Play it again, Starbuck: Talking to Weddle and Thompson about 'Someone to Watch Over Me'

Play it again, Starbuck: Talking to Weddle and Thompson about 'Someone to Watch Over Me'

Below are interviews with Bradley Thompson and David Weddle, who wrote "Someone to Watch Over Me," Friday's episode of "Battlestar Galactica." I've also posted a few of my thoughts below that Q&A.

As was the case last time, this week's installment of the "Battlestar" Q&A's has an Extra Special Bonus Attraction. Star-Ledger critic Alan Sepinwall also asked questions, and answers to both our queries are below.

I also highly recommend visiting the Web site of "Battlestar" composer Bear McCreary for more information about this episode. McCreary has also been posting excellent interviews with the cast of "Battlestar," so check out his site if you can. Another great resource for "Battlestar" fans: Galactica Sitrep.

Update: The links to McCreary's account of making this episode are here, here and here.

"Battlestar" fans should be sure to keep an eye on "CSI." At least two people associated with the Sci Fi show will make appearances in an upcoming episode of the CBS drama, for which Weddle and Thompson now write. For more on that, look here.

And yep, there's even more info on this site about "Battlestar Galactica":

Look here for an interview with Jane Espenson regarding "Deadlock," the Feb. 20 episode of "Battlestar Galactica." Look here for an interview with Ryan Mottesheard and Espenson regarding "No Exit," the Feb. 13 episode.  Look herefor an interview with Michael Angeli, the writer of "Blood on theScales," the Feb. 6 episode. Look here for an interview with Mark Verheiden, the writer of "The Oath," the Jan. 30 episode. 
Look herefor an interview with executive producer Ronald D. Moore, who wrote anddirected "A Disquiet Follows My Soul," which aired Jan. 23.  Look here for interviews with Moore and with the writers and the director of "Sometimes a Great Notion," which aired Jan. 16. Look here for a recent interview with actor Tahmoh Penikett, who plays Helo on "Battlestar."

On to the interview. It's best if you've seen "Someone to Watch Over Me" before proceeding.

The interview with Thompson and Weddle, the writers of "Someone to Watch Over Me," has a slightly different format. Weddle answered some questions below, and some of our questions were addressed in a letter he had previously written to Bear McCreary (this material will also appear on Bear's blog). So answers from Weddle and Thompson are first, then the note to McCreary is below the Q&A. My thoughts come last. 

Questions are in bold type, answers are in regular type.

Alan: When Tyrol returns to the dream house on Picon, is it empty because he's not doing the projection with Boomer? Or is it empty because she was scamming him the whole time?

Weddle: Cylon projections are fantasy expressions of their subconscious desires or emotional life.  Tyrol’s return to the empty fantasy house at the end of the show to find Boomer and his imaginary daughter gone was an expression his devastation and despair.

Thompson: It’s empty because that’s what he experienced.  Like Tyrol, you’ll have to draw your own conclusions.  But it was definitely not a random dramatic decision.  We weren’t being all mysterioso.  There’s logic to it.

While working in Japan a long time ago, a Japanese businessman I was interviewing explained that when Americans come to his country, they’re always asking what they should see, and his countrymen advise them to go see this or that famous shrine.  The Americans take the trip and arrive at this shabby little shrine.  And they’re disappointed.  An interview subject told me it was because of a different cultural orientation.  “For you Americans, it’s all about reaching the goal.  For us, it is the journey.”

"Battlestar Galactica" is a wonderful journey â€" which, because we all took it together, will make Ron’s fantastic three-hour finish all the more compelling.

Mo: Did Boomer really love the Chief? Or was that final speech to him just another part of her con job?

Weddle: Did Boomer really love the Chief?  That’s an interesting question and one I don’t have a neat answer to.  Boomer is deeply conflicted.  I think the process of having false memories planted in her, getting switched “on” as a Cylon, shooting Adama, getting shot by Cally, and her experiences on New Caprica have left her severely disturbed.  She was determined to go through with her mission, but in the process of seducing Tyrol she reawakened feelings of love that she thought were dead.  I think she experienced real misgivings just before she got on that Raptor, but felt she had gone too far to back down.  Wrapped up in that is her perverse envy of Athena, who obtained everything Boomer once wanted, and this festered into a sick desire to strike out at Athena.  It’s difficult to say someone who did that loves the Chief, and yet in her damaged way, I think she did and still does love him.

Thompson: Good question.  She may not even know the answer.  Boomer’s a complicated, damaged individual.  Might both be true?

Mo: Is Tyrol in love with the real Boomer or the one he remembers? 

Weddle: This is exactly the question he is struggling with. His visits to the fantasy house illustrate that he’s in love with the dreams he’s attached to Boomer about a life he would like to have.  Don’t we all do this to some extent to the people we fall in love with?  And when they fail to live up to our fantasies or expectations, it can be excruciating for them and for us.

Thompson: Black-and-white answers would be nice.  But that’s not generally true of the human â€" or Cylonheart.  Brings up an interesting question:  Does commitment to your mission, your country, your people, outweigh the dictates of your heart?

Mo: What did the Chief think was in that box he toted around for Boomer? Change of clothes?

Weddle: In the beginning of the episode, Starbuck instructs Raptor pilots going out on long duration planet-hunting missions to pack food and water for those long flights.  And we see them pack cases just like the one Boomer puts Hera in.  Tyrol thought he was giving Boomer a chance to get away and find a life somewhere.  Naturally, she would need to take food and water to give her as much time to do that as possible.

Thompson: “PROVISION PACKAGELONG DURATION” â€" We establish those big boxes of gear as planet-hunting mission requirements early in the show, and since that was Athena’s task, it would draw attention if she didn’t load out one of those crates.   So Chief Tyrol probably assumed she was carrying the box she was issued for the flight.

Mo: Would we be correct in assuming that everything Boomer did fromthe moment she left Cavil's base ship was part of his plan to get Hera?

Thompson: How do you escape froma fully armed base ship?

Alan: Ron said in the podcast for "Deadlock" that there was originally a different plan for how Boomer's story would end, but he couldn't get into it yet without spoiling what was to come on the actual show. Are we yet at a point where you can explain how the original plan diverged, or do we need to wait a while?

Thompson: You’ll have to wait. 

The part of the question that is from Alan: Bear McCreary said that the piano player was partly modeled on him. Was this story about finding a way to celebrate Bear's contribution to the show, or had you decided to do a music-themed Starbuck episode and then realized you had a pretty talented musician nearby you could brainstorm with? The part of the question that is from Mo: Was Bear on the set for the entire making of the episode, and if so, how much of "STWOM" was changed/altered/rethought based on his input? I look forward to reading Bear's account of the making of the episode on his blog, but what is your take on what he brought to it?

Thompson: The show was never conceived as “music themed” â€" we wanted to help fill in the gap we perceived in Starbuck’s story â€" and since her father was a musician, it seemed natural to explore what happened to the musical part of her.

We asked to have Bear was in Canada for the entire shoot, because he had to compose music that would actually be played live on the set during shooting by Roark Critchlow and Katee Sackhoff.  It was also vital to have him interact with Michael Nankin, our director, because making a show like this is a constant process of discovery, and we needed the flexibility to change as we learned new things about the characters.

Bear also sampled our wonderfully out-of-tune set piano so he could add music voiced with the same instrument during scoring, as well as change any pieces that didn’t fly during the initial performance.

We modeled Slick on Bear because Bear undergoes the same tortures of the damned trying to top himself with each new Battlestar score (keep setting the bar to the maximum and then trying to top it â€" try that for four years straight â€" yet he keeps succeeding). That seemed to match Slick’s drive to compose. 

I can’t really speak to the idea of how much was “changed” due to his input because he was a full-on interactive collaborator in making the episode as successful as it was.   It was something we all did together (with Ron and Michael, Katee and Roark) growing this thing organically from all our input. 

Alan: Am I correct in interpreting the shot of Kara, Tigh and Tory at the piano -- with the piano player and his sheet music nowhere in sight -- to mean that he was never there? And if so, is Kara hallucinating -- or is she projecting? And is there any reason why we shouldn't assume that Kara's father -- musician with a name that starts with D, who taught her how to play the Final Five version of "All Along the Watchtower" -- is Daniel, the artistic and missing eighth Cylon model?

Thompson: Interpretations are always subjective and belong to the interpreter.  We put something on the screen with clues to assemble into conclusions.  Are yours the same as ours?  Do they satisfy you?

Mo: Does the fact that Dreilide Thrace's recording was titled "Live from the Helice Opera House" have any connection to the "Opera House" visions that have long been part of the show?

Thompson: Maybe. 

Mo: To me, so much of this episode (quite heartbreakingly) dwelled on what these people have lost or given up or had to suppress in order to survive. Was revisiting that an important part of starting to close the chapter on the story of these characters, in particular Tyrol and Starbuck?

