Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

Josh Friedman is a man who did the impossible.  He made a TV version of a beloved film franchise that wasn't ripped to shreds by the franchise's fans.  The first time show runner presided over the creatively successful first season of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.  Ratings-wise, there were issues – the show didn't get the kind of numbers FOX would have liked.  But, it was recently announced that FOX has picked up Terminator for a full second season.  Friedman held a web-media only conference call today to discuss the pick-up and what we can expect from season 2 of Terminator.

Conference Call Highlights:

They made a presentation to Kevin Reilly, and then six weeks ago the writing team was brought in to get ready for season 2, in order to make sure they got on schedule for a Fall debut.  Josh says that people seem to believe that they were spending more money than they actually did on Terminator last year.  That wasn't the case..  Money wasn't a factor either way in terms of a second season renewal,

Summer Glau is coming back.  Brian Austin Green is a regular.  The entire writing staff is back.  He likens the cast and crew to sports team – continuity is important and he wanted to keep the crew as intact as possible.  As for Brian Austin Green, they had to lock him up – the BAG was getting some heat from other projects.  They didn't know when BAG's role was created if he could or potentially would become a regular character. 

Bear McCreary will be coming back as well to write the music for Terminator.  In retrospect, Josh is very happy with the cast they put together.  He thought, however, at times that the story lines got a bit more confusing that he would've liked.  “There were times when the storytelling became a little muddy,” 

“No plot point left behind.” This was Friedman's mantra when laying out the first season of Terminator.  He wanted to introduce a lot of plot points, but eventually pay all of them off.  The strike hurt this some, but Josh was happy with how everything shook out. 

Josh admits that they did lose some stories and plot points because of the writers' strike.  Going into season 2, they have to decide which of these plot points are worth rekindling and which should be dropped as they move forward.  Josh wants to revisit more of the future war in season 2.  But, they are the most expensive episodes to do.  If he had his druthers, they'd feature the war in a number of episodes.  But, the CGI is a big issue.

The DVD of the first season will be out in August.  There will be a lot of extras, including three different commentaries, some mini-documentaries.  The main cast members all did commentaries.  Josh believes that they will have more action in the second season than in the first.  He can't promise that every single plot line will be resolved.

Freidman would not give away any spoilers for season 2, and for good reason - they haven't written any scripts yet.  Nonetheless, all fans should be excited for the first full season of The Sarah Connor Chronicles.


-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image Courtesy of FOX)