TVSquad

(S02E05) The game of time-travel chess continues. It seems that whenever Sarah and the gang foil one Terminator plot, another two crop up in its place (or they fulfill some sort of objective from Skynet and bring things one step closer to Judgement Day).

Observations from tonight's episode:

How did Reese get the credentials to teach at the military school? I know being from the future gives one access to certain information, but it seems a stretch.

Remember all of the interest over the summer about whether or not FOX was going to keep The Sarah Connor Chronicles or cancel it after one season like they do with so many fan favorites? Well, how come you're not watching the show?

There are reports swirling around that the network is going to cancel the Monday night show because of bad ratings, ratings that worse than FOX expected. The show is averaging a 4.1/6, which means it's down 34% from last year. Even the 18-49 demo loved by networks and advertisers aren't watching the show. When the geeks science fiction enthusiasts aren't watching the show, you know you're in trouble.

I have to admit I've drifted away from the show. There are just too many shows to watch and towards the end of the first season I sort of decided to not want to follow this story anymore (same thing is happening with Fringe). Anyone else there stop watching this show after the first season?

(S02E04) This story focused more on the individual members of the Connor team, particularly Cameron. I was glad about this for two reasons. First, more Summer Glau. Second, I think the flash forwards make for very good, interesting episodes.

At first, I was a little taken aback by Cameron's display of emotions. Since when can Terminators shed tears? I suppose it sort of makes sense given that she's an infiltration unit, but it seems kind of a stretch.

(S03E03) Is it me, or have the Terminators gotten more sophisticated since Arnold's day? Arnold never would have set a trap. He would have just pursued until terminated.

The opening of this episode was reminiscent of the closing of the first Terminator movie when Linda Hamilton was driving in the desert.

It's funny how the actor whose life Cromartie stole ended up being (sort of) famous. Usually they try to keep a low profile. Also, despite being the future savior of humanity, John Connor is not above stealing cable. This is a lesson for the rest of us.

(S02E02) The plot for the series has become convoluted very quickly. I take that as a good thing since it means the series can potentially last a few years. My favorite part remains the flash forward in this episode, brief as it was. The rest of it was good but not particularly memorable.

Who else spotted Busy Philipps as the pregnant landlady? I keep wondering if the kid is James Franco's from her previous series. I admit she's looking a bit chunkier in the face and I'm wondering if that's make-up for the character pregnancy or the effect of her real-life pregnancy.

Time travel has certainly become a revolving door in this show. It used to be more difficult now people are falling through time-doors that are powered by jet engines much more easily. Maybe they've improved the technology in the future. This is getting to be a bigger time war than the one in Doctor Who.

(S02E01) Last season ended with a bang. More specifically, Cameron in the middle of a bang when the SUV she was occupying exploded. The new series begins with music by the series composer Bear McCreary and vocalized by the lead singer of Garbage, Shirley Manson (who appears later in the episode as ZeiraCorp CEO Catherine Weaver, a new major player).

The show had good ratings the first season, but only nine episodes. Both of these can be attributed to the WGA Strike, which both cut down the available episodes and gave the show no competition. If it does well this season in the ratings, then we'll be seeing more killer robots in the future.

After the mid-day lunch/writing break, FOX jam-packed events into the rest of the afternoon and evening, not leaving much time to breathe, much less stop and type a blog post. One of the more noteworthy sessions after the break was for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Note that I said "noteworthy," not "interesting." Why? Because not much in the way of news came out of it. Still, a few things were thrown out by the producers and stars that may pique a fan's interest.

First of all: The show will have more self-contained episodes this year. Why? Executive producer John Wirth had a very succinct answer to that: "Because we wanted to."

The Saturn awards ceremony was held last night, and Lost dominated the television categories with four wins. The drama won the award for Best Network Series and nearly swept the acting categories. Evangeline Lilly lost the Best Actress award to Ghost Whisperer's Jennifer Love Hewitt, last year's winner. Most of the first-time nominees, such as Pushing Daisies and Journeyman, were shut out. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles was the only exception; Summer Glau tied for Best Supporting Actress.

