July blog goodness

July 29, 2005 2:41 PM CDT: The best summer show you're not watching: 'Footballers Wives' are more fun than those Wisteria Lane ladies

Why do I love BBC America's "Footballers Wives" so much more than "Desperate Housewives"? Well, the British import "Footballers" is just an old-fashioned soap that doesn't pretend to be making some pretentious statement about modern society; it's a juicy, campy, English "Melrose Place" full of nouveau-riche mansions and more champagne than you can shake a Louis Vuitton bag at. (And no, it's not imitating "Desperate," the surprisingly well-acted Brit series actually premiered across the pond in 2000.)

"It's a little bit sexier than most American programs," notes Kathryn Mitchell, general manager of BBC America, who says she's "thrilled" at the increasing U.S. buzz on the show. "We looked at other [BBC] shows along the same lines, but we always thought this one would work well because it's very popular over there, and what I really like is the pace - it really moves along. Some people complain that British drama is very slow, but this isn't."

Indeed, it does move at a brisk clip: Here's what you need to know about each of the main "Footballers" couples so that you're up to date when the fourth episode airs at 8 p.m. Sunday on BBC America:

Jason and Tanya Turner: "Jase" is the Earls Park football (i.e. soccer) club's charismatic captain, but he has serious attitude problems on and off the field. When the team secretly hires a hot Italian player, Jason and Tanya have a physical confrontation with the club owner, who ends up in a coma. The Turners are trying to hide their involvement with the owner's injuries, Jason's trying to hide his womanizing (with a teammate's sister-in-law, among others) and Tanya hides from her increasing paranoia with healthy helpings of cocaine and vodka.

Ian and Donna Walmsley: Ian's an ambitious new hire determined to make a good impression on the bosses, no matter what. When Donna tracks down a son the couple gave up for adoption years ago, Ian doesn't want to know about it - until the club P.R. types decide taking in the tyke would make the Walmsleys look good. But the kid's adoptive mom won't go down without a fight, and things get ugly when the tabloids run raunchy photos of Ian with strippers. (Don't say they didn't warn you: The cheeky disclaimer for the show says that "-'Footballers Wives' contains scenes that depict nudity and sexual acts … oh, and there's some bad language as well." True on all counts.)

Kyle and Chardonnay Pascoe: This couple is a hilarious riff on real-life tabloid royalty, "Posh & Becks," a.k.a. Victoria "Posh Spice" Beckham and her soccer superstar husband, David. Chardonnay is a well-known topless model, while Kyle's a well-meaning if slightly thick jock who doesn't get why his wife is devastated when an accident leaves her bosom scarred. Kyle's mom, who lives with the newlyweds, doesn't get it either, or why Char hacked off all her hair in a fit of depression.

By the way, there's a "Footballers" marathon Aug. 21, and I command you to watch the third episode, which centers on Kyle and Chardonnay's "fairy tale wedding" -- complete with a knight on horseback and dwarfs in medieval dress. That third episode also airs tonight, Friday, at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 11 p.m. It's not to be missed, I'm telling you.

Dang, I've run out of space and I haven't even gotten to the naughty-nurse plot.

Link to the above item.

NEWS YOU SURELY CAN USE:

The pregnancy of "Alias" star Jennifer Garner will be written into the fifth season of the show. Garner's character, Sydney Bristow, will be mentoring a young, female agent, and E! Online reports the new spy will be played by "The Inside's" Rachel Nichols.

The changes recently announced at TV Guide are all to the good, I say. I only ever read the front-of-the-book features anyway, not the listings (which are mostly being chucked), and if the mag's new larger format means more space for critic Matt Roush and scoopmeister Michael Ausiello to fill with their must-read work, then I'm a happy couch potato.

U2 has a cameo on Sunday's episode of HBO's consistently swell "Entourage."

NBC announced a radical new strategy during the annual summer press tour for critics: The network would "put a show in its time period, leave it in its time period, start it on time," according to NBC head Kevin Reilly. Whoa. Radical concept.

Is it me, or is "Rock Star" the politest reality show ever? After being told she'd "murdered" a song, a contestant demurely said, "Thank you." And INXS and Dave Navarro are always sooo nice to the singers. Though not nearly as nice as Jon Stewart was in his July 25 interview Sen. Rick Santorum. I almost expected Stewart to whip out a guitar and start singing "Kumbaya" with the guy.

At least a dozen readers have written or called to say that they've received word from Comcast that Sci Fi Channel will be removed from their basic cable packages in August. I don't have any hard information on this yet, but I'm looking into it.

When "Dancing With the Stars" returns to ABC in the new year, there will be a weekly half-hour results show in addition to the hourlong dancing showcase. Will there be a post-finale "dance-off" between winner Kelly Monaco and John O'Hurley and their respective partners? At a press event for critics last week, ABC head Stephen McPherson sounded keen on the idea. Later that day at the same press tour, Monaco shot back at her critics: "-'And I guess Trista [Rehn] wasn't a part of ABC then, huh?" Monaco huffs, responding to accusations that her ABC ties may have played a role in her victory," TV Guide's Michael Ausiello noted in his press tour diary. "-'No? She wasn't an ABC darling, but I happen to be because I won the competition? That's crazy.'-"

There are rumblings on TelevisionWithoutPity.com that Aaron Sorkin may return for the last batch of "West Wing" episodes this season.

Speaking of Sci Fi, Chicago's own SciFiDaily.blogspot.com noted that the "Battlestar Galactica" DVD box set that is currently on sale exclusively at Best Buy is not the only version of the set in the works. "Universal will release a universal box set (that was a good pun, wasn't it?) on Sept. 20… the universal box contains much, much more."
Al Gore's new TV channel, Current, debuts Monday. The FAQ page of the Web site for the network is kind of funny, in an arch, know-it-all way (Question: "I suppose [the focus on current events] means there will be no cartoons." Answer: "Actually, we lurrrve animation. It's got to fit with our mission -- i.e. more JibJab than `Teen Titans' -- but if it does, we are hot to have it." Hey, why are the gratuitous dismissal of "Teen Titans"? That was uncalled for. And it's not like every JibJab video is funny.
There are some verrry interesting rumors about the casting for the next season of "Survivor" on RealityBlurred.com/realitytv (if you really want to know, click the "Survivor" button on that page).
Several readers wrote to say that the Pets.com sock puppet dog is actually starring in those 1-800-Bar-None ads. Same dog, hence the Bar None tagline about getting a "second chance." But the microphone-wielding dog is not, as a few correspondents pointed out, voiced by Michael Ian Black any more.
Judging by my mailbag, there are mixed feelings about the new season of "The 4400": Some felt it was "going strange" and "much too sloooooooow moving" but there were those who thought it was "still a very good show." I think it's still watchable, just not as great as last year.
Amy Amatangelo's readers have spoken too: She's got her annual readers poll up on her TV Gal site, where readers voted "Marissa is a lesbian on `The O.C.'" and "Rory quits Yale on `Gilmore Girls'" tops in the category entitled: "I Wouldn't Buy That If It Was on Sale, or Worst Story Line or Plot Twist."

Link to the above items.

SUDDENLY KATHY: If there was anything funnier in the last year than Kathy Griffin on the red carpet at the Golden Globes awards in January, I didn't see it. Griffin, a stand-up comic, reality-TV host and former "Suddenly Susan" star, goofed on celebrity worship by asking Clive Owen if he'd had plastic surgery on his ears and greeting another actor with the question, "Do you guys have any weed?"

Griffin's back with a new stand-up special, "Kathy Griffin Is Not Nicole Kidman," and a Bravo reality series, "Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D List," both of which debut 8 p.m. Wednesday.

So what does Griffin think of red carpets and Ryan Seacrest? The former Oak Park resident gave me the dirt in a recent phone interview:

On Ryan Seacrest, with whom she hosted a music awards show. It went badly: "It's not that I really want him dead, but … I ran into him in a parking garage when I was doing some morning radio show. He walked right up to me and I swear, I could not take my eyes off his eyebrows, they were waxed like a girl's. He was like, `You don't really hate me, right?' And I was like, `Yes, Ryan, I really hate you.' And he was fine with that as long as it gave me good material for my act. I said, `Ryan, you have no idea.'-"
On working the red carpet at awards shows: "The Brits always get [Griffin's approach]. I had a great interview with Andrew Lloyd Webber [at the Grammys] that was never shown. He was so much fun, I was asking him what his favorite Sex Pistols song was, and he said, `You know, I know them.' When I talked to Clive Owen, before the cameras rolled, I said, `I'm not going to ask you about James Bond or your suit or about your next project,' and he just said, `Thank God!'"
On whether she'll do more awards-show coverage for E! Entertainment Television, after she was stranded up in a tower at the Oscars while Star Jones got to interview celebs on the red carpet: "I don't know. I love doing it, it was a blast, but it was not fun to be so reined in after the Globes. They were like, `You can't say anything about sex or drugs or having affairs.' Agggh. And then [with Star], it's hard to work off nobody. I had friends that were watching because of me, but had to turn it off because of Star."
On the perception that she's mean on the red carpet: "I don't attack people. I'm not Tom Green. I just ask silly questions. I mean, I'm not going to ask Nicole Kidman about her crazy ex-husband; I'll just ask her what her favorite meal at the Olive Garden is. My goal is not to make them cry, just to ask funny questions."
On Tom Cruise attacking the use of anti-depressants by Brooke Shields, Griffin's "Susan" co-star: "I love [that Brooke fought back]. Brooke is so sweet, she's so Crabtree & Evelyn. I thought, she's just going to say, `Well, he's entitled to his opinion.' The fact that she took him on was the coolest thing she's ever done."
On riffing on Oprah Winfrey in her standupstand-up show: "My dream would be that she would think that's funny. There is a part of me that loves her and I watch her show every day."
On Jessica Simpson, whom Griffin knew from various awards shows they both worked at: "She came up to me and said, `You can put me in your act, I don't care.' I love her for that. I'm always so used to opposition that something like that always makes my day. But then again, I don't really gun for the people who have a sense of humor." Can go online
On growing up in Chicago: "It's the perfect place to grow up. I love everything about it, it's a big city but you're not always in your car, like you are in L.A. Every race, creed and color goes to things like Taste of Chicago - there's some Taste of L.A. and nobody knows about it and it's in some teeny yard in Santa Monica. I love that in Chicago, there are events everyone goes to."
On doing doing comedy dates in Chicago (she'll be at the Centre East in Skokie Sept. 17): "People in Chicago are smart. And they listen. I love doing theater dates because then you're not in a club, competing with the drunk guy and the bachelorette party and all that. It can be brutal."
On meeting "The Amazing Race's" Jonathan and Victoria, who famously had a physical shoving incident on the show, which Griffin loves: "I was like, `You're not a nice dude at all, you're obnoxious. You think you're a villain but you're really just a wife-beating jerk.'"
On "Britney and Kevin: Chaotic": "It really was like `Pimps Up, Hos Down,' wasn't it? She looked so awful, with that grainy green [night-vision] footage and all those shots that went up her nose."
On "Being Bobby Brown": "Bobby and Whitney [Houston] make Kevin and Britney look like the Cleavers."
On ticking off Clay Aiken's fans, a.k.a. the Claymates: "They already hate me for talking about him [which Griffin does again extensively in her new standup special]. I'm already a persona non grata to them. I'm sure they're going to crush my Web site [when they see the special]. When I met him, I asked him about the Claymates, and he was like, `Well, some of them are a little out there.' And I'm like, `Clay, all of them are out there!'"

