VIRTUALITY NEWS

FROM IGN.COM:

BSG Creator's Virtuality Comes to TV... Sort Of
Ron Moore project will air this summer.
by Eric Goldman


May 8, 2009 - There's good news and bad news regarding Virtuality, the Ron Moore (Battlestar Galactica) co-created science fiction project – well, mostly bad news, which is that Virtuality is almost certainly not being picked up as a series. On the other hand, fans of Moore's work will at least get to see the pilot, as FOX will be airing it this summer.

Virtuality was filmed as a two-hour "backdoor pilot" TV-Movie last year, in the hopes it would launch a full series. However, there were then reports that changes had been requested from the network and that aspects of the original pilot were being altered, in hopes of securing a pickup.

Now , Variety says the TV-Movie will be airing Saturday, July 4th. Airing the movie at all on its own is a pretty huge indicator that FOX is not going to order the series, otherwise they would likely simply hold the movie and air it as the first episode. Another indicator? As Variety points out, you don't air a program on July 4th – when almost no one is watching television – that you feel has a chance at becoming any sort of breakout hit.

Virtuality was created by Moore and Battlestar writer Michael Taylor, and follows a crew of astronauts on Earth's first starship, who pass the time on their long journey by using an advanced virtual reality simulator. Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights) directed the pilot film, which includes Clea DuVall (Heroes) and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (New Amsterdam) among the cast.