Comic-Con 2010

Comic-Con 2010, July 22-25, 2010

San Diego, California

Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday | General Photos

Thursday, July 22, 2010

	Get Burned My first real panel on Thursday was for USA Network’s “Burn Notice”. Sitting on the panel were (left to right) Tim Matheson, Bruce Campbell, Matt Nix, and Alfredo Barrios. Bruce stole the show once again with great comments like Sam is the Angel and Dead Larry is the Devil on Michael Weston’s shoulders and that he loved playing Sam because he’s got to research how to fleece rich women. Matt Nix was asked if the government ever got upset about the accuracy of the show. He told the crowd that their offices are across from an ATF office and one time they had to pull back a bit and leave out some ingredients in bomb making when the ATF told him, “Maybe you shouldn’t say that, please.”
	Partners in Solving Crime “White Collar’s” Tim DeKay and Matthew Bomer talked about how they since and dance on set quite a bit and even sang a PG rated version of the Folgers song (I’m sure the original with profanity is in the season one blooper reel). Matt also does a mean Arnold Schwarzenegger impression. Other information from the panel: Mozzie himself, Willie Garson, moderated the panel and we’ll find out more about Mozzie this season but they’ll keep some of the mystery going. Jeff Eastin, show creator, indicated that Neal is influenced by Rat Packer Dean Martin, Cary Grant, Frank Abagnale, and Ferris Bueller. Matt was drawn to the character of Neal because of his duality–suave criminal meets hopeless romantic.
	The Boys’ Team All great crime solvers need a team and the “White Collar” boys have that in spades with Sharif Atkins, Marsha Thomason, and Tiffani Theissen. Marsha says she prefers New York to the jungles of Hawaii she worked in on Lost because it’s more civilized and she doesn’t have to lay in the dirt all day. Tiffani will be back from maternity leave shortly. She’s joining the boys on set after the convention. Incidentally, Tiffani’s character, Elizabeth, was modeled after President John Adams’ wife Abigal.
	Shout it all out Curt Smith from Tears for Fears performed an acoustical version of the song that Shawn and Gus sang in the “Psych” American Duos episode. The guys joined him on stage to make their duet a trio. I love how the pineapple is sitting next to him! Everyone is a fan of delicious flavor, even Curt Smith!
	Dulé cuts it up Someone asked a question about inside jokes on the set. Tim Omundson looks on as Dulé Hill makes the audience and James Roday laugh by telling the back story to the 3 Hole Puncher joke. Apparently the script called for them to say “3 Hole Punch” but James said “3 Hole Puncher” instead and Meltzer said to do it as scripted because “3 Hole Punch” was funnier. The guys couldn’t help but make a reference to it in an episode. Dulé said they spend 13 hours a day laughing. Show creator Steve Franks said that “Psych” was basically about wish fulfillment so if they’re into Kung Fu, they do a Kung Fu episode. “Burn Notice” creator challenged the cast to a paint ball competition!
	Corbin Bernsen and Kirsten Nelson. When asked which character costume they would wear to Comic-Con Corbin said “a pineapple” and Kirsten said “Hit Girl”. James would come as Alf and Dulé as Papa Smurf. Maggie Lawson said she’d come as Wonder Woman. Unfortunately I didn’t get a decent photo of Maggie but I will tell you that some asked her what the difference between Shawn and James was and she said that Shawn was an extrovert, while James was an introvert and that Shawn was a boy, whereas James was a man.
	The Anti-Heroes of Showtime - “Dexter” Chip Johannessen, new executive producer for season 5, and Dexter’s alter ego Michael C. Hall. Chip said that Dexter is a classic anti-hero that operates outside society. Michael says that if Dexter didn’t have “the code” then the audience couldn’t identify with him. He kills bad people and that’s why we give him a free pass. Someone asked if Michael approves of what Dexter does and he says that he can identify with what Dexter’s doing because he’s taking responsibility for the evils of the world. He also said it was tough to film that last scene with Julie Benz, the mood was somber and they had to ask Julie to get into that bloody water. “Dexter” returns September 26.
	Anti-Heroes of Showtime - “Weeds” and “Nurse Jackie” (left to right) “Weeds” writer/producer Victoria Morrow, actress Mary-Louise Parker who plays Nancy on “Weeds”, “Nurse Jackie” writer/producer Linda Wallem, and actor Paul Schulze who plays Eddie on “Nurse Jackie”. “Weeds” has been reinvented as a new show now that the Botwin gang is on the run. Mary-Louise said her character is someone “not overburdened by guilt or self-pity”, she keeps going forward and just feels that everything will be alright. Paul Schulze said that we all identify with Jackie whether we want to or not. Linda Wallen says that nurses come up to her now and say, “Hey, blow me!” By the way, Linda Wallen stole to show on the panel. She’s absolutely hilarious and now we know why “Nurse Jackie” is great comedy. “Weeds” premieres August 16. “Nurse Jackie” returns in 2011.
