It's Official: We're Getting a Season 4!

Break out the party stuff, because Galactica's going on to year number 4, with a pickup of a minimum of 13 episodes, slated to appear in January '08.

Press Release from NBC:

Season 4 To Premiere January 2008

New York, NY – February 13, 2007 – SCI FI has renewed its Peabody-winning signature series 'Battlestar Galactica.' The Channel will bring the critically-acclaimed series back for a minimum of 13 hours. Production will resume this summer with an eye toward a January 2008 premiere.

The decision comes after the series' incredibly successful move to Sunday nights. Since moving to its Sunday night (10pm) slot last month, 'Battlestar's audience has grown in Total Viewers (+8%), Female Viewers (+double digits across every female demo) and in the show's Target Demos of Adults 18-49 (+19%) and Adults 25-54 (+14%), versus the season 3.0 averages. The January 28th episode, "Taking A Break From All Your Worries," delivered 2.5 million total viewers and 1.6 million Adults 18-49 – the largest audience for any 'Battlestar' episode since the season 2 premiere (7/15/05).

"We're thrilled to bring 'Battlestar' back for another season. This series has delivered on every level – from the writing to the acting to the production values," stated Mark Stern, Executive Vice President of Programming, SCI FI. "SCI FI is proud to be the home of the best show on television."

Redefining the space opera with its gritty realism, Galactica's intensity, issues-driven topicality, and command performances have garnered it unprecedented critical acclaim. In addition to winning a prestigious Peabody Award, the series has been honored as one of the 10 Outstanding Television Programs of the Year by the American Film Institute (AFI) for two years running. Battlestar is also responsible for introducing the expletive "frak" into the pop culture lexicon.

"While we never had any doubt that SCI FI would get behind a fourth season of 'Battlestar,' it's thrilling to finally make it official, and for Ron and I to continue using this great genre to investigate the darker corners of society, politics and humanity," stated Executive Producer David Eick.

'Battlestar Galactica' is the gripping drama of human survival against unimaginable odds. When the Cylon robots rose against their human creators, they launched a devastating nuclear attack that left less than 50,000 survivors. On the run and in search of a new home, the last remnants of humanity struggle against waning supplies, weapons and hope.

The series is from NBC Universal Television Studio and is executive produced by Ronald D. Moore and David Eick. Its stellar cast is led by Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Katee Sackhoff, Jamie Bamber, James Callis, Tricia Helfer and Grace Park. 'Battlestar' recently returned with the second half of its third original season on its new night and time, Sundays at 10pm, immediately following SCI FI's newest original series, 'The Dresden Files.'

SCI FI Channel is a television network where "what if" is what's on. SCI FI fuels the imagination of viewers with original series and events, blockbuster movies and classic science fiction and fantasy programming, as well as a dynamic Web site (www.scifi.com ) and magazine. Launched in 1992, and currently in 86 million homes, SCI FI Channel is a network of NBC Universal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies.

While I'm a little annoyed that we're going to have to wait 9-10 months for the series to return in January, I'm glad that we're getting it back. The 13 episode order is interesting, as it seems to look back to the first season, which also had only 13 episodes. Comparitively, between Seasons 1 and 2/3, Season 1 was much more focused on the storyline, while the other two episodes have had a number of standalone episodes that quite frankly, weren't the greatest hours of Television that Galactica should be, consistantly. So, does this mean that we're going to be getting a more miniseries like story, or are they trying to save some money? Or, does it also herald a positive light for the possible direct to DVD/TV movie that's been thrown around? Time will tell.