Channel 5 get Flash Forward, Breaking Bad

Channel 5 have bought the new ABC series Flash Forward. Everybody on the planet blacks out for two minutes and 17 seconds and sees visions of their future. Charlie and Penny from Lost are both among the cast of this intriguing new series which ABC are clearly grooming as a replacement for Lost which ends in 2010. 5 fought off SKY to secure the rights

In addition, Breaking Bad is moving over from FX. The brilliant black comedy which won Bryan Cranston an emmy will air its first season on free to air for the first time in September on Five US with the new second season to follow in December.

Here's a look at the Flash Forward trailer.

The Doctor is in

SKY have taken the rights to the fifth season of House.

Channel 5, in an extraordinary move, have decided not to stick with the show. Having given its Thursday night slot to the lousy Mentalist and stuck 30 Rock and The Shield on Five USA, they have not decided to part company with what has been a sizeable hit for them.

The Hugh Laurie drama, which also repeats on Hallmark, will screen its fifth series on SKY1 this summer. This will be in addition to the new Tim Roth series Lie To Me which starts on Thursday May 14th at 10pm.

Lots of schedule news

Here's an update of lots of schedule news. Sky1 has picked up the UK rights to new US crime drama Lie To Me. The show stars Tim Roth as an FBI-enlisted scientist who uses body language to detect deception. Practice star Kellie Williams is also in the cast......Fringe continues its run on SKY1 in March.....BBC1 will start airing the second seaason of Damages in mid February while it is still showing in the US....About the same time Channel 5 will screen the seventh and final run of The Shield.....FX will screen The Wire, in its entirety, from February 23rd....Samantha Who begins its second season on E4 a week on Monday at 10pm.....

Leno, and what it all mens

As you may have seen, Jay Leno is to move to 10pm on NBC and isn't leaving the network after all. As planned Conan O Brien takes over the Tonight Show while Jimmy Fallon follows. What does all this mean? Well the good news is that Leno gets to stay on the air which is a good thing as he's better than Conan and Fallon is a novice at this game. The bad news, well there is plenty of it. Leno will get the pick of the best guests which completely devalues the 'Tonight Show' brand. Who will want to appear on Conan just after midnight to plug their movie when they can do it in primetime?

It also means that NBC will now have to commission five hours less drama. So its likely to be goodbye to those shows with marginal ratings, newbies like Lipstick Jungle and Life, and long runners like Medium. It means that ABC and CBS will get all the best dramas in that time slot, FOX doesn't programme the 10pm hour.

And what if it doesn't work? Does Leno face the indiginity of getting cancelled after 16 years? How does NBC fill five hours of primetime every week? Its hard to see how Jay can compete with the CBS procedurals and the likes of Lost on ABC, and 3 hours of chat seems way too much but hey who knows it might just work

Lots of start dates

A whole set of big US shows are returning in January. The long awaited new run of 24 is back on SKY One on Tuesday January 13th while Lost returns on Sunday 25th at 9pm on the same network. Battlestar Galactica is also back

The third series of Brothers and Sisters starts up on Thursday January 8th at 9pm on More4, its third first run network. The first series was on Channel 4, the second on E4. It will be followed by the premiere of the final series of E4 at 10pm Dirty Sexy Money will be back on E4 in January while the second series of Eli Stone airs on Sc-Fi from Monday 12th at 9pm

Damages season 2

Here to complete our little flurry of trailers are not one but two sneak peaks at the second series of Damages.
It returns in the US in January, expect it in the Spring on BBC1


And heres a longer one

Galactica and Lost return

Battlestar Galactica returns for the second half of its fourth and final season in the United States on January 16th, expect it on SKY One at about the same time. Here is the trailer for the big finish.


And here is the brand new season 5 trailer for Lost, music comes from the band The Fray. The show returns to SKY 1 on Sunday January 25th.