Weddle: It was thrilling and fulfilling for Brad and me to write this episode because we got to revisit the pivotal characters of Boomer, Tyrol and Starbuck.  We were deeply involved in plotting their character arcs throughout the four seasons of the show and it was exciting and rewarding to craft some of the final movements of their journeys.  The entire staff believed it was very important to revisit the Boomer/Tyrol relationship, especially since the Chief has discovered he is a Cylon.  And exploring Kara’s relationship with her father in a way completes her biography and rounds out her character.  This episode puts events in motion that will propel our characters to the climax of our story.  So it is not a tone poem in any sense of the word.

Thompson: We always felt that a lovesuch as shared by Chief Tyrol and Lt. Valerii wouldn’t simply go quietly away â€"especially given the changes that both have gone through in the last fouryears.  And the reasons they partedâ€" do they make sense after all this? Is there still something left? We wanted to see where that led. And since we’re in the last headlong dive for the final logo, if notnow, when? 

Mo: For me, the moment when Tyrol spots the daughter he could havehad is one of the most bittersweet and emotional ones of the season. AaronDouglas' performance was spot on throughout, but I am betting director MichaelNankin had something to do with the performances we saw. Am I right inrecalling that you had asked that he be hired to direct this episode? Why?

Thompson: Every one of the castwas blow-you-away spectacular.  Oneof Nankin’s many gifts is the ability to run the throttle on these powerfulengines so that the moment has maximum impact when it finally plays. I have to say that Aaron and Grace outdidthemselves for this episode, fearlessly reaching into painful personal placesfor some of their best work.  AndKatee reached the same place with Slick. 

Another part of Mr.Nankin’s talent is that he creates an atmosphere where actors feel safe takingchances, can risk falling on their asses, knowing that he’ll put them back onthe path if they go astray.  It’s atrust built over a lot of working together.  And it’s especially tough on these actors because with them,we expect brilliance. 

Michael Nankin is oneof the most talented directors I’ve had the good fortune to work with, and hewas slotted into Episode 19 long before we knew what it was â€" or that we’d bewriting it.  After “Someone…”  Mark Verheiden was sorting out the writingassignments for the last shows of the series and asked us if we wanted to doone more.  We, of course, grabbed forit with both hands and our prehensile feet.  He then asked which slot we’d prefer and it was a nobrainer:  Mr. Nankin’s.

Mo: How much did you draw on the Weddle & Thompson writingprocess and collaboration for the scenes Kara and the piano playercomposing music?

Thompson: In my recollection, it was moreabout the agony and joy Bear experiences during that process.  Ofcourse, there are parallels in any creative endeavor, but in this case,David spent a lot of time talking with Bear and making itmusician/composer-specific.

Mo: Speaking of composition, whathad to be cut from "STWOM"? What happened on set that you weren'texpecting or that presented difficulties?

Thompson: It’sbeen a while since I watched all this go down, but I think most of thecuts were in the music because it was long and that was the place wherewe could best afford the loss.  The show was restructured in editing,because Andy and Paul found a way that the climax with Kara and theclimax with Boomer could happen simultaneously, which made the end muchmore satisfying.

And I should note that we’d been admonished(by high level players who will remain nameless) not to have Helo makethe mistake he makes.  We backed off in subsequent drafts (feeling likewe were somehow cheating the fans) until Michael Nankin’s first roundof script notes hit Ron, saying, “I can’t believe you have thisopportunity and you’re not going all the way with it.”  And Ron turnedto us and said:  “He’s right.  It’s so wrong we have to do it!”  And wegot to put that moment back in the show.

An addendum on Boomer-Tyrol story from Thompson: I recall correctly, the Boomer-Tyrol aspect of this story was something we'd floated in the room in Season 3 but didn't know where it fit or what it would be.  Like so many "Battlestar" ideas, it simply hung in limbo until the time was right for maximum impact. 

That's one of the genius parts of Ron -- patience.  Like with the nuke Six asked Baltar to get.  And how it eventually played out.  When the time came, we were very happy we'd had that one in our back pocket.  But Ron didn't force playing that card until it made sense to do so.  Likewise with Boomer-Tyrol.

Alan: A portion of the fandom has gotten upset with episodes like "A Disquiet Follows My Soul" and "Deadlock" for what they perceive as a slow pace, not enough answers about the mythology or forward plot advancement, and not enough about what they consider "the endgame." Now you guys have written an episode where large chunks are about Starbuck remembering how to play the piano, and while I liked it, I suspect you may have the barbarians at the gate like they were for Jane last week. Anything you want to say to reassure them about what's coming? Is a lot of the endgame stuff being saved for the finale proper? Or do you feel like fans who only care about the plot and the mythology are missing some key component of the show?

Weddle: I love the shows that concentrate on the emotional lives of our characters.  They are fundamentally important in laying the foundation for the big action-oriented episodes like [Season 3's] "Exodus." "Exodus" has so much power because "Occupation" and "Precipice" set the table, and put all the pieces in place for the climax.  “A Disquiet Follows My Soul” sets the table for the two unbearably tense mutiny shows that follow it.  Fans may think they want every episode to be nothing but slam-bang action, but if you didn’t have the quiet episodes that place each character emotionally and set up the stakes for our people, the action episodes would be hollow exercises.

Thompson: A great symphony or great novel can’t all be furious pace, crash, and bang.  That would leave no room for dynamics and contrast.  "Battlestar Galactica" has always been about the characters, not plot or endgame.  It rests on the people:  They’re either interesting and satisfying or not.  As for what’s coming?  It’s Ron’s vision, Ron’s story and either you trust him with the few hours that are left or you don’t.  All I can say is that for us, the series comes to a satisfying, earned, and honest conclusion.

Mo: Did I spot Mr. Weddle sitting next to Starbuck in Joe's Bar at one point? Or was I projecting?

Weddle: Congratulations on spotting the Weddle skinjob at the bar.  Now you know the hideous truth. Weddle is a Cylon. I am surprised you didn’t spot another skinjob in the bar during the previous episode. [Mo here: That would be Bear McCreary.]

Thompson: Yes.  I’m in the scene, too, though I don’tthink I made the cut.  We flippedfor who would be where, and had no idea how the scene would play at that point. [Mo here: The picture at right is of Thompson and Weddle on the Joe's Bar set.]

David Weddle's letter to Bear McCreary about the process of making "Someone to Watch Over Me":

After we finished writing and producing Episodes 12 & 13 ["Revelations" and "Sometimes a Great Notion"], Mark Verheiden asked us which of the final episodes (except the finale, which Ron Moore would be writing) we wanted to write.  We asked to do the episode that Michael Nankin was signed to direct because we had developed a very intense and fulfilling collaboration with him over the course of the last two seasons.  It felt as if Michael, Bradley and I had become a jazz trio that intuitively understood each other.

So Mark assigned us Episode 19, which was vaguely slated to be a Kara episode of some kind â€" though no one really knew what it would consist of.  After writing “Act of Contrition,” “Scar,” and “Maelstrom,” Brad and I took a strong proprietary interest in the character of Kara Thrace and the epic sweep of her personal story within the larger canvas of Battlestar.

We felt this had to be a memorable episode, one that could stand beside the others.  And we soon hit upon the idea of dealing with Kara’s father, the absent parent whom we knew about only through a brief snatch of his piano music played in her apartment in “Valley of Darkness.”  By exploring her relationship with her father, we could complete the story of Kara, in a way.

We also were drawn to the idea that the scene in “Valley of Darkness” where Kara and Helo visit her apartment would contain two major clues to the epic story of "Battlestar":  Kara’s painting on the wall, and her father’s music, which she plays and is obviously deeply affected by.  If we could pull this off, a tangential scene that initially seemed to be only a poetic mood piece, would later be revealed as one of the most pivotal moments in the entire series.

So we sat down in the writers room with the rest of the staff and began to explore this.  The first pedestrian approach that I flogged was to tell the story in a series of flashbacks where Kara would remember playing piano with her father as a child and remember the day he abandoned her.  We soon hit on the idea that the song he taught her could be “All Along the Watchtower.” The problem was how we could make this episode feel inventive and fresh and not like “Maelstrom II.”

Two inspirations enabled us to create an exciting new story that was not derivative.  First, Mark Verheiden suggested that Kara’s father appear in Joe’s bar on Galactica as a kind of ghost, or projection of her subconscious.  And we would hide this until the very end of the story when she finally remembers the song he taught her to play.

The second inspiration came from Ron Moore, who had the idea of Hera actually drawing the notes of "Watchtower."  Ron said this could enable Starbuck to remember the song at the very moment that Hera is being kidnapped.  Once we had those to breakthroughs, the story fell into place very rapidly.

We decided to get you involved from the moment we began writing the story because we felt that in order to pull this off in a way that wouldn’t be hokey, we needed to have input from a real composer.  We thought it was critically important that the actor we hired could actually play a piano.  I had seen too many movies about music composers that felt phony because the actors couldn’t play a note and directors cheated by never showing their hands actually touching the keys.

Because of these issues, we also got Michael Nankin involved at an early stage because the scenes would have to be filmed in a way that felt truthful.  This was the wonderful thing about "Battlestar" that made it such a powerful show.  It was intensely collaborative.  And this episode succeeded, I think, because we had you and Michael involved from day one.

