New TV Projects for Shanks, Hewlett, Francks, Nykl

Blogs and Twitter: great sources of information on what our Stargate stars are doing these days! Here’s a brief update on the new projects being done by Michael Shanks, David Hewlett, Rainbow Sun Francks, and David Nykl.

Michael Shanks

Michael Shanks BTS THE GOOD GUYS
Michael Shanks and Matt Nix behind the scenes in THE GOOD GUYS

Matt Nix of Burn Notice and of he-who-killed-off-one-of-the-best-characters-ever fame (concerning Michael’s character Victor) has hired Shanks to guest star on his new show, The Good Guys. Writer Tamara Becher published from her Twitter a behind-the-scenes picture that shows Shanks in a Dallas Strike Force uniform talking with director Nix. Becher also tweeted praise for his work in the guest appearance and then added, “Its not scripted for Shanks to die so i too hope Matt doesnt kill him.”

The Good Guys airs Fridays at 9 PM ET on FOX. From the show’s website: “From Matt Nix (“Burn Notice”), comes THE GOOD GUYS, a new action comedy about what happens when an old-school cop and a modern-day detective expose the big picture of small crime.” It stars Bradley Whitford as Dan Stark, “a washed-up detective who spends most of his time drunk or re-hashing his glory days.” Dan’s new partner is Jack Bailey, played by Colin Hanks, “an ambitious, by-the-book and overall good detective, but is sometimes a bit too snarky for his own good.” The show is set in Dallas, Texas.

We’ll be sure to post more about the episode when we get more details.

David Hewlett

“Sounds like me and cheerleaders next week…Just in case I wasn’t feeling old and grumpy enough already…Go Hellcats, Go!” Hewlett recently tweeted. Hopefully, we’re not jumping the gun in assuming that this means that he’s got a guest role lined up for Hellcats, a new show on The CW that is co-produced by Smallville star Tom Welling (who plays Clark Kent) and airs Wednesdays at 9 PM ET.

The show’s website describes it: “HELLCATS is a coming-of-age story about Marti Perkins (Aly Michalka, “The Roommate,” “Bandslam”), a pre-law scholarship student at Lancer University in Memphis, Tennessee. Marti is a hip, edgy townie with working class roots, whose world flips upside down, literally and figuratively, when her scholarship is cancelled and her well-meaning but irresponsible mother, Wanda (Gail O’Grady, “NYPD Blue,” “American Dreams”) neglects to inform her. Broke and out of options, Marti realizes the only way she can stay in school is by repurposing her dormant gymnastic skills to win a place on the Hellcats – Lancer’s legendary cheer squad – and the scholarship that comes with it.”

Now, Hellcats might sound familiar to Stargate fans because Ben Browder played the coach in the show’s pilot. Once the show was picked up by The CW, Browder had already moved on to other projects, so his part was recast.

Hopefully, Hewlett will tweet some more about this “sounds like me and cheerleaders” statement, and if it turns out he’s guest starring, we’ll keep our eyes open for the details!

Edited to add: Hewlett just confirmed on his Twitter account that he’ll be shooting two episodes of Hellcats!

Rainbow Sun Francks

Francks THE LISTENER character badge prop
Rainbow Sun Francks plays IIB Corporal Dev Clark in THE LISTENER

Francks posted via Twitter a picture of his Integrated Investigative Bureau badge prop for his character Corporal Dev Clark for an upcoming episode of the Canadian show The Listener. He later updated his followers on the project, “Another long day on set. No complaints here… Never been happier! #thelistener.”

The Cultural Post recently published an article about what to expect from the second season as we follow the adventures of Toby Logan, a paramedic who also has the psychic ability to hear people’s thoughts. The article states, “In the second season of The Listener, Toby Logan (Craig Olejnik), a paramedic from Toronto, has kept his habit of getting his nose in criminal investigations when he’s not on the job with his partner Oz Bey (Ennis Esmer). This leads Toby to get into a case investigated by Integrated Investigations Bureau (IIB) of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Canada’s federal police. Obviously, Toby has no other choice but to reveal his telepathic gift to Sgt. Michelle McCluskey (Lauren Lee Smith). Despite her scepticism, Michelle will come to think that Toby’s gift is an asset for the IIB. Therefore, while still being a paramedic, Toby is enlisted as a collaborator with the IIB. There, he joins Michelle and her team made of computer expert Corp. Dev Clark (Rainbow Sun Francks) and Alvin Klein (Peter Stebbings), an in-house legal expert specialized on complicated investigation cases.”

The first season of the show was aired in the United States on NBC, but apparently, the second season won’t be in the network’s line-up. However, the Canadian TV network CTV is expected to air it, but a premiere date has not yet been announced.

David Nykl

In his Letters from Pegasus blog, Nykl announced that he’ll be in the seventh episode of the third season of Fringe (which stars John Noble, one of our SG-1 guest stars). His blog entry, titled “Fringe Season 3, Ep. 7”, includes pictures of his Vancouver location shoot, annotated, “Fringe! Season three. This was a fun shoot. Do you ever watch the show? I Just watched most of season one to catch up with these folks. What a cool show.”

Fringe airs on FOX on Thursdays at 9 PM ET. From the show’s website: “Set in Boston, the FBI’s Fringe Division was introduced when Special Agent OLIVIA DUNHAM (Anna Torv) enlisted institutionalized “fringe” scientist WALTER BISHOP (John Noble) and his globe-trotting, jack-of-all-trades son, PETER (Joshua Jackson), to help in the investigation of an airline disaster that defied human logic. After the defining case was solved and revealed to be one of a series of unusual incidents linked together, the unlikely trio supervised by Special Agent PHILLIP BROYLES (Lance Reddick) and assisted by Junior Agent ASTRID FARNSWORTH (Jasika Nicole) was formed.”

If there are no interruptions in the broadcast schedule, episode 7 will air on Thursday, November 4, at 9 PM ET on FOX.