	The Anti-Heroes of Showtime - “Californication” David Duchovny of “Californication” says that Hank Moody is a truth teller and that’s one of this that drew him to the part. Show creator Tom Kapinso says he just wants to keep Hank interesting. Carla Gugino guest stars this season as Hank’s attorney. Look out for a guest spot from Rob Lowe as well. “Californication” will return in January 2011.
	Following the Anti-Heroes of Showtime was a panel for “Dexter” on its own. (left to right) Executive producers John Goldwyn and Chip Johannessen, with James Remar who plays Harry, Dexter’s deceased adopted father and conscience. There will be six more webisodes so be on the lookout for those on Showtime.com. The panel said losing Julie Benz was like losing a member of the family. Now that Dexter is a single parent, the show will be exploring uncharted emotional territory. Expect to see the following actors in season 5: Julia Stiles in her first TV role, Jonny Lee Miller, and Peter Weller.
	The Morgans Real-life married couple Jennifer Carpenter and Michael C. Hall. Jennifer plays Dexter’s sister Debra which is a little creepy but if it works for them, more power to ‘em. Jennifer said that Debra is starting to catch on that something may not be right with her brother but that they are on common ground now that they’ve both lost their loves to the same killer. Debra will also step up as an aunt and help with the kids. Jennifer said her favorite guest star was Keith Carradine. Michael said it was John Lithgow and that he enjoyed all the people he “killed”. Michael was asked if he finds himself thinking like Dexter now and he replied, “Sometimes in traffic.”

Friday, July 23, 2010

	Stargate Universe (left to right) Ming Na and David Blue. Ming Na has a serious addiction to her iPhone; she even called it her “iPrecious” which I found absolutely hilarious and adorkable. David took the phone from her because she was distracted during the interview but Robert Carlyle gave it back because he’s just that nice of a guy. Ming Na also calls traveling by stones “getting stoned”. She’s NOTHING like her character so I give kudos to her acting chops. My friend Rani asked to talk about playing a quadriplegic on the show and how it changed her character, Camille. Ming said she went online and watched lots of videos of Christopher Reeves and talked to her colleagues from “ER”. She said to count your lucky stars you can walk on your two feet, feed yourself and wipe you’re you know what. Rani won the Blu-Ray of season 1.5 for her question! The moderator asked when Eli was going to get lucky and David said in season 2 because “nerds need love too”. The love interest will be someone from the Aleutian Alliance. We also learned that David is also a gamer in real life, not to mention a fan of True Blood. He said he wished he had more time to play games “but I don’t want to die.”
	“I’m not a doctor…” (left to right) Alaina Huffman and Robert Carlyle. When Alaina was asked about the frequency of doctors perishing on Stargate shows she replied, “”I’m not a doctor I’m a medic! I can’t die.” We also discovered that Alaina was pregnant in real life so they had to work the pregnancy into the storyline. Robert Carlyle says he likes to be surprised by the stories and doesn’t want to know storylines ahead of time.
	Showing their SyFy pride “Caprica” stars Sasha Roiz and Alessandra Torresani were both wearing Cylon shirts which I thought was cool of them. Alessandra’s was a cylon version of the photo of her with an apple they’ve been using to advertise the show and she had the cutest bejeweled apple purse with her. Way to accessorize! She said that while they’re filming in Canada “Caprica” was their life and that the cast became a family. David Eick and Ron Moore were on the panel and dropped these juicy tidbits about the show: the show was influenced by Blade Runner and Black Hawk Down; the question that both “Battlestar Galactica” and “Caprica” ask is “What does it mean to be human?”; if “BSG” can be equated to 9/11 in the aspect that what if the people in the Twin Towers survived but everyone else was dead, then “Caprica” studies the World Trade Center” in the years leading up to 9/11, you know it’s going to come to a nasty end and all the characters are doomed; there is currently no “end game” to the show, it could end at a half dozen of points between “Caprica” and the “BSG” time-line.
	James Marsters! I was soooo happy to see James on the panel for “Caprica”! When the audience screamed and cheered for James, David Eick said, “Long live those Buffy coattails!” James let us know that he will be back on Caprica and will reprise his role of Brainiac on “Smallville”. He said Tom Welling is smarter than you’d expect and nastier.
	The Great Big Bang Sing-along of 2010 “The Big Bang Theory” (BBT) panel started out with a bang (as it should be). The Bare Naked Ladies were on hand to perform their theme song and the audience were given the words to sing along with them! I think this made the BBT panel my favorite.
	WHEATON! Wil Wheaton moderated the BBT panel. He asked the cast some great questions like, what things are they geeky for. Kunal Nayyar said badminton, Simon Helberg said the accordion performance by the Bare Naked Ladies made him cry, Kaley Cuoco said the Bare Naked Ladies, Jim Parsons said talk radio, and Johnny Galecki said work, True Blood, and GI Joes. You’d think that Johnny would be the geekiest of the bunch based on that but Wil said it Kaley because she’s a gadget hound (she was an early adopter of the Amazon Kindle) and a major Harry Potter fan and can’t wait for the next movie. Oh and she went a got sorted by the Sorting Hat on the Warner Brother lot, she was assigned to Slytherin!
