The Television Critics Association has officially begun the gearing-up process for its 25th annual awards, which will honor the finest work of the 2008-09 season as selected by the association’s 200-plus member critics and journalists. One of those members is yours truly, and I figured I’d see what the readers of Premium Hollywood had to say about the nominations and who they’d like to see win the various categories. I’ll have to submit my votes by June 10th, but since the winners won’t be announced until August 1st (the ceremony takes place at The Langham Huntington Hotel and Spa in Pasadena, CA, with Chelsea Handler opening the ceremony), so speak up quickly. There are a couple of things I’m on the fence about, and I’d be interested to hear your thoughts before I make my final selections.

PROGRAM OF THE YEAR

* “Battlestar Galactica� (SciFi Channel)
* “Lost� (ABC)
* “Mad Men� (AMC)
* “Saturday Night Live� (NBC)
* “The Shield� (FX)

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN COMEDY

* “30 Rock� (NBC)
* “The Big Bang Theory� (CBS)
* “The Daily Show� (Comedy Central)
* “How I Met Your Mother� (CBS)
* “The Office� (NBC)

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN DRAMA

* “Breaking Bad� (AMC)
* “Friday Night Lights� (NBC/DirecTV)
* “Lost� (ABC)
* “Mad Men� (AMC)
* “The Shield� (FX)

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT MOVIES, MINI-SERIES AND SPECIALS

* Summer Olympic Coverage (NBC)
* “24: Redemption� (Fox)
* “Generation Kill� (HBO)
* “Grey Gardens� (HBO)
* “Taking Chance� (HBO)

OUTSTANDING NEW PROGRAM OF THE YEAR

“Fringe� (Fox)
“The Mentalist� (CBS)
“No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency� (HBO)
“True Blood� (HBO)
“United States of Tara� (Showtime)

INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN COMEDY

* Alec Baldwin (“30 Rock�)
* Steve Carell (“The Office�)
* Tina Fey (“30 Rock�)
* Neil Patrick Harris (“How I Met Your Mother�)
* Jim Parsons (“The Big Bang Theory�)

INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN DRAMA

* Glenn Close (“Damages�)
* Bryan Cranston (“Breaking Bad�)
* Walton Goggins (“The Shield�)
* Jon Hamm (“Mad Men�)
* Hugh Laurie (“House�)

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN CHILDREN’S PROGRAMMING

* “Camp Rock� (The Disney Channel)
* “The Electric Company� (PBS)
* “Nick News� (Nickelodeon)
* “Sid the Science Kid� (PBS)
* “Yo Gabba Gabba� (Nickelodeon)

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN NEWS & INFORMATION

* “60 Minutes� (CBS)
* “The Alzheimer’s Project� (HBO)
* “Frontline� (PBS)
* “The Rachel Maddow Show� (MSNBC)
* “We Shall Remain� (PBS)

HERITAGE AWARD

* “ER� (NBC)
* “M*A*S*H� (CBS)
* “Saturday Night Live� (NBC)
* “The Shield� (FX)
* “Star Trek� (NBC)

The two-hour pilot of “Caprica” debuted on DVD and digital download late last month and I finally found the time to watch it. Regular readers might be wondering why a huge “Battlestar Galactica” fan like myself would wait so long. Well, I’m not really sure. Maybe the “BG” finale was still a little to raw in my mind. Maybe there was too much other good television grabbing my attention. Or maybe I just couldn’t find the right time to watch it.

While I’m certainly excited about Ronald D. Moore’s next project, I can’t help but be a little leery of a prequel. “Caprica” has the same challenge that the “Star Wars” prequels had: Everyone knows how it turns out. The question is whether or not the history is compelling enough to outweigh the certainty of the story’s outcome. In the world of “Star Wars,” fans were clamoring for a better understanding of how Anakin Skywalker actually became Darth Vader. The transition was mentioned several times over the course of Episodes Four, Five and Six, and it became almost inevitable that there would eventually be a series of prequels to explain just how Anakin turned to the dark side.

Were there any “Battlestar Galactica” fans clamoring for a prequel? I’m sure there were a few, but I hadn’t even considered the prospect until I heard that “Caprica” was already in development. How interested are we in seeing how Cylons were developed? Personally, I’d rather get a glimpse into the behind-the-scenes scheming that led up to the Cylon invasion.

