A lot of FOX news today — “Glee” gets picked up for a second season. At the same time, the network is launching a nationwide search to find talented cast members for the second season. Visit fox.com/glee for updates.

“Bones” hits the 100 mark on April 8, and “Family Guy” would be somewhere around 300 if it wasn’t canceled. The cartoon hits its 150th episode on May 2. “America’s Most Wanted” hits 1,000 episodes with a special 22nd anniversary episode March 6.

FOX is also working up a buddy cop action/comedy that’s so far called “Code 58,” set to preview on May 12 and 19 and premiere on June 7. Code 58 was created by Matt Nix, who also has “Burn Notice” under his belt, so he knows what he’s doing.

“Breaking Bad” premieres with a third season on March 21 at 10 p.n. Before that, the cable network will air a six-episode marathon March 19.

Finally, yes, it’s official, Sarah Palin signed a multi-year deal with FOX News. She won’t get her own show but rather will support other shows on the network.

On Sunday, NBC as the premiere of “Chuck” at 9, so be sure to DVR the HBO season premiere of “Big Love” at the same time. History Channel has premieres of “Ax Men” at 9 also, as well as “Madhouse” at 10. If you are still looking for something, National Geographic Channel has the season premiere of “Border Wars” also at 9.

Sunday is also a big day for FOX with the 450th episode of “The Simpsons” at 8 p.m. followed by the “Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special: In 3D! On Ice!” at 8:30.

In less happy, less 3D and maybe not less on ice news, NBC execs have reportedly met with Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien about their abysmal ratings. TMZ suggests NBC might cancel Leno’s 10 p.m. show and return him to “The Tonight Show,” firing O’Brien. NBC has gone on the record saying they support both shows in their current formats, but the network admitted that Leno’s poor ratings are hurting affiliates’ 11 p.m. newscasts.

Finally, CBS announced its midseason schedule. Jerry Bruckheimer’s new drama “Miami Medical” will air Fridays at 10 p.m starting April 2. “Accidentally on Purpose” moves to Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. starting March 31. “Rules of Engagement” begins its fourth season March 1 at 8:30 p.m, and 24 former castmates will return for the 20th edition of “Survivor” called “Heroes vs. Villains.” The two-hour premiere is February 11 at 8 p.m.

January 8: “Dollhouse” at 9 p.m.
January 10: “The Simpsons” 450th Milestone Episode at 8p.m. and “The Simpsons” 20th Anniversary Special: in 3D! on Ice! at 8:30 p.m.
January 12: “American Idol” Part 1, two-hour premiere at 8 p.m.
January 13: “American Idol” Part 2 at 8p; “Our Little Genius” at 9 p.m.
January 17: “Human Target”: (series preview) at 8 p.m.; “24″ Part 1, two-hour premiere at 9-11 p.m.
January 18: “24″ Part 2, two-hour premiere at 8 p.m.
January 20: “Human Target”, series premiere at 9 p.m.
January 22: “Dollhouse” (series finale) at 9 p.m.
January 29: “Kitchen Nightmares” at 9 p.m.
February 4: “Fringe” (winter finale) at 9 p.m.
February 11: “Past Life,” two-hour premiere at 8 p.m.
March 14: “Sons of Tucson” at 8:30 p.m.

In other news, the series finale of “Monk” is this Friday at 9 p.m.

“Dollhouse,” “Hank” and “Brothers” all got the proverbial pink slip. “Dollhouse” through no fault of its own was set in no man’s land Friday night and seemed destined for failure from the start of the second season. “Hank” and “Brothers” never got off the ground.

Elsewhere, The CW will things fresh through at least May with new episodes of “One Tree Hill,” “Gossip Girl” and the new “Life UneXpected” all revolving around each others. “One Tree Hill” premieres with back-to-back episodes at 8 p.m. on January 18, followed by the start of “Life UneXpected” at 9 p.m.

The at-times controversial news anchor Lou Dobbs announced live on the air and unexpectedly that he was resigning from CNN immediately. Dobbs was under contract until the end of 2011, but CNN apparently released him. He was by some measure the voice of the right for CNN, though his views on immigration made him a lightning rod at times.

The innovative Joss Whedon drama’s second season was a disaster from the start with a Friday night time slot it had to share with “Stargate Universe” and the fans’ social calendars. DVR couldn’t save it, either.

A few weeks ago, FOX announced it would pull “Dollhouse” during the November sweeps period due to low ratings, and yesterday the rest of the ax came down. FOX will air all 13 episodes of the second season starting on December 4, however.

Are you a die-hard Dollhouse fan? What do you think of this? Share your thoughts below.

