heroes

Here's a look at tonight's sci-fi TV:

Heroes, "Brave New Word" – The Heroes season finale could turn out to be a series finale thanks to tanking ratings (not to mention the show's dip in quality). Season four's final act sees Samuel taking revenge on humanity with the ultimate weapon ... a deaf girl's cello! The producers are promising a game-changing finale that will shock all 25 die-hard fans to the core. Oh, and Sylar officially becomes a good guy, again. (9 p.m. ET on NBC)

Chuck, "Chuck Versus The Mask" – It's team-up time as Morgan pairs with Elle to find out Chuck's secret, and Sarah and Shaw work together on a mission involving cute nerd couple to be (I hope) Chuck and Hannah. (8 p.m. ET on NBC)

Head after the jump for clips and more TV picks.

Here's a look at tonight's sci-fi TV:

Chuck, "Chuck vs. the Nacho Sampler" – Kristin Kreuk's Hannah sends the dateless Nerd Herd workers into a panic during her first day at the Buy More. Chuck struggles to recruit a new agent, and Shaw teams up with Sarah (who, by the way, looks great wearing tight and geeky Battlestar gear) for a secret mission. Elsewhere, Awesome is forced to deflect Ellie and Morgan's suspicions about Chuck's double life. It sounds like this one's packed with plot. I'm looking forward to seeing Kreuk interact with Morgan and the rest of Chuck's mutant friends. She's much more adorable here than she ever was on Smallville. (8 p.m. ET on NBC)

Heroes, "The Wall" – Samuel goes full-on bad guy as Claire and Lauren attempt to spring HRG from the carnival. Peter visits Sylar's own personal Oz to help him battle his worst nightmare. There's only one more episode left, and I really, really hope it doesn't involve a killer cello!

Head after the jump for clips and more TV picks.

A look at tonight's sci-fi TV:

Chuck, "Chuck Versus First Class" – Superman himself, Brandon Routh, arrived last week to take over command of Operation Bartowski. This week, another Supes vet, Smallville's Kristin Kreuk, joins the show for an ongoing arc. Kreuk guest stars as Hannah, a successful IT tech who has fallen on hard times. And, as you might have guessed, she ends up working at the Buy More, the unofficial home of L.A.'s down-and-out nerds. Hulking WWE champ "Stone Cold' Steve Austin also guest stars tonight as a scary baddie who complicates Chuck's first solo mission and ... er ... challenges him to a fencing match. (8 p.m. ET on NBC)

Heroes, "The Art of Deception" – Heroes earned its weakest ratings ever last week, and I doubt the show will do much better tonight, especially since its up against Fox's 24. For those still watching, tonight HRG kick starts an emotionally tense war between the carnies and the heroes. Elsewhere, Sylar asks Matt to drain him of his powers. (9 p.m. ET on NBC)

Head after the jump for promo clips and more TV picks.

Did you see Push? Yeah, I didn't either. I mean, I would've liked to. The trailers were pretty nifty, but it was a February dump and, to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure if that's the kind of movie I want to spend two hours with. Why are you looking at me like that? I'm sure good movies come out in February. I'm not making a blanket statement. You didn't see it either! Stop judging me. I tend to be more into summer or winter movies, myself. We all have our tastes!

Ahem.

Looks like Push will be getting a second chance at life, this time on television. Mr. David Hayter will be penning the pilot and it will act as an extension of the film, building on the universe established there. As I chose not to engage in a relationship with this particular motion picture, I had to steal a quote from Devin over at CHUD, where I first saw this news: "In the world of Push there's a hierarchy to the super powers - telekinetics are movers, oracles are watchers, mind controllers are pushers - and there's the Division, who is trying to make all of these psychics into weapons."

Hayter is no stranger to superhero adventure. His filmography includes the first two X-Men films and Watchmen, not to mention, that man is the voice of Solid friggin' Snake. Television feels like the perfect medium for superheroes, a place where adventures can be played out long term and vary on an episode by episode basis. As much as I love my big budget film versions, a TV series can lend characters a true mythology. What are comic books themselves but episodes of a drawn TV series?

I'll be keeping my eyes on this one. Best case scenario: a movie no one saw will become a series worth your time. Worst case scenario: it'll still be better than Heroes.

A look at tonight's sci-fi TV:

Chuck, "Chuck Versus Operation Awesome" – Brandon Routh, who I always thought was a pretty swell dude and one of the halfway decent things about Superman Returns, begins his recurring run on Chuck tonight. Routh plays Shaw, a new ... er ... super spy who becomes Chuck's mentor and his rival for Sarah's affections. Angie Harmon also guest stars in an ep that finds Chuck trying to save Captain Awesome from the Ring. (8 p.m. ET on NBC)

Heroes, "Pass/Fail" - George Takei and David Anders return as participants in a trial going on in Hiro's scrambled subconscious. Meanwhile Sylar gets all grabby with Claire and Samuel tries to impress Vanessa, who later remains unimpressed ... and probably dead. Probably. (9 p.m. ET on NBC)

Head after the jump for clips and more TV picks.

A look at tonight's sci-fi TV:

Heroes, "Upon This Rock" and "Let It Bleed" - Heroes heads into the new year with a two hour "event" that promises to fit all the puzzle pieces together -- whatever that means. Sadly, the most puzzling thing about this show is why NBC continues to keep it on life support despite tanking ratings and creatively bankrupt plotlines. I don't think Heroes will ever gets its groove or its audience back, but at least the awesome Robert Knepper is getting a lot of screen time this season.