Link to the above item.

YOUNG AT HEART: So how old is Andy Milonakis?

On his new MTV show, which premiered June 26 and is aptly called "The Andy Milonakis Show," he looks about 12 as he goes about New York having odd conversations with various passersby. (One exchange, as he hands out smiley-face balloons at a supermarket: "I have no soul!" Old man: "I have no soul either." That was almost as funny as the 5-second skit involving Satan Kitty.)

According to an MTV rep, "he's ageless," but recent press reports put Milonakis, a protégé of talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel, at age 29.

Regardless of his age, Milonakis' show fits in well with other new MTV and MTV2 fare such as "Wonder Showzen" and "Stankervision," which I hereby dub "assault television," which consists of assaulting viewers (and often, random residents of New York) with odd questions or situations, and using weirdness, rudeness, oddball topic matter and brevity to break through the TV clutter. Truth be told, it's kind of funny some of the time (and it may rot my soul, but I love me some "Wonder Showzen").

Regardless, Milonakis doesn't care what people say about his sketch-comedy show: He told Radar magazine's Web site that "random and pointless is a great review for our show. That's exactly how I would describe the show."

And apparently, his "I'm a 12-year-old goofball" approach is a hit: According to the Internet firm Lycos, as of July 23, Milonakis' name was the 34th most-popular search on the Web.

Link to the above item.

Guidos! Rats! Lack of Philler! Those addictive GSN 'Amazing Race' repeats

Now that I've seen all of Season 1 of "The Amazing Race" on GSN -- repeats of Round 1 just finished up Saturday -- all I can say is whew! What a ride. Some thoughts:

Team Guido = evil! When one of the Team Guido guys compared another team's disparagement of the Guidos to domestic violence, I thought my head would explode. Such self-righteous anger in the face of criticism that was completely justified! It was them - two men -- who'd shoved around a woman, for heaven's sake, in the course of blocking all the other teams from leaving for a crucial flight. Though they were comically behind by the end, and there was no suspense regarding how they'd finish, it was nice to see their twisted karma come back and bite them on their matching-pants-clad behinds.
Speaking of time lags, since we began watching in Season 3, my husband has groused about the constant "bunching" of the candidates -- flights or other situations that put all the contestants in the same time and place, so that any edge that leading teams have is eliminated. Now I see why they do that much more now -- I'd always argued to him that if one or more teams were way behind, there'd be no suspense regarding them. And I was right. Once the Guidos were a day or more behind, I just didn't care about them, though their situation did supply comic relief.
So much of watching this show is watching people in bad relationships and how they deal with their issues. Frank and Margarita were one such couple, and by the end, it was pathetic to see her keep justifying his verbal bullying. She kept putting it down to "bad communication" or whatever. How about attributing it to the fact that Frank's a jerk?
The weirdest thing about seeing this old-school version of the show is not seeing host Phil Keoghan at the mat when every single team arrives. It was just odd! Unnerving! Simply wrong. I hope they changed it by Season 2 -- guess I'll find out when I start watching that on my TiVo tonight.
Still, whatever weirdness there was, what's great about the show then is what's great about it now. I actually liked the fact that this first edition didn't have any model/actor/whatevers, and that the clues were somewhat complex. But no matter what, seeing how people relate to each other on the fly and in a hurry is interesting. "The Amazing Race" is still the study of human behavior under pressure, and as such, has never had an unrewarding season.
How about those locations in Season 1? The Great Wall of China (I really expected Frank and Margarita to be arrested when they jumped a fence on the grounds of one part of that complex. Yikes!), Notre Dame in Paris and ugh, the rat temple. Those were amazing places.
And, I'm hedging here because you may not have seen Season 1 yet (it comes out on DVD Sept. 20), but I am happy that a really deserving team won. And it'd be great to see that team show up on the much-talked about all-star version of the game, if there ever is one. It's rumored that an all-star version might be on the cards after Seasons 8 and 9 air.

MARS ATTACKS AGAIN: The North Bridge/Nordstrom mall on Michigan Avenue is featuring a massive series of ads on walls and doors promoting Season 2 of "Veronica Mars."

And not only are there a bunch of phrases of praise from TV critics around the country, there's also a line ("This show rocks!") from TelevisionWithoutPity.com. That's only fair: Fans of the show did as much if not more than critics to promote and save the acclaimed UPN show, which airs Fridays on CBS through Aug. 12.

Link to the above items.

July 22, 2005 9:54 PM CST: Where's the couch? Fans of mourn the passing of a 'Daily Show' regular

The couch is not coming back.

Over the 4th of July holiday, "The Daily Show" moved to a new studio and installed a new set. So far, since the new set debuted on July 11, the reaction has mainly been, "Where's the couch?," according to executive producer Ben Karlin, who spoke to the Tribune on July 19, the same day host Jon Stewart announced a permanent couch ban on the Comedy Central show.

"People hate change; we knew we'd be fighting against that. They miss the couch and the globe," Karlin says. "But I happen to be a person who is a fierce advocate of not getting comfortable. As long as the content of the show remains sharp and interesting," people will get used to the new chair perched next to Stewart's desk. The couch, Karlin adds, was a holdover from older, pre-Stewart versions of the "Daily Show," which sort of tried to ape the typical late-night talk-show vibe.

"It's funny to us -- we have no attachment to the couch," Karlin said. "The couch is so incongruous with the show. … One thing that's been made really clear over the last few years is that it's not a talk show. We don't know what it is. It's a thing unto itself."

And for now, it's a thing that's been invaded by three huge video screens, which loom over Stewart like … really huge looming things.

"We haven't figured out how to use them yet," Karlin admits. "It's like anything else, when you get a new computer, you know it has all these cool features, but you haven't figured it out, so you just use Word. That's where we are with the new set. It's just a process of discovery. We're a little freaked out about it, but we're excited about what we can do with the new space."

"The Daily Show" doubled the size of the live audience with the move, Karlin noted. "We've been in a small, intimate studio for such a long time that we wanted to see what it would be like to bring in more people and have that awkward feeling when jokes don't work. You really want a large, cavernous space for that awkwardness."

Karlin is so over the couch that he admits he's not 100 percent sure of where it is. "We did have a plan to have a ritual cleansing and then destroy stuff" from the old set, but, for reasons he can't quite explain, "all that got destroyed was the fax machine."

"I think [the couch] is being auctioned off for some charity," Karlin said. "Anyway, let's say that; it sounds good."

More from Ben Karlin:

[On the show's new digs] "The square footage [in the new space] is almost twice what we had before. So we thought it would be kind of dumb to take exactly the same set. One thing led to another, and now we have these three big screens.

"We've moved to a worse part of town. And we have windows. So now, you look out and see a level of homelessness that you should really not be staring at while you're trying to write a joke about Dick Cheney.

[On how guests feel about the lack of a sofa] "We want people to be comfortable. We have a blend of guests from entertainment, politics, journalists, and with the exception of straight-up actors, all of them do a lot of talk shows with sets like ours, things like 'Meet the Press' and the CNN shows. They're used to being in all manner of settings, it's not a big deal for them. It might be more strange if we only had people like Jessica Simpson too.

[On having lots of authors on the show of late] "We don't really have to be subservient to that publicity machine of films and TV shows. People can go other places to see Johnny Knoxville talk about 'The Dukes of Hazzard.' On the flip side, authors might not get exposed to our type of audience, so it's nice to give them a forum. We want to keep [the roster of guests] an interesting mix, that's all.

[On the first day of the new set, the screens behind Stewart featured the words "The Daily Show" in small type, which looked … odd] "But when you look at it on an architect's sketch, it looks so cool. It just didn't work at all [on the show]. For that first show [with the new set], we had one day to rehearse. We were still loading the place and moving stuff, and we had a show to do. They were still constructing the offices, we were really going up to the last minute. There were still wires and scaffolding everywhere. It was a big job, but it's good for a show that's approaching middle age in TV years. It's nice to have a new thing to play with.

"But it's weird to go down [to the set] and focus on something that is not the content of the show.

[On the decision to shake things up] "Well, we got some political capital in the election, and we're gonna spend it" [laughs].

Link to the above.

HATCH? BACK: It's been five whole years since "Survivor" debuted. Hard to believe, eh? Certain things about that classic first season, which begins airing again on OLN at 6 p.m. Sunday, are still indelibly imprinted on my brain, namely:

Sue Hawk's tirade against Kelly and Richard in the finale ("… if I were ever to pass you along in life again, and you were laying there, dying of thirst, I would not give you a drink of water. I would let the vultures take you and do whatever they want with you, with no ill regrets").
Richard Hatch's naked behind.
Colleen and the other girls dressing up in superhero costumes.
Sean's idiotic alphabetical-elimination strategy.
Rudy… being Rudy.
Greg and Colleen's little romance.

But I must admit, I don't remember Joel at all. There was a guy named Joel? I'm drawing a blank there.

Link to the above.

SPIKE'S BACK: Below is a press release I got from the WB at 5:30 p.m. Friday, which is a really weird time to put out a press release, but anyhoo, Spike's back! Woohoo!

Without further ado, here's the press release in its almost entirety (I left out the part about the history of "Smallville," which I've always been kind of disappointed in, because it's sometimes pretty good, often average and sometimes below average. It just has never fully lived up to its potential, imho, but maybe that'll change this season):

"BEVERLY HILLS, CA (July 22, 2005) -- James Marsters sinks his teeth into another juicy role for The WB when he joins the cast of 'Smallville' for multiple episodes. Marsters will portray Brainiac, a classic DC Comics villain and one of the Man-of-Steel's most formidable enemies. Additionally, one episode this season will reunite series star John Schneider with his former 'Dukes of Hazzard' co-star, Tom Wopat.

"Marsters plays college professor Milton Fine, alter ego of the uber-villain Brainiac. Possessed of a vast, superior knowledge limited only by his hubris and emotions, Brainiac comes to earth armed with a secret about Clark's biological family and the truth about Krypton's demise. Brainiac's presence in Smallville will have a devastating effect on Clark and Lex's already deteriorating friendship.

"Marsters first appeared on The WB in the critically acclaimed hit series 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' as Spike, the vampire who first tries to kill Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar), but ultimately falls in love with her. After five seasons on the show and Spike's untimely demise, Marsters' character was reborn as a ghost on the series spin-off 'Angel,' starring David Boreanaz.

"Marsters began his professional career in the theater, performing in stage productions including 'The Tempest' and 'Red Noses' at Chicago's renowned Goodman Theatre. In addition, Marsters revisited the stage in Los Angeles with a starring role in an original play produced by Noah Wyle, titled 'The Why.' Additional television roles include a guest appearance on 'Northern Exposure' and the series 'Strange Frequency' for VH1, as well as on Gene Roddenberry's 'Andromeda.'

"Brainiac is the latest DC Comics character to appear in 'Smallville.' The Flash, Mxyzptlk and Perry White have all made appearances during the series run. Last season, Lois Lane (Erica Durance) joined the cast.