That said, there’s no doubt that “Caprica” is two strong hours of television.

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I’m probably the last person who should be offering up a post about “Battlestar Galactica,” since I’m probably also the last person who still hasn’t watched “Battlestar Galactica.” (If it helps any, I am extremely excited about the prospect of diving into the complete-series set that’s being released in July.) When I received a copy of the catalog for the upcoming BSG auction, however, I couldn’t resist at least making a brief mention of it.

They’ve done auctions before, as the show’s fans undoubtedly already know, but beginning on May 8th and continuing through May 10th, they’ll be holding the final BSG auction, hence the subtitle, “The Last of the Best.” It’s being held both live and online, so you can head over to the Auction Network website and either watch quietly or, if you’re feeling bold, actually dare to bid on something.

Though it won’t do the contents of this big-ass catalog justice - it’s 375 pages and printed on thick stock - you can see what’s up for grabs at BattlestarProps.com. There’s some pretty cool stuff to be had. Whether you can afford it, however, is quite another story.

- NBC wants shorter seasons from “Heroes,” according to AdAge.com. The network is looking for 18 to 20 episodes instead of the usual 25, with fewer in-season breaks. I’m all for shorter seasons, as shorter usually equals better.

- ABC has renewed “Lost,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” — no surprises there — “Brothers & Sisters,” “Desperate Housewives,” “Ugly Betty” and “Private Practice,” but “Cupid,” “Better Off Ted,” “Castle,” “Scrubs,” “Samantha Who?” and “The Unusuals” are still in limbo. TV.com thinks that “Castle” has the best chance of surviving.

- Television Without Pity lists 10 series that deserve a movie before “CSI.”

- Yahoo TV highlights 16 season finales that are coming up over the next five weeks.

With the writers’ strike finally behind us, the television industry has sprung back remarkably well. Granted, it isn’t all puppy dogs and ice cream for all of our favorite shows, but after the strike forced us to cancel the spring edition of our semi-annual TV Power Rankings, it’s nice to be able to show some love for those series that had been gone for far too long. A quick look at our Winter 2008 list may suggest that a major shakeup has occurred in our new Top 20 below, but seven of the shows from last November are either on hiatus or cancelled. Likewise, nearly every eligible show previously on hiatus has snuck its way back into the Top 20, while five new shows have also cracked the list. Most of these are experiencing some of their best seasons ever, and though “Heroes” continues its mighty fall, the return of “24″ only further cements the notion that TV is back and better than ever.

Below you’ll find a few entries, but be sure to check out the full list, where we’ve also included links to DVD reviews and interviews, as well as a host of Honorable Mentions and our list of favorite shows currently on hiatus.

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I thought about posting last night, but I’ve gotten into a rhythm this season with letting the episode marinate in my brain overnight and then posting on Saturday morning. I know a lot of people TiVo shows nowadays (myself included) and end up watching the episode later that night, the next day or the next week, so there isn’t a huge rush to get something up.

Was it a great finale? Absolutely. Was I blown away? Not entirely.

Let’s start at the beginning (which is always a good place to start) — more flashbacks of life on Caprica. Bill is thinking about retiring and entering the private sector, Roslin has a blind date with a former student, Lee gets to know Kara. Great, let’s move on.

Back in the future, Baltar’s vision tells him that he will “take mankind’s remnants and guide them to their end.” Last week, after watching him struggle with the decision in the hanger, I wondered whether or not Gaius would in fact volunteer to go along with the rescue mission. The truth is that it should have been obvious that he would. Creator Ronald D. Moore wasn’t about to take one of the main players out of the game in crunch time.

After an emotional scene between Roslin and Doc Coddle, Laura had a great line:

“Don’t spoil your image. Just light a cigarette and go and grumble.”

Then the planning began for the assault on the colony — that’s when the episode really got going. The final four move Sam to the CIC (more on this later) and Galactica prepares to jump.

Like just about every battle scene in the entire series, this one rocked. Galactica jumps in and immediately starts to get pummeled by the colony’s weapons. After the terrific rescue mission on New Caprica, the show had a lot to live up to, and once the birds were away and Bill ordered his crew to ram the colony, Moore and Co. had cleared the bar. It was very cool to see Lee leading a group of Centurions into the colony. Even when they’re on “our” side, they still scare the ever-loving crap out of me.

