TVSquad

Tracy Morgan is a busy man. Along with his role on the NBC comedy 30 Rock, now entering its third season, Tracy is also taking on the reigns of host of the SciFi Channel program Scare Tactics, also in its third season. Premiering on July 9th, Scare Tactics is a hidden-camera, reality-comedy hybrid that allows friends and loved ones to set up unsuspecting victims into a series of horror hoaxes that are staged with movie-style special effects and makeup.

Earlier this week, Tracy, who is the third host of the program after Shannen Doherty and Stephen Baldwin hosted the first two seasons, joined Tactics' Executive Producer Scott Hallock on a conference call to talk about this upcoming season.

For the past few weeks, SciFi.com has been giving viewers an early look at that week's episode, online. The first and second episodes were shown only at noon Eastern, while the third (last week) was shown every hour throughout the morning and afternoon. In all cases, you couldn't rewind or pause the feed, and there are short commercials throughout. This was fantastic for fans eager to see the episode early -- until today, that is.

Sci Fi's website promised a noon "preview" of tonight's episode, which to most meant would be the same, full-episode preview we've been seeing this season. Instead, viewers got the shaft after about 20 minutes of the episode airing, including ending the viewing with a commercial.

So, you're sitting in front of your flat-screen, watching your Season Three DVD of Battlestar Galactica, in anticipation of the new season starting April 4th, and you happen to glance over at your 2-Slice stainless steel toaster. As you stare at your reflection in the gleaming metal you think 'Hey, if I put some flashing lights on the face of that toaster it would look like a Cylon's head. But, who in hell would be interested in seeing something like that other than myself?'

Funny you should think that, because someone is interested in seeing your creation. In fact, three someones in the form of Scifi.com, dvice.com, and Make magazine are willing to judge your work, along with others, to see who can mod or make a Cylon from scratch. If they like what you made they'll give you a chance to show your creation on the SCI FI Channel.

And you thought putting blinking lights on your toaster was stupid, didn't you?

Since it looks like Bionic Woman is not coming back to NBC, although nothing's been confirmed, the executive producer is moving on. David Eick is writing a pilot based on the Alfonso Cuarón film Children of Men for SciFi.

The film, brilliantly directed by the Mexican filmmaker, was a grim tale about the future -- England in 2027 -- where women have become completely infertile and the human race faces a major crises with less than a century to survive.

I'm curious to know how many people are newcomers to the current Battlestar Galactica series on Sci Fi. Seeing as this is the final season coming up, are there people more inclined to try to catch up (or have been catching up) so they can enjoy the end of the show in real time?

Sci Fi has put together a short special called Battlestar Galactica Revealed, featuring scenes from past seasons and interviews with the cast and creators of the series. These videos, along with the eight minute "recap" video (shown over on the right of the site as of this writing), should help get those not interested in picking up past seasons on DVD caught up with things (though shame on you for your intolerable disinterest!) Check out the videos after the jump.

A few weeks ago we reported that a fifth season of Stargate Atlantis would be airing on the SciFi network sometime in the fall, just as the fourth season did back in 2007. Well, it now seems like the premiere of the new season will be moving up a couple of months.

A number of online resources, including Gateworld, TV Guide, and the personal blog of Atlantis executive producer Joseph Mallozzi, are reporting that the show will be premiering in July. "The decision on the Season Five premiere date rests with SCI FI," Mallozzi writes in his blog, "However, I'm hopeful that fans won't have to wait until the fall to see the resolution of our Season Four cliffhanger."

The giveaways continue today! Not only are we giving away five copies of The Tudors season one on DVD, we've also got three copies of Battlestar Galactica - Razor: Unrated Extended Edition on DVD for three lucky, random commenters. The set is available in stores now.

To enter, simply leave a comment below before 5:00PM Eastern, Friday, January 11, simply telling us what your favorite episode of Battlestar Galactica is. As always, we'll randomly choose three winners amongst the eligible entries. Some other details:
Click here for complete Official Rules.

The days are ticking down to the Battlestar Galactica: Razor movie, coming to SciFi on November 24. Until then, SciFi is releasing what they're calling "Battlestar Galactica: Razor Flashbacks". I'm told we'll get these about every week until the movie premieres.

This one features a couple of seemingly new characters who were once on board the Galactica during the First Cylon War. Check it out after the jump.

There's a preview for the upcoming SciFi Channel miniseries Tin Man up on YouTube. It's a more modern and sinister take on The Wizard of Oz. The video is also embedded after the jump.

Apparently, the Outer Zone (Oz. Outer Zone. Get it?) is ruled by an evil sorceress named Azkadellia (what? Not Elphaba? I guess you'll have to stick to the musical for that). Following in the tradition of the strong female protagonist, Dorothy "DG" Gale is now a midwestern waitress caught in a freak storm that transports her to the Outer Zone where she has to kick butt and take names.

After hitting the guide button on my HR20 DVR, my jaw hit the ground. After months of promises, DirecTV finally came through on one to deliver the SciFi Channel and many other channels in HD. Instead of grouping them together below channel 100, the new HD channels show up just above their SD counterparts.

Unfortunately, if you own an older HD DirecTivo, you won't be enjoying the new channels - you can only view them with one of the newer mpeg-4 HD receivers, like the HR20. If you think you're missing out, use your search engine to hunt down the DirecTV customer retention phone number. They'll usually upgrade existing customers for a minimal fee.

Last month we told you of Sci Fi Channel's poll for choosing the cover art for the DVD of the upcoming Battlestar Galactica - Razor TV movie. We posted our own poll and, as it turns out, the votes match up. The winning choice, seen right, is 'B'. I actually chose 'C' myself (which came in second in our poll), maybe because when thinking of the word "razor" I thought the split images matched along with that. But in all honesty, I don't really care what the cover looks like -- they were all fine choices.

Ron Moore, he of the super-stupendous remake of Battlestar Galactica, will be sticking around the television universe for a few more years. According to press reports Moore has signed a two-year, seven-figure deal with Universal Media Studios, which is part of NBC Universal.

This deal means that he will continue to work with partner David Eick on BSG, which ends its run after this season (the fourth). He'll also work on other projects for the studio. This means that you could see something from Ron on NBC, USA, or SciFi Channel in the near future. There's even talk that Moore could have a new series on the air as early as fall 2008.

And, who knows? If Bionic Woman, which Eick is heading up, needs a bit of help perhaps Moore will stop in to give him a hand.

I'm combining Sunday's panel reports because neither the Women in Sci-Fi panel nor The 4400 panel was brimming with revelations unless you count as a revelation the fact that Lucy Lawless' fans bear a striking resemblance to the core audience of the WNBA, but you shouldn't.

The Battlestar Galactica panel was really a celebration of Battlestar's women. The panel opened with a montage video featuring all the female characters swearing or, at least, saying "frak" alot following the weighty words, "Well-behaved women rarely make history."

Comic-Con 2007 officially began with Wednesday's "Preview Night" or, as I like to call it, "Get the Lay of the Land So You Don't Get Trampled to Death by a Grown Man in a Pikachu Costume Night."

Over the next couple of days, I'll be covering panels featuring the casts of Lost, Heroes, Battlestar Galactica and a few of this coming season's most anticipated new shows - Pushing Daisies, Reaper and Chuck among others. You can keep abreast of the latest scoop by following TV Squad's Twitter feed. (You can score a free TV Squad t-shirt if you're in San Diego by finding me via our Twitter feed.) I'll also be posting photos on Flickr and wrapping-up each day with as many posts as I can churn out to keep you, gentle viewers, informed.