Buoyed by the success of the NUTS to CBS Jericho campaign in which fans sent 40,000 pounds of nuts to CBS headquarters in New York and Los Angeles and got an abbreviated seven-episode second season of their beloved show, fans of The 4400 settled upon another edible with a long shelf life: sunflower seeds.

The group has a web site, MySpace page, LiveJournal blog, online petition and more.

Here’s the deal: buy seeds at your local stor or through GiantSeeds.com ($5 and they’ll be gathered together for a big shipment). As of Feb. 1, send them and a polite letter to:

Bonnie Hammer
USA NETWORK
30 Rockefeller Plaza
21st Floor
New York, NY 10112

Then do it again, as often as you can each day for a week.

Future skirmish dates will be announced, as necessary.

Why sunflower seeds? Because Kevin Burkhoff lamented in “Tiny Machines” (a great episode, by the way) that his Promise City captors wouldn’t even allow him his favorite snack.

As I previously reported, sunflower seeds will be their weapon of choice, selected because of Kevin Burkhoff’s lament in “Tiny Machines” that while he was being held in Promise City, they didn’t even give him sunflower seeds.

Savethe400.net has been set up as a clearinghouse for all the info you need to know to help in the effort, including a link to the petition, the MySpace page, the LiveJournal blog, and NutsOnline — the company that helped Jericho Rangers save their show from extinction and who The 4400s hope will be their good-luck charm.

The shipping address:
Bonnie Hammer
USA Network
30 Rockefeller Plaza
21st Floor
New York, NY 10112

The idea of Feb. 1 was to give fans enough time to get their acts together (the original date was Jan. 2, too soon after the holidays) and also to set a date when a concentrated barrage could begin.

What made the Jericho “Nuts to CBS” campaign so successful was the continued shipments of nuts, along with unrelenting (but polite) letters/e-mails/faxes/phone calls.

Can lightning (or edible goodies with a long shelf life) strike twice?

Stay tuned.

Seattle became Promise City by the end of Season 4.

Maybe 30 Rock can become Sunflower City before we’re done.

Fans of The 4400 — myself among them — were disappointed, although not totally shocked, when we heard the news the other week that the show had been canceled. It had been months, after all, since the season finale aired and still no news on whether there’d be a new season. What were they waiting for?

So the fans are striking out. There have been discussions of sending sunflower seeds, a la the Jericho Nuts campaign. Why sunflower seeds? When Kevin Burkhoff was rescued from Promise City, he made a comment that his captors hadn’t even allowed him the seeds. So some fans are urging others to order the seeds through NutsOnline and send them to USA:

USA Network
30 Rockefeller Plaza
21st Floor
New York, NY 10112

The mailing date is Jan. 2. The idea is that if all fans send them the same day, there would be a deluge at USA’s HQ. If it works, future dates can be chosen for more letter/sunflower seed barrages.

What the heck? For the price of a few stamps (and NutsOnline sells the seeds in the shell for $1.99 a pound), maybe you can help save a show that’s very well worth saving.

(I’m still more than a little ticked off about The 4400 being killed off, can you tell?)

The shows come back next month for their seventh and third seasons, respectively, Monk and Psych will still air first on USA, but then in March they’ll air Sunday nights on NBC.

Sorry, I can’t really say anymore. I’m sure these are lovely shows; I’ve only heard good things about them. But grrrr (imagine me shaking my fist), USA.

This horrible (yet kind) note has appeared on the message boards for The 4400:

To all the wonderful fans of The 4400
It’s with great sadness that I pass along to you the information I’ve just received—The 4400 has been cancelled. We’ve had a great time bringing you this story and submersing you in the lives of all these incredible characters. Thank you especially to the folks on the board here whose tireless devotion to the show is nothing short of remarkable.
...
But at least we got to go out with a bang! I had an awesome time directing the last episode. I think I got to make almost every single cast member cry (on camera). How much fun was that?! So let me raise my metaphorical glass to you all and thank you for being so loyal and so dedicated. I wish we could go on forever, but the party has come to an end. Be well and on behalf of all of us at The 4400—thank you, it’s been a pleasure.
Scott Peters
Creator / Executive Producer
The 4400

That, my friends, is class.

(By the way, word also is that The Dead Zone also has been canceled. I always meant to watch, but didn’t. I understand it was quite good. My condolences to its fans.)

I hadn’t watched The 4400 from the beginning; I was a latecomer. But shortly before Season 3, I watched one of those marathons (via DVR) and got caught up on Seasons 1 and 2 and was totally hooked.

The characters were so richly written. The plot intriguing. The acting, fabulous.

In fact, I wrote more than once during last summer’s fourth season that Joel Gretsch and Megalyn Echikunwoke both were acting their fannies off. I’m sure they won’t be nominated for Emmy awards, but each is more than deserving of one.

The scene where Diana draws a bead on Tom AND THEN PULLS THE TRIGGER? Wow.

Promise City? The Marked? Cassie? What will become of all these? What power does Tom develop when he takes the shot? (You just know that, eventually, he will. Or maybe not. Does he? I need to know!!!!)

I find it horrible that NBC Universal/USA Network pulled the plug, but I find it even worse that it took until now for them to say so. The last episode aired back in September.

At least the show’s creators were able to bring the show to a close on their own terms — with an episode that could serve as either a season- or series-ender.

A moment of silence, please.

Photos courtesy of NBC Universal.

• Variety reports that NBC is considering using substitute hosts to replace its latenight stars. Non-writing staff on the shows were told they’d be laid off in two weeks if the strike lasted longer than that.
• TVWeek says that CBS News could be affected by the strike. More than 500 CBS News employees are members of the Writers Guild of America; they’re scheduled to vote Thursday on whether to strike. They range from news writers and editors to desk assistants, promotion writers and researchers in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington and have been working without a contract since April 2005 and without a raise since April 2004.
• Variety talked to the TV Academy (the Emmy folks), and reports that it’s too soon to tell how a prolonged strike might affect them. Apparently, a show must have aired six episodes to be eligible. Most fall shows have already aired that many — or nearly that many. Most mid-season replacements have that many in the can. Variety says, however, that some cable series could benefit from having their regular length seasons (usually 13) already aired or in the can, while the regular broadcast network shows will have had shorter seasons than that. Hmm. Emmys for Battlestar Galactica? The 4400?
• TVWeek reports that some daytime shows — Live with Regis and Kelly and The View — are strike-proof because they “aim for an unscripted, unrehearsed, anything-can-happen atmosphere.” Regis has no WGA writers and The View has a few professional standup comediennes (Whoopie, Joy Behar and Sherry Shepherd) who know how to get by without a script. Soaps on the three networks apparently have scripts written “well ahead and are said to be capable of shooting original episodes for another two or three months.”

As previously reported, 24 kicks off from 8-10 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 13. I wondered, though, why it was only one hour, 9-10 p.m., on Jan. 14, it’s regular Monday timeslot. All is now clear: Sarah Connor will be kicking Terminator butt for an hour before Jack comes back to kick … someone else’s butt.

