Yes, but for how long? Sadly, even though Sean Bean is one of our favorite actors, he does tend to die in many of the movies and TV series in which he appears. Maybe that won’t be the case this time as Bean is clearly the star of this new Howard Gordon-produced series Legends.

The show has been picked up by TNT for a ten episode first season and concerns Martin Odum (Bean), an undercover agent working for the FBI’s Deep Cover Operations division. Martin has the uncanny ability to transform himself into a completely different person for each job.

But, as often happens in these situations, he begins to question his own identity when a mysterious stranger suggests that Martin isn’t the man he believes himself to be. Uh oh, twist!

The series also stars Ali Larter as the hot but unfortunately named Crystal Quest, a fellow operative who has a history with Martin; Rob Mayes as Troy Quinn, a former Special Ops agent with a single-minded mission-first mentality; Tina Majorino as Maggie Harris, the newest member of the DCO team; Steve Harris as Nelson Gates, the director of the DCO Task Force; and Amber Valletta as Sonya Odum, Martin’s ex-wife.

Look for the series to debut in early 2014. We’ll keep our fingers crossed for you Sean.

There’s new life and new guest stars ahead for season three of TNT’s Falling Skies. Robert Sean Leonard and Gloria Reuben are both set to appear in the hit aliens vs. human drama, which returns for 13 episodes this summer.

The latest season kicks off seven months after the end of season two with Anne (Moon Bloodgood) giving birth to her and Tom’s (Noah Wyle) first child. The birth of the baby may single a calmer time for the 2^nd Mass. As Seychelle Gabriel, who plays Lourdes, said, “The darkest moments are behind us.” That doesn’t mean fans won’t be seeing any more fights between our heroes at 2^nd Mass and the mechs and Skitters.

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Alfred Molina has signed on to star in David E. Kelley’s new medical drama pilot Chelsea General. The drama is set to air on the TNT network. The story is based on an upcoming novel from CNN chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta.

The story follows the lives of five surgeon who face the difficulties of balancing the professional life of a doctor while trying to not fail at maintaining their personal lives.  The show is based around their hospital’s weekly morbidity and mortality conference, when doctors gather with their peers for a confidential review of complications and errors in patient care. It will provides a unique look at how surgeons come to terms with mistakes and try to learn from them.

“Chelsea General promises to be a smart, witty and extremely powerful medical drama, the kind of series David E. Kelley is renowned for making,” said Michael Wright, executive vice president, head of programming for TNT, TBS and Turner Classic Movies (TCM). “We look forward to working with David and Sanjay in bringing the doctors’ fascinating stories and characters to television.”

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TNT will preempt it’s primetime lineup tonight at 8PM and 10PM E/P to run back-to-back airings of it’s 1999 original movie Pirates of Silicon Valley. This is the only movie, so far, to depict the rise of Apple co-founder and visionary Steve Jobs, who tragically died yesterday at the age of 56.

The film follows the race between computer rivals Apple and Microsoft and stars Noah Wyle as Jobs, Anthony Michael Hall as Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Joey Slotnick as Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.

I haven’t watched the film in quite some time but I’m sure I will be tonight.

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.

We’ve been waiting for this as some of us are big fans of Rizzoli & Isles here at The Flickcast offices. Yes Mr. Ullrich, we’re looking at you. Still, that doesn’t mean TNT doesn’t have some other fine programming as well.

To let us all know what the network hsa in store for us for the Fall and Winter, they’ve released their schedule for all to see. The new schedule includes the continuation of the current seasons of The Closer, Rizzoli & Isles and Leverage, which all return with new episodes on November 27 and 28.

It also includes the new season of Southland, which will kick off in January and the first installment of the network’s new original movie franchise TNT Mystery Movie Night, which will debut November 29.

TNT also announces additional castings on several of its movies, including Alfred Molina joining Scott Turow’s Innocent, Dermot Mulroney in Silent Witness, and Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Kevin Alejandro in Hide.

Here’s all the details on TNT’s upcoming premiere dates from the official press release:

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If you’ve been following the saga of a group of ragtag survivors agains seemingly overwhelming alien invaders, aka Falling Skies, then you’re going to be happy about this news. TNT has ordered a second season of the show.

