New Articles! And Gone, Part 1

Entertainment Weekly has a very very generous and enthusiastic review of the third season so far, which can be read entirely online here.

TVGuide has a spoiler article about Maia's diary, with some "spoiler clues" that Ira promises will "pay off" if we keep track of them, just like Diana will have to. You can see the scanned article over here.

And what did I tell you guys? Was "Gone Part 1" not edge-of-your-seat awesome? Now that's The 4400 I know and love! Even though Jacqui's accent slipped in pretty heavily in those first few scenes ;) I hardly recognized Alice Krige as Not!Sarah at first; she is a master, so of course she played the clinical-but-not-cold part to a tee. Conchita Campbell acted her little heart out. Her pleading was gut wrenching. That kid is such a huge, huge talent.

I was also pleased that Matthew dropped his David Caruso routine (smugly prancing about predicting the inevitable) and started acting like a real human being, loved the return of UberTeacher from S1, loved the little kids (that diffusion thing was a pretty neat trick, huh), loved the return of Ambiguously Evil Isabelle... didn't love the from-out-of-nowhere Shizzabelle sex. That's going to be weird for people watching S3 on DVD in a year or so from now. If you watch "Being Tom Baldwin" and "Gone, Part 1" back to back, you have Shawn saying it wouldn't be right to sleep with Isabelle one minute, and literally 5 minutes later, he's sleeping with Isabelle. Richard's going to be really happy about that one.

Speaking of Richard, it was brilliant of Matthew to refer to Richard's military experience; Richard is one of the most humble characters on television and stroking his ego wasn't going to work, so he appealed to Richard's common sense and strengths. I would also think that Matthew knew exactly what he was doing when he goaded Isabelle to tell Shawn to share power with Richard, except that he looked absolutely gobsmacked at Isabelle's defiance. Gobsmacked is a good look on him. ;)

I'm convinced more than ever that there are warring factions in the future and that Matthew is one of those folks, and maybe not on the side of the good guys. I liked the organic tension between Tom and Alana - surely she wasn't going to spend the rest of the season being Tom's personal holodeck. I like that she's going to have a more active role. I hope this doesn't mean even less of The Faust, though - it's not the same show without him at all.

Finally, I couldn't have gotten the only one who got chills at Marco's discovery of his means of death. Although from his downright chipper reaction, since I love Marco to the point of derangement, I'm just going to assume that Maia was all and Marco outlives us all, and chokes on a radioactive prune at the age of 137.

Trouble Hearing The Episodes

I just got digital cable (just to have USA again and be able to see this show - yes, I subscribe to cable just for The 4400) and thought it was a quirk in my set-up, but apparently, I am not the only person having trouble hearing the episodes. People seeing the show on both coasts and the midwest are having difficulty with their sound during the episodes.

Everyone is reporting the same phenomenon - they have to turn the sound way, way up during the episodes (and it's still not that audible) with normal sound returning during commercials and before and after the episode.

I know that "the powers that be" read this blog, so can someone be a dear and look into what on Collier's green earth is going on? Thanks! =) And if you're having trouble with it, chime in here or on the post I just linked to, or on the official boards.

I Watch TV, Therefore I Blog.

This is supposed to be a blog, though I haven't been doing a lot of actual blogging on it. But lo! Today we change that up.

From MediaLife Magazine:

Show on the decline: “The 4400,” USA, Sunday 9 p.m. The second episode of the third season declined by 1.1 million viewers, or 26 percent, from the 4.2 million who watched last week’s premiere. It also lost about 600,000 viewers 18-49 facing stiffer competition in Game Five of the NBA finals on ABC.

It's not quite time to panic. Some decline after a season premiere is normal, and most of those were due to basketball. But what happened to the other 500,000 or so that jumped ship after the premiere?

I still haven't posted my review of the premiere yet, and am not sure if, at this point, it wouldn't be totally irrelevant, but I know that a lot of people were disappointed in it around the Internet. On this very blog, I had to delete about a dozen comments from people who appear to believe I am solely responsible for this show (there is no other logical explanation for the people who left comments like "THANKS FOR NOTHING!!!!" here.) I can't decide if this is flattering or terrifying. We'll go with flattering for now.

I do think "New World" didn't keep up the tight pace of the last few episodes of S2 and certainly seemed anti-climactic after that amazing finale. One example of a weak point that comes to mind immediately: did the S3 premiere really need four separate scenes of Kavan Smith's character declaring imminent doom, with long reaction shots of the other characters' looks of consternation following each instance? It's lead people around the Internet to nickname his character "Chicken Little." This is not a good thing, and possibly emblematic of how meandering and erratically paced the premiere was. And we're not even getting into the many obvious plot holes (Diana lives with a precog and didn't even ask her if she knew what was going to happen October 19? Okay, then!) And what's worse, I am not sure that "Being Tom Baldwin" with its scifi stock "mistaken identity because it's a clone!!!1!!1" plot was a strong enough episode at all to recover the momentum. I mean, these things weren't deal-breakers for most of us (3.3 million still tuned in, after all) but they were definitely disappointing for, I think, many.

Now I have to say this in response to the folks who are blaming it all on the Isabelle subplot: I don't love the death of Lily (though I understand that was out of the producers' hands and they didn't want it either), but I DO love Megalyn Echikunwoke and think she is doing a marvelous job of portraying a nigh-impossible character. How do you method-act an adult genius with the emotions of a toddler without being cloying and caricaturish? I don't know, but I know she's doing it. I am totally convinced by her performances that Isabelle is both childlike and brilliant; she could slow down her dialogue a little bit. I'm Cuban, so I have no room to criticize in the talks-too-fast department anyway. But otherwise? Her, and Shawn/Isabelle? It's like McDonald's. I'm lovin' it.

Anyway, I'm willing to admit that "Being Tom Baldwin" was not the strongest follow-up to what was widely perceived as a problematic season premiere. But the good news is: I'm absolutely confident that "Gone, Parts 1 and 2" are strong enough to recover the momentum and then some. I'm spoiled rotten for those episodes, and can assure fans of this show that it's going to be a nail-biting, suspenseful and harrowing 2 hours with lots and lots of interesting mytharc advancements and twists, and the integration and advancements of all the subplots in satisfying ways. I'm actually spoiled rotten for the entire season, and I'm confident they have no intention whatsoever of disappointing its fans. Keep the faith, y'all. It's gonna be gooooooood.

Speaking of spoilers, has anyone signed up for those wacky phone updates? I don't have a cell phone (I know, I know, how do I live, Shakira-ringtone-free as I am?), otherwise I would sign up for them myself, but I'm hearing from people who *do* have them that they send them during the airing of the actual episode as well as one or two during the week. Is that as annoying and distracting as it sounds? What are you supposed to be paying attention to? The phone? The episode? Both at the same time? I would suggest sending them out before and after the episode, not during, but what do I know. =)

Also speaking of spoilers, I forgot to mention that my girl Kristin V. at the E! Channel is finally giving The 4400 some love in her chats and columns. Huzzah!

4400 Trading Card Updates

Thanks to Jennifer for the following information:

Inkworks, the company that is doing the season one trading cards of The 4400, have added new information:

FROM THE WEBSITE:
Autograph Cards - One Per Box! Nine different autograph cards inserted approximately 1 in every 36 packs.

Signers include:
Peter Coyote – Dennis Ryland
Jacqueline McKenzie – Diana Skouris
Billy Campbell – Jordan Collier
Laura Allen – Lily Moore
Patrick Flueger – Shawn Farrell
Kaj-Erik Eriksen – Danny Farrell
Brooke Nevin – Nikki Hudson
David Eigenberg – Carl Morrissey
Richard Kahan – Marco Pacella

Don't forget that you have until August 15, 2006 to request a FREE card from this set. Just follow the instructions found on their site. Also, I cannot even fathom how much it would cost to actually get a complete master set of the nine signed cards. Good Lord. (And again I must ask: whither the Faust? Has he set sail on his own "life-quest" on the seven seas a la Mr. Campbell? I'm starting to seriously wonder.)

On a related note, I heard from Kaj-Erik Eriksen a few days ago and he mentioned that he, at least, had not yet done any actual signing for this set, so my and Jennifer's best guess is that the company is waiting for Bill Campbell to come back from wherever the heck he currently is to do it.

This has to be the world record for "Most People Inconvenienced By Someone's Vacation" ever. ;)

4400 Mediapalooza

See, this is what happens when I take the weekend off. You get a post with approximately forty thousand articles. Sorry! *takes a deep breath*

Ira Steven Behr has given IGN a long, detailed and somewhat spoiler-laden interview in two parts, eight pages total. To quote Cujoy on the 4400 Spoilers community, the non-spoilery parts include:

• Everything you never wanted to know about the show's in-fighting with the production company and the network.
• Why ISB has a blue beard. (He shaved his head! He is definitely a Cool Dad now!!! :D )
• The very real possibility of NBCU moving The 4400 to the Scifi Channel.

There is lots of other stuff too regarding Peter Coyote, Jeffrey Combs, Laura Allen, Billy Campbell and the instant aging of Isabelle, as well as some info about Kyle and Jordan and whether we'll ever see them again. Read Part One and Part Two.

Jacqui and Joel gave Zap2It a really terrific, but alas, again, spoilery interview, which you can read here. Trekkies should take note: there is an AWESOME CASTING SPOILER in there!!

According to the FutonCritic, the ratings for the June 11 premiere of the third season made the USA Network reclaim its status as the #1 basic cable channel. And there was much rejoicing!

MediaBlvd Magazine has posted a very detailed interview with Jacqueline McKenzie. It contains no spoilers whatsoever, but it has a lot about her thoughts, her acting approach, and her background. Great read! Read it here.

Finally, in a similar vein, The Boston Herald posted a brief and non-spoilery interview with Joel Gretsch, in which he reveals, among other things, that William Shatner loves the show. :D Read that one here.

... whew! ;)

The 4400 Goes All MultiMedia On Yo Behind

I come bearing gifts again! The USA Network has put together a bunch of goodies about the show.

PHOTOS

First the pictures, and they're for the upcoming episode, but they're not spoilery, unless you consider "people who are related to each other speak to each other!" or "Tom and Diana have a job together!" to be a huge spoiler. =)





And here are two pictures I DO think are a little bit spoilery.

• Picture 1
• Picture 2.

VIDEO

If you missed the trailer for next week's episode - it's the first of a two-part episode entitled "Gone" - you can now download it right here either as a:

• Windows Media file or a
• Quicktime trailer.

Remember to right-click and save it to your hard drive BEFORE viewing.

4400 SCREENSAVERS

Yep, you can download and run them here too, either for PCs or for Macs. Just download and run it - it'll self install!

DESKTOP WALLPAPERS

I've never seen this picture of the ladies before.


800x600 | 1024x768

The men... well, three of them, anyway (whither Chad? Bill? Richard? Kaj? Jeffrey?)


800x600 | 1024x768

The whole cast... hmmm... this looks familiar!! :D

800x600 | 1024x780

IT'S ALL FUN AND GAMES UNTIL SOMEONE LOSES AN EYE

Come kill some time with these games and features the USA Network has devised to make sure the summer doldrums don't get the best of you. Post your results in the comments!

• Maia's Diary - what does it reveal?
• What's Your 4400 Ability?
• The 4400 Trivia Game
• Tour the Set!

I have actual news to post, too. Sit tight.

The 4400 On The Interwebs

Please go show some love to our newest affiliates:

GiveMeMyRemote - A comprehensive television news and information blog run by my friend and fellow TV fanatic Kath, featuring interviews, up to the minute news, recaps, reviews and television thoughts. Not only has GMMR been a pioneer in the TV blogosphere, it's also got some terrific content us couch potatoes can't find anywhere else, and a growing and active TV addicts' message forum.

The 4400 Wiki Page - That's right. The brilliant Vigilyn has created a Wiki exclusively about The 4400. An ambitious undertaking, it is relatively slim on content right now (which YOU can help remedy, it being a Wiki and all) but is quickly growing into one of the best resources on this show right now. I'm totally jealous I didn't think of this myself.

***

My friend Craig from Kryptonsite and I have mutually agreed due to time and space constraints to no longer host a forum for The 4400 on Kryptonsite's forums as part of 4400fans.com. I just don't have the time to moderate it, unfortunately. Instead, I'm just going to point everyone over to the official show forums, which is home to some of the most robust and excellent discussions about the show and its cast available anywhere.

An excellent alternative to that is 4400abductees, a forum, run by Aliza and modded by my friend and 4400fans frequenter Purpleyin and others. It's not as busy as the official forums, but it's quite a bit more organized and comprehensive!

I have to say, the USA Network has really knocked it out of the ballpark when it comes to leveraging new media. I think they are the only network right now who really understand the role that the online fan community can play in growing its numbers, viewership and critical buzz. I am a huge fan of all their official sites, but The4400.com is one of the best official show sites on the Internet right now and truly capitalizes on every multimedia possibility available. USA has put together a site that is a tremendous resource for any fan of the show that is soon to rival and possibly surpass even StarTrek's web site. I'm not even just blowing sunshine here. Bigger networks should take note. Certainly their site leaves the embarrassing half-hearted circa-2001 endeavor the CW Network has put together in the dust.

***

Speaking of web site design geekery, I'll be doing a few upgrades to this one today, including adding more feed options and some hopefully inobtrusive ads and cool new links and things like that.

I have been considering moving this entire web site and porting all its content into something similar to GMMR's set up - a full blog WordPress site with categories, cut-tags and other similar advanced options, including the ability to have @4400fans.com email addresses and a more advanced search feature. The categories issue is a big draw as well. When I post this article, it will be post #62 and it's already getting quite unweildly to find anything here even with the search bar at the top. I am also soon to start including special features like cast and crew interviews. I can imagine that in a year or so from now it'll be impossible to find anything here. Thoughts? Suggestions? Anyone? Bueller?

InFANity Special and Lily thoughts

This week's InFANity on the TVGuide channel features The 4400. It includes a comprehensive look at the series, featuring cast interviews; set visits; stars' off-screen activities; fans' questions; and plot previews. Check your local listings; it re-airs Friday and Saturday in my area every few hours. Thanks to TV411 for the heads up! I've got my TiVO set already. =)

***

Thank you to everyone who's sent it in, but we are aware that there is a longer version of the Ira Steven Behr interview about the decision to write Laura Allen off the show. We haven't posted it until now because, honestly, the new comments don't shed any additional light on the situation and unfortunately have only served to fuel a lot of unflattering Internet speculation, most of which is almost certainly baseless, and I'm not into being a part of that.

In that spirit, I recommend these folks just repeat after me the next time they're asked about this: "It was regrettable, but ultimately best for the show. We wish Laura Allen the best of luck in all her future endeavors. Please watch our show regardless, because it is very, very good, even without Lily, and also because we are not the production team of Desperate Housewives and do not ever even hint at behind the scenes drama." Just keepin' it real, babies! You know I got much love.

Lily's Death "A Business Thing?"

I have a review of the season premiere to type up and post tomorrow, but in the interim here's a new article for you:

Ira Steven Behr discusses (?!) at length his reasons, or rather, his non-reasons, for writing Lily and Laura Allen out of the show in this new SyFyPortal interview.

...[T]here's just so many things that I'm sure you hear all the time from people on shows. They're just money decisions and business decisions, and there's a lot of people with a lot of say in all these things. A lot of people who have to answer to a lot of other people who don't have any dealings with us, and it just got out of hand. And, suddenly, there you go.

Well! I'm glad that's settled...

Season 3 premieres tonight!

Wow, it's great to see that countdown in the sidebar going to ZERO DAYS. :D Premiere day is here! Don't forget to set your VCRs/ DVRs/ etc to 9PM EST for two hours tonight!

And if, by some chance, you miss the premiere the first time around, the network (at least in my area, the southeast) is airing the pilot of House, then re-airing the premiere of The 4400, at midnight, so check your local listings!

Here's an article from The Kansas City Star celebrating the premiere and the series itself. The photo is a very low res version of the photo to the left, so I thought I'd post the higher res version I have, thanks to Jennifer. :)

And don't forget to post what you thought of the premiere in the comments!

Why is the 4400 Such a Hit?

The Boston Herald attempts to explain why The 4400 is a big hit for the USA Network and just hitting its stride in the third season while other sci-fi shows are harder to sustain this long.

The show works on two levels. Viewers who want to dissect the minutiae of the mythology (Why do the returnees have these powers? What is their agenda?) continue to get cryptic clues. Those who might get confused by all the mumbo jumbo can delight in the show’s ongoing soap opera.

Works for me! Read the rest of the article here. It does contain a basic plot summary of the S3 premiere.

Behr: S3 to be more in focus

TrekWeb.com has interviewed and showcased Ira Steven Behr extensively in preparation for the season 3 premiere. He talks to them about the difference in doing a serialized drama now in the era of Lost and Desperate Housewives, as opposed to his time on Star Trek: Deep Space 9, where the pressure was constant to play down the longer story arcs. The article speculates on where the show goes from here.

The rapid pace of the summer hit has captured the attention of many viewers, who at the end of last season saw the immaculately conceived baby Isabelle turn into a 20-year old before the credits rolled. This is a show, after all, that assassinated one of its most compelling characters half-way through last season, and used an alternate reality episode to transform one of its leads from a romantic wreck into a happily married man of several years in one fell swoop. With that kind of risk-taking, you’d better strap yourself in.

Read the entire article. It does contain general and IMHO very vague spoilers for all of Season 3, of the "this year we're going to see more _____" variety, but no details.

Joel Gretsch: Late Bloomer

Joel talks to the Buffalo News about the show, acting, his marriage, his wife and kids, and why it took him so long to come into his own in this terrific and non-spoilery interview.

Pictures from ComicCon 2005

FIXED THE THUMBNAILS!

Joel Gretsch, Jacqueline McKenzie, Chad Faust and Maharshalalhashbaz Ali all attended ComicCon 2005, July 14 through 17, in San Diego. 4400fans friend Jennifer has generously shared her wonderful photographs to be posted here on our site. Thank you so much, Jennifer! Click on the thumbnails for the larger versions.

DO NOT HOTLINK THESE ANYWHERE
THAT COULD KILL THE BANDWIDTH AND RUIN IT FOR EVERYONE!!











If YOU have something you would like to see here about the cast and crew, feel free to email me at randomabductee at gmail dot com. Please be sure to let me know how I should credit you, too!

Spoilers!

IGN did an interview with Ira Steven Behr here. The official site also has a video interview with the production team here.

Our friends at KarinaWorld have uploaded the TVGuide Season 3 preview to putfile. It's about 4 minutes of the first epiosde, and can be viewed here.

The E!Channel's Kristin Vietch also mentioned a little scoopage in her TV chat this week, and also added some tidbits in her SpoilerZone.

When it comes to the most comprehensive reporting of spoilers for The 4400, there is no better site than the 4400 Spoilers Live Journal community. Cujoy and several other people keep it completely up to date. There are episode spoilers through episode 3.10 there gathered from around the Internet and TV news. Cujoy also hosts Theory Room posts, wherein anyone is welcome to come and speculate on the collection of spoilers and what it all means and where it's going.

Finally, if you'd like to know what the names of the episodes are through Episode 3.10, you can see the list that Cujoy compiled here.

Have fun, and my advice? Don't go overboard with all this information. They're called spoilers for a reason. =)

New 4400 Trading Cards!

Trading card production powerhouse Inkworks announced the July 2006 release of THE 4400: Season One premium trading cards based on the first season of the haunting sci-fi television series on USA Network.

This dynamic new trading card series from Inkworks explores the stories of the Returnees, their special powers and how they impact the future of mankind. In addition to the 72-card base set, look for the following levels of bonus cards:

*Autograph Cards (tbd)
*"Changed" - a nine-card foil puzzle
*"Ripples" - a six card set
*PLUS three box loader cards and one case loader card.

This will be a very limited Season One collector series. See all the details on how to order here. Don't think I'm not tempted.

You can also order one trading card for FREE from the company, no strings attached, by following the special offer found here.

Cast News and Tidbits

Since the premiere is just a few more days away (EEEEEEEEE!) here are a bunch of odds and ends and articles about the cast.

* Karina Lombard is going to be on NBC's Today Show on Friday, June 9, 2006 to promote the season premiere. Check your local listings for details. (Thanks, Devin!)

* I have confirmed that Laura Allen is a principle actor on Courtney Cox-Arquette's new FX series, Dirt. She'll play a Hollywood starlet on her way up the fame chain. What this means for her role on The 4400 remains to be seen. (She wouldn't be the first actor to be on two shows at once, certainly).

* LA Weekly gave the show a rave review and declared that it makes them say WHOA! That's good, right? Best of all, it was accompanied by the yummayyyy promo outtake you see above. *dreamysigh*

* Photographer Florian Schneider took some seriously glam shots of Jacqueline McKenzie and Joel Gretsch for Emmy Magazine and put them up on his portfolio (first row). Jacqueline used some of the pictures on her web site. That guy takes amazing pictures. (Thanks to: Jennifer!)

* Jeffrey Combs did a highly spoilery interview with SyFyPortal regarding his role as Kevin Burkoff in the upcoming season.