Here’s what Fox has to say about the show (which is alternately called Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles):

Again facing relentless Terminators that will stop at nothing until John Connor, the future leader of the resistance, is eliminated, Sarah Connor stops running and starts fighting back against fate and the machines that are out for her son…

The show stars Lena Headey as Sarah and Thomas Dekker (you may recognize him as Claire’s friend Zack from Heroes’ Season 1) as John Connor.

As fugitives from the law, they are confronted by the ever-evolving technological enemy bent on destroying their lives, and perhaps the world. Balancing his inevitable fate as the possible savior of mankind and his current life as an ordinary high school student, John must learn what it takes to become the future leader of the people’s resistance.

John’s one friend in the world is Cameron, played by one of our favorite sci-fi gals, Summer Glau (Tess of The 4400, River of Firefly and Serenity). Of course, she’s more than she appears to be; she is his protector, yet another Terminator, but of the good variety.

Also starring is Richard T. Jones as “intelligent and tough” FBI Agent James Ellison who’s trying to track them down but, maybe, could end up becoming “a powerful ally.”

NOTE: For those of you freaking out that Prison Break isn’t returning in January, have no fear. Fox says Prison Break will have its fall finale on Dec. 17, then return to the 8 p.m. Monday timeslot on April 14, once again paired with Jack Bauer and Co.

Photo courtesy of Fox. 

According to a release from the network, the show will begin production in Vancouver early next year.

The channel also gave the OK for another season of “its investigative reality hit” Destination Truth.

I’ve never watched Destination Truth, described as such:

Every week, Josh Gates, a world adventurer and eager truth-seeker, and his small crew of production buddies visits a different destination around the world that is home to notorious supernatural and mysterious stories, such as the Chilean Chupacabra, as well as some lesser-known phenomena like the dinosaur-like creatures reported in the skies over Papua, New Guinea, a haunted village in Thailand, and the Wolfman of Argentina. Josh searches for evidence to either prove or debunk these stories by talking to witnesses and experts and immersing himself in the local culture.

It actually sounds kind of interesting (better than Ghost Hunters!) and I might give it a shot one of these days…

But I’m quite pleased about the Eureka pickup.

The show has had some really nice dramatic, tender moments, but has found a really nice balance with the comedy of a cop’s cop who finds himself sheriff of a small town in the Pacific Northwest. This town, however, is where the nation’s greatest minds work on all sorts of experiments, from on-the-spot super dry cleaning to invisibility. Hijinks ensue.

Of course, it turns out good old regular-IQ Sheriff Carter is the only one who sees things clearly when it comes to various crimes or weirdness, as the case may be, and he manages to get to the bottom of everything. At the same time, he’s trying to raise his rather rebellious teenage daughter, who’s finally starting to get her act together and stop being angry about her parents splitting.

But it’s well-acted and well-written and just pretty darn fun. The only thing I really didn’t like about Season 2 was that Matt Frewer’s Taggart was almost completely MIA. That guy was a hoot and a half. And his budding relationship with Jo (Erica Cerra, a Canadian actress who’s shown up in other favorites of mine, The 4400 and Battlestar Galactica — oh, and she was “Goth Vixen Wannabe” in Blade: Trinity) promised much good humor.

And how can you not heart Fargo?

Still no word on another season of The 4400, though. Keep your fingers crossed.

In some ways, it did wrap things up a little too neatly. They sure got Evil Future Person out of Tom rather quickly and managed to save Jordan Just In Time.

But that’s OK. Let’s be honest here — would you have wanted Tom to stay an EFP? Or even have Jordan become a EFP? I thought not; neither would I. So I can live with it.

I never thought I’d be sad to see Isabelle die, but I was.

Megalyn Echikunwoke once again acted her socks off, once again becoming the truly evil Isabelle we all knew and hated. But in the end, she realized she did have a choice and when it came to killing the man she loved and who loved her right back, despite all the bad things she’d done in her life, she just couldn’t do it.

The old Isabelle could have (remember what she did to Shawn?) killed Kyle. She knew she was giving up her life to save others, and she did so completely willingly. She even killed Sherry Palmer Rebecca Parrish.

Overall, the finale really set up the next season (haven’t heard anything yet, but there’d better be one!). The 4400s and government are going to have to (finally) learn to work together. No more of this “you take promicin and you’re a criminal” nonsense. The present can’t live without the 4400s any longer. They’ve reached the tipping point, and Shawn’s brother, Danny, brought them there.

Speaking of, poor Shawn. One by one, he’s lost everyone who ever meant anything to him. All he has left are Tom and Kyle. It was really nice to see Shawn and Kyle make up. They were always like brothers, and it was sad that they couldn’t see eye-to-eye on Jordan.

And Jordan, well, I’m glad he’s not an EFP and he’s going to make up with Shawn to “cure” the other Marked. The question, now, is whether the EFPs can find some other way to come back to the past. One would think they could.

Why do they believe promicin is so bad? Are they the descendants of those who did not take the shot because it would have been fatal and so hate the Positives who have come to rule their world? Are the Positives truly the good people (it seems apparent that the EFPs are, indeed, evil, but does that mean the Positives are, indeed, good?)?

Now, you know that the Positives won’t just give up control of Seattle (foreshadowed in the “Welcome to Seattle Promise City” sign at the city limits). What is the place for NTAC in this city’s future? Now that everyone (except Diana and, until he takes the shot, Tom) left at NTAC is a Positive, how can they continue along the same path?

I liked seeing the NTAC folks’ new powers. Marco can teleport? Garrity can clone himself? Meghan can … turn things into flowers? OK, that one was weird. Though if the feds try to nuke Seattle, she can probably turn the bomb into a shower of daisies.

Kind of a bummer that Diana won’t/cant have a power. How creepy was it, though, when Maia said she was glad Jordan had prevailed, “We’re in charge now.”

I don’t think we had nearly enough of Maia this season, but she totally made up for it with that one scene last night. At least, I thought so.

As for Meghan, she was the surprise of the season. Totally expected her to turn out to be bad; instead she seems to be looking at things from the right angle. She doesn’t seem to see in black and white only; she sees all the shades of gray, and they trouble her. As they should.

A last note: The fact that Joel Gretsch and Megalyn won’t be nominated next year for Emmy awards for their performances this summer is just criminal.

Episode 6 of Jericho’s Season 2 will be directed by Scott Peters, according to the official Jericho production blog.

Who’s he? None other than the creator of The 4400.

In other news, the Jericho crew goes through 15 to 20 pots of coffee and 25 cases of bottled water a day.

Let’s face it. Up until now, their characters, while not one-dimensional, were rather (well-acted and) predictable.

Tom Baldwin, though torn between his love for his 4400 wife and nephew and what the future folks did to his son, plus his job, has always been a wee bit predictable. He always, in the end, does the Right Thing. He loves his country and his family and wants to make sure he does the best he can for both.

But Tom with Evil Future Person inside him is a revelation. He really is acting like a totally different person. When he’s with other EFPs, he’s very clearly one of them. When he’s with Diana or Meghan or other regular ol’ NTAC folks, he’s very clearly trying to be just good old Tom.

