For the third and, sadly, final part of myinterview with Katee "Starbuck" Sackhoff, we talk about working with the dudes at Robot Chicken (link kinda NSFW), what she sees in her future post-Battlestar Galactica, and whether attending BSG sci-fi conventions will be a part of it. (And mea culpa: Yes, that's me laughing after Katee's answer about the conventions, but in my defense I had, uh, just remembered that Robot Chicken sketch about pratfalling Cylons. Er, yeah, that's totally it. Not making light of sci-fi conventioneers at all. Nope.)
*At least, the last time this week! In the final Battlestar PopWatch post of the day**!
If you can't tell by our feature story this week (as well as this, this, this, this, and this), we at EW are pretty psyched for the April 4 return of Battlestar Galactica. (And if you're not psyched, here's a photo of Tricia Helfer, a.k.a. Number Six, for you.) So, of course, I had to watch Sci Fi's recap video "What the Frak Is Going On?" and while I did, I found both the narrator's voice and the curt, snarky style very familiar. ("Then she shoots Adama... Bad Boomer.") Turns out it's the same woman — and production company — that did the "Lost in 8:15" recap video earlier this year, and that voice belongs to Mary O'Brien, senior writer/producer at Met|Hodder in Minneapolis, not a voice actor. O'Brien was the interim voice on the rough cut that the company sent to ABC. "We tried a real voice talent. We hired a guy, a real proper union dude, and placed him in and showed it to ABC again and they were like, we want to go with Mary's snarky feel," says O'Brien.
O'Brien co-wrote the summary with a video editor; the prose style comes from O'Brien's personal log while watching the episodes. "You know, 'Main dude tells drunk guy to cut the crap.' Or like, 'Apollo and Starbuck almost do it. And then they don't. Bummer,' that kind of thing because we're watching hours and hours and hours of the shows and you kind of get that shorthand." Battlestar's co-exec producer Ron Moore was apparently a fan of the Lost video and asked Met|Hodder for something like it. "And I was like, actually, um, that was us. And that's me!" she remembers.
So what's next for O'Brien? Well, she has enjoyed her oddly anonymous notoriety: "Someone on YouTube said that I sounded like I was from a mental institution," she laughs. "But people have been pretty complimentary, 'Oh, she sounds hot.' And I'm like, Okay. Awesome!" And while she's not quitting her day job to run off to Hollywood any time soon (Met|Hodder is actually working on a new recap for Lost's April 24 return), she does now have an agent and will be doing more voiceover work for Sci Fi promos. And she does have an idea of how to capitalize on this notoriety.
"What I really want to do is have my own booth at Comic-Con. And I can record people's voicemail messages for them or something. And I'll be like, 'Where the frak is whoever?' I think that would be funny." So do I. Get in line behind me, PopWatchers. I call dibs on her first.
For part two of my three part interview with the lovely Katee Sackhoff, I asked the actress about what she'll miss least now that the show is coming to a close, and whether she ever says "frak" in real life (like, say, certain geeky entertainment journalists do). And don't worry, this video's spoiler-free! Part three, in which Sackhoff looks to The Future, hits the web on Monday.
In anticipation of the April 4 season premiere of Battlestar Galactica, let us take a moment of silence to mourn the (impending) passing of this frakking genius show, as it begins its 20-episode march to its final episode and, we hope, Earth.
[ silence ]
Moment's over! Now for some Starbuck-ian fun. Last week, I got the chance to catch some time with actress Katee Sackhoff, a.k.a. Capt. Kara Thrace, a.k.a. Starbuck, a.k.a. the most kick-ass female character since a certain teenage vampire slayer moved to Sunnydale (IMHO, anyhow). We holed up inside a spookily atmospheric warehouse as she took a breather from the photo shoot for this week's EW feature story on Katee, and at this point, I should ask those who have not fully caught up with the show to calmly and quietly scroll to the next PopWatch item lest they endure even the whiff of a spoiler. This includes you, Mom and Dad. Ya gone? Really? Promise? Okay. In part one of our three-part interview, I interrogated Sackhoff on what's what with the new season, the apparent resurrection of her character and what it's like for the cast now that so many of them are suddenly Cylons. Enjoy!
According to today's Variety, CBS is thinking about importing serial-killer thriller Dexter from corporate sibling Showtime—editing the hell out of it, given Dexter's cable-extreme nature—and putting it on their schedule in the near future to fill the strike-mandated programming vacuum. Which is a phenomenal idea.
Because, honestly, who needs more hastily conceived reality programming? Would I rather NBC air the first season of Battlestar Galactica in Heroes' timeslot than give me Clash of the Choirs (real) or America's Next Great Sewing Circle or The Nation's Most Awesome Mechanic (both fake..for now)?
All of the broadcast networks have cable arms that have been doing quality programming—why not put Damages or The Shield on Fox, or The Closer or Eureka on NBC or Kyle XY on ABC? Not only is the programming already in the can and, to a large degree, unseen by broadcast-only viewers, but you can also build an audience for those shows when they air new episodes back on their cable homes. (Yes, you'd have to pay the striking writers their residuals, but it's gotta be cheaper than building a new show from the ground up.)
So what cable series deserves a chance at the big show? Nominate now!
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