"Also this season on 'Smallville,' veteran actor and Broadway star Tom Wopat will portray a state senator who was a boyhood friend of Jonathan Kent (Schneider). In addition to his role co-starring with Schneider on the hit television series 'The Dukes of Hazzard,' Wopat starred in the popular sitcom 'Cybill,' with Cybill Shepherd, and in the daytime drama 'All My Children.' He was also nominated for Broadway's 1999 Tony Award as Best Actor (Musical) for his role opposite Bernadette Peters in the revival of 'Annie Get Your Gun.'"

Link to the above.

NEWS YOU CAN USE:

A doctor wrote a lovely, thoughtful piece for the New York Times on why he likes to watch "House." It's here (registration required).
Adam Finley of TVSquad.com perfectly captured a thought I've had many times while watching soaps. "The most horrifying thing I've ever experienced is tuning into a soap opera I have not seen or thought about in over a decade, and every one of the actors looks exactly the same. I know it's due to plastic surgery, Botox, drinking the ocular fluid of a peacock, or whatever the [heck] celebrities do to look younger, but [darn,] is it scary. When I flip to 'One Life to Live' and Asa Buchanan actually looks younger than when I last saw him in 1992, I feel as if I'm no longer on Earth, but instead have been taken to some surreal new level of hell."
Jeannie Sanke of Evanston (who's descended from Mitchells, Aitkens, MacGregors and Richfords) wrote regarding a tribute to "Star Trek" actor James Doohan I penned earlier in the week: "I would wholeheartedly agree with every point you made about Cmdr. Scott, save one: as a Scot, and with a family full of Scots back home in Glasgow, I can tell you that Jimmy Doohan's Scottish accent was terrible and only grew worse over time. Not that I loved him any less. But it really was off, for those of us who know the difference. Why, in 'Relics,' he sounded downright North American half the time!"

Aye, I canna lie. Sanke has a point.
Is it me, or is the microphone-wielding dog in the "1-800-Bar-None" car-finance ads a dead ringer for the Pets.com sock-puppet dog of years gone by?
The best reality development in ages (aside from the cable repeats of "Survivor" and "The Amazing Race" this summer) is that "Project Runway" winner Jay McCarroll will get his own Bravo special, "Project Jay," which will follow his attempt to launch his own fashion line. There's no air date for the Bravo special, but you can be sure I'll let you know when it's on.
Speaking of "Survivor," the most recent winner of the reality show, Tom Westman, has retired from firefighting and is looking to become a motivational speaker, according to the New York Daily News. But first, he'll make an appearance on the CBS soap "The Bold and the Beautiful" Aug. 10. "He appears in scenes with series regular Lorenzo Lamas, who plays Hector Ramirez, a Los Angeles firefighter," according to the CBS press release. Sounds hot!
Speaking of hot, there's an open casting call for female beauties and male geeks for the next edition of "Beauty and the Geek" from 4 to 8 p.m. July 31 at the Lincoln Park branch of the John Barleycorn tavern empire.
Do you have any thoughts on this season of "The 4400"? For me, the quality is wavering a bit, though I still watch it religiously. Anyhow, drop me a line if you have any feedback on this season of the USA Network show.
My Tribune colleague Shia Kapos this week that a Chicago-area family, the Rosiers, were so unhappy with the work done on their home by a "Renovate My Family" crew that they're suing the company that created the show. It's a shame that the family had a bad experience, but the whole debacle is somehow made worse by the fact that it was all in pursuit of a terrible show. "Renovate" is a boring (and now-canceled) "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" ripoff starring Dr. Phil's son (who was more wooden than a 2-by-4). And however lame you think it must have been based on that description - trust me, as one of the three people in America to have seen it, "Renovate" was even worse than it sounded.
That was fast: The first season of "House," the Fox medical drama starring the Emmy-nominated Hugh Laurie, comes to DVD Aug. 30.

Link to the above.

BRAT WRANGLING: Tony Randazzo is a very nice guy, but you probably don't want your kids to end up anywhere near him.

Randazzo, a.k.a. "Glacier Mountain Wolf," is a lead field counselor at SageWalk, a wilderness therapy program depicted in ABC's new hit reality show, "Brat Camp," which follows nine unruly teens sent to the Oregon desert to sort out their problems, which range from drug abuse to running away to violence.

Randazzo realizes that not every parent can afford SageWalk, where the starting fee for a 30-day program is around $10,000. So here, he offers some tips for raising untroubled teens, gleaned from his years of experience in the field and with his own 10-year-old daughter:

Listen, "not just to the words coming out of a kid's mouth," but listen to what might be behind the words. "It's interesting to see how many people [in life] are tuned out, how in many families, people are fairly focused on themselves."

Set routines. "We find that kids in struggling environments do really well when they know what's expected of them every day, when things happen at the same time every day."

Be consistent. "If you're consistent [in enforcing rules], you don't have all those arbitrary little fights all the time."

Let there be natural consequences for missteps. "The punishment has to fit the crime." Example: Kids on "Brat Camp" who don't have all their stuff properly stowed within five minutes of waking up have to do their whole morning routine again.

Be willing to be the bad (but fair) guy. "We want to give our kids everything we had or wanted to have. In an effort to do that, we try to stay friends with our kids. That creates a whole new set of problems."

Think about going camping, because getting kids away from their cell phones, friends and TVs, etc., seems to get them to focus in new ways. "People might look at what we're doing on TV and wonder why we are making them [get ready in five minutes in the mornings]. Well, at home they have to wake up and be ready for school at a certain time. It's all about organization and planning ahead so you can function well during your day. That's always relevant to everything we do in the woods."

If you're still having trouble, ask school counselors for resources and check out strugglingteens.com, a resource Randazzo says he uses a lot.

Link to the above.

MARS ATTACKS: "Veronica Mars" is hitting the big time.

The critically acclaimed drama debuted last fall on UPN, but in coming weeks, CBS, UPN's bigger and more-watched sibling network, will air four episodes of the program. Two episodes will air at 7 p.m. Friday and single episodes will air Aug. 5 and Aug. 12.

"'Veronica Mars' is a smart, intelligent show with a fabulous star in Kristen Bell, and like many other great series, it simply needs more exposure to gain real traction. This is that opportunity," Dawn Ostroff, president of UPN, said in a statement.

The show's active online community, which banded together in the spring to save the show when it looked like it might be canceled, is thrilled with the exposure the detective show will get by airing on CBS.

"I was excited earlier when AOL made the pilot episode of `Veronica Mars' available for download, and I'm even more excited about this," said Gil Sery, founder and Web master of SaveVeronicaMars.com. "As long as CBS advertises incessantly during the show that `Veronica Mars' will continue on UPN, this is great news. I say this because I remember when NBC promoted the then-new PAX show 'Mysterious Ways' in a similar manner, but did not make it clear to many viewers that this show would continue on PAX, and thus lost many potential viewers. I really hope this doesn't happen with `Veronica Mars.'"

Link to the above.

July 20, 2005 1:16 PM CDT: Godspeed, Scotty

Almost 40 years ago, a journeyman character actor took a role on a show about space travel.

Why is it that we all still remember the role played by James Doohan, a.k.a. "Star Trek's" Montgomery "Scotty" Scott, who passed away at age 85 on Wednesday?

It's not just because "Beam me up, Scotty," became a legendary pop-culture catch-phrase.

It's because we identified with the exuberant chief engineer that Doohan created. Scotty was the working stiff. He was not one of the exalted beings lording over the bridge of the Enterprise. No, he was the overworked guy in engineering, the sweaty, busy guy in charge of keeping the darn thing running.

Who hasn't been there? The boss says, "I need you to do this Herculean task now. In fact, I needed it yesterday. Why haven't you finished yet?"

And you nod your head and say, "Sure, no problem." Even as the sweat breaking out on your brow leaves the distinct impression that you really don't know how you're going to do whatever impossible job you've just agreed to do.

Not that the bigwigs see your sweat. They're off to the next Hugely Important Decision, the next crisis, the next alien babe.

You're left getting the ship underway again within an hour. Good thing you told the boss that you'd need three!

That's what a smart worker does -- give the boss a somewhat realistic idea of how long the job will take ("You'll have it on your desk in the morning!"), knowing that the boss'll want it sooner ("End of business today, got that?"). Even though you know that, if you really buckled down and got cracking, you could get it done by about 4:30 p.m. and still have time for a Starbucks break.

That's what Scotty represented -- the cunning intelligence of the grunt worker. Do the impossible enough times and your bosses will take it for granted. Scotty did the impossible time and again, and always tweaked things just a little bit so that he'd come out looking good.

But he wasn't devious or shiftless. The Enterprise was his first priority and his only love. Scotty was just a guy who, like us, had to figure out on the fly how to manage the expectations of the muckety-mucks.

"But Captain, she can't take it!" he'd yell in that Scottish burr of his, as Captain Kirk tried yet another crazy maneuver with Scotty's beloved ship.

But she could and did take it, because Scotty was there to fix the warp plasma manifolds or whatever and make it all run smoothly again.

It's the Scottys of this world who keep it running. And that's why we loved him. Because he was one of us.

Godspeed, Mr. Doohan. Thanks for doing that Scottish accent so well. Most of all, thanks for giving us working stiffs someone to root for.

Link to the above.

July 15, 2005 8:57 PM CDT: 'Dancing' producer addresses controversy

Looking for the "Stargate SG-1" and "Stargate Atlantis" interviews? They're here.

Looking for the "Battlestar Galactica" interviews? They're here.

Looking for the Emmy rants? They're here.

Let's put one television controversy to rest right now.

The perfect score that Kelly Monaco and Alec Mazo got on the finale of "Dancing With the Stars" -- a score some fans of the show felt was unjustified -- actually didn't matter. Producers knew Monaco and Mazo were going to win before the finale even began.

"Even if she got quite a low score, she would have won" based on audience voting in the week preceding the July 6 finale, according to Conrad Green, executive producer of the surprise ABC smash.

Green categorically denies that producers had any input into the final scores the three judges gave Monaco and Mazo. And none of the trio knew how their fellow judges were going to rate the routine.

"I think if they had known they were giving three 10s, they would have considered it differently," Green says, adding that judges were likely taking into account the difficulty of Monaco and Mazo's routine and their rise from low scorers to the top tier of dancers.

Though Monaco's win wasn't assured because of the fact that she's on another ABC show, "General Hospital," her victory may have been partially courtesy of the rabid fans of the soap.

"I guarantee there was no agenda for the show from ABC. They would have been delighted whoever won," he notes. "People can conspiracy theorize as much as they want to, but Kelly had a huge following throughout the public vote."

Still, he'd like to do "Dancing" differently next time, and allow viewers one week to vote on the finalists' last routines. On the recent "Dancing" finale, viewers were voting on the previous week's dances.

And Green would love to get started soon on the next edition, which might have a longer run, though no start date has been firmed up.

"I think the thing people got into is how hard [the dancers] tried," Green says. "It's good fun, and there aren't that many shows without meanness in them."

Here's a link to this item.

NEWS YOU CAN USE:

On IFC's fun half-hour gabfest "Dinner for Five," "Deadwood" creator David Milch stated that the show was written entirely in iambic pentameter. I had no fracking idea.

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel" alum Charisma Carpenter is joining the cast of "Veronica Mars," where "Buffy" star Alyson Hannigan already plays a recurring character.