The next question became: what kind of character was Kara’s father?  At first we gravitated toward a serious classical player whose real love was jazz.  We modeled his character in early drafts on Hoagy Carmichael, who appeared as a supporting character in "The Best Years of Our Lives" and "To Have and Have Not." In both movies, Hoagy plays a kind of piano playing confident, like a bartender, who listens to people’s troubles and gives advice.

We also looked at Chico Marx for his style of piano playing.  And one trick of his that we kept in the script and that made it to the final cut was Chico’s trademark of “shooting a key” by miming that his hand was a six gun.  Nankin came up with the brilliant topper of having young Kara pretend to blow the smoke from Slick’s fingertip/gun barrel.  This is the moment that she realizes Slick is actually her father.

Very early on, I had wanted this moment to be a visceral and silent one â€" like the devastating moment at the end of Charlie Chaplin’s "City Lights," when the blind girl realizes the tramp is her secret benefactor by recognizing the touch of his hand.  This is why we wrote the moment where Slick squeezes the rim of Kara’s ear.  In the script, that gesture was the instant Kara realizes it is her father and hopefully the audience does too because they’ve seen the same gesture in a flashback.  Nankin added Kara blowing on Slick’s gun barrel/finger and it was brilliant because she does it before she even realizes what she’s doing, a subconscious act that awakens a realization.

Ron Moore did not like the voice of the piano player in the early drafts.  He felt the character came off like a stock bartender/wiseman from a hundred other movies.  He wanted Slick to be struggling to compose a song over the course of the episode to give those scenes dramatic tension and to give Slick a life and drive of his own, independent from dispensing advice to Kara.  By then you and I had done a couple of hours of interviews on the phone, which I had recorded and transcribed.  So it was very natural for me to draw on that material.  In fact, it saved my [behind]!

I know almost nothing about music, but fortunately the hell fires you walk through while trying to compose are analogous to what Brad and I experience while trying to write a script, so we felt we had a firm grasp of the character’s dynamics.  Our next draft went too far into the obsessive details of composing and Nankin felt it made the character too self-absorbed.  But on the third draft we tacked back to a middle course between the two drafts.  Slick still obsessed over his music, but he also observed what Kara was going through and reached out to her.  That draft hit exactly the right note (sorry for the pun) and from that point on the story worked wonderfully.

The Slick/Kara story line was very hard to capture and took a number of drafts, unlike, for instance, “Sometimes a Great Notion,” which was relatively easy to write.  I went through the same night sweats and self doubts and tormented fears of failure that you go though while composing, which seemed perfectly apt given the character of Slick and the story.

So obviously, you had a profound influence on the script.  This episode could never have been anything but hackneyed without your input, but we knew that and I feel very proud of the fact that we brought you in as a full collaborator from the very beginning.

I remember you talking about Gershwin in our conversations, so when it came time to come up with a title for the episode, I looked up Gershwin songs and found “Someone to Watch Over Me.”  I ran it by Brad and he said, “Jesus, that’s perfect!  Not only for the Kara story, but for the Tyrol/Boomer story as well.”  Brad was primarily responsible for writing the Tyrol/Boomer story, so that became a seal of approval.

Nankin, Brad and I were very concerned about getting an actor who could actually play the piano and work with you on the set.  Nankin suddenly had an idea: “Why don’t we have Bear audition for the part?” Brad and I thought we had nothing to lose and you were game for it so we brought you in.

I thought you did a great job for a non-actor.  But we realized we needed a professional actor who could deliver all of the emotional nuances and levels to the character and hold his own on screen with Katee Sackhoff.  No small challenge.  Then I became very uptight.  Oh man, we have to tell Bear we aren’t going to cast him and he learned all those lines and came in to audition, which can be a mortifying experience â€" what have we in our collective madness done?  But fortunately, you took it very well and I’m sure you agree you would never have been able to give your full concentration to the music if you also had to act in the show.

It felt so great to have you on the set, working with the actors, walking them through the musical moments, and working with Nankin to orchestrate the scenes.  All Brad and I had to do at that point was sit back and let you people do what you do best.  I said to Brad, “We put all the pieces together, and now all we have to do is stay out of their way.”  I am extremely proud that we had the foresight to do that.

And I am extremely proud of the final product.  I don’t know of any television episode that utilizes music in such a sophisticated manner.  I think you could find some feature film musicals that do this â€" Bob Fosse’s "Cabaret," and "All That Jazz," perhaps.  You have greater expertise in this area than I do.  But I doubt there’s another episode of television that approaches what we have done.  This is not because we are geniuses â€" okay, Bear, I think maybe you are â€" this is simply because after four years of intense collaboration we trusted each other enough to allow it to happen. 

Brad and I knew we could bring you in at the earliest stages of story development and bring in Michael Nankin.  We had no fear that you would take over the project or force the story in a direction we didn’t like.  By bringing in people who had different skill sets and strengths, we could only enrich the piece.  And this could only happen because, above all, Ron Moore let it happen.  He trusted all of us and stepped back and let us contribute everything we could to this episode.  

Mo here: Here are a few of my thoughts on "Someone to Watch Over Me"

The space under my desk isn't a particularly comfortable place. But I may just take up residence there for the next few days, if "Someone to Watch Over Me" gets the same response "Deadlock" did. 

I thought "STWOM" was wonderful. But as I watched it, I was wondering how many fans would be screaming about it, hollering that the episode did not provide enough answers.  I could practically write the comments in my sleep: "This close to the end of 'Battlestar,' how dare the show waste our time with blah blah blah soap opera blah blah blah want answers!"

OK, I'll stop with the sarcasm. And don't think I'm being purely flippant about the possible "huh?" or "not enough answers" responses, if they occur. I understand those responses. I've had them myself in the past, though not to any episodes so far in Season 4.5. (And not to rehash last week's "Deadlock" debate, which is still going on in the comment area of that post, but I, like a number of other "Battlestar" viewers, was fine with the episode, aside from the Baltar/Adama storyline. Feel free to read that post and those comments for more specifics.)

Anyway. I give high marks to this graceful and emotionally rich episode. And if the personal excavations it presented, the forward movement regarding Tyrol, Boomer and Hera, the terrific performances and the amazing music by Bear McCreary weren't enough for you, then I respect your point of view. But I couldn't disagree more strongly.

[Whatever our individual responses, we are all going to be civil and respectful in the comment area, right? I thank you in advance for that.]

As for when we'll get more answers, I'm not impatient at the moment. And as has often been the case with this show, where more action-oriented episodes have been followed by quieter ones, these past few episodes have quietly set up show's endgame, in my opinion. There are four more hours to go, people. I fully expect my mind to be blown three or four times before the show ends on March 20.

I think, given Weddle and Thompson's past work on the show, I was sort of expecting a somewhat more militaristic adventure, and all that gracefully intercut material at the start about Starbuck's daily routine reflected their roles as the show's experts on life in uniform.


Yet this is the duo who also wrote "Maelstrom," and who gave "Scar" -- one of the show's best action hours -- a deeply resonant emotional story. They also penned "Sometimes a Great Notion," and like that episode, "STWOM" contained a lot of carefully placed emotional ordnance. If Boomer's betrayal of Tyrol wasn't as devastating as Dee's suicide, it was close.

And the look on Starbuck's face when she put her hands on the piano for the first time in decades… well. This is what I want this show to do: Reach into my innards and make me feel something. On that score, "STWOM" was a success, in my humble opinion. 

What Starbuck's daily routine showed us how hard it has been to psych herself up and just get through every day. Every day is a grind and every day she has to force herself to perform her job and lead her pilots. But just as poor old Galactica is developing cracks in her hull, Starbuck's recent turmoil, coupled with the wear and tear of the last few years, has taken its toll. Though some crack in her psyche comes the piano player.

Who can only be a psychological projection of her dad, right?

I know it's late in the show's run -- see above, we've been over that -- but I thank the gods that the director, Michael Nankin, and editor and everyone associated with this episode let it breathe. It didn't feel rushed or forced or too fast. To get to the place where the deeply defensive Starbuck could share her deepest secret with the piano player, to get to the place where she could allow herself to feel the open wound of her father's abandonment -- if that had been too rushed, this episode would not have worked. It would have been out of tune, if you'll pardon the metaphor.

And we got time to experience Tyrol's joy and pain as well. What was so affecting about Tyrol's journey was that this is a guy who holds everything in. He's the man who keeps things together, whether it's an aging ship or the workers on New Caprica or the flight deck crew. He fixes things, he makes them work, and his feelings don't get in the way, not if he can help it.

For the entire episode, he's fighting the strongest emotions he's ever felt -- love, fear, grief for what he's lost, the hope that he might get a shard of it back, and then the deepest betrayal he's ever known. To see this dutiful, matter-of-fact guy wrestle with all those things, and practically drop to his knees as he begged Roslin to spare Boomer's life was nothing less than engrossing.

The hardest moment of the hour was watching him discover the daughter he never had with Boomer. How many times have we seen this show take great joy and combine it with such heartbreak? The ecstatic look on Tyrol's face, as he saw her and as he stood outside Boomer's cell, brought a tear to my eye.

