If you missed the premiere of the Cartoon Network’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars last Friday, don’t worry, you can purchase each and every episode at the iTunes Store.  Debuting on the popular music, video, and application service the day after new episodes air, fans can download individual episodes for $1.99, or get a season pass for $39.99 for all 22 half-hour episodes.

Starting with “Rising Malevolence,” the series’ second episode, StarWars.com will offer a regular podcast – one that combines news and information with the creativity of Lucasfilm. It will be available both at StarWars.com and at iTunes.  At both locations, the podcast will be free for fans who want to learn more about the secrets of STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS.

Moreover, StarWars.com will offer an exclusive, entirely new online graphic novel, with new insights into the CLONE WARS galaxy.  Written by Star Wars expert Pablo Hidalgo, its weekly installments will feature four different artists, each of whom illustrates a new “chapter.”  Each of the 23 “chapters” will serve as an introduction to that week’s episode of STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS.

If you don’t want to pay for content that is essentially free to begin with, both Cartoon Network and StarWars.com will stream episodes one week after the first run.  The first episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars begins streaming on Friday October 10, 2008.

via Lucas Film

While the movie came and went, the television series on the Cartoon Network fleshes out the story even more, filling the void left by the end of the last Star Wars movie.  Lucas Film has sent Major Spoilers a rundown of the back to back premiere episodes and a discussion with Dave Filoni, the series supervising director.

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With the fate of the next season of Smallville still up in the air, Warner Bros. is getting ready for a replacement, or a “sidekick” of a show in the just approved pilot “Graysons”.  But don’t think this new series will follow the adventures of Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne as Batman and Robin, expect the Graysons to follow a very Smallville like premise that features the young Dick “DJ” Grayson before his parents met their untimely demise, before being taken under the wing of Batman, and a long, long time before becoming Nightwing.

In the one-hour “Graysons,” which will be set in modern times, young DJ will face challenges involving first loves, young rivals and his family as he grows up. Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson have come up with an original take on the character.

I have some mixed feelings about this.  Yes, it is cool that Warners is looking for a way to exploit one of its more popular characters.  But to adopt the “never wears a cape and tights” attitude as it has with Smallville, just doesn’t sit well with me.

Look for the pilot to makes its bow next year.

via Variety

I think I mentioned Greg Beeman’s website about this time last year (yeah, it was during THAT time), and I think it needs to be mentioned again.  If you are a fan of Heroes, or if you are someone that digs the behind the scenes look at the process of making a television series, then the Beaming Beeman website is worthy of checking out.  I love reading Director/Producer Greg Beeman’s take on each episode of NBC’s Heroes, not only for the behind the scenes stories, but for the behind the scenes photos.

A site worthy of checking out.

There were a lot of complaints about the second season of NBC’s Heroes - from the lackluster storyline to the writer’s strike causing the season to end abruptly, fans were less than amused with the sophomore trials of the series.  Unfortunately, those feelings are still reverberating into the third season.

The Hollywood Reporter has viewership for the season three two-hour premiere down 25% from last year.

The “Heroes” debut (9.9 million viewers, 4.9 preliminary adults 18-49 rating and a 12 share and matched its lowest original episode rating ever. (”Heroes” was actually down even more, 33%, if you include NBC’s heavily protested move last fall to roll its Saturday encore rating into its premiere). Clip show lead-in “Heroes: Countdown to the Premiere” (6 million, 2.6/7)  placed third in the hour.

If the ratings don’t pick up, you can expect some heavy changes and shuffling to occur as the network scrambles to save the show.  I did get a chance to watch the premiere, and while good, it felt a lot like season one mixed with the remake of the Fly movie.

via Hollywood Reporter

Longing for the days when you used to stumble downstairs in your jammies during the wee hours, grab your bowl of Sugar Frosted Chochy Snap Bombs and turn on the television to watch the Super Friends without waking your parents?

Get your jammies and pray your grocery still carries Sugar Frosted Chochy Snap Bombs, cause Boomerang - the last place to see all your ’60’s and ’70’s cartoons without commercial interruption - is bringing fans a Super Friends marathon.

DC Comics’ Justice League superheroes will save the day as episodes from four classic Saturday-morning animated series from the ’70s and early ’80s air back-to-back in Boomerang’s first-ever Super Friends marathon. Cartoon Network’s classic toon outlet will spotlight more than 30 specially selected installments on Saturday, Sept. 27, from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. (ET).

Oh, yeah… can’t wait to watch me some Wendy and Marvin, while getting buzzed on Sugar Frosted Chochy Snap Bombs.

via The Beat

NBC has released a series of promo images hyping the upcoming third season of Heroes.  While season 2 ended up being rather wonky, I’m hoping the third volume of tales gets the action up and moving in the first two episodes.

The season premiere of Heroes: Villains kicks off on September 22 at 9:00 PM EST.

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Here’s a peek at what you can expect from your first episode of Lana and Lex-less Smallville.

Now this is a TV series that would do well following Heroes.

No Heroics follows the very real lives of four off-duty superheroes in London, their struggles in love and their bigger struggles with fame – or lack of it.

Too bad its on British television, I’d think I’d like to check it out.

via ITV

NBC has given the go ahead for a full season of Chuck, ordering nine more for the second half of the year.  Unfortunately (or fortunately depending), that only brings the total number of episodes to 15 for the year, which makes no freakin’ sense to me.  I remember a time when a full season of episodes amounted to 23-30+ shows a season. And it isn’t just Chuck that goes this shortened season route - Burn Notice anyone?

The second season of Chuck returns to NBC on September 29, 2008 at 8:00 p.m.

via THR

Check out NBC’s Heroes Primetime Preview special, that is supposed to air on August 30, but thanks to the YouTube, we have it here early.

I think this is probably the last San Diego Comic Con post I’ll make for a couple of months.  Here’s the video from NBC’s Chuck Panel held at the show.

Here you go, the panel I’ve been waiting for NBC to post - Season 3 of Heroes.

Geoff Johns has announced he is writing an espisode of the CW’s Smallville that will feature the Legion of Super-Heroes.

“I can’t get into any specifics about the story we’re telling because we’re still working on it all. But they’re from the 31st Century. And it will be focusing on some obvious characters who first met Clark,” Johns said. “It will be written to fit with Smallville, and I think it’s going to be a really fun challenge to approach the Legion in a different way. But with me, you know you’re going to see Legion rings, and they’re going to be as true to the core as possible. It’s going to be the Legion of Super-Heroes.”

Does anyone remember the Legion of Super-Heroes episode from Superman: The Animated Series (Season 3 - New Kids in Town)? That was a great introduction of the LoSH into Clark Kent’s life, and I hope they do something like that in the show.

via Newsarama

Mahalo Daily was all over Comic Con, and covered The Office panel. Even though it is so far away from comic books, I’m putting it up here, because I know there are a few of you that are into this kind of thing…

Rainn Wilson (aka Dwight) moderates a panel of The Office cast and writers, B.J. Novak, Greg Daniels, Michael Schur, Gene Stupnitsky, Lee Eisenberg, Mindy Kaling, Anthony Ferrel, Ryan Koh, Justin Spitzer, and Jennifer Celotta at Comic Con 2008.

Part 2 after the jump.

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