Starbuck Fix: Talking with Katee Sackhoff of "Battlestar Galactica"

Longtime readers of this site know that there are a few series that I love with a fiery passion that knows no bounds: one is Lost and the other is Battlestar Galactica, one of the most thoughtful, thought-provoking and, well, all-around frakking great series on television today or any day.

With Season Four (the series' last) of BSG about to kick off on Sci Fi on Friday, I was curious to see what Katee Sackhoff--who plays impulsive hothead pilot Kara "Starbuck" Thrace--had to say about the series coming to an end, that shocking reveal about her character coming back to life after, you know, exploding into a million pieces earlier that season, and about what to expect this season.

What sort of emotional or mental state do we find Kara in when Season Four begins? "She's very fragile," said Sackhoff. "She’s extremely lost... You’ve never seen Starbuck so alone. And she’s a little distraught. Not only because of the way people are treating her, but because of the questions that her coming back has raised in her own mind."

One of the shocking reveals of Kara's return from the dead (beside for, well, her return from the dead) was her insistence that she's been to Earth. What does finding Earth mean to Kara? "I think it is her resolution, it’s her end," said Sackhoff pensively. "She’s putting so much weight on this one task that she believes is her destiny. I think she won’t let anything stand in her way. If that is the case, then you’ve got a very scary person on your hands. When they’re willing to sacrifice everything to accomplish something, that’s scary. You’re gonna see a lot from her this season that is kind of like a shell of her former self."

And if you're wondering just where Starbuck went during the time she was dead and what happened to her, you're not alone: Sackhoff herself doesn't know the answer yet. "No," she said. "We're [shooting episode] 14 and I've read [the script] for 15 and nope. I think they’ll leave that until the last second."

And what about that horrible prophecy in the two-hour film BSG: Razor, in which it's revealed that the Cylons believe Starbuck is a harbinger of doom for the human race? "When I read that end I went, 'Of course she is,'" said Sackhoff. "What else happens to Starbuck? Come on. Lay it all on me. It’s the worst possible end, and there you have it. She’s going to kill everybody. Great. I think that is something that has been carried through the entire season so far. As far as whether or not anyone knows, you’re going to have to wait and find out."

So does Starbuck's sudden spiritual quest affect how Sackhoff plays the character? "It doesn’t affect how I play the character, to be honest," said Sackhoff. "She’s always been religious. It’s not that she’s changed... it’s that she’s opened her eyes and allowed something else to come into her life. She’s the same person--it’s just another aspect of who she is--but she’s the same person."

Speaking of which, if Sackhoff doesn't know whether Kara is the original Starbuck, a clone, a Cylon, or something else altogether, how does she play the role? "I think it’s a strong enough internal choice to play the fear," she recounted. "Play that she’s lost. If I play that it leaves the door open to question what she is. I think our show is all about the reality of something. How do you play the reality of knowing you are something when you really don’t know what you are? You play the question; you play the uncertainty."

Look for her relationship with Admiral William Adama (Edward James Olmos) to hit the skids in light of her, er, resurrection and her fervent need to locate Earth. "It’s the worst thing that could ever happen," she says of the rift between their characters. "She gets her validation; she gets everything from him. He kind of sets the mood and the tone for how she feels about herself. To have that person doubt you is the worst that could happen to her. As far as she’s concerned, regardless of what she is, she’s the same person she was when she left. I think the worst thing is she wants his trust."

And the last thing Sackhoff would expect is a happy ending for star-crossed lovers Starbuck and Lee (Jamie Bamber). "I don’t think that Lee and Kara will ever be happy together," said Sackhoff. "I don’t think they’re meant to be together. They’re meant to be best friends, to push each other. They’re meant to have those arguments that drive you. That’s the purpose, I feel, they serve in each other’s lives. I don’t think they were ever meant to love each other... I don’t think they’ll ever end up together. I never did, really."

So who would Sackhoff see Kara end up with? "If there was anyone she’d be happy with, it’d probably be Leoben," she admits. "Anders is too weak for her emotionally. Lee’s too much of a boy scout; he makes her feel guilty for her anger and her faults just by being who he is. If there’s ever any person she can let her guard down with, and be happy with, probably Leoben."

Um, wow.

What else did Sackhoff reveal? She still doesn't play poker or smoke cigars like her characters does, she'd love to shoot a fight scene with Grace Park or Edward James Olmos, and she completely agrees with executive producer Ronald D. Moore's stance on not doing a Battlestar Galactica feature film. Instead, she views BSG's run as "a four-year movie." So there.

"We've been told who the final Cylon is," said Sackhoff, "and I personally don't believe it. I think that's something that's going to be kept to the very end."

Don't expect the fourth season to focus on the marital strain between Starbuck and Anders. "There’s a lot of really heavy things happening right now [and] I think her marriage to Anders is the least of her concerns," said Sackhoff. "I think Starbuck is starting to feel compassion for the things she hates the most. I think she, as everyone on the show, is starting to realize-- and these are the major questions of humanity and what the show has always kind of asked--is that if you found out tomorrow that your best friend, or your mother or something, was a Cylon, would that make your experiences you had with that person or thing less important to you? No. It’s the same emotions, the same feelings, the same things. But you had experiences and they’re different than you always thought they were. It doesn’t mean it's less."

If Sackhoff found out tomorrow that Starbuck was a Cylon, she says she'd be indifferent to the reveal. "I think the reason the four actors were upset about being Cylons is you play four years making choices as a character, and then to realize all of those choices would have been different had you known," admitted Sackhoff. "It’s interesting. You get the wool pulled over your eyes for four years and then are told your character is something completely different. But I would be completely indifferent. I have love for this character, and I think we all do. They were pretty angry, and I still think Michael Hogan still hasn’t come to terms with it. I don’t think he’s ready to accept it yet."

On a different note, Sackhoff said that shooting the sex scenes is much more difficult than the action scenes. "The sex scenes are harder than anything I've ever had to do," she admitted. She said that they feel "odd" and make her feel "cheap," in that they basically allow the actors to cheat on their significant others. "The fight scenes are pretty easy," said Sackhoff, "and come pretty naturally for me to be honest."

As for what's next for Sackhoff once production on the final season of BSG wraps this summer, she's not sure but she'd love to do something different from Starbuck and her Bionic Woman villainess, Sarah Corvus. "I'm looking for the opposite," she admitted and joked that she'd love to do a romantic comedy with James McAvoy.

As for what's coming up in Season Four, Sackhoff said "everyone will be very shocked" and that it will "probably ruffle a few feathers."

I wouldn't have it any other way.

Battlestar Galactica kicks off its fourth season this Friday at 10 pm on Sci Fi.