Last we saw, head carnie Samuel succeeded in manipulating gullible little Claire Bear into joining his band of freaks. In tonight's two-parter, Claire finally starts to suspect that Samuel isn't the shiny, happy person she thinks he is. Elsewhere in the ep, HRG drafts Parkman into his personal war against Samuel and Hiro travels through time to help a friend (I'm guessing that friend's name is Mohinder). (7 p.m. E.T. on NBC)

Watch a promo and get more TV picks after the jump.

A few weeks back, we brought you the news that Joshua Jackson was going to star in an adaptation of the British cult TV series, UFO. Now, we bring you news, courtesy of Forbidden Planet, that Ali Larter is interested in jumping on board. Or so says visual effects wiz turned director, Matthew Gratzner:

"For the character of Virginia Lake, " says Gratzner. "we've talked to Ali Larter, who's very interested. I've actually met with her, and I think she would be a great addition to the picture. Lake is very strong and obviously also very feminine, and Ali Larter definitely encompasses that.

And I bet she'll look really good in a sci-fi jumpsuit, am I right? Huh?"

Okay, so I made that last line up, but let's just accept that there are ulterior motivations when you cast a beautiful woman in your $130 million movie. In all seriousness, my exposure to Larter is limited in that her resume reads like a laundry list of forgettable junk that has never really asked her to actually act. I mean, I love the first two Final Destination films as much as anyone who loves awesomely cheesy modern horror, but let's face facts...didn't showcase any moving, powerful work from anyone. And bashing her role on Heroes is pretty much beating a dead horse, so let's let's just put up the yellow tape and let the garbage man load the carcass onto the truck.

Gratzner's quote is part of a pretty interesting look at the film, where Gratzner admits that they are planning a trilogy and that the treatments for the sequels are "...even more spectacular!" Of course they are.

A look at tonight's Sci-Fi TV:

Heroes, "The Fifth Stage" - Adrian Pasdar takes his final flight on tonight's episode of Heroes. The veteran actor has played flying man Nathan Petrelli for four seasons on NBC's slumping superhero drama, alternating between "good guy" and "bad guy with good intentions" since season one. It's been a rough road for Nathan – he's been shot, blown up, and bitch slapped – but nothing compares to the craziness he's been through during the show's current season.

Sylar murdered Nathan last year, but the character's journey didn't end there. Mind-melder Matt Parkman successfully plugged Nathan's memories into Sylar's head, causing the super-powered sociopath to shape-shift into Nathan. Now, Sylar's consciousness has jumped back into his own body to battle Nathan for control. After all the abuse he's taken over the years, poor ol' Nathan must now face a most disturbing fact: He doesn't really exist.

Got all that? Yeah, I know, it never really made much sense to me either. Still, I'm looking forward to watching Nathan's final scene with brother Peter tonight. The relationship between these two has been at the heart of the show since the beginning. Judging by the trailer below, it looks like Peter will deal with his grief by torturing Sylar, which should be a lot of fun to watch.

Elsewhere in the episode, Claire cozies up to Samuel as his grand plan starts to come together, while HRG deals with some unexpected visitors. (8 p.m. on NBC.)

Check out a preview video and a very spoilery clip after the jump.

Heroes - NBC/Universal's marketing folks claim that "everything will be revealed" and "everything changes" on tonight's Thanksgiving-themed episode of Heroes. This, of course, means absolutely nothing to the savvy viewer. Heroes has been less suspenseful than ever this season. And it's no secret that the show desperately tries to reinvent itself every dozen episodes or so. But hey, the lesbian girl is coming back, so that's something, right?

Tonight's episode celebrates the cliché that Thanksgiving Day is marked by families quarreling around the dinner table. The Petrelli brothers spend Turkey Day confronting mom about her involvement in the whole Nathan/Sylar fiasco, while HRG inexplicably invites his ex and her new man to a Thanksgiving meal. Over at the carnival, Samuel reacts to Hiro and Lydia's defiance by trying to pin Joseph's murder on someone else. And everybody enjoys their stuffing.

So it's another episode about people with superpowers not doing anything remotely super (unless you count Claire Bear possibly slicing open her wrist between courses.) Not too enticing. But if you're like me, you'll watch regardless and hate yourself in the morning. (8 p.m. on NBC.)

Head after the jump for preview clips and more of Monday's Sci-Fi TV.

It looks like a pretty standard week TV-wise, unless you're as excited as I am about getting to know more about The Observer on Fringe or watching Zod take over the world on Smallville. Nothing else is really popping out at me this week. I'm hoping V gets more interesting, I'm still trying to wrap my head around all the goings-on at FlashForward central, and I'm still on the fence about The Prisoner.

Read on for this week's TV picks and previews.

Heroes, "Brother's Keeper" – Peter uses his new power to heal Parkman/Sylar (I think we all saw that one coming), and The Haitian reveals the truth about Nathan/Sylar to Peter. Mohinder returns after uncovering yet another conspiracy that puts him on Samuel's radar. (Monday, 8 p.m. on NBC.)

Head after the jump for more picks and preview videos.