TVSquad

(S04E16) It's always nice when we get to see Joe's dreams for a change. Luckily for him, they aren't visions of the future.

I am constantly amazed at the strength of character shown by Joe Dubois. Generally characters on TV are very sensitive or have high moral standards. It's not often that they have both. The best part is that while Joe knows that he is doing the right thing and really has no other choice, you can see the frustration and the anxiety in his face. I wonder if Jake Weber could possibly get an Emmy nominee for this role.

Quick, what do the following TV shows have in common: The Dick Van Dyke Show, Twilight Zone, The Andy Griffith Show, M*A*S*H, Mystery Science Theater 3000, and The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson?

Answer: they're not on Empire Magazine's list of the 50 best greatest TV shows of all-time. Let the arguments begin!

Title: Code of Honor
Original Air Date: October 12, 1987
Written by: Katharyn Powers and Michael Baron
Directed by: Russ Mayberry
Episode: S01E04
Stardate: 41235.25

Synopsis: The inhabitants of the Federation planet Styris IV had the fish for dinner, leading to an outbreak of deadly Anchilles fever. With Styris IV's fate in the hands of Acting President Ted Striker and his intern Elaine, the Enterprise pays a visit to the only planet in the entire galaxy that can provide a vaccine, Ligon II.

Picard meets with the Ligonian leader Lutan and his little buddy Hagon when they beam up into the ship's cargo bay. On the way to meet them, Troi and Riker tell Picard that the Ligonians are a proud people with a very structured society. Picard thanks them for waiting until they're in the turbolift, going to the meeting to tell him this important information, instead of bogging down the pre-meeting briefing with it. When they get to the cargo bay, we discover that the Ligonians are also descended directly from a 1940s pulp novel set in deepest, darkest Africa, and that they are amused to discover that the Enterprise's security chief is a woman.

Oh good! We're going to be racist and sexist in this one!

Things are looking good for Ronald D. Moore as Battlestar Galactica wraps up its run on SciFi. Brad already posted about the new show for Fox, Virtuality. Now comes word that the former Star Trek scribe has a new deal with United Artists. It seems Tom Cruise has tasked Moore with creating an original sci-fi trilogy. Feel free to insert your own Scientology joke here.

Details of the trilogy are, quite obviously, scarce at this point. That being said, if you want to go out and make a big budget sci-fi epic, having Tom Cruise on board is a great first step. It means this thing has a solid chance of actually coming to fruition. And while I'm not the biggest Tom Cruise fan, I'm on board to give anything Moore pens a shot.

[ Reuters via Yahoo ]

There hasn't been much information leaked from the set of the new Star Trek movie, but that isn't from lack of fans trying.

My favorite part of this TV Guide interview with Leonard Nimoy and Zachery Quinto (who both play Spock in the film somehow - I'm sure it involves time travel and science) is when Quinto reveals that one day during shooting, director JJ Abrams took out his cell phone and showed Quinto a photo that was on the web. A photo of the very scene they were currently shooting that day, in that very room! Personally, at that point, I would have ordered the doors locked and looked around and see who it could have been.

Hot on the heels of yesterday's "what" collection from Lost comes the natural follow up: all the "he's dead, Jim"s uttered by Bones on Star Trek. If you're a Star Trek super-geek like me, this might be the perfect video to watch before your nightly ritual of looking through your high school yearbook while crying.

By the way, I know that this is a trend that could continue indefinitely (a lot of you have posted your own favorite compilation videos on the Lost post), but I promise I won't post another one of these until it's something really good. (I'm still rooting for all the "Bro's" on Beverly Hills 90210, but I'd like to really open the floor to discussion on this thread: what over-used word or phrase from a television show needs to be turned into a viral video?)

The video after the jump...

Title: Angel One
Original Air Date: January 25, 1988
Written by: Patrick Barry
Directed by: Michael Rhodes
Episode: S01E14
Stardate: 41636.9

Synopsis: The Enterprise comes across the long-lost freighter Odin, which has been missing since Captain Hazelwood crashed the ship into an asteroid seven years ago. Three escape pods are missing and assumed to be on their way to Tatooine, but since the planet Angel One is closer, Picard decides to look there, first. Besides, it's supposedly run by hot babes who like to snu-snu, so Picard can finally dump that load of hats he's been hauling around since "Justice." And -- Science Fiction Cliche alert! -- it's "similar to mid-twentieth century Earth."

After a chilly initial audio-only contact with Angel One's leader, Mistress Beata, during which no one at all asks why the leader has a dom-sub porn name, Picard sends Riker, Troi, Tasha and Data down to the planet to get permission to look for any survivors. On their way to the transporter room, they run into Wesley and Nameless Extra Kid, who are wrapped up in Jiffy Pop suits and on their way to skiing lessons. On the holodeck's version of the Denubian alps. Now, for all the failings in this episode, here are two things it does right: the holodeck doesn't malfunction, and we don't have to watch Wesley and his friend doing their best Suzie Chapstick impression on the icy slopes of Mount Needaplotpoint (part of the majestic Isthisthebestyoucoulddo range).