CBS Nabs Simon Baker for "Mentalist" Role; NBC Puts Ian McShane on "Kings" Throne

Simon Baker is clearly willing to give CBS another go around.

The former Guardian star, who went on to co-star in CBS' short-lived action drama Smith, will again star in a drama project for the Eye.

Baker will play the lead in procedural drama The Mentalist. He'll play Patrick Jane, a former fake celebrity psychic who uses his powers of observation to assist the California Bureau of Investigations (CBI) to solve baffling crimes, including the hunt for a notorious serial killer called Red John to whom Jane has a personal connection.

Also cast in The Mentalist: Owain Yeoman (The Nine), Amanda Righetti (The OC), Tim Kang (Third Watch), and Shaun Toub (The Kite Runner).

Project comes from writer/executive producer Bruno Heller (Rome) and Warner Bros. Television. I do have to say that given the pedigree I was expecting more from this shrill script which played more like the dramatic version of USA's Psych than a companion for the aging CSI franchise.

Elsewhere, Ian McShane (Deadwood) has been cast in NBC drama pilot Kings, a modern-day retelling of the David and Goliath story set in a war-torn world similar to ours yet remarkably different in some respects (the story is set in a fictional kingdom ruled by a monarchy).

McShane will play King Silas Benjamin, this kingdom's ruthless ruler, opposite the already cast Christopher Egan (Pretty Handsome).

It's anticipated that NBC may grant the project a series order when it unveils its primetime schedule later this week. Given the casting on this, I would be surprised if it doesn't earn itself series stripes. It's anticipated that Kings, Knight Rider, and My Worst Enemy (starring Christian Slater) will appear on the schedule, along with The Philanthropist.

I thought the script, from writer Michael Green (Heroes), was an interesting read, but I am not quite sure how the American public in general will react to this alternate world tale of strife, conspiracy, and monarchical machinations. Only time will tell...

What's On Tonight

8 pm: The Big Bang Theory/How I Met Your Mother (CBS); My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad (NBC); Gossip Girl (CW); Dancing With the Stars (ABC; 8-9:300 pm); House (FOX)

9 pm: Two and a Half Men/New Adventures of Old Christine (CBS); Deal or No Deal (NBC); Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious (CW); New Amsterdam (FOX); The Bachelor: London Calling (ABC; 9:30-11 pm)

10 pm: CSI Miami (CBS); Medium (NBC)

What I'll Be Watching

8 pm: Gossip Girl.

It's another chance to catch up on the teen soap. On tonight's repeat episode ("Roman Holiday"): it's time to deck the halls as Blair's father comes home for the holidays and brings his boyfriend with him while Serena and Dan plan holiday surprises for each other.

8-11 pm: Top Chef on Bravo.

Because why wouldn't you rewatch three hours of the best culinary competition series on television?

9:30 pm: Old Christine.

Seinfeld Reunion Alert! On tonight's episode ("One and a Half Men"), which also happens to be the third season finale (boo!), Christine takes matters into her own hands after her gynecologist (guest star Jason Alexander) suggests her flu-like symptoms are actually signs she's experiencing perimenopause.

Link Tank: TV Blog Coalition Roundup for March 28-30

Televisionary is proud to be a member of the TV Blog Coalition. At the end of each week, we'll feature a roundup of content from our sister sites for your delectation.

This week, I took advance looks at HBO's new Aussie comedy Summer Heights High and Showtime's Tracey Ullman's State of the Union and was overjoyed to chat with 30 Rock's Tina Fey and The Office's Greg Daniels and Rainn Wilson.

I also cut through the competition on the latest episodes of Top Chef and Last Restaurant Standing, dished the dirt on the Damages panel at the Paley Festival, and caught up on the latest spate of pilot castings.

Elsewhere in the sophisticated TV-obsessed section of the blogosphere, members of the TV Blog Coalition were discussing the following items...

• With pilot season finally kicking into gear, Buzz wondered if you could tell the real pilots from the fakes. (BuzzSugar)
• This week, Sandie proclaimed her love for Doctor Who and Torchwood. (Daemon's TV)
• Even Britney couldn't ruin this week's How I Met Your Mother for Mikey. He's also pretty sure joining Mother would be better use of Sarah Chalke's talents than another season of Scrubs. (Mikey Likes TV)
• Pop Vultures looked back at the first nine episodes of Pushing Daisies and risked inciting an angry mob by saying some unkind things. (Pop Vultures)
• Rae finally shares her "Adopt A Writer" interview with writer Lisa Klink whose TV credits include Star Trek: Voyager, Earth: Final Conflict, and Painkiller Jane. (RTVW)
• For legal reasons, Scooter cannot tell you what his latest album review was, but here is a hint: The band's name rhymes with basketball great Charles Barkley. (Scooter McGavin's 9th Green)
• Vance thinks there is finally a competition starting on American Idol. (Tapeworthy)
• Dan found an article on Ryan Seacrest that is one of the most disturbing portraits he's seen in a good long while. (TiFaux)
• To celebrate the return of The Office on April 10, Jennifer had the chance to chat with executive producer Greg Daniels and actor Rainn Wilson. She got Daniels to spill on whether Karen will be back, and there’s plenty of other spoilery scoop, too. (Tube Talk)
• The TV Addict imagined what a Michael Sara reunion might look like on PRISON BREAK! (the TV Addict)
• Kate decided thatThe Real Housewives of New York City is the darkest show on television (TV Filter)

Showtime's "State of the Union" Finds Me in a State of Confusion

I'll be honest upfront: I heart Tracey Ullman.

That said, I was really looking forward to Ullman's new series, Tracey Ullman's State of the Union, which launches on Sunday on pay cabler Showtime. I had loved Ullman in all of her television incarnations: The Tracey Ullman Show (which in turn spawned The Simpsons) and HBO's wacky and lovable Tracey Takes On, in which she performed a variety of recurring characters in episodes based around particular themes (greed, crime, the environment, etc.).

So when I was given a screener for Ullman's latest by the good folks at Showtime, I was giddy with excitement... a feeling that quickly faded once I actually watched the first episode of State of the Union. Since then, I've watched the premiere installment again, trying to parse some meaning into the twenty-something minutes of painfully creaky sketches and unfunny celebrity skewerings.

I'm not sure what Ullman's intent was when she set out to do State of the Union. Sure, it was to tell the story of a day in the life of America and I hoped that she's bring some of her insider/outsider and British/American sensibilities to the table. Instead, these sketches, for the most part, seem woefully dated (Dina Lohan) and not incisive or insightful enough.