Coming from Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks TV, the show premiered last month with 8 Million viewers, making it cable’s top series launch of the year. Since that time the series has averaged 6.4 Million viewers for its first three episodes and is attracting strong ratings overseas as well.

The network has ordered 10 episodes for Season 2, which is slated to air in Summer 2012. Although that may not seem like a lot of episodes, it’s about average for basic cable.

Falling Skies stars Noah Wyle, Mood Bloodgood, Will Patton, Sarah Carter and Drew Roy. It airs Sundays at 10/9C on TNT.

Where do you go when most good science fiction stories have already been told on TV? In the last decade or so, we’ve had successful reboots and remakes of already wildly popular sci-fi dramas such as Battlestar Galactica and V. Is there still room on TV for original science fiction programming?

That’s exactly what TNT is hoping to find out with their new summer drama, Falling Skies, starring Noah Wyle and Moon Bloodgood. Here’s a brief synopsis.

FALLING SKIES opens in the chaotic aftermath of an alien attack that has left most of the world completely incapacitated. In the six months since the initial invasion, the few survivors have banded together outside major cities to begin the difficult task of fighting back. Each day is a test of survival as citizen soldiers work to protect the people in their care while also engaging in an insurgency campaign against the occupying alien force.

So it’s got some elements of our favorite series such as Battlestar and V. Maybe it can actually hold up, especially since most original dramas on TNT seem to have legs from birth.

Be sure to check out a new in-depth look at the series after the jump, catch up on the story with TNT’s original web comic, and get ready for the series premiere on Sunday, June 19th at 9/8C.

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Chalk one up for the good guys in blue as TNT has announced they will be giving cop drama Southland a fourth season on the network. The show, which wrapped up its third season March 8, stars Michael Cudlitz, Shawn Hatosy, Regina King and Ben McKenzie.

According to TNT’s head of programming Michael Wright: “Southland has been acknowledged by many critics as one of the sharpest, most entertaining and most authentic dramas on television today,” Wright said. “We are extremely proud to have Southland on TNT and to bring it back for a fourth season.” Kudos Mr. Wright. Good call.

It’s done pretty well for TNT, after its move from NBC where it had been cancelled, and has averaged 2.9 million viewers per episode this season. That’s up 6% compared to Season 2. Don’t worry, although those numbers may seem small, remember that TNT is a basic cable network so those numbers are actually pretty good — especially considering NBC had completely written the show off.

Just goes to show that if you make a quality product, people may sometimes catch on and it will be given a chance to succeed. As a fan of this show from way back when I reviewed the pilot I, for one, am thrilled it will be returning for 10 all-new episodes. If you haven’t had a chance to check it out, you should.

Back in the old days we had three TV networks and they scheduled new shows to premiere in the Fall and reruns all Summer. That scheduling model is now a distant memory as new shows premiere pretty much any time of the year these days.

One of the biggest times for networks to bring out new shows is during what is known as midseason. This midseason is no exception with many new shows hitting the air for the first time or previous ones coming back after the holiday break. So, to help you get your DVRs ready, here is a list of the major premiere dates on broadcast and cable compiled by the extremely helpful folks over at Deadline.

It includes season/series premieres and many return dates for series with split seasons. Now to find that DVR remote and get to programming.

Jan. 3
The Bachelor, ABC, season premiere
Pretty Little Liars, ABC Family, winter season premiere
Greek, ABC Family, season premiere

Jan. 4
V, ABC, season premiere
Live to Dance, CBS, series premiere
The Biggest Loser: Couples, NBC, season premiere
Southland, TNT, season premiere
Chopped, Food Network, season premiere
Caprica, Syfy, final 5 episodes

Jan.5
Ghost Hunters International, Syfy, season premiere
Are We There Yet?, TBS, season premiere
Flying Wild Alaska, Discovery, series premiere

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Is ABC’s V not filling that alien invasion quota that you’ve gotten used to on TV as of late, then you’ll be happy to see that the grandfather of alien invasions, Steven Speilberg is now throwing his hat into the ring, and bringing us the brand new trailer for TNT’s Falling Skies.

Unlike V, this series focuses more on the human survivor element of an alien invasion. Consider it more like The Walking Dead of alien invasions. With that said, you’ll still get some sick four-legged aliens and giant robots, so don’t get disinterested just yet.

