Fall TV scoopage

TV Guide recently published some tidbits on the upcoming seasons on some of our favorite sci-fi shows, so I figured I'd share the news with you here:

Heroes: Season 3 kicks off September 22 with an all-Heroes night - a one-hour red-carpet special with previously unseen clips, followed by the first two hours of "Villains," a 13-episode story arc "that's not as obvious as its title might sound," says Zachary Quinto, who plays the brain-snatching Sylar. "There's an event at the Company that releases a whole host of Level 5 prisoners - all very dangerous killers - but 'Villains' will cast a much wider net than that. We'll explore the darkness and villainy in everybody. Even the good guys. Each has a line - what does it take for them to cross it?" The season premiere picks right up after last December's cliff-hanger, when Nathan was shot by an assassin and Niki seemingly died in an explosion. Hiro inherits his late father's business empire and gets a new nemesis, Daphne (Friday Night Lights' Brea Grant), who moves at supersonic speed. Meredith (Jessalyn Gilsig) returns to teach daughter Claire how to protect herself after an attack by Sylar. But who's going to protect her in the future? A flash-forward in time finds a very different Claire Bear. "She becomes mean, damaged and kinda nuts - the 180-degree opposite of the character we know," Panettiere reports. "Future Claire is a real badass."

Chuck: No big surprise, the life of Chuck Bartowski will be in danger - only this season it's his National Security protector Casey who's assigned to rub him out. "When the Intersect is rebuilt, Chuck becomes obsolete and expendable," says cocreator Josh Schwartz of the top-secret database implanted in Chuck's brain. "The government wants him to 'disappear' and that mission falls to Casey." CIA agent Sarah comes face-to-face with her high-school nemesis (Nicole Richie). Tony Hale (Buster from Arrested Development) joins the cast as a new assistant manager at the Buy More, who's determined to get to the bottom of Chuck's mysterious absences. John Larroquette guests as an alcoholic ex-spy who teaches Chuck how to seduce a black widow, played by The O.C.'s Melinda Clarke, and Michael Clarke Duncan plays baddie-for-hire Mr. Colt. "There's a catastrophic event at the end of the season premiere," Schwartz adds. "We're coming out with all guns blazing. We're not saving anything."

Reaper: Life gets no easier for the Devil's bounty hunter, Sam and his buds Sock and Ben when Season 2 premieres. The trio returns from an extended vacation only to hunt an escaped soul with his own loophole out of Hell. "this is a guy who broke a deal with the Devil," says exec producer Michele Fazekas. "So it turns into the search for the one-armed man." Meanwhile, demon assassins keep looking for marked man Sam. And though Sam's dad survived live burial last season, he'll keep Sam mourning a bit longer. And, says Fazekas, "By the end of the season, you will know more about his parents' deal with the Devil and what it all means."