As for Isabelle, she rather quickly evolved from a little girl all grown up into the evil Isabelle. But even as she was innocent and trying to be good, she too easily enjoyed the bad side of her.

New Isabelle actually has enjoyed her time as a good person. She very clearly is being Bad because that’s the only way to save her father—her father who sacrificed so much just for the sake of his little girl. Even by being the one to take away her powers because he’d failed at helping Isabelle stay Good.

Not that there’s really any love lost between her and Jordan. Somewhere inside her brain, she remembers how much he tried to manipulate her parents when she was still in utero. And Jordan never really trusted the new and improved Isabelle.

I’m sure they will be overlooked, but both Joel and Megalyn deserve Emmy nods next year.

Anyway, back to the show.

So Jordan has now been infected with the Tiny Machines and will become an EFP. Will he? Will his ability enable him to cleanse himself of the nanites (I suspect not)? How will he be able to explain his escape and return to the 4400s? Of course, they don’t know about the EFPs, so that might be easier than I’d assume.

Is Kyle going to be his first victim?

I tend to think not, if for no other reason than, whoa! Cassie is totally bad. Why do I suspect that some of the powers people are getting now might have been developed by the EFPs? Or is it just that some people’s brain chemistry causes the powers they develop to be more bad than good? Cassie brought Kyle to Isabelle and to Jordan. She basically set the whole thing up. What exactly is Cassie? And will Kyle be so caught up in the idea of having so much power that he won’t care?

Other random thoughts:
• Who knew Diana had it in her to shoot her best friend in the chest, point blank? I know they’re going to bring him to Shawn, hoping he can heal Tom. But can Shawn heal the nanites out of Tom? Are they going to irradiate Tom first, and then have Shawn try to heal him? Given that Shawn can now heal mental illness, he’s obviously far more powerful than ever before. Perhaps he can.
• How about Shawn’s brother? Show of hands if you think his power is what caused his mother to start bleeding from, well, everywhere. Irony, him gaining a power that’s the exact opposite of Shawn. But can he control it? Who’ll be able to get close enough to him to inject him with the promicin inhibitor to stop him from killing folks? Or will he take it willingly, just so he can stop hurting others? All he really wanted was to be just like his big brother and at every turn he’s just been thwarted.
• Meghan. I’m really not sure what to think of her. Though I still think there’s more to her than her just being the new head of NTAC and Tom’s lover, my opinion of her has totally changed. There’s no way she’s working with The Marked. Is she totally good? Jury’s still out. But she’s done nothing so far to indicate she’s not trying to do the best job she can while hurting as few people as possible.
• More Maia! She’s had so little to do so far this season. She’s always been a really well-developed character, and we’ve seen so little of her this season. What we have seen of her has been so much window dressing. There’s been no Maia-centric plot (last night was the closest we’ve come so far this season), no major visions. She’s mostly just been a pretty well-behaved pre-teen. Bad hair last night. Looks much better straight. It was a wee bit too frizzy last night for my taste.
• How much do you love Kevin and Tess? I mean, really? Awww. (And how cool did Tess look when the door came crashing off its frame and she was standing there, silhouetted in the doorway? She kind of brought to mind the good Terminatrix she’ll be playing this winter/spring in The Sarah Connor Chronicles.)

First, of course, you have the guy in the coma who’s screwing with the computer systems of Ubient, the fictional equivalent of Microsoft. He’s the “real” ghost in the machine.

But then you have Tom Baldwin and Ubient’s founder and CEO, Drew Imroth. They are the true ghosts in the machine, inhabited by Evil Future People.

Have I mentioned that Joel Gretsch is acting his pants off? I no longer even see him as Tom Baldwin. What I’m curious about, though, is how, exactly, the Evil Future People manage to extract the essence of their fellow Evil People from the dead vessels that once were not-so-bad people. We already knew they could, as Tom is home to the same baddie who led Isabelle down the road to Evilness previously.

The fact that she has a fail-safe switch inside her makes me wonder about the “last tests” they had to give her before releasing her. Was that administration representative one of the Marked (or at least working for them?). It makes me think that Kyle is totally being used by the Evil Future People, too. (OK, I’m just going to refer to them as the EFP now.)

OK, I’m just all over the place on this one, so I’m going to back up and try to spell out what I think is happening.

Kyle’s “ability” is Cassie, his red-headed familiar. She gained his trust by helping him save Shawn. She made him believe and snag the book that contained the prophecy of Jordan Collier.

She led him to Isabelle and to Jordan and to Richard Tyler. She helped him get Jordan to trust her so that upon her return to being P-positive he wouldn’t suspect anything.

Now, she made it clear to Kyle that getting Richard Tyler captured was only Part I of rescuing Isabelle. But his being in custody is the weapon the EFP can use against Isabelle, threatening his life if she doesn’t cooperate.

But is Cassie an EFP herself? Is Kyle’s ability merely the ability to communicate with EFP and Cassie’s the one they’ve chosen to speak to him? What exactly is Kyle’s ability?

This is all quite interesting, and baffling.

Other thoughts:
• Maia’s visits to Promise City to visit her parents are definitely going to cause problems with Diana. And exactly what are her parents? Is Lindsey Hammond projecting them? If not, who is?
• Jordan’s completely gone over the cliff. Kidnapping Kevin to keep him from developing a test just so no one will be prevented from taking promicin? You know that Tess is coming to Promise City next week. Go Shawn! Loved it when he instructed his secretary/whatever she is to get a hold of our favorite former schizophrenic.
• Diana and Meghan—I called it. I know, some still suspect Meghan of EFP connections, but I really don’t think so. And I had accused her of it from the beginning, so I’m no pollyanna. Could Meghan still be partly bad, perhaps connected to Ryland, as poster Mike suggested last week? Mayhaps. But a member of the Marked? I don’t think so. That scene with them and with Tom at the end of the episode was beyond creepy.
• Tom—Kyle saw something in his father that disturbed him. You could see it in his face when they were all standing around in Promise City. Diana and Meghan know something’s not quite right. Is there any way to reverse the injection of an EFP? Can they ever get Tom back or is he gone for good?
• How cute is Marco for suddenly dressing like he’s out of GQ with the help of new geek/hottie Abagail?

Unfortunately, we’ve gotta wait two more weeks for the answers.

Then we get “Tiny Machines” on Sept. 9 (Spoiler alert: Curtis Peck, writer of the movie “The Marked,” is in this one, and Tess indeed is back and in P.C.) and then the season finale (already?!?!), “The Great Leap Forward” on Sept. 16. I’m not going to spoil that for you, but if you want details about what’s going to happen in that episode, check this site out (not really bad spoilers, just enough for you to know what’s going to happen without knowing what’s going to happen).

And that’s a shame, as the last two episodes have been truly great. The return of Richard Tyler, his efforts to restart his life with a baby Isabelle, his hallucination of Lily; all terrific. Richard Tyler was one of the most interesting of the original 4400s, a true fish out of water, on a level similar to Maia’s difficult readjustment to society.

But the true star of these two episodes was Tom Baldwin/Joel Gretsch. His slow transformation into one of the Evil Men of the Future was a testament to Joel’s acting chops. And how great was it to see one of the truly evil women of television, Penny Johnson Jerald (the conniving Sherry Palmer of 24, just one of her memorable roles), as another baddie?

