LITTLE ROCK — I believe I’d watch Syfy’s Haven just for the cool scenery. Literally cool.
The series is set in fictitious Haven, Maine, but was filmed in April in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia — 190 miles east of Bar Harbor, Maine, as the seagull flies.
These days when Arkansas is being hectored by triple-digit heat indexes, an hour spent in Nova Scotia in April is more than welcome.
Season 2 for Haven kicks off at 9 p.m. Friday as FBI agent Audrey Parker (Emily Rose) continues to try to solve the mystery of her own lost past and its ties to Haven.
Last season we watched as Parker came to town on a seemingly uncomplicated routine murder case.
It didn’t take the sleuth long to figure out that Haven was not what it seemed. The sleepy little town was, in fact, a longtime refuge for folks with supernatural afflictions.
Affliction is the proper term. The conditions are generally handicaps.
Helping Parker are hunky local cop Nathan Wuornos (Lucas Bryant) and Duke Crocker (Eric Balfour), a local smuggler who is not all that keen on helping solve Haven’s troubles.
Wuornos also has his own supernatural affliction. He can’t feel pain.
There will be 13 episodes this season as we follow Parker’s quest to uncover her identity. She must also “grapple with a shocking revelation” about herself when a mysterious criminal returns to town.
Jason Priestley will guest star in several episodes this season. It’s time to update if you only remember Priestley as young Brandon Walsh on Beverly Hills, 90210. Priestley turns 42 next month.
Priestley will play Chris Weekly, a rather anti-social marine biologist who must deal with a supernatural condition most would consider a blessing.
Other guest stars this season include Cristian de la Fuente (Basic, Driven, In Plain Sight) as a conservative banker who turns out is hiding a dark and shocking double life.
Also aboard is retired WWE pro wrestler Edge and Vinessa Antoine from Being Erica and Soul Food.
Pass the cheese. Syfy likes to balance the good stuff with really cheesy Saturday night movies. This Saturday’s offering is Super Eruption at 8 p.m.
A section of the super-volcano under Yellowstone National Park erupts and only an ace geologist played by Juliet Aubrey (Primeval, The Constant Gardner) and a ruggedly handsome park ranger played by Richard Burgi (Desperate Housewives) can save life as we know it.
These movies are so bad, they’re good. Enjoy.
Farewell FNL. Creative sponsorship and a small, rabid fanbase kept NBC’s Friday Night Lights around several seasons longer than its ratings justified.
After five seasons, FNL lowers the curtain at 7 p.m. Friday with an appropriately tearful farewell. Bring a hankie.
And maybe one of these days I’ll tell you how I was once stuck in a very crowded elevator next to series star Connie Britton. Maybe it was just me, but I believe we bonded.
Yeah. Let’s go with that. And never forget: “Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose.”
Y’all come back. Here we go again. This time it’s on cable outfit CMT.
Sweet Home Alabama is a dating reality series that “explores a young woman’s journey to find Mr. Right among young men from big cities and small towns.” It debuts at 8 p.m. today.
In the Bachelorette knockoff, 10 city dudes and 10 country hicks battle for the attention of Devin Grissom, “a sweet Southern girl from Alabama.”
That’s followed by Texas Women at 9. That series “takes an exciting peek inside the lives of four young, gorgeous and sassy women working and playing in Fort Worth.”
There will be eight episodes each.
Sassy! Joe Bob Briggs would be so proud.
CNN’s new lineup. CNN has announced a prime-time schedule shakeup now that it has dumped Eliot Spitzer’s In the Arena.
Anderson Cooper 360 will move to 7 p.m. beginning Aug. 8. It’ll repeat at 9 p.m.
And come the fall, the lineup will be Erin Burnett at 6 p.m., Cooper at 7 and Piers Morgan Tonight at 8.
Cooper encores at 9, followed by repeats of Burnett and Morgan.
John King USA will kick off each evening at 5 p.m. The Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer will air daily from 3 to 5 p.m.
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. E-mail:
Weekend, Pages 32 on 07/14/2011