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The name of this episode was “Daybreak,” so it’s not surprising that the fleet turned a corner of sorts this week. Specifically, Bill finished mourning for the Galactica and made a major decision — that he would lead a rescue mission for Hera. This started when he saw that picture of Hera and Athena was left on the Galactica bulletin board, and I think he took it as a sign that he had to do something. We didn’t see Sam provide the location of the colony, but that’s the assumption.

I’m not clear on why we spent much of the episode back in Caprica City before the attack. The first scene was with Bill talking to someone about something that he did not want to do. After just meeting Gaius, Caprica Six met his elderly dad. She set him up in a nursing home, so maybe that’s how she earned Gaius’s trust, eventually leading to his betrayal of his fellow humans. We saw Kara and Lee’s first meeting, though she was his brother’s girlfriend at the time. And then there was Roslin — after losing her entire family in a car accident, she had a bit of a mental breakdown.

One of the last flashbacks was of a drunk Lee having an encounter with a pigeon.

What’s the point?

I have no idea.

Back in the present, Kara continues to work on the meaning of her song, even trying to turn it into some mathematical formula, but she’s not having much luck. Gaius pleads with Lee to give his “people” representation in the government and Lee asks him if he’s ever made a single selfless act in his life. Later on, when Bill asks for volunteers, it looks for a moment that Gaius is conflicted and may join them, but when we cut to the final shot of the hanger, I didn’t see where he was. My guess is that he’s ultimately going to stick with the fleet.

That’s about it. Not a whole hell of a lot happened this week, save for Bill’s decision to go after Hera. Based on the reconnaissance, it’s going to be tough to get close to the colony…

Next week should be interesting.

What did we learn this week?

Well, a while back, when Cavil mentioned that the humans hadn’t found the “colony” yet, he wasn’t referring to Earth. The Cylons do have a colony and that’s where Boomer took Hera. It appears that the final two (or is it three, as TV.com indicates?) episodes are going to involve some sort of a rescue attempt. It’s all about Hera. (And Kara.)

Speaking of Kara, Baltar tested the DNA from the dog tags and apparently discovered that she did in fact crash and burn on Earth. After the funeral, Baltar used this information about Kara to advance his own agenda. He announced that Starbuck is walking proof that there is an afterlife. (Of course, if that was the case, why don’t we see more “dead” people walking around?) Anyway, we learned once again that Baltar is a giant ass. For whatever reason, Kara took him into her confidence and he betrayed her. But really, what did she expect he’d do? (On a side note, Baltar did in fact try to make a move on Caprica Six, but he was shot down. I wonder if that’s the end of that storyline or if it will continue through the end of the series. I’m betting on the latter considering how the two are always together in the opera house dream.)

What else did we learn? It took a lot of liquor and a weird Jackson Pollock moment with the white paint, but Bill is finally able to give up on Galactica. He’s cynical about the fleet’s destiny and whatnot, but what else is there to do? If the more spiritual folks say that they need to go after Hera, why not do it? Isn’t that better than aimlessly drifting around space until you run out of resources?

Hera can project! I don’t know what this really means, but she and Boomer bonded over it. By the time they got to the colony, Boomer had grown attached to Hera and those crocodile tears at the end proved that she had a tough time handing the girl over to Cavil. By the way, did you hear Cavil say to Hera that she would soon have a lot of little playmates? How does he plan do accomplish that? Cavil also confirmed that Boomer sneaking Ellen off to the fleet was indeed just a ploy to kidnap Hera. It will be interesting to see if Boomer steps in and saves Hera from whatever Cavil has planned for her.

With Galactica being stripped for parts, the military personnel are going to move over to the Cylon basestar. The humans are justifiably skeptical of this, but do they really have a choice?

When this episode started, and Kara got into a conversation with some random dude in the bar, I was thinking — why are they introducing a new character at this point in the series?

My “twist-dar” went off when they failed to show her dad’s face in her flashbacks, and it really went off when he lit up a cigarette (after she reminisced about the “smell of tobacco” earlier in the episode). Then the meaning of Hera’s drawing was revealed and suddenly Kara and her “dad” were playing the “Battlestar Galactica” version of “All Along the Watchtower.”