	The funniest cast on television (left to right) Kunal Nayyar, Simon Helberg, Kaley Cuoco, Jim Parsons, and Johnny Galecki. Some other insights we learned in the panel included: the cast plays ping pong between takes and even has tournaments; Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak will be appearing on the show in season 4; Johnny called Leonard the “connecting character” for the audience much like Judd Hirsch’s character on “Taxi”; Johnny also said that Leonard and Sheldon both have the mothers that the other wanted and needed; the season will premiere Thursday, September 23 at 8 p.m. Look for the DVD of season 3 on September 14th.
	Hart and Booth “Bones” show creator Hart Hanson and David Boreanaz. One of the first things David said was that he thinks we need an Angel movie. Hart agreed and added that Angel could beat up other vampires. Here are a few tidbits we learned during the panel: the show owes a debt to the X-Files; rumor has it that Booth isn’t come back alone from Afghanistan and that he will have a love interest; David’s dad was on the show “Rocketship 7″; someone is going to die in this season; David hates the lab and wants to blow it up or drive a tank through it to rescue Bones; David is a scaredy cat, he’s afraid of birds, roosters (guess that makes Booth’s belt buckle ironic), fish, bees, and double-decker buses whereas Emily likes to face her fears like snakes and getting buried alive-both of which she experienced on the show; Angela and Hodgins are staying together; and they want to try a 3D episode.
	Bones Emily Deschanel who portrays Temperance Brennan on “Bones”. Emily wasn’t scheduled to be at the con but she finished filming early and was able to attend! Emily says she most admires actress Kathleen Turner whom she just worked with in the movie she was filming. David admires Gregory Peck and Steve McQueen. Emily brought Kathy Reichs up on stage who talked about her new Temperance Brennan book “Spider Bones” and a children series she’s working on called “Virals”.
	Joss the One Man Show Genre master Joss Whedon got up on stage to talk about his projects including: the Dark Horse comic Buffy Season 8 which he’s working on with editor Scott Alley; he officially announced he will be directing The Avengers movie; Cabin in the Woods is in limbo right now and he doesn’t know when it’s coming out; his brother Jed has an album dropping in stores August 10; other brother Zack has scripted Shepherd’s tale which tells everything you wanted to know about Shepherd Book and should come out soon; he’s working on a story with Warren Ellis called “Wastelanders”; Network television is probably no his next thing; Christine Sutherland knew for two years that her character on “Buffy” was going to die; Joss said he made “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” because he feels like Dr. Horrible and can relate to villains who are damaged and weird; Joss’ first job was on “Roseanne”, he wrote five spec scripts for the show while he was working in a video store; the comic books that he grew up on, Spiderman, the Avengers, X-Men, and Heavy Metal, inspired him as a writer.
	Party Crasher Nathan Fillion crashed Joss’ panel wearing a hat and a mustache and asked the question, “Whose your favorite actor?” to which Joss replied, “I guess it has to be Nathan Fillion”.
	Kick Ass Girls (left to right) Elizabeth Mitchell of “Lost” and “V”, Anna Torv of “Fringe”, and Jena Malone of Suckerpunch. The Girls Kick Ass panel started out with Elizabeth talking about how she had to audition multiple times for Juliet on “Lost” but that they just offered her the part of Erica on “V”. She also said that there are amazing women in books and science fiction, she was raised in an environment where she wasn’t told there was something she couldn’t do. Anna said that her character, Olivia, has many traits she’s like to take to herself such as being tough, strong, and honest but that she could take the weight of the world off of Olivia’s shoulders. One of Anna’s favorite things she had to do as Olivia was fight herself, she wanted to play the Olivia from the other side and was glad to get the opportunity. Jena Malone was surprisingly poignant and articulate. She said that she writer’s that use clichés write one dimensionally, she prefers roles that portray strong, kick ass women that also retain their sensitivity. When asked if she felt like a role model, she said that she does and that acting in films provides something infinite, you don’t have to stay true to your life but that character that you mold will carry on to future generations.
	Ellen and Mary Kick Ass too (left to right) Ellen Wong and Mary Elizabeth Winstead of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and panel moderator Nicole Sperling of Entertainment Weekly. Ellen takes Tae Kwon Do and during her audition for Scott Pilgrim she had to do some kicks in between the dialog! When asked if there’s pressure to do your own stunts, Mary said that every actor she knows wants to do their own stunts.
