"Torchwood" casts its new leads

All of a sudden, I've seen a lot of news about casting for the new Starz-produced season of "Torchwood," which has been titled "Torchwood: The New World." In addition to John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness and Eve Myles as Gwen Cooper, they're casting a slew of Americans. They aren't done casting parts, but the new announcements I'm aware of are:

Bill Pullman (the President from "Independence Day") playing "Oswald Jones, a dangerously clever convicted murderer who escapes his lifelong prison sentence on a technicality and quickly becomes a media sensation. Genuinely repentant yet boiling with lust and rage, Oswald gets caught up in a terrifying worldwide crisis."

Mekhi Phifer (Dr. Greg Pratt from "ER") playing "the third lead, Rex Matheson, a CIA agent, a fast-tracked high-flyer with a lethal sense of humor who starts to feel his mortality when his life is put in danger." I love this description from Wikipedia: "Initially, the character doesn't know what to make of 'Welsh women and World War 2 captains.'"

Arlene Tur (some chick from the TV show based on the movie "Crash") playing "a surgeon by the name of Vera Juarez."
First of all, I can't imagine I'm the only "Torchwood" fan who is a little ticked that Pullman's character's last name is Jones. Come on, Ianto Jones just died. I really hope they address the events in "Children of Earth" to some degree, since it ended on a decidedly depressing note. Jack left Gwen and planet Earth behind. Why is he back? How will Gwen react? Why aren't they in Cardiff anymore? Did a rift in time and space conveniently pop up in America? As long as they don't act like nothing ever happened, I'll be happy. One of the biggest reasons I didn't want an American remake of "Torchwood" is because I want continuity in my television shows. I know they will want to make it palatable for a new, American audience, but they really can't ignore the epic world-shaking events that took place in the last miniseries.

I was also irked by TV guru Michael Ausiello's recent Facebook update, "'Torchwood' scoop: Ianto fans are not going to like this. Producers are casting the role of Brad, a Washington D.C. bartender in his late 20s who hooks up with Jack for a 'mutually satisfying one-night stand.' Interested actors should be comfortable with 'intimate scenes between two men.'" Yeah, as an Ianto fan, I'm not thrilled. But Jack has always been the promiscuous type, so I'm not surprised. At least Starz is going to let Jack be Jack still. I think I'll just take that as a win and be quiet.

I'm actually getting pretty excited for this. Not just because it means more "Torchwood," but because they're casting some interesting people and they're not remaking the whole thing. Also, the name actors matched with the American production will hopefully mean more publicity in the US. I am a tad worried about Mekhi Phifer because I've only ever seen him in bland, slightly boring roles in mostly procedural shows. I rather see "Torchwood" go over-the-top and dynamic than reserved and bland. Even at its worst, and it has definitely had some lows, "Torchwood" has been a unique show that has never been ashamed of its tone and sexual audacity.

From the looks of things, the original people behind the show were closely involved in making sure the new "Torchwood" is still "Torchwood." The new season will last 10 episodes, and luckily it won't return to the monster-of-the-week format it had in its first two years. I much prefer shows that have a season-long storyline that rewards viewers who stay with it. If you dropped the show in the first two seasons, it might be time to get back into it. "Torchwood" has definitely improved itself over time and it looks like that trend is going to continue.

Hey, it's THAT guy! - Alan Dale

What with summer upon us and a small amount of actual, relevant television to talk about, I thought this would be a good time to start a new regular segment called "Hey, it's THAT guy!" One of the most annoying feelings is when you're watching a show or movie, and you see an actor that you just know you've seen a million times before. You feel like you should easily know their name by now, but nothing strikes a bell. I know more actors by name than most people, especially TV actors, but it still happens to me quite a bit and nothing is more frustrating than that tip-of-your-tongue feeling.
So, for my first segment, I decided to profile Alan Dale, who recently wrapped up a stint on "Lost" as the mysterious Charles Widmore. I was surprised to find out that he's actually from New Zealand originally, as he's an actor that ably juggles different accents. He first came to major fame for an Australian show called "Neighbours," that apparently became quite popular. Like most people, he eventually guested on "ER." Nowadays on American TV, he normally plays the role of "powerful douchebag," as seen in such roles as Charles Widmore on "Lost," Dr. Aaron Copley on "Torchwood," and Bradford Meade on "Ugly Betty." I particularly remember him from "Torchwood" as he was the powerful douchebag who shot and killed Owen Harper. He's played many roles in procedurals as well including "NCIS," "Law & Order: SVU," "Crossing Jordan," "CSI: Miami," "JAG," "The West Wing," and "The Practice." I'm ashamed to admit I don't remember him as Vice President Jim Prescott on "24," but then I remember how long ago I actually watched "24." I never watched a single episode of "The O.C.," but he was a regular on that show for a while as Caleb Nichol. He's primarily in television, although he did have a part in "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." However, I think it's best if we just forget that movie ever existed.

