Vampire Diaries Season 2 premieres September 9 on CW

Vampire Diaries is an entertaining little vampire show from CW that I saved up to watch after the finale last season, but it was so good that I decide to follow it from the beginning this season.

Last season ended in quite a cliffhanger. Elena’s vampire double-ganger Katherine arrived in town with deadly and emotional consequences. It is now time for the others to find out. Damon kissed Katherine believing it was Elena, his moment of realization is sure to be a high point in the season premiere.

There will be werewolves this season according to early spoilers.

The Vampire Diaries is based on a novel series by L.J. Smith where you are given the insight into the diary of 17-year old Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev). Elena and her 15-year-old brother, Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen), live with their Aunt Jenna (Sara Canning). Elena seeks comfort from her familiar social circle – best friend Bonnie (Katerina Graham), frenemy Caroline Forbes (Candice Accola), and former boyfriend Matt Donovan(Zach Roerig).

At Mystic Falls High, Elena and her friends become fixated by a mysterious new student, Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley). Stefan and Damon(Ian Somerhalder) are vampire brothers – one good, one evil – at war for Elena’s soul.

Episodes

2.01 – The Return (CW)

Picking up on the same night as last season’s finale, Elena arrives home to a nightmare as she discovers Uncle John’s and Jeremy’s fate. At the hospital, Sheriff Forbes is comforted by Matt , Bonnie  and Damon while she waits to hear if Caroline will survive the car accident. After a confusing conversation with Elena about the night’s events, Damon is the first to realize that Katherine has returned. Katherine’s arrival sends Stefan and Damon on a path to find out what she wants, why she’s back, and how much of a threat she is to the people they love. Meanwhile, still reeling from his father’s death, Tyler is surprised when his charming and mysterious uncle, Mason Lockwood, arrives to console the family.

2.02 - Brave New World (CW)

THE CARNIVAL FROM HELL — When a confused and desperate Caroline leaves the hospital and joins her friends at the Mystic Falls Carnival, Damon wants to take immediate action, but Stefan and Elena come to Caroline’s defense. Matt is completely mystified by Caroline’s behavior, but still tries to tell her about his feelings for her.. Damon has suspicions about Tyler’s Uncle Mason (guest star Taylor Kinney..) and uses Tyler’s volatile personality in an attempt to get Mason to reveal his secret. Upset with everything going on around her, Bonnie (Katerina Graham) takes her anger out on Damon.

2.03 - Bad Moon Rising (CW)

STEFAN FACES A NEW DANGER — Elena, Damon and Alaric take a road trip to Duke University and search through Isobel’s research on folklore and paranormal phenomena to see if they can uncover any clues to the mystery surrounding the Lockwood family. Isobel’s former student, Vanessa (guest star Courtney Ford, Dexter) offers to guide them through the research and ends up getting quite an education herself. Stefan comes face to face with a terrifying new danger in the woods, and Tyler makes a shocking discovery about Mason (guest star Taylor Kinney)

Extended Vampire Diaries promo with a shorter Nikita promo at the end

I must say that’s one insane chair and it is probably like the action in this remake of Nikita. I liked the old one, it was cheesy but was quite entertaining.

Nikita has a 13 episodes order.

When she was a deeply troubled teenager, Nikita was rescued from death row by a secret U.S. agency known only as Division, who faked her execution and told her she was being given a second chance to start a new life and serve her country. What they didn’t tell her was that she was being trained as a spy and assassin. Throughout her grueling training at Division, Nikita never lost her humanity, even falling in love with a civilian. When her fiancé was murdered, Nikita realized she had been betrayed and her dreams shattered by the only people she thought she could trust, so she did what no one else before her had been able to do: she escaped. Now, after three years in hiding, Nikita is seeking retribution and making it clear to her former bosses that she will stop at nothing to expose and destroy their covert operation.

For the time being, however, Division continues to recruit and train other young people, erasing all evidence of their former lives and turning them into cold and efficient killers. One of these new recruits, Alex (Lyndsy Fonseca, “Kick-Ass,” “Desperate Housewives”), is a beautiful girl with a violent past and a story not so different from Nikita’s. After her parents were murdered, Alex’s life completely derailed. Haunted by her horrific past, she ended up drug-addicted and homeless until Division “rescued” her and brought her into the fold.