	Alcide in the flesh! Actor Joe Manganiello was the first panelist announced at the “True Blood” panel. I was glad to see him! He said we would really like the episode that was airing on Sunday because he was naked. He explained that he had been initiated into the “Brotherhood of the sock”. When you do a nude scene (and you’re male) they bring out this black velvet tray that contains three choices to hide your, um, equipment: a drawstring sock, a plastic thong (not recommended for action scenes because they break) and the man panty or “manty” as he called it. It was also announced that Joe will be a regular in season 4!
	The king, the shifter, and the best friend (left to right) “True Blood’s” Denis O’Hare who plays the King of Mississippi, Sam Trammell who plays Sam Merlotte, and Rutina Wesley that plays Tara Thornton. Apparently Denis is a history buff and he concocted a back story for Russell which he would email to Alan Ball who would simply reply, “Ok. Denis.” Sam compared his character’s family to “Maury Povich trash” and says that he wants to help his brother and the family just comes with it. Rutina was asked why Tara is drawn to loons. Rutina thinks is just that as a victim she attracts that type of people, when she gets close to something positive she gets scared and runs away as a defense mechanism, which is a learned behavior. She loves the “chaos” of Tara but is hoping for some stability in Tara’s life to which Alan says she’ll get a break briefly toward the end of the season but it won’t last.
	Cutest moment of the day Cast member Alexander Skarsgård was unable to attend Comic-Con because he’s filming a movie (I presume Melancholia). Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer brought out a cardboard cut out to sit in the chair next to Joe in effigy. It was adorable. Also, Ryan Kwanten couldn’t attend because he’s filming right now as well.
	The Happy Couple “True Blood” Co-stars and real life couple Anna Paquin (Sookie Stackhouse) and Stephen Moyer (Bill Compton). Alan Ball said he believes that Bill and Sookie are soul mates, their love is genuine, and that he personally roots for the two of them to work things out. Of course we know that’s not necessarily what will happen. It is Alan Ball, after all. Anna said she likes how Sookie has become more badass and funnier, she even did her Bill impersonation. Her favorite gore “True Blood” moment was the creepy guy in the sink with intestines, the animal head on the table, and Mike on the floor. When asked which is harder to film, the sex or the violence, Anna replied, “We have to fake the violence.” Stephen was asked if it was fun to play the dark side of Bill and he said that’s one of the things that’s such a joy to work on a job like this, with Alan you never get asked to do the same thing twice. Someone asked how they filled the “twisted” sex scene. Stephen explained that Alex Wu came up with that scene (at least we have someone to blame now). Mariana Klaveno had to have a full body cast made, they filmed her lying both ways and then filmed the body cast which had an articulated neck that ratcheted. They then married both of the images to get the results.
	Guess we know who the geek is on “True Blood”… (left to right) Writer/creator Charlaine Harris, Kristin Bauer van Straten who plays Pam, Deborah Anne Woll who plays Jessica, and Nelsan Ellis who plays Lafayette. Kristen was taking photos of audience, she was so excited to be at Comic-Con. I’m convinced she’s one of us! Kristen was asked who Eric was more loyal to, Pam or Sookie. Kristen said all of the above but Charlaine said Pam! Charlaine said she knows how the book series will end and that there will be 13 books total. Charlaine was asked is there anything from her books she’s dying to see on the screen. She said that he’s looking forward to Sookie’s great-grandfather and that “I Will Rise Up” was her favorite episode (me too!). When asked about Jessica and Hoyt, Deborah says that their difficulties stem from the confusion of being young and indicated that she’s going to look to “Auntie Pam” for support. She also said if she wasn’t a vampire on the series she’d want to play a witch! Nelsan said that it’s been good to see the softer side of Lafayette now that he’s met Jesus. He also said his inspiration for Laf comes from his family. He takes all his family craziness and crams it into Lafayette! Some other tidbits: Sookie’s “microwave fingers” will return; season 4 will contain Eric’s memory loss and Hollow will be a big character; the wolves on the show are extraordinary but they have to use hybrids for the “acting bits”; Alan doubts he can bring Bubba to the screen without the cheesiness of an Elvis impersonator. An audience member suggest Bruce Campbell for the part, which I think would be awesome!
	The TV Guide Hot List - Part One (left to right) a blond (!) Morena Baccarin of “V”, Chi (pronounced “shy” by the way) McBride of “Human Target”, and Zachary Levi of “Chuck”. Chi was texting his mom when I took the photo. How sweet is that! Chi said that “Human Target” starts filming this week in Vancouver and that their favorite place to hang out is the Sutton Place Hotel. Morena said “V” starts shooting August 12, episodes will start airing in November, and that her hair will be back to normal by then unless we solicit the producers to leave it that way. One of the reasons that she dyed her hair was that people were starting to avoid her in public places, like on the train. She also said we’ll see the alien baby on the show. Chi was asked if he was jealous of his “Human Target” co-star, Mark Valley. Chi said know because his job is a lot more work, that he used to work at a phone company where he did as little work as possible. Indira Varma (from HBO’s “Rome”) will join the cast. Chi revealed that the cast genuinely like each other and that they hang out all the time. He also told us that Mark Valley was in the Army “for real” in Desert Storm. Zach said Chuck’s mom will be a big part of this season that he wants to do more of the disguises and ass kicking, and he’ll be directing this year!