There’s a decent amount of news on this Monday. FOX gave a full sixth season order to the animated hit “American Dad” about a CIA agent voiced by Seth MacFarlane, who also created “Family Guy.” The show airs at 9:30 p.m. on Sundays.

Discovery will order a second season of “Swords Life on the Line” about the lives of New England fishermen. Discovery Channel also approved a series called “Airplane Repo” about a team that repossesses jets and helicopters from owners who defaulted on the loans. This will start early next year.

Writer Josh Heald, who has films “Hot Tub Time Machine” and “Mardi Gras” slated for release next year, also has a few TV projects in the works. “Sausagefest,” will be a comedy on NBC about two 20-something best friends with totally different fathers — one of which will be played by Norm Macdonald. The second show will be a FOX comedy called “Sequestered,” about 12 strangers who have to live together during a long jury trial. The show will mainly focus on their time outside the courtroom where they are allowed to talk about anything except the ongoing trial.

World Series big game tonight, so ABC has “Dancing with the Stars,” FOX eventually has “So You Think You Can Dance,” and NBC has the defunct “Trauma,” What a night. Even Bostonians will be watching baseball.

The film’s new trailer will be shown on the Cowboy Stadium’s enormous four-sided diamond vision screen- the world’s largest video display- just before noon this Sunday. The trailer will also be broadcast live to the audiences watching “Fox NFL Sunday,” the channels NFL pregame show.

Fox is calling the viewing party “the largest live motion picture trailer viewing in history.”

“Avatar,” which reportedly cost upwards of $200 million to produce, hits theaters December 18th.

TBS will launch “Lopez Tonight” with George Lopez on November 9 at 11 p.m. with a star-studded lineup including Ellen DeGeneres, Eva Longoria-Parker and Kobe Bryant on night one and Sandra Bullock, Ray Romano, Jamie Foxx, Jessica Alba, Charlie Sheen, Queen Latifah, Marc Anthony, Ted Danson, Andy Garcia, Larry David, Taylor Lautner, Oscar de la Hoya, Kelly Osbourne, Floyd Mayweather, Eva Mendes, Arsenio Hall and Kathy Griffin for the first few episodes. It will air Monday-Thursday.

Nielsen announced that FOX News rules the cable news primetime waves with MSNBC coming in second place. CNN is down toward the bottom, with “Anderson Cooper 360″ placing forth in the ratings, behind re-runs of “Nancy Grace” and “Countdown.” Not a good sign for CNN.

TNT approved a pilot for the George Clooney-produced drama “Delta Blues” about an eccentric Memphis police officer who doubles as an Elvis impersonator.

The World Series starts tonight. Nothing else of note, except for “It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown” on ABC. Here in Boston, smart money’s on the Peanut gang.

The portable Internet series has already logged about 1.7 million viewers for the eight episodes available (with six pieces of viral content used to promote the series with marketing partner Altoids).

Comedy Central’s “Secret Girlfriend,” which began as a mobile series, shares actor Michael Blaiklock wth “Brainstorm,” where he plays Marty Waxer, a copywriter who is defined as “always stuck in a haze between last night’s party and his morning coffee.”

Between Marty’s procrastination and lack of seriousness, and the new marketing genius in the office, named Rock, an advertising conundrum ensues.

BLAST: First, we’d like to get a feel for how you decided to go with a mobile series, and how that benefits the audience. How are mobile series becoming more popular for audiences?

MICHAEL WALLEN: We really wanted to create a series-not just a mobile series-but a great short form series. We really thought of all cross platform ideas, and we did take into consideration stream size, viewing habits, and technical considerations, so that when somebody did view it (as a mobile series), it would be as a pleasant experience. We wanted to up the value of mobile content by delivering an entertaining series on that platform.

BLAST: How was the idea for Brainstorm started?

MW: It started with the idea of how do we get our skin in the game on the brand integration side of the business and create an organic concept that enables this brand integration without being intrusive to the viewer … organic and upfront. Transparent with the integration. So a show about advertising seemed to make a lot of sense and also poke fun of the brand, and tell a story at the same time. How do we fit a brand into a piece of entertainment? (The idea) was certainly influenced by what was happening in the economy, we thought we could make it relevant because (of smaller agencies struggling) it would resonate with viewers and also be a platform for comedy. Maybe some relief if you will.

BLAST: Was it fun to incorporate Altoids as a brand partner?

MW: Yeah, it was great. They were a fantastic partner. They got the jokes, they got the concepts, they recognized that in order to ..they had to play ball and let their brand be the center of some of the jokes. I commend them for doing that. A lot of brands will (say that they will) do that but will start to pull back. Altoids pushed us further, it was a wonderful partnership

BLAST: Were characters such as Marty and Rock inspired by real life office extremes, or solely developed for the purpose of the plot?