Kara’s trip plodded along, but it was still quite intense, because the nature of her existence is still one of the big questions yet to be answered. This mellowness provided a nice balance to what was going on elsewhere on the ship, as the Chief made a bad, bad decision by trusting Boomer again. Roslin’s demeanor towards Tyrol was unnecessarily harsh, and she bears some responsibility for his actions. Boomer is (mostly) evil, a fact confirmed by her sexual encounter with Helo right in front of Athena. That has to be a tough pill for the Chief to swallow — he breaks her out of the brig and the first guy she screws is Helo? Ouch.

The scene where Boomer made her escape was one of the most nail-biting of the entire series. It was clear that the Chief didn’t know Hera was in the trunk because Boomer had to tell him to “be careful” with it. Still, he’s a dope for falling for her act again. Way to go, Chief.

So now Galactica has a hole in the side of the ship, and after weeks of intimating that the old girl was on her last legs, the ship is truly falling apart. Cavil has (or will have) Hera, and there are only three episodes left. We still need to find out the truth about Kara and the fleet needs to find some sort of home. They wouldn’t end the series with the fleet just drifting aimlessly in space…would they?

After last week’s jam-packed episode, the series downshifted a bit, delving into the minutiae (i.e. the food shortage) that played such a prominent role in the first two seasons. While Baltar and Paula were arguing about food, I was wondering if this was really how we were going to spend the last five episodes. This detail-oriented stuff was interesting when the show was finding its feet, but with all that has happened, it just feels trivial. The major plot points to come out of Baltar’s storyline is that Caprica Six is back in his head (yay!) and that he managed to convince Bill to give him a trunk load of guns to defend their food stock. (I’ll admit that it was funny to see how Baltar picked the prettiest mom to help, resulting in a major eye-roll from Paula. Some things never change.)

It was nice of Boomer to bring Ellen back to the fleet, but their arrival has all sorts of consequences. First and foremost, Ellen is still an annoying bitch. When she finds out that Tigh and Caprica Six are expecting, it throws her into a jealous rage and she tries to manipulate the situation to get back into Saul’s arms. The plan may have worked too, as it could have been the stress of Ellen’s return that sent Caprica’s pregnancy off the rails. Now that the baby is out of the picture, I’d expect Tigh and Ellen to pick up where they left off. (Baltar and Caprica Six may too, for that matter.)

Wowsers. With Sam doing his little I’ve-got-a-lot-to-tell-you bit, this had to be one of the most informative episodes of the entire series. Let me run down what I think we know at this point…

- Those that are still holding out hope that Ellen wasn’t the fifth Cylon can stop – she is. She was resurrected 18 months ago and is considered to be the “mother� of all the skinjobs. The Ones (or one one in particular) seem to have a major problem with the fact that she made them (somewhat) human. By the end of the episode, the Ones were ready to open up her brain to find the secret of resurrection, but Boomer snuck her off to parts unknown. I’m not clear on when this escape coincides with current events, so if anyone has a clue, be sure to comment.

- Ellen still likes to drink, even after resurrection.

- The final five were living on Earth and they reinvented resurrection. Tyrol was credited for having done a ton of work towards this end, but Ellen was the one that made the final leap to make resurrection possible again. For whatever reason, they had a ship in orbit, waiting for Earth to be destroyed. (And, as far as I know, we still don’t know why Earth was destroyed.) The Cylons living on Earth were able to procreate, which is why they did away with resurrection in the first place. I believe that the implication is that all Earthlings are actually Cylons. That’s good to know.

- Once Earth was destroyed, the final five started off to the 12 colonies to warn them about creating Cylons (and/or treating them badly). They were not able to make jumps, so the travel was very slow, which is what accounts for the 2,000-year difference between Earth’s destruction and when the fleet fled the colonies.

“Battlestar Galactica” prequel, “Caprica,” will appear on home video before debuting on the Sci-Fi Channel.

The feature-length Caprica pilot will be released on DVD light years before it’s on television, Universal Studios Home Entertainment announced late last week. Featuring the uncut and unrated version of the first episode, the DVD will be released on April 21 for the retail price of $26.98.

“We wanted to give [fans] a chance to see the pilot in its original form and experience the prequel to the BSG story while that series’ finale was still ringing in their ears,” said Sci-Fi’s vice president of original programming Mark Stern. “It also affords the creative team an unprecedented chance to get viewers feedback before production on the Caprica series begins this summer.”

