Yesterday evening marked an important day for comic book fans headed to San Diego Comic-Con at the end of July – it meant only two more weeks until the big event kicks off at the San Diego Convention Center.
Today, Comic-Con announced a large portion of its scheduled panels, and it’s going to be a terrific year for TV at The Con. While all of us TV lovers would kill to be in the audience to see the Fear the Walking Dead panel (Friday 7/22 @ 12PM), The Waking Dead panel (Friday 7/22 @ 1PM) and the Game of Thrones panel (Friday 7/22 @ 2:25PM), not all of us have the time or stamina to camp out overnight for a spot in Hall H, where all the panels will be featured consecutively on Friday. Hall H is the convention’s largest venue, and thus the source of the most epic lines of the weekend.
But even if you don’t want to camp out for hours, we here at MXDWN have a list of panels for TV lovers that might have more reasonable lines. Comic-Con is all about planning your geography well, because the convention spills out from the already enormous convention center out into the nearby Hilton and Marriott hotels, as well as into the Gaslamp Quarter of San Diego, so we’ve planned out some possible itineraries by their room:
Ballroom 20
After Hall H, one of the bigger venues to see a panel is Ballroom 20, so it might still be a big wait to get into, but the payoff is great too, because they’ve got some great shows with panels. Thursday, July 21st will be a somewhat supernatural afternoon. The TV panels start at 12PM with a presentation from CBS Television Studios, featuring cast and creatives from Scorpion, American Gothic and MacGyver. Then, at 3:15PM, FX previews the upcoming season of The Strain, followed by a Q&A with the creator, showrunner and various cast. After that, at 4:30PM, MTV’s Teen Wolf takes the stage for a panel and Q&A. Last but certainly not least, the highly anticipated Luke Cage series on Netflix will premiere exclusive footage from the show.
Friday is a day of broadcast network heavy hitters, beginning at 10AM with a look inside the writers room for The Big Bang Theory. Next, popular Fox drama Bones will feature a star-studded panel at 11:15AM. Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. then has a panel at 3PM. The CW’s iZombie eats your brains at 5:30PM, and finally, Fox’s Scream Queens take the stage, including Jamie Lee Curtis and Lea Michelle.
Ballroom 20 is the place to be for CW fans on Saturday 7/23, because the network is all over that ballroom much of the day, beginning with The Vampire Diaries at 11AM. After that, you’ve got some solid time for a bathroom break, and a chance to wander the exhibit halls before the 4:15PM panel for DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, followed by The Flash at 5PM, and then Arrow at 5:45PM.
Room 6A
For many of us, even the lines for Ballroom 20 are daunting, but never fear, several other rooms are holding killer TV panels, including room 6A, which is a large room, but by no means as daunting or popular as the larger venues. Lovers of drama will be happy on Thursday, July 21st, where they can find USA’s world premiere screening of Falling Water by creators Gale Anne Hurd (The Walking Dead) and Blake Masters (Brotherhood) at 1:45PM. At 3PM, TNT will discuss drama The Last Ship with Eric Dane, Adam Baldwin and showrunner Steven Kane. Following that, at 4:15PM, Amazon’s alternative history drama The Man in the High Castle will discuss Season 2 with members of the creative team and the cast.
Room 6A will be pretty dark and moody on Saturday, with panels for A&E’s Bates Motel (3:45PM), WGN’s Salem (4:45PM) and Fox’s The Exorcist (6PM). Then things get a little more ridiculous with a sneak peak and discussion of Syfy’s fourth installment of its over-the-top disaster movies, Sharknado: The 4th Awakens.
Room 6BCF
Another smaller, less intimidating room is room 6BCF, which will delight USA fans on Thursday, July 21st with back-to-back panels featuring stars of its two popular shows, Colony (4:45PM) and Mr. Robot (6PM).
Friday, July 22nd in 6BCF is a smorgasbord of TV, starting at 2PM with comedy People of Earth, which stars Wyatt Cenac followed by a panel from NBC’s new comedy Powerless (2:30PM), which will feature stars Vanessa Hudgens and Danny Pudi, as well as executive producer Ben Queen. After that, panels take a more dramatic turn in 6BCF, starting at 3:15PM with American Gods on Stars, then at 4:30PM, a panel from BBC America’s Orphan Black, and then finally, History’s Vikings at 5:45PM.
As any TV fan can see, there’s more than enough TV for several Comic-Cons over, and the choice now is how to choose between so many great panels.