Division’s top authority, Percy (Xander Berkeley, “Kick-Ass,” “24”) spent years being a good government soldier, taking his role as an insider and using it to turn the secret organization into a lucrative spy-for-hire shop. With Nikita gone rogue, Percy will do whatever it takes to destroy her and protect the empire he’s built, and he often turns to his top lieutenant, Michael (Shane West, “ER,” Once and Again”), for help. Michael trained Nikita when she was a recruit and is now faced with the responsibility of tracking down his renegade student. At the same time, Michael is in charge of training Alex, Nikita’s young replacement, along with other recruits, including Thom (Ashton Holmes, “Boston Legal”), who has been at Division for a year and is anxious to prove himself, and Jaden (Tiffany Hines, “Bones”), a beautiful and tough young woman who challenges Alex at every turn.

The recruits all spend part of their training with Amanda (Melinda Clarke, “The O.C.,” “The Vampire Diaries”), a master manipulator who can turn any ugly duckling into a swan and any bleeding heart into a killer. Her use of psychological warfare and strategy is key to Percy’s entire operation. Amanda has only had one failure during her tenure at Division: Nikita, the recruit she was never able to break.

Nikita also left her mark on Birkhoff (Aaron Stanford, “Traveler,” “X-Men: The Last Stand”), the nonconformist computer genius who was caught hacking into the Pentagon’s system from his college dorm room and was recruited into Division at the same time as Nikita. Birkhoff never admits to anyone that he misses his former colleague, and he has managed to hold onto his own rebel spirit, his geek-speak and his slacker dress code.

This is the world of Division that Alex now finds herself facing everyday, and she is just beginning to understand why the legendary Nikita has dedicated herself to taking them down.

Cast

• Maggie Q plays Nikita, the former spy and assassin who has vowed to destroy the secret agency that trained her.
• Shane West plays Michael, a top lieutenant in the secret organization that Nikita has vowed to destroy
• Lyndsy Fonseca (HIMYM) stars as Alex, a young woman with a troubled past, who is now leading a double life. She is a 19-year-old felon who – after being sentenced to 25 years in a federal penitentiary – is recruited by a secret government agency to hunt down Nikita, her predecessor. She’s detailed as an “attractive, young, white female with virtually no personal ties or paper trail,” a profile which is deemed ideal for their kind of work
• Melinda Clarke (“The O.C.”) as Amanda, a division operative tasked with educating the newly recruited Alex in how to use her femininity to her advantage.
• Aaron Stanford (“Traveler”) as Birkhoff, a computer specialist who enjoys Red Bull, potato chips and watching skateboarding bloopers on YouTube.
• Xander Berkeley (“24″) as Percy, the Machiavellian leader of Division – a secret unit inside the government.
• Ashton Holmes plays Thom, a recruit eager to prove himself in the high stakes world of espionage.
• Tiffany Hines stars as Jaden, a young woman from a tough background, who challenges Alex.

Episodes

1.01 – Pilot – Series premiere September 9

When she was a deeply troubled teenager, Nikita was rescued from death row by a secret U.S. agency known only as Division, who trained her as a spy and assassin. Nikita was eventually betrayed by the only people she thought she could trust. Now, after three years in hiding, Nikita is seeking retribution and making it clear to her former boss, Percy and her former friends Michael and Birkhoff that she will stop at nothing to expose and destroy their covert operation. Division continues to recruit and train other young people, among them Jaden and Thom, erasing all evidence of their former lives and turning them into cold and efficient killers. One of these new recruits, Alex is a beautiful girl with a violent past and a story not so different from Nikita’s. The recruits all spend part of their training with Amanda, a master manipulator who can turn any ugly duckling into a swan and any bleeding heart into a killer.

1.02 – 2.0

Nikita is caught in a train station shoot-out — Percy and Michael take their latest assignment, a Slavic leader wanted for war crimes, into protective custody. Nikita learns of their hideout and attempts to thwart their plan, but a mysterious group of mercenaries in search of nuclear material beats her to the task. Alex is activated earlier than expected for a special assignment that throws her into the crossfire of bullets. A flashback reveals a pivotal moment in Nikita’s life.

1.03 – Kill Jill

Nikita rescues Jill (guest star Julie Gonzalo, “Eli Stone”), a journalist who is trying to expose a conspiracy involving Division and a major plane crash. Michael and Percy suspect Birkhoff of being Nikita’s inside mole and send Amanda in to interrogate him….. Michael enlists the help of the recruits, Alex, Jaden and Thom, to help them locate their latest target.

1.04 – Rough Trade

1.05 – The Guardian

Nikita gets a new sexy nemesis in this episode. Devon Sawa, whom you might remember from the original Final Destination movie. Devon is set to play the role of Owen beginning on episode five of Nikita, which airs Oct. 7. Owen is described as “a highly trained Division agent who is equal to Nikita in skill.