MW: Without blowing anyone’s cover, I’ve worked with every single one of those guys at some point in my career. I think the guru, Rock type is prevalent in the advertising field. These ‘everything turns to gold’ ad whizzes are either lucky or leaned on talented people to get where they are. There are millions of examples in every work environment, not just advertising. Advertising is such an interesting environment and breeds so many types of egos. The lead character was kind of your advertising every man. That’s definitely there in the agencies and the Marty character, but i think we try to capture characteristics of employees all over the world, someone everyone can relate to.

BLAST: Was the series influenced by any workplace sitcoms?

MW: Not directly, just that it’s there. There have been a lot of these office sitcoms, so there is a lot to draw on or draw away from. What’s different (is that) we tried to solve a business problem with a brand while also telling a story. Other shows are doing that — 30 Rock with Snapple. It’s just ‘how can you make advertising entertaining and enjoyable at the same time’?

“Brainstorm” is available on various online and mobile destinations, including MySpace, Yahoo! Video, YouTube, Veoh, blip.tv, Break, eBaum’s World, Howcast, Imeem, Metacafe, Sevenload, StupidVideos.com, Viddler, Vimeo, and most mobile phone networks.

We are in the age of the “Gleek,” baby. FOX will release the first 13-episodes of the musical drama “Glee” on DVD by the end of the year, Variety reports. “Glee Season One: Road to Sections,” will be available December 29 with a director’s cut of the pilot and lots of special features.

Sebastian Roche will join FOX’s “Fringe” as a bad guy — a solider from another universe who’s part machine.

Lisa Kudrow will jump into a new project. She’s working with Dan Bucatinsky to develop a comedy for Showtimw based on the memior “Why the Long Face?: The Adventures of a Truly Independent Actor,” by Craig Chester. The show, for now called “Rapture,” chronicles the actor’s upbringing as the gay son of a religious household.

Adult Swim approved a pilot for a live action comedy produced by Conan O’Brien’s company. The show, “Eagleheart,” is about a washed up action star who gets a TV show.

Sarah Shahi will top the pilot for “Facing Kate,” for USA Network. She was previously the female lead on NBC’s “Life,” Cynopsis reports.

Finally, “Dollhouse” is not being included in the November sweeps for FOX due to poor ratings for the now struggling show — the latest Joss Whedon show with a rabid fan base that never seems to watch the damn show when it’s on TV.

Jimbo Jones, a bully from the show, dressed in an appropriately-green Master Chief uniform for the annual night of fright.

Take a look, and if you missed the episode, Hulu has it.

Tonight is the finale of “Shark Tank” at 8 p.m. on ABC, as well as “Flipping Out” on Bravo at 10. No premieres tonight. The American League Championship Series continues on FOX tonight, so that will take up all the television-related attention.

Leading up to the new sci-fi drama “V,” ABC is hiring skywriters to draw huge letter V’s in the sky at 26 major landmarks across the US from Friday until the series opens November 3. “V” will have four episodes before a hiatus until early 2010.

FOX recently approved a new comedy called “Rehaab,” from writer/producer Sam Laybourne (“Cougar Town”). The show centers around a man who pretends to need rehab in order to re-connect with a former high school sweetheart who’s now a rock star.

Finally this morning, Samuel L. Jackson has two products in the works for CBS. The first is a comedy about the wife of a congressman who inherits her husband’s seat after he dies suddenly. We wonder if Victoria Kennedy is paying attention to that one. The second is a medical drama about an ER doctor who treats patients in unusual ways. Jackson will executive produce both shows. He is, after all, the highest paid man in Hollywood.

News Corp. will shut down Fox Reality Channel by March 31, citing low ratings for the four-year old network.

Could this finally be the end of “Jon & Kate Plus 8?” TLC will halt the show in mid-November, and has said it will not launch “Kate Plus 8″ on November 2 on the heels of Jon Gosselin’s court order preventing the pair’s children from being filmed. We’re sure that there will be more to this story.

Showtime will order a one-hour pilot of an American import of the British drama “Shameless,” with William H. Macy. The show is about a working-class family of eight children with an alcoholic father — no we’re not still talking about “Jon & Kate Plus 8.”

The CW has six — count’em — six new shows in development. “Spy School for Girls” is about women spies being trained by the CIA. “Plymouth Rock” is a space-themed melodrama about people on a space ship traveling to another planet, and the fun that ensues there. “Confessions of a Backup dancer,” will be written and executive produced by Ilene Chaiken (“The L Word”). “The March Sisters” is a modern-day Little Woman. And finally, there’s an untitled crime drama coming out of Robert De Niro’s Tribeca Entertainment.

