TVSquad

Do you know what a dilithium crystal is? Ever use the term "cosplay" when discussing your weekend plans? Own more than two non-Star Wars action figures? If you answered "Affirmative!" to any of these questions, then you'll be staying home this Friday night, because you're a nerd. It's cool. That means you'll be able to catch this week's ep of Stargate Atlantis, with guest stars Dave Foley, Bill Nye the Science Guy and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. All nerds, by the way.

Kids in the Hall vet Foley plays a professional rival of Dr. McKay (David Hewlett), who invents an anti-global warming device that, instead of ending global warming, almost kills everybody at a swanky party, including Nye and DeGrasse Tyson. Not intrigued? Gateworld says there might be a scene with Jewel Staite stuck in a giant freezer. I know. It's a good show.

Anyone who's read TV Squad for any period of time knows that we have a bunch of game show fans here. OK, maybe it's just me and Bob. But we've been watching game shows for years and know what works and what doesn't. A challenging premise that allows the viewer to play along? That works. Picking numbered cases at random? That doesn't (at least not after the first five episodes, anyway).

So, when I heard about the changes that were coming to the syndicated Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, I wanted to reserve judgment until I saw them. Now that Meredith Vieira's smiling face has graced my TV for the seventh season opener, I can say that I like most of the changes ... except for one. The new graphics and music are fine, the new lifelines make more sense (more on those in a second). But now there's a clock.

Yeah, you heard me; the show that once let contestants take as much time as they wanted to answer very tough questions now adds the pressure of a time limit. And that's not a good thing.

Nerds and engineering students rejoice. Battlebots is returning to television and this time it's on ESPN.

The show originally ran for five years on Comedy Central and included hosts such as Donna D'Errico and Carmen Electra. Bill Nye served as "technical adviser". ESPN promises that this time the show would be less about the female-model hosts and general silliness and more about the science and the robots destroying each other.

Hey, Brigitte here with TV Squad Daily. I'll be covering the TV stories I find interesting each day, Monday through Friday, in this video blog.

Today on TV Squad Daily:

• The Bachelor gets some support, kind of, from Jen, the 2005 Bachelorette who didn't find love on the reality show either.
  
• Even Bill Nye the Science Guy has relationship issues in real life. His involve someone poisoning a vegetable garden with solvents, but still.
• Update: Heather Mills continues to be impossible to like.
  

The video's embedded below, or you can subscribe to this podcast via our feed. Plus, you can also download the file directly.

At 50 years old, Bill Nye the Science Guy has tied the knot. That's right, ladies. The last great bachelor is now taken (or, is that George Clooney?).

Nye married Blair Tindall, author of Mozart in the Jungle and a former concert oboist, on Friday.. Cellist Yo Yo Ma, accompanied by MIT Media Lab Professor Michael Hawley on the piano, performed the wedding march.