Kudos to Katee Sackhoff and Aaron Douglas for bringing it in this episode. Roark Critchlow struck just the right note as the piano player. And a special mention should be made of Grace Park, who has effortlessly made the Eights all seem quite different over the years. And that animal scream Athena emitted when she told Helo their child was missing brought home the character's turmoil.

And my goodness, how about Bear McCreary? The way the music revealed itself in this episode was masterful. That moment in which Starbuck and Slick played the "All Along the Watchtower" theme and the full orchestration kicked in was sensational.

Aside from that hair-raising orchestral swell, this was a chamber piece, not a grand opera like "Revelations." It's not long now before we reach this symphony's final movement. The hour's getting late.

Hail of bullets time:

Is it just a coincidence that both Liam and Anders have their eyes open? Slick, the piano player, is a character that only Starbuck can see. Hmmm, I wonder. Does the show have any other characters that only one person can see? So Athena instantly knew that Boomer was Boomer. So did Tyrol. Helo, not so much. Guess his mind was on other things. Felgercarb Toothpaste -- I knew there had to be a story behind that name. And there is. If this was Doc Cottle's last appearance (and I hope it wasn't), then it's somehow fitting that in his last scene he was smoking and telling the Cylons crowding his ward to frak off. Will Boomer make it back to Cavil's base ship? What does Cavil want with Hera? It can't be anything good. What happens to the Chief if (when?) his role in Boomer's escape is discovered? For some reason, the thought that Daniel might be Starbuck's father really makes some "BSG" fans irate. I surely don't want to start a rumble here, but why is that? It makes sense to me, it seems logical and somehow fitting (if that is indeed the case). In any case, Sepinwall seems pretty certain that Daniel is indeed Starbuck's dad. I am not really sure there aren't more twists to come regarding Daniel and many other things, which is why the next episode can't come soon enough.

3-D Jonas Brothers film aims straight at current fans
Someday, we may actually get a clue as to what makes the Jonas Brothers tick. We may get a glimpse into their distinct personalities. But for now, Nick, Joe and Kevin are presented as so much glossy, superficial packaging in "Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience."

Philippe Petit: The 'Man On Wire'

Thirty-five years after a young Frenchman walked across the sky between the Twin Towers, they are missing from the landscape — but not from our minds.

POLITICS: US Allies Overlook Dutch Foe of Islam's Far Right Ties
WASHINGTON, Feb 28 (IPS)The fiercely anti-Islam Dutch MP Geert Wilders has been traveling through the U.S. this week on a highly-publicised trip to meet with politicians, promote his controversial film ‘Fitna’, and raise money for his legal defence back home.

'Beach Blanket Babylon' will revisit its San Jose roots

Counter to retire

Nick Counter, the veteran labor negotiator for the major studios, is retiring after a tenure spanning more than two decades.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers said today that Counter would retire, as expected, when his five-year contract expires March 31.

After his retirement, Counter will serve as a consultant to the AMPTP on all labor matters including the Screen Actors Guild negotiations, the group said. Talks recently broke off when the union rejected the studios' final offer. Actors have been without a contract since June 30.

For much of his tenure, Counter presided over relative labor peace until last year, when Hollywood's writers went on strike for 100 days. Over the years he was praised by his colleagues for giving the often-fractious alliance a unified voice.  At the same time, he was vilified by many rank-and-file union members, especially during the writers strike, when he was portrayed as an uncompromising old-school negotiator.

Counter has served as AMPTP president for 27 years and was the chief negotiator for 311 major labor pacts, including six in 2008 with the Directors Guild of America, Writers Guild of America, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, casting directors and International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees.

Counter's current contract was renegotiated in 2004 for an additional five years, plus five years as a consultant to the AMPTP upon retirement. 

The alliance said it was searching for Counter's successor. One possible candidate is Carol Lombardini, AMPTP's executive vice president of business & legal affairs, who will serve as acting president of the  alliance.

-- Richard Verrier

Has TV lost its nerve when it comes to complex dramas?

Launching a broadly successful TV show is possible. No, really, it is.

We hear a lot about the fractured media environment, and most of usâ€"network suits and civilians alikeâ€"have accepted the idea that smaller audiences are the new norm.

Yet consider “The Mentalist,” the show starring Simon Baker as a sham psychic turned crime investigator. The drama, which bears all the hallmarks of the efficient CBS procedural factory, regularly brings in between 18 million and 20 million viewers. Partly due to the success of that drama, as of early February, CBS' overall viewership had actually increased compared to last season.

So are the other broadcast networksâ€"whose overall ratings have declinedâ€"going to unleash dozens of “Mentalist” clones over the next year or two? Will we be living on a steady diet of miraculous cures on medical dramas and good guys catching bad guys on crime shows?

Forgive the tinge of irony: Nobody's knocking procedurals, or dramas in which one story is told over the course of one hour. Episodes of television that don't don’t require a degree in physics or an encyclopedic memory can be a beautiful thing. You'll find no bashing of "Law & Order" or "The Closer" here.

But in the last couple of years, “The Wire” has closed up shop, as have “The Sopranos,” “The Shield” and “Deadwood.” The future of “Friday Night Lights” is in doubt, and in a few weeks, “Battlestar Galactica” ends. “Mad Men” and “Damages” have ferocious fans but low ratings. And in a few months, NBCâ€"the network that gave us “The West Wing”â€"is handing over a third of its weekday real estate to Jay Leno.

What are the odds that compelling dramas such as these will get made by any networkâ€"broadcast or cable? Can it be that, as a piece in Entertainment Weekly asserted, the new Golden Age of television is ending?

Damon Lindelof, co-creator of “Lost,” isn’t worried. Asked whether a show such as  “Lost” could find a home today, he responded, “Yes, I think it would. At least on some networks.”

He added that he has high hopes for pilots such as ABC's "Flash Forward" and NBC's "Day One," which are currently in production and are "are every bit as serialized and genre-tinged as 'Lost.'"

Although the TV writer/producers and executives interviewed for this story were somewhat optimistic about the future for challenging TV, several said there is a new note of cautiousness at the networks.

“I don’t think you can make any kind of sweeping generality based on any collective thought process" at the networks. What they are reacting to more than anything these days, is to the dwindling ad dollars,” said Tim Kring, creator of “Heroes.” “This has a huge ripple effect on every move they make. And my guess is ... that makes the climate a little more risk-averse than it was a couple of years ago, simply because they can’t afford the number of failures.”

As is the case with the beleaguered music industry, television networks are responding to rapid and revolutionary changes in how audiences consume their products. In the TV industry, that’s having an effect on what gets made.

"Sometimes early on, being a little more episodic allows more people into the room. And as the show goes on, by its nature, it might find itself becoming a little more serialized," said Matt Cherniss, executive vice president of programming at Fox. "But to abandon the desire to tell stories that are, essentially, the hero’s journey and to watch that journey take placeâ€"I think that would be irresponsible. There are a lot of versions of that are successful, whether it's a soap or a medical drama. They're difficult to do, but that's not a reason not to do them.

Fox debuted the standalone procedural "Lie to Me" this season, and it is also developing "Masterwork," an adventure pilot from "Prison Break" creator Paul Scheuring. "Masterwork" won't be nearly as serialized as "Prison Break," however -- it'll involve a weekly adventure as well as an ongoing quest.

"We're trying to have our cake and eat it too. We're trying to tell really fun, engaging stories over a long period of time but not do it in a way that's intimidating to the audience," Cherniss said. 

As Fox attempts to find the next “House,” it’s also trying to cater to fans of Joss Whedon (“Angel,” “Buffy,” “Firefly”), J.J. Abrams (“Alias,” “Lost”) and Ronald D. Moore (“Battlestar Galactica”), who have created some of the most acclaimed dramas of the new Golden Age.

But when it comes to these writer/producers’ new Fox venturesâ€"“Dollhouse,” “Fringe” and “Virtuality,” respectivelyâ€"finding the right balance between procedural storytelling (think "Law & Order") and ambitious, "mythology-based" storytelling (think "Lost") hasn’t been easy.

Last year, the pilot for Whedon’s “Dollhouse” was reshot and production was shut down for a short time so that scripts could be recalibrated. After all that, the ratings for the adventure drama, which debuted Feb. 13, have not been impressive.

But as Cherniss notes and as Whedon has said in interviews, the reshooting of the pilot was done at Whedon's request, not the network's insistence. And discussions with him have centered on how to make the show more accessible, not how to change its core concept, Cherniss said. 

“We put it on Friday night because we thought that would be the best place for it to grow and allow it to be what it is, rather than trying to shoehorn it into being some other show just to fit a time period,” Cherniss said. “We have to let it play out and see how it does over the long haul.”

The two-hour pilot for “Virtuality,” which was written by Ronald D. Moore and Michael Taylor of “Battlestar Galactica,” is currently in limbo at Fox. This thought-provoking show (the script of which can be found online) follows a group of young space travelers as they engage in an exploration mission and star in a reality program along the way. It asks challenging questions about identity, media manipulation and the fragility of relationships.

Fox executives screened "Virtuality" in January, then went forward with “Glee,” a soap from “Nip/Tuck’s” Ryan Murphy.

