TVSquad

With less than two months to go until 24 returns for its New York City set eighth season (it premieres on Sunday, January 17th and Monday, January 18th with the traditional two-night, four-hour event), FOX has released the official cast photo with the new and returning series regulars.

For as cool as last season's cast shot was with the Lincoln Memorial in the background, this one trumps it and then some -- the United Nations backdrop is very, very cool. You have to wonder though... think there's any meaning to the flags that are visible? From left to right, the first three are the UK, the US, and Nicaragua. The fourth one in line is harder to make out. I'm probably reading into it too much, but you never know when it comes to 24 -- anything could be a clue.

If you haven't seen it yet, you can watch the trailer for the new season here and if you really feel like analyzing the cast photo, there's a high-res image here.

(S03E09) As soon as I read the episode info and saw that Kripke was going to be making an appearance, I lost all hope of this episode coming anywhere close to matching the brilliance of last week's. I was not wrong. I don't like Kripke. I don't find a speech impediment to be funny, and with him, it's completely extraneous. Sheldon could just have an enemy (I don't doubt he had many, in fact). You don't need to give the character this extra identifying mark.

So not only was I dismayed by Kripke's appearance, his practical joke was just mean-spirited and again, not something that I found funny. I don't like watching people getting humiliated. Sheldon dressed up for a radio interview. That's adorable, and then to not only be embarrassed for absolutely no reason in front of a national audience, but to have his friends laughing at him as well, just made me sad. Luckily, Wolowitz's uh, love triangle with Bernadette and Katee Sackhoff saved the episode for me.

Mike will have a review of the new Battlestar Galactica: The Plan film soon, but I wanted to show you a couple of clips from the straight-to-DVD movie directed by Edward James Olmos.

The first clip is a meeting of the Cylons, and after the jump is a look at some of the visual effects.

The geek-friendly guest stars just keep rolling into Big Bang Theory central ... Battlestar Galactica's Katee Sackhoff will appear in the Nov. 23 episode of the CBS comedy. This news comes less than a week after former Squadder Wil Wheaton showed up to crush Sheldon's spirit and help boost the show's ratings.

Sackhoff will play herself in the episode, but don't expect her role to be as big as Wheaton's or Summer Glau's last season. The former Starbuck is only dropping by for a cameo, says the Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan, but that won't stop Wolowitz from stalking her, and I doubt it'll stop her fans from tuning in and boosting the show's ratings again.

I wasn't particularly impressed with season seven of 24, partly because I really want Jack Bauer to be the kick-ass character he used to be, rather than the sickly guy struggling to survive (well, he's always been struggling, but in more of a kick-ass way).

The show took some heat for some of the earlier implausible plotlines (Really, Jack? You escape from the Secret Service guys and steal a helicopter to save the President? And say what? You spring back to life after being "dead" to find the bombs and save the world?), but that's what I loved about the show.

But could the Jack Bauer era be coming to an end? Kiefer Sutherland recently told Contact Music that he fears his character might be killed off.

This is Spoilers Anonymous, a weekly column here at TV Squad where we supply you with the dirt on some of the more popular shows on the air. We'll never put spoilers up here on the main page in order to help the reformed stay unspoiled. If you have anything to add to the group, feel free to step up and let yourself be heard, either with our tips form or by emailing us at tvsquad at gmail dot com, or call and leave a message at (775) 640-8479. Your anonymity is guaranteed, if you wish to remain as such.

This week we have spoilers for: 24, 30 Rock, Damages, Desperate Housewives, House, Lost, Melrose Place, Private Practice, and Ugly Betty. (SPOILERS FOLLOW!)

"Let's get this genocide started!"

That Cavil is one evil bucket of bolts.

Sci Fi's new trailer for Battlestar Galactica: The Plan is making the rounds and drumming up anticipation for the TV movie, which premieres this fall. The Plan will portray the events of the Cylon attack on the twelve colonies through the perspective of the Cylons. It's directed by Admiral Adama himself, Edward James Olmos, and written by BSG and Warehouse 13 scribe Jane Espenson, who also helped craft the BSG Web series the Face of the Enemy.