Because I have so much to catch up on, I’ll be brief.

I think it’s clear that the man who once occupied the body of Matthew Ross back in season 2 is the man occupying Tom Baldwin’s body now. His goal is to get Isabelle back into his clutches (seems to be working so far), and I’m supposing the bad future folks have some sort of way to reintroduce promicin into Isabelle’s system without killing her.

How long will it take Isabelle to figure this out is the question. She’s a smart girl/woman/mutant.

Speaking of, I think it will become abundantly clear to many that this is not their Tom Baldwin next week after he tries to kill Kyle. At his character’s core has always been his unconditional love of his son; he’s been conflicted in his relationship with him, but he’s always loved him and would never hurt him. Diana and Meghan (who I now don’t believe is working with the Marked) are going to figure this out and work together to try to save Tom, I believe. Just my guess, though.

Isabelle, having been given a second chance to do the right thing by Jordan and Kyle, won’t so easily turn on them. But with her father’s freedom at stake, she might yet do it.

I’m so bummed that Lily was just a figment of Richard’s imagination. I loved their relationship and Lily was so sweet and real.

But didn’t we all wonder exactly how it was that Richard and Lily had a baby together?

Shawn’s ability to cure Tess of her schizophrenia is wonderful. I love Summer Glau and I want her to continue to appear on The 4400 (Sarah Connor Chronicles notwithstanding). Taking away her mental illness opens up her character to a whole new world and actually enables her character to grow. And she and Kevin can move forward together, too.

Very interesting plot point with Jordan believing the only way to move forward is for half the people on the planet to die. He always said he only wanted people to take promicin if they wanted to. What he didn’t say was that he wanted everyone to want to and didn’t care if half of them died. He truly believes that’s better than having two classes of people – positive and negative.

Of course, that brings us back to Tom Baldwin. We already know he can survive the shot — Kyle’s prophesy says so. And now Tom’s body is occupied by Evil Future Man. Now one of the Marked will be able to take promicin with a guarantee of being able to survive (and he’s not such a public figure that it would be a scandal if he took it, like some of the other Marked are). He’ll be able to develop an ability, bringing them on an equal footing with The 4400.

This season is careering toward an incredible finish.

That’s not to say there hasn’t been some highlights and even some spectacular shows.

• Damages, for one, has been the big surprise. We generally shy away from cop/lawyer shows (though my hubby’s hooked on FX’s The Shield and HBO’s The Wire is simply one of the best shows ever to grace the small screen), but we had to give this one a chance. Fantabulous. The acting, the script, everything about it is terrific. Though I’m tiring of the serialized drama with a mystery, I’m totally hooked.

• The 4400 had a slow start but the last couple of episodes have been fantastic, completely true to form and really getting at the central core of the show’s mystery. Joel Gretsch’s transformation from good-guy cop/federal agent to evil man from the future was creepy as hell.

• Kyle XY is goofy, fun, mysterious and sappy without making you want to puke.

• Mad Men is seriously well-written and -acted and probably has one of the most realistic portrayals of how women were used and used men in the 1950s. Too bad that’s also why I can’t bring myself to watch it. Everytime the women in the secretarial pool are referred to as “girls,” I get ticked off all over again. Never mind the rest of it. But good job, folks.

• John From Cincinnati — I wanted to like this show. I really, really, really did. I even loved some of the performances. (Ed O’Neill, I’ll watch whatever show you’re on next.) But in the end? Just did not care enough to both watching the entire run, deleting about four or five hours worth of the show off my DVR. The good news is, that got us below 70 percent of our storage capacity.

• Big Love. Season 2’s been even better than Season 1.

• Entourage. Fun, fun, fun! As usual. Ari Gold is that guy you just looooove to hate. And Mrs. Ari’s been getting more screen time this season. Good. She’s the perfect foil for him.

• Flight of the Conchords is possibly the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. It’s an acquired taste and you have to really listen to the song lyrics. I was not surprised much when I read in the Star-Ledger recently that the episodes are built around their songs. It made the storylines actually make a lot more sense. But you watch the show for the songs. “hip-hopopotamus vs. the rhymenocerous” is a classic (Be more constructive with your feedback, please), as is “part-time model.” Here’s a lyric sample from the latter:

And when you’re on the street
Depending on the street
I bet that you are definitely
In the top three
Good looking girls on the street

• Slacker Cats. I watched less than 5 minutes of the premiere. It wasn’t that it was offensive (I love South Park, so I’m not easily offended). It was that it was just, well, stupid. And not funny stupid, either. Just stupid. Not worth wasting a half-hour of my life.

• Flash Gordon was easily the biggest disappointment to me. I’m a huge sci-fi fan (shocking, I know) and was looking forward to this very much. But the acting and script in the first episode were so freakin’ lame that about 20 minutes into it, I started fast-forwarding. Kept stopping in spots that looked interesting. I was wrong. Snoozefest.

• Burn Notice is still on the DVR and I’ve finally watched the first episode. Was it great? No. Was it fun? Yes. Jeffrey Donovan does a great job as the burned spy with the hypochondriac mother (a fun Sharon Gless in that role). But Gabrielle Anwar’s Irish accent bothers me; it didn’t sound right. She is from England, though, so maybe that’s it—some actors from New York can’t do a credible Boston accent, after all. Will I watch all eight or nine episodes already recorded? Not sure. Will I watch at least a couple more? Definitely.

• Eureka has been just about as enjoyable this time around as last season. The characters are becoming more fully realized and now that we know what to expect from them, they’re able to surprise us and give us the unexpected. I don’t particularly like this dark turn Henry’s taken, though. The scenes between him and the Sheriff were always my favorites.

• Doctor Who, I think, is doing just fine with Martha instead of Rose, though I do miss her, just as the good Doctor does. The whole Torchwood angle (c’mon, you know those mysterious folks telling Martha’s mum how dangerous the Doc is are from Torchwood) has added an extra dimension to the show, too. I think David Tennant is a really good Doctor, but he does yell an awful lot.

OK, so maybe the summer’s been better than it seemed at first blush. I hear good things about Monk and Psych, too, but I never started watching them. What’s on your DVR?

UPDATE, 8/21: This came out a few days ago, full disclosure, but I just heard about it – Entourage and Flight of the Conchords both have been picked up by HBO for another season (Entourage’s 5th, Flight’s 2nd). That’s great news; Flight especially deserves more time to develop an audience.

Anyone who doesn’t consider Marco a really important character on the show hasn’t been paying attention. Besides his former relationship with Diana, he’s the go-to guy whenever Tom and Diana need to figure anything out that a computer or some sort of programming can even remotely help with.

The power P.J. has developed by taking Promicin is to create a virtual game in the minds of all who are involved, once they’re all asleep. Only once everyone works together to achieve the necessary objective can everyone escape the game. It takes them a little while, but they finally figure out that the objective is to “kill” the NTAC building before it kills them all.

