• by Paul Gough , April 2, 2003

Never mind the battle between scripted and reality series that's been shaping up for upcoming seasons: SCI FI's got plenty of both.

The Universal TV Network with a distribution of 80 million homes nationwide and 11 months of year-over-year primetime ratings growth has plans for a raft of dramas, reality shows and several new miniseries that build upon existing franchises and forge uncharted courses in the realm of science fiction.

Among the top projects in development is a new series based on the 1980s drama Quantum Leap, possibly involving a woman in the role once played by Scott Bakula. Another is a revamping of the 1970s science-fiction classic Battlestar Galactica, which won't be a series this time but instead a miniseries. The project, starring Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell, began production Tuesday. The four-hour miniseries will premiere in December.

But there are other projects, including what SCI FI said was a doubling of series development for the 2004-05 season. The channel said it was broadening its reach by "traveling through the varied universes of comic book publishing, celebrity producers and A-list writers, as well as the ever-expanding cosmos of SCI FI's successful Stargate franchise."

Many of the dramatic series under development have less of a science fiction feel but are every bit as quirky. Dreamworks Television's Dead Lawyers is a one-hour drama that sees deceased defense attorneys who have to redeem themselves by righting miscarriages of justice. The psychic-flavored mystery series (from the producers of The Dead Zone) The Divide teams a late night disk jockey, his dead twin sister and a female coroner using forensic science to fight crime. Whoopi Goldberg is one of the executive producers of Legion, about a man who sells his soul to save his daughter and finds himself instead battling the forces of darkness, trying to redeem himself. Stargate: Atlantis is a spinoff of SCI FI's Stargate series. And Painkiller Jane is based on a comic-book action hero of the same name.

Among SCI FI's achievements for the past year include ratings successes Frank Herbert's Dune, Children of Dune and December's 10-night miniseries Taken, which was produced by Steven Spielburg exclusively for SCI FI. The channel continues with several previously announced miniseries, including MYST, Red Mars, The Tale of Two Cities and Earthsea triology. It's also recently announced two other projects, a six-hour miniseries called 6 Days 'Til Sunday that will unfold over six nights and a four-hour miniseries called The Thing that is based on the 1950s sci-fi classic.

As for unscripted programming, SCI FI has its share. Life on Mars takes the Survivor premise to a whole new level ... and a whole new planet, as two "colonies" of people simulate living on a base on Mars. Mad Mad House pits "normal" people against people with an alternative lifestyle (including self-professed vampires, witches, voodoo priests, yoga master and a psychic). Another weekly reality series, Lab Rats, is a consumer reporting series and Psychic Investigators is a crime show by the producers of The FBI Files and The New Detectives.