1.06 – Resistance

Videos

Supernatural is one of my absolute favorites shows. Here is the official poster for season 6.

Season 6 Premieres Friday September 24 on the CW.

Related posts:

• Supernatural Season 6 Synopsis May 20, 2010
• Supernatural Swan Song – Season Finale May 16, 2010
• Supernatural 2.21 – Two Minutes To Midnight May 8, 2010
• Supernatural 5.11 Sam interupted January 28, 2010
• Supernatural Season 5 (TV) September 12, 2009

Official Synopsis

NIKITA When she was a deeply troubled teenager, Nikita was rescued from death row by a secret U.S. agency known only as Division, who faked her execution and told her she was being given a second chance to start a new life and serve her country. What they didn’t tell her was that she was being trained as a spy and assassin. Ultimately, Nikita was betrayed and her dreams shattered by the only people she thought she could trust. Now, after three years in hiding, Nikita is seeking retribution and making it clear to her former bosses that she will stop at nothing to expose and destroy their covert operation. For the time being, however, Division continues to recruit and train other young people, erasing all evidence of their former lives and turning them into cold and efficient killers. One of these new recruits, Alex, is just beginning to understand what lies ahead for her and why the legendary Nikita made the desperate decision to run.

The series stars Maggie Q as Nikita, Lyndsy Fonseca as Alex, Shane West as Michael, Aaron Stanford as Birkhoff, Ashton Holmes as Thom, Tiffany Hines as Jaden, with Melinda Clarke as Amanda and Xander Berkeley as Percy.

NIKITA is from Warner Bros. Television in association with Wonderland Sound and Vision, with executive producers Craig Silverstein (“Bones,” “K-Ville”), Danny Cannon (“CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” “Chuck”), McG (“Supernatural,” “Chuck,” “The O.C.,” “Charlie’s Angels”), and Peter Johnson (“Supernatural,” “Chuck”). The pilot was directed by Danny Cannon.

Promotional photos

Learned from casting

Maggie Q (“Live Free or Die Hard”, “Mission Impossible III” ) has landed the lead role in the CW pilot. Pretty amazing casting for The CW. She’ll play the title character, a spy who goes rogue. Said hour then tracks both Nikita and Alex, a troubled 19-year-old girl who’s recruited to bring her in. Anne Parillaud, Bridget Fonda and Peta Wilson played Nikita in its previous incarnations. Shane West (“ER”) has booked the male lead on the drama pilot, about an assassin for a top-secret government organization who goes rogue (Maggie Q) and the new assassin who is trained to replace her. He’ll play Michael, the agent in charge of recruitment sent to bring in the rogue Nikita.

Melinda Clarke (“The O.C.”) as Amanda, a division operative tasked with educating the newly recruited Alex (yet to be cast) in how to use her femininity to her advantage.

Aaron Stanford (“Traveler”) as Birkhoff, a computer specialist who enjoys Red Bull, potato chips and watching skateboarding bloopers on YouTube.

Xander Berkeley (“24″) as Percy, “the Machiavellian leader of Division – a secret unit inside the government.”

Lyndsy Fonseca (“How I Met Your Mother”) has scored a lead role on the drama pilot, a 21st century take on the “La Femme Nikita” franchise. She’ll play Alex, a 19-year-old felon who – after being sentenced to 25 years in a federal penitentiary – is recruited by a secret government agency to hunt down the title character (Maggie Q), her predecessor. She’s detailed as an “attractive, young, white female with virtually no personal ties or paper trail,” a profile which is deemed ideal for their kind of work.

Spoiler warning!

This was hidden in The CW’s press release for the upcoming Season and answers questions left open from Supernatural’s recent season finale. A very unusual move, wonder if it was intended?

SUPERNATURAL: Season six will be a season of mystery and shadow. Heaven and Hell have been left in complete disarray since the apocalyptic events of season five. And now, monsters, angels and demons roam across a lawless and chaotic landscape. And so Dean Winchester, who has retired from hunting and sworn never to return, finds himself being pulled back into his old life – pulled back by none other than Sam Winchester, who has escaped from Hell. The two reunite to beat back the rising tide of creatures and demon-spawn, but they quickly realize that neither are who they used to be, their relationship isn’t what it used to be, and that nothing is what it seems.

Travis Yanan reviews some of the interesting CW Pilots’ Scripts.