Katee Sackhoff, known mostly as the female Starbuck in the revamped version of Battlestar Galactica will be joining Jack Bauer to fight terrorists in the next season of 24.

I met Ms. Sackhoff once and she was quite nice, so I'm glad she's found another gig. It even makes sense that she's been cast, since 24 is very much like Battlestar Galactica but with less of a science fiction vibe (particularly if you substitute "Cylon" for "double-agent"). There is likely a lot of crossover appeal.

She is set to play a character named Dana Walsh, a CTU data analyst. Secretly I'm hoping she won't be stuck behind a desk decrypting computer files or anything boring like that and we'll be able to see her take down a terrorist or two (or whomever the enemy is next season).

This is a good casting choice and almost makes up for the show's casting of Freddie Prinze, Jr.

First, let me lower your expectations: This is just a rumor started by fanboys at a comic book shop.

OK, for those of you still reading, former Battlestar Galactica actress Katee Sackhoff was recently spotted buying a ton of comics featuring Daredevil character Typhoid Mary. According to MTV, Sackhoff visited Golden Apple Comics in L.A. last week and picked up the books and stunned the shop's staff with her smokin' hotness. This, of course, led the staff to believe that she might be doing research to play Typhoid Mary in a new Daredevil movie.

That's right. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Clark Griswold himself is starring in a comedy pilot for NBC that's "pretty much a lock" to be picked up as a series.

The show is called Community and it's described as "Stripes at a community college." (Hmm. Didn't Stripes star Bill Murray and Harold Ramis?) If the series is picked up, it will mark Chevy Chase's first full-time primetime series gig.

Months ago, I would've been baffled by this news. The best thing Chase has done in the last ten years was probably his cameo in Orange County, or his brief appearance on Family Guy. I thought he'd be stuck in junk like Zoom and Funny Money forever, but then he started showing up on shows like Brothers & Sisters and Chuck.

(S05E22) "Can I call you Mommy now?" - Wilbur

Well it took about a year and a half (thank you WGA strike), but Nip/Tuck's twenty-two episode fifth season has finally come to a close. As a finale, this episode delivered exactly what I was looking for: a few unanswered questions to leave us hanging as well as a few answers we've been waiting to have addressed since the first half of the season. Even better? There wasn't another one of those weird lip-syncing montages. One of those was enough.

(S05E21) "It's not easy knowing that your whole life is gonna go on without you." - Christian

It's hard to imagine what this show would be like if Christian were to die now. I'd like to think that Ryan Murphy and Co. will actually follow through on what's been an emotional rollercoaster for fans, watching Christian's cancer's ups and downs. If he somehow survives, I'll honestly be disappointed. Dr. Troy needs to die for this story to pay off. So the question is, when's he gonna kick it?

(S05E20) "I had sex with a doll once." - Sean

That was a funny line, huh? Especially since Kimber, the model for "the doll," was right in the next room. That was it in for funnies though in this week's episode of Nip/Tuck. Instead, it was one of the saddest, most depressing, and thought provoking hours the show has had in a long time. It was excellent.

Between Sean's new found free spirit and Christian's two life changing events, there's been a lot set up not just for the final two episodes of this season, but for the final sixth season (or sixth and seventh if those 19 eps get split up) as well.

On top of that, the episode featured one of the more interesting cases Drs. McNamara and Troy have had in some time. The show returned to its roots (no pun intended), and took on the case of Budi Sabri, a man afflicted with the same warts as the Tree Man from Indonesia. Very much a "ripped from the headlines" surgery. Or "ripped from the ground." Pun intended that time.

(S05E19) "Namaste home at night and play with that thing, oh yeah!" - Nurse Linda

I clearly don't have the same set of skills as Manny Skerritt or else I wouldn't own a TV and would therefore have never seen this episode of Nip/Tuck. As this week's patient-du-jour, Manny "I've got a Tyrannosaurus prick" Skerritt reminded me of how funny this show can actually be. The guy that got breast implants in season two comes to mind. However, if there's one lesson to learn from Manny's "addiction," it's that just because it feels good doesn't make it right.