Even though Fox may have axed shows like Alcatraz and The Finder, they are at least going to be in the Seth MacFarlane business for a while longer. That’s right, the network has renewed Family Guy and American Dad for another season. Both will be getting 22 episode orders.

As for MacFarlane’s other show on Fox, The Cleveland Show, no word yet on if it will be getting another season, which would be its fifth. This is reportedly not because of the network’s lack of confidence in the show but rather because it already has quite a few episodes of it ready and the show is still in production.

The network is apparently waiting to see how next year’s schedule comes together before making a decision. Of course, that could just be a nice way of saying the show is going to be canceled but they just don’t want to tell anyone yet.

In other Fox animated news, The Simpsons already has a two-year renewal, Bob’s Burgers‘ third season pickup was announced in January, Allen Gregory has been canceled, and Napoleon Dynamite is still,as they say, “on the bubble.”

That’s okay, we’re just glad Family Guy is coming back. It’s a funny show that just seems to get better and better.

One of the most surprising facets of the hit AMC show The Walking Dead is how much of a ratings blockbuster it can be. It is particularly intriguing due to the fact that genre, horror and comic book based shows rarely dominate in the ratings.

When The Walking Dead premiered it smashed all expectations and became the highest rated show in the history of AMC. It actually continued to gain momentum with the season one finale bringing in more viewers, which was in turn also true of the season two premiere.

Falling in line with that very positive trend, the season 2 finale, which aired this past weekend, again broke it’s own record by becoming the highest rated episode in show history. All of this continued succsess despite the very public problems this show had this season is telling of the over all popularity.

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After 3 decades of having a pretty solid streak in the realm of science fiction, Steven Spielberg has finally hit a dud with his very expensive show Terra Nova. Fox has decided to not renew the sci-fi series about a civilization that saves their future by going to the past, or an alternate universe…we’ll never find out.

THR says that while the show may be over on Fox, there still may be hope on a different network.

The news comes as Fox has an increased roster of hourlong dramas, including J.J. Abrams’ Alcatraz and Kiefer Sutherland-Tim Kring’s Touch, and heavy hype surrounding its drama development. Given Terra Nova’s international appeal, however, its studio, 20th Century Fox TV, will attempt to shop the big-budget series to other networks.

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I guess it doesn’t pay to be Jada Pinkett Smith these days. First, rumors surface of your alleged affair with Mark Anthony which made Will Smith cry and now TNT has decided not to renew your TV show.

That’s right, for those of you watching Smith and her co-stars each week on Hawthorne, the show will not be back for a fourth season. This news comes after TNT recently canceled another show that, at least in my opinion, was pretty good and worth watching: Men of a Certain Age.

Apparently also “on the bubble” is the Jason Lee starrer Memphis Beat, which has been on for two seasons already. According to reports, the odds of it returning are pretty much even money.

Here’s the official statement about Hawthorne from TNT:

TNT has decided not to order a fourth season of HawthoRNe. TNT truly appreciates the tremendous dedication of everyone involved in HawthoRNe. The series gave TNT the opportunity to work with many outstanding people, including Jada Pinkett Smith and the rest of the show’s talented cast, crew, producers and writers. We wish everyone involved with HawthoRNe nothing but the best.

Nothing but the best. Isn’t that nice? And they say people in Hollywood don’t care.

It must be nice not to have to worry so much about ratings and instead focus primarily on quality. Oh, to have those kinds of problems like premiere cable netwrok HBO. What have they done this time?

Much like they did previously with shows such as Boardwalk Empire and Treme, HBO has given the greenlight for another season to its new drama Game of Thrones after only airing the premiere episode — even though its rating didin’t set any records. The ratings were solid, coming in between other premieres such as True Blood and Boardwalk Empire, but it’s the show itself that earned another season.

“We are delighted by the way David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have brought George R.R. Martin’s amazing book series to the screen, and thrilled by the support of the media and our viewers,” HBO’s head of programming Michael Lombardo said.

For its debut at 9 PM on Sunday, the show drew 2.2 million viewers, down 54% from the September premiere of Boardwalk Empire but up 57% from the 1.4 million who tuned in for the debut of True Blood 3 years ago. Overall, the premiere of Game of Thrones averaged 4.2 million viewers on Sunday for its 3 airings vs. 7.1 million for Boardwalk Empire in September.

So far HBO seems to be doing very well with most of its original programming, especially lately. With True Blood and Treme returning soon and the solid performance of Game of Thrones it looks like DVRs across the country are going to remain full of HBO programming for the foreseeable future. As fans of the new Game of Thrones as well as Treme, Boardwalk Empire, True Blood, Bored to Death and most of the other current HBO series, we’re going to be there too.

Game of Thrones stars Mark Addy, Sean Bean, Emilia Clarke, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Peter Dinklage and Lena Headey. It airs Sundays at 9/8C on HBO.

It’s nice when good, quality shows get the treatment they deserve. In this case the show in question is Justified, which airs on FX.

Today, the network announced it is renewing the series, which features Timothy Olyphant as a crusading yet morally ambiguous U.S. Marshall, and giving it a third season on the network. According to the report, FX bosses were pleased with the show’s performance overall, even though its taken a little ratings dip this season.

In spite of the dip, the series is still ahead of Season 1 and has emerged as a DVR winner, getting a 55%-60% ratings bump from time-shifted viewing. Season-to-date, the drama has averaged 4 million viewers for its original Wednesday 10 PM telecasts.

Great news for a great show. If you haven’t had a chance to check it out, you should.

In related news, FX is also reportedly close to a renewal for another cool show you should be watching: the animated spy comedy Archer. More on that as it comes to us. In the meantime, kudos to FX for recognizing quality and for sticking with it.