Serving to the inner nerd in all of us, TNT has even helped move the story along with an original web comic that will get you full inundated in the story by the time it premieres in June.

Fans of TV and sci-fi alone will get Noah Wyle, Moon Bloodgood, and a cornucopia of character actors to instill that fear of the end of the world. Check out the full trailer after the jump.

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TNT and Dark Horse Comics will be teaming up to produce a comic book and webcomic prequel to the upcoming Falling Skies television series.

Falling Skies is an upcoming series that will be produced by Dreamworks Television, with Steven Spielberg serving as executive producer.  The TNT series will star Noah Wyle (ER), and involves the aftermath of an alien invasion, with the hopes for  humanity resting  on a few survivors. It will debut in the Summer of 2011.

TNT and Dark Horse are distributing an exclusive, limited edition comic book that tells the back-story of the series during the New York Comic Con in October. Then, starting in November, fans can begin downloading an extending webcomic every two weeks, via iTunes, TNT.tv, or Darkhorse.com.

The comic and webcomic are a novel way to drum up early interest in the series prior to its debut.

In addition to Wyle, the series will star Moon Bloodgood (Terminator Salvation), Drew Roy (Lincoln Heights), Maxim Knight (Brothers and Sisters), Seychelle Gabriel (Weeds) and Will Patton (Armageddon.)  Wylie and Bloodgood will be signing autographs at the Dark Horse International booth at the San Diego Comic Con on Friday afternoon.

Jason Lee is one of very few actors to cross couple of different thresholds in Hollywood. He’s achieved cult status for his work in the Kevin Smith films, received mainstream notice and plenty of award nominations for his work on My Name is Earl, and he’s recognized by thousands of kids for his role as Dave in Alvin and the Chipmunks.

Now Jason is moving to something a little different and takes the lead in TNT’s upcoming Memphis Beat as a detective who moonlights as an Elvis Presley impersonator.

We recently got a chance to sit in on a discussion with Lee about his role in the upcoming show, the fate of My Name is Earl, his tendency to drift towards comedy rather than drama, and his new found appreciation for Elvis.

What is it about this show and the character that appealed to you and made you want to be part of it?

Well you know on the surface it was clear that it was very different than anything I’ve ever done.  And you know so that was a big part of it and then the fun of getting to play a detective and certainly the fun of getting to play a detective who also performs the music of Elvis on stage.

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Yesterday, we were elated to bring you news that TNT had more guts and faith than NBC to renew Southland for another season. While we were so excited about the news, we neglected to notice that where a cable show gets a stay of execution, the fantasy series Legend of the Seeker gets the axe.

The series, based on the Sword of Truth book series by Terry Goodkind, had a good run, making it 40 episodes in 2 seasons, but it wasn’t pulling in the numbers that a network like The CW needed for it to survive. From EW:

The outlook had been bleak since last March, when many of Tribune Station Group’s markets dropped the syndicated series, which had been developed by Hercules/Xena producers Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert. ABC Studios, which produces it, kept shopping it around. But, I’m told, they found no takers. So, after two action-packed seasons, Legend is history.

The premise was much like many other stories we’ve heard before, including Star Wars in that a young farm boy learns that he has a destiny to take down the evil lord who threatens their world, alongside a kind old wizard and a beautiful princess. Add two droids and George Lucas may just sue somebody.

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Sometimes good shows actually get the treatment they deserve instead of being unceremoniously dumped from their network. Case in point is TNT’s excellent cop drama Southland which began life on NBC but after only a limited run, wan’t asked to continue on the network.

Instead, TNT picked it up and aired the remainder of episodes to what was apparently good results as the show has been given another season. In case you’re not familiar with Southland, it was created by Emmy winning writer Ann Biderman (NYPD Blue) and concerns a group of uniformed LAPD officers, among them Ben McKenzie (The OC), Michael McGrady (Band of Brothers), Regina King (Jerry McGuire, 24) and Tom Everett Scott (That Thing You Do), who deal with the daily trials and tribulations of life as a front line police officer.

Sporting a very good cast who deliver nuanced performances, good writing and excellent visuals, the show deserved a chance to find an audience and I, for one, am glad it seems to be doping just that. And even though we are all big fans of many of NBC’s shows, at least with this show in particular, they made a mistake letting it go. Oh well, their loss is TNT’s gain it would seem.