Meghan is the first to die, electrocuted by a door lock. Then the building turns on Shawn, shredding him with shards of glass from a window that explodes for no reason. P.J. himself is third in line, squashed by the door he must walk through in order to end the game before the objective is achieved.

What I especially liked about the episode was that, though I love Tom Baldwin’s character, he sees things as too black and white. He refuses to see any gray at all when it comes to the 4400s, despite his personal experiences with Shawn and others. He’s not evil black-and-white, but he just knows that it’s illegal to take promicin, so it’s bad of people to do it. He can’t emotionally understand the draw to taking it, because he’s so hard-wired to obey those who are his superiors. When he’s disobeyed orders in the past, it’s taken a toll on him.
I also liked that Isabelle and Maia and Isabelle and Shawn managed to come to some sort of detente. And even Tom and Jordan managed to at least begin to treat one another civilly. So P.J.’s power turned out to work pretty well, I guess.

Next week should be the really good one — “Daddy’s Little Girl” — with the return of Richard Tyler. Rumor is that this story arc could result in Isabelle once again being able to have promicin powers. I always liked Richard and I look forward to his return.

The other thing that interested me about next week was — did you catch it? — the flash in the preview of Tom and Meghan kissing, with her fondling his ear. The ear behind which he has the “mark.” Coincidence? That doesn’t exist in the world of The 4400.

Warning: Spoilers follow; don’t read if you didn’t watch.

Jordan Collier’s land grab in Seattle was a stroke of genius. No one without an ability can get in; and even if an enhanced soldier does, Jordan’s ability means he can take that ability away from him or her (in yesterday’s case, all hims).

This puts the 4400s and non-4400s in direct conflict, which in turn puts Shawn’s campaign for City Council on the ropes. I thought the way Shawn handled both the sex scandal and Jordan was masterful, though I fall more on Jordan’s side than Shawn’s.

Whether or not the ultimate goal is to bring heaven to earth; Jordan does seem to have the greater good of mankind at heart. He is still Jordan Collier, however, and it takes Maia’s lies about war to convince him not to retaliate by killing anyone.

That was one of the more interesting aspects of the episode, I thought. Maia is truly growing up. She’s learning when she needs to reveal her visions and how to truly use her power for what’s best. She believed her mother to be right about war and she used the credibility she had to convince Jordan to listen to Diana.

I’m glad she was such a big part of last night’s episode, too. Maia’s always been one of the more interesting characters and is even more so now, as she’s closing in on being a teenager.

Her exchange with Isabelle showed a great deal of maturity on both their behalfs. Isabelle recognized that she not only needed to apologize for her behavior, but also to accept that an apology was not enough. Maia expressed herself exceptionally well and didn’t let Isabelle off the hook at a simple “I’m sorry”:

Sometimes an apology just isn’t enough.

Kyle and Tom continue to be driven further and further apart. Tom really can’t accept the 4400’s place in society. He hates Jordan; doesn’t trust him. He’ll never willingly take promicin, at least not the way he feels now. The main problem is that he’s never decided who’s on the side of right — the 4400s and those who sent them back in time or the other future folk, who now number The Marked among them.

Meanwhile, Meghan got all touch-feely with Tom. Makes me even more convinced that Meghan is indeed one of the Marked, or at least highly caught up with them. She’s trying to get all close to Tom so that when they need to inject him with one of the future people (or whatever it actually is that they need to do), it’ll be easier.

Come to think of it, wasn’t it odd that someone with so little related experience got tapped to head NTAC in Seattle? That was touched on in the first ep of the season. And don’t forget that it was Meghan who was able to direct Tom to the gallery where he saw the painting of Alanna. If she’s not connected to the future folks, how did she know how he could find out Alanna’s fate?

All I know is that I don’t trust her at all.

Meanwhile, over at Comic-Con, cast members Jeffrey Combs (Kevin Burkhoff), Jenny Baird (Meghan Doyle), Megalyn Echikunwoke (Isabelle Tyler) and Conchita Campbell (Maia Skouris); supervising producer Craig Sweeny; and executive producer Ira Behr sat on a panel and discussed promicin and the show.

Basically, everyone was a little cautious about the thought of a 50/50 chance of dying by taking promicin; Megalyn was the only one who said she’d take it. (How ironic, considering her character is now permanently allergic to promicin.)

Combs suggested that the odds on dying if you take promicin might start declining soon. Behr said folks might cease to have a choice in whether or not to take promicin by the end of the season. Now, that could mean a purposeful contamination or some sort of massive spill at the promicin storage facility. Neither really makes sense. I guess we’ll find out.

Photos courtesy of NBC Universal.

Wow. The 4400 is totally back on track.

I was getting a bit bored by the first four eps, which focused on the so-called extra-crispies. Last week’s Try the Pie marked a turn back toward the 4400 of old, but it came roaring back last night.

It’s been quite some time since the “future” storyline has been addressed (it seems that way, at least, with the long hiatus between seasons), and I had a few thoughts about it.

1) Why would Tom and Diana doubt Curtis Peck at all? They’ve investigated so many 4400s and seen so much amazing stuff that why wouldn’t they believe this was his 4400 ability?
2) What, exactly, happened to Curtis? Is he still Curtis? Was he brainwashed? Was his 4400 ability taken away? Was he threatened with it being taken away? Was he bribed? Does he really just want to direct Hollywood blockbusters?
3) Did they really put a future person into Tom? Is the mark behind his ear different from the others because they wanted him to be unsure if he’d been co-opted into the future?
4) Are the Marked really bad? The battle in the future has always been murky. It’s always been unclear exactly whether the 4400s were sent back by the “good” faction or the “bad.” It certainly seems like the 4400s are on the side of “good,” but how do we know?
5) Is Meghan one of the marked? If you think that question comes out of nowhere, did you see the look on her face when they talked to her about the mark? And they made such a huge deal about her having forwarded that e-mail to D.C.
6) By healing his seemingly sworn enemy, did Shawn make him even more likely to go on his crusade against the 4400 or did he cure him of his evil heart? Again, that goes to the whole question of whether one can truly change the future — and does Maia’s ability allow people to change the future she sees?

What do y’all think? Share, share!

All photos courtesy of NBC Universal.

But if the episode had been as good as this week’s “Try the Pie,” I would have made the time.

Truth (ha!) be told, the first four “extra-crispy” episodes were a little boring. Not nearly enough of the original 4400s in those episodes, just a focus on all these new people and their new powers. I understand the need to explore some of these, but given the relatively short seasons of The 4400, four episodes seemed a bit extreme. And “The Truth” just kind of bored me.

“Try the Pie,” however, was an excellent return to form and an excellent bridge. First, it linked all the extra crispies to Jordan Collier and it had lots of Jordan. And Kyle. And Tom. A decent does of Shawn and Isabelle (separately). And the most of Maia we’ve had all season.

So let’s start with Maia.