This is probably a good move for the network as they’ll be able to sell more DVDs before the show goes on air than they would after the television premiere. They will also capitalize on the buzz surrounding the “BG” finale — let’s just hope the that pilot isn’t a disappointment.

Well, with only seven episodes left, we knew that the Gaeta/Zarek coup couldn’t last too long. By the end of the episode, it looks like this storyline is wrapped up nice and neat with a little bow. The Gaeta/Zarek alliance started to splinter when the latter made the executive decision to murder the entire quorum. At that point, Gaeta realized that Zarek was a power-hungry psychopath that did not have the best interests of the fleet at heart. By the time that the Admiral was rescued and on his way to the CIC, Gaeta had already seen the writing on the wall. The coup was over. (Presumably, Gaeta and/or Zarek gave the Admiral the coordinates for the 25 ships that jumped away so that they could re-join the fleet. That’s going to make for some awkward moments in the halls!)

Romo Lampkin made a surprise appearance as the Admiral’s counsel. I’ve always thought there is more to him that meets the eye, and when he used a pen to kill his captor, it was clear that he’s no stranger to physical confrontation. Once the soldier was down, Lampkin searched his pockets for his sunglasses. Classic.

I don’t think that we saw Lampkin after he grudgingly agreed to help Starbuck get Anders to sick bay. His decision to help might have saved Sam’s life and in turn may change the fate of the fleet. Another minor character, Aaron, was instrumental in the coup’s failure. First, he let Tyrol escape (which eventually led to Tyrol disabling the FTL drives) and he told Starbuck and Lee that they were about to execute the Admiral. Without Aaron’s crisis of conscience, the coup might have succeeded.

Speaking of Tyrol, he saw some black marks in the engine room. I’m not sure what it was all about, but don’t be surprised if it comes up again in a future episode.

The last thing I want to discuss relates to the “scenes from next week,” which CONTAIN MAJOR SPOILERS for those still wondering about the true identity of the final Cylon. So stop reading if you don’t want to spoil the surprise.

Are they gone? Good.

Well, if we’re to believe the scenes from next week, Ellen is indeed the final Cylon. They refer to her as the final Cylon, show her coming back to life (I thought the hub was destroyed?) and they say that she “knows everything.” I’m still bummed that she’s the final Cylon — I always found the character annoying as hell, but hey, it is what it is, right?

Also, I wanted to share this excerpt from an interview with Aaron Douglas (who plays Tyrol) from last October:

“The four that were revealed at the end of season 3 are what they are, but they’re one-offs,” he points out. “They’re the original Cylons. Hundreds of thousands of years ago, when there were 13 colonies on Kobol, 12 went that way and one went that way to find Earth - or create an Earth - and that colony was actually Cylons. They’re individuals, there’s no multiple models. The seven that we know are a different kind of Cylon that came much later. They’re probably ten, 20 years old, born out of the metal machines that fought back 40 years ago in the Cylon wars of the 12 colonies. So they’re essentially like the gods. And we were on the new Earth, and destroyed that and came back to the 12 colonies to rejoin humanity to find out the cycle of time.”

We knew that the bones on Earth were 100% Cylon, but Douglas is confirming that there were never any humans there to begin with. The 13th colony was Cylon and presumably, the other 12 colonies knew that when they parted ways.

Or did they?

Hmm.

Of all the major events in the great run of “Battlestar Galactica,” Dualla’s death was one of the most shocking. She recently sat down with Sci-Fi Wire for an interview about her character’s suicide.

What was your reaction when you actually got the script and it said something along the lines of “Dualla puts gun to temple and pulls trigger”?

McClure: I was floored. I think I was just as floored reading it as I’m sure people [were] seeing it. It’s such a personal and violent and shocking way to go, not only for her, but for the implications for the people around her. Suicide is a difficult topic at the best of times. People see it as being an ultimate act of selfishness on one end, but certainly from the research that I did and the people that I spoke to, there are so many different reasons that people get to that point. But I think for Dee it was just the ultimate act of surrender and the final act of control over her own life. She really wanted to find some kind of peace.

As far as you know, will we learn any more about why she took her own life? In other words, will someone read out loud a will or a suicide note she left behind?

