Weekly Update – Ratings Update; Helfer to Guest on Chuck, BSG Season 4.5 Trailer; New Doctor Who; Batman to Die

Ratings Update: As expected, Thanksgiving week saw slow ratings returns with several preemptions and repeat airings. The good news for Heroes is that the audience attrition halted at least for one week. The bad news for Pushing Daisies is that people seem to be tuning out in droves. True it aired on the typically slow night before Turkey Day, but those hoping that ABC might change its mind on the cancellation or that another network might show interest in the show are getting no help from these numbers. Keep up with the weekly ratings with our Network Ratings Tracker as well as the likelihood of cancellation with the Renew/Cancel Index at TV by Numbers.

BSG’s Tricia Helfer Guests on Chuck: Battlestar Galactica’s super-sexy cylon, Tricia Helfer, will make a guest appearance on NBC’s nerd-meets-spies series Chuck. Helfer will play a CIA agent looking to replace Yvonne Strahovski’s character Sarah Walker. But don’t expect any cast shakeups yet as Helfer is only scheduled for the one episode.

BSG Season 4.5 Trailer: Speaking of Battlestar Galactica, the trailer for the second half of Season 4 is now available online at SciFi.com. The final ten episodes of the series will begin airing January 16th.

New Doctor Who: Rumors are flying about that Paterson Joseph will succeed David Tennant as the next Doctor Who. Joseph recently starred in the remake of Terry Nation’s post-apocalyptic series Survivors and would be the first black act to portray the Doctor.

Last Templar Mini-Series: NBC’s has announced the air dates for its mini-series The Last Templar. The Da Vinci Code-like feature which delves into the mysterious Knights Templar will air on January 25th and 26th.

DC to Kill Batman: DC Comics plans to kill off Batman in an upcoming issue of the comic book series. Word is that his demise will be ugly, but no further details have emerged. Seeing as flagship characters like Superman and Captain America have died in comic book pages previously only to return shortly after, it is highly unlikely that DC will keep Batman in the grave for long.