ABC gave “The Gates” a 13-episode order for the season.

Finally, the Yankees and the Angels begin game one of the American League Championship Series at 7:30 on FOX. We couldn’t care less.

Tonight’s lone finale is “Hell’s Kitchen” on FOX at 8.

There’s going to be a new premium channel soon. Epix will launch on October 30, with several movies including “Iron Man” and “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” There will also be a two-hour Madonna concert live from Buenos Aires.

ABC gave the full season order for the new drama “FlashForward” joining “Cougar Town,” “The Middle” and “Modern Family” with full seasons. No word on “Hank.”

SyFy’s debut of a new season of “Sanctuary” on Friday delivered 1.9 million viewers.

Finally, the Gilmore Girls’ Lauren Graham is joining the NBC drama “Parenthood” taking the place of Maura Tierney, who was dropped after the pilot.

Animal Planet premieres “Weird, True and Freaky” at 9 p.m., with “Lost Tapes” to follow at 10. MTV has some reality shows starting tonight; most notably is the reality-drama “The Hills” at 10 with “The City” to follow at 10:30.

Actor Omar Miller is joining CSI: Miami as a regular starting with the October 5 episode. Miller will play Walter Simmons, an art chief from Louisiana who joins the crime fighting CSI team.

CBS had the best night on Friday, according to Nielsen, with premieres of “Ghost Whisperer,” “Medium” and “Numb3rs” scoring big on the ranking charts. We predict that will continue tonight as CBS has new episodes of three of its biggest shows, “NCIS,” the new “NCIS: Los Angeles,” and “The Good Wife.”

We wonder how long “NCIS: Los Angeles” will continue to air on Tuesdays. The two NCIS shows are hits, and we have to assume one will get moved to bolster a slower weekday.

“Dancing with the Stars” is on ABC tonight and “So You Think You Can Dance” is on FOX.

Finally, no it’s not the 90s, but new episodes of the new “90210,” and “Melrose Place” are on The CW tonight.

By the way: Because of a reporting error, we said “NCIS: Los Angeles” aired on Mondays. It airs on Tuesdays.

We say goodbye to “King of the Hill” with a one-hour finale at 8 p.m. Sunday after 13 seasons of American’s favorite propane salesman and his family. Fox decided not to renew the series, making room for the “Family Guy” spin-off “The Cleveland Show.” ABC, previously rumored to be picking up “King of the Hill” decided not to grab it.

In the reality world, CBS premieres “There Goes the Neighborhood” at 10 p.m. Sunday. HGTV’s “Design Star” also stars up again at 10 on Sunday, so get the DVR ready.

For the original reality TV, FOX has new seasons of “Cops” at 8p.m. and America’s Most Wanted at 9 p.m. on Saturday.

And if you want some actual reality don’t forget that NBC has Sunday night “Football in America” every week for the next 17 glorious weeks!

20th Century Fox, not Disney, has announced plans for another Fantastic Four film with a new flick produced by Akiva Goldsman and written by Michael Green.

Goldsman is currently producing movies based on DC properties “Jonah Hex” and “The Losers,” while Green is co-writing “Green Lantern” starring Ryan Reynolds and is the co-executive producer of “Heroes.”

Neither of the previous two Tim Story-directed Fantastic Four fims have been particularly good, nor have they received particularly good reviews.

There is no word on whether or not Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans and Michael Chiklis will return for a third go around.

Prior to his recent Idol fame, Giraud spent his time as a dueling piano player, a gig in which he never truly felt comfortable. “They thought I was too good to be playing there; they could always tell I wanted to be a true artist. At the time, I just wanted a job.”

Born and raised in Michigan, Giraud was a performer from birth. It wasn’t until last season’s “American Idol” that he got his “big break,” unless you count a 2nd place win in the West Michigan “Idol” contest.

In Hollywood Giraud placed fifth in the competition, after being the first ever recipient of the “judges save” and given a second chance at proving his talent. That he did, performing The Fray’s “You Found me”, Stevie Wonder’s “Part Time Lover,” and eventually being eliminated after a passionate rendition of Richard Rodger’s “My Funny Valentine.”

The judges save was a turning point for Matt. Although he didn’t win the competition, it boosted his confidence and forced the world to take a second look at this dueling piano player from Michigan. It was “ …a huge honor,” reflects Matt, “People behind the scenes, the judges, they saw something in me. I didn’t feel like I could convey that to the audience in a minute and a half.”