	Whedon Alums Make the Hot List (left to right) Julie Benz of “No Ordinary Family” and Summer Glau of “The Cape” both have new superhero shows this coming season. The panel was full of Joss’ former co-workers. Julie (who played Darla on “Angel”) is on a new ABC show about a family that gains super powers she describes as The Incredibles meets “Heroes” with “Brothers and Sisters” thrown in. Her power is super speed which she says every woman, especially mothers, should have. Summer (”Buffy” and “Firefly”) plays what she describes as a strong female character who is not supernatural, she has to learn her skills and is standing up for what she thinks is right. “The Cape” is about the genesis of a superhero, a cop is framed, hunted, and presumed dead but he resurfaces as the character from his son’s favorite comic book. The show stars David Lyons and Keith David as well. The previews for both of these shows look awesome and I’ll be checking them out.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

	Jeffster’s Bad Romance Scott Krinsky and Vik Sahay play BFFs Jeff and Lester on NBC’s “Chuck”. The panel opened with a recap and preview reel followed by a Jeffster “dance video” set to Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” that turned into a live performance. Rest easy fans of Jeffster! We were assured at the panel that Jeff and Lester will return next season. After all, what would the show be without them?
	Chuckapalooza The rest of the cast soon joined Jeffster in the fun. I’ve never been a Lady Gaga fan but I have to admit that they improved the song and made me sing-along a bit. It was really great to see them all having a great time. Some of the cast were wearing these great T-shirts that said “NERD” on them. They threw some out to the crowd but I wasn’t close enough to the stage to snag one. *sigh*
	Hail, hail the gang’s all here! (left to right) Mark Christopher Lawrence, Scott Krinsky, Vik Sahay, Ryan McPartlin, Sarah Lancaster, Adam Baldwin, Yvonne Strahovski, Josh Gomez, and Zachary Levi, better known as Big Mike, Jeff, Lester, Captain Awesome, Ellie, Casey, Sarah, Morgan, and Chuck. Getting for some “Chuck” info! First, the big news about Linda Hamilton playing Chuck’s mom. Can you say awesome? Chris Fedak and Josh Schwartz said the staff thought about who Morgan and Chuck would want to have cast as Chuck’s mom. They put their choice out on the Internet and Linda called them saying, “I hear I’m Chuck’s mom”. And the rest, they say, is history! Linda’s first episode is the season premiere, way to start out with a bang. Other guest stars this season include Olivia Munn, Steve Austin, Dolph Lundren, Nicole Ritchie. and the Old Spice hottie, Isaiah Mostafa. More juicy tidbits: The Buy More has been taken over by the CIA and we’ll be introduced to a new operative each week; Chuck is in better control of his powers and his Chuck Fu this season; There was no plan as to who would find out Chuck’s secret, they left it open because they weren’t sure about renewal each year but they did say that Jeff will be the last to know; Sarah Lancaster said it was great hitting Casey with the frying pan; Yvonne said she’s happy to be a part of the fun finally and is enjoying the “happy stuff” with Sarah; Zach said that Chuck and Morgan are going to be a great spy team; Ryan McPartlin said the pick up for season 4 was, well, awesome, of course; the new season starts September 30th and be sure to pick up season 3 when it drops on DVD and Blu-Ray on September 7.
	Why we love Adam Baldwin There are so many reasons but one of them is that in spite of being a big guy (he’s 6′4″) he’s really just a sweetheart. The stuffed dog he’s holding in the photo is named John Casey. The dog was brought by one of the moderators (it belonged to one of his daughter) so they could hold it when it was their turn to speak, sort of a fluffy and cute version of a talking stick. Adam asked to hold the puppy. Adam dished on working with co-star Josh Gomez, who is 5′ 7¾”, and how much he loved it because it was tough for the crew to set up the scenes. Adam said a frequently heard phrase around the set is, “Apple box please!” He also called Casey and Morgan Pete and Repeat. He said he’s looking forward to scenes with Casey’s daughter who he called “Alex Jr.” and that he’s used to getting beaten up by pretty girls. Ryan got some laughs when he said it was three years into the show and we still have to hear about Adam’s past work (specifically “Firefly”)!
	Voice Over Legends Sometimes at Comic-Con you end of sitting on a panel you don’t necessary care about but end up enjoying immensely anyway. That was the case with the Cartoon Voices panel that I sat through while waiting for “Warehouse 13″. (left to right) Candy Milo, Jason Marsden, and Bill Farmer. You may recognize Candy Milo from the Mervyn’s commercial where she’s standing outside saying “Open, open, open!”, a phrase that I use quite a bit myself. Candy also voices characters in “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends”, “Chowder” and several video games. Jason Marsden voices Nermal on “The Garfield Show”, Speedy and Paco on “Batman: The Brave and the Bold”, Binx the cat in the Disney film Hocus Pocus, and another popular Disney character, Goofy’s son Max. Jason was joined on stage by Bill Farmer, the voice of Goofy since the 1980s–a childhood favorite of mine. The entire panel was made up on popular voice actors and they all performed an adaptation of Cinderella for the crowd. It was immensely entertaining and I’m glad I skipped the Fang Boys and Fang Girls panel to get a seat early so I could experience it.