Apparently, old dogs (or in this case, old networks) can learn new tricks. The old dog in question today is the Fox network which, it seems, has learned that it’s okay to a give struggling series that you scheduled in the Friday night ‘Death Slot” a chance to reach an audience and continue its story. That series, we are happy to say, is Fringe – which has been renewed for another season by the network.

But wait, there’s more. Not only has the struggling series been given another season, its also received a full-season order of 22 episodes. Awesome, right? Despite low ratings, which got lower after the show was moved from Thursday to Friday, Fox management was still interested in the show’s creative direction.

In addition, Fringe has also been a big hit for the DVR crowd. So, when that is taken into consideration, the series ranks as the top-rated series on Fridays. Whatever the reason, or combination of reasons, we’re glad Fox decided to give Fringe another year to build an audience. It’s a great show that deserves to be seen. If you haven’t checked it out yet, you should.

If you needed a more clear example of TV-based original superhero shows, there is none more showing than this. NBC has decided to pull their two-part Cape finale from TV and only air the episodes online.

The series was on a steep decline in ratings since it’s start back in January, and NBC had even cut it’s original order of 13 episodes for the season down to 10. Now they have pulled this past week’s episode and have decided to air both parts of the finale online only. From TV Line:

The disappointing performance of both The Cape (which early last month saw its 13-episode order cut to 10) and The Event has caused much shuffling of NBC’s midseason schedule. At first, The Event‘s return from a winter hiatus was pushed back a week so that The Cape could wrap its run on February 28 with a pair of episodes. Instead, NBC made way for Chuck (no argument there!), leaving The Cape‘s finale unaired.

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The series premiere of Syfy’s newest show, Being Human, broke records this week, as it pulled in a total of 2 million views in it’s 9pm timeslot. It seems that fans of horror and sci-fi still wanted more of the world after The Walking Dead was unleashed on the world back in October.

Now, the network is planning on continuing that trend next Monday with it’s second episode, part two of “There Goes The Neighborhood”. From Syfy:

In the next all-new episode, Josh starts to become uneasy about having Sally’s former fiancé Danny over to the house.  Uneasy is probably a lighthearted term compared to Josh’s state of concern.  Sally begs and pleads but Josh fears Danny could potentially sell the place or turn it into an amusement if he’s able to see Sally as a ghost.  Aidan stays calm and collected as usual.  Will Danny see Sally or will he pass right by her?  You will have to watch the clip and tune in to the next episode airing Monday, January 24th at 9/8c on Syfy.

You heard them, you WILL have to tune in next week to find out exactly what happens to Sally and the gang, but in the meantime you can check out a sneak peek of the episode after the jump.

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Fringe is a show we watch and enjoy around The Flickcast offices. We like it and hope it lasts for along time. Sadly, at least on the surface, Fox’s decision to move the show to Friday night seems like a bad one considering most people “in the know” refer to that as the “time slot of death.”

However, it seems that the creators of the show know full well what they’re in for an have decided to confront their potential time slot problems head on with a new promo that directly addresses the problem. Watching this video makes me even more glad to be a fan of this show. It’s just really clever and, as always, Walter is awesome.

Will the move to Friday end up being the death of Fringe? I sincerely hope not. Hey, it hasn’t hurt Smallville. Maybe by helping spread the word about this promo and how great the show is we can continue to watch Fringe for years to come? Let’s hope so.

Check out the promo after the jump and see what all the fuss is about. Fringe returns to Fox (On Friday nights) starting January 21st.

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Sad news to report: The Stargate saga is coming to an end on Syfy — at least for the time being. Late yesterday the network announced that the upcoming 10 episode of season two of Stargate Universe, which will air in the Spring, will be the last.

The Stargate franchise — consisting of Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis and Stargate Universe — has aired on Syfy since 2002. This cancellation follows that of another high profile sci-fi show, the Battlestar Galactica prequel Caprica.

All is not lost though as Syfy’s slate of returning series includes Warehouse 13, Eureka and Haven. These shows will be joined next year by new series Being Human, which launches on January 17, Alphas and the Battlestar Galactica prequel movie and de facto backdoor pilot Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome.

While it’s a shame to see Stargate Universe get the axe it is pretty understandable. After all, the show’s rating were pretty low, even for a show on SyFy. So it stands to reason that SyFy decided to pull the plug on what must have been a rather expensive show to produce.

Don’t worry, I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of the Stargate franchise on SyFy. Expect another series at some point.

I was thinking about long running TV shows the other day and having a discussion with some colleagues. We were impressed to realize that The Simpsons has been on the air for 22 years. That’s longer than some staffers on this site have been alive. Amazing.

Well, the amazing can now continue because Fox has officially given the green light for a 23rd season of the venerable animated comedy featuring Homer, Marge, Lisa, Maggie, Bart and their host of friends and neighbors in beautiful Springfield. The 23rd season will get the show to the impressive 500th episode milestone and then beyond, bringing the total number of episodes to 515. That’s a lot of chalkboards and sofa gags.

“Like many 22-year-olds, The Simpsons is extremely happy remaining at home, on Fox, and hopes it doesn’t have to go out into the real world for many years to come,” said The Simpsons executive producer Al Jean. I’m sure that’s true because, really, what a great gig it must be for the people who make the show.

Sure, it might get a bit tiring doing the same thing for 22 years but in Hollywood, this kind of lengthy work doesn’t come along all that often — especially if your show happens to be on the Fox network. Just ask Joss Whedon.

As an added bonus, I dug up a video of The Simpsons first season opening credits. It’s fun to see how the characters and situations have changed but also stayed remarkably the same as well. Check it out after the jump.

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