McClure: So far as I know, no. So far as I know, that was it. She couldn’t see any way of ever finding any happiness for herself. That’s no good. Her husband [Jamie Bamber] is still in love with someone else. He’s turned his back on one of the things that joined them together, being in the military and that sense of duty towards the military and his father [Adm. Adama, played by Edward James Olmos] in particular. But I think that was it. It’s her final peace. It’s a very human reaction to a situation like that. Of course, I imagine that Dualla was not the only one on the ship, and certainly not the first one during the course of the whole saga, to choose that way out. I considered it kind of a strange honor to hold that archetype, to say, “Yeah, this is a very human thing. This is what human beings may choose to do.”

I missed “Dee” almost instantly. In many ways, she represented the sweetness and innocence of the human spirit, and she was beaten down by all that the fleet had to go through since the Cylon attack on the colonies. It’s nice to hear McClure, the person closest to this character, explain why Dualla took her own life.

Man, after three and a half seasons of following this ragtag fleet around space, it’s sure hard to watch them tear themselves apart. Like most mutinies, this episode was brutal. The survival of the human race is already teetering on the edge of the abyss, but now there’s a civil war brewing and things are getting ugly.

At the center of the coup is Gaeta, and Alessandro Juliani really shined in this episode. It was fun to watch him orchestrate the uprising from the CIC, throwing a little comment in here and there in order to get the Admiral to do what he wanted. It wasn’t until Bill sent the private down to take a look that Gaeta had to make his move and overtake the command center. It was a brilliant (if devious) plan.

This episode felt like one from the first couple of seasons where the show would get bogged down in minutiae, but given the limited number of episodes remaining (7), there’s no guarantee that Bill and Roslin will emerge unscathed as the leadership of the fleet. In fact, both of their lives are in danger — Bill has to survive a grenade blast and Roslin has a viper on her tail. This brings me to one of my problems with this episode: I don’t like unnecessary sacrifice. Never have. There was no reason for Bill and Tigh to stay on Galactica other than to show how big their balls are. They didn’t do anything to delay the troops from entering the hanger and the raptor would have gotten away with or without Butch and Sundance on board. Now, it may work out in the end — i.e. Bill does something on Galactica to save Roslin’s life on the raptor — but it still doesn’t make Bill’s decision to stay the right one.

The other problem with this episode was Gaeta’s failure to account for the President. Lee and Starbuck were able to walk right up to her door — no marines — and take her to safety. Didn’t Gaeta have a plan to capture Roslin? Didn’t he and Zarek want to tie up that loose end so that she wouldn’t…um…I don’t know…escape and find a way to broadcast a speech to the entire fleet? You could see Gaeta’s frustration as he finally isolated her wireless signal and ended her speech. Given how smoothly his plan was executed, the failure to deal with Roslin feels more like a plot hole than a misstep by Felix.

Otherwise, the episode moved the plot forward quickly and was suspenseful throughout. It’s tough to watch members of the fleet kill each other off, but it makes sense that there’s a sub-section that is still harboring distrust and resentment towards the Cylons. After all, it wasn’t long ago that these same Cylons killed billions of humans back on Caprica and the other colonies.

When I was a kid, one of my favorite miniseries was “V,” the story about an alien invasion of Earth. I remember thinking that it was the coolest thing I had seen since “Star Wars.” I watched it again a few years ago and thought it was brutal. Ah, the innocence of childhood!

Anyhoo, according to Variety, ABC has given the go-ahead to a pilot that will re-imagine the ’80s miniseries.

New adaptation of the franchise was written by “The 4400″ co-creator/exec producer Scott Peters. Peters is aboard to exec produce along with HDFilms principal Jason Hall. Warner Bros. TV, which was behind the original longform, is producing.

The new “V” centers on Erica Evans, a Homeland Security agent with an aimless son. When the aliens arrive, her son gloms on to them — causing tension within the family.

Like the original, show centers on visitors who say they’ve come to help the Earth — but their motives are nefarious.

“Battlestar Galactica” has set the bar for re-imagined series and I have a feeling that the new version of “V” will be a disappointment. I could never get into “The 4400″ — and I love sci-fi — so Scott Peters’ involvement doesn’t fill me with warm, fuzzy feelings. Also, ABC has already bailed on a good alien invasion story — “Invasion” — that had a great cast, so I don’t have confidence that the network knows how to make this kind of story work.

But then again, they gave us “Lost,” so you never know.