“We’re looking for the best way for the audience to access [‘Virtuality’],” said Cherniss, who added there’s still a chance the space drama could land on Fox’s schedule next year. "There's a lot of discussion about whether the whether the pilot as it currently stands is the way to go on that, or whether there are some adjustments that can be made. ... But it is a project that we remain really intrigued by and excited about."

But "Virtuality," which incorporates reality-TV footage, virtual environments, relationship drama and intriguing mysteries, may just be too ambitious for a broadcast network. As Warner Bros. Television president Peter Roth told TV Week recently, the thinking is that in troubled times, "viewers might gravitate toward the comfort food of heroism and escapism in straightforward, easy-to-follow storylines."

Before you cry into your Dharma beer, it's worth recalling that when "Lost" was being developed, ABC viewed it as -- gulp -- a procedural. As humorist Dave Barry would say, I am not making that up. 

"'Lost' was never, as far as the network was concerned, initially designed to be the  serialized show it has become," said Jeff Pinkner ("Fringe"), who was an executive producer of the island drama. "They always thought that, in its own way, it would be [more] standalone."

And in its first seasons, "Lost" offered viewers not just action and adventure and the first glimmerings of its ultimately labyrinthine mythology, but also "a self-contained short story dealing with one character's emotional journey every week, which didn't require having seen anything before," Pinkner said.

Pinkner is now an executive producer of “Fringe” has been a modest success for Fox. But that show also had its own share of growing pains as it has attempted to balance a burgeoning mythology about a phenomenon called the Pattern with more standalone storytelling.

You might think Fox executives would have recoiled at the idea for "the Observer," a mysterious character who has briefly appeared in every "Fringe" episode and who has been a hit with the show's fans. Wrong. When the writers pitched that concept, executives loved it, Pinkner said.

But he also said that the network initially wanted to cut an engaging bar scene between Olivia (Anna Torv) and Peter (Joshua Jackson) in a December episode -- a moment that was key to the relationship between those characters. 

"The hardest thing to calibrate is the serialized elementâ€"when you’re getting too inside and too unwelcoming and when you’re being too obvious and playing toward a new audience as opposed to honoring the people who have been watching,” said Jeff Pinkner, executive producer of “Fringe.”

That mix is something that cable networks are having to reconsider as well. The show that put FX on the map, the densely plotted “Shield,” ended last fall, and the network recently commissioned two new pilots for possible airing in 2010. “Lights Out,” the story of an ex-boxer in financial trouble, would be a more serialized tale if it gets picked up. An untitled adaptation of an Elmore Leonard story by “Boomtown” creator Graham Yost would feature more stand-alone episodes.

“Our problemâ€"and I think this would be the problem of an AMC or a Showtime or an HBOâ€"we can’t just do a case-of-the-week stuff,” FX President John Landgraf said. “We have to make more adult, more original, more idiosyncratic, higher-risk, edgier shows. When you look at case-of-the-week [programs], it's very hard to find something that hasn't been done before.”

FX hasn't backed away from ambitious storytelling -- in fact, colliding timelines is one of the signature elements of the network's Glenn Close legal thriller, "Damages."

"Damages" is averaging about 1.1 million live viewers in its second season -- a significant dip from its Season 1 ratings -- but that number rises to 3.1 million when the viewership of every airing of an episode is added together. And the viewership of each Wednesday airing of the drama shoots up by 64 percent when Nielsen Media Research's "Live+7" figures, which track DVR use, are added.

But as Landgraf points out, anyone who watches "Damages" more than three days after it airs is of no interest to advertisers.

"I'm really glad [viewers are] enjoying it and I'm glad they're buying cable -- I hope -- in order to get it, but it doesn't pay the bills," said Landgraf, who added that viewers’ tendency to surf the Web while watching TV was another factor in declining ratings for dense dramas.

“As the experience became a two-screen experience, you started to see the serialized dramas tail off in terms of their ratings potential. I don’t see that changing any time soon,” Landgraf said. “I do think that serialized TV is much harder to succeed at than it was seven or eight years ago.”

ABC is trying to get into the procedural gameâ€"it launches the detective series “Castle” March 9â€"but it isn’t going to stop trying to find the next “Lost.” Hence the network's development of a "V" remake and the sci-fi thriller "Flash Forward."

"I'll be completely honest with you, I would love to have some procedurals on ABC," according to Jeffrey Bader, executive vice president of ABC Entertainment. "But we're ABC. A lot of shows that we end up having in development end up being more serialized in nature," and that roster of ongoing-plot shows includes medical dramas such as "Grey's Anatomy" and soaps such as "Brothers & Sisters."

“To launch a show that is completely different from ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ is hard,” Bader said. “But we will continue to try.”

One reason to try? ABC wants to get more men to watch its shows, which currently skew toward female viewership. And the network sees NBC’s abandonment of the third hour of prime time as a “huge opportunity.”

But one thing is clear: The next big thing probably won’t be a “Mentalist” clone.

“History says that probably won’t happen,” Pinkner said. “The next show that comes out will come from a different place.”

And it's still possible to get networks to make shows that come from a different place, according to Shawn Ryan, creator of "The Shield" and executive producer of CBS' "The Unit," who has numerous projects in development at cable and broadcast networks.

"There’s always going to be cracks in the system, shows that aren’t the obvious choices at development time but that get to make their show, under the radar a little bit," Ryan said in a 2008 interview. "And then the network screens them, they go, 'Oh, look what we have here.'"

Photos: Simon Baker of "The Mentalist"; Elizabeth Mitchell of "Lost"; Tim Roth of "Lie to Me"; Eliza Dushku of "Dollhouse"; Michael Cerveris as the Observer on "Fringe"; Glenn Close of "Damages"; Nathan Fillion of "Castle."

'Beach Blanket Babylon' will revisit its San Jose roots
San Francisco's loopy cabaret hit is making a rare detour to San Jose March 9 in honor of the show's late, great creator, Steve Silver. The cheeky impresario cut his teeth as a fine-arts major at San Jose State University, class of 1969. Now the college is launching a scholarship in honor of the illustrious alum. Silver's signature lampoon will tip its spectacular hats in a homecoming show at the swanky California Theatre for one night only as a fundraiser to help endow the scholarship.

'An American Affair': Innocence Lost In '60s D.C.

Thirteen-year-old Adam's dull existence is interrupted by the arrival of a beautiful blonde neighbor — an artist, divorcée and friend of President Kennedy's. Adam soon finds himself out of his depth — and swimming in political intrigue.

Local film looks at faulty child molest cases

Art directors guild absorbs two smaller craft unions

The Art Directors Guild has put the finishing touches on its controversial merger with two smaller unions representing illustrators and set designers.

The three-way merger was one of the last acts of Tom Short before he retired last year as president of the umbrella labor organization International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. Short argued the combination would strengthen the bargaining clout of the guilds and reduce turf fights between them.

But the action was deeply unpopular among members of Local 790 (illustrators and matte artists) and Local 847 (set designers and model makers). Members of the locals voted it down, fearing they would lose autonomy and be forced to join a union dominated by art directors who act as their supervisors.

Despite the opposition, the National Labor Relations Board refused to block the merger at the request of the locals.

The Art Directors Guild said Thursday that it had completed a restructuring to combine the operations of the three unions that included naming a new 20-member board with reps from each of the crafts.

As expected, Scott Roth will remain as executive director the Art Directors Guild, which now has 2,000 members, up from 1,500. Marjo Bernay, former business agent of the two locals who was also elected a trustee on the new board, is negotiating a possible ongoing operational role in the union.

"We're looking forward to working cooperatively with all the crafts working under the same union," Roth said in a statement. He said there would be no layoffs as a result of combining the staffs.

Joseph Musso, former president of Local 790, who opposed the merger, said he and others have little choice but to go along with the new marriage. "We're trying to make the best of something that we're not totally enthralled with," said Musso, who is a member of the new executive board.

-- Richard Verrier

Last night's 'Lost': Un-Locke-d

The following post discusses Wednesday's episode of "Lost," "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham." It's best if you've seen the episode before proceeding. By the way, I'm using some pictures from "316" below because ABC's press site did not post any "Bentham" photos yet.

More than ever, I feel like I have zero ability to predict what other people will think of an episode of television. You may have loved "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham." And that's cool. I had high hopes for it -- I knew the episode was going to run extra long and hoped that promised an extra ration of "Lost" goodness.

It's not that I thought it was bad. It was just more of a "phfffft" episode than a "wow" episode. I think the problem is that my expectations were high, and the episode was just sort of … there. So the answer is for me to give up on having expectations about "Lost" -- I do heart the show, but I have no ability to predict what episodes will float my boat and which ones will (ideally) serve as bridges to future awesomeness.

So, we finally got a bunch of answers about John Locke. However the answers we got felt like they revisited territory the show had already covered. They revealed Locke, again, to be a pawn in the games of others. And we still don't know why, exactly, Locke is special. ("Because you are," Widmore told him. OK then.)

