WIRE Buzz: TZGZ sets 2 new series premieres; Moonbase sci-fi comedy to Showtime; American Reaper

TZGZ, the late-night animation block on SYFY, has set the premiere dates of its first two originals: Magical Girl Friendship Squad and Wild Life.

Wild Life, which originally ran during the block as a 15-minute pilot, has been expanded to a full six-episode series about a bunch of zoo animal pals chilling post-apocalyptically. Magical Girl Friendship Squad, a transformation-heavy, universe-saving affair a la Sailor Moon (but a lot more grown-up), also got a six-episode order earlier this year.

Now both these shows will launch on Saturday, Sept. 26, starting with Magical Girl Friendship Squad at midnight ET/PT and continuing on to Wild Life at 12:15 a.m. Fans looking to veg in the middle of the night with some silly/surreal humor need only to turn to SYFY and wait.

Magical Girl Friendship Squad stars Quinta Brunson, Anna Akana, Ana Gasteyer, and Matteo Lane while Wild Life features John Reynolds, Claudia O’Doherty, Baron Vaughn, and Reggie Watts.

Fans can catch the back-to-back premieres of Magical Girl Friendship Squad and Wild Life on Sept. 26.

Next, adding to the space comedies of Avenue 5, Other Space, Space Force, and Star Trek: Lower Decks is the latest in America's fascination with a funny NASA: Moonbase 8.

According to Deadline, the show from stars/co-creators Fred Armisen, Tim Heidecker, and John C. Reilly alongside Jonathan Krisel is going to bring a surreal humor to the space-adjacent workplace comedy when it heads to Showtime.

The six-episode series focuses on three less-than-great astronauts hoping to go to the moon as they spend their time at an Arizonian Moon Base Simulator. There, things quickly and weirdly unravel. Maybe they weren’t meant for space after all.

“In a year when we have all been forced to come to terms with life in close quarters, we are happy to have landed this offbeat take on life in captivity with dreams of escaping to something grander,” said Jana Winograde, President of Entertainment at Showtime.

Directed by Krisel, the show comes from A24 and will premiere later this fall.

Finally, the indefatigable Mike Flanagan is set to help adapt yet another genre project — this time as producer.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the horror helmer who’s recently done both Doctor Sleep and The Haunting of Hill House is teaming up with Amblin to turn the comics American Reaper and Reaper Files into a film. This will be directed by Ciarán Foy (Netflix’s horror film Eli) and follow Pat Mills and Clint Langley’s sci-fi story about older Snatchers spending cash to hijack the precious bodies of young people. Anti-aging crazes, meet Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

Now there’s the Reapers, law enforcement specifically created to deal with this terrible form of identity theft. The script comes from Foy and Kyle Ward, with Intrepid Pictures’ Flanagan and Trevor Macy as producers.

No timeline is yet set for the film.