Now in full swing, The “American Idol” Tour has, so far, been getting rave reviews – in large part because of Giraud’s performances. “People on tour are surprised at how good I am. I’m making a bigger impact now. I’m calling it my ‘Redemption Tour.’”

When the tour wraps, Giraud will travel back to Michigan where he’ll take a back seat as performer. Yobi TV, the “online reality contest network,” will air “Make The Cut” in September ’09. Matt describes it as the “‘American Idol’ of the internet.” Twelve finalists will have the chance to rise to the top and then be mentored by Giraud in MI recording studios as the elimination process continues. One winner will win a chance to cut a record.

What will Giraud’s role be? “It’s cool to be on the opposite end of the spectrum,” he says. As a mentor he hopes to “ …bring a little hope, bring out their talent and passion. I’m not just going to blast people like Simon.” Sounds like he’ll be channeling Paula a bit.

While future plans have yet to be set in stone, Matt Giraud knows one thing for sure: he is beyond thankful for everything. He is currently writing songs, booking gigs, and wants “to do a ton of different things.” For someone whose influences include Louis Armstrong and Dru Hill, it sounds like success will certainly continue for this dynamic performer.

But first, it’s time for Matt Giraud to finish his scone and get back to the “Idol” tour…

“Make the Cut” airs on Yobi TV in September 2009.

With the stars and its producers at day three of Comic-Con International, Blast sat in and discussed
“Fringe’s” upcoming season and characters. The panel included J.H. Wyman, writers Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman and followed by cast members Joshua Jackson, Jasika Nicole, John Noble, and Anna Torv.

The second season of “Fringe” has already been plotted out by the, Wyman said.

“Peter (Bishop) is going to learn a lot about his existence, who he is,” Wyman said. “We have many things we have that we want to bank out here as a character, and then actually make him the hero he needs and wants to become.”

Wyman explained the fate of Peter (Joshua Jackson) who ended the season with a cliffhanger, leaving fans wondering about his identity. “There are many things beyond the ideas of aliens,” Wyman responded to the “no alien” stance from the show’s writers.

“The keys in the character and what is happening with the show and how it’s different than last year, is that we’re actually looking at the first season as a prologue,” Wyman said.

The basic theme of science, it’s catastrophic and uncontrollable nature, is the angle the show has taken and molded since it started last year. What makes it interesting is finding the show is developing its own groove.

“You’re really going to fall in love, this year we work with Walter’s emancipation,” Wyman said. “Peter is going to start to come into his own, and develop in an internal way … it’s really all delicious.”

The series tries to transcend science and be a show about people, building on the back stories of the characters. The writers described Peter and Olivia’s (Anna Torv) relationship as a “brother and sister” pairing.

There are no current plans to develop any romantic storylines between the characters at the moment, which in many ways is a godsend. What makes “Fringe” one of the most successful pilots is its focus on adding drama with the occasional humorous banter. Family also plays a pivotal role especially between Peter and his formally estranged father.

Joshua Jackson gave his views on the relationship between father and son: “There’s always this state of play,” he said. “The big reveal in the end of the season will inevitably lead to break up, until that break up we’ll see them getting closer and closer.”

The strength of “Fringe” is its ability to explore uncharted realms of science, bring them to life, and through it provide a mirror to the world and lives of its characters.

“Fringe” airs at 9 p.m. Thursday nights on Fox.

That said, I can’t imagine why anyone is surprised, shocked even, that Fox renewed “Dollhouse” for a second season. I can’t imagine a television show that’s been more hyped and amped and discussed than Whedon’s current sexy, action-packed, psychological drama.

We even came up with a list of nine reasons why a second season was a good thing. As if we had to make the argument! I’ll give you one reason:

It’s the guy!

Every time Blast so much as mentions Joss Whedon in an article, it gets linked to on forums, big hits on Google News, tons of comments and loads of traffic. People flock to anything we print about the man who brought the world “Buffy” and perhaps the most successful spinoff ever that doesn’t involve a black family, “Angel.”

And I say “flock” quite literally. It’s like the swallows coming back every year. Fans wait with baited breath to see what Joss is gonna do next.

How is this guy continuously getting shot down?

“Firefly” I can see. Network television can’t sustain pure science fiction, though at least Fox keeps trying. But “Dollhouse?”

One of the comments that stuck out from my Dushku interview was when she told me that “Dollhouse” was the most DVR’d television show of the fall season. Combining that with people who actually watched the show live, I would offer that “Dollhouse” was perhaps one of the top three most-watched television shows last season.

Yet it’s astounding and breaking news that there will be a season two? I think not.