It also doesn't help that there seem to be far too many characters jockeying for screen time. When Ullman pulled this shtick in Tracey Takes On, it worked because each of the characters that Ullman played had heart as well as the feeling that they were not only three-dimensional characters but could actually be real, living people. Here, they appear on screen for a few seconds before seguing into yet another sketch that only last another thirty seconds or so. One of the more interesting and original characters, a farmer's wife whose husband is perennially on another Iraq tour (when he's not using his prayer mat in the barn), is given short shrift when she's reduced to the merest punchline.

Another problem is that there seems to be a lot of repetition going on here. Do we really need to see Ullman--in one episode, no less--playing three different kinds of television reporters, none of whom are particularly interesting? I love that Ullman can transform herself into a variety of characters, but here they feel stock rather than unique and the parade of TV news ladies is distracting and monotonous. Skewering one "celebrity" in an episode is enough but to shoehorn Laurie David, David Beckham, Arianna Huffington, Tony Sirico, and Dina Lohan into a 20-odd minute installment is overkill.

But the biggest issue I had with State of the Union is that I couldn't read its shifting, confusing cues. A storyline involving an overworked Bangladeshi worker was downright depressing but, when presented next to an obscenity-laced Tony Sirico (spot-on impersonation) still cashing in on Paulie Walnuts even as he's meant to be playing an Inuit fisherman and an Indian pharmacist who turns her latest stick-up into a Bollywood musical extravaganza, it creates a little bit of an internal conflict. Am I meant to be laughing at these people? (But it's not funny enough for that.) Am I meant to look at this as a serious diatribe about the state of America today? (But it seems rather shallow and dated.)

Ultimately, I wasn't sure what to make of this series, which fails to be neither clever, sharp, or witty enough to sustain my attention and which seems overpopulated by a cast of characters already skewered numerous times by other comedians and television comedies. I'm happy to see Ullman back where she belongs on television but, in car-obsessed America, this is not the right vehicle for her to be driving.

Tracey Ullman's State of the Union launches Sunday evening at 10 pm ET/PT on Showtime.

Casting Couch: Pilot Roundup

Friday brings yet another busy week casting the latest crop of pilots in this, the most baffling development season to date.

Among the casting moves announced recently, here is your breakdown, network by network, of who's landed where and in what capacity.

NBC: Aussie actor Christopher Egan, last seen as horny teen Beckett in FX's pilot Pretty Handsome (starring Joseph Fiennes, Carrie-Anne Moss, Blythe Danner, and Robert Wagner), has been cast as the lead in drama pilot Kings, loosely adapted from the David and Goliath story. He'll play a soldier who after becoming a media darling, is conscripted into the royal court after he saves the king's wastrel son. (Yes, it's set in modern times in a war-torn world somewhat like our own featuring imaginary countries and conflicts.)

FOX: Making me even more less likely to support this series, Sara Rue has been cast in the incredibly misguided US remake of cult television series Spaced, where she'll play Apryl (that's the Daisy role for fans of the Simon Pegg-Jessica Stevenson brilliant original), one-half of a pair of stranger who pose as a happy couple in order to snag some prime real estate. Something tells me that this version will lack the wit, satire, and emotion of the original. I've read the script, so that might be why...

Bert Belasco, who starred in last year's comedy pilot Dash4Cash, will star opposite Bernie Mac in comedy series Starting Under.

On the directorial front: Jason Bateman will direct Niecy Nash in the comedy pilot The Inn, written by Arrested Development's Abraham Higginbotham.

CW: Justin Hartley, who has made a virtual career out of appearing in pilots of late (and, yes, Smallville) has been cast in drama pilot Austin Golden Hour, about a team of young ER surgeons and EMTs who struggle to pull through that critical one hour after a trauma. He's previously appeared in pilots for Aquaman (a.k.a. Mercy Reef) and Spellbound.

Also at the CW, drama pilot How to Teach Filthy Rich Girls has snagged a bunch of cast members (Michael Cassidy and Marsha Mason were already locked): Joanna Garcia (Welcome to the Captain's Hope and Cheyenne from Reba) will play the lead, a Yale graduate who--after getting fired from her tabloid magazine internship--accepts a gig as a tutor to two spoiled Palm Beach twin heiresses and returns uncomfortably close to her hometown of Fort Lauderdale. Also cast: Lucy Hale (Bionic Woman) and Ashley Newbrough (Radio Free Roscoe), who play the titular twins Sage and Rose.

CBS: Lauren Lee Smith (The L Word) will play the lead in drama pilot presentation Can Openers, a twenty-something female neurosurgeon who competes with the guys for a highly coveted residency position at a hospital.

Elisha Cuthbert (24) will play the female lead in drama pilot NY-LON, a role originated in the UK by Rashida Jones. Also cast in the transatlantic romantic drama: Caterina Scorsone (Missing) and Johnny Whitworth (CSI Miami).

And Rachel Boston (American Dreams) has been cast in Diane Ruggiero (Veronica Mars)-scripted drama pilot Mythological Ex.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Amnesia (NBC); Friday Night SmackDown! (CW; 8-10 pm); Grey's Anatomy (ABC); 'Til Death/Return of Jezebel James (FOX)

9 pm: Dateline (NBC; 9-11 pm); 20/20 (ABC); Canterbury's Law (FOX)

10 pm: 20/20 (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

8-11 pm: BBC America.

If you happen to be staying in after a long work week, why not do it in true Anglophile style with back-to-back episodes of Coupling and new sketch comedy series That Mitchell and Webb Look, from the stars of Peep Show?

10 pm: Battlestar Galactica on Sci Fi.

While Season Four might not start until next week, here's a chance to ease back into Galactica with two half-hour specials. First up, Battlestar Galactica: Revealed, which offers a look back at the first three seasons of BSG, followed by Battlestar Galactica: The Phenomenon, which features some talking heads--from Joss Whedon to Seth Green--talking about the cultural impact of BSG.

HBO Snags Aussie Comedy "Summer Heights High," Why You Need to Watch

Jonah might have something to say about it but, frankly, such language isn't appropriate for this column.

I was pleasantly shocked and surprised to learn that HBO had acquired the hysterical eight-episode Australian comedy Summer Heights High and will pair it with animated comedy The Life and Times of Tim in a late-night Friday comedy block starting in June.

For those of you not in the know, Summer Heights High is an absolutely brilliant and gut-bursting Australian mockumentary created, written, and starring breakout comedic star Chris Lilly (We Can Be Heroes), which aired Down Under last fall and spawned a Top 10 dance hit single "Naughty Girl." (Seriously!)

Astonishingly, Lilly plays three vastly different characters: spoiled rotten 16-year-old private school girl Ja'mie King on a student exchange program from exclusive Hilford Academy; 13-year-old troubled breakdancing-obsessed Pacific Islander Jonah Takalua, constantly in trouble with the teacher and administrators at the school; and Helen "Greg" Gregson (a.k.a. Mr. G), the school's overly ambitious and narcissistic drama teacher who seems to be related in spirit to Christopher Guest's Corkie St. Claire, launching elaborate productions and on a mission to get the school district to built a massive theatre center named after himself.

It's entirely amazing to see Lilly disappear completely into these characters, each of whom starts off the series more over the top and unbelievable than the next. Yet Lilly's talents really do allow these characters to come to life over the next eight episodes and he imbues them with genuine pathos. In particular, his portrayal of Jonah is not only hysterical but heartbreaking: illiterate, aggressive, and rash, Jonah has a host of issues that Lilly brings to life and it becomes incredibly easy to forget after a while that he's not actually a Tongan kid but a white, 30-something performer.

That semblance is helped by the fact that the rest of the cast feels so naturalistic. The series is shot at an actual school and the scenes between Lilly and his young co-stars (and the hapless adult staffers) have a naturalistic feel to them. The result is a raucous comedy that is just as likely to have you laughing, crying, and then laughing again to the point that you might just wet yourself.

Summer Heights High walks the fine line between satire and emotional comedy and brings the best of both camps to the table. To see the complex transformation that Jonah goes through over the course of the series is absolutely as touching as it is hilarious; while you can't help but root for Jonah (while at the same time being repelled by him), you hope that Ja'mie and Mr. G get their deserved comeuppance: she for her egocentrism, he for his hubris.

If you haven't yet had the pleasure of seeing this remarkable series (and don't want to wait until June for HBO to air it), I suggest you do whatever possible--whether it be hopping on a plane to Australia, begging, stealing, or coercing your way--to obtaining a copy of Summer Heights High. You'll thank me afterwards.

In the meantime, check out the trailer (warning: NSFW!) for the series:



Summer Heights High launches in June on HBO.

Knife Block: Not Quite a Party on "Top Chef"

I'll be honest: I really wasn't all that crazy about this week's episode of culinary competition series Top Chef.

Perhaps it was the general lack of charisma or energy evidenced by guest judge Rick Bayless, the blase task at hand, or the fact that there seemed to be such an awful lot of product promotion going on during a Elimination Challenge that forced the cheftestants to raid the homes of everyday folk to find ingredients for a block party. It just seemed to be a sub-par episode overall to me.

The Quickfire Challenge entailed taking the humble taco and transforming it into a fine dining dish. For the most part, the contestants really missed the boat on this one, sticking to their notions of the taco as a street food and not infusing it at all with the sort of flavor profiles, complexity, and elegant plating that one would come to expect from a dish in a four-star restaurant. (Hell, Spike refused altogether to think of the taco in a fine dining context yet was confused when he was singled out for making a soul-fulfilling taco but not winning the challenge.) Richard definitely understood the brief and delivered a dish that worked on a variety of levels: a vegetarian taco that transformed the traditional corn tortilla into thin slices of jicama, wrapped around avocado, papaya, and cilantro. Gorgeous, simple, and elevated. It's no surprise that he won this challenge hands-down on sheer vision and execution; he even had the forethought to make himself a taco to enjoy with Padma and Rick Bayless. I also thought that Andrew (once again exhibiting some severe shakes/tremors/crazy herky-jerky movements) also constructed an ambitious and complex dish of tacos with duck, chili powder, plantain jam, and Cojita cheese that was elegantly plated and inventive.

And I knew that Erik would find himself on the chopping block this week after his Quickfire dish was once again messily plated. This executive chef might have oodles of passion but week after week, I find myself wholly unimpressed by what he's bringing to this competition; his dishes often look disgusting and unappetizing and a big component of this competition is definitely inventive, original, and alluring plating and execution. Erik offered tacos with chipotle-braised chicken, avocado, and pomegranate salsa but it looked messy and completely unsuitable for a fine dining establishment.

I was disappointed by the chefs' performance at the Quickfire and then my heart sunk once I heard Padma explain what their Elimination Challenge would be. I was willing to give it the benefit of the doubt until I kept seeing Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing, KC Masterpiece barbecue sauce, and the other "surprise" ingredients lurking in these families' way over-stocked pantries and refrigerators. It just smacked of producer intervention and a way to attempt to seamlessly work in some product integration to the season. Sigh.

As for their efforts, both the judges and I were disappointed in the teams. There were a few standout dishes: Antonia's mixed bean salad with roasted bell peppers, string beans, prosciutto, salami and feta served alongside bruschetta with roasted tomato, basil, and ricotta; Dale's beautiful grilled pork skewers with a smoked red curry-BBQ sauce (easily the most elegant dish there); and Stephanie's mixed fruit with oatmeal-pine nut crumble and cinnamon-sugar fried wontons. But for the most part the dishes were either not memorable or downright disastrous: Nikki's dry macaroni and cheese, Zoi's flavorless supermarket pasta salad, Erik's sad, soggy corn dogs, Ryan's Waldorf Salad.

The Red Team--surprised as all hell that they didn't win this challenge blindfolded--made a cardinal error during this challenge. While it's one thing to cook for your clients (a lesson the brothers could have learned this week on Last Restaurant Standing), you can't cook down to them. And that's just what the Red Team did, making assumptions about the culinary intelligence of their block party guests and throwing typical street food at them that they probably would have been more than capable of making themselves: sliders, pasta salad, corn dogs, Waldorf Salad. Where was the imagination, the daring, the vision? Should they, as Dale suggested, push their clients rather than pull back? Who ever won Top Chef because of a slider or a pasta salad?

The Blue Team took some risks. Some paid off (like Stephanie's delicious dessert) while others didn't really (Richard's paella), but they at least tried to create food that would appeal to both the block party guests as well as the judges. And at the end of the day, you've got to be able to please both groups because this is, after all, a competition and you are being judged by Tom, Padma, and Ted. Don't accuse them of having overly refined palettes or not appreciating what you cooked for these "normal" people. Tom was right when he said that good food shouldn't know boundaries; whatever it was that you set out to cook should have been as top-notch as it was appropriate for a block party and the Red Team failed to understand this. (And what was with Andrew's shaky meltdown at judges' table there when he started to scream that security would have to drag him out of there and that this was his house? Bizarre.)

Ultimately, Erik bore the brunt of the judges' dissatisfaction; he should have known not to attempt to serve corn dogs, knowing that they would sit in a hot box for two hours and wind up soggy rather than crispy. It was a monumental miscalculation and he was told to pack his knives and go. I think it was the right decision and it was time for him to leave the competition.

Next week on Top Chef ("Film Food"), guest judge Daniel Boulud drops by to test the chefs on their knife skills and the contestants have to cater a film-themed dinner party for film critic Richard Roeper.