Jeri Ryan of "Boston Public" and "Star Trek: Voyager" will have a multi-episode arc on "The O.C." this fall, as a woman Kirsten Cohen meets in rehab. TV Guide's Michael Ausiello, who broke the news in his online column, adds that "no, [Ryan] won't be Oliver in drag."
Oak Park resident Manning Peterson was shaken when a loud confrontation between "agitated" people occurred recently outside his home, which is close to where Oak Park resident and University of Illinois at Chicago professor Peter D'Agostino was murdered just days before. It turns out the loud altercation was part of filming for an upcoming episode of "Trading Spaces."

" 'That was great! Totally believable!' says (I assume) the director of the TV show," Peterson wrote in the Wednesday Journal. 'You think this is funny?' I ask the crew. 'Do you realize a man was murdered here, three days ago?' 'No …,' says a crew member, annoyed, as if he was tired of hearing about it, 'it wasn't here; it was on the next street.'"

The Wednesday Journal also reported that the homeowners who participated in filming of the episode, which a TLC spokesperson told the paper is tentatively set to air Sept. 10, are "associated with Noble Fool, an improv comedy troupe."

(Thanks to RealityBlurred.com for the Oak Park/"Trading Spaces" tip.)
Reader Stephanie Kuenn of Chicago wrote in to make a case for Comedy Central's oddball new comedy, "Stella," which I didn't find funny but she did: "I liked the absurdity most of all. My husband and I were watching the second show, and he said, 'Is this just going to be about their apartment building?' To me, it's taking a typical concept, like 'Friends' and then applying physical comedy and non-sequiturs to it, and I wasn't expecting that. I did like the dance sequence they performed to win acceptance into the co-op."
Amy Amatangelo, Zap2It.com's "TV Gal" columnist, had a great idea for the next edition of "Beauty and the Geek": "I'm … crossing my fingers that … we'll have male beauties and female geeks and see how that all works out. My general thinking is that the men wouldn't be nearly as kind and supportive as the gals have been this season, but I would love to be proven wrong."
Speaking of Comedy Central, the network has aquired syndication rights to "Scrubs" and will start airing the stellar comedy in 2006.
According to an online report, Michelle Forbes of "Homicide" and "Star Trek: The Next Generation" will guest on "Battletar Galactica" [SPOILER AHEAD -- DON'T READ THE REST OF THIS ITEM IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW MORE] as an admiral who assumes command of the fleet. (Warning: There's another really major spoiler about Forbes' character on the site, so don't click on the link above unless you simply have to know more.)
Unsatisfied with the reality offerings on TV these days? There are yet more creative permutations of unscripted fare at www.alldaycoffee.net/toys/reality.php, where you can find a "reality show premise generator."
Just one more "Star Trek" reference, I swear: There's a great interview with "Next Generation" actor and blogger Wil Wheaton at interviews.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/27/0926218&from=rss.

Here's a link to this list of news items.

July 15, 2005 9:32 AM CDT: Emmy rants and raves Some thoughts and rant-tastic musings on the 2005 Emmy nominations, which were announced Thursday:

The "Thanks for Not Making Me Weep into My Coffee" Award: It's only fair and proper that Emmy voters recognized the terrific work of some of my favorite actors, namely Glenn Close (who rocked my world on "The Shield"), C.C.H. Pounder (ditto), Jeffrey Tambor, Jessica Walter and Jason Bateman of "Arrested Development," Sandra Oh ("Grey's Anatomy"), Hugh Laurie ("House"), Zach Braff ("Scrubs"), Jeremy Piven ("Entourage") and Terry O'Quinn ("Lost").

The "They Wuz Robbed" Award: Anthony Anderson ("The Shield"), I did weep into my coffee for you. I'd also strenuously hoped for a nomination for Lauren Graham of "Gilmore Girls," but I guess the "Desperate Housewives" will have the comedy category locked up until 2012 or so. (Speaking of "Gilmore Girls," I'd also nominate Scott Patterson, Kelly Bishop and Edward Herrmann as terrific supporting players). And no major acting or writing nominations for "Veronica Mars," "Battlestar Galactica," "Nip/Tuck," "Everwood," "Farscape: Peacekeeper Wars?" Just one writing nod for "Rescue Me"? Grrrrrrrrrrrr.

The "Whatever Happened To" Award: "Joan of Arcadia" was nominated as best drama last year. Now it's gone (and only got one measly nomination, for guest actress Cloris Leachman). Sniff.

The "Says It All" award: NBC got 77 Emmy nominations in 2003, 65 in 2004 and 54 in 2005 (only five more than Fox, for goodness' sake).

The "What Are You Smoking?" Award: Seven nominations for Showtime's "Huff," including best actor in a drama? Hank Azaria is moderately talented, but nobody loved the show and I can think of 10 actors who deserve that slot more than he did.

The "Whatever You Say" Award: If "Desperate Housewives" had had to compete in the drama categories, it would have had a much harder time. So, smart move on ABC's part to submit the show as a comedy. But that doesn't mean I have to buy that it's a comedy.

The "Shoutouts to Homeboys" Award: You go, Evanston's own Jeremy Piven, a.k.a. "Entourage's" Ari Gold, Chicago native Kathryn Joosten (nominated for a guest turn as Mrs. McCluskey on "Desperate Housewives") and Lane Tech grad Genny Tartakovsky, who got nominations for his animated shows, "Samurai Jack" and "Clone Wars."

The "Yippee, Terrific But Somewhat Obscure Cable Offerings Got Nominated" Award": Let's hear it for "Project Runway," "The Office Christmas Special," IFC's "Dinner for Five" and "Da Ali G Show," all of which picked up one or more nominations.

The "Apparently, There's Dancing" Award: "MADtv" got a best choreography nomination. Wait, there's dancing on "MADtv"?

The "I Just Hope They Don't Know Where You $%#@$ Live" Award: Is it wise to tick off the women of "Deadwood" by shutting them out of the acting awards? Not to mention Powers Boothe, William Sanderson, Timothy Olyphant and the rest of "Deadwood's" insanely good cast? No, it's not wise at all.

The "If This Doesn't Win I Will Be Really Mad" Award: David Shore's script for the second-to-last "House" episode of the year, "Three Stories," is one of the best-written television episodes ever. "Walkabout," a nominated episode of "Lost" written by David Fury, is also deserving, but "Three Stories" was just magically, inventively wonderful.

The "Nice One" Award: Thanks, TV academy, for recognizing Martin Landau's poignant turn as Jack Malone's dad on "Without a Trace," as well as Alec Baldwin's funny guest shot on "Will and Grace" (see, I don't only abuse "Will and Grace").

The "Equal Time" Award: Fine, Alan Alda got a nomination for his work as a presidential hopeful on "The West Wing." What about fellow candidate Jimmy Smits? He got nothin'.

The "Beating a Dead Horse" Award: "Will & Grace," "Everybody Loves Raymond," "The West Wing," enough already (at least "Raymond's" gone after this Emmy season). And what is it with Emmy voters and "Malcolm in the Middle's" Jane Kaczmarek? Is her name pre-printed on the ballot or something?

The "Grate Copy-editing" Award: On the Emmy press release, Piven's character is billed as Ari Jacobs; the "Entourage" super-agent's name is actually Ari Gold, as in, "You've got Gold!"

The "Married Bliss" Award: William H. Macy was nominated for his work in the TV movie "The Wool Cap" and his wife Felicity Huffman got a nod for her work on "Desperate Housewives." Things are going well in their house this weekend, I'm guessing.

The "Oh, C'mon" Award: Jennifer Garner is one of the most likable actresses around, but "Alias" had a terrible year, and the happy newlywed and mom-to-be would probably have been happy to give up her slot to, say, Kristen Bell of "Veronica Mars."

The "Don't Let the Door Hit You on the Way Out" Award: Three of the best supporting actor in a comedy award nods went to two "Everybody Loves Raymond" actors and (snore) Sean Hayes of "Will and Grace" (really, you can stop nominated Hayes. Really). If there is any justice in the universe, next year all five slots will be occupied by Will Arnett, Michael Cera, David Cross, Tony Hale and Jeffrey Tambor of "Arrested Development" (this year, only Tambor got a nomination).

The "Uh, What Theme Music?" Award: Joel Goldsmith got an Emmy nomination for the main title music he wrote for "Stargate Atlantis." Too bad there are rumors that Sci Fi plans to cut the main title sequences for "Atlantis" and "Stargate SG-1" (which features another Goldsmith tune) down to 10 seconds each.

The "You're Frighteningly Versatile" Award: Michael Giacchino was not only nominated for the terrific music he does for "Lost," but for co-writing a song on "The Muppets' Wizard of Oz."

The "I Know It's Obscure, But I'm Psyched" Award: John F. Michel got an editing nomination for his work on the "Scrubs" episode "My Life in Four Cameras." This is cool because midway through this classic "Scrubs" episode, the show transformed itself from a single-camera comedy to a multi-camera comedy with a live audience, in homage to multi-camera comedy classic such as "Cheers." And just let me say, Mr. Michel, you did a swell job with the editing.

The "Triple Threat" Award: The busy Blythe Danner got nominations for her work in three different projects ("Will and Grace," "Huff" and the TV movie "Back When We Were Grownups").

The "Strangest Bedfellows" Award: Both "Antiques Roadshow" and Penn and Teller's Showtime series, the name of which cannot be printed in a family newspaper, are nominated in the "Outstanding Reality" category.

The "Yippee, a Genre Show Got Nominated, and Not Just for Technical Stuff" Award: USA's scrappy miniseries "The 4400" got several nominations, including a writing nod for its excellent pilot.

The "What, You Don't Like to Laugh?" Award: Shoulda-been comedy nominees include "Entourage" and "Reno 911!" Both are far funnier these days than certain nominated network sitcoms.

The "Why Oh Why" Award: Why can't "Family Guy," which got a best animated series nod, be nominated for a plain old best comedy award either? It's scattershot and crude at times, but more laugh-out-loud funny than -- all together now -- "Will and Grace."

The "Yes, I Know This Is Insane" Award: I would love for Peter Gallagher to get a nomination some day for his work on "The O.C." I know, it'll never happen. I'm just sayin'.

Here's a link to this Emmy list.

July 14, 2005 9:32 PM CDT: 'Battlestar' mania takes over

I've got some Emmy-related rants coming your way later Friday (nominations came out Thursday), but first, here's a whole bunch of interviews with the stars of "," which finally comes back on Sci Fi on Friday. Edward James Olmos is first, and here you can find Katee Sackhoff and here's Mary McDonnell. My previous interview with Jamie Bamber is here. An e-mail dialogue with "Battlestar" writers David Weddle and Bradley Thompson is here and here.

Edward James Olmos ("Commander William Adama")

[On his initial reaction to the BSG miniseries script] I thought it was thoroughly impressive, I was surprised and impressed by the construction of the piece. It was just excellent drama.

It could be "The West Wing," it could be "NYPD Blue," "CSI," it's in that realm. It hit as hard as any drama. I forgot about genre. It blew me out of the water.

Not to say that drama hasn't been inside "Star Trek" and sci fi, but for some reason, this --- the realistic basis of this – that's what makes it different. You can relate to it on a visceral level. It just feels gritty. It feels like it's happening right now. That's what really made it come alive for a lot of people.

[On Commander Adama's journey in Season 2] Basically this is a guy who has been able to maintain and sustain a sense of calmness up until the point where he gets shot, then things change for him. You'll be very surprised in the coming year. On this journey, he's that much more vulnerable. He dies twice on the operating table. He goes to a place where only people who have died can go. [Those who've had near-death or "death' experiences] their perspective on life changes. They're more in touch with what they're feeling. They're much more emotional.

