(S07E08) Last week, I wasn't thrilled with the CBS Monday night sitcom schedule. In fact, I thought all four shows were a bit off, and more than a few readers thought I was off the rails for speaking my mind. Fortunately -- for me -- this week's shows were back on track and I have only good things to say. That's especially true about Two and a Half Men. Seven years into the show, an episode like this one stands out as very original and really funny.
This was also the episode in which Battlestar Galactica's Tricia Helfer guested as Chelsea's old college roommate. That's not a spoiler; that's in the picture. More about the show -- including spoilers -- after the jump.
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.
In celebration of the upcoming DVD and Blu-ray release of the Battlestar Galactica movie "The Plan," Maxim is having a cover and series of photos of the two sexiest Cylons in the 12, Tricia Helfer and Grace Park. Not that we need anything to be released in order to appreciate the half-naked bodies of Ms. Helfer and Ms. Park. Dictionary Day would be an adequate reason for me to admire these hard-working actresses.
Notice how all the female Cylon models are quite attractive and the males ... aren't quite. For the females, we have Grace Park, Tricia Helfer, Lucy Lawless, Rekha Sharma and Kate Vernon (who is older, but still quite the knockout). On the male side there are more attractive male-model types (Callum Rennie and Michael Trucco, most notably), but we also have folks like Dean Stockwell, Michael Hogan and Aaron Douglas. When will the latter three be posing for Maxim?
Tricia Helfer is a really, really good actress. Before she was killed on Burn Notice, I wanted her dead for what she did to Michael. On Battlestar Galactica, as Six, she was a stone cold Cylon killer. She's very good at convincing me that she's dangerous. But can she do comedy? Hmm ... I guess we're going to find out. Tricia Helfer will guest on Two and a Half Men in an upcoming episode.
According to Michael Ausiello of EW.com, Tricia will be playing a good friend of Charlie's fiancee, Chelsea, who has recently ended a bad relationship. As an act of kindness, Chelsea asks her to come out to Malibu for a visit.
Every year I foolishly get excited that maybe this year the Emmys will reach out and nominate something different. But then it's the same old nominees from the previous year. Even if a show has an off year, Emmy just goes ahead and nominates it again.
Of last year's six nominees for Drama Series, only one didn't make the cut this year. Lead Actor kept five of their six nominees as well, and Lead Actress kept all five nominees from last year. That's fifteen of 17 repeat contenders from last year in three categories. If Emmy hadn't added a slot each to Series and Actress it might have been a virtual rerun.
With all those repeats, there's no room to honor the final season of Battlestar Galactica. Maybe Emmy voters look at the shows they picked last year and say "That's still on, right? Let's go with that." And they're done picking their nominees in less than ten minutes.
(S01E02) With the set-up now out of the way, it's time for Warehouse 13 to start delivering the weird weekly sci-fi mysteries. This week, Pete and Myka traded barbs with Tricia Helfer, aka Battlestar Galactica's sexy Number Six. Helfer played an FBI agent investigating a series of bank robberies in Chicago. The twist? The banks were being robbed by baddies who blasted hypnotic ambient music from a portable record player.
"Resonance" offered a few other weird delights, like a scene with Pete playing ping-pong with his reflection and Artie's strange "Kodak moment." I still can't decide if the best thing about this show is the cast or the goofy old school tech everyone gets to play with. It certainly isn't the formulaic plots. Just like last week, the procedural elements of the story were pretty dull for a sci-fi show. The investigation felt more Law & Order than X-Files, even with all the fantastic elements and comedic scenes.
I really enjoyed the two-hour Warehouse 13 pilot. It was quite fun. Next week another Syfy (remember that small "f" in the name, everyone) veteran guest stars. It's Tricia Helfer, and from this brief clip below she seems to be playing the type of character she played on Burn Notice last season.
Now I have another reason to tune in. Actually, I have four more reasons. The show will be loaded with great geek-friendly guest stars, including BSG's Michael Hogan, Tricia Helfer and Whdeonverse vet Mark Sheppard. Stargate Atlantis alum Joe Flanigan will also appear on the show.
(S02E18) It's time for Chuck to assert some authority. It's time to go over General Beckman's head and turn to the Commander in Chief.
"Dear Mr. President: You probably don't know me, but let me start by saying I love America and I've been happy to be of service to the NSA. However, recently, I've had some questions about my place. My rights, actually. Sir, you're a lawyer. Do I have any rights at all, like privacy? Like the ability to keep my family out of my work? Not that I'm complaining, but..."