First off, Conchita Campbell’s growing up. She is looking less and less like the waif who was the first among the 4400 to be abducted and more and more like the pre-teen she’s become. Maia’s not a little girl anymore, and she pointed that out to Mommy/Diana yesterday

As for her dream/visions: We know Maia’s dreams are not merely dreams. Or do we? She usually gets her visions while she’s awake. Perhaps these dreams are a mix between vision and nightmare; perhaps some of it is true, but her subconscious is exaggerating it for nightmare effect. Even in her online diaries (Entry #7), it’s clear that even Maia doesn’t know if these are truely visions.
And what of Diana going to Shawn about his political opponent? It raises the age-old time travel/soothsayer conundrum: If you find yourself in the position to change the future, can you actually do it? If Shawn chooses not to run for City Council because of the fear that his opponent could get a national stage, does that mean his opponent will win and will more easily be able to climb the political ladder and achieve his goals of rounding up all those who are Promicin-positive? If Shawn stays in the race, is that what will make this future happen?

There’s no way of knowing until it happens, though Maia in her vision didn’t look any different than she does now, if that’s even a hint at all. Could easily be explained away as Maia being unable to imagine/view herself as anything other than how she appears at the time.

I say Shawn should go for it. The 4400s need to start taking some power for themselves and fight the attempts to keep them under the government’s thumb. And that includes the extra crispies.

Speaking of, Evanston (Washington, not Illinois), was a fun detour. First off, it showed Cassie is dead-on and Kyle needs to keep following her directions. That means Isabelle is one of the good guys now.

That shouldn’t come as too much of a shock, though, as Isabelle once upon a time did really want to be good. She tried to kill herself to prevent herself from causing harm. She killed the guy from the future who was her “handler” when he was telling her she was to kill all the 4400s.

Did she have any choice in how things ended up? Perhaps. But it wasn’t as simple as just choosing to do good. She should get some points for having tried. More than once. I truly believe her misguided attempts to force Shawn to marry her were her lasts-ditch effort to remain a good person.

She really wants to have this second chance at being a good person. And it’s not just to avoid being in prison for the rest of her life. I truly believe Isabelle wants to atone.

Jordan, however, is not so willing to forgive, though he did forgive Kyle once upon a time, for killing him. I’m thinking that the fact that he’s not dead is part of why he’s able to forgive Kyle.

Anyhow, I also appreciated the fact that Jordan does not believe himself to actually be a messiah, but rather sees religion as a means to an end to spread the word of promicin and its benefits. One can see him as a rather cynical manipulator of the masses using religion for what some could say is his benefit. One might be able to say that about many religious leaders throughout human history, as well.

I had to say I was shocked when I believed Tom was being injected with Promicin. I really didn’t think Kyle had it in him. And one thing I’ve liked about Jordan through all this Promicin-ocity is that he refuses to force anyone to take it. Even after Kyle tells him these 200 people must take it in order to reach the tipping point, Jordan’s not going to force anyone.

If the world Kyle has found in this religious tome is to become a reality, Jordan truly believes these 200 people will indeed take Promicin at some point. He’s not going to make them do it. They have to choose it.

Which, I have to say, I don’t exactly understand why Tom is so all-fired opposed to it. He’s been working with the 4400 from the beginning. His nephew is one. His (missing) wife is one. His partner/best friend’s adopted daughter is one.

He’s seen the good they can do (and, yes, the bad), but knows they are more often good than bad. He tried the pie, and shared wonderful memories with these extra crispies of Evanston, and enjoyed it. He shed his worries in talking to an extra crispy.

He’s only had a few bad experiences with the 4400. Kyle’s assured him he won’t die if he takes it. Is it just his sense of duty? Does he believe it would kind of be cheating to take it? He’s so vehemently opposed to it; even Kyle couldn’t convince him to do it, though that would mean they’d be together. Finally.

He broke Kyle’s heart by saying no. Even if he takes it at some point in the future, this will always stand between them. This was their last, best chance for being a family again.

Is that it, perhaps? That the 4400 interrupted Tom’s life? Put his son in a coma and disappeared his nephew? Even when Kyle came out of the coma, he was not Kyle. And even after he became Kyle again, he still wasn’t totally Kyle. Then he was in prison, then he went away. Tom lost his son a very long time ago, on a beach on a lake in Washington state. And no matter how much they try to find their way back to each other, something, it seems always gets in the way.

And that something is the future; the future that brought us the 4400.

I’m really glad I read an article about Ira Steven Behr, the show’s exec prod, in which he said the first four eps would focus on the “extra crispies” before going back to the regular folk and focusing on the show’s mythology and giving some answers — because otherwise I’d be kind of ticked off at the slow pace of this season. (I tried linking to the article on Ain’t It Cool News, but the link kept swallowing half this post, so I had to drop it.) Very little of the folks we’re really interested in — did they even show Jordan’s face last night and they couldn’t have given Maia a single line to utter? And what the heck has happened to Tess? Remember her? She wandered off in a schizoid state a couple of episodes back.

But next week we get the return of April Skouris. (And then, I suppose, Diana’s explanation of why she wants to stay in the U.S. and with NTAC instead of going back to Europe?)

Here’s the description from the official 4400 site:

Diana locates her sister, April, who took Promicin and developed an ability that has put her life in jeopardy. Meanwhile, Shawn is approached to run for public office. Catch the all-new episode – “The Truth and Nothing But The Truth” – this Sunday at 9/8C!

While it wasn’t a wholly horrible hour of television (and the last moment with the Isabelle reveal was pretty good), it wasn’t what I was looking for last night. Cool new power — astral projection. But it belonged to a woman who died before the night was through. Like Diana, I actually cared about Audrey Parker. She was delightfully played as an older woman by Constance Towers and as a young woman by Laura Mennell.

The Kyle storyline was the one saving grace. He’s starting to embrace his shaman-ness. It looked like the “bible” he took, though, was not written in English. If it wasn’t, how could he read it? It didn’t look like any language I’ve ever seen.

The one thing I’m not thrilled about, though, is the idea of Jordan Collier, the messiah. If that’s truly where this show is going, it could get a wee bit preachy for me. I dunno.

And my main question: how exactly does Isabelle fit in? How is she going to help Kyle? How can she help Kyle? Is she still indeed connected to the future?

I was kind of bummed that Mahershalalhashbaz Ali, the actor who portrays Richard Tyler (otherwise known as Isabelle’s dad), had disappeared from the opening credits of “The 4400” when it debuted earlier this month.

I read earlier this month on Ain’t It Cool News somewhere else (can’t remember; if I do, I’ll provide linkage) that he was going to return to the show later in the season; today I found this on SyFyPortal.

Ali explains that now that Isabelle’s lost her immense powers and has been “humbled,” there’s a closeness between them that was not possible before. Her powers were too strong and she was too willing to use them to advance her purposes and desires that even her father couldn’t be sure he wouldn’t fall victim to her.

He was torn when he used his telekenesis to inject Isabelle (played by the stunning Megalyn Echikunwoke) with the anti-promicin serum, but knew he had to do it for the greater good. But Isabelle is still his little girl; he still loves her — as my parents used to say when I was a young’un — even when she’s bad.

His return is sure to deal with his actions and Isabelle’s reaction to them.

At the SciFi Channel’s digital press tour this week, several BSG actors talked to the bloggers about the show. Hogan had this to say:

I’m not happy about being a Cylon at all. I’m not imagining that anyone who were picked to be Cylons are. The scripts that we have so far are great, but the only way that I can deal with it is as a human being, and so far that’s [what my character] has had to do.