Betwixt

Betwixt has finished shooting the pilot and is expected to premier on CW this fall, probably at the same time as Vampire Diaries season two premieres. There is also rumors about Smallville and Vampire Diaries cross overs later in the show. You can read the latest Betwixt Casting News here or go on and read Travis’ review. Read the review »

Nikita

Maggie Q as Nikita and Lyndsy Fonseca (“How I Met Your Mother”) as Alex the girl recruited to hunt her down. I watched the old Nikita, it was a bit trashy but enjoyable. This sounds better. Travis’ Review »

Nomads

Group of free-spirited youths backpacking through other countries agree to perform secret missions for CIA sounded up my alley and appearently Travis thought so too.

Travis also reviewed some other pilots you have to check his site for.

Betwixt is believed to be included in the CW’s Fall 2010 schedule. Rumor also says it will be partnered with Vampire Diaries (on Thursdays then?).

The buzz talks about Vampire Diaries and Smallville cross-overs, be as that may there are some news about the cast.

Celine’s mother Vanessa is played by Chelah Horsdal (Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, The L Word. Dr. McCann in Lexmas - Smallville.

Celine’s father Michael Garrett is played by Tyler McClendon (Todd in Stargate Atlantis, minor roles in Smallville and the Watchmen). Could the last name have changed from “Halstead” to “Garrett?” Sounds possible…

The main characters are played by:

Jessy Schram (Life) plays Morgan Brower, who can transform into a creature with claws, fangs and yellow eyes initially she wakes up in the night with dirt and blood all over her and no memory of where she’d been at night.

Allison Miller (Kings) is Celine Halstead (or Garrett?), an “ethereal beauty, who can fly.

Josh Henderson (Desperate Housewives) plays Nix Uyarak a runaway from Alaska who lives in the wood and has the ability to see a faintly glowing halo of light around people who are about to die.

Other casts include:

• Aaron Douglas (BSG, Smallville) in a possible recurring role.
• Almeera Jiwa (Soulstice) as Laura and Leah Gibson (Watchmen) as Emily. Two girls who gets into a dangerous predicament at the start of the pilot. This is almost surely just guest roles.
• Tessa Thompson (Veronica Mars) has been cast but her character is not yet announced. It could possibly be the role of Jenny.
• Brandon Jay MacLaren (Red Ranger in Power Rangers, Human Target, Smallville, Harper’s Island, and the upcoming Tron Legacy) plays Steiner a video game geek character.
• Blair Redford (Passions) plays Moth.
• Austin Butler (Jones on LUX) plays Cameron the twin brother of Morgan who transforms into a wild beast with claws, fangs and yellow eyes..
• David Gallagher has been cast as Tim Bleeker, a fellow changeling that’s known as a ‘cutter’, one who’s gone to the dark side. He’s further detailed as having a dark and slightly androgynous look about him that is both mysterious and sexy.

Sources: thr.com, thefutoncritic.com, betwixtonline.com, imdb.com, ksitetv.com, deadline.com

The cast looks really promising, I liked Allison in Kings (sad what happened to that show) and dito with Jesse in Life, another show that I liked that died a premature death.

For three teenagers dark mystery has always lurked at the corner of the eyes and the edge of sleep. Beautiful Morgan D’Amici wakes in her trailer park home with dirt and blood under her fingernails. Paintings come alive under Ondine Mason’s violet-eyed gaze. Haunted runaway Nix Saint-Michael sees halos of light around people about to die.

At a secret summer rave in the woods, the three teenagers learn of their true, changeling nature and their uncertain, intertwined destinies. Riveting, unflinching, beautiful, Betwixt shows a magic as complex and challenging as any ordinary reality.

About three teens – Morgan Brower, Nix Uyarak and Celine Halstead – who discover they’re actually “changelings,” the children of mythological fairies.

Jessy Schram (“Life”, “Veronica Mars”) as Morgan, who can transform into a creature with claws, fangs and yellow eyes.

Allison Miller (Kings) as Celine Halstead, an “ethereal beauty, who can fly.

David Gallagher as Tim Bleeker, a fellow changeling that’s known as a “cutter,” one who’s gone to the dark side. He’s further detailed as having “a dark and slightly androgynous look about him that is both mysterious and sexy .

