It’s that time of the year again…

As we build up to the end of the season, questions are inevitably being asked as to what will be filling the airwaves next year. After all, Dollhouse has been canned, Lost is finishing its run, Heroes, FlashForward and V have uncertain futures, and Day One simply never aired in the first place. While the breadth of genre content isn’t anywhere near as wide as it has been in recent years, there are more than a few offerings to look forward to from the major networks.

Fox:

Terra Nova

From Steven Spielberg, this time-travelling drama sees a family from the 22nd Century skip backwards 150 million years to the prehistoric era. The scope and scale of the series, as is befitting Spielberg, is massive, but there hasn’t been a commitment to it yet.

The CW:

Betwixt

A group of three teenagers discover that their shared heritage grants them special abilities, and they take on evil forces. Essentially, from that brief description, it sounds a bit too Charmed to be true. Also with the amount of renewals The CW has given already, its slate might be getting a bit too heavy with genre programming to take it on.

NBC:

The Cape

Superheroes are definitely the in thing right now, and television is naturally reflecting that. The Cape sees a disgraced (but framed) police officer don a superhero costume and take on criminals in a search to clear his name. Tom Lyons has been signed up to star, and it’s likely that this will get a pick up.

Nine Lives

Another Spielberg interest comes in the form of this show, in which several characters learn how to communicate beyond the grave. As they do so, however, they become aware of a vast evil waiting to consume humanity. The show was originally developed for Syfy, but the network passed on the pick up.

AMC:

The Walking Dead

Essentially, a show following a group of survivors attempting to navigate the zombie apocalypse. Based on a comic of the same name, the show has the formidable name of Frank Darabont behind it, and it seems likely that AMC will pick it up and ride the coattails of the zombie zeitgeist.

ABC:

The Gates

A city cop becomes the chief of police in a small town, but it soon becomes clear that not everyone is exactly what they seem, or indeed, entirely human. The Gates has already been ordered to series, thanks to a 13-episode blind commitment deal from ABC.

No Ordinary Family

As the title suggests, the show follows a family who develop special abilities such as super speed, and other superheroic traits. ABC may give this one a shot, given the end of Heroes and competition from NBC with The Cape, but something about it makes us hesitant about realistic chances.

HBO:

Game Of Thrones

Based on George RR Martin’s insanely popular A Song Of Fire And Ice series of novels, Game Of Thrones is going full steam ahead with a name cast that includes Lena Headey, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Jason Momoa and Sean Bean. The show is currently slated for ten episodes. Although, apparently, the fantasy is somewhat incidental in this adaptation.