'Warehouse 13' Expands To 20 Eps, Moves To Spring?
Syfy wants to see a lot more of its hit show. A lot more
It's time for "Warehouse 13" to take its place on top of the Syfy programming heap, and it will do it in grand style.
Reports are circulating that the series from showrunner Jack Kenny is expanding from 13 episodes to 20 in the upcoming fourth season. Even more, Airlock Alpha has learned that the cable channel is considering moving its fourth season premiere up as well.
There has been no official announcement of either news so far, but The Hollywood Reporter described the move as one that made sense for Syfy's top-rated show that draws about 2 million viewers each week. The series centers on U.S. Secret Service agents Pete Lattimer and Myka Bering, played by Eddie McClintock and Joanne Kelly, who collect supernaturally tainted artifacts and bring them back to a super (secret) warehouse facility in North Dakota. The series also stars Saul Rubinek, Allison Scagliotti, Genelle Williams and CCH Pounder.
This would be the largest season yet for "Warehouse 13," which has enjoyed 13-episode seasons in its first three years.
Now, the cable channel can toy with the idea of splitting the season up -- similar to what Syfy has done in the past with shows like "Stargate: Universe" and "Battlestar Galactica" -- which will actually push the season to an earlier start. In previous years, "Warehouse 13" has premiered in mid-summer. This year, sources tell Airlock Alpha that it could actually be April.
Kenny himself hinted to an earlier start in December when he appeared on Airlock Alpha's Alpha Waves Radio podcast. There he shared that the writers room had been opened for Season 4 since Sept. 19, much sooner than before. In fact, by the time he appeared in the Dec. 1 episode of Alpha Waves Radio, his team had already started work on the seventh episode of the season.
"It was earlier than usual because we thought ... we were preparing ... [Syfy doesn't] know when we are premiering yet," Kenny said at the time. "There is a possibility that we will premiere earlier than later, and to be on the safe side, we decided to start writing earlier."
In fact, it's possible that "Warehouse 13" could be going in front of the cameras by February, giving just enough time to prep the series for an April premiere. That would put "Warehouse 13" up against network programming, many of it heading into the dangerous May sweeps stage, but Pete and Myka have proved to be solid against such competition in the past when seasons would bleed into the fall.
The success of the show continues in a potential spinoff featuring Jaime Murray, who plays the recurring H.G. Wells in the series. That project, however, is still in the conceptual stage, Kenny told Airlock Alpha in December, and wouldn't' be ready before 2013.
Once again, none of this has been confirmed by Syfy, and should be treated as any rumor would.
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by browncoat1984 | Fri, 01/13/2012 - 22:19 #1
Its funny, because both of those Spring/Fall shows you mentioned? They're both gone, one of them recently. Spring season? BAD IDEA! Because all of SyFy's recent attempts at new scripted Spring/Fall series HAVE ALL FAILED! - except Sanctuary, but when they DID put it in Spring it got really low ratings (due mainly to SyFy's moronic scheduling decisions). Another bad idea: splitting up the seasons. I don't know one single person who watches shows on SyFy who likes this idea. I mean, its okay with Walking Dead what AMC is doing, but we're only waiting from November-February - that's a much shorter wait than any show SyFy has split up in the past. Splitting up seasons + spring/fall scheduling is bad news for this show. Also, IMHO some shows work better with a 13 episode limit - Sanctuary being one of them (I was initially excited for a 20 episode season but I found the additional episodes didn't do much interesting and were more filler), though we haven't had one with WH13 yet so it remains to be seen.
That being said, you know, its funny, to this day any old-time fan of the classic Sci-fi network (back when, you know, they actually cared about science fiction) will swear by their Sci-Fi Fridays - Battlestar Galactica, Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis. Then they tried changing that formula up....and now all three of those shows are long gone.
Last summer, SyFy realized that what fans wanted was a night of their own, a night where they could say "that's good science fiction programming" and they came up with Supernatural Mondays. While not quite as high quality as the original Sci-fi Fridays, the combination of Eureka/Warehouse 13/Alphas was a decent one and it was always a highlight of my week, especially when summers usually don't have any new programming. Now they're once again mixing it up. Eureka will be gone after this summer. Warehouse 13 in the Spring now and who knows what they'll do with Alphas.
There's a saying. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" SyFy in the past has had multiple formulas that worked, but for whatever reason God only knows they decide they need to change it up and fans suffer as a result because good shows die. Sci-fi Fridays was a great formula and even if shows ended on their own accord like Battlestar, they could have put something else good there. But instead they changed it to the disappointment of fans and all three of those shows are gone. Stargate in the later summer/winter on Fridays was a great formula too and seemed to do well for Atlantis...but when Universe aired they decided to mix it up and air it during the fall on different days (later). Now, as a result of their mingling not only is Universe gone but so is Stargate from their TV's. Meanwhile, they continue to produce cheap reality shows that anybody who used to take the network seriously doesn't care about, all the while making announcements and statements that anger those few who remain loyal to them (Eureka cancellation fiasco).
SyFy has a serious PR problem and a serious identity problem and I think its existed long before they made their name change. Instead of embracing what fans of the genre want - hardcore science fiction and fantasy shows - they settle instead with light-hearted pop fare and crappy reality programs (don't even get me started on wrestling). Nothing's wrong with light-hearted stuff like Warehouse 13 and Eureka, I enjoy both shows, but I also want some serious (and SPACE-BASED) science fiction and fantasy that I can sink my teeth into and really get excited about. Why are other networks like FOX, AMC, HBO and TNT the ones now pioneering great new serious sci-fi/fantasy shows like Fringe, Terra Nova, Alcatraz, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones and Falling Skies? Why is SyFy not the one who is doing this when they were started as a science fiction network? As I said, nothing is wrong with light hearted fare, and even the occasional Ghost Hunters, but the SyFy of today is continuing to loose its identity with fans who once were passionate about the channel.
Science Fiction and Fantasy fans are among the most passionate group of fans you will encounter. We may not be as large in numbers as say your NCIS or your American Idol fans, but we're far more loyal (Fringe is the ONLY network show that's #1 on DVR ratings) and if you as a network are loyal to us we will return that loyalty. SyFy has lost that loyalty from us. It will never achieve its casual audience the way it wants to because it already has that image of being a hardcore sci-fi network and it'll never loose that, no matter how badly it wants to.
by mhinman | Sat, 01/14/2012 - 08:37 #2
I see what you're saying, but I don't think SGU or BSG's problems were because they were spring shows.