Casting Couch: "BSG" Vet Tahmoh Penikett at Home in Joss Whedon's "Dollhouse"

One of the most popular games this development season is to guess just who will be cast in Joss Whedon's upcoming FOX action series Dollhouse opposite Eliza Dushku.

After all, now that Whedon has finally turned in his script to the network, FOX's casting gurus can finally start casting what is shaping up to be the most eagerly anticipated new series of next season.

First up: Tahmoh Penikett, who plays the determined Karl "Helo" Agathon on Sci Fi's Battlestar Galactica. I've long wondered where BSG's fantastic actors would end up with the groundbreaking drama wrapping its fourth and final season this year. Penikett (who is hands-down one of the nicest guys in the business) will play Paul Smith, an FBI agent driven to crack the urban myth of the Dollhouse and, according to The Hollywood Reporter, "a twisted romantic foil for Echo," Eliza Dushku's character.

Frank Kranz (Welcome to the Captain, The TV Set) will play Topher Brink, a computer programmer whose oversees the imprinting of various personalities onto the "dolls." Also cast in the drama project: Aussie Dichen Lachman (Neighbours) who will play Sierra, a doll who has experienced every personality except for her own, and Enver Gjokaj (The Path to 9/11), who will play Victor, a doll who is childlike when inactive and, when active, a blend of Errol Flynn and Robert DeNiro.

Me, I can't bloody wait to see this new series.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Deal or No Deal (NBC); Smallville (CW); Miss Guided/Miss Guided (ABC); Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (FOX)

9 pm: Celebrity Apprentice (NBC; 9-11 pm); Reaper (CW); Lost (ABC); Don't Forget the Lyrics (FOX)

10 pm: Eli Stone (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

9 pm: Lost.

Missed the fourth season opener ("The Beginning of the End")? Here's your chance to watch it for the first time or, er, all over again when ABC reairs the premiere in which the castaways wait for rescue but some more troubled by Charlie's warning against their would-be saviors aboard the freighter. It all starts here!

By the Hammer of Thor: Talking About "30 Rock" with Tina Fey

I'm hopelessly obsessed with 30 Rock to the point that I want to take it behind the middle school and get it pregnant.

So I was thrilled to catch up with the series' creator/writer/star Tina Fey about what to expect when 30 Rock returns to NBC with new episodes on April 10th... and what to expect when Liz Lemon is, er, expecting.

First off, Fey hopes the audience doesn't exhibit any angst or ill-will now that the strike is finally over. "Hopefully, people just want to see shows they love back on the air," she said. And don't look for the WGA strike to pop up on 30 Rock anytime soon. "[The strike] did not happen in their world... it was a big enough pain in real life."

Fey revealed that the writers had plans for a strike-themed episode in works before the real-life WGA strike that derailed production this season, a storyline which still may turn up "down the road" but won't be necessarily related to the events last fall. Regarding the strike, because the staff scattered all over the place during the work stoppage (many of them live in California), they haven't had time to do the typical post-strike, er, post mortem that most series had the opportunity to do. Fey and the writing team will have a chance to take a look back after those final five episodes are completed.

As for what the denizens of 30 Rockefeller will be up to when the series returns for five new episodes, look for Jack Donaghy to enlist Tracy to be the "new black face of the Republican Party," the surprise success of Jack's reality series MILF Island (previously mentioned in the episode "SeinfeldVision," which features "25 super-hot moms, 50 sweaty eighth grade boys, and no rules"), Frank playing Salieri to Tracy's Mozart, the return of several familiar faces including Will Arnett's Devon Banks, Dean Winters' Beeper King Dennis Duffy, and Jason Sudeikis' Floyd (who, come to think of it, never got a last name on the series).

The latter two turn up during an upcoming pregnancy scare for our beloved Liz Lemon, which Fey finds amusing as Liz "hooks up once every seven years." (A situation not helped by Fey's dislike for Liz Lemon romance storylines, which she begs the writers not to use.)

Comedy legend Tim Conway (The Carol Burnett Show) will turn up as a guest star early on in 30 Rock's new batch of episodes. (Fey believes it's the second one.) As for other guest stars planned, Fey said that the writers strike didn't derail any guest star gigs. "We're lucky," said Fey, "because [the planned] guests are still available."

So how about Fey's former SNL Weekend Update co-chair Amy Poehler stopping by on 30 Rock? Fey said that they tried to snag Poehler for a guest spot last season but the actress ended up being out of town during an SNL hiatus. Fey still hopes to get Poehler on 30 Rock in the future, but in the meantime you can catch them together in new film Baby Mama, out April 8th.

Fey said with the exception of Jerry Seinfeld--who approached them about being on 30 Rock--the writers always craft their characters and write them first, before making many overtures to guest stars. Fey feels that this is why their guest stars never feel gratuitous, because they come "organically from the characters and the stories." (Which leads me to wonder: what part was Poehler supposed to play?) Her dream stunt casting: Oprah. Fey still wants her to play Liz's best friend. (Um, fingers crossed?)

Don't expect Fey's recent Poster Girl status for the women of comedy (in the pages of Vanity Fair) to turn up on 30 Rock. "No, it won't be on the show," said Fey, laughing. "Liz Lemon never gets her hair done."

As for past television comedies that inspired Fey, she revealed a love for some of my favorite series as well, like The Larry Sanders Show, The Office ("[both the] British and the American versions"), Bob Newhart, Mary Tyler Moore, and The Carol Burnett Show. She also expressed her love for the Christopher Guest films. (Is she a woman after my own heart or what?)

And Fey is finally comfortable with playing and writing for Liz Lemon. "It's like I never fully stopped apologizing for being in the show," she said.

Seeing as 30 Rock has clicked with its obsessive fan base and critics alike, I think it's clear that Fey has absolutely nothing to apologize for.

30 Rock returns with new episodes starting April 10th on NBC.

"Beauty and the Geek" Reveals Yet Another Twist...

... and I won't be sticking around to watch it.

Is anyone else just totally over this once-fantastic now unwatchable series? Sad.

I don't care about gratuitous twists, skanky contestants that appear willing to bed the geeks in order to stay in the house, or why the producers feel that they need to shake up a winning formula by introducing such drivel and undermining their own brand.

I'm out.

Brotherly Love (and Loads of Confusion) on "Last Restaurant Standing"

If you watched last night's episode of BBC America's Last Restaurant Standing, I am curious to know what you thought about the latest elimination.

To me, it was a foregone conclusion that brothers Michael and Ed would be the ones to get the chop and their restaurant, the woefully struggling Treacle Well, would close its doors forever. This week, the three teams in the challenge--the brothers, Emma and Martin, and Lloyd and Adwoa--had to cater a three-course dinner for 50 guests at a dinner at Blenheim Palace.

