TVSquad

With Battlestar ending, and Bionic Woman ended, the lovely and talented Ms. Sackhoff could use a new gig. Why not Nip/Tuck? Sackhoff is set to join the FX series for a four episode arc as Dr. Theodora "Teddy" Lowe. She's said to present a challenge for Sean (Dylan Walsh).

But wait, there's more. What's better than Katee Sackhoff on Nip/Tuck? How about some Morgan Fairchild? She will be appearing for one episode as a movie star. I suppose we could debate which is actually better, but for me, there is just something about Morgan Fairchild. Whichever you prefer, both are nice additions for the show. Read on past the jump for more casting notes from Caprica, Warehouse 13, and that crazy sounding House spin-off idea.

What's happening on other blogs via the interweb.

• Is Katee Sackhoff about to join CSI?
• Daryn Kagan visited CNN for the first time since getting canned after 12 years and it was...odd (especially the second video).
• What the heck was going on at the Ellen show the other day?
• Get ready for more commercials on TV network sites.
• Earl Pomerantz tells a secret about a Mary Tyler Moore Show script he wrote.
• How would you like to star in the new music video that Zach Braff is directing?
• Ratings for The Office hit a season low the other night, and 30 Rock's weren't that great either.
• Check out the storyboards for the second season of Mad Men.

• Katee was asked about the significance of the last supper image promo for season four. She mentions how so many people try to interpret the photo, but she says, at least the way she saw it, the cast would have all had to have been in on it for it to really mean something.

We've been discussing this a lot lately, the fate of NBC's Bionic Woman. There were rumors flying around during the writers strike that it had been canceled, then I heard from someone on the show that it had indeed been canceled, and then Joel reported that it was probably canceled. but there was never any "official" word from the network about whether it was coming back or not.

There still isn't.

However, I think we can take the word of the show's executive producer David Eick, who says that the show is gone. He tells Wired.com that even though he though Michelle Ryan was wonderful (*cough cough*), he thought "the process was frustrating" and they "just didn't bring it all together like we did with Battlestar." He even makes a point of saying that "some" of the writing was good, which means he knows that some of the writing was bad too.

Last year Anna told us how to make a Battlestar Galactica Cylon Jack-O-Lantern, but do you know how to actually find out if there is an actual Cylon living among your family or circle of friends?

The handy poster on the right can be of help. It tells you all of the clues and behavior to look out for, such as a strange empathy with machines and a spine that glows red. It reminds me of those old posters you used to see (still see?) in restaurants, the ones that illustrated what to do when someone was choking. I still remember the tip that said "Hand to throat means person is choking," followed by a drawing of a man with his face in a plate of food.

The posters are for sale for $19.95, though the site where you order them seems to be down at the moment. Probably from all the traffic generated from a Boing Boing link.

(S01E04) "I'm just a simple boob man." - Nathan

I think after this episode, we're all simple boob men.

This was the "let's position Katee Sackhoff on a table and make her wear a tank top and have wires wrapped around her chest to highlight her breasts as much as possible" episode. Not that I'm complaining. But it seems like a waste to have a character like Sarah Corvus and have her lying down for most of the time.

In this episode we learn that Jaime's new body comes with a limited warranty, and that her sister likes to pour beer on ice cream.

(S01E03) "$50 million and you didn't think we'd throw in a GPS?" - Jonas

OK, I have to admit it: with this episode Bionic Woman has me hooked for the long haul.

Where the first two episodes were way too heavy on the set up, this one was actually intriguing, lively, and jam-packed with witty lines. I'm actually beginning to think that the highlight of the show is Miguel Ferrer's Jonas character. Unlike Arvin Sloane over on Alias, Jonas is sarcastic and funny. And he's not the only one who had good dialogue in this episode. It's like the show was taken over by other writers or something after the first two episodes. The words were meatier, funnier.

(S01E02)"God you're a douche." - Jaime, to Jonas

Last week I mentioned that Bionic Woman had a lot of Alias in it, and the opening scenes of this second episode solidifies that viewpoint a little bit more, with Jaime's fiancee dead and her friends moving on with their lives ("I'm gonna to be a scumbag lawyer, you guys!") and Jaime stuck at a bartending job and feeling a little lost, a little unfulfilled.

Time to save the world!

(S01E01)"I guess that makes me your landlord." - Jonas Bledsoe, explaining to Jamie Sommers who he is and all the money he spent on her

Sometimes I really hate first episodes of TV shows. They have to have so much exposition and explain everything and set everything up so fast. In the first 15 minutes of Bionic Woman, the following occurs: we meet the evil killer bionic woman, who is killed by one of her cohorts after a rampage; we're introduced to Jamie and her job as a bartender; we meet her kid sister and see them argue about their absent father; we meet her boyfriend the professor/scientist; and we find out that Jamie is pregnant.

• Peter Jennings helped a lot of people to quit smoking.
• Aaron over at TV Barn calls John From Cincinnati "truly baffling."
• There's something truly wrong with Ann Coulter.
• Kevin Eubanks is one sexy vegetarian.
• Katee Sackhoff hates the original Battlestar Galactica.
• Watching Wimbledon this week? Check out ESPN.com's blog.
• TV Guide.com lists the Top 30 Cult Shows of All-Time. Can Star Trek and Lost be considered "cult" shows?

OK, so the networks have given their upfronts and they've sent out the screener DVDs. These are the pilot episodes of the new fall shows, in not-quite-completed form. Things could still change before they hit the networks this fall, but they give a good general sense of what the shows are about and what they're like.

Today Joel and I start with previews of some new NBC shows: Bionic Woman, Life, Chuck, and Journeyman. More networks and other shows coming soon!

(Photos courtesy NBC.com)

The Chicago Tribune's/RedEye's NCAA tournament-like contest for the best character on TV is all over. And in the end, it was no contest at all.

RedEye announced today that Battlestar Galactica's Capt. Kara "Starbuck" Thrace seriously trounced 24's illustrious terrorist hunter Jack Bauer by getting 3,061 votes to his 777.

Whoa. I did not expect the seemingly invincible Bauer to be defeated by anyone. In just this season alone, Bauer has deactivated a nuclear weapon, wielded a cigar cutter as an amputation device against a Russian diplomat and used plastic wrap as an interrogation tool on his own brother. Just mere hours after being released from a Chinese prison. I guess Bauer has met his match, and it's not in the form of a terrorist.