Picard tells the away team that Angel One could one day be of strategic importance to the Federation, so they'd better be on their best behavior. Riker says, "Dude, is there any planet in the galaxy that isn't going to be of strategic importance to the Federation one day?" Picard responds, "If you keep asking questions like that, Number One, it's going to be fifteen years before you get your own command. Beam them away, Nameless Transporter Chief."

Well, it's now official. Jericho is done.

You have to wonder, was it all worth it? I mean, sure, we got a few more episodes and I, personally, am grateful for the upcoming series finale but I'm curious if those of you who spent time and money on peanuts feel like you made a difference.

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• Dennis Letts: He was a teacher who taught at universities for 30 years and then decided to get into acting. He appeared in several TV shows, including Walker, Texas Ranger, Once and Again, and The CBS Summer Playhouse, as well as the TV movies Dallas: The Early Years, Challenger, and The Last Prostitute. On the big screen he was in Cast Away, Infamous, Passenger 57, A Perfect World, and many others. He died of cancer at age 73.

New Zealand's fourth most popular five minute podcast about TV Squad returns! As always, you can either listen to it right in your browser or subscribe to it via iTunes and bring the dulcet tones of my voice with you on the subway. I can't think of anything better than hearing me talk about Ashton Kutcher's possible exposure to Hep A while being stabbed to death by one of the Shower Posse.

Discussed in today's episode:

• Bob Sassone and Tex Avery show us what the future of TV will look like.
• It turns out that Hepatitis A feels the same way about Ashton Kutcher as the rest of us do.
• Allison Waldman and CBS give Trekkers something to go nerd-crazy about.
• Apparently, Maya Rudolph has one fan.
• Jay Black pimps for Jay Black (and also speaks about Jay Black in the third person)

(Music provided courtesy of Kevin MacLeud.)

Don't you just love the web? News traveling so fast, ideas extrapolated and speculated upon based on the simplest of facts. That said, here's a sweet little tidbit that I found amusing. Tom Cruise was spotted on the Los Angeles set of the new Star Trek feature film. He reportedly was visiting writer/director JJ Abrams. The two men, you'll recall, collaborated on Mission Impossible 3.

This exclusive, courtesy of JFXOnline, revealed that Tom stuck around the set for a couple of hours. Prior to this sighting, there had also been talk last fall that Abrams had wanted to enlist the superstar to make a brief cameo appearance in the revamped Star Trek opus, telling the story of how creator Gene Roddenberry's original characters came to be. How Captain Kirk made it out of the Star Fleet Academy (in The Wrath of Khan he said he cheated on his Kobyashi Maru simulation test), as well as the first time Kirk met the half-Vulcan, half-human Mr. Spock.

Recently, TV Squad reported that NBC has added all kinds of classic TV shows to their online outlets. Now comes the announcement that CBS is also bringing a variety of well-loved TV dramas to the web. CBS Interactive is raiding the CBS Library, which is "one of the largest television programming libraries in the entertainment business," to present TV series online across the CBS Audience Network.

Like the NBC fodder, the CBS offering is gangbusters: full-length episodes of classic Star Trek, Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone, MacGyver, Hawaii Five-O and Melrose Place. CBS plans to add more programs and clips in the coming months, including sports and other kinds of entertainment.

Lost is perhaps the ultimate in TV fiction. The storytelling is the stuff of vivid imaginations and it's gotten millions watching and wondering and tuning in for more. Of course, in the midst of all that fantasy, some things we've taken as fact, like most of the technology. For instance, I don't know about you, but I believed those satellite phones they've been using since Naomi parachuted onto the island last season were the real thing. Well, guess what, it's no more of a reality than Mr. Spock's tricorder on Star Trek!

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• Robert DoQui: He was a veteran character actor who appeared in a ton of TV shows over the years, including ER, The Outer Limits, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Party of Five, The Practice, NYPD Blue, Picket Fences, Happy Days, I Dream of Jeannie, Gunsmoke, Cagney and Lacey, Hill Street Blues, Knot's Landing, and others. He was also in three of the Robocop movies and also the films Nashville, Short Cuts, and Cloak and Dagger. He died at age 74 in Los Angeles.

It looks like Star Trek fans are going to have to wait until May 2009 to see their franchise reboot. According to Variety, Paramount Pictures has pushed back the release date because they feel it would make more money as a summer tentpole.

The reboot is being masterminded by J.J. Abrams, who is behind such television shows as Alias and Lost. It stars Chris Pine as Captain Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Mr. Spock. Leonard Nimoy, who originated the role of Spock in the 1960's, will be returning as well in the movie as an older Spock.

Frankly, I think this is a bad idea. While the movie-going public increases during the summer, Star Trek has the benefit of family appeal that would make it perfect as a Christmas Day release once the gifts are open and the family starts realizing that it can't stand each other.