I thought that Lloyd and Adwoa were smart to fuse their trademark Ghanian cuisine with a lighter, fresher menu that reflected what their group--businesswomen from Banbury--would come to expect from a networking dinner. Their only hiccup: that terribly plated dessert of tropical fruit and cream, which looked slopped on the plate without any forethought. Personally, I would have done a parfait, layering their stewed fruit with thick cream, if they wanted something light and simple. As it was, it looked more suitable for a cafeteria than an elegant dinner.

Emma and Martin did a good job cooking for and entertaining their guests, a group of Oxford rugby players... in spite of their lack of organization. Martin neglected to purchase any chef's whites for his agency staff (Grant ended up fashioning aprons for them out of leftover fabric from the tablecloths) and only brought one frying pan with him. Which would have been bad enough, except that he had to cook no less than fifty steaks for his hungry guests. Raymond Blanc was right to scold him and teammate Emma for not organizing themselves better by writing a list of all of their essential ingredients and equipment ahead of time. (As it was, Martin had to sneak into the house to steal that frying pan as he had actually not brought any with him.) Still, their food--salad of warm chicken livers and seared steak with veg for the main--looked gorgeous, though once again dessert proved to be tricky: their pavlova was a disaster and the kitchen ended up serving thick whipped cream and strawberries in the end. Not the best save but serviceable all the same.

Then there was the brothers. Sigh. I knew it was going to be a major catastrophe as soon as I saw Michael being delusional again about his menu, his skills, and his customers. What would you have served a group of Bangladeshis from Oxford, knowing their tastes in advance? Certainly not traditional English fare: chilled asparagus vinaigrette, seared lamb, vegetables en papillote, chocolate truffles? Yet that's just what Michael did, serving underseasoned, bland (at least to the palettes of his guests) food that they were unaccustomed to--0ne man admitted he had never even eaten asparagus before--and which was completely unsuitable for the client. The lamb was also completely undercooked, rare in the middle, which was insulting to the guests; Ed and Michael completely missed the point of using halal meats, if they weren't going to cook them appropriately.

Knowing that he had 30 vegetarians in attendance--more than half of his guests!--why was the vegetarian entree such an afterthought? After his failed attempt at making a vegetable tart (also unsuitable), Michael then came up with the awful idea of shoving some carrots, peas, and leaks into some greaseproof paper with some cream and wine and calling it papillote. The paper parcels completely failed to puff up and the end result was a soggy, greasy mess that baffled the guests and was just utterly depressing. Why not cook a big batch of spicy vegetable curry with fresh veg and loads of heat? Why force your cuisine choices onto the customer?

Even Ed, who is usually logical and realistic compared to his brother, failed to notice how unhappy the guests were and how much food was going uneaten. As much as I had rooted for the brother early on, it's clear that they are in way over their heads and had to be the ones to get cut from the pack.

But what did you think: was it time for them to head home? Should inspector Sarah been quite as insulted and irate about their choices as she was? And who is moving into the frontrunner position to win this competition and earn their very own restaurant with Raymond Blanc?

Next week on Last Restaurant Standing, the couples have to come up with distinctive brands for their restaurants that will make them stand out amid a crowded marketplace; one wastes all of their marketing budget on printing leaflets that are riddled with errors; others turn up on the radio; Jeremy's cooking class idea is an apocalyptic disaster.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Big Brother 9 (CBS); Law & Order: Criminal Intent (NBC); America's Next Top Model (CW); Wife Swap (ABC); Moment of Truth (FOX)

9 pm: Criminal Minds (CBS); Law & Order: Criminal Intent (NBC); Pussycat Dolls Present Girlicious (CW); Supernanny (ABC); American Idol (FOX)

10 pm: CSI: New York (CBS); Law & Order (NBC); Men in Trees (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

8 pm: America's Next Top Model.

On tonight's episode ("House of Pain"), the girls are forced to put on unitards and get pointers from Tyra on "expressing themselves" at the end of a runway; one girl gets to have a photo shoot with judge Nigel Barker while posing nude; three girls gang up on one of the model wannabes who doesn't seem to know how to turn off her alarm clock in the early morning.

9 pm: MI-5 on BBC America.

If you missed the third season of MI-5 (aka Spooks) when it aired on A&E a few years back, you can catch it tonight on BBC America. On tonight's installment ("Who Guards the Guards?"), a notorious writer is nearly murdered while under MI-5 protection, leading the team to investigate a Pakistani terrorist organization.

10 pm: Top Chef on Bravo.

On tonight's episode ("Block Party"), Rick Bayless drops by as a guest judge while the chefs are tasked with putting on a neighborhood fiesta and tensions between the contestants--especially one couple--reaches a breaking point.

Paley Festival: "Damages"

After the excitement of last week's jam-packed Paley Festival events saluting the likes of Pushing Daisies, Chuck, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it was a bit of a rare treat to have last night's Damages panel be such a low-key affair. The crowd was positively sedate in comparison to previous evenings (not to mention a hell of a lot older), though that didn't stop them from proclaiming their love for FX's labyrinthine legal thriller Damages.

Nearly the entire cast was in attendance last night--including the ones who portrayed dead characters!--other than Aussie Rose Byrne who was in her homeland shooting a film and unavailable to participate. So who was there? Glenn Close, Ted Danson, Zeljko Ivanek, Tate Donovan, Noah Bean, Anastasia Griffith, and executive producers/creators Glenn Kessler, Todd A. Kessler, and Daniel Zelman.

After watching a clip from Close and Danson's riveting 1984 television movie Something About Amelia (you didn't really think this was the first time they worked together, did you?), we were presented a fantastic clip package that pulled out key scenes from the first season of Damages, including that final, amazing scene between Close's Patty Hewes and Byrne's Ellen Parsons on the dock. The result? I wanted to rush home and rewatch the entire first season all over again. (I'm definitely suffering some Damages withdrawal.)

While the producers were definitely mum about what to expect for Season Two (the writers have only now started to plot the season's arc), we did learn that there will be several new characters popping up and that Season Two will continue some of the storyline threads introduced in the first season (like, oh, Ellen out for revenge against Patty by investigating her for the FBI) while integrating some new strands as well.

As for whether Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson) survived that gunshot wound in the season finale, we'll have to wait to find out. Hell, even Close wanted to know the answer to that one and Danson turned to his agent in the audience for an answer, only to get a shrug in reply. (Personally, I'd rather not know now and would love to be surprised down the line if and when he does pull through.)

