Television

Shannon O'Leary brings you up to speed on the week's developments in nerd-themed entertainment, starting with a mysterious photo of Catwoman.

-The Norse God continued to bring the hammer down at the North American Box Office for the second weekend in a row, contradicting industry buzz that Thor's premiere would herald the comics movie...

This is so not comics, but the Final Three go at it tonight and we'd been saving up some notes. We started watching American Idol a few years ago because we felt the need to pay attention to a least one thing that wasn't nerdy but instead reflected the more mundane and/or inane side of culture -- something universal, just so when we had to hang out with normal people we wouldn't be entirely defenseless. Plus former judges Simon and Kara talked about music a little and it was interesting. But that was then. This season's judges, Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez excel at nothing but praise, blather and administering something called the "amazing" scale:

Did you know that Disney owned Marvel Comics? You do now, as Marvel is putting out a licensed comic from the ABC show Castle, which stars nerdlebrity godhead Nathan Fillion as a mystery writer who also solves crimes. The GN. will not be an adapttaion of the show, however, but a story about Castle's best-selling character, Derrick Storm. Tellingly, this will not be a periodical, but a standalone graphic novel, due in September, written by Brian Michael Bendis and Kelly Sue DeConnick with art by Lan Medina and a cover by Carlo Pagulayan.

If you follow our Twitter feed - and who doesn't! - you know we're been having lots of computer problems. We'll share our exciting process when it's finished, and hopefully successful (for the moment we have to use our travel backup) but it's already taken up the whole weekend, which, what with FMB being out of town for a (from what we hear) very successful signing at Black Cat Comics in Salt Lake City, we slaved away all weekend with a steady background of whatever happened to be on the TV, giving us a chance to rewind with a fine selection of films from our nerd heritage collection and a few new gems as well.

Both Variety and Deadline are reporting that a pick-up for NBC's WONDER WOMAN pilot looks unlikely, contravening some rumors that went out this morning. WW show runner David E. Kelley might not get blanked, however -- his show HARRY'S LAW, starring Kathy Bates, is likely to be renewed.

Networks are announcing their fall pick-ups and spring cancellations, and comics properties are very much in play. Fox has canceled Human Target, now in its second season. It was never much more than a ratings outlier and doesn't fit in with Fox's newly announced focus on female-audience-friendly shows.

Please like us on Facebook! And then stand by for the two biggest shockers of the year!

Despite all logic and evidence to the contrary, former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is serious about his new cartoon show, based on a joke nickname for his political career. The Governator, developed by Stan Lee and Andy Heyward, has a trailer, above, and a lot of wish fulfillment for Ahnuld.

George R. R. Martin's fantasy epic is coming to HBO, and the series is coming to WonderCon with this great booth featuring:

CHEW, the cibopathic comedy smash comic by John Layman and Rob Guillory has been picked up for development at Showtime, and a script by Terri Hughes Burton and Ron Milbauer has been purchased. It's being planned as a half-hour comedy; Stephen Hopkins will direct as well as executive produce.

Tonight at the Barrientos Mexican-American Cultural Center there is a SXSW Interactive evening event called Plutopia: The Future of Play that anyone can attend. Many speakers will focus on the converging technologies of the science field with arts and entertainment via film, demonstrations, performance art.