Aaron Douglas, who plays Chief Galen Tyrol, told digital media folk that he also had a hard time accepting it at first, but after a long conversation with Ron Moore, he grew to accept it. I think Douglas let something slip, though, as he refers to the Final Five as “Cylon gods.” That has been kindasortamaybe implied, but not really spelled out. It’s an interesting concept.

Meanwhile, Jamie Bamber, who plays Apollo, told SciFi Wire that much of the cast was sentimental
about the series’ end.

There’s also a real peace of mind that comes with the fact that we’re going to get to finish this story. And this story has always begged an ending. And we’re going to get to give it to you. So there’s a lot of excitement and anticipation that’s attached to that. But it feels like … every moment that passes is gone forever now. It’s like the last performance of a play on the last night. You start with your monologue in the first scene and you know when you finish it, that’s the last time you’ll ever do it.

Tahmoh Penikett, who plays Helo, echoed those feelings to SyFyPortal.

Meanwhile, Billy Campbell, the fan favorite Jordan Collier of “The 4400,” apparently looooooves BSG so much that he reportedly told SciFi Channel studio head Bonnie Hammer that he’d work on the show for free if they would have him.

They’re filming the fifth episode now, but are looking for ways to see if they could work Campbell into the cast for at least one episode, says SyFyPortal (same link as the last one).

Meanwhile, I hope today to post an update on Mahershalalhashbaz Ali, who plays Richard Tyler on “The 4400.” He’s been MIA so far this season, even from the opening credits. He apparently will have a recurring role and show up later in the season. Whew.

But, I have to admit, it did cross my mind more than once that Kyle’s new friend, Cassidy, was all in Kyle’s head. It occurred to me at the end of last week’s episode, when Kyle couldn’t find Cassidy at the art school she purported to belong to.

When she wouldn’t go inside the house she took him to, that’s when I first really thought I was onto something. It didn’t make any sense that she wouldn’t go in.

I know this season is supposed to delve deeper into the mythology of the 4400s; I’m not so sure I love the idea of Jordan truly being a messiah. I do love the idea of a cult of Jordan Collier (which already exists, to a certain degree) growing up around Jordan, Shawn (the healer) and Kyle (the shaman).

What I wonder is whether they’re setting it up that Jordan actually is a messiah or whether other 4400s who were sent back to the more distant past (as Alanna appears to have been, and we know other 4400s, such as Maia, were, at least temporarily, last season) helped — inadvertently or not — create this mythology. Or was Jordan sent into the past during his missing year? Why did the future folks want him to be believed dead and then bring him back if not for a mythology of a messiah?

Kyle’s certainly on board, though he doesn’t seem at all certain that Jordan’s actually la messiah. Shawn, on the other hand, not so sure. His act of curing the little boy of autism last night, however, brought him back into the 4400 fold. He’d forgotten, to a degree, how wonderful it felt for him to be able to heal others. This was the first time he’d had such a degree of success with someone whose disability was developmental rather than physical. Whether this means his power is growing, if the promicin shot magnified his abilities, is yet to be seen.

It was wonderful seeing Shawn be Shawn again, though. His time leading the 4400 changed him so much; he wasn’t able to just use his power for anyone who needed it, regardless of their circumstances.

And his ability to heal certainly caught the eye of new NTAC director Meghan Doyle. As we learned at the end of the episode, her father is extremely ill and might not pull through this time. Her job is to prevent others from developing into (best new phrase of 2007) “extra crispies” — those who develop powers from the shots but are not the “original recipe” 4400s. But if Shawn, one of the original 4400, can help heal her father, what does that mean for the task ahead of her?

As for the rest of the episode:
• The side story (I know it was the main plot, but c’mon, the stories of the extra crispies are really sidelights to the main plot of the original cast) of the little autistic boy who made folks believe their worst fears were manifesting was interesting, but not the most compelling ever. I guessed it was the little boy as soon as they went into his apartment. Sometimes their foreshadowing is a bit too heavy-handed.
• I thought Tom giving up on Alanna after one comment from Meghan was a bit extreme. He’d been searching for her for months and months. He finally found out a little bit of what happened to her, and now he’s giving up? He’s probably right to (the actress isn’t coming back this season, so it seems he is), but still. He really truly loved Alanna.
• How nice was it to see Diana and Tom back together again? I love that they have such a close relationship that has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with sexual tension. They really love one another, but like a brother and sister love one another. Tom was honestly happy to see her. I think it’s sad that Diana’s not going to go back to Spain (c’mon, you know she’s not; I just hope that Maia joins her soon), but I’m glad she’s back.
• What is Meghan Doyle’s real deal? She’s a bit too straightforward and honest to be the director of NTAC.
The latest from Maia’s diary:
• Shawn get arrested
• A lot of folks are trying to get into the 4400 center
• “A young artist is going to sell a lot of her paintings at her first show.”

More 4400:
• Michael Ausiello over at TVGuide.com says Pascale Hutton of Smallville and Traveler (I’m finally getting around to watching this on DVR, and it’s a pretty good show!) will join The 4400 this season as a love interest for Marco. Yay Marco!

Thousands upon thousands of people across the globe are taking promicin, the substance that gave the 4400s their X-Men-type abilities. Thousands are dying, but more people with superhero powers are cropping up every day.

Last night focused on a loner high school student, Graham Holt, whose becomes able to make anyone around him worship him as a god.

For all of us wondering what Jordan Collier’s ability might be (besides rising from the dead), it became clear last night. He takes his responsibility in distributing promicin very seriously — when someone abuses his or her new power, he can take away all the promicin in their body, leaving them ordinary once again.

It makes sense. But I think Kevin was onto something, too, when he asked Jordan if he had “messiah envy.”

One question, though — If Graham took promicin again, would he be able to develop any ability? Would he develop the same ability? Would he develop a different ability? Though I doubt the answers to those questions will be answered, I’d be curious to know.

Anyhow, here’s other questions I have:
• Will Tom give up on trying to find Alana now the he sees her in a painting that is more than 100 years old?
• Did they take Alana from Tom because he didn’t kill Isabelle? They’re the ones who gave him the hypodermic filled with the substance that didn’t kill her. Would it have killed her if he’d injected her instead of her father?
• How did Isabelle know that Alana was sent into the past? She had amazing powers, but she has no more promicin in her system and seemingly no tangible connection to the future anymore. What is Isabelle’s connection to the future besides the fact that she was conceived there? Does she have “memories” of things she’s never seen?
• How did Meghan know Isabelle would know anything?
• Why does Meghan think posters of “La Dolce Vita” will intimidate people? Does she think they’re all stupid hicks?
• Will Ben come back to Seattle to be with Diana? When will Maia return?
• What’s April’s promicin-powered ability? (She shows up in the fourth episode, so I know she’s not dead.)
• Who was that chick who gave Kyle the idea to inject Shawn with promicin? A figment of his imagination? A member of the new promicin underground? Someone from the future? A bad person? A good person?
• Will Tess survive? If anyone can find her, it’s Kevin. Their connection is so strong, so urgent, that if she can be found, it will be by him. The question is, how damaged will she be and how much damage will she have caused, by the time he does find her?
• And last, but not least, where is Richard? He wasn’t in the opening credits at all. Did he leave the show?