	Look who they let out of the Warehouse! (left to right) Allison Scagliotti who plays Claudia and CCH Pounder who plays the scary Mrs. Frederic on “Warehouse 13″. Allison was filming the crowd with her web cam and expressed how excited she was to be at the convention. She said that she lobbied for three things this season and got them all: a boyfriend, a crossover episode, and a Tesla. The crossover happens to be with “Eureka” and her love interest happens to be none other than Fargo played by Neil Grayston. W00t! Neil also moderated the “Warehouse 13″ panel. Everyone seemed about the two shows sharing the same universe. I just want to point out that it was amazing how severe they make the very beautiful miss CCH look on the show. She’s a radiant and smiley lady and you can really tell the difference between her and Mrs. Frederic! CC (as they call her) said her charcter is the only one that’s a giant mystery on the show and she loves that. We do get to know Mrs. Frederic a little more this by learning how she got to Warehouse 13. We’ll also learn more about the relationship between Mrs. Fredereic and Artie. Saul Rubinek said his character garners abject horror and respect for her and keeps his distance to protect himself. Artie will get a love interest in the form of Lindsay Wagner this season! Unfortunately, I didn’t get one decent photo of Saul. That’s how it works out sometimes.
	Secret Agents (left to right) Eddie McClintock and Joanne Kelly. Funnyman Eddie McClintock entered the panel by running around the room high-fiving people like a rock star. Pete will have some romantic interests this season played by Paula Garces, Tia Carré, and Jamie Murray becuase, as Eddie says, “Pete likes chicks.” Joanne, who was sporting a cool flat-ironed do, was asked if Myka was jealous and she said that her character couldn’t care less, good for him. No love interest unfolding there! Besides Myka gets to make out with a wrestler and have a fulfilling platonic relationship. There was some good-natured ribbing going on when Joanne teased Eddie about how many shows he’s worked on that haven’t been picked up. She said Eddie has done more pilots than a stewardess! She also said that Pete has a right to be silly by having a big heart and being a good guy. Awww. Some quickie tidbits for this season: we get to see more warehouses, specifically Warehouse 2 in Alexandria, Egypt; Alexander the Great started the first Warehouse; the writers get to come on set for all of their episodes which is a great privilege in the industry, it also helps make the writing more “organic”; Writer Jack Kenny describes the show as a “thrilleromedy”.
	Eureka! (left to right) Colin Ferguson (Jack Carter) and Salli Richardon-Whitfield (Alison Blake). Colin is directing this season! Look for his work on episode 404. He’s also going to be producing the second of the season. Joe Morton and Salli will be directing too! Co-executive producer Bruce Miller said that they ask themselves, “What would make Carter’s day slightly more interesting” when planning out episodes. Salli said this season of “Eureka” is her favorite so far because of all the wonderful changes for Alison. I didn’t get any decent photos of Neil Grayston either, and I had two panels of opportunity! Neil said about this season, “Fargo’s running Global Dynamics, that’s awesome!”
	The Suave Dr. Grant James Callis, previously of “Battlestar Galactica” said he wasn’t looking to return to another genre show but when he was presented with this incredible role, a real fish-out-of-water that was so bold and brilliant, challenging and different, he desperately wanted to be a part of it. The “what if” of the part is so exciting to him. He described SyFy as feeling “like part of a family in a fortress.” He also mentioned that his name was thrown into the mix for Doctor Who. Matt Smith is growing on me but James would have been awesome as the Doctor!
	Day is in the house! (left to right) “Eureka” guest stars Allison Scagliotti and Felicia Day! Allison Scagliotti moderated the “Eureka” panel! She said Colin was like a golden retriever and went so far as to call him a puppy! Felicia will be doing a multi-episode arc in the back 10 (or last half) of the season. She’ll be in a love triangle with Wil Wheaton’s Dr. Parrish and another character on the show. Guess you’ll have to tune in to see who it is. A few more pieces of info about the show: this timeline is it, folks–there will be no going back per show creator Jaime Paglia; the show lost a bunch of it’s crew to “Fringe” because of the long hiatus; someone intimated that Colin looked like Mark Valley from “Human Target”; the “Eureka” crew want to steal Claudia from “Warehouse 13″ but they’re not having any of that; a little trivia, Colin and “Warehouse 13″ show runner Jack Kelly worked on another show together; Niall Matter who plays Zane was born and raised on an oil rig and worked on one for seven years before trying acting; it appears that Zoe is dating Zane?!; and last, but certainly not least in my book, Stark isn’t dead in the alternate time line!
