Here's your heads up just in case you've already lost your TV Week insert from last Sunday when I wrote about it.
The Messengers, created and written by Fayetteville native Eoghan O'Donnell, debuts at 8 p.m. Friday on The CW.
This is a big, big deal for a young writer in Hollywood, where the chances of landing a series are slim and none. At any rate, 32-year-old O'Donnell, a 2001 graduate of Fayetteville High School has hit the screenwriter's jackpot.
O'Donnell's mom, Gayle, recently retired from teaching junior high for many years and dad Charles is a co-owner of Fayetteville's legendary Dickson Street Bookshop.
O'Donnell went on to Harvard University (for English) and Northwestern University (for screenwriting) before heading to Hollywood to seek his fame and fortune.
"After college and grad school, I moved out to Los Angeles, where I hoped to get a start as a screenwriter," O'Donnell says. "While working a day job, I wrote the pilot of The Messengers in the evenings and on weekends. I never really dared hope that someone would actually buy the script, let alone allow me to continue telling the story I'd mapped out as a series, so this past year has been a real whirlwind."
Find out what that whirlwind was all about Friday evening.
The Messengers is a sci-fi series that begins when a mysterious object plummets to Earth and explodes in a blinding flash, sending out a shock wave that briefly kills five people -- a scientist, a young mother, a troubled high school student, an undercover federal agent and a televangelist.
When they return to life a few minutes later, all are mysteriously connected. Each also has an extraordinary gift, from inexplicable strength to the ability to heal others.
Most mysterious of all is a figure known only as The Man, who brings death and suffering wherever he appears. Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name.
As The CW says, "The wheels of Revelation have begun to turn, and these five newly christened Angels of the Apocalypse may be the only hope for preventing the impending Rapture."
• More Cedric. Immediately before The Messengers, The CW will premiere Cedric's Barber Battle with host Cedric The Entertainer at 7 and Whose Line Is It Anyway? at 7:30 with guest stars Cedric The Entertainer and Gary Anthony Williams.
The former is a reality show that visits different barbershops in communities, including Los Angeles, Queens, Harlem and Austin, Texas, where the best barbers go "head-to-head" in an unfiltered, no-holds-barred arena.
• Bitten. It's Season 2 for the Syfy series featuring Laura Vandervoort as Elena Michael, the world's only known female werewolf. The action kicks off at 7 p.m. Friday with two hour-long episodes.
• Lost Girl. Season 5 -- the final season -- premiere of Lost Girl follows Bitten at 9 p.m. on Syfy Friday. Lost Girl is a Canadian import that follows the adventures of a bisexual succubus named Bo, played by Anna Silk.
You either already know that and are a fan, or it doesn't interest you in the least. I mean, with the dozen or so shows about bisexual succubi on the tube, this one just blends in.
• Finales. ABC's Last Man Standing and Cristela will have their season finales at 7 and 7:30 p.m. Friday.
• Orphan Black. Season 3 debuts at 8 p.m. Saturday on BBC America. No succubi in this Canadian import, only a convoluted tale of clones and a woman who assumes the identity of one of her clones and then, well, it's complicated.
The series stars Tatiana Maslany as Sarah Manning and a number of clones.
• Supergirl. I've gotten a couple of emails from DC Comics fans asking when Supergirl will arrive. To my knowledge, it's still on track for sometime next season on CBS.
The series will star the fetching Melissa Benoist, who played Marley Rose on Glee. The busy Benoist, 26, was also in the Oscar-nominated film Whiplash, and is in the films Danny Collins and The Longest Ride, both of which opened in Little Rock on Friday.
The TV show will focus on how Superman's cousin, 24-year-old Kara Zor-El, is ready to stop hiding her powers and become a superhero.
Most recently, Laura Vandervoort (see Bitten above) played Kara Zor-El in Smallville, the Superman origin series on The CW.
• TV Land Awards. Finally, the 2015 TV Land Awards air at 7 p.m. Saturday on TV Land with simulcasts on Nickelodeon and NickMom. Terry Crews is host; Jennifer Hudson will sing.
There will be a tribute to Betty White, and Joan Rivers gets the respectful treatment they didn't bother with at the Oscars.
Also planned is a reunion of the cast of Freaks and Geeks. Set to attend are producer Judd Apatow, along with stars Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, Linda Cardellini, Busy Philipps, Samm Levine, Martin Starr, David Gruber Allen and Steve Bannos.
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Weekend on 04/16/2015