[On Commander Adama's relationship with his son, Lee "Apollo" Adama] This is [a relationship] that will always have tension to it. There are too many unresolved moments, because of various situations. I don't think he'll ever really be able to push forward and resolve all the issues with his son, or with the president. They're very different. There will always be some element of bitterness on everyone's part.

I think the job [the writers] is doing is extraordinary. They pull out all the stops [in Season 2]. My character has a tremendously different life when he comes back from being dead, emotionally, he's just completely traumatized. It causes him to do things [he wouldn't have done before].

[On the show this season] It's better than Season 1. It's more complex. I'd hate to be someone coming in to Season 2 without having season Season 1. That's be one way not to ever come back to the show.

[Olmos famously said at a press event in 2003 that hard core fans of the original "Battlestar Galactica" shouldn't check out the new version if they weren't going to give it a chance] The [positive] feedback has been very strong. There are others that hate the idea, they haven't really changed too much. But they don't write me hate mail anymore.

Mary McDonnell ("President Laura Roslin")

[When first approached with about "Battlestar Galactica" …] It really was a conversion for me. When I first heard what it was, I kind of giggled. Then I read it and everything changed.

Our job is to tell the story. We can't worry about other people's preconceptions. What happened was that my preconceptions were dashed. My respect for the genre was immediately nurtured. Working on "Battlestar" and [thinking about] the questions it brings up – it's a more stimulating environment than I've been in in a while, considering where we are on this planet. With most dramas, if they were go in a metaphysical, spiritual [direction] – those things are hard to address in [typical, present-day] drama. But those things have to change for us to survive. For the most part, we're not paying attention.

The thing I love most about "Battlestar" is the question it's raising – and this season, the question is more prominent – of how do we perceive ourselves in relation to 'the other'? That is the essential question to me of our planet. Until we understand that the other is us, we are going to be continually in these wars and do things that create divisiveness.

A lot of what I see in the world is us and them, the good guy and the bad guy. To begin to understand that there's a bit of projecting on the bad guy and that he's a part of us … That's kind of why this show is so compelling. Even when people don't quite get it, there is something in here that we need to evolved toward.

All the paradigms we had [in our world] are colliding. For me as an actress, to go inside this work is refreshing and illuminating and feels more alive, because it's about that which we must move toward.

I've never played someone whose live took such a dramatic turn in such a dramatic fashion. Laura Roslin is not in control of her destiny, but she's being asked to step into the position of making some tough decisions.

My feeling about acting is you really tap into your own inner dilemmas. She's got to make a decision [at one point in Season 1] on whether to send a living being out an airlock. To have to make that decision, from someone who is basically a liberal pacifist, or was … it's really a difficult experience to put yourself in that place. I would come out of work very upset, yet understand what she's doing. She accepted the job of president, and you either accept the job and do it or say, "No, get the 44th person in line" [for succession to the presidency].

[On Roslin ending up in jail at the end of Season 1] It's sort of all become so overwhelming [for Roslin], what's great to focus on with her, and it's a great piece of writing that way – the obstacles are so insurmountable that the commitment to the agenda becomes the thing that you hold on to. Her agenda is simply to stay alive to get this civilization to earth, settle on the planet and create a new civilization. There's nothing on her agenda about her own life. She knows it's over. She has not one objection to that.

She really did see something [in a vision]. Once she saw that, she decided [to get the arrow of Apollo from Caprica in order to get back to Earth]. If she didn't go through with that, she would have been backing away from the commitment she made. [Her response is,] "Throw me jail, do whatever you're going to do." She does now have a fearless quality.

Now she's in prison, it's a very complicated situation they're all in. The [second episode touches on] what she's going to be able to do. The first part of the second season is quite a journey, they're all in it together. Not in deep space, in deep [doo doo]. [laughs].

One thing I love about the show is that, we're all human beings. We fail. We make mistakes. But every once in a while the obstacles outside of us are so much bigger than any individual, and it's interesting to see how we as a group function.

[The show is] really quite amazing. I just pray it continues at this pace. It's like a yeoman's job of writing, but they're brilliant people and I think we have a good chance at this for a long time.

It's very different [this season]. We have to work, because there are 20 episodes coming down the pike. There really isn't a minute to relax. Sometimes there are three [shooting] units at once, it's TV and it's moving really fast at a very high level. You can't catch your breath. We're all spread out on different planets. Last year we were all kind of working together, now we have to go out to dinner together to see each other. But it's an amazing group of people, and I've never had a day where I didn't want to be at work. That's something.

Everyone really loves it. We honestly get along. I haven't seen any ego stuff, it's just amazing. We all look forward to seeing each other. It starts with the writers, who create this world, and then [the show] attracted a certain kind of actor. Everyone is really smart, nobody is doing it from a place of ego. It's intellect. We're wrestling with these ideas and we want to make the right choices.

We do have egos, as actors, we have to be engaged. Quite often if an actor is given material that doesn't engage the whole mind [that's when problems occur on set, and that's not happening on "Battlestar]. Actors have a lot of energy that's ready to pour forth, and when the material isn't there, the energy is given out [in other ways].

Katee Sackhoff ("Kara 'Starbuck' Thrace")

[The show] been very well received by critics as well as the viewing community. We're all pretty happy over here, we think it'll be a long run, which is nice. This is my fourth series, so I never dreamed the one that would hit would be sci-fi. That's surprising.

It is frustrating, because it's Emmy season now, and no way would we ever get nominated for an Emmy [the show got two nominations for visual effects, but none for writing, directing and acting], which is sad, because we get dismissed as a sci-fi show. I would love for the show, the crew and the writers to get the validation.

[On the early criticism when she was cast as Starbuck] It didn't hold me back. If anything, it's fuel to the fire. At first, of course, it kind of hits you where you live, but after a while, it doesn't. As an actor, you put yourself out there. You put yourself in the arena as an easy target. It's fine. It doesn't bother me. My goal is to make people feel passionately, if it's negative or positive, I did my job.

There's always something. You can't win some people over. They've got to have something [to criticize]. But I haven't heard anything negative about myself or the character since halfway through the first season.

The general feeling is that we know we're doing good work. I think when you're doing good work, you don't necessarily need to be validated.

The days can be pretty long. I wasn't really in the first couple of episodes, it was a nice break. Now I've had a bronchial infection for about a month now. It just won't go away, I'm working so much. I'm know I'm [feeling] bad when I don't smoke. I haven't smoked now for a while, I'm down to like four a day, from a pack and a half a day. When I'm feeling like crap, I don't smoke. I'm thinking of quitting.

[On Starbuck's story arc in the beginning of Season 2] Caprica is not a big story arc at first, there are more pressing things happening. We see Starbuck more at the forefront for episode five [onward]. She doesn't know what to think, she's put in this situation [of being stranded with a Cylon version of her friend, Sharon 'Boomer' Valerii]. She was one of the people championing the killing of Cylons. To find out one of her best friends is a Cylon, on one hand she wants to kill here, but how can she say to herself that the last seven years were a lie? Even if [Boomer] was a Cylon, those moments were real. What do you do? She doesn't know. There's a scene coming up where [Starbuck] has her gun drawn, but she just sits there. She doesn't know what to do. She doesn't know who to put the gun on in the moment. She's the one person we've seen very trigger happy and very outspoken about killing Cylons, but she doesn't know what to do.

[On Starbuck's emotional barriers] Everyone that she loves dies. She feels responsible for that. She has so much guilt, so much fear and she blames herself for everything. That's a hard place to be in.

[On Starbuck and Apollo's relationship] I don't know what [the writers] are going to do with that. The general consensus is that they love each other. There's that schoolyard jealousy, the boy who hits you the hardest loves you the most.

[On the cast] It's funny, the cast, we really have become a family in a sense. Especially since a lot of us aren't from Canada and it's turned into kind of a second home for us. The crew is great and so are the scripts. We're constantly just having a great time on this show and we hope that continues.

[On cast input to characters] They're really good about that. They constantly let us have feedback. They're really great about allowing us to give our two cents and tell them what we think. It is unusual, especially in a show like this, with so many cast members. Normally [the powers that be] just want [production] to be a well-oiled machine and no changes in dialogue, no nothing. It's quite the contrary on this show. They kind of allow that, at this point, nobody knows the characters better than we do. If something is unreal for the dialogue or the character, they just allow us to change it.

Weddle and Thompson addendum

A few months ago, I did e-mail interviews with "Battlestar" writers David Weddle and Bradley Thompson, who wrote the two-parter that opens Season 2. Readers passed on some questions for the duo, who kindly responded promptly, but I never posted their replies (bad me!). Anyway, here they are the questions and answers:

From a reader named Rick, question 1: "Are there any plans to tell new, updated stories of classic episodes, such as 'The Living Legend' dealing with Commander Cain (Lloyd Bridges) and the Battlestar Pegasus, or dealing with the 'Eastern Alliance' and Count Iblis (played by Patrick McNee). My friends and I think an actor like Michael Ironside would make a fantastic Commander Cain, matching up with and against Edward James Olmos's Adama."

Weddle and Thompson: "All I can tell you is that we have talked about Pegasus. Whether she will appear is still (sorry about the pun) up in the air. There is, however, no way to top Mr. Bridges' performance, so we'd be looking for a way to take a Pegasus encounter in a different direction." (Recent news reports have Michelle Forbes as the new Pegasus chief in upcoming episodes).

From Emily, question 2: "Will we see more of the everyday people who've happened to survive the Holocaust? Maybe people who aren't necessarily immediately connected to the Galactica, who are just trying to survive?"

Weddle and Thompson: "We hope to. We've written scenes like that, but usually they're the first ones to get cut when we find out the show is too long to fit the time slot. But we'll continue to look for ways to explore what life is like for all the people in the fleet, because we find it fascinating. What kind of economy has developed? What are all those lawyers doing now?

"In 'Colonial Day,' Tom Zarek pointed to a gardener who still came to work every day, despite the fact that the whole world he functioned within is gone. And Zarek took over bartending chores because he didn't believe that his money would benefit the person behind the bar. We're always looking for ways that we can glimpse the life of the everyday people in the fleet, but so far, we haven't been able to concentrate on it.

"A lot of this is because of the economics of the show. For example, it costs us more to set up new ships or new locations than it does to use the ones that are already standing on the sound stage. We have a bunch of talented actors we're paying to show up every week, and we have stories for all of them that end up being shorted for time... so you can see that doing stories about new people falls way down on the priority list.

"But the struggles of the ordinary people in the fleet intrigue us as well, and when we can find ways for the Galactica family to cross paths with them, we'll leap at the opportunity."

Here's a link to all the "Battlestar" stuff.

July 8, 2005 9:28 PM CDT: 'Dancing' questions, 'Amazing' news

If you're a fan of "The Amazing Race," you're in luck. The cable network GSN will begin broadcasting all eight seasons of the show, in order, on a nightly basis starting at 8 p.m. Monday.

"There are tons of people who came to this show in later seasons, and they've never seen these [early] episodes, because unlike dramas, reality shows don't usually repeat and don't hit syndication as quickly," said Linda Holmes, an attorney from Bloomington, Minn., who, under the moniker Miss Alli, has recapped every season of "TAR" for the Web site TelevisionWithoutPity.com. "For people who missed those seasons, it's like an entire new season of the show is airing in the middle of the summer. It's a huge thing for fans of the show who came in late."