	A new twist on an old story (left to right) Lyndsy Fonseca, Maggie Q, and Craig Silverstein. During the con we got to see a pilot screening of the “Nikita”. I was a bit incredulous, even to the point of not wanting to watch it. I was pleasantly surprised that the pilot was very good. The show takes place after Nikita escapes and is trying to take down the secret organization known as The Division. McG is attached to the project; he’s brought us great shows like “Supernatural” and “Chuck” so I will definitely tune in. “Nikita” is taking “Supernatural’s” old time slot on Thursday at 9 p.m. The premiere will air September 9, 2010.
	Human Target (left to right) the amazing Jackie Earle Haley and funnyman Chi McBride entertained us during the “Human Target” panel. Chi discussed many of the changes coming to the show. Indira Varma’s joining the cast as Lisa Pucci a rich widow who buys their organization. Chi says she’ll bring a more international feel to the show with the new boss and that there will another full time female cast member (uncast at this point) who will join their team. He described her as a “despicble thief”. The females joing the show will set up tension and create comedy for their “dysfunctional family”. Chi actually said they put the fun in dysfunctional! Jackie says he’s the one that adds “dude”, Guerrero’s not scripted that way, and they’ve established a “dude” count. They’re actually removing some of the “dudes” in the editing! We’ll see an expansion of Guerrero and other characters. Jackie hopes not too much and said they’ll call Guerrero for help every episode but it’s better if he’s mysterious.
	Chance, Christopher Chance Mark Valley chimed in about the new additions to the cast saying that they enrich the show on a couple of levels. When asked what Chance’s Kryptonite is Mark replied that Chance needs people to believe in him. Someone also asked if Amy Acker’s character Catherine is dead. Mark said we only saw a boat explode so keep your hopes up! Some other “Human Target” news: According to Jackie, they get a new script every 10 days; Lennie James will be back to reprise his role as Baptiste in a 48 Hours-like episode; Matthew Miller, formerly of “Chuck”, is the new show runner; Mark Valley attended Westpoint!; and Chance’s love interest, Maria, will be back.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

	Tess is back! (left to right) Cassidy Freeman (Tess Mercer) and “Smallville” show producer Kelly Souders. Kelly said that because this is the last year of the show, the bucket list for the show is very full and they’re trying to get through everything this season. They want to pay homage when the show ends. When asked if there will be a spin-off show with the Justice League, Kelly said that would be great but that we need to raise our voice.
	The Green Arrow! I finally got a decent photo of Justin Hartley. Justin will be directing a “Green Arrow light episode” this season and will be in 17 episodes total. Justin’s favorite scenes on the show don’t even involve him; he’s a fan of the Clark and Lois moments. Aww. He also said his favorite episode was the one last season titled “Roulette” when he get kidnapped (episode 5).
	John Kent returns! (left to right) John Schneider, Tom Welling, Brian Peterson, and Erica Durance. The biggest news of the panel is that John Kent is not dead! John Schneider will be returning to reprise his role as Clark’s adoptive father. How cute is this photo, by the way? Erica announced she will be in all 22 episodes of this season to which I say, “finally!” Erica’s the best Lois ever and she’s hardly on screen.
	Father and Son (left to right) John Schneider (John Kent) and Tom Welling (Clark Kent). John gave us a line from the upcoming season and it goes like this: “You could be the greatest hero this world has ever seen.” Tom is a busy guy this year. He’s directing another episode of “Smallville” this year and is now the executive producer on “Hellcats”. At first I thought he was kidding about that, but sadly, no. Sorry, Tom, I will not be watching a show about cheerleaders! Some other news: Clark will fly, finally!; we will see the Superman suit, and it’s the same suit that Brandon Routh wore in Superman Returns, again I say, finally!; guest stars this season include Jeff Johns (who moderated the panel) and Michael Shanks as Hawkman; the big bad this season will be Darkside; Jeff Johns revealed that Chloe is about to introduced in the comic book series, which is a switch (from TV to comic, usually the other way around); and the DVD comes out September 7 and the show premieres on September 24th at 8 pm. on the CW.
	The hottest brothers on television (left to right) “Supernatural’s” Winchester brothers: Jared Padalecki (Sam) and Jensen Ackles (Dean). Jensen started the panel off by introducing this year’s teaser from season 5, episode four; a very Bobby-centric episode that Jensen directed called “Weekend at Bobby’s”. From the clip it looks like Mark Sheppard’s character Crowley is trying welch on the deal to give Bobby his soul back. Eek! Jensen said he doesn’t consider himself a director and that Jim carried the episode and it went well because Jared wasn’t on set! There’s no love like brotherly love, I guess. Jared was asked how Sam got out of hell, to which he answered, “Practice”. The Winchesters are just good at it or someone is watching over them. He as unsure. He also revealed that he is a couple of episodes behind and hasn’t even seen the finale, which became a running joke throughout the panel session. There is some sort of Japanese Anime project that they’re not selling in the US. The boys have done some voice over work for it in Japanese.