Politics has always played a major role in this series, but lately it has taken a back seat to the more spiritual storylines as the fleet sought out Earth. But as is often the case, when there’s a spiritual crisis, there are people who would seek to capitalize and attempt to seize power, and that’s just what Tom Zarek tried to do this week.

The disagreement revolved around an FTL upgrade that would require Cylons to board all of the ships in the fleet. The upgrade would (at least) triple the chances of the fleet finding a suitable planet to colonize, but the Cylons want full citizenship in return. Zarek and his supporters don’t want the any part of a permanent alliance with the Cylons.

Strictly speaking, this felt like a setup episode, and was a bit tedious at times. However, there were a couple of major plot points. First, we learned that Tyrol is not Nicholas’ father. I thought for a moment that the father would turn out to be another major (or minor) character, but it turned out to be some dude we’ve never seen before a very minor character, Hot Dog, so it was kind of a letdown. I wonder if this was the plan all along with Nicholas or if it was a last-minute decision by the creators to wrap up his storyline.

The other major revelation was Gaeta’s decision to align himself with Zarek. After Bill nimbly tricked Zarek into giving up the position of the fuel ship, I thought the politicking might be over for a while, but it looks as if Gaeta intends to lead some sort of an uprising. It’s kind of surprising, really – Felix has never been all that popular with the crew, but now he’s going to rally the troops? It just seems odd is all.

Meanwhile, it appears that Roslin has checked out. Given the show’s penchant for twists and turns, it has always been in the back of my mind that she was in fact not the “dying leader� that found a home for the fleet. It will be interesting to see how this storyline shakes out, because more and more it looks as if Bill is taking over control of the fleet’s direction.

Two more things about this episode…

- I loved Baltar’s line at the beginning of his speech: “Are you all just children? Well, obviously, you’re a child.�

- Something is going on with the nurse in the infirmary. When Tigh and Six were looking at the ultrasound and talking about the “future of the Cylon race,� the nurse was looking awfully suspicious. It’s possible that her reaction was meant to characterize the uncertainty of the fleet about its association with the enemy, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if she tries to do something to Six’s baby.

It wasn’t a bad episode; it was just kind of slow and lacking drama. Based on the scenes from next week, it looks like things will pick up very soon.

This should go without saying, but do NOT read further if you haven’t yet seen the premiere of the second half of the fourth season. There are MAJOR spoilers ahead.

To prepare for last night’s premiere, I re-watched “The Hub” and “Revelations” just to get back in the “Battlestar Galactica” groove. When the fleet finally jumped to Earth, and started to celebrate, an old hip-hop song from the ’80s — “Joy & Pain” by Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock — popped into my head. (By the way, I guarantee you that this is the only “BG” blog that is going to reference a Rob Base song.) I was sad for the fleet knowing what was in store for them on Earth. I still feel like the final trip to Earth was rushed, but the creators wanted to get that plot point in before the first half finale, and I don’t blame them.

So where do we go from here?

First off, I was conflicted when I saw that Dualla played such a prominent role in the “previously on” scenes before the start of the premiere. Once it started, and she was getting major screen time after being largely ignored for most of the fourth season, I figured either she was going to be revealed as the 5th Cylon or that she was going to die…soon. Dualla has always been one of my favorite characters on the show. She’s so damn sweet and cute, and she was always loyal to the man she loved. In many ways, she represented human innocence and optimism, and the fact that she blew her brains out after looking at her childhood picture (and babysitting for Hera — don’t forget that) speaks volumes about the state of the human fleet right now. They put all of their eggs in one basket — Earth — but those eggs have the avian bird flu. R.I.P. Dualla…you will be missed. (By the way, that was a great piece of acting by Kandyse McClure.)

Some time passes and researchers on Earth determine that the planet went through a nuclear holocaust 2,000 years ago. They also dig up Cylon components (unlike any they have seen before) and bones that turn out to be 100% Cylon. Tyrol has a flashback of his life on Earth when the nuclear strike hits. Apparently, he, Anders, Tory and Tigh all have memories of living on Earth two milennia ago. Anders remembers playing “All Along the Watchtower” for a girl, so since that’s a contemporary song, it would seem to imply that this version of “Battlestar Galactica” takes place 2,000 years in our future. If that’s the case, if 100% of the bones are Cylon, then I’m inferring that we are Cylon.

