THIS FALL

Supernatural fans may love the new Marvel comic inspired Arrow, which follows a billionaire bad boy Oliver Queen (Stephen Arnell) who returns from the dead after a years stranded on a mysterious island. Naturally, he’s come back a changed man. He’s darker, more jaded (and hotter)—and with some seriously intense archery skills that would make Katniss herself blush. Though he’s fighting crime as his new alter ego, Green Arrow, we think Oliver/Arrow is a lot more complicated and dangerous than he lets on. CW put a lot of time and money into this pilot, and it shows. The sets, lighting, and effects are all cinema-worthy and should draw a nice following from genre and regular TV fans alike. Arrow will air directly before Supernatural on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

Hart of Dixie fans will delight in the new medical dram-com, Emily Owens, M.D., starring the lovely and likable Mamie Gummer. Remember when Grey’s Anatomy was about the horror/excitement of being a fresh, raw new intern? Remember the relationships we agonized over and the personalities we loved? Owens promises a similar feeling, with a lot less over-the-top ferry crashes, car crashes, plane crashes… you get the picture. Gummer is quirky, charming and way more of a nerdy, fish-out-of-water than Meredith Grey, and we think that will keep the audience rooting for her and tuning in week after week. Owens will air directly following Hart of Dixie on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

The Vampire Diaries fans may flock to the new adaptation of Beauty and the Beast starring the gorgeous (and Smallville fan fave) Kristin Kreuk. Kreuk’s plays Catherine Chandler, who witnesses her mother’s murder and is saved from the same fate by a mysterious man/beast (Jay Ryan) that disappears. Nine years later, and now an NYPD homicide detective, she comes in contact with her savior again and discovers his life/condition was engineered by our government. I smell a conspiracy thread! After the beast saves her a second time, Kreuk decides to dedicate herself to figuring out the mystery behind her mother’s death and the Beast’s condition. Shippers: On your marks, get set, GO! Beast will air following The Vampire Diaries on Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

MIDSEASON

The Carrie Diaries will no doubt find a young and eager audience since its heroine is a fresh and relatable prequel version of Sex and the City’s famous (or infamous, depending on your taste) Carrie Bradshaw. The vivacious AnnaSophia Robb takes on the iconic roll of Carrie in her high school days during the awesome 1980s. We get to see a lot more of what made the fashion writer who she became in the hit ‘90s series that launched a thousand cosmopolitan parties in cities and suburbs around the world. Dealing with the death of her mother, a difficult sister and the perils of high school will endear viewers the way Sex never could for this particular age group. But will The Carrie Diaries appeal to Gen-Xers? Well if you were as annoyed by Carrie in the second SATC movie as we were, this new series will be a lot more inviting and interesting to watch. The Carrie Diaries will occupy a Monday time slot in January after Gossip Girl finishes its series run.

Cult offers a twisted world where the TV world bleeds into real life in very dark and nefarious way. A fictitious show, also named Cult, is centered on the tension-filled relationship between charismatic yet creepy cult leader Billy Grimm (played by the king of creepy, Robert Knepper) and LAPD detective Kelly Collins (Alona Tal) who is trying to nail the bastard to the wall. The Vampire Diaries’ Matt Davis stars as a journalist/blogger who teams up with the show’s nosy production assistant (Jessica Lucas) to investigate whether Cult’s crazeballs fans are recreating crimes from the series—some even resulting in gruesome murders. For those who love a good twisted and multi-layered mystery, Cult could gain a Lost-like following.

For more on the new lineup, visit The CW’s website!

“Everybody was kind of sitting around and happy… and I said to Craig [Silverstein, Nikita’s executive producer], ‘We can’t have these happy couch moments forever!’ And he said ‘No, not forever; it’s a temporary thing.’”

And knowing Nikita as well as we do, we know the finale will feature some major twists and turns! Here is what Maggie Q teased for us:

NO MORE CASSANDRA BUT ANOTHER GLIMPSE AT AMANDA. Though Maggie Q admitted that the Cassandra chapter has been closed—and it kind of has to be because of the kid—she promised we have not seen the last of Amanda. After all, last we saw Amanda, she still had that box, so she still had a few tricks up her sleeve. Maggie Q shared that “she doesn’t come back in the way you may think,” though.

ANOTHER BIG DEATH. “There will be loss!” Maggie Q confirmed. And maybe get your tissues ready, because if she was torn up about the loss, you know you will be too!

“I understand all of the elements that make this show work and why they make it work because of those elements, so I was a little bit torn about taking a very important element out of what we’ve done for two years,” Maggie Q said candidly. “But at the end of the day, Nikita’s journey has to move forward, and it has to be either through gain or through loss, because only through those emotions do you grow. We rarely grow when we’re happy; we grow when we’re hurt.”

NIKITA AND PERCY FINALLY FACE OFF. Again, though, nothing in the Nikita universe is as simple as it seems. And when Nikita finally has Percy in front of her, she can’t just kick his ass the way we all know she wants to.

“Percy puts her in a position where you have to see her working with him, which is just so putrid and disgusting for her,” she said. “She could either help him or off him, and ultimately only helping him will help her achieve her goal. So it just becomes this whole juxtaposition of ‘I have to do this, but I loathe this human being!’”

ONE FINAL MIKITA MOMENT. Maggie Q promised that fans who are staunchly behind the relationship aspect of the show won’t be disappointed, and all of the emotional twists and turns won’t overshadow how far Michael and Nikita have come as a couple, in addition to a team.