	Bobby and Castiel (left to right) Jim Beaver and Misha Collins. Two funny guys that make this show even better than it already is! I really liked Jim’s shirt that had a no smoking sign on it and read “There are better ways to die”. Hear, hear, brother! JIm was asked if Bobby will get a girlfriend to which he replied that hell would have to freeze over for him to get a girl on this show. He also was adamant that his kissing days between Bobby and Crowley were definitely over! When asked if he would direct, Jim replied it was too much work! Misha said that Castiel’s role this season is “cleanup detail in heaven”. He equated heaven to post-Soviet Russia and that Castiel will have to form a coalition to clean things up, much like an aspiring Yeltsin. Did I not say the man was funny?
	Out with the old and in with the, well, new old, I guess “Supernatural” show creator Eric Kripke is handing the reigns of the show over to long-time producer “Sera Gamble” and Bob Singer. Kripke said he originally had a 5 year plan but that the show can continue even though that story is over. Kripke urged they will be taking the show in exciting new directions and that Kripke will merely be an occasional pain in the butt for them from now on. Apparently, Eric got some serious hate mail for last season’s finale, “Swan Song”, and said he felt misunderstood! Sera said there will be more monsters in this season and that the monsters of the week will relate to the mythology of the show rather than just being random. She also said that there will be a new strong, female character–a Campbell relative–and that Lisa will be back this season too. Mitch Pileggi will reprise his role as the boy’s maternal grandfather.

General Photos

	Um, okey dokey. The first thing I was greeted getting off the trolley was a sign that indicated all of the sign on this route were taken over by Klingons. It was a really cute gimic but unhelpful for those of us who are not nerdy enough to know Klingon, first of all, and especially to be able to translate it on the fly.
	Lost in translation Two of the signs in Klingon.
	Cool Props Even if you didn’t love Avatar you have to recognize that Stan Winston made some really cool movie props. This is the Amp Suit from James Cameron’s Avatar that was on display in the Stan Winston booth.
	Voices of Batman John DiMaggio (The Joker), animated movie casting mogul Andrea Romano, and Batman himself, Bruce Greenwood at the Batman: Under The Red Hood screening. Jensen Ackles of “Supernatural” also voiced the Red Hood. The movie was really good. It you’re a Batman fan I highly recommend watching it!
	British Invasion Cast members of the BBC’s terrific series “Being Human” showed up at the season premiere screening and we were happy to see them! (left to right) Aidan Turner (Mitchell), Lenora Crichlow (Annie), Russell Tovey (George), and Sinead Keenan (Nina). The premiere was great and I can’t wait to see the rest of the season on BBC America!
	Café Diem SyFy once again took over the restaurant at the Hard Rock Hotel to create a little piece of “Eureka” in San Diego’s Gaslamp district. They were showing promos of SyFy shows on TV monitors at each table which I though was a brilliant marketing idea. I had the Caprica Greystone Salad, which is basically a Tuna salad and greens. It was really good, actually. I’m glad they do this every year because it’s fun.
	Defending the world against evil Well, maybe, not. I did have fun taking this photo at the FearNet.com booth. They set up a photo booth and you could choose props to use in the photo. I decided to get my River Tam on with a big choppy sword. They printed you out a copy of the photo and emailed one to you too. Great way to market their site and to promote their horror channel on cable. Oh yeah, and I discovered I have cheek bones! W00t!
	That Kevin Smith Kevin Smith introducing his commentaried version of Cop Out that played at the Hilton during the convention. The information was interesting but distracting since I hadn’t had a chance to see the movie yet.
	The new Light Cycle I had to visit the Tron: Legacy booth to see the new and improved Light Cycle. I avoided Hall H so I didn’t get to see the sneak peek but everyone says it looks cool.
	Scott Pilgrim vs. Comic-Con This massive ad for the upcoming movie Scott Pilgrim vs. the World covered most of the Hilton hotel next to the convention center. Love the tagline: An epic of epic epicness.
	Sean Patrick Flannery Actor Sean Patrick Flannery known for his roles in Powder, The Boondock Saints, and the voice of Indy in “The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones” was signing autographs on the floor so I snapped a quick pic!
	Catching some Zzz’s Comic-Con is a blast, but I’ve long said it’s an exercise in sleep deprivation as well. Here are two people catching up on some sleep while waiting in line for Ballroom 20.
	The Blur Clark Kent’s superhero alter-ego made his presence known during wait for the “Smallville” panel on Sunday. Part of the fun of Comic-Con is seeing the people in costume.
	Got Blood? HBO spent a good chunk of change promoting the third season of their hit series “True Blood”. Everywhere you went you saw ads for the show. “True Blood” even sponsored the Saturday night Masquerade Ball.