TVSquad

Ok, first of all, I think I already have a bit of a girl-crush on Sgt. Vanessa James. I mean, for cripes sakes, look at her. And I love that she told the guys she could whup their ass. You do not want to cross her.

Four episodes into Stargate Universe, and I'm starting to get hooked. I like that this week's episode, "Darkness," took place mainly on the ancient ship Destiny, which looks ultra-cool flying through space. The whole thing has a Firefly feel to it.

I'm also starting to get a better feel for the storyline and characters, thanks in part to their little bio recordings engineered by Eli. Most of the crew are in their 20s or 30s, and most would rather be anywhere but there.

I appreciated them trying to figure out the ship's systems -- waste, water, showers, etc. As some of the commenters have said, that probably would have been first on the list of things to do three episodes ago, even if Dr. Rush was having some power issues of his own.

When word broke that the Stargate franchise was moving into darker territory with Stargate Universe, fan reaction ranged from cautiously optimistic to downright angry. The anger mostly came from fans who felt jilted by Syfy's sudden cancellation of the veteran show Stargate Atlantis (it didn't help that Syfy announced the new series in a press release that also announced the cancellation of Atlantis). To some, it seemed like the fan favorite (Atlantis) had to die so the edgy new experiment (Universe) could live.

Universe –- a fine, scrappy show packed with great actors – might now be facing an uphill battle with some of its target audience members. Stargate fans unwilling to give the show a chance should know one thing: The franchise's spirit of adventure remains intact in the first three episodes of Universe. It is different and darker than Stargate: SG-1 and Atlantis – even blatantly dreary at times – but it's still Stargate.

Here's an interesting bit of news from Kristin over at E Online: producers of Bones will solve the mystery from the short-lived show Vanished on the show this fall.

Now, that's undoubtedly fantastic news for fans of Vanished (both of you), and it's intriguing that the network and the people behind Bones would actually want to take the time and effort to solve a mystery from a show most people have forgotten. But it's very cool, something you don't see on TV that often. I'm sure the episode will be more Bones-centric than Vanished-centric, but it's a great idea.

Murder, She Wrote did this once. They solved a mystery from an old film noir movie from the 40s (Strange Bargain), and even got several members of the cast back together for it.

The last time we left Vanished (well, actually, the last time you left it, since I didn't watch it), star Gale Harold had been killed off after the actor had been fired from the show (according to USA Today). The show will return next week, in the network-is-going-to-cancel-it-anyway slot of Fridays at 9pm. The new star is Eddie Cibrian.

FOX asked the show's executive producer Josh Berman to wrap up the storyline in 13 episodes, the same thing that NBC asked the makers of Kidnapped to do (that show has been shoved over to Saturday nights). There's no such like for fans of CBS' Smith, which was simply canceled. (Actually, I thought Vanished was simply canceled too, but I guess it has come back to life, if temporarily.)

I wonder when the networks will start toying with the idea of giving shorter seasons to a show and giving viewers the confidence of investing in a show, especially one with an ongoing, season long mystery?

How do you describe Fox's new criminal drama Vanished? Well, combine the premise of Without a Trace with the technology shown on CSI, expand one episode to cover an entire season, and have all of the suspects become main characters on the show. Oh, and thrown in so many twist and turns that your head begins to spin.

You can also describe Vanished this way . . . a pretty decent show.

Funny blog entry by the Seattle Post- Intelligencer's "TV Gal", Melanie McFarland: she has come up with a metric called the "Ming-Na Measure". Now, this is not a measure of a show's chances for success (or more likely, failure) merely by Ming-Na's presence on it, though her track record outside of ER isn't stellar. Apparently, the Ming-Na Measure gagues the potential length of a show's run by how the actress reacts during the press conference for the program held at the TCA press tour.

For instance, her consternation at critics' questions about how her new show, Fox's Vanished, is similar to another new pilot, NBC's Kidnapped, tells McFarland that the show probably won't last a month. Given how similarly McFarland said she reacted at the press tour conference for her last colossal failure, last year's NBC fertility clinic drama Inconceivable, chances are the critic's right on the money with this one.

[via Pop Candy]

Alicia Silverstone agreed to play the lead role in an ABC comedy, Pink Collar, which is about women's relationships in the workplace. Silverstone was last on television during the short-lived Miss Match on NBC in 2003, unless you count the constant reruns of Clueless on cable. Silverstone had seemed to drop off the face of the earth until she popped up again this year in, of all things, Beauty Shop.

Further proof that Joey won't be returning next fall, Jennifer Coolidge, who plays the agent on Joey (and is wickedly funny), has been cast in the FOX comedy pilot, If You Lived Here, You'd be Home by Now. It's about a bunch of people living in temporary housing in L.A. Let's hope it gets a new name.

Other casting news: