Terra Nova - Monday on Fox at 8p EDT

So what do you think the chances of this SciFi series on a major network surviving is? Especially Fox?

Will it be a case of so much money has been spent that it'll have to bomb ratings wise huge before it's pulled or will it limp for a full season like The Event or Flashforward?

Being FOX, I'd say slim to none. Those guys will cancel anything that the execs don't really understand. If it's just successful enough to keep going for a few seasons, they'll probably juggle its time slot around to force the ratings to tank and justify cancellation.

Interesting concept, but given Fox's track record, I don't see this series having a long life.

Without having seen the series, I do have one fundamental issue with it. Other than wanting to have dinosaurs on the show, and steal all the Jurassic Park-y vibe that they can, why on earth would you jump back 85 million years to "restart" human society? Did they completely forget that if the dinosaurs are still there, then that means that the extinction level event that wiped them out hasn't occured yet. Which of course means that any new society they do manage to create will be wiped out as well, completely negating the entire point of their return to the past. Plus, the world would change so much physically in 85 million years even without any such event, that it would render their jump back through time moot.

Why would they not instead jump back say 10-15 thousand years, or at least something a HELL of a lot closer to the "dawn" of human civilization, where the world pretty much resembles the world they already know, and try to pick things up from there?

Anyway, thats just my pre-show nitpick. They may explain it completely when the show airs, but it just seemed kind of silly to me.

Not sure about that show at all really. Yeah dinosaurs are cool and all (I used to have lots of books about them back when I was a young kid.) but it just seems a little too odd for me. Just seems that space travel would be easier to develop than punching a time-space wormhole 85 million years into the past.

Might just have a give the first episode a view to see what's what though.

From what I heard, which may be bunk now since they've supposedly reworked the show, the time bridge to 85 million years ago was an accidental discovery and with the world's ecosystem failing, a life raft in shark infested waters is still better than no life raft at all.

As for space, the advantage, of course, is being dropped into a totally compatible ecosystem. From the point of view of air, water, compatible biochemistry, etc.

Well Fringe has survived, admittedly on Friday nights.

Fox has a number of problems the other three major networks don't have.

1) Less primetime per week.
2) They get major sporting events including playoffs.
3) They have a chunk of time set aside every spring for American Idol
4) They have had a series of successful 1/2 season shows that they use to pad around the sports and Idol but not enough primetime to give all of them a fair shot.

It was pretty good, but the budget looks insane.

I dig the fact that its not just time travel but to a different timeline so basically instead of compromising their own history with a time paradox, they jacked some other schmo's timeline.

Somethings though I am not digging... the manufactured teenage angst. The fact that they just (SPOILERS) HAD to focus on a family that NEEDED to break the population control law for the entire planet (they don't tie tubes in the future / vasectomies if its that much a "extinction level" legality?) Ofcourse I suppose they needed to have the third child as the "awww isn't she cute and adventurous" factor. I'm hoping they focus on high adventure and not high drama and learned from V "the emo angstastic teen drama subplot DESTROYS good sci-fi"

Which is the reason they seem to have included the top 20 TV tropes in the construction of the pilot.

Disobedient teenage son.
Love struck daughter. Also brainiac daughter.
Cute kid.
Some Parental strife.
Action Girl. Also orphan girl and adopted by leader.
Traitor from within.
Hidden agenda.
Splinter group.

For a moment I thought they were going for ancient astronauts but turned out to be "crazy" scientist son of leader.

Also in 85 million years, the moon is only about 2000 miles closer, less than 1%. But it's enough to make those total eclipses longer and darker.

As for the set, you film in Hawaii to get the tropical jungle feel. Make the far shots of the camp insanely large (due to the farm in the interior) so you only need to show a bit of fence and make many of the buildings interchangeable with a bit of dressing. Keep the dinosaur cameos to a minimum to keep the effects budget in check.

So the series is going to be a mix of family drama plus the whole "real reason for Terra Nova" and who sponsored the "Sixers".

No at the end the head Sixer said those were left by the boss's son who went "missing" but is still out there but not with either camp.