If you're a Locke fan, then this may have been Christmas. Not that I don't dig Terry O'Quinn's performance, but Locke hasn't been one of my favorite characters for a while now, given that he's so frequently manipulated by others. And this was nothing if not the Locke Manipulation Hour (Now With Added Widmore!).

Aside from filling in details about how Locke became Bentham and so forth, the episode raised a host of questions. This episode finished off the first third of the season, according to how executive producer Damon Lindelof said the season would unfold. As did last week's episode, this episode set up some questions we may be getting answers to in the next two sections of the season (or beyond):

Why does Ben kill Locke? He talks Locke out of suicide, only to kill him minutes later. My guess regarding the question above: Presumably Ben strangles Locke because Locke mentioned Eloise Hawking. Does Ben kill Locke because he does not want her to transport Locke back to the island alive? Would that interfere with Ben's plans somehow? Why does the mention of her produce that reaction -- given that we know Ben knows her? Despite killing Locke, Ben takes great care to make sure that Locke's body is transported back to the island. Does he know that the island will re-animate Locke? If so, does that not matter to Ben's plans? Both sides of the Ben-Widmore feud clearly think Locke is special and needs to be back on the island. If Widmore wanted him back alive, why did Alpert tell Locke he had to die? Who is Alpert really working for? Why is Locke special? Locke can't quite take it on faith that he is, although Ben eventually convinces him of that. Yet we viewers don't know as much as Ben or Widmore or Alpert. Obviously the island healed Locke, Alpert wanted him to lead the Others, Locke could work the frozen donkey wheel there and there are other indications of a special relationship with the island. But -- Dumb Obvious Question Time -- why? I wonder if that's an endgame question for the final season. Dumb Obvious Question Time, Part 2: Does Locke have any specific information about why everyone returning is a good thing? He believes that the island will be saved and so will the people on it, I understand that. He and others been told variations of this mantra many times. But what will the people on the island be saved from? From death? At whose hands? What bad thing could befall the island? Talk about a "Man of Faith": I'm not sure I can recall (forgive me, I'm quite tired as I write this) why Locke is so quick to believe that everyone returning is necessarily a good thing. He does appear to be taking this on faith. Does Locke care most about the island itself? Leading the Others? Saving the lives of the people on the island? I wonder if he cares most about the first two things because they give him a purpose he would not otherwise have. Dumb Obvious Question Time, part 3: Both sides of the Ben-Widmore feud want everyone to return. They're sworn enemies, yet they both want everyone back. So they can be soldiers in the coming "war"? Or is it because the island itself needs them for some yet-to-be-explained purpose?

I did like the fact that every doubt I have about Locke was voiced by the other characters. They got to say what some of us might have been thinking: Locke doesn't have much, if any, credibility left. To sum up, as Sayid did nicely, is Locke desperate to return because he has nowhere else to go?

Is he in fact just a sad old man who crashed on an island? A man with no one to love? Everyone else thinks Locke is just a crank and a loser. I suppose Locke lets Ben play him so frequently because Ben at least gets Locke to believe there's something more to him than that.

I did feel sorry for Locke in this episode, as he prepared to kill himself in that seedy hotel, and as he bounced around like a shuttlecock between Widmore and Ben. If I were Locke, I would be pretty frustrated with both men's double talk and scheming and secretiveness.

And O'Quinn's excellent performance gave the story of Locke some real tenderness. His quest to reunite everyone and bring them back was like Locke's pathetic version of "The Amazing Race" -- it took him all around the world and he failed to complete every task.

Or did he? His visit to Jack set in motion the events that would lead several Oceanic Sixers back. So maybe Locke did have to die. It is written.

Still, I felt like we'd been through quite a few "we have to go back" scenes between various characters already this season. Perhaps the episode lacked suspense because we've known for a long time that Locke ended up in a coffin. Sure, there was a twist within the episode regarding how he died, but it did seem, to use a word that we heard in this episode, inevitable. As did his hale and hearty return to the island.

A final thought: It bothered me -- and it seemed typically Locke-ian -- that near the end of his conversation with Ben, Locke just blithely offered up the news that Jin is alive, that he has Jin's wedding ring and he knows of the existence of Eloise Hawking. Will Locke never learn to just spew things to Ben? Sheesh. 

Hail of bullets time:

A timing question: Does Jack's beard grow amazingly fast? He had a light beard in this episode, but when we saw him standing over Locke's coffin with Ben, how much time had passed? Because in those scenes, Jack had a much bushier beard. Funniest line of the night: Abbadon's remark about Walt -- "Boy's gotten big." Indeed. Where's Lapidus? Did he take off in one of the boats on the beach with Sun? So long, Abbadon. Locke's leg bone sticking out -- gross! Will we ever see Walt again? Waaaaaaaalt!What do the writers do with the whole new group of redshirts that are now on the island, in the plane that Ilanna and Caesar were on?Is it me, or do those two seem awfully calm and composed for people who just crashed on an island? If you want to get some clues about what happens next week, go here and here.

Photos: Terry O'Quinn; Zuleikha Robinson and Naveen Andrews; Said Taghmaoui; Jeff Fahey (yes, that is the clean-shaven Lapidus!) and Matthew Fox. 

Local film looks at faulty child molest cases
It had taken Dana Nachman and Don Hardy three years and $20,000 — most of which they had charged to their bruised and battered credit cards — to prepare their documentary, 'Witch Hunt,' for a run at the major film festivals.

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Record-Setting 'Simpsons' Back For Two More Years

Fox says it's renewing Bart, Homer, Marge et al for another two seasons, which will secure its place as TV's longest-running prime-time series. After 20 years on the air, it's now tied with Gunsmoke, which ended its own run in 1975.

ARTS: A Way of Seeing African Women
PARIS, Feb 26 (IPS)It would be easy to walk past the Dapper Museum without giving the building a second glance were it not for the striking images of African women at the entrance. Tucked in a side street of the 16th arrondissement, just off the chic avenue Victor Hugo, the Dapper has an unremarkable facade and lies far from the gleaming Louvre and Orsay museums. But its exhibitions stand out in a city filled with museums, galleries and blockbuster art shows.

Barbecue sauce connoisseurs loosen their belts at Dave's

Scene Stealer: Fashion in 'Eleven Minutes'

Michael Selditch and Rob Tate's documentary "Eleven Minutes" follows Jay McCarroll, the first "Project Runway" winner, as he struggles to mount his first fashion show. The filmmakers capture moments of suspense (will the shoes get there on time?), emotion (the meltdowns as the day approaches) and inspiration coming to life.

"At one point the models are trying on clothing, and one [Michelli Provensi] tries on the all-yellow, all-balloon print," Tate says. "The entire room lights up; they're saying, 'Look, it's the muse! It's the muse!'"

"Jay says to her, 'Michelli, look at the drawing -- it's you!' " says Selditch, and it's true, the model looks as if she had sprung from the page. "You can always hear the reaction at a screening."

Until then, McCarroll's creations had been ephemeral things. "The drawing suddenly comes to life in the room," Tate says. "It's a magic moment . . . . We were all getting goosebumps."

-- Michael Ordoña

Photo: Regent Releasing

Get 'Lost' with these Locke clips from Wednesday's episode

Here are three clips from Wednesday's episode of "Lost," which is titled "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham."

If you want to know more about the outing, which was penned by executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, look here, but beware, that story contains casting information about the episode.

Enjoy these clips while you can -- they go bye-bye on Wednesday night. And don't forget to come back here after the episode for your Wednesday "Lost" recap-and-commenting fun!

The clips are below.

Clip 1

Clip 2

Clip 3

Barbecue sauce connoisseurs loosen their belts at Dave's
I've been wine tasting, beer tasting, chocolate tasting and, at a wedding in Mexico (thankfully not my own), tequila tasting.
U.S.: Gen Y ReadsBut Only for Nine Minutes a Day
NEW YORK, Feb 25 (IPS)Are twentysomethings changing the culture of literature?

Rupert Murdoch's memo announcing Peter Chernin departure

Rupert Murdoch issued the following memo to News Corp. employees to announce that Peter Chernin would not be renewing his contract:

February 23, 2009

Dear Colleagues:

Today, we are announcing that Peter Chernin, our President and COO, will not be renewing his employment contract. Peter will be taking up the opportunity to start a new motion picture and television production venture with Fox.

Many of us who have worked with Peter over his 20 years with the company can attest to his leadership, his diligence, and his wisdom. I can also testify to Peter’s friendship, dedication, and honesty. He has been a close colleague and an ally to me for many years.

While Peter has distinguished himself at News Corp, he has also, increasingly and tirelessly, circled the globe in support of Malaria No More, which has achieved nothing short of remarkable results. Let us all wish him the best of luck, and the greatest success, as he embarks on this new chapter of his career, both as a professional and as a role model for an executive who gives back.

As you all know the downturn we are operating in is more severe and global than anything we have seen before. No company is immune to its effects. I want to take this opportunity, today, to write to you about how we will manage such an important leadership transition, and why I am convinced that today our company is not only well-positioned financially and competitively, but is on the cusp of a new phase of growth. Remember, we began priming ourselves for a weakening economy over a year ago. We have managed expenses and capital expenditure prudently, and strengthened our balance sheet. Following the partial sale of NDS, we will have over five billion dollars in cash, and this year we should exceed $3.5 billion in adjusted operating income.