Comedian Jeffrey Ross hosted the event. Hopefully this is just the beginning of a successful awards season for Lost. A complete list of winners in the television categories follows after the jump.

We here at TV Squad are sometimes privy to top secret industry information (information if revealed in public would result in our spontaneous beheading). Other times, we're just given the press release.

That being said, the second season of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles will begin on Monday, September 8th at 8 p.m. I'll wait while you run to the DVR to set the record time. Fox is also planning to run a season one marathon leading up to the premiere (the DVD is set for release on August 19th).

Returning actors include Lena Headey, Summer Glau, Thomas Dekker, Richard T. Jones and Brian Austin Green. New cast members include Shirley Manson, who plays a tech company CEO, and Leven Rambin as a possible love interest for John Connor.

Season one of the show had to be cut short due to the writer's strike (and had a somewhat unsatisfying cliffhanger), but there were some real gems of episodes. I'm looking forward to season two.

It's a rare thing when one of the major networks takes up an hour of its schedule almost every single night of the week to air the same show, but that's exactly what FOX is going to do this August.

The network is going to run a marathon of the first season of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles starting on Sunday, August 10 at 9pm. Then the other episodes from the first season, in order, will air at 9pm on August 11, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, and 24. The two-hour second season premiere then airs on September 8 at 8pm.

According to Variety, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles has been picked up for a second season. Michael Ausiello of TV Guide also indicated that the show had been given the greenlight for a second season but could not deliver official confirmation. Fox has ordered 13 episodes so far for the second season.

The Fox series stars Summer Glau as the "good" Terminator named Cameron, Thomas Dekker as John Connor, the future savior of mankind from the evil robots, and Lena Headey as Sarah Connor, the mother of said future savior. The show is executive-produced by Josh Friedman and John Wirth.

(S01E09) This is continued from the "Vick's Chip" episode post.

Finally, everything comes together. There are references to several episodes (if not every episode) throughout the season and there is something of a climax (albeit a disappointing one). Agent Ellison finally reappears after sitting the last episode out and he comes to the conclusion that killer robots from the future are after the Connors. What's he smoking?

For some reason, I thought Derek was the younger Reese. Obviously, I was mistaken. One of the comments in previous reviews pointed out that Kyle and Derek were alive in the current timeframe. Obviously, this plot point hadn't escaped the writers. Good thing Skynet doesn't know who John's daddy is.

I'll make some commentary about this episode than wrap it up with my thoughts for the entire season.

(S01E08) Fox has decided to show the final two episodes of The Sarah Connor Chronicles (which is still on the bubble for a second season) in one night and treat it as a two-parter. I, on the other hand, will be treating them as two separate episodes for the purpose of these reviews. I will link to the second one at the end of the first so it's sort of like two-Two-TWO reviews in one.

As always, I'm amazed at the sophistication of the television Terminators. One of the reasons Arnold was so great at the role was that he acted stiff naturally. A young William Shatner or David Hasselhoff might have similarly been able to pull off the role. Now that better actors are available, some subtlety and nuance is required in the performance. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

(S01E07) When I was in college, I took a science fiction class. In it, we discussed the themes of the first two Terminator movies, such as the religious themes (note the initials of John Connor and the other religious figure with the same initials) and the sources of violence (In the first movie it came in the form of machines. The second backpedaled and blamed minorities for violence).

I mention this because given the overt religious theme of tonight's episode, I wonder if Josh Friedman was in the same class. This episode went all "New Testament" on us.

Summer Glau looked mighty fine dressed as a cop like that. Some might not find it sexy, but I couldn't help but be reminded of when female strippers dress as cops. They look a lot like that. At first, I mean. When the clothes are still on. But I digress...

The Saturn Award nominations are in, and many popular sci-fi and fantasy shows made the cut. Returning favorites like Lost, Heroes, and Dexter were recognized by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films, as were newcomers Pushing Daisies and Journeyman.

With seven nominations, Lost is ahead of Dexter and Heroes, which received five and four nominations, respectively. Heroes was the big winner last year, taking home awards for Best Network Series as well as acting awards for Masi Oka and Hayden Panettiere. Both actors received nominations this year, along with co-star Greg Grunberg.