'Dresden Files' Producers Not Worried About BSG Pairing

While the space-faring, Cylon-starring "Battlestar Galactica" can make even CNN's most dismal coverage look happy, "The Dresden Files" is looking to take more of a "Doctor Who" approach, mixing strong stories with even stronger character development with a dash of lightness.

Or are they?

"In the first episode, we have three suicides," joked executive producer David Simkins, best known for his consulting producer work on such series as "Dark Angel" and "Roswell." "Seriously, 'Battlestar' is its very own successful beast. There is humor, there is emotion, there are some aspects of tragedy to ['The Dresden Files'], but this should be a fun sort of welcoming, entertaining, charming, somewhat upbeat hour of television."

Simkins joined fellow executive producer Robert Hewitt Wolfe as well as series star Paul Blackthorne in a conference call with media outlets Tuesday to talk about the new series, which premieres Jan. 21 alongside "Battlestar Galactica." While some might see the scheduling by SciFi Channel as a bit of an odd pairing, it's something that Simkins said he welcomes.

"I think it's a pretty good pairing," he said. "If this was two solid hours of a 'Battlestar'-type show, that would be a bit too much. SciFi was pretty smart to put us on Sunday night, and to put 'Battlestar' on Sunday night, too."

Simkins should know. He was a co-producer for the Fox series "The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr." which was paired with "The X-Files" on Friday night. Both series suffered in the ratings, forcing the eventual demise of "Brisco County" after a single season. However, Fox moved "The X-Files" to Sunday night, which not only boosted its ratings, but helped propel it into a cult classic. Simkins saw the magic of Sunday night work again later on when he worked on "Charmed," which also suffered in the ratings until The WB network moved it to Sunday nights.

"The Dresden Files" itself will be fighting to become the next Sunday night champion. It centers around the character of Harry Dresden (Blackthorne), a private detective who makes no secret about his supernatural abilities. In fact, he even lists himself under the "Wizard" heading in the phone book, and uses those abilities plus his keen intellect to solve mysteries. It's based on a series of popular novels by Jim Butcher, although some differences will be found in the television version.

"We really love the books. They are a tremendous amount of fun," said Wolfe, who previously worked on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and was the developer of "Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda."

"But when you adapt anything, you tend to have to write toward the television media. Jim has been very happy with what we've done, and he's aware of the process that's involved from one medium to another. It's kind of a different take, a parallel universe to his books, and he's very cool with that."

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