In the past, we have met downturns with vigor, often departing from the herd. We have emerged much stronger. 

Achieving our ambitions will require change and renewal. So throughout 2009, I will continue to work closely with all of our companies to make sure that we are organized and resourced in the best20way to take advantage of this extraordinary point in time. We will press our advantages and invest in our great franchises. And, of course, we will keep our eyes on big prizes, some of which may arise only once in a generation.

Across News Corp. we have a broad and deep reservoir of extremely able executives. 

Over the years we have accomplished great things. People understand, and have acknowledged, our entrepreneurial spirit as well as our doggedness; our willingness to take risks, our contrarian investment style; and our commitment to long-term development and shareholder value.

Many of you have told me how hungry you are to work more closely across our companies. Many of us have been frustrated by the things that can get in the way of that. From systems that don’t talk to each other to incentives that struggle to capture the opportunity and aspiration of our total group. These obstacles are obvious to us all. There will be a streamlined management structure between our Los Angeles-based business units and the rest of the company. Peter and I will be communicating more on this over the next few months. For the time being, of course, the talented executive team at the Fox Group will continue to report to Peter.

Now is also an ideal opportunity to streamline and enhance many of the corporate and administrative functions of the business. There will be cost savings as a result, but the more important aim is to be leaner so that we can better leverage our collective talent and expertise. For instance, and beginning immediately, H.R. functions throughout all our units will report to Beryl Cook in New York as well as their division heads.  Beryl reports directly to me. 

We have worked hard to develop and advance the best among us. The renewal of great companies begins within themselves. Pursuing an edge through superior talent is a priority. This will be a key focus for us in 2009.

In the coming months, I will be reaching out to you with new questions, and with new plans.

We are in the midst of a phase of history in which nations will be redefined and their futures fundamentally altered. Many people will be under extreme pressure and many companies mortally wounded. Our competitors will be sorely tempted to take the easy beat, to reduce quality in the search for immediate dividends.

Let me be very clear about our company: where others might step back from their commitment to their viewers, their users, readers and customers -â€" we will renew ours. 

The direction of the business now and over the next few years will define the character of our company for decades.

We have always thrived on change and challenge. This was true when we began building a newspaper business in Australia. Just as it was when we created BSkyB and developed a fourth U.S. network, the Fox Network, when conventional wisdom dictated that there was room for only three players. It was true when we launched Star, now the leading network in India, and the Fox News Network and Sky Italia.

The best things we have done, and there are many examples, have defied conventional wisdom, often in the teeth of fierce opposition and near universal disbelief in our capabilities.

Over the past 12 months I have spent time with you in India and China, in Italy and the UK and many other countries. We have brought Dow Jones into the fold, extended our influence in Europe, and been at the center of reporting the arrival of a new American president and the impact of the global financial crisis. We’ve told extraordinary stories, in theaters around the world and on page and screen from Mumbai to Malibu. 

Our own international reach is a profound strength. We have intelligent, creative and highly motivated colleagues around the world who are ambitious for themselves, for their countries, for our customers and for our company. The result is that where others simply seek distribution, we are building durable businesses at scale. We are also creating large franchises in marketplaces that will grow at a faster pace in the coming years and, increasingly, our businesses are based on direct customer relationships.

We must always be acutely aware of our responsibility to shareholders, and to create real value for them. This is entirely consistent with, and in many cases inseparable from, the enormous social value we have created over the decades. We provide information and entertainment to billions, enabling them to improve their lives and those of their families.  There is genuine value in the values of our company -â€" these are values that are even more important in a world confronting so much today

We believe in communities. The very idea of community is broad, and encompasses interests that cross national, ethnic and demographic borders. We are all members of many different communities, whether it be of people who are passionate about Hollywood films, or care about living in a healthy environment, or use a local jobs website, or trade commodities in Chicago and London, relish soccer whether in China or Nigeria. These communities are our communities, as they read, evaluate and create everyday.

That is why, most of all, I believe in the community that is our company.

Rupert Murdoch

(Photo: Rupert Murdoch. Credit: Adrian Moser/Bloomberg New)

CW renews 6 shows, including 'Supernatural,' 'Gossip Girl' and '90210'

The CW has renewed several of its shows. Here's the roster of what is definitely coming back next fall: "Supernatural" (yay), "Smallville," "Gossip Girl," "One Tree Hill," "Gossip Girl" and "America's Next Top Model," which has never, to my knowledge, produced even one top model, but who's counting?

The network is also bringing back the freshman soap "90210." What's the verdict, readers, is this a guilty-pleasure soap or a total waste of time? I haven't watched it in ages, so I want to hear from you if you have been checking out the "90210" remake.

There's no news yet on whether these CW shows will get another season: "Privileged," "The Game" and "Everybody Hates Chris."

As noted here, the "Privileged" finale airs Tuesday. I'm rooting for this show to get another season, not just because it can be so charming and funny but because there aren't enough shows with female characters that I want to spend time with.

And as creator Rina Mimoun says in this interview with the Futon Critic, JoAnna Garcia really is a very talented actress and can do anything the show's writers throw at her. 

The CW's Tuesday press release is below.

THE CW ANNOUNCES EARLY PICKUPS OF SERIES 

“Gossip Girl,” “One Tree Hill,” “90210,” “America’s Next Top Model,” “Smallville” and “Supernatural” To Return Next Season

February 24, 2009 (Burbank, California) â"€ The CW announced today the early pickups of six series, including five of the network’s signature dramas and the reality hit AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL, which will all return in Fall 2009.

“As we continue to build The CW Network as a destination for young women, these six shows have clearly contributed to strengthening our schedule and our brand identity,” said Dawn Ostroff, President, Entertainment, The CW.  “By securing these signature hits for next season, we’re furthering our commitment to deliver high-quality, original programming to our viewers, advertisers and affiliates.”

Among the series receiving early pickups for next season are The CW’s Monday tandem of sophomore sensation GOSSIP GIRL and ONE TREE HILL, which combined to lift The CW to become the fall’s #1 network on Monday with women 18-34.  Both GOSSIP GIRL and ONE TREE HILL have scored double-digit gains compared to their previous seasons.  Freshman hit 90210 has improved the network’s Tuesday night by double-digit increases in key demos.  Wednesday anchor AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL, which consistently wins its time period with young women, will also be back with superstar Tyra Banks and new groups of aspiring models for cycles 13 and 14.

Also renewed were the network’s established Thursday team of SMALLVILLE, which will be going into its ninth season, and SUPERNATURAL, which after posting ratings growth this  season, will enter its fifth season next year.

Octomom fell fast from Miracle Mom to punch line
LOS ANGELES — It seems so long ago now, but for just a day or two last month Nadya Suleman was known as Miracle Mom, the amazing woman who gave birth to the longest-surviving set of octuplets.
Hands Of An Artist: Daniel French's Lincoln Memorial

Daniel Chester French's solemn white marble sculpture of Lincoln has presided over history since its 1922 dedication. A new exhibition at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., looks at its creation.

Please, think of the children! Watch tonight's 'Chuck'!

Peter's Chernin's memo to staff announcing he will leave News Corp.

Peter Chernin, president and chief operating officer of News Corp., just sent out a companywide memo confirming he is leaving the company when his contract expires in June:

I wanted to let you know that I have decided to leave News Corporation when my contract expires on June 30th.

This is not a decision that came easily, but after more than 12 years in my current job, 20 years at Newscorp, and 30 years of corporate life, I am ready for new entrepreneurial challenges. I would not be making this difficult decision if I were not confident in the superb management team we have at Fox and in the visionary leadership of Rupert Murdoch. I have worked closely with Rupert every day, and I know he shares my belief that Fox executives are the best in the business.

I want to thank Rupert for his remarkable support, encouragement and friendship over the years. No company in our industry can match News Corporation's track record of creating opportunities for employees and there is no better example of that than the opportunities Rupert has given me over the years.

I also want to thank all of you for the privilege of working side by side with such a talented and deeply principled group of colleagues. I am not only deeply proud of your achievements, but even prouder of the character and integrity of the company.

Over the next several months, Rupert and I will work closely to make sure this is a smooth transition for everyone. Thank you for the dedication and enthusiasm that you have always shown and I know will continue to show as the company moves forward to even greater heights.

Peter Chernin

Please, think of the children! Watch tonight's 'Chuck'!

There are no children in Monday's episode of "Chuck." Well, there is a brief flashback to one character's childhood.

But that overly dramatic, shameless headline was written with one goal in mind: To get you watch tonight's "Chuck" (7 p.m. Central Time, NBC). 

It's so funny, it's so sweet and it's just such a good time. Even if you think you don't like "Chuck," give it a chance. If you do like "Chuck," I think you'll like "Chuck vs. the Best Friend" a lot. I did. It might be one of my all-time favorite episodes of the action-spy-dramedy.