More from my e-mail dialogue with Linda Holmes, Television Without Pity's "Miss Alli":

Q. Do you think the first few seasons of "The Amazing Race" were different from the most recent couple of seasons? If so, how so?

A. Yeah, I do. I think the show was more of a standout early on in the sense that it really did cast relatively normal, functional people, and didn't fill the cast with ugly arguing. Unfortunately, that has changed somewhat in later seasons. Season 7 wasn't nearly as bad as Seasons 5 and 6 for ugliness, but there's much more warmth, I think, in the first two or three seasons. The clues have also gotten easier in later seasons, in that they don't have `clues' these days as much as pieces of paper that say `Go here.'-"

Q. Do you like earlier seasons more than more recent seasons of "TAR"?

A. That's a tough one. I'm a huge fan of season 1, not a huge fan of 2, a huge fan of 3 except for Flo, bored by 4, mostly happy with 5 with reservations, kind of grossed out by 6, and kind of fascinated by 7. It's been up and down, and I tend to like specific teams and episodes more than entire seasons.

Q. How do you think fans that began watching the show in its later seasons might respond to the first couple of seasons?

A. I actually have some friends who have done this very thing -- picked up old recorded episodes from `TAR 1' or `TAR 2' after jumping in at [Seasons] 5 or 6 when the show really hit. Mostly, they've totally loved the early seasons. I think if you like it now, you're going to like it then. It's not a show that I think took very long to find its feet.

Q. What are your thoughts on the first couple seasons' casts, as opposed to more recent casts? It seems to me there are more "model/actor" types in recent seasons than in earlier ones, though I haven't seen the first two seasons so maybe I'm wrong about that.

A. There were always models, but I think it's true that there are more now, and also that they tend to reference them as models more. I think Brandon and Nicole in Season 5, for instance, were called `Dating Models' in lieu of being called `Dating Christians,' quite frankly, which I think was their real niche. Lots of people in the world have modeled. `Models' tends to mean they can't think of anything else to say about you.

But yeah, I think the first couple of seasons were a little bit less pretty as far as casting, or at least the pretty people were broken up with more normal people. Which isn't to say some of the gorgeous people aren't also wonderful -- the idea that better-looking people are inherently less interesting than ugly people is one of my least favorite reality-show myths.

DANCING DAYS: Don't you think John O'Hurley and Charlotte Jorgensen were robbed on ABC's "Dancing With the Stars?" I do. They should have won. Fine, Kelly Monaco can do a handstand, so what? O'Hurley and Jorgensen had class and style and, dangit, they had fun out on the dance floor. And am I a conspiracy theorist for wondering why Monaco, who just happens to be the star of an ABC soap, got a perfect score for her last dance, despite the fact that her partner nearly dropped her at the end of the number? Please.

Well, regardless, I'll tune in when the show comes back -- which it most certainly will, since a whopping 22 million viewers tuned in for Wednesday's "Dancing" finale.

TV-ON-DVD BONANZA: Why aren't folks dropping as much cash at movie theaters these days? The question has entertainment-industry folks in a frenzy, but I'd say it's fairly easily explained.

I, for one, would rather sit home sit at home and watch "Freaks and Geeks" or "The Wire" on DVD than try to find a movie theater that's playing a movie with actual dialogue (not just explosions) and isn't full of people talking or crunching in my ear.

I'm not alone in those sentiments, apparently. Variety reports that in 2004, consumers spent some $2.8 billion on TV-on-DVD, which is the fastest-growing segment of the DVD market.

GATER ATTACK: Is Ben Browder happy on the set of "Stargate SG-1"? Well, the "Farscape" star says everyone's treating him well, but he reports that there's "an actor's nightmare" on the set.

"They have this [food] guy Jack. He's the pusher-man. He comes around and you're thinking, `I better not eat this,' and he's standing there in front of you with a tray of steaming cinnamon buns," Browder says with a laugh. "The clothes are a little more forgiving [on "SG-1"], but still, it is a problem."

David Hewlett, who plays the snarky Dr. Rodney McKay on "Stargate Atlantis," has his own problems. "They're always happy to do something gross to McKay, all of that uncomfortable, slimy stuff -- you know I'm involved. They call it writing, I call it torture," he said in a recent interview.

"At the beginning of the season, I was hanging upside down in this tree, I thought, `This season is going to pan out really well.'"

"SG-1," "Atlantis" and "Battlestar Galactica" return to Sci Fi Friday. And because I'm in my full-on Sci Friday frenzy, I've got the full interviews Ben Browder, Claudia Black, David Hewlett and the cult legend Gary Jones (Gate Guy to some, Chevron Guy in our house).

And just by the way, if you're a "Battlestar" fan too, my interview with Jamie Bamber (Apollo) is here, and check back Friday for interviews with Katee Sackhoff, Mary McDonnell and Edward James Olmos. There's other "Battlestar' goodness aplenty here and here.

If you're some kind of alien freak who does not appreciate these shows (and if so, what exactly is your problem?), you can skip all the interviews and go on the the next Watcher item by clicking here.

Ben Browder ("Cameron Mitchell")

My previous chat with Ben Browder (done just after he'd gotten the news that he'd be joining the "Stargate SG-1" cast) is here. Take it away, Ben!

[Last time we talked, Browder said his biggest priority when he got to the "Stargate SG-1" set was to figure out where the bathrooms are. He reports success on that front] I know where the john is, yeah, I can navigate myself for the most part without getting lost in the "Stargate" maze. I still have no idea what goes on in the next stage [where "Stargate Atlantis"] films, they have an alternate layout. They need to put some cheese at the end of that maze and maybe I'll figure it out.

I don't have any bad stories to tell, it's kind of exciting to have a job, and it's an exciting intellectual process to come on to a show that's going this long and sort of find your way into the process. If nothing else, it's really interesting. When you take a job with an existing cast, existing sets, producers, writers, you don't really know what you're gonna get into.

You hear stories about different sets, but a lot of times you hear them after you get there, what the problems are, and so-and-so hates so-and-so, this and that. I just haven't really encountered that here. That's not to say we're always a happy family -- I'm waiting for someone to yell at me [laughs], and we occasionally yelled on the set of "Farscape," but there was so much love and affection there too.

[On learning the ropes on the "Stargate SG-1" set] There's a certain advantage in having a person on the set who is in a perpetual state of ignorant bliss. I'm not afraid to ask the question that's been asked 100 times before [by others]. I'm a big believer in asking the stupid question, as long as you're respectful of the process. "I know all of you guys know this, but why are we doing this?" People look at you like you're crazy, but I think it's good when you've been doing something for a long period of time to have a fresh set of eyes and ears and a fresh voice come in and not try to change things but just try to figure it out.

I'm sort of familiar with the technical aspects of a sci fi show, how to do all the green-screen work and all that. The hardest thing is to learn everyone's name, when they all know each other. It's getting into the rhythm and feel of the show, the style, so that you can find your way in, so you can figure out how they work as opposed to how you used to work. "Farscape" was constructive chaos, but it was chaos we understood. They're much more efficient up here, it's a matter of getting used to the pace and the feeling of the show. It's getting to know people and learning to trust one another and getting a sense of what someone else is going to do [in a scene].

I have to say, everyone has been very, very nice up here, the cast, Michael Shanks, Chris Judge made my transition to the show very easy, Amanda Tapping didn't come on 'til the sixth episode, but those guys made my transition easy. Having Claud ["Farscape" co-star Claudia Black, who plays Vala in the first six episodes of "SG-1's" new season] here made the transition as easy as it could be. And the efficiency of the people around me kind of made it much easier to figure out how to go about this.

[On his character, Air Force pilot Cameron Mitchell, who's put in charge of the SG-1 team] Cameron Mitchell was a Western actor back in the day. He was on TV for years, he was a very recognizable face. But really, I don't know how Rob [Robert Cooper] got the name, I didn't ask. I think it's great.

From my standpoint, Mitchell's still a work in progress. Until I see the final cut and stuff goes out to the audience, I don't want to be saying who this guy is. Quite frankly, TV is a highly collaborative medium, and everyone -- the viewers, the writers, the editors, the actors, the directors -- will have a view of who the character is and what he is. I have an opinion too, but I don't want to be judged as failing to achieve what I want to achieve, so I'll let the audience make up their own minds.

[On his "Stargate SG-1" scenes with "Farscape" co-star Claudia Black] We didn't have the kind of scenes we had on "Farscape," they're really two different characters. There were none of those scenes of the two of us locked in a closet [laughs].

Claud and I know each other pretty well, it's great having her around. In front of the camera, she did such a great job of creating such a different character that there's no way I could fall into any old habits. She did a fantastic job of creating something very different [from her "Farscape" character]. So it's easy to react differently.

[On the on-set "actor's nightmare" that haunts the "SG-1" set] Craft services were not a problem on "Farscape." We had someone who came around with tea and a couple of biccys [biscuits], or cookies. Here they have this guy, Jack. He's the pusher-man. He comes around and you're thinking, "I better not eat this," and he's standing there in front of you with a tray of steaming cinnamon buns. Those are not on the approved list at the moment [laughs]. He also does this really big tray of candy. It's like, "Jack, go away!" [laughs]. It's an actor's nightmare. The clothes are a little more forgiving [on "SG-1"], but still, it is a problem.

[On the cult surrounding the "Gate Guy"/"Chevron Guy," who's played by Gary Jones] Chevron guy, there's a man with an intense following. He's been around for eight years, I don't understand why they didn't just put him in charge of SG-1. That was their first mistake.

Gary Jones ("Walter Harriman")

Speaking of Gate Guy, I got to fulfill a long-held wish by talking to Gary Jones, who, for eight years (going on nine) has been the guy who calls out "chevron one encoded, chevron two encoded" and so forth every time the Stargate team goes through the gate. Jones is now a featured played in the long-running show, and a hoot to talk to. Our scheduled 15-minute chat went well over an hour, and this is the result.

[On how he got into acting] I had no drama training, I didn't go to drama school. I was about 28, working in advertising as an art director in the Toronto area. I was reading one of those night-school brochures, those Learning Annex-type things, and they had a course in improve. I was like, "Oh, I have to take that." I don't know why. I ended up learning about improve, ended up in the Second City Toronto troupe for about two years. After that, I set up a troupe in Vancouver for the Expo in 1986. I worked at the fair for about six months, and stayed here working ever since, the next 20 years, nine of them on "Stargate."

My agent called me, said, they're doing this TV series of the film, the part of the gate tech might be recurring, they're thinking about that. So I go in, the director is Mario Azzopardi, who I knew from "The Outer Limits" [which also films in Canada]. He remembered me from the one episode I had done and he liked me. So I thought, I'm so in [laughs]. I thought, "I really gotta do well here, I could be on three times!" It's hilarious now, looking back.

Coming from Second City, so often when I go on auditions, unless they say play it completely straight, I try to put some humor in it. So I go in and read, all they do is have me read "Chevron One" to "Chevron seven locked" and I'm like, I've got to do something with this, they're asking me to read a grocery list! [laughs]

So Mario had said to me, the way they were going with this character was, you know, this guy doesn't give a [crap] about the army, he's just a computer genius. So I had a bit of fun with it, stopped just short of doing it as Jerry Lewis. I look down the table and Mario's laughing really hard, so I think, Oh, this is fantastic. This is in the bag. But as I leave, he's closing the door, and he says, "That was good, but [don't play it] that big."

