Friday Morning Entertainment News Roundup

Posting has been light lately, because I've been traveling like a mad man (shades of Don Draper, though sadly without the hot wife, hot mistresses and lunchtime whiskey, but with the marketing strategy and Marlboros).

Now I'm packing for another epic clash Between The Hedges in the Deep South's Oldest Football Rivalry. Should be a good one. As I mentioned in some pregame communications with The Freebird, I'm not sure what Coach Richt will have planned as a motivational tactic this week. The players have called for a "blackout" (which is fine with me, given the abundance of my favorite color in UGA togs) and there's the rumor of the Dawgs breaking out black jerseys. Short of a goal line player celebration after the first score, perhaps CMR will suggest that all the fans in black run out to the 50 yard line after our first score and do a synchronized version of the "Soulja Boy." Would that be more than 30 yards in penalties?

That said, here are a few entertainment nuggets I came across during the last week on the road:

The JJ Abrams Star Trek movie has offered some inspired casting thus far (Sylar as Spock? Shaun of the Dead as Scotty? Magnificent! Eomer as Bones McCoy? Not so sure). But two recent additions get a total A+ in my book. First, it was announced that under the radar total hottie and TNRLM Top 5-er Rachel Nichols had been cast. Rachel was on Tim Minear's quickly killed by FOX crime drama The Inside, and also appeared on the disjointed final season of Alias. Her role is uncertain, but anything is fine with me and almost makes me long for the 60s wardrobe of miniskirts and gogo boots on Starfleet vessels. Then today I read that longtime TNRLM Number One Winona Ryder has also signed on to play Spock's mom. There have been numerous hotties to grace the small screen on various incarnations of Trek, but with the exceptions of a pre-batshit Kirstie Alley as Saavik and Dina Meyer as a Romulan commander, not so much on the big screen. Nice to see this changing.

Nice interview with Jane Espenson, a fantastic writer who has worked on some of my favorite shows, including Firefly, Buffy, Angel, Star Trek: DS9, BSG and the late, lamented Andy Barker PI.

Those BSG "webisodes" (part of the reason for the much deserved writer's strike) have been awesome. How great was the old school toaster? Coming Monday? Lost webisodes.

Finally! A decent Heroes. I'm not sure that Monday's fantastic episode is enough to save the first part of this season from mediocrity, but it certainly held promise. At least the showrunner realizes that things thus far have sucked.

Speaking of the strike, the worst part of this by far will be the proliferation of the plague on mankind known as "reality" TV. The only reality show I've ever added to the Tivo is American Idol. And then, I generally fast forward through all the insipid "personal stories" and Seacrest nonsense, just to see the top 12 perform. With all those hours to fill now that carefully crafted and skillfully acted shows will be without their words, expect the AI juggernaut to fill up virtually every night with the "backstories." Many pundits also criticized AI last year for not delving enough into this. Ye gods. Thank Zeus that by the time Idol rolls around next year, I'll happily be free of the Comcast Ti-Faux DVR and back with my beloved original recipe Tivo in order to zoom through this steaming pile of crap.

Okay, enough for now. Off to pack several black shirts and brush up on my dance moves.