"Chuck" - "That's us in 30 years"

Hooray! Finals are over and I can get back to focusing on what really matters: great TV. (I've got a lot of blogging to catch up on. I'm the catch-up girl. Not to be confused with the ketchup girl. [I love you Lorelai Gilmore]). "Chuck vs. the Role Models" was a nice break from studying. Some might call it a filler episode, as it was part of the additional episode order when they had to stretch out the season (you know, when NBC realized it was screwed and needed at least one show with a solid fan base). But I don't care - not every episode can be as pivotal as the last few. And at the end of the day, I just want more "Chuck." It's one of those shows I can just sit back and relax with. This week's fun guest stars were Fred Willard and Swoosie Kurtz. As a big fan of "Pushing Daisies," I loved hearing Kurtz say things like "don't be a booze snob." Along with the fact that Willard was just on "Modern Family," all I could think is "in 30 years, Sarah and Chuck are going to turn into Aunt Lily and Phil Dunphy's Dad."

The set-up of shadowing the almighty spy couple was a tad contrived, as was the General ordering Morgan trained, but I'm willing to overlook that. This is the kind of show where you suspend your belief and I think these things were completely within the show's established boundaries of craziness. You just knew something was up when the veteran spies "screwed up" the mission early on. You knew some sort of double-cross was going to happen and I initially thought they really had triple-crossed Chuck and Sarah in the end. It seemed logical: pretend to betray your younger partners, coax the bad guy out of hiding and into the open where you can nail him, then admit that it was the plan all along. But no, it was just a double-cross, but then they had a change of heart. I wasn't completely satisfied with the wrap-up of that conflict and I felt like Willard and Kurtz were a little underused, but it was still incredibly entertaining so I won't bother nitpicking here. In the end, Sarah and Chuck moved in together while getting a little warning from their would-be mentors: "The CIA has a way of breaking young idealists. Especially if they're in love."

Meanwhile, Casey and Morgan are going through their spy training, which was also pretty funny to watch. If nothing else, Morgan can BS his way out of a lot. And run. Is it weird that I was really really hoping "Wipe Out" would play as Morgan ran from the tiger, a la "The Sandlot?"

I'm liking how they're handling Ellie and Awesome. I thought their leaving would mean less of them, because I couldn't figure out how they would tie in an Africa storyline to the main stuff in Burbank. I'm assuming that maybe they were meant to be in Africa over the summer break, but when they got the additional episode order, they wrote in a storyline for them? Either way, I'm happy with how they handled it. Although I was really nervous they were going to work some sort of love triangle there after focusing on that one guy. It's hard to pull off love triangles, (Sarah-Chuck-Bryce=compelling, Sarah-Chuck-Shaw=meh) and even harder to do when the core couple is so...excellent. I'm ready to see where this dastardly plotline goes. Although, wouldn't Awesome and Ellie have been taking malaria pills and known that it was weird to get malaria anyway? Or does that just happen sometimes anyway? I'm no doctor. It's just wonderful to see Ellie and Awesome together and happy for the most part. (Sidenote: Awesome looked very nice in the rain. Can it please rain more on this show?)

Random other thoughts:

• Ellie, with all your concerns about Africa and Doctors Without Borders, have you never seen "ER?"


• Morgan's dream sequence. Absolutely loved it.


• It's fun to see how much better Chuck has gotten at extemporaneous lying on a mission, but he's still the same old Chuck, evidenced by moments like....


• ...the ordeal with the tiger. "I am not letting you shoot a tiger. They are endangered and majestic."


• Did Sarah and Chuck really think handcuffs would hold two seasoned CIA agents? The second I saw that I was waiting for the moment they would escape.


• Awesome's nickname from the native people, which translates loosely to "Doctor Super-Fantastic White Person." Genius.


• And randomly, "Friday Night Lights" is still on? I kept seeing commercials for it during the break and was really surprised. If they can manage to keep that show on the air, surely they can keep "Chuck" around too.