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 Greene Party
In retrospect, it seems odd that Lorne Greene -- the Lorne Greene, from Bonanza -- was part of Battlestar Galactica. After all, Bonanza’s Ben Cartwright doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who’d hang out with Richard Hatch or Dirk Benedict, who make those ridiculous faces while shooting laser guns. But then, when you learn that Greene’s real name is exactly the sort of name you might associate with a sci-fi geek -- he was born Lyon Chaim Green in Ontario, Canada -- things suddenly make a lot more sense. Learn more about Battlestar old and new inside this section.
[dl] Television
Battle On
Battlestar Galactica’s surprisingly successful resurrection comes to an end this month. For those who’ve missed the show so far, now is the time to catch up -- before it’s too late. By Bryan Reesman  Remaking old television shows is dicey. Not all once-popular series will reconnect with today’s audience. Take Bionic Woman, for example. That revived NBC show’s big initial audience evaporated in the weeks after the premiere last fall. Perhaps viewers were turned off by the reimagined Jamie Sommers -- an angry single woman raising her kid sister. Or maybe they just didn’t like the fact that Sommers’s bionic moments weren’t accompanied by that weird mechanical sound effect featured in the original show. And therein lies the challenge for the producers of remade shows: What to keep? What to scrap? If you remake American Gladiators, do you keep the ridiculous spandex outfits? Yes. And if you remake Battlestar Galactica, do you keep the handsome fighter pilot Starbuck, with the feathered hair and swaggering manner? Well, no. Not quite. When the Sci Fi Channel relaunched the 1978 Battlestar Galactica series in 2004, it cast a woman to play Starbuck. She’s got the swagger but not the feathered hair. And this complex Starbuck is far removed from her one-dimensional male counterpart. So, too, the entire series is removed from its earlier counterpart. The new Battlestar Galactica has wooed new disciples and converted devotees of the classic series (which aired for just one year) by keeping the core premise of the original show but improving on it with more interesting characters and more dazzling special effects. That approach has drawn a legion of fans to Sci Fi and has engendered rave reviews from numerous critics. Still, you could be forgiven for having missed all the hubbub over Battlestar and even its first few seasons. Sci Fi certainly doesn’t have the marketing muscle of a bigger network, and Battlestar’s audience, while big for cable television, is about a tenth of the size of the Desperate Housewives audience. That’s where we come in. This month, the fourth season -- and what has been promised to be the final season of the new Battlestar -- premieres on Sci Fi. So if you haven’t caught it yet, we offer this quick guide on the evolution of Battlestar Galactica, from the old to the new, plus a few things you need to know in order to enjoy season four.
THE LOOK AND FEEL OLD BG: Glen A. Larson was the executive producer of the 1978 series. He was also executive producer of Magnum P.I., The Fall Guy, Knight Rider, and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. So it makes sense that the original Battlestar starred dashing heroes (with feathered hair), like Richard Hatch as Captain Apollo and Dirk Benedict (“Faceman” from The ATeam) as Lieutenant Starbuck. It also featured cute robot dogs and even cuter kids. Plus, there were more than a few warriors running around in spandex outfits that would have been right at home on the aforementioned American Gladiators. NEW BG: The current Battlestar’s executive producer is