From the book: When three teens, each haunted by uncanny happenings, receive invitations to a top-secret summer solstice celebration, they expect a typical Portland rave. Instead, they find an elaborate ritual staged to inform them about a secret, powerful nonhuman race to which they actually belong. Eagerness to learn about the race will pull readers through the first 200 pages, which introduce the connections hurling the teens toward the truth. Thereafter, the momentum slackens, with Smith haphazardly doling out facts about the teens’ true physiology and situation, and introducing confrontations with evil renegades that end before they have truly begun. This isn’t advertised as a series launcher, but many readers will emerge hoping for additional installments that clarify hazy plot elements and further develop Smith’s interesting characters—whose matter-of-fact multiculturalism is a bonus. Aspects of this dark fantasy will remind some readers of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight (2005), especially the poetically limned Pacific Northwest setting. But the language in this book is unusually raw, and occasional sexual allusions, often in a leering context, will substantially narrow the book’s audience. Grades 11-12.
Jennifer Mattson Amazon.com Booklist

Feature writer Elizabeth Chandler (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) has penned the script for the full film pilot and is executive producing with Paul Stupin (Make It or Break It).

Betwixt sounds like the most promising fantasy pilot this year. The news is that Celine and Morgan have now been cast, only Nix Uyarak reminds to be cast. It’s a live action adaptation of Tara Bray Smith’s novel with the same name and it has been ordered to pilot by the CW.

The cast looks really promising, I liked Allison in Kings (sad what happened to that show) and dito with Jesse in Life, another show that I liked that died a premature death.

For three teenagers dark mystery has always lurked at the corner of the eyes and the edge of sleep. Beautiful Morgan D’Amici wakes in her trailer park home with dirt and blood under her fingernails. Paintings come alive under Ondine Mason’s violet-eyed gaze. Haunted runaway Nix Saint-Michael sees halos of light around people about to die.

At a secret summer rave in the woods, the three teenagers learn of their true, changeling nature and their uncertain, intertwined destinies. Riveting, unflinching, beautiful, Betwixt shows a magic as complex and challenging as any ordinary reality.

About three teens – Morgan Brower, Nix Uyarak and Celine Halstead – who discover they’re actually “changelings,” the children of mythological fairies.

Jessy Schram (“Life”, “Veronica Mars”) as Morgan, who can transform into a creature with claws, fangs and yellow eyes.

Allison Miller (Kings) as Celine Halstead, an “ethereal beauty, who can fly.

From the book: When three teens, each haunted by uncanny happenings, receive invitations to a top-secret summer solstice celebration, they expect a typical Portland rave. Instead, they find an elaborate ritual staged to inform them about a secret, powerful nonhuman race to which they actually belong. Eagerness to learn about the race will pull readers through the first 200 pages, which introduce the connections hurling the teens toward the truth. Thereafter, the momentum slackens, with Smith haphazardly doling out facts about the teens’ true physiology and situation, and introducing confrontations with evil renegades that end before they have truly begun. This isn’t advertised as a series launcher, but many readers will emerge hoping for additional installments that clarify hazy plot elements and further develop Smith’s interesting characters—whose matter-of-fact multiculturalism is a bonus. Aspects of this dark fantasy will remind some readers of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight (2005), especially the poetically limned Pacific Northwest setting. But the language in this book is unusually raw, and occasional sexual allusions, often in a leering context, will substantially narrow the book’s audience. Grades 11-12.
Jennifer Mattson Amazon.com Booklist

Feature writer Elizabeth Chandler (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) has penned the script for the full film pilot and is executive producing with Paul Stupin (Make It or Break It).

• Boldly going Nowhere (FOX) Scifi comedy
• Captain Cook’s Extraordinary Atlas (ABC) A 13 year old girl named Gwen discover a magical atlas to a fantastical world.
• Day One (NBC) Life after a ‘world event’ destroys most of earth’s infrastructure. Ordered in May
• Defying Gravity (FOX) 8 astronauts living on an international spacecraft while the world watches. Oh No a scripted reality series in space! Canceled after 8 episodes?
• Eastwick (ABC) A TV take of The Witches of Eastwick. Sexy witches living with the devil? Ordered 18th of May Edit: Canceled in 2009 before it finished
• Flash forward (ABC) For 2 minutes and 17 seconds the worlds population blacks out and have strange visions about their future. A FBI agent tries to find the truth. Sounds interesting but doesen’t sound mainstream.Ordered 18th of May
• Human Target (CW) Dude hire himself out as a target to threatened people. Ordered 13th of May
• Masterwork (CW) MI5 agent and FBI agent travel the world retrieving artifacts. Edit
• V (ABC) Remember the old mice eating lizards? they are back! Hope they do it with more humor this time around. Iffy if its a hit.Ordered 18th of May
• Vampire diaries (CW) High school girl falls from 200 year old vampire. Is this a Twilight wannabe? It has potential.Ordered in May

References: ScifiWire, Netflix