There was a time when the legendary San Diego Comic-Con was all about comic books. That was, of course, before films like X-Men , Spider-Man and Batman Begins took comic books mainstream. In the last eight years, Hollywood has co-opted the annual event, turning the four-day geek fest into a movie industry publicity machine par excellence. This year, though, television seems to be taking over the convention (scheduled Thursday, July 23, through Sunday, July 26). If you aren’t already planning on going (all 140,000 tickets sold out months ago), here’s a peek at what you’re missing.Warner Brothers television will be there presenting premiere screenings for some of its most buzzed-about pilots of the 2009-10 season. “Human Target” (based on the DC comic), “V” (a remake of the ’80s miniseries) and “The Vampire Diaries” ( Twilight for TV) will be shown in their entirety. ABC Family’s canceled sci-fi series “The Middleman” (also based on a comic book) will stage a cast reunion to celebrate the complete series DVD release. The cast will table-read the show’s “lost” 13 th episode. USA Network’s “Burn Notice” and “Psych” will host panel discussion with creators / executive producers Matt Nix (“Burn Notice”) and Steve Franks (“Psych”) and a number of cast members, including fan fave Bruce Campbell. The whole “Robot Chicken” gang from Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim will discuss their upcoming stop-motion animated series “Titan Maximus,” which is slated to appear this fall. Syndicated fantasy series “Legend of the Seeker” is well represented by producers, cast members and author Terry Goodkind (who wrote the book series on which it’s based). Showtime’s “Dexter” also shows up for the all-star treatment. And that’s just Thursday, folks.Among the other TV fare getting panel discussions with cast and crew are “Farscape,” “Stargate Universe,” “The Big Bang Theory,” “24,” “Eureka,” “Dollhouse,” “The Mighty Boosh,” “Chuck,” “Lost,” “SpongeBob SquarePants,” “The Cleveland Show,” “Sanctuary,” “Glee,” “The Simpsons,” “The Penguins of Madagascar,” “Warehouse 13,” “Fringe,” “True Blood,” “The Venture Bros.,” “Mythbusters,” “Torchwood,” “Doctor Who,” “Caprica,” “Battlestar Galactica: The Plan,” “Weeds,” “Smallville,” “Supernatural,” “Ghost Whisperer,” “Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight,” “Futurama” and “Spartacus: Blood and Sand” (a new action series on Starz that reunites Lucy Lawless with producer Robert Tapert of “Xena: Warrior Princess” fame). AMC will plug its remake of the surreal British sci-fi series “The Prisoner,” with Jim Caviezel ( The Passion of the Christ ) replacing Patrick McGoohan, while ABC will hype its The Witches of Eastwick spin-off “Eastwick” with Rebecca Romijn ( X-Men ) replacing Cher. Also, for some reason Patricia Heaton (“Everybody Loves Raymond”) will be there for her new ABC sitcom “The Middle” about a harried suburban mom. … Hey, they can’t all be cool.
G4 will broadcast five hours of live, nonstop coverage from San Diego Comic-Con on Friday, July 24, starting at noon. This coverage will include the hotly anticipated Star Wars Spectacular Panel. Rumor is George Lucas himself will make an appearance to plug Cartoon Network’s computer-animated “Clone Wars” and drop some knowledge about the upcoming, long-promised live-action “Star Wars” TV series.