But here we are again. Fox has slashed the show’s budget. Season two is going to be grittier (read: cheaply done) and darker (read: fewer expensive special effects and sets). Crew is getting shuffled around. Whedon is bringing in “his alumns” like Alexis Denisof, which reminds me of Kevin Smith getting his friends to be in every movie he makes.

Are we to believe that Fox somehow has failed to make a fat enough profit off of this show? Are we to sit here, critics and fans alike, and buy it that, with all the hype, fan sites, forums, promo spots, convention panels and fucking TiVos out there, that the sales team at one of the biggest media conglomerates in the world couldn’t turn a decent profit?

YES! That’s exactly what we have to believe, because otherwise Fox would be pouring resources back into the show to squeeze more milk from the cow.

Someone needs to get fired over this, but it’s not Joss Whedon.

This is reminiscent of when FOX show “Family Guy” was renewed several years ago after being axed due to its high DVD sales and continued popularity.

We at Blast would like to suggest the renewal of a couple more unfortunately departed FOX TV shows that still have some extra kick in them.

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT

Even with an “Arrested Development” movie on the horizon (fingers crossed), the true magic of the three season long comedy about the unapologetically terrible Bluth family came from the character interaction and insanely interwoved plot lines that coursed through the series.

Like “Futurama” and “Family Guy,” “Arrested Development” has seen life after death with high DVD sales and an impassioned fanbase (the idea for an “Arrested Development” movie didn’t come from nowhere… well, maybe Ron Howard). Plus, the show remains one of the most critically acclaimed comedies of all time.

With the marketed success of Michael Cera and the maintained popularity of stars Jason Bateman, Portia de Rossi, Will Arnett and David Cross, new seasons of “Arrested Development” could reach a wider, more willing audience. At the time, the Bluths were criticized as being “unrelatable” and the episodes were too disjointed, but with shows like “The Office” and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” growing in popularity and viewership each year, maybe it’s time for “Arrested Development” to return to television.

Check out season three’s “S.O.B.s” episode, “Arrested Development’s” response to finding out they were canceled:

FIREFLY

We don’t care that Joss Whedon has “Dollhouse” now, that Nathan Fillion has “Castle,” that Alan Tudyk is headed to “V” or that “Serenity” has already been made: We want more “Firefly.” We give FOX credit for giving “Dollhouse” a second season, and yes viewership was low for “Firefly’s” first and only season, but with the success of both “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and its spin-off “Angel,” FOX should have known to trust the magic that is Joss Whedon.

The magic of “Firefly” is its reinvention of outer space. Its western feel and comedic relief was a welcome change to the “Stargate” ripoffs littering the major networks. “Firefly” had a character that was uniquely its own, and that’s something few sci-fi television shows can say.

With the popularity of its spin-off comic book series and the multitude of storylines that have yet to be told, “Firefly” has many more seasons left in it. Whedon clearly left the series open to go a varity of different ways — a fact made more clear by the quick wrap-up of River Tam’s storyline in “Serenity” — and has a growing and dedicated fanbase that would stand behind the resurrection of this show. Don’t believe me? Check out Can’t Stop The Serenity in Boston this month.

Blast’s resident Whedon expert Kellen Rice also would like to point out that maybe if “Firefly” hadn’t been canceled so early on, SPOILER Alan Tudyk’s Wash wouldn’t have been killed off in “Serenity” — something she still feels can change.

Watch “Firely” episode “Out of Gas” here, and check out the entire series for free on Hulu.com:

What TV shows would you like to see brought back from the dead? Share with us your most dearly missed shows below!

Deadpool, a fan-favorite character played by Ryan Reynolds in “Wolverine,” is a (crazy) mercenary who peppers his stories with wisecracks and quips. He has a healing factor that supersedes even Wolverine’s and is one of the most formidable fighters in the X-Men universe.

And that’s all well and good except for the fact that the awesome Deadpool of the comics showed up in “Wolverine” for about five minutes before his character was summarily (and literally, apparently) chopped up into little bits.

Indeed, one of the great failures in “Wolverine,” besides the laughable writing, horrendous production values, pathetic dialogue, and all-around terribleness, was in fact the treatment of Deadpool’s character.

So what do I have to say about a Deadpool movie?

Let’s break it down.

PROS

1. Done right (key word), Deadpool has the potential to make a very cool movie, as well as one that will make money at the box office. His character allows for the gritty, edgy superhero movies that have come into vogue since “Sin City,” “The Dark Knight,” et cetera as well as the comedic factor – like “Spiderman,” except not as lame.

2. Done right (key fucking word), Deadpool would be a redeeming addition to the X-Men franchise that has gone from a gleaming beacon on a hill to a festering joke populated with evil Hollywood-types who like to destroy childhood heroes as they laugh and count their money. “Wolverine” proved that there could be an X-Men movie even worse than “X-Men 3: The Last Stand” and that Wolverine could star in a movie that people would compare to “Daredevil” in terms of suck. But Deadpool could change all that.