I was like, "Oh my God, I blew it." But I get the callback, and here's Mario, this big gregarious guy, with the other [executive] producer, Jon Glassner, he's just… you get nothing from him. He just looked at me. So there's this weird vibe in the room. When you get a callback, you tend to do what you did before, but I'm thinking, I better bring it way down. At one point, I'm doing the chevrons, and at chevron four, I do a little sigh, and he's like, "Lose the sigh." So I leave, and I'm thinking, "That went badly!"

For years, I sat in the chair, talking to the glass. It's like [butt] acting [laughs]. But of course it's a dream gig. I just hunkered down and did the job and lo and behold, fans [reacted]. When they first asked me to go to the GateCon convention in Vancouver, I thought, well, no one is going to know who I am. The camera's on me for two seconds. I show up, and next thing I know, I have to get an escort to the bathroom. Fans are like, "Oh my God, it's Chevron Guy" as I'm walking to the bathroom. I did not have a clue. I really thought if I did not have my glasses on they would not recognize me.

In season four, they brought in other gate techs, but one of the directors came up to me later and said, we thought we wanted to try that to see how it was, but we all kept thinking, "That's Gary's chair!"

To a noticeable degree, they started giving me more to do in Season 6. There was dialogue that was more reflective of a person than just a string of information. They knew me on a personal level, and I would joke around, so they started throwing in funny lines in my little scenes. It's not like I'm going to make it about me. They started trusting me and I've just had tons of great stuff. As much as it's my impulse to be funny, it's a sci-fi action-adventure show. If the show is a comedy, things can get lost in the shuffle, but if it's predominantly dramatic, the comic relief can stand out.

[When Richard Dean Anderson left] there was this kind of "What do we do now?" [feeling], it got to this critical point, and then it was like, go big or go home. Bringing in Beau [Bridges], Ben [Browder], Lou [Gossett Jr.]… But in the end, it's about the relationships, and moving forward with that.

Now my character is a little like Radar O'Reilly [from "M*A*S*H"], he knows how things run and he's handing [Beau Bridges' character] files before he needs them and doing stuff for him before he knows he needs it done. They gave me a promotion to Chief Master Sergeant, it's the highest rank I think you can be without being an officer.

The rest of the "Stargate" crew -- everyone knows each other and it's just fine-tuned now, this big machine just goes along. Everyone knows what everyone else can do, it makes it easy for the leads to parachute in and accomplish [what they need to do]. All respect is due to Lou and Beau and all that but it's little bit like, "You're part of our show, we respect you, but we're going to goof around, and please be part of that." They totally rise to that. I've got no dirt about the set. I would actually say that when RDA left, [his character] was so sarcastic, he'd throw off so many funny lines, now it's all spread around a little more, so that's kind of cool.

They've given me more to do, this season I have this long walk-and-talk [scene] with Beau, where I'm carrying a massive stack of files. The irony is, I haven't been through the gate [his character has gone offworld, but not through the stargate]. The very first time they put me offworld, I was at a computer sitting in a chair. Even when I'm in a field on another planet, I still can't walk around [laughs]. No, I'm sitting down.

[How we got on to this topic -- I really have no idea] ["Stargate" director] Peter DeLuise will make me redo my lines as Shatner. He'll be like, "Now do it as Brando! Now do it as Shatner!"

Jones added in a subsequent e-mail that he'll be appearing on "Stargate Atlantis" this season, in an episode called "Critical Mass." No word yet on whether he'll be in a chair the whole time.

David Hewlett ("Dr. Rodney McKay")

David Hewlett plays the "snarcastic" Dr. Rodney McKay on "Stargate Atlantis," and producers have found many new and interesting ways to torture the super-smart doc this season, Hewlett reports.

There's lots of fun and games this season, there's a drugged out McKay…. They're always happy to do something gross to him, all of that uncomfortable, slimy stuff -- you know I'm involved. They call it writing, I call it torture. But I say keep up the abuse… if they ever run out of ways to [torture McKay], he'll just be silent, and he loves to hear himself talk.

At the beginning of the season, I was hanging upside down in this tree, I thought, "This season is going to pan out really well."

[On McKay getting a lot of the tongue-twisting techno-dialogue] We had to do a reshoot [of a technical scene] and I did not have a clue. I forgot all of the lines. Learning it all over again, that isn't fair [laughs].

[On the reaction to his character] It's amazing, the fan mail. Not to sound cheesy, but I try to answer every one and that's getting difficult to do. It's funny, the mail I get, a lot of it says, "I know everyone hates you, I'm the only person who likes [McKay]." There are a lot of people out there who think they are alone in liking McKay [laughs].

In a way, he's fun to hate. He gets to say the lines that you think of [only after a confrontation], when you think, "Oh, I should have said that," whatever the snappy, arrogant answer was. But he says it. He's always got a comeback. Certainly that's what makes him such a fun character to play. He doesn't have the social skills or always know what to say, but there's a certain charm in that freedom.

[On the tensions of the Atlantis project in the second season] You've put your finger on what concerns McKay. The neat thing this year is the dynamic involvement of the military side of things.

Season 1 set up the characters and what they're supposed to do, like any good first season. Where were going in Season 2 completely messes with that. Rain [Rainbow Franck's character, Lt. Ford] drops off to the dark side and comes back to make our lives miserable. All of the sudden all the trust and stuff built between the characters is broken down. [Up until now] McKay could just be the guy who babbles and solves the problem and then it's solved. What's great is this year right near the beginning McKay hits a wall. All of a sudden he doesn't have all the answers. His arrogance and self confidence paid off [until now] but he hits a wall and screws up. [Various developments like that] bring back the friction between all the characters.

Once a friend said a good man does the right thing without thinking. McKay may know what the right thing is to do, but he's also very good at seeing the worst side of things. It makes it that much harder to make the right decision. Where fools rush in McKay fears to tread. That's overthinking things and it can be paralyzing if you don't have blind faith that you'll all get through it. Everyone else is rather optimistic, but he expects the worst.

[On the surprising secret of new castmate Mitch Pileggi, formerly of "The X-Files"] He mentioned to me that he had been in People's list of the Sexiest People one year, under the heading of "Surprisingly Sexy." [So now Hewlett's put a sign to that effect on Pileggi's dressing-room door.]

Mitch has this great character, this guy with a quest for power who's been overlooked for running Atlantis. He's constantly butting heads with Weir, she's a diplomat and he'd rather just blow things up. He's constantly looking for things that will be of use for his superiors, so every new weapon or alien being or ancient discovery is of potential interest to him. McKay is aware of that. He doesn't see himself as being slimy -- surprisingly slimy [laughs] -- but he's willing to play off the military and Weir and Shepherd and everyone else, because he thinks his ultimate goal is to make discoveries and prove himself right. He's been an academic for so long, he's read all the reports, he feels he can handle things better.

Rain [Rainbow Francks' character, Lt. Ford] is taking a turn for the worse because of a Wraith enzyme. When they feed, they inject stuff that bolster's the victim's immune system for a second, to keep you alive while they kill you to get the most out of you. Inject that stuff and you end up with a euphoric energy drink. It gives him a lot more physical strength, but it doesn't make you terribly bright. What's interesting is that there's now this illicit substance in the universe that, when people use it, they're given this Wraith super-strength.

[On the new character, Ronon] Ronon is … even just physically surprisingly, no, not surprisingly, painfully sexy. Drop-dead gorgeous.

In a way, not to make him sound like an idiot [laughs] his character is the opposite of McKay, he's just a man of action. He doesn't worry about repercussions. He has no fear of anything, he's survived so much. It's just very funny how the guy who disapproves of him can't help admiring him. It's like, how he wishes he could twirl his gun [like Ronon], but McKay's the guy who can't even pull his gun out of the holster.

[On McKay's frequent scene partner, Paul McGillion, who plays Dr. Carson Beckett] We actually have a love scene coming up. You'd have to do some factchecking, but it might be the first man on man kiss in sci fi. McKay ends up having a person transfer into his body, a female, and she ends up with a crush on [Beckett]. Paul teased me mercilessly for weeks in advance of the shooting. On that day, we went for rehearsal … it would be weird to kiss even the women on the show, I know them all so well, and more importantly they all know me so well [laughs]. So that's why it was important to do this well, in case I ever want to go near them again. For rehearsal, [Hewlett did a real kiss, which McGillion wasn't expecting]. Yeah, after that, he sent me flowers and chocolate [laughs].

Claudia Black ("Vala Mal Doran")

On "Farscape," Claudia Black and Ben Browder played the hottest couple in outer space, but these days, Black's devious new "Stargate SG-1" character, Vala, has eyes only for Dr. Daniel Jackson, who's played by Michael Shanks. Black dishes on Browder, Jackson, Shanks and "SG-1's" new bad guys below.

Vala is instrumental in kickstarting the story for the season. I was very spoilt in that regard, it was wonderful to be in the eye of the storm as far as the story was concerned and also to be given so much comedic work to do, it was such a joy for me to do those scenes with Michael Shanks, who is a fantastic comic sparring partner.

[Vala] turns up with a mission [for the Stargate SG-1 team], and [the show] establishes a new set of bad guys. They're pretty evil. They seem quite benign at first, at the beginning they're not taken very seriously, but throughout these six episodes my character gets to know their capabilities. They've got some amazing new cast members, Beau Bridges and Louis Gossett Jr. And obviously I'm working with Ben in a different capacity, as different characters. [His character] appreciates Vala from a safe distance, he's obviously a smart fellow.

Ben's come into a show that's very established, [whereas] we were part of the creation of "Farscape." Rockne O'Bannon created the show and David Kemper and his staff wrote it, but so much of how the show was shot and with whom and why -- so many questions posed on the show had to come from the team on the floor, me, ben and everyone. I've been really lucky, this is an open-ended opportunity for me. It's wonderful to come back and be sort of a flash in the pan -- Ben's character is a bit of a slow burn, as far as things for Ben to sink his teeth into. For me it was non-stop. Ben loves to work and drive the story. I was busy chewing the scenery.

It's very interesting the way that TV is, if you're not driving the story, if it doesn't require you're presence, you can be on the sidelines a bit. I felt guilty, they were giving me such fun stuff to play with. [I would have felt guiltier] had I not been in that spot on "Farscape" at first. It was always intended to be an ensemble show, but the heart of the show ended up being Crichton and Aeryn. On "Farscape," each character got to explore his or her own texture and history. So many shows produced now, the character stuff gets lost. To get to play such a different character [on "Stargate"], with so much comedy, and for the producers to trust me so much was great.

[On "Farscape" at first] Ben was the leading guy on the set, he had so much juicy fun stuff to say, and we would wait around for something to be chucked our way. As the show developed, of course we got our opportunities, but Aeryn for the first seven episodes I was still finding my feet. Ben's going through a similar experience, he's watching me and Michael carry the story.

