Sci Fi TV Development Report: Revivals of The Tick and The Greatest American Hero Are in the Works, Syfy Greenlights Childhood’s End Mini-Series

News, updates, and (mostly viable) rumors relating to development of science fiction / fantasy television productions.

The Tick – Patrick Warbuton is hoping to revive the much-loved but short-lived Tick live-action series for Amazon. The actor has received approval from Sony Television–the studio that holds the TV rights to the character–to develop a pilot to air on Amazon. If it then receives enough votes from viewers (a very likely scenario), it would  air on the streaming service as part of their original programming. There is no current indication of how quickly the pilot will come to fruition, but fans will be eagerly awaiting its arrival. The original series (which starred Warbuton, David Burke, Nestor Carbonell, and Liz Vassey) aired on FOX in the 2001-02 season but was cancelled after only nine episodes.

The Greatest American Hero – Another revival is in the works for this 1980’s superhero series. FOX–the network that cancelled The Tick above–has given a pilot commitment for the series which Lego Movie writers/directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller will be pulling together. The original, and much beloved, series starred William Katt, Robert Culp, and Connie Sellecca and it aired on ABC for three seasons from 1981-83. In the mid-80’s, a spin-off titled The Greatest American Heroine was eyed and a pilot was produced, but it did not continue into a series.

Childhood’s End – Syfy continues its initiative to embrace science fiction oriented scripted programming and has announced plans for a mini-series based on Arthur C. Clarke’s classic book. Matthew Graham, who created the acclaimed BBC sci fi series Life on Mars, has been attached as writer.

The Walking Dead Spin-off – Plans for a spin-off from AMC’s wildly popular The Walking Dead were announced previously, but the network has now officially ordered a pilot.  Details on the series are still sketchy, but AMC President Charlie Collier has said that they regularly receive requests from fans of the show to know “about what is going on in the zombie apocalypse in other parts of the world”.  This series will apparently provide some of those answers, though its not clear if it will focus on a single group like the parent show or multiple groups of people.  The pilot will begin production later this year.

Buy the Live Action and Animated Tick Series on DVD from Amazon.com: