FOX finally plugs in 'Virtuality'

Its chances of survival probably aren't all that great, but the FOX pilot "Virtuality" will at least see the light of day in a couple weeks.

The long-gestating project, co-created by "Battlestar Galactica's" Ron Moore and Michael Taylor, will air as a "FOX Movie of the Week Special" on Friday, June 26. That's actually a little better slot than the network's original plan to air it over the July 4 weekend.

"Virtuality" is about the crew of Earth's first spaceship, the Phaeton, whose crew is accompanied by a highly advanced virtual-reality system on its 10-year mission. Shortly after reaching the no-going-back point, though, the crew discovers that a virus in the system is causing some serious problems -- and raising suspicions that someone onboard might be responsible.

FOX picked up the project, which stars Nikolaj Coster-Waldau ("New Amsterdam"), James D'Arcy ("Master and Commander") and Clea DuVall ("Carnivale"), in the spring of 2008 and ordered a two-hour, backdoor pilot for midseason.

At the TCA press tour in January, though, FOX Entertainment president Kevin Reilly said the show would possibly be recut, and that he wasn't sure how wide an audience the show would reach.

"It could air as-is and a certain segment of the audience would flip for it," Reilly told reporters then. "But it's a little dense."

Whether the pilot will air as Moore and Taylor intended, or be re-edited as more of a standalone story remains to be seen. But at least it will be seen.

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