As you may have read by now, "Chuck" has lined up lots of good guest stars for the second half of the season: Tricia Helfer, Chevy Chase and Scott Bakula, among others. And the storylines co-creators Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak have lined up for those actors sound pretty sweet (for more on those upcoming episodes, look here).

Given the big things they have planned, I expected "Chuck vs. the Best Friend," which delves into the friendship of Chuck (Zachary Levi, pictured at right) and Morgan (Joshua Gomez) to be a whimsical and goofy foray into the world of the Buy More, where both guys work (Chuck's side job: Saving the world with all the secret spy information that was accidentally downloaded into his brain.)

And there was a lot of goofy fun; as Buy More slackers Jeff and Lester, Vik Sahay and Jeff Krinsky did especially great work in their supporting roles. But I didn't expect such a tightly plotted episode, one that wove together Chuck's spy shenanigans with the Buy More world so well. I don't think it spoils anything to say that the episode starts out with Chuck helping Morgan deal with the aftermath of his breakup with Anna (Julia Ling), another Buy More employee. Of course things go terribly wrong -- but sometimes in guffaw-inducing ways. 

In general, and definitely in this episode, what "Chuck" does so well is unite the high and the low. I'll admit it, I enjoyed the scenes of a shirtless Captain Awesome (Ryan McPartlin). There are lots of other brain-candy things to enjoy on "Chuck" -- the pop-culture references, the fights, the sheer goofiness, the possibly dangerous weirdness of Jeff, the possibly murderous grunts of Casey (Adam Baldwin).

But underneath all that, the show pays attention to the mechanics of storytelling and doesn't just try to coast on the comedy. If it did just coast on the funny and there were no emotional stakes or depth to the characters, it would probably still be a worthwhile show. But given the level of attention paid to all those other things -- emotion, suspense, plotting, character -- "Chuck" ends up being one of the TV scenes greatest pleasures at the moment. (Pictured at right, Yvonne Strahovski as Sarah Walker, Chuck's spy handler.)

Other shows may have more dramatic impact, but I can't think of one that's nearly as fun, except for "Burn Notice" (and happily, Monday's "Chuck" episode contains a plot that would fit right in on that USA show). I know I write about this show a lot, but that's for a reason: I greatly look forward to watching the show every week, and aside from a couple of smallish plot quibbles I had, I was certainly not disappointed in Monday's episode. Far from it.  

If I have time Tuesday, I'll try to do a new post on what I loved about Monday's "Chuck," or maybe I'll just leave my thoughts in the comment area of this post. Either way, I hope you enjoy the hour as much as I did. 

I will leave you with this thought: Jeff and Lester's band, Jeffster!, rules.

One more thing: Here are NBC's summaries of the next three "Chuck" episodes:

From NBC's press site:

Feb. 23: "Chuck vs. the Suburbs"

Chuck (Zachary Levi) helps a heartbroken Morgan(Joshua Gomez) spy on Anna (Julia Ling). After he flashes on Anna’s newboyfriend, Chuck, along with Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski) and Casey (AdamBaldwin), is sent to discover his connection to a dangerous gang.Meanwhile, Jeff (Scott Krinsky) and Lester (Vik Sahay) try to convinceEllie (Sarah Lancaster) and Awesome (Ryan McPartlin) to hire their bandJeffster! for the wedding.

March 2: "Chuck vs. the Beefcake"

Chuck (Zachary Levi) breaks up with Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski) afterEllie’s (Sarah Lancaster) urging, but jealousy strikes when Sarah mustseduce a handsome agent in order to retrieve Fulcrum intelligence.Morgan (Joshua Gomez) deals with his mother’s relationship with BigMike (Mark Christopher Lawrence) by crashing at Chuck’s apartment muchto Ellie and Awesome’s chagrin. Meanwhile, Jeff (Scott Krinsky) andLester (Vik Sahay) talk their way into hiring the new Buy More employeebut decide to search for the “Buy More Babe.”

March 9: "Chuck vs. the Lethal Weapon"

Chuck (Zachary Levi), Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski) and Casey (AdamBaldwin) learn about a man called “Perseus” who is behind Fulcrum’splans to build their own Intersect. While Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski) andCasey (Adam Baldwin) are sent to find Perseus, Chuck (Zachary Levi) andAgent Cole Barker (guest star Jonathan Cake) are forced to stay in asafety bunker. When the mission takes a dangerous turn, their orders tostay out of harm’s way go out the window. Meanwhile, Morgan (JoshuaGomez) tries to convince Anna (Julia Ling) that moving in with himwould be a bad idea.

Winners, losers from Oscars red carpet
Old-world glamour and futuristic shapes made for a beautiful balance of fashion at Sunday's 81st annual Academy Awards.

  'Slumdog' is Oscars' top dog

  Oscar report: Stuff you didn't see on TV

  Vote: Rate Oscars host Hugh Jackman

  Photos: 2009 Oscars | Red carpet arrivals

  The award goes to...: List of winners

  More: Complete Oscars coverage

Amid Growing Violence, Art Flourishes In Tijuana

As drug cartels in the Mexican border city of Tijuana unleash one of the worst killing sprees in that city's history, there's also been an explosion of art. Several new galleries have opened, including one — right on the border — in a former drug tunnel.

First clips from Rob Thomas' new show, 'Party Down'

SAG board turns down studio offer

The board of the Screen Actors Guild, as expected, rejected the "final offer" by the Hollywood studios for a new contract covering the union's 120,000 members, creating fresh uncertainty about whether and when the seven-month labor dispute will end.

The rejection was widely anticipated because the studios' proposal contained a provision that SAG negotiators viewed as a non-starter.  Nonetheless, the move is likely to deepen anxiety in the movie industry, where production activity has already slowed.

The studios and SAG appeared close to striking a deal earlier this week after the union's negotiators made what they said were key concessions, including accepting a framework for how actors will be paid for their work in content distributed on the Internet. That framework is modeled upon terms agreed to by three other Hollywood talent guilds.

But SAG negotiators balked at the studios' demand that the union's contract expire in three years, rather than two years. Studio executives insist that a three-year contract is necessary to ensure stability. A three-year deal, however, would mean SAG's contract would expire a year later than the labor contracts of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, and the writers and directors guilds.  SAG leaders believe that would weaken their bargaining clout by preventing them from joining forces with the other unions in the next round of contract negotiations.

In a statement, SAG accused the studios of inserting a "last-minute and surprise demand" that was not brought up in earlier negotiations, including during federal mediation talks in November.

"By attempting to extend our contract expiration one year beyond the other entertainment unions, the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) intends to de-leverage our bargaining position from this point forward. ... The AMPTP has clearly stated their need and desire for financial certainty and industry peace.  This new proposal does the exact opposite, and will only result in constant negotiating cycles and continued labor unrest."

The AMPTP responded that its offer was “strong and fair” and that it had always sought a three year deal with SAG. "We have kept our offer on the table -- and even enhanced it -- despite the historically unprecedented economic crisis that has clobbered our nation and our industry." 

SAG's board stopped short of asking union members to approve a strike, fearing that the deep recession makes this the wrong time for such action. People close to the union, who did not want to be identified because they were not authorized to speak on the record, say the next logical step for SAG representatives is to initiate back-channel contacts with some senior studio executives to see if a showdown can be averted (typically, negotiations are conducted through the studios' negotiating arm, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers).

Meanwhile, SAG is preparing to begin negotiations Monday with producers of commercials, which are covered under a separate contract.

-- Richard Verrier

First clips from Rob Thomas' new show, 'Party Down'

Here are a few clips from "Party Down," which debuts on Starz March 20. Rob Thomas, the man behind "Veronica Mars," is one of the co-creators of the half-hour show, and "VM" veteran John Enbom serves as its showrunner.

I previously posted some thoughts on "Party Down" here. Bottom line, I like it and think it has real potential, and thought the third episode, which guest stars Ed Begley Jr., is a hoot.

So here's some good news: Two of the following three clips are from that third episode, which has Begley playing as a former beau of Jane Lynch's character.

The first clip is from the pilot. Of course, don't watch them if you don't want to see anything from the show until it airs.

By the way, the show is about a group of L.A. would-be writers and actors who work part-time as cater-waiters, and "Veronica Mars" star Kristen Bell will appear in the May 22 season finale as the head of a rival catering firm.

Speaking of "VM," Enrico Colantoni (Keith Mars on "VM") has a guest role in the premiere, Jason Dohring (Logan) and Alona Tal (Meg Manning) guest star in Episode 2, and Ryan Hansen (Dick Casablancas) and Ken Marino (private investigator Vinnie Van Lowe) are in the show's regular cast.

The rest of the cast includes Lizzy Caplan ("True Blood," "Cloverfield"), Adam Scott ("Tell Me You Love Me") and Martin Starr ("Freaks and Geeks").

The staff of the catering firm Party Down gets ready for a party:

A Party Down staffer runs into an old friend:

The old friends reminisce:

Storytelling, Ghetto Film School-Style

In a converted former piano factory overlooking the East River in the Bronx, kids learn top-notch film school techniques — and don't pay a cent for the experience. It's the Ghetto Film School, and its mission is to teach the art of narrative storytelling to kids from New York City.