3. Ryan Reynolds. Reynolds caught a lot of flak when he was cast as Deadpool. Most fans had a hard time seeing Berg as one of the most badass mutants in the X-Universe. But frankly, the guy proved that he can do action movies in his five seconds of “Wolverine” screen time and in his role as Hannibal in “Blade III” (and come on, folks, let’s not pretend that the Blade movies were anything other than sweet sword-fights, shootouts and vampires). I’ll even go one step further and change his status from “competent” to “great choice.”

CONS

1. “X-Men 3: The Last Stand” made most fans (and people with brains) want to kill puppies.

2. “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” made most fans (and people with brains) actually go out and kill puppies.

3. Can we possibly trust Fox? Since Bryan Singer left the franchise to go fail at “Superman Returns,” the studio has clearly proven that they could honestly care less about the quality of the X-Men movies. I mean, who hires Brett Ratner for anything, much less for a huge, big-budget threequel with a big fanbase and fan anticipation? Who hires a director whose attitude is, “fuck the fans, we already have their money?” And it’s one thing to change the storyline or introduce new characters or ignore established comic book canon in order to make a better film — a comic book movie is still an adaptation. It’s another thing entirely to shit on comic book canon in favor of making a shitty movie.

4. Most people haven’t heard of Deadpool, including the studio zombies who make these decisions. Unless Wolverine is somehow involved (as most popular character in Marvel films and comics), will Deadpool a) get the budget (although a budget didn’t appear to help “Wolverine” any) and b) generate excitement (aka, will people see it because it’s an X-Men movie?).

5. LEAVE DEADPOOL THE HELL ALONE. LOOK WHAT YOU DID TO HIM IN “WOLVERINE,” YOU MONSTERS!

So here’s what I think should happen. Drop the hokey and pretentious “X-Men Origins” business (Deadpool was NOT an X-Man, thank you), and besides Deadpool wasn’t in the original three X-Men movies. Don’t leech off of Wolverine’s popularity by making the movie some kind of “Deadpool and Wolverine, Duo Extraordinaire” and don’t even attempt to adhere to the (shitty) continuity in “Wolverine.”

Instead, reboot Deadpool in a movie of his very own, unrelated to the established X-universe on film. Sure, it can be an origin story, whatever. That’s what studios seem to be fond of these days. But make a movie for the character in his own right, not just because he fought with Wolverine a couple of times.

Most importantly, studios — read a fucking Deadpool comic. Seriously. Please.

And finally — for the love of Phoenix, don’t sew the character’s mouth shut. That’s half of what makes him awesome.

ENFIELD, Conn. — My feeling is this: the only possible way that “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” could have been spawned is if the following conversation took place, in some undisclosed location with a pair of undisclosed Fox studio executives. Let’s call them Character and Assassination.

Character: Hey, even though the third X-Men was a pile of cow dung, everybody still likes Wolverine, right?

Assassination: Please. The better question is, who doesn’t like Hugh Jackman? That guy’s awesome.

Character: So let’s make a movie about him, throw in a lot of gratuitous cameos of other mutants — but let’s twist their personalities and abilities to the point where they are unrecognizable.

Assassination: Great idea! And let’s the film the entire thing on green screens! Think Lucas will give us a hand? He’s an expert at ruining franchises.

Character: Pshaw, think about how much that’ll cost? Instead, let’s blow our whole FX budget showing Sabretooth’s fingernails growing in extreme closeup, accompanied by Liev Schreiber’s sardonic smirk.

Assassination: I like the way you think. Maybe we could add a couple unfunny pithy one-liners. But what happens besides that?

Character: Doesn’t really matter. We could just have Wolverine get into a lot of pointless fights that don’t advance the plot at all. And he could growl a lot, sort of like Darth Vader in “Revenge of the Sith.” That was the best part, am I right?

Assassination: Totally. But what other mutants should we include?

Character: Well, the fans have been asking for Gambit.

Assassination: The only way I’ll allow that is if he drops his Cajun accent five minutes into the film, and also appears out of nowhere several times.

Character: It’s a deal. Also, let’s cast Van Wilder and Charlie from “Lost” somehow. And that guy from the Yes We Can video. I’m thinking we could tell them they’ll play cool mutants from the comics and then make their characters about a hundred times more stupid.

Assassination: With pleasure! And let’s abuse Cyclops again. I really just can’t stand that guy.

Character: How will we keep continuity with the other movies? For that matter, Liev Schreiber doesn’t look anything like the guy who played Sabretooth the first time, does he?

