], but this should be a fun sort of welcoming, entertaining, charming, somewhat upbeat hour of television."

Simkins joined fellow executive producer Robert Hewitt Wolfe as well as series star Paul Blackthorne in a conference call with media outlets Tuesday to talk about the new series, which premieres Jan. 21 alongside "Battlestar Galactica." While some might see the scheduling by SciFi Channel as a bit of an odd pairing, it's something that Simkins said he welcomes.

"I think it's a pretty good pairing," he said. "If this was two solid hours of a 'Battlestar'-type show, that would be a bit too much. SciFi was pretty smart to put us on Sunday night, and to put 'Battlestar' on Sunday night, too."

Simkins should know. He was a co-producer for the Fox series "The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr." which was paired with "The X-Files" on Friday night. Both series suffered in the ratings, forcing the eventual demise of "Brisco County" after a single season. However, Fox moved "The X-Files" to Sunday night, which not only boosted its ratings, but helped propel it into a cult classic. Simkins saw the magic of Sunday night work again later on when he worked on "Charmed," which also suffered in the ratings until The WB network moved it to Sunday nights.

"The Dresden Files" itself will be fighting to become the next Sunday night champion. It centers around the character of Harry Dresden (Blackthorne), a private detective who makes no secret about his supernatural abilities. In fact, he even lists himself under the "Wizard" heading in the phone book, and uses those abilities plus his keen intellect to solve mysteries. It's based on a series of popular novels by Jim Butcher, although some differences will be found in the television version.

"We really love the books. They are a tremendous amount of fun," said Wolfe, who previously worked on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and was the developer of "Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda."

"But when you adapt anything, you tend to have to write toward the television media. Jim has been very happy with what we've done, and he's aware of the process that's involved from one medium to another. It's kind of a different take, a parallel universe to his books, and he's very cool with that."

One of the most obvious changes fans of the novels will see right away is Terrence Mann's representation of Dresden's supernatural, in-office sidekick, Bob.

"The character of Bob in the book is a talking ... skull," Simkins said. "There was a very valiant attempt to duplicate and sort of augment that talking skull aspect. When we put the pilot together, we knew that if we were going to continue with the talking skull, we were going to be paying a lot of money in special effects."

Instead, the producers kept the skull as more of a genie's lamp which causes the ghost character of Bob to appear.

"It just helped everything all the way around," Simkins said. "It helped in the story, and helped in the special effects budget."

Like the book, Bob is confined to Dresden's office area, although that wouldn't stop Dresden from carrying Bob around in the real world when he needs him, and it is something that will come up through the course of the first season.

"There is an ongoing undercurrent with Bob's character of wanting to go free," Simkins said. "In some upcoming episodes, he's going to be making some tragic decisions to get himself out of his pergatory which will affect Dresden and the story."

Another change will be what Dresden drives around, trading in his trademark blue Volkswagen Bug for a Jeep. Changes like that could easily anger an existing fan base, but technology has allowed the producers to talk directly to the fans and help explain some of the reasonings behind the change.

"When I worked on 'Deep Space Nine,' I got sort of sucked into some discussions in one of the Star Trek [Usenet groups], and it's something I've done ever since," Wolfe said. "By engaging some of the fans on the net a little bit and explaining [it] helps people understand the process a little better and give a little insight on what happens when you come from one thing to another, from one medium to another."

Dresden will continue to be a technophobe, however, a bit reminiscent of not only the Colonials in "Battlestar Galactica," but also of the series star himself.

"I can't even put up a shower curtain," Blackthorne said. "I got a computer about two years ago, and it's just not me. I don't understand it. I'm not very good with that stuff at all, and it helps me with Harry."

"The Dresden Files" premieres Jan. 21 at 9 p.m. ET just before the winter premiere of "Battlestar Galactica," and it gives some fans worry that the SciFi Channel will continue to move away from space-faring shows as a dominant setting in the genre. But there's nothing wrong with diversity, either, Wolfe said.

"What drives successful programming is just good storytelling," he said. "The setting doesn't really matter so much. I don't think anyone could predict the success of 'Heroes.' No one predicted the success of 'Lost.'

"SciFi has two very successful space shows, and they don't really need another 'Battlestar.' They need other things to be there for other people."

That's why a show like this comes about and is how a show like SciFi Channel's "Eureka" is so successful, Wolfe said.

"If they didn't have a show like 'Battlestar,' they would need a show like 'Battlestar.'"