There are load of religious implications to this — are the creators saying that we are reborn somewhere else when we die in the same way that Cylon skinjobs do? Is that our heaven/afterlife? Were all the Cylons on Earth capable of being reborn or just the final five?

This brings me to the giant elephant sitting in the room — and to be honest, I don’t really want to think about it…Ellen is (apparently) the final Cylon. Ellen Tigh. Saul’s drunk whore of a wife. Ellen is the fifth. Ellen.

Surprising? Yes. Out of left field? Sure. A bit disappointing? Hell yeah.

Keep in mind, this is based solely on Saul’s memory of the holocaust. She said that they would be reborn together, but that sounds like something any human could say to their spouse if they were facing imminent death. Then again, the fact that he’s having memories of her at all — that she in fact lived on Earth 2,000 years ago — would imply that she is indeed the final Cylon.

But I’m not sold that she is the fifth, especially in light of what Starbuck found on Earth (and how quickly they revealed it). However, it seems like with the timing of Saul’s flashback, that’s exactly what we’re supposed to believe. And it may in fact be the truth. But it also might be Saul wanting Ellen to be the fifth. Until we see her alive and well, I’m going to be skeptical.

And that’s mainly due to Starbuck, who finds a corpse on Earth that has flowing locks of blond hair and her ring/dog tags around its neck. Couldn’t she be the fifth?

Grrr.

I’m interested to hear what other viewers out there think about this episode. Are you sold on Ellen as the fifth? Or is it Starbuck or someone else? Is there some other explanation?

And where does the fleet go from here?

(FYI, I’m normally going to post this blog sometime on Saturday morning.)

There are a number of new (and returning) shows making their season debuts this month. Here is a list of the scripted shows that premiere in the next two weeks (through 1/19):

SCRUBS (ABC)
1/6/09 at 9:00 PM & 9:30 PM
8th season premiere

NIP/TUCK (FX)
1/6/09 at 10:00 PM
5th season winter premiere

10 ITEMS OR LESS (TBS)
1/6/09 at 11:00 PM
3rd season premiere

DAMAGES (FX)
1/7/09 at 10:00 PM
2nd season premiere

For months, we’ve been pondering on this blog about what state Earth would be in when the fleet finally found it. But my own personal light bulb didn’t go on until about halfway through this episode – which was called “Revelations� – when I thought about the apocalyptic nature of that part of the Bible, and I said to myself, Earth is probably going to be a nuclear wasteland.

You could just feel the weight of this looming unknown as the fleet made its final jump to Earth and its descent to the planet. (On a side note, it was a big surprise that they jumped to Earth at the end of this set of episodes. I thought for sure that the remaining 10 episodes would be dedicated to the final journey to Earth, as the fleet tried to hold together an alliance with the Cylons.) The truce with the Cylons happened about two-thirds the way through the episode, so with that much time remaining, it was clear that the creators had a big revelation in store for us. Given all the positive vibes when the fleet found Earth, there was no way that the final revelation would be a good one. This show is too dark for that.

“It has all happened before and it will happen again.�

So are we to believe that this cycle continues over and over? The human race started elsewhere (or Earth, I guess), developed enough technology to colonize other planets (or Earth, I guess), then created Cylons, which eventually turned on the humans and chased them back to Earth, which has already been destroyed by the humans living there? Now the human fleet will (possibly) colonize Earth again, build everything back up, and the cycle will continue, over and over? Is this what the hybrid meant when it told Cara that she would lead the humans to their doom? To make things even more interesting, there’s a photo on the show’s homepage that is clearly meant to resemble Leonardo Da Vinci’s painting, The Last Supper.

All right, as for the rest of the episode… I thought it was great. The final four revealed themselves pretty quickly, which was a little surprising, but it was interesting to see each relationship change. Adama had a breakdown trying to deal with the truth about Tigh and there was a huge shift in power between Roslin and Torry. It was especially compelling to watch Tigh struggle with his conscience and ultimately make the decision to reveal his true identity. Then Baltar had to step in on the basestar and negotiate with D’Anna on the behalf of what was left of humanity.

So where do we go from here? We have a planet that looks pretty fracking unlivable and we still don’t know the identity of the final Cylon. Will the fleet still colonize Earth? Will we find out what happened there? Will the final Cylon take the fleet to some other Promised Land?

This show is slated for another 10 episodes and I have no idea where it’s headed.