TVSquad

Even before I caught Twilight on the big screen, I was comparing it to Roswell, the great teen sci-fi/romance series that aired on The WB (and later The CW UPN) from 1999-2002. The Twilight ads and trailers seemed to tell the same story Roswell told more than nine years ago: A sensitive girl is saved by a supernatural hunk who makes it his mission to protect her at all costs. The two fall in love, but the relationship is complicated by his other-worldly circumstances.

It's not exactly the most original story in the world. This sort of thing goes back to Bram Stoker's Dracula, (and probably further back than that). Still, after watching Twilight, I was a bit shocked by its similarities to Roswell, especially since Roswell wasn't half as popular as Twilight. I haven't read the Twilight or Roswell book series, so I can't tell you if the similarities persist in print (but my friend Stephanie can). I can only compare the big screen and TV versions.

From major plot points to character motivations, these two franchises have a lot in common, but one clearly stands above the other. Let's compare, and you'll see what I mean:

The folks at our sister site Cinematical are working hard to give you news and reviews of the best -- and worst -- the silver screen has to offer. Here are some of their latest musings on the latest blockbusters, indies, and everything in between:

• Disney's coming out with a non-Pixar animated movie. It involves Miley Cyrus and an adorable puppy! But is it any good? Find out when Cinematical reviews Bolt.
• Apparently Australia makes movies. You know, other than the upcoming Australia. They're not movies I've ever seen, but the Cinematical Seven takes a look at the greatest movies to come from the former penal colony.
• Look, if you're my fourteen-year-old niece, you're going to put on your Hot Topic arm warmers and see Twilight the moment it comes out. It will quickly become the Best. Movie. Ever., regardless of whether or not it's actually good. For those of you who are old like me, you may want to check out Peter Martin's review of Twilight to see if this vampire love story (that's what it is, right?) is worth shelling out ten bucks for.
• Dude. Twilight is huge. Cinematical is taking care of all of your Kristen Stewart interview needs. She's the human lady, right?.
• So the ending of 1986's Little Shop of Horrors? Not the original one. Cinematcial has the much darker ending here.

The folks at our sister site Cinematical are working hard to give you news and reviews of the best -- and worst -- the silver screen has to offer. Here are some of their latest musings on the latest blockbusters, indies, and everything in between:

• Watch Spielberg and Lucas rape Indiana Jones (calm down... it's from South Park, not some sick Kingdom of the Crystal Skull outtake).
• The seven cool horror films of the 1980s. Not sure why Ishtar wasn't on that list. It was pretty horrific.
• Speaking of horror films, here are seven first-person horror films worth watching.
• The Cinematical folks go to London to take a gander at the James Bond: For Your Eyes Only exhibit at the Imperial War Museum.
• A new trailer for Twilight. Not to be confused with last year's CBS series Moonlight.

Ewww! This poster is so creepy, it makes me want to hurl! And watch this show! Of course, the fact that Alan Ball is behind it -- the man who helmed one of my favorite shows ever, Six Feet Under -- has nothing to do with it. Nope, it doesn't. Okay, I'm lying. It has everything to do with it.

HBO's True Blood, starring Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer, is set to premiere on Sept. 7 at 9 p.m. Here's the newly released poster for it. Makes you want to dig into a jar of strawberry jam, doesn't it?

Based on Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire novel series, the show follows the world of vampires set in small-town Louisiana. They're able to co-exist with humans by drinking a Japanese-manufactured synthetic blood. (Well, what fun is that?!)

Courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter, here's some more casting news for upcoming network pilots:

Eliza Dushku will star in Nurses, a new dramedy pilot for FOX. Dushku joins Drew Sidora, who was also recently cast.

Nikki Cox will star in Fugly, a new comedy pilot for CBS, written by My Name if Earl creator Greg Garcia, about three sisters who decide to purchase one of them an extreme makeover.

The networks have added a few new faces to their pilots, because, well, otherwise the shows would just be shot after shot of empty sets, and that's not very exciting. Here's what's goin' on:

Jeffery Tambor (The Larry Sanders Show, Arrested Development) has joined the cast of the CBS comedy The Captain. The series stars Fran Kranz as a writer who moves into an apartment building where Tambor, a retired TV writer, also lives.

Kal Penn of Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle (which is actually a much funnier movie than it has any right to be) will star in The Call, a comedy from ABC about a group of paramedics in Los Angeles.

(S03E11) Only two episodes left this season and there's going to be a lot of fall-out. A heads up right now though, if you haven't seen the episode yet, you probably want to stop reading this because the episode it self was a lot of build-up but the end was well... whoa. All I can is say that something is wrong if Leary doesn't walk off stage with that Emmy in a couple weeks.