There has to be some leeway for us as actors, we're the middlemen [between writers and directors and audience] and we have to deliver the goods. That's why "Stargate" was such a fortunate segue for me, [director] Andy Mikita and Michael Shanks and I earned each other's trust immediately. I was saying to one of the producers, "I'm like a cactus, I don't need much water, I can get prickly, but under the right conditions I might bloom." That's a slightly cheesy analogy, but I really do thrive when I get the slightest bit of support. "Stargate" is such a positive set and there was support all around me. I had [executive producer] Rob Cooper's trust, I'd kind of proven myself [on my previous appearance], they were pleased with what I did, so my road to being trusted was a lot faster and smoother. [That trust] is vital for a performer, it can be a circus performer [working] without a net. Other players are your lifeline. I don't think you can really take risks or make risky choices without that trust and support.

In [the miniseries "Farscape:] Peacekeeper Wars," we had spent so much time in the trenches for four seasons. Brian [Henson] had directed one episode in the first season, he came back and he had missed out on the entire evolution of what had happened on the floor. We had a whole method of working, and by then it was so different from what we'd done at first. For the first two or three weeks [of "Peacekeeper Wars"], we had to play that trust game all over again, the clock had restarted from zero. Initially we couldn't operate at that same speed, that same shorthand, we had become renegades because we had to get it done.

Someone just asked me about chemistry, that chemistry is just "a lot of hard work." I disagree. Chemistry is about likeminded people being enthusiastic and responding to their craft and not taking themselves too seriously. In life, unless you have the capability to step outside yourself and be able to laugh… for me to have had that chemistry with Ben then have it again with Michael [Shanks] and Andy [Mikita] and a whole bunch of people on the crew… . It's nine years on for them and none of them are complaining.

The set is a tough environment and if they didn't like it, they wouldn't be there. They're kind to one another, they're respectful. But they also understand it's just a job, they have to go home to their families. It was wonderful to hear one director say, "I'm not going to do overtime tonight, it's bath time [for the children] and I don't want to miss it."

The window isn't closed on Vala. That's for sure. It really depends on if I'm available, and they can get what they want [storywise]. It's a nice position to be in, to be in love with a character you've played, who may live on again, who you want to go back to. I'll leave you with the image of the Australian coat of arm, which has the kangaroo and emu on either side, two animals that are incapable of walking backwards. I as an actor am incapable of going backwards. It's been an interesting challenge first on "PK Wars" [to go back to Aeryn], it's nice to know Vala could [come back as well.]

July 8, 2005 7:42 AM CDT: MTV faces the music after Live 8 criticism; Fans still flocking to AOL to watch the landmark shows

Update: Responding to criticism of the Live 8 TV broadcast, MTV and VH1 announced Friday that the channels will air 10 commercial-free hours of Live 8 concert coverage on Saturday. VH1 will broadcast 5 hours of performances from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, and MTV will broadcast from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday.

"At MTV and VH1, we're in a constant and candid dialogue with our audience," Van Toffler, MTV Networks music group president, said in a statement released early Friday morning. "In the wake of our coverage last Saturday, our viewers have resoundingly told us on-line they want to see full performances from their favorite artists."

According to the MTV press release, MTV and VH1 will air somewhat different performance lineups.

"Both channels will air performances from U2, Pink Floyd, Orchestra Baobab, Coldplay and Sir Paul McCartney, with VH1 airing Rob Thomas, Sting, Dave Matthews Band, and Maroon 5 exclusively and MTV airing Linkin Park & Jay-Z, the Killers, Kanye West and Green Day exclusively," the statement said. "A full rundown for each network will be available on their respective Web sites, mtv.com and vh1.com, on Friday."

POSTED July 7, 2005 2:30 PM CDT: A steady drumbeat of criticism has pummeled MTV all week, with critics saying the channel's coverage of the Live 8 concerts on July 2 did a disservice to music fans with its commercial and talking-head interruptions.

While allowing there were things MTV and VH1 might do differently next time the networks are faced with such a sprawling event, MTV Networks Music Group president Van Toffler offered a spirited defense of the channels' coverage of the concerts, which were designed to bring attention to African poverty and debt relief.

"Let's be clear, people turned to TV to view this event," Toffler said, offering MTV and VH1's combined ratings as proof. The two channels, which broadcast the same mixture of coverage from various concerts, snared 18 million total viewers over the course of the eight-hour concert, according to an MTV press release. "It was our highest-rated music event in years," Toffler said.

Still, Toffler told the Los Angeles Times that MTV is considering showing the concerts again.

Addressing the criticism of MTV's frequent switching between artists and concerts, Toffler said several factors were responsible for the segues. The fact that the deal between the Live 8 organizers and the MTV networks wasn't finalized until the day before the concerts meant that the channels could not go commercial-free, Toffler said. MTV had also agreed to air segments designed to educate its audience about Live 8's goals, which cut into coverage of the music performances.

"We ran two of Madonna's three songs, with the Bob Geldof introduction," Toffler said. "But we were also trying to educate people."

Toffler added that executives at the music channels decided to offer a mixture of footage from various Live 8 concerts on both MTV and VH1, instead of presenting the London concert on one channel and the Philadelphia event on another, because of concerns that MTV or VH1 audiences might not be familiar with certain artists, and because MTV execs wanted to present a broad picture of the event. And hosts talked over performances only when the coverage was about to switch to a commercial, to another artist or to an interview or educational segment, Toffler said.

"If you run all of Elton John [in London], then you miss Jay-Z and Linkin Park [in Philadelphia]," Toffler said. "We wanted to make sure we gave a full picture of what the event meant, the scope and the scale of the artists involved."

"Based on the stature of this event, the stature it took on in the last few hours [before it began], had I known what I know today, I would have tried to go commercial-free and go longer and include full sets. But that is something I only have the knowledge of now," Toffler said.

Toffler sounded aggrieved by the suggestion that MTV erred by cutting into the set by Pink Floyd, who reunited for the first time in more than 20 years for Live 8's London concert.

"We ran 20 out of 21 minutes" of Pink Floyd's set, Toffler said. "The only reason they were interrupted is that we had a local affiliate break, the cable affiliates had to go on break. It's in our agreements" [with cable companies]. "We didn't know when Pink Floyd's set was until the day of the show, and we blew through the prior commercial break" for national advertisers.

"This is what happens when you have a live show, these things happen," Toffler said. "We didn't run full sets of some artists because we would have had to lose other artists altogether. We ran only eight hours, and there were 40 to 50 hours of performances. We wanted to be equitable."

Toffler said he wished MTV's Web sites could have hosted the online presentation of the concerts, but the primary U.S. rights to the concert were snapped up by AOL early on in the Live 8 planning.

AOL saw fans flock to its Live 8 coverage, which offered seven different live feeds of the various worldwide concerts and no interruptions by hosts or commercials. AOL's Live 8 coverage garnered more than 5 million unique users on July 2, which was far more than the online service expected, and streams of the concert performances, which are still available at AOLMusic.com, continue to get millions of hits.

For its part, AOL paid Live 8 an undisclosed sum to be the primary U.S. licensee for the Live 8 broadcast; it then negotiated subsidiary rights to the MTV networks and radio outlets. The concerts themselves were funded by sponsors such as AOL, Volvo and Nokia. All worldwide visual coverage of actual performances was coordinated by a production team in London, and feeds of each concert were sent out from London to Live 8 broadcast partners worldwide.

As a "full partner" in the event, AOL had extensive links to Live 8 educational material and petitions, but the online service set things up so people could access music and information as they pleased.

"What we're finding is, in the case of our space shuttle coverage or Live 8 coverage, people are getting more sophisticated," said Jim Bankoff, executive vice president of programming and products for America Online. "They are comfortable having their own control. They don't necessarily need a whole lot of editing on top -- they want information, but they can be in control of how they consume that information. They don't necessarily need a host guiding them."

Just as the first Live Aid concert in 1985 was a turning point in the history of MTV, the Live 8 concerts marked a watershed for the online consumption of video, a development made possible by the growth of broadband Internet access.

The kudos for AOL's presentation of the Live 8 experience also dovetail nicely with the late-July relaunch and redesign of AOL.com as an online portal with lots of free content for non-subscribers.

"We knew it would be big, we didn't know it would be this big," Bankoff said. And for AOL, the best may be yet to come: Bankoff expects "by far the majority of usage" to come in the weeks before AOL takes down the Live 8 streaming video on Sept 6.

GETTING REAL: So now the "writers" for reality shows--1,000 of them, at last count--want to join the Writers Guild of America.

These writers say they do as much story creation as the next Hollywood wordsmith, and they do have a point. It's been an open secret since Day One of MTV's "The Real World" or network grandaddy "Survivor" that reality shows massage plots and create drama wherever they can.

And when what happens in the real world isn't up to snuff, there's that old standby-the post-filming dubbed dialogue (ahem, Donald Trump). Somebody has to write that stuff (and I'm assuming that monkeys strapped to typewriters refuse to work for Mark Burnett).

Of course, reality-show story editors and producers--the ones who do their darndest to make folks such as Charlie O'Connell of "The Bachelor" and the small-town wallflowers on "The Swan" seem even mildly interesting--should get more pay, health insurance and other Guild protections.

But if they want to be taken seriously as writers, maybe their work should be labeled fiction, because sometimes what gets broadcast does not even remotely reflect "reality."

One "Swan" producer told Entertainment Weekly about the process of "Frankenbiting," or editing together various sound clips to make someone say what producers want them to say. One poor husband of a "Swan" contestant was edited to sound as if he thought his wife looked "average," the magazine reported. (The producer left out the part where he called her "beautiful.")

As a fan of quality reality TV, I'm willing to accept that producers skirt the truth sometimes and massage storylines to make shows more compelling. But this Frankenbiting thing is bad news, and I hope it's not prevalent on the majority of reality shows.

Here's a fair trade: In return for making "West Wing"-style wages, in those instances where reality producers and writers are creating fiction, by golly, they should label it as such.

With "The West Wing," at least, I know what I'm getting.

July 7, 2005 10:18 AM CDT: Summer hits wrap up seasons: 'Dancing' soap star sparkles; 'Beauty' and 'geek' split $250,000 prize

ABC's runaway (or is it danceaway?) hit "Dancing With the Stars" finished its run Wednesday, with "General Hospital" actress Kelly Monaco and professional dancer Alec Mazo waltzing away with top honors.

They bested fan favorites John O'Hurley and Charlotte Jorgensen, whose elegance and chemistry couldn't beat Monaco and Mazo's amazing comeback (they scored lowest in the show's first broadcast).

And "Dancing" wasn't the only summer reality series to bow out Wednesday.

On "Beauty and the Geek," the WB's hit, Chuck Munyon and Caitilin Stoller won a shared prize of $250,000.

Final "Dancing" rankings were based on a combination of audience votes and scores from three judges, who gave the Monaco-Mazo final dance the program's only perfect score.

Who'd have thought O'Hurley, who played J. Peterman on "Seinfeld," would turn out to be such a personable dancer? He and Jorgensen, a professional dancer, made the studio audience roar with approval for their dance, set to the Pointer Sisters' "I'm So Excited."

Over on the WB, the charm of that summer hit was it didn't force the pretty girls and nerdy guys into fake relationships.

Contestants were paired platonically and competed in challenges that played off cultural stereotypes: Women had to fix cars; men had to buy outfits for the women. In the final challenge, teammates were tested on knowledge of each other. Richard Rubin fell short: He didn't know teammate Mindi Emanuel's middle name.

For those who got addicted to the show, and wondered if a relationship between geek Brad Hooker and beauty named Erika Rumsey continued beyond the program, the WB will broadcast a reunion show, "Beauty and the Geek: The Aftermath," at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

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