Assassination: Don’t worry about it. Just call him “Victor” the entire time and give him less hair. The audience won’t even know he’s supposed to be Sabretooth.

Character: Genius. You ready to film this thing, then?

Assassination: Yeah. But should we worry about the plot at all?

Character: Are you kidding? We’ll have as many plot holes as the amount of bloodless stab wounds. Gotta keep it PG-13.

Assassination: Let’s do this thing!

There you have it, folks. Now, that might come off as the bitter ranting of a disappointed geek — which I admittedly am — but the truth of the matter is that this was a bad, bad film regardless of geek affiliation or lack thereof.

The production values were uneven at best and laughable at worst; there are scenes where I had to fight not to laugh, both at the bad CGI and painful dialogue. It was like watching the part in “Return of the King” where the hobbits are frolicking in bed together.

The plot was disjointed and frankly made very little sense. All the themes and questions that Bryan Singer and company developed in the first two X-Men films — and yes, even the abominable Brett Ratner contributed to those in the third X-Men — are completely absent here. Yes, it’s intended to be a different franchise, I understand that, but it is also supposedly set in the same universe. But no, the only continuity in this film was Jackman himself.

Ah! There it is: the film’s sole redeeming quality! Hugh Jackman is again excellent in the role, balancing the fan favorite “best at what he does, but what he does isn’t very nice” aspect of Wolverine with the human side. Jackman clearly has a love for this role and this character, and he played the different sides of the Wolverine beautifully. One such moment was near the end of the film, when Logan loses his memories. The change in attitude, in voice, was so perfectly on par with the Logan we see in X-Men 1 and 2 that I could only smile.

But unfortunately, one good performance doesn’t save a film riddled with inconsistency, stupidity, absurdity, and a lot of other nouns that end in “Y,” nor does that performance render the film watchable.

It’s a shame, really — and I do hate to say it — but the bottom line here is to stay away from “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.”

Stay far, far away.

But let’s back up. Where does this all begin? The story is familiar by now: Fox bought the rights to distribute a film adaptation of Watchmen shortly after the acclaimed graphic novel’s release and spent the next twenty years doing absolutely nothing with it. Warner Brothers decided to develop the so-called “unfilmable” story anyway and managed to produce the $130 million epic with “300″ director Zack Snyder at the helm.

Of course, it’s not that simple – it never is. Before filming began, Fox approached Warner Brothers and a suit began over the rights to the project, though it is obvious Warner Brothers continued with production regardless of legal troubles. Unfortunately for Warner Brothers, in late December Judge Gary Feess brought down the gavel on Fox’s side of things and since then, Fox has made it clear that they want to prevent the release of the film, a possibility which will be decided on January 20th. The only good news for fans in this bleak tale is that lawyers on both sides of the conflict are working on a settlement.

The legal conflict hasn’t stopped Warner Brothers from mounting a variety of marketing strategies. Snyder and company took full advantage of the comic-book hype of “The Dark Knight,” releasing the first trailer just before Batman hit theaters.

A series of prequel video games called “Watchmen: The End is Nigh” will be released during the month of March to (hopefully) go along with the film. Patrick Wilson (Nite Owl) and Jackie Earle Haley (Rorschach) lend their voices and original artist David Gibbons served as an advisor during production of the seventies period game.

“The Tales of the Black Freighter,” the fictional comic book in the original graphic novel, will be included as an animated feature for Watchmen’s (hopeful) DVD release, with Gerard Butler voicing the main role.

Director Zack Snyder didn’t forget the fans, either. He took to Watchmen’s Youtube channel and started a contest for Youtubers to create commercials for Veidt Enterprises, a fictional corporation in the Watchmen world. Some of the top entries can be found here.

Action figures are due to be released this month and this past Wednesday, a footage-packed featurette was released via Apple that depicts the original generation of superheroes of the Watchmen universe, the Minutemen, whose story plays an important role in the story. The featurette was accompanied by a Japanese trailer for the film that also plays host to some never-before-seen footage.

Recently, Warner Brothers launched a new website that plays homage to vigilante Rorschach’s publication of choice, the fictional conspiracy theory magazine The New Frontiersman. While there are no apparent easter eggs, the website includes a few nods to Watchmen fans, incorporating the original Minuteman photo, an ink blot (also known as a Rorschach test), and the ubiquitous blood-stained smiley face pin into the site’s design.

So whether or not there will actually be a film to see on March 6th is still up in the air. But Warner Brothers isn’t about to back down and fans can only hope that their legal team is as aggressive as the marketing campaign–or, even better, as aggressive as the Watchmen themselves.