Meanwhile, we found out what some of Maia’s visions meant:
• the number 6,000 is what the promicin death toll is expected to reach by year’s end
• Tom saw Alana in a painting in the museum

We have yet to find out who is getting sick and not getting the help she needs. I wonder if it’s Isabelle, based on next week’s preview showing her calling for help through the jail bars.

So, what do y’all think? A good start?

Joel Gretsch, in an interview with the Associated Press, explains how he almost didn’t take his role on “The 4400.” Read it here.

Our favorite abductees return Sunday night (smart to wait until “The Sopranos” went off the air!) with “The Wrath of Graham.”

Here’s what the show’s official website has to say about the premiere:

NTAC faces off against a high school student named Graham Holt who took Promicin and developed the ability to make people worship him like a god. Meanwhile, Jordan Collier wrestles with his conscience as the death toll from Promicin continues to rise.

The site also has a couple of new entries in Maia’s diary. Here’s some key things she’s “seen”:
• The number 6,000
• “Someone is getting sick again but she’s not getting the help she needs to get better”
• “Mom is going to get news that will make her get the worried face again.”
• “A woman is going to attack Jordan Collier.”

Meanwhile, TV Guide has an interview with Billy Campbell, who plays Jordan Collier.

Enjoy and let’s talk on Monday after the premiere!

Photos courtesy of NBC Universal.

As soon as I blogged about it, the item disappeared off the SciFiWire.

I swore I didn’t make it up (I’d never even heard of Jenni Baird before, honest!), and now SciFiWire has made it up to me, with this story.

The show’s exec producer, Ira Steven Behr, says he is hell-bent on making “a romantic pairing on this show work if I have to go in there and do it myself.” Um, hate to break it to you Behr, but you could have made it work at any time. Aren’t you the exec prod?

Great show, cast. But I’d like to see them bring back Alanna, Tom’s true love.
Behr also tells SciFiWire that the season is basically in three story arcs:

• The first focuses on the folks who risked death (instead of being taken against their will) to take the promicin to gain 4400 powers.
• The second arc focuses on the show’s “mythology” — i.e., why people were taken to the future and given X-Men-like powers — and also on Richard Tyler, Isabelle’s conflicted father.
• The final three episodes “will kick things into ‘space madness,’” according to Behr and SciFiWire. Whatever that means.

Supposedly, though, we finally do find out why the 4400 really were taken and what all this was for.

Cool.

The Wrath of Graham: Airs June 17. A student named Graham is surprised when his classmates agree to play any sports he wants. Kyle gets a new job: helping out the 4400 as legal aid. Shawn is a patient at the hospital and has terrible convulsions.

Fear Itself: Airs June 24 (your humble writer’s birthday, which she shares with former Gov. George Pataki). People start seeing what they fear most, but no one else can see it. Tom’s investigation leads him to a bank as a few of the victims used the bank’s ATM before the attacks. Isabelle may get a better living situation if she agrees to be injected promicin.

Audrey Parker’s Come & Gone: Airs July 1? 70-year-old Audrey Parker, via voice over, explains her past and why she decided to take promicin at such a late age. She develops the power of astral projection, but can only project herself at 25 years old.

The Truth & Nothing But The Truth: Airs July 8? April Soukris (Diana’s sister), having been on the run for four months after taking promicin, comes back and uses her new power to help Tom and Diana on a case.

Try the Pie: Airs July 15? Shannon Reese has the ability to remove stress in people’s lives by listening to their problems, and teaches Tom about her neighbors, who all took promicin, courtesy of their town, Evanston, Ill. (home of my alma mater, Northwestern University)

Last season’s finale had an XX (as in the chromosones) version of Kyle being created, so we should expect to see a female Kyle (Kyla?) showing up. The Tragers are regulars again, so it appears they either will have learned more about Kyle’s true background or have been fed some story as to why he’s back with them.

This summer is shaping up to be pretty decent, sci-fi-wise — Dr. Who, Kyle XY and The 4400. My DVR will be busy.

Here’s the really cool part: You get to join an online community and create a character who did or didn’t take promicin, and more. Exact details are very sketchy, but you can sign up here.

There are three levels of involvement:
• First Key: receiving updates and exclusive Web content
• Second Key: get those, plus create a character who plays a role in the online story
• Third Key: do all that, plus sign up for flash mobs, demonstrations and other live events.

I’ve signed up for the Second Key, so if you don’t feel as if you have the time to invest in that, you can follow my character vicariously and give me ideas for what comes next. In fact, once I find out more info, I’ll ask you all for advice and tips on how to create my character in terms of abilities, personality, etc., so stay tuned!

Meanwhile, here’s a link to info on the first two episodes of the season.

Because Jordan took the astounding tack of distributing promicin to anyone who wanted it at the end of last season, the “catastrophe” of the future appears to be averted. So this season will focus on the folks who took the promicin (remember, it has a 50-50 chance of giving people who take it a “4400” ability or of killing them).

With Shawn extremely ill in the hospital, Kyle Baldwin, largely missing last season, comes back and takes a job at the 4400 Institute as Jordan Collier’s right-hand man, much as Shawn was (though without the healing powers). Promises to further widen the chasm between father and son that has been growing since Kyle came out of his coma in Season 1.

According to Spoilerfix.com, we get introduced to a new 4400, a student named Graham, who’s “surprised when his classmates agree to play any sports he wants” in gym. Plus, Tom may finally get a lead on Alana’s whereabouts and it looks like Diana, Maia and Co. may return from Europe.

Ah, this will all come in time as I’m recuperating from the end of BSG for the season and should tide me over through the summer, at least. Then there’s all those sci-fi pilots for the fall (read more here, here, here and here, some of which should actually be good. Here’s hoping.

• “Area 52” — Paul Reubens has joined the NBC sitcom about a group of g-men who babysit an alien at a secret government installation, a la Area 51. And according to The Hollywood Reporter, Kelin Yu has joined the series, too, though I’ll be damned if I can find out anything else he’s been in.

• “Pushing Daisies” — TV veteran Swoosie Kurtz will join the cast as the main character’s aunt. The lead, a man who can bring the dead back to life by touching them, is played by Lee Pace. Pace goes way back with series creator Bryan Fuller, who brought us “Dead Like Me” and “Wonderfalls.”

• “Jericho” — Alicia Coppola, the oh-so-pleasant visiting IRS auditor Mimi Clark has been bumped up from recurring cast to regular cast. So I’m thinking she’s not going to die anytime soon.

• “The 4400” — Jenni Baird has joined the cast as a “new authority figure who has a relationship with NTAC agent Tom Baldwin.”

ADDED 3/2:
• “Babylon Fields” — Amber Tamblyn the former “Joan of Arcadia” will star in the pilot. In the zombie-ish show Tamblyn plays a girl abused by her father, whom she and mommy killed. Natch, he comes back from the dead.