OnTV: Science-Fiction Sundays Begin
The Sci Fi Channel Pairs Promising Newcomer The Dresden Files with Popular Performer Battlestar Galactica in Its Quest to Rule Sunday Nights
Finally, the one show I’ve been looking forward to most for months makes its debut tonight on the Sci Fi Channel at 9pm EST. The Dresden Files not only features a talented cast that includes former 24 baddie Paul Blackthorne in the lead role, but also an intriguing premise adapted from the bestselling novel series of the same name by author Jim Butcher. Harry Dresden happens to be Chicago’s only practicing wizard, and he uses his special gifts working as a private investigator in order to solve crimes with connections to the paranormal.
Keep in mind that the series pilot was originally conceived as a two-hour movie, similar to the mini-series episodes that initiated the current Battlestar Galactica. The first episode airing tonight, “Birds of a Feather,” is not technically the pilot, which means viewers should prepare for the show to hit the ground running and already in full swing. Let’s just hope that it starts close enough to the beginning or covers enough of the most important plot points for everyone to keep up as Harry acts on a boy’s request to track down a monster that is stalking him and his mother.
And then, of course, following The Dresden Files at 10pm EST, Battlestar Galactica kicks off its third winter season in its new oft-discussed and much-maligned regular Sunday-night time slot with the episode “Rapture.” Something tells me that fans will have no problem at all adjusting to the new scheme of things, and Sci Fi Channel execs had better cross their fingers that that’s true given the super stiff competition from ABC’s successful freshman drama Brothers & Sisters, CBS’s established procedural Without a Trace, and NBC’s returning medical/crime favorite Crossing Jordan, not to mention BBC America’s British sudser Footballers Wives and Showtime’s enduring Sapphic drama The L Word on cable. I truly feel for anyone who faithfully follows more than two or three of these series.
Other New Stuff on TV Tonight
- ABC: America’s Funniest Home Videos (7:00); Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (8:00); Desperate Housewives (9:00); Brothers & Sisters (10:01)
- ABC Family: Lovewrecked (8:00)
- BBC America: Footballers Wives (10:00)
- CBS: NFL Football (7:00); Without a Trace (10:00)
- The CW: Reba (7:30); 7th Heaven (8:00)
- E!: Love Ride (10:00)
- Food Network: Emeril Live (8:00); Iron Chef America (9:00)
- HBO: Rome (9:00); Extras (10:00)
- HGTV: Living with Ed (10:00); That House (10:30)
- MTV: I’m from Rolling Stone (10:00)
- NBC: Deal or No Deal (7:00); Grease: You’re the One That I Want (8:00); The Apprentice: Los Angeles (9:00); Crossing Jordan (10:00)
- PBS: Masterpiece Theatre (9:00*)
- Showtime: The L Word (10:00)
- TLC: Miami Ink (9:00)
- Travel: Living With the Kombai Tribe: The Adventures of Mark and Olly (9:00/10:00)
- VH1: Surreal Life Fame Games (9:00); Hogan Knows Best (10:00); Shooting Sizemore (10:30)
- Weather Channel: It Could Happen Tomorrow (9:00/9:30)
*All PBS times may vary—Check your local listings to verify them
All times are EST/Eastern Standard Time
The Dresden Files and Battlestar Galactica photos courtesy of the Sci Fi Channel
