After Sci-Fi wraps the “Battlestar Galactica” story next year, you can still expect a little more “Galactica” on your television. In addition to working on a prequel series, there will be a 2-hour prequel movie directed by Edward James Olmos, and written by former Buffy scribe and series co-executive producer Jane Espenson.

So far Michael Trucco, Aaron Douglas and Dean Stockwell are all set to come back for the prequel film. The story will focus on the aftermath of the Cylon’s destructive forces.

The production will begin shooting in Vancouver soon.

It’s hard to believe that production for Season 5 of Lost is starting in 12 days. With the gear-up of production comes the trickling of casting news. The first Lost news this year regards 2 new characters, Caesar and Ilana.

Caesar is described as “a dangerous, physical and extremely intelligent male between the ages of 35 and 45. Although his intentions are unclear, this much is certain: He’s as skillful at charming people as he is at killing them. He also has a dark past…”

As for Ilanna, she’s “a European female in her late 20s to early 30s who possesses great intelligence, but who’s also dangerous as all get out. She’s alluring and apparently used to getting her own way.”

Jeff Jensen at EW, where the scoop comes from, points out that Caesar was the name of the primate who led the revolt against the humans in Planet of the Apes. Could Lost’s Caesar be Ben’s predecessor as leader of the Others, who ordered the gassing of the Dharma Initiative?

Starting on the first day of September, all the way through to the 30th of October we have new shows debuting on all the major networks. Below you’ll find a complete list of all the new and returning shows and their premiere dates!

Be sure and check back here at TV Jab for reviews of these new programs as they premiere…we’ll be covering almost all of them this year!
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CSI fans have had a tough couple of season. Original cast members have been dropping off the show like flies, with William Peterson being the next to go. Still, CBS is intent on keeping the show healthy and they’re trying to find a “big gun” replacement for Peterson to keep the show going.

There are rumors suggesting that John Malkovich and Kurt Russell have both been considered for the new lead, but the strongest rumor is that Laurance Fishburne is in talks to take over the role.

If everything works out, Fishburne would be playing a new character described as a doctor/scientist outsider to CSI. The character has the same genetic profile as a serial killer, but hasn’t previously acted on any homicidal impulses…at least not yet.

Personally, I think Fishburne is an ideal choice to replace Peterson, and there is a lot they could do with a character like the one described above.

Bob Saget is being roasted on Comedy Central on Sunday August 17th, 2008 - and you kind of have to think that Comedy Central is running out of ideas for these Roasts.

No disrespect to Saget intended, but seriously - the original idea for a “Roast” was for a group of friends to gather around and give one of their buddies hell for an evening. It was honor through insulting with affection. What Comedy Central is doing is hiring 3rd rate comedians to make fun of former television stars…and that’s just not entertaining in my book..

Take a look at this clip of what you can expect…

I think that kind of sums it up. Bob is sitting there being a good sport and “laughing” along with it - but seriously, there’s something very sad about this. Bob Saget is still a viable name on television - he’s hosting 1 vs. 100, narrating “How I Met Your Mother” and doing stand up.

Doing nothing but mocking his work on “Full House” and “America’s Funniest Home Videos” is uncreative, and frankly - lazy. “Full House” was a great, influential show, to its target audience at the time it first aired. “America’s Funniest Home Videos” is something its easy to mock…but this little thing called “YouTube” confirms that there is a global audience for this kind of entertainment and one could argue that AFHV helped bring that to the world. (for better or worse).

Still, what I find the most upsetting is Bob’s own comments about the special. According to the New York Post the comedians on the show crossed the line a few times by making suggestive and sexual references to the Olsen Twins. When asked about it, Saget said,“Anybody who talks about my TV kids—:that upsets me the most…I am very protective. I love them very, very much.”

The article continues to reference all the dirty jokes at the Olsen’s expense, and goes on to quote Gilbert Gottfried as saying “they deserve it” (for unspecified reasons) and that they will have to just “go home and cry in their billions of dollars”.

After seeing samples of the show, and hearing a few of the Olsen related jokes, I won’t be watching the special. I hope you don’t either.

It’s becoming more and more obvious that the “Knight Rider” tv-movie we saw earlier this year will have very little to do with the upcoming series on NBC. The show has been completely retooled, and its looking much better. There is a weird “cheese” factor in the new “ball” KITT dashboard…um…thing - but overall the show is looking promising.

I have to say this is one of the shows I’m the most interested in, although TV remakes haven’t had a terribly good success rate recently - so the future of this show is still definitely up in the air - but I have high hopes.

Raw opened tonight with new GM Mike Adamle comparing himself to Ronald Regan in his opening promo. When he wasn’t looking at his cue cards, Adamle did his best not to stutter through the promo - and he did much better than he does when he’s behind the commentating mic. Soon JBL and Chris Jericho were out on stage both arguing about how awesome they are and how each would be better than the other as the World Title contender at Summerslam.

Ultimately Adamle made a handcapped match where JBL and Jericho would take on CM Punk tonight. If either of them manages to pin Punk - that one would get the title shot.
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Fans of Joss Whedon’s “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” have heard for a long time about the fact that at one point an animated series was being considered to showcase the early high school years of Buffy and crew (the version where Dawn, Buffy’s little sister, was in the mix…long story, if you don’t know it, go watch the live action series). Everyone in the video above is played by their original actor, except for Buffy herself. Apparently Sarah Michelle Gellar had something better to do.

The animation above looks ok to me, but the dialogue doesn’t “pop” they way that it did in the live action show. What we’re left with is snappy dialogue delivered in a very unsnappy way. I’m not sure it was such a bad thing that this series never happened.

Still - if they could figure out a way to get the dialogue sounding a bit more natural, I’d love to see this show on Adult Swim. Or better yet - an animated version of “Buffy Season 8″ - will it ever happen? Probably not…but us fans can dream, can’t we?

This year’s Wrestlemania was all about Ric Flair. I know. I watched it. The wrestling legend took on WWE Superstar Shawn Michaels in what is supposed to be his last in-ring wrestling match.

After that, the following Monday Night Raw was, again, devoted to Ric, and his farewell speech. Things were looking good for “The Nature Boy” as he moved into the next phase of his career, as the “WWE Ambassador”. He has appeared on WWE television a few times since his in-ring retirement, but never in a very large capacity.

The WWE, however, had put some severe limitations on him (as they do all contracted superstars) by not allowing him to do convention appearances or independent wrestling shows. This forced Ric to miss his induction into the NWA Hall of Fame…an honor which may well have meant more to him than his WWE Hall of Fame induction.

Regardless, Ric was interested in pursuing those other offers of interest, and has parted ways with World Wrestling Entertainment according to EWrestlingNews. Of course, the first rumors that begin to bubble up are - “Is Flair going to TNA?”

I’m guessing its doubtful…but you never know.

In an effort to spice up “The Young and the Restless” new headwriter Hogan Sheffer has recently killed off characters David and Sabrina to make way for new blood on the show.

The first of that new blood is an old familiar face to many prime time views. Michael Gross from the “new classic” NBC series “Family Ties” is joining the show as River Baldwin.

Gross’ first appearance will be on the August 15th episode of the show.