* Bill Campbell's certainly prettier than Carmen Sandiego, but the producers told SyFyPortal in this interview that they have no idea where in the world he is right now while he's off following his bliss on his tall ship. The article has major spoilers as to his return. If you would like to keep tabs on Bill Campbell's goings-on (and who wouldn't?), you can do so by clicking on the link that says WHERE BILL CAMPBELL IS on the right hand menu. =)

New Entertainment Weekly Spread

I'm told that USA Network has taken out a two page spread near the front of this week's issue of Entertainment Weekly. I'll try to get a nice scan of it for those of you who aren't in the US.

Is it me, or is press for the show gathering steam? I don't remember the publicity machine being this much into high gear last year. If so, yay, and kudos!

Case in point: I still have 293752369 things to post from over the weekend. Stay tuned!

Kristin Vietch Comes Through

As I previously reported, a couple of weeks ago, I asked Kristin Vietch, the E! Channel's Queen of TV Gossip, to start talking about The 4400 and start giving us some scoop on that. She swore to me that she would once the regular season's May sweeps were over, and she stuck to her word. Read the vaguely spoilery little blurb and awesome plug for the show from her column yesterday here. (I personally can't think of two shows more different than The 4400 and Battlestar Galactica, but beggars can't be choosers, people!)

I have an approximate truckload of news and goodies to post from the last couple of days, including information on a new USA giveaway and some awesome downloadable videos straight from the network, so keep checking back over the weekend to see what else manages to sneak on here!

Yahoo!TV goes "4400" Crazy!

They had a few things up before, but recently Yahoo TV's section for The 4400 has gone hog wild with content, including putting up 76 - count 'em, 76 - pictures in their photo gallery. Every single cast member is there, both old and new, except for Jeffrey Combs. (Sorry, Lily! I've been on their case about getting us more Jeffrey content!!) Some of the pictures are new for this season, though not spoilery for anyone who reads this blog, and many of them haven't been seen anywhere else. Out of those, I think this one is my favorite. =) We don't get to see enough Happy!Richard on the show.

Ira Steven Behr Has a "Blog."

Following in the footsteps of, of all shows, Grey's Anatomy, apparently Ira Steven Behr done got hisself a blog. Unfortunately, no one seems to have told him that you're supposed to, you know, blog on it. It's basically a little ad for the third season, but for you spoilerhounds, it has a page from the Ep3.9 script in it that they haven't run by the studio yet. It's in PDF format and downloadable, and it's accompanied by this beautiful Isabelle/Richard picture. The blog can be found here. Sigh, Ira, I have loved you to pieces since your DS9 days, darling, but I've seen Shonda Rhimes' blog, and at least when it comes to writers and producers of a show blogging about it, you, sir, are no Shonda Rhimes.

The site has also added a neat little "Maia's diary" feature here. It reads like an actual journal. So far, it contains no spoilers, but it does have a little interactive "Ask Maia" feature at the end, which works like a Magic 8 Ball, only (as is the case with all things Maia-related) cuter and slightly creepier.

New TV Guide stuff, Jacqui interview

TVGuide.com has posted a brand new interview with Jacqueline McKenzie, which can be read here. It's a GREAT interview. There are no spoilers, but there is a whole lot of adorableness, including:

Film sets are a pretty adult world, so it's tricky when you have a little one on set, because there's a lot of cussing that goes on. Every time someone cusses, they have to pay a loonie, which is the equivalent of a Canadian dollar, into her swear jar. Conchita makes a lot of money from us. [Laughs] I tell you, she has bionic ears! She can hear it before it even comes out of my mouth now. I'll say to Conchita, "I'm just going to give you a fiver in advance, all right? Today's a hellish day, and I've got eight scenes to shoot, and I know what's going to happen." She says, "No, I don't want it in advance."

Here are the scans of another TVGuide article, which IS spoilery, provided by Cujoy, who is our latest contributor to 4400fans. =) Click on them, and they should be big enough to read.



Just one more week, y'all!

NBC to Air Unlocking The Secrets Special

The Futon Critic has confirmed that NBC will air the Unlocking The Secrets special on Saturday June 3, the day before the USA marathon and USA's initial airing of Unlocking the Secrets.

See the entire post at the link, but the important part is:

Los Angeles, CA May 31, 2006 - In a first for USA Network's original scripted shows, NBC will air a clip special of the cable network's critically acclaimed and Emmy- nominated series THE 4400 on Saturday, June 3 from 9:00-10:00pm ET/PT.

Cool, huh? :D (Even though, of course, I've already seen the special on-line.) And thanks also to TPTB here for allowing me to become the newest Blogger for this site.