While the writers had some hard and fast "tentpole" events that they knew would occur over the course of the season, they specifically didn't paint themselves into a corner with the outcome to certain storylines. The identity of both David's killer and the mastermind behind Ellen's attempted murder was something that the writers heavily debated and, at the beginning of the season, specifically gave themselves several options down the road by planting a number of red herrings and possible killers.

One of these--the woman I like to call the Cassavetes-averse Soda Skank (a.k.a. Lila) was never intended to be Ellen's attacker... or David's murderer but was always intended to be a red herring. As for whether the writers dropped the stalker storyline, Zelman was quick to point out that they didn't actually drop it, it faded into the background. Lila was never actually a key player but had entered the story through "a side door" that was outside of the Hewes-Frobisher case or the larger legal world. Lila was always a possibility for David's killer but fans of the show had a feeling that his death was connected to the larger conspiracy at work rather than his insane stalker.

Still, Zelman pointed to the paranoia that infected many of the series' fans (myself included) in which every character's seemingly innocuous actions seemed to take on larger meaning. In the end, Lila may not have bludgeoned David to death with that Statue of Liberty bookend but she inadvertently caused his death by leaving his apartment door open after she paid him a visit that fateful night... a fact no one on the panel seemed to recall.

Close admitted that it was difficult not to invent a backstory for Patty Hewes though the writers specifically asked her not to create one. The end result is that Close still doesn't know anything about Patty's past, including where she grew up or who her parents were ("acting 101," said Close), though she did give them a note about Patty's husband. Originally intended to be her college sweetheart with whom she had been together since an early age, Close felt that "impossible" and suggested they make Phil her second husband.

Ivanek knew that his character Ray Fiske was not going to make it out of Season One alive but had no idea that his end would be quite so "spectacular," as when Ray shoots himself in the mouth in front of Patty, an action that reverberates through the entirety of the season. Oh, and Ray's Southern accent (from Louisiana, perhaps?) was an intentional thing, despite Ray having lived in Manhattan since the 1970s; it was part and parcel of his showmanship as a lawyer.

The writers have seen Murder One and enjoyed that series but didn't feel that they set out to do anything specifically derived from that classic series. Instead, they wanted to do a legal drama that expanded on FX's edgy mandate about interesting and innovative storytelling. To that end, they made a important decision not to set the action in the courtroom but rather behind the scenes, focusing on actions (such as depositions and discovery) that normally aren't addressed in legal series. Additionally, they wanted to play around with time in a challenging way that wouldn't insult the intelligence of the viewer and would further set the series--with a single case running through a season--apart from other series in the legal genre.

When the Kesslers and Zelman devised the series, it wasn't specifically with the idea that Patty would be a lawyer. Instead, they wanted to explore power structures through the prism of two strong women and looked at professions (entertainment, pharmaceuticals, etc.) in which a woman could rise to the top and become immensely powerful in her field. They ultimately settled on the law, making Patty Hewes a ruthless litigator. They felt that explorations of male power hazing had been done many times before and wanted to explore the key issues in a power struggle between two women.

Ultimately, it was a fantastic evening catching up with the cast and crew of Damages and I am hungry with anticipation to see just what happens next when Season Two kicks off... hopefully sometime later this year. Until then, fingers crossed that we get to see Patty Hewes, Ellen Parsons, and all the others sooner rather than later.

FOX Captures Another Season of "Prison Break," Slays "Jezebel James"

FOX giveth and it taketh away.

Thus was the moral yesterday when FOX announced that it had officially ordered a fourth season for crime drama Prison Break, with 22 episodes expected for the 2008-09 season. The news of an official pickup came after Prison Break writer Nick Santora spilled the beans on the renewal on his MySpace blog.

While this past season's 13 episodes had Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller) trapped inside Panama's bleak Sona prison, Season Four will find him and brother Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell) on the run once again, with Michael out for revenge against the people who brutally murdered his lover, Sarah Tancredi.

Production will relocate for Season Four from Dallas to Los Angeles; the series had been based in Chicago during its first season as well.

Meanwhile, it was the end of the road for Amy Sherman-Palladino's struggling comedy The Return of Jezebel James, which starred Parker Posey, Lauren Ambrose, and Scott Cohen.

After two weeks of disastrous ratings, FOX announced that it had pulled Jezebel James off the schedule, effective immediately, and would fill its Friday night timeslot with repeats of drama Bones.

I can't say that I am surprised by the news. I love Sherman-Palladino, but I was not a fan of the pilot episode and the sub-par ratings predicted that FOX would not take a dim view of yanking the series off before it had burned through the truncated seven-episode run.

Better luck next time, Amy.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: NCIS (CBS); Biggest Loser (NBC; 8-10 pm); Beauty and the Geek (CW); Dancing With the Stars Recap (ABC); American Idol (FOX; 8-9:30 pm)

9 pm: Big Brother 9 (CBS); Reaper (CW); Dancing with the Stars (ABC)

10 pm: Jericho (CBS); Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (NBC); Primetime: What Would You Do? (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

8 pm: Beauty and the Geek.

Sigh. After the latest disastrous "game-changing twist," I don't know why I am still watching this disastrously botched series. On tonight's episode ("It's Game Time"), the beauties and the geeks play a game of flag football that turns ultra-competitive and one player winds up injured.

9 pm: Last Restaurant Standing on BBC America.

On the eighth episode of this addictive British import, three teams are forced to enter Raymond's latest challenge: to cater a three-course meal for 50 guests at Blenheim Palace. They won't have the opportunity to meet their clients ahead of time and they'll be cooking (and serving) side-by-side in a reception tent. Oh, is that rain I see on the horizon?

10 pm: The Riches on FX.

On tonight's installment ("Friday Night Lights"), Dahlia, the kids, and Nina are taken hostage in Texas and are forced to use their Traveler skills in order to escape the clutches of their captor; back in Eden Falls, Wayne tries to deal with Hugh, Dale, and the dead Pete and the family must make a decision about their next move.

"Office" Workers: Catching Up with Greg Daniels and Rainn Wilson

Doesn't it seem like forever ago that we were complaining about those one-hour installments of The Office, only to have the series return for one half-hour episode and then vanish into the ether during the writers strike?

The Office finally returns to NBC on April 10th, with six new half-hour episodes planned for the rest of this season. What should we expect for those episodes? Let's check in with showrunner Greg Daniels and co-star Rainn Wilson to find out.

In typical Office fashion, Daniels joked about the direction the remainder of the fourth season will go in. "We're going to play with time a lot, I think," said Daniels. "Like Lost. It’s going to get suddenly weirdly sci-fi." (So does that make Dwight the constant?) Wilson agrees: "There’ll be a hatch under Dwight’s desk."

Any chance of a reconciliation between Dwight and Angela? "Where there's life, there's hope," hinted Daniels.