“We’ll end on a Mikita moment,” Maggie Q smiled. “It is a beautiful moment between them, but visually [too]. It really was a magical weather moment. And it’s nice because after 19—after “Wrath”—there’s no more wall. You see Nikita being a little bit more open with Michael, because after that, you either have moved on and you change, or you go back into the darkness. And I think she’s ready to be more open and forthcoming than she ever has been, and we have a moment of that as well.”

NOT QUITE A CLIFFHANGER TO CLOSE. Since the finale episode was shot without the cast or crew knowing if the show would be returning for a third season, they were respectful enough of their fans not to end so openly that there wouldn’t be closure if it proved to be standing as a series finale. That being said, though, Maggie Q pointed out that there is still one last surprise thrown in at the end that she hopes fans won’t exactly see coming.

“If it were me, I wouldn’t want any happy ending,” she shrugged. “I’d want it just to be a cliffhanger… but I think people need a little bit of hopefulness. So we’re going to give them a little bit of hope with something big and shocking.”

Nikita airs its second-season finale on Friday, May 18, 2012, at 8 p.m.

Grant and co-star Jason Hawes, who happen to be plumbers by day and ghost hunters by night, formed TAPS (The Atlantic Paranormal Society) in 1990 to help those with questions about paranormal activity and ghost hunting. And help they have! Not only have they investigated hundreds cases on their own and through their hit show, they also have inspired millions of amateur investigations (and a half-dozen copycat shows).

During a Syfy conference call, cast member Amy Bruni was asked about her favorite memory of Grant and she excitedly chose their investigation of the Stanley Hotel. “There was a carriage house there that we’re not really allowed to investigate any longer. But I investigated there with him and his wife and we had some pretty insane paranormal activity happening and this was before I was ever with TAPS. And it was kind of overwhelming. And I remember him just being this very calming influence throughout the whole experience.”

Fellow ghost hunter Adam Berry’s favorite moment was on the USS Yorktown, as he credited Wilson with reinvigorating his team after uncovering some key evidence of paranormal activity. “We were so excited to show Grant this evidence that we ran down … They didn’t show this but we ran down the side of the ship basically, jumped – we could have jumped off the ship and we’d have been fine. We were so excited.” Berry continued to gush saying, “We showed him this evidence and the way he reacts any time, you know, we as a team work together and get some really great stuff, you know, while we’re investigating, it’s my favorite thing because he kind of reenergizes all of us. And he gets really excited and we’re very excited.”

Visit the Syfy website where you can give your thanks to the man who gave us so many thrills and chills over the years.

The spring finale of Ghost Hunters, and Grant Wilson’s final episode airs Wednesday, May 16 at 9 ET/PT, only on Syfy.

“I came up kind of very strict Pentecostal family, and the only music I could listen to was on lite-FM. So that’s where I gained that love for James Taylor, Phil Collins, [and] Journey,” he shared with Snakkle.

“I’m a big ’80s rock fan. There were serious, serious singers in ’80s rock, so I’m a big fan, and I just wanted to do something to pay homage to that.”

Needless to say, the album that Paul plans to put out now will have influences from across his professional career. Though he has released music before (“I’ve done the whole selling-out-of-my-trunk thing,” he laughed), Paul is perhaps most excited that his time on The Voice will allow him to have a “machine” behind the music he has been working on for years.

“If you have an ounce of ambition, you’re going home and you’re writing and you’re taking that inspiration that you get every day from watching that performer, and you’re writing, and you’re building,” Paul said, noting that he has been building his own catalog since working as a backup singer with Alicia Keys.

“I’ve put together my own CDs and sold them at concerts and things like that, but there’s something special about a machine behind you,” he said adamantly, “something that is second to none when you have a machine pushing you with marketing.”

Getting choked up, Paul admitted that winning The Voice meant he could finally achieve all of the things he had been dreaming of for his family for years. Though he never knew week to week if America would keep him around, he felt confident in himself that this was his time, because he was being honest with his sound onstage and singing his heart out.

That’s all one can ask for, right? And that’s all Paul advises that any artist should do: “Just be yourself. Don’t ever give up. Everybody’s journey is different. Everybody’s path is different. But it’s not about the destination; it’s about the journey. And throughout all your experiences and everything that you go through, you take a little, and you let go a little…. You let go of the bad, and you hold onto the good, and you’d be surprised where that takes you.”

Though that drive and determination took Paul to The Voice, his win proves that this is not the destination for him but just one great stop along his way to stardom.

Brothers and Sisters Day (May 2),

Mother’s Day (May13)

Visit Your Relatives Day (May 18)

Father’s day (June 17)

National Forgiveness Day (June 26)

And then forgive yourself for eating so much sugar. Inspired by true events, People Like Us is a family-centered movie that stars Chris Pine, Elizabeth Banks, Olivia Wilde and Michelle Pfeiffer.

Says Disney:

“On the designated “People Like Us” holidays, Sprinkles Cupcakes in all ten locations will give out a free cupcake to each customer who comes in between the hours of 12 noon and 2 p.m. and says, “People Like Us.”  Any customer can vote online for the official “People Like Us” flavor and the winning cupcake will be announced the week of the film’s opening. Customers can also pick up punch cards in Sprinkles Cupcakes stores, redeemable on the selected ‘People Like Us” holidays for a free cupcake.  Follow the movie on Facebook.com/PeopleLikeUs for more details.”