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Pilot Inspektor: NBC's "Bionic Woman"

One of the more interesting concepts this development season was the "re-conceptualizing" of 1970s cult drama The Bionic Woman . Ordinarily, I'd have sighed and bemoaned the lack of imagination of television creators for simply repackaging an old series with a flashy new cast and better special effects. But of course NBC's new drama, Bionic Woman , set to launch this fall, isn't just from any creator but from executive producer David Eick, who had his hand in re-conceiving another 1970s cult series, Battlestar Galactica , for Sci Fi. As any longtime readers will tell you, BSG is one of my favorite current series, so I had built up a lot of anticipation for this project, especially having read multiple versions of the pilot script over the last few months. So imagine my surprise when I finally saw the completed pilot for Bionic Woman a few weeks back and actually did enjoy it. Some of the concerns I had whilst reading the script had disappeared (a polish by Kid

Wipeout: "John From Cincinnati" Leaves Me Hanging

Wow. I had read the script for John From Cincinnati last fall so knew what to expect but even I couldn't have anticipated the bloated, pretentious mess that ended up on screen. From the fertile mind of David Milch ( Deadwood ), comes this metaphysical surfing series about a network of burn-outs, losers, and a crumbling family in a small, beachside town beside by illegal aliens (perhaps of the garden variety and the extraterrestrial kind). Launching on the back of the final episode of The Sopranos (which I watched, despite giving up on the show a few seasons back), John From Cincinnati certainly won't be the program to redefine HBO as The Sopranos did all those years ago. Instead, it's a more turgid, modern-day version of the network's own Carnivale , which (though I was a fan) did nothing to engender the network to the viewers. John From Cincinnati is meant to be a convergence of genres: surf movies of the 1960s, apocalyptic visions, and the family drama. Into this

"Veronica Mars" Fans Plan to Blanket CW in Marshmallows to Save Series

Spurred by the recent success of the fan-based campaign to save cancelled CBS series Jericho , fans of the CW's axed Veronica Mars have organized their own attempt to resurrect their beloved heroine from cancellation. Fans of the crime-fighting college student launched Save Veronica Mars : The Mars Bars (and Marshmallows) Campaign , which aims to get CW to reconsider its position on ending the noir mystery series by blanketing the CW offices wth as many Mars bars and marshmallows as humanly possible. Inspired, no doubt, by the success of the send-peanuts-to-CBS campaign, which was a factor in the network saving Jericho , after officially cancelling it. The campaign is currently looking for donations in the form of purchased Mars bars. (As many people will tell you, US Mars bars are no longer being produced; therefore the only way of purchasing these delicious chocolate-based goodies are through online vendors.) The truckloads of bars will then be brought to CW President Dawn Ostro

Casting Couch: Facinelli Pulled into "Damages"

Peter Facinelli's latest pilot (Showtime's Insatiable ) may have died on the vine, but the actor has found a new role in one of the season's most eagerly anticipated new series. Facinelli will play the recurring role of Gregory Malina in FX's new legal thriller Damages , which stars Glenn Close, Rose Byrne, Tate Donovan, and Ted Danson. Facinelli will play a man who gets enmeshed in Patty Hewes (Glenn Close)'s case against corporate behemoth Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson) when he has an affair with a key witness in the case. Damages , from Sony Pictures Television, kicks off on FX on July 24th at 10 pm.

In the Weeds: "Top Chef" Battle of the Seasons

"I'm not your bitch, bitch." Okay, those words might not have gotten re-uttered this week but I can't tell you how happy I was to see some familiar faces back in the kitchen for Top Chef : 4-Star All-Stars . As a little sampler to next week's official launch of Season Three, Bravo brought us this week a charity culinary challenge that pitted the final four contestants from each of the first two seasons of Top Chef in a showdown to win $20K for charity and, well, bragging rights to the dubious title of Top Chef. From Season One, it was the gleefully mismatched team of Harold (Season One winner), Tiffani, Stephen, and Dave (blech), who managed to put aside their differences and work together as a single unit, something that the Season Two folks--Ilan (Season Two winner), Elia, Sam, and Marcel--still seem incapable of doing. Maybe that says something. First up was a quickfire challenge (the looks on their faces when Padma made that announcement was priceless), in w

Yo Ho Hum: "Pirate Master" Needs to Kick It Into a Higher Gear

I'm definitely enjoying Pirate Master , CBS's latest reality offering, but I do wish that, well, something would happen. I can't help but shake the feeling that the first two episodes of the series (especially last night's episode ) were glacially paced. The series definitely has a worthy villain in current ship's captain Joe Don, who seems incapable of realizing that, while he's off guzzling rum, eating enormous breakfasts, and sleeping in his luxe quarters, his crew is monumentally unhappy. (Not so unhappy they'll announce a mutiny and depose him, but more on that in a bit.) Coming from a military background, Joe Don has seized control of the ship with an iron fist, keeping his two officers above the fracas of life below-deck and making deals with one of the workers, automotive parts salesman Jay, to spy on his fellow crew members for $2K in gold. Of course, the only way that works is if you keep that little arrangement a secret, so I'm not entirely su

They Have a Plan: The "Battlestar Galactica" All Access Event

It's no secret: longtime readers of this site know that I am a hardcore Battlestar Galactica devotee. So it was with a certain relish that I got to attend last night's BSG : All Access event at the famed Cinerama Dome at the Arclight in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, I missed the opportunity to catch the two-hour finale on the big screen, what with work matters and such, but I managed to sneak into the theatre a few minutes before the panel began and the audience was shown a stirring retrospective of the past three seasons of Battlestar Galactica . (I don't know about anyone else in the audience, but I got goosebumps!) For those of you wondering what all the hubbub is about, this is most likely one of the last times that the cast and crew of Battlestar will come together in a public forum, what with the series being cancelled and all, after the next batch of 22 episodes. (Sniffle.) So you can imagine the sort of fervor and warmth of reception--a standing ovation, no less--wh