While Wilson was uncharacteristically non-committal about the possibility of their being a new love interest for lovelorn Dwight, he did hint at some romantic skeletons in Dwight's mustard-colored-shirt-filled closet. "Ex-girlfriends - yeah," said Wilson. "I think we’ll be seeing a lot more sides... a lot more facets of Dwight when it comes to dating and women."

Wilson continues: "I want to say that this is something that I love about this show is that every season--even every episode, every couple of episodes--there’s always some new aspect of Dwight that Greg and the writers want to explore. And that’s such a rare thing. So many shows have their comic sidekick character and they do XY and Z. But I get emotional stories and comedic stories, and family stories and lots of different textures. I really appreciate getting to do that as an actor."

Aw.

Sadly, Stephen Merchant--who was supposed to direct the Christmas episode--won't be back for one of those half-dozen episodes. Executive producer Greg Daniels says that they are hard at work to get Merchant to helm an episode next season.

Daniels himself is a huge fan of the original British Office--created by Merchant and Ricky Gervais--though he feels that the American version has largely become its own beast.

"I think the British version is really, really great and I actually love the British version," said Daniels. "When you look at the scripts for the British version, I think they resemble the scripts for the American version. But they made some decisions to really go very bleak with the production of it and it matched what they were trying to do, which was to be very satiric and paint a very bleak picture of what this world was like. We had an aim to be more of a character comedy that was less satiric and more about the ups and downs of the characters. And knowing that we were going to be on for a lot longer, you know, we wanted to see positive sides to the characters, too."

So when does Daniels feel that the American Office finally clicked then? "I don’t think we really got it 100% right until the second season in terms of the mix and the tone," said Daniels, "although I really like our first season. I think it’s really funny. But once we started to have moments, you know, where - for example where, you know, Dwight is crushed at leaving his work or stuff like that, it kind of opens the characters up in a way where you feel a little bit more for them and you’re also, I think, uncertain as to what’s going to happen next because he might have a moment where you feel for them and then on the other hand, you might have a moment where they’re really just being played for laughs."

As for that Christmas-themed installment (the next one planned after production was shut down), Daniels says that they'll use some of the rough draft that had been written. ("It wasn’t 100% finished, the script," said Daniels. "But we’ll cannibalize it and use pieces of it.")

So what changes can we expect in lieu of the truncated season? "We had some stuff that we were planning for the end of the year and we didn’t end up having enough time to do what we had planned," said Daniels. "But we came up with some other alternatives, things which we really like a lot and it’s probably good that way for the creative process. We didn’t have a lot of stuff that we scrapped because we only had the one episode ready to be shot and that’s the one we came back with where they’re invited out to the dinner party."

The episode Daniels is referring to is slated to air on April 10th, when The Office returns from its painfully long hiatus, in which Michael and Jan invite Pam and Jim over for a dinner party. So where's Dwight in all of this? "Well, you have to tune in on April 10 to find out," said Wilson. "It’s amazing what happens. It’s going to rock your world."

Last fall, The Office was the first series to shut down during the WGA strike in the midst of shooting an episode. What did Daniels and Wilson do during the unexpected downtime in the middle of the television season?

"I just walked in circles a lot waving the placard and didn’t travel anywhere or do anything," recounted Daniels. "But the first day that we came back was very good for the writing staff because this was the longest break that we had had since the show started and people had time to kind of recharge their batteries in a good way. So we had a lot of fun tossing out ideas on our first day back."

"I did a little bit of picketing," said Wilson. "I played a lot with my three and a half year old son, which was good. I think the strike was terribly painful for the families of Los Angeles--the working families of Los Angeles, but it was also great for the families of Los Angeles. I went to Israel and I did some writing. And I worked on my backhand with my Zen tennis coach."

Of course, Dwight would have had a vastly different experience if, say, Dunder-Mifflin ever went on strike, according to Wilson: "If Dunder Mifflin went on strike, you know what Dwight would do? Dwight would join the Pinkertons and he would immediately try and bust the strike. And he’d work for management. He’d go to corporate headquarters and figure out a way to bust up the union--maybe kind of join as a secret--under a different identity and rabble rouse, and be a counteragent. But he would love to join the Pinkertons, wear one of those hats, maybe carry a derringer and be a badass."

I think my head just exploded.

As for the much-beloved Schrute Space (Wilson's in-character Dwight blog), Wilson admitted that he sadly wasn't writing the pieces himself anymore. "I kind of passed the torch off to one of the writers this year," said Wilson. "I just was getting too busy and too much on my plate. And, you know, there’s a lot more press obligations and I’m working on some screenplays and stuff like that. I think the blog was the perfect outlet for Dwight because blogs are the first terrible creation of the 21st century, as people write about what movies they rented and what happened when they went to the drycleaners. And I think Dwight just loves to hold forth with a captive audience. So blogging was a perfect extension of the character."

Does the cast go just as crazy as us real-life office folk who sit in their cubicles all day? "We all go a little bit mad even in the office setting, about eight hours into sitting under those fluorescent lights on the set of The Office," said Wilson. "[We surf] the web, and there’s only so many times you can check CNN.com to see if a bomb has gone off somewhere. We start to go a little bit stir crazy and things start to get out of hand. Recently we’ve kept ourselves entertained by doing Brian Baumgartner imitations and coaxing Ed Helms to do all of his imitations. He does an incredible Tom Brokaw and we love to have him say albondigas--the soup albondigas--as Tom Brokaw."

Finally, what clues can Daniels give us about what to expect when The Office returns next month and that dinner party episode?

"It's kind of a charged situation where Michael has been asking Pam and Jim to come have dinner with him and Jan over and over, and over again," said Daniels. "He finally manages this, through this kind of scam, to destroy all their excuses. And it just happens to be after the previous episode which is when he went to New York to try and help Jan with her deposition and he kind of blew her sort of wrongful termination lawsuit. So there’s a lot of tension between them in that episode."

"And then coming up we have some episodes that, you know, follow off on that," continues Daniels. "Some of them involve the character of Ryan whose website initiative started the season off and is kind of crumbling underneath him and has become infested with sexual predators... which is just one of the problems his website has. And we have episodes coming up where Dwight and Michael are going to [join] Ryan in some of his club-hopping New York partying and try to get involved in his life a little bit more. But there’s some cool, weird things happening that I can’t talk about and you’ll just have to see it to truly enjoy all the twists and turns."

You heard it here. Set your TiVos: The Office returns April 10th on NBC.

Casting Couch: Easter Weekend Pilot Round-up

Wondering how to keep track of the plethora of casting related notices this Easter weekend for the latest crop of network and cable pilots? Simply look below.

CW: Michael Cassidy (Hidden Palms, The O.C.) cast in