Yes, I think Chuck is in a tough spot. Things have become too close for comfort, mixing up Chuck's spy biz with his family life.
When I say that the Burn Notice finale last night made quite a splash, I'm not talking about the ratings. I'm talking about the show. Creator Matt Nix, who penned the Burn Notice Season Two finale, really knows how to write a cliffhanger. Actually, it's a cliffhanger with a hook, because in some ways we actually went over the cliff with Michael Westen. More on those specifics -- and spoilers if you haven't seen the show yet -- after the jump.
(S04E11) Note: technically the Razor television movie counts as the first two episodes of the season, so this is actually episode 13. And what an episode it was! It answered the biggest question from the viewers and in the process created a few more.
FYI, the episode title is taken from the folk song "Goodnight, Irene", which pretty much fits the theme of the episode.
I really liked Mary McDonnell's acting in this episode. I felt heartbroken at her breakdown upon discovering the remains of Earth and her inability to share the information with the fleet. Whenever things get bad, at least we're not on the run from homicidal machines with our last great hope for sanctuary a radioactive wasteland.
Oh sure, there may be 12 shows a stinkin', but there's still reason to tune in. See just like advertisers, show-runners and TV executives know that sex sells. And hot chicks sell. And hot chicks selling their sexuality sell like hotcakes ... or chicks ... I never can get that right. But just being hot and sexy isn't enough. To really sell it, they need to be as close to naked as legally allowed on the airwaves. We're talking "Oops, sorry to barge in on you standing there in your underwear bending over the bed pulling on your fishnet stockings. Nice rack."
Sometimes near-nudity, and even nudity, legitimately serves the plot. Let's face it, Anna Paquin had to bang that vampire on True Blood so she was going to have to get naked. It's a necessity. But Yvonne Strahovski on Chuck? Does she have to be in her underwear that often to protect the Intersect? Was it required by Simon Elder that Karen Darling be in her underwear in order to talk to him? Of course not. But it's hot and that's the way we like it. Hell, they made Catalina a stripper on My Name is Earl.
NBC's Chuck is about to get an added dash of sexy to go along with the unbelievable level of sexy that already exists on the show. I'm talking about Yvonne Strahovski, not Adam Baldwin.
Battlestar Galactica favorite Tricia Helfer will guest star in this season's 18th episode as a spy who is assigned to Chuck. No, she isn't replacing Strahovski, this is only a one-episode thing (though I bet the door will be left open for her to come back). I'm guessing there is going to be some tension between both female agents when it comes to helping Chuck.
(S02E09) "What do you see up there? A mastermind petting a Persian cat?" - Sam Axe
So , as you might expect from the finale, Michael is very close to solving one of this season's mysteries. It seems the only missing pieces of the puzzle are who is the sniper's target and does Michael want to save them?
I can only imagine that the target would have to be a really bad person in order for Michael to overcome his inflated savior complex. If Osama Bin Laden ends up as a passenger on the ferry, he'll probably let the hit go down. Anyone else, however, is going to have to be a game day call.
I'll have a longer post about the Sci Fi / Entertainment Weekly party early next week, but I wanted to post a couple of short interviews I was able to grab at the party first. I actually wasn't intending to interview anyone at this party, but since Rich had his handy recorder with him, I made a few choice picks from the red carpet while I had the chance.
First up: Tricia Helfer. With Battlestar Galactica finished filming, she's been busy in a guest-starring role on Burn Notice. Hell, this woman's on two shows I love and, come on, it's Tricia Helfer. I was the last person in line on the carpet, so I kept it short. She was extremely nice and open to talk to.
In celebration of the upcoming DVD and Blu-ray release of the Battlestar Galactica movie "The Plan," Maxim is having a cover and series of photos of the two sexiest Cylons in the 12, 
Tricia Helfer
Every year I foolishly get excited that maybe this year the Emmys will reach out and nominate something different. But then it's the 
(S01E02) With the set-up now out of the way, it's time for 
With
(S02E18) It's time for Chuck to assert some authority. It's time to go over General Beckman's head and turn to the Commander in Chief. 
(S04E11) Note: technically the Razor television movie counts as the first two episodes of the season, so this is actually episode 13. And what an episode it was! It answered the biggest question from the viewers and in the process created a few more.
... Eleven babes worth watchin'
NBC's 
(S02E09) "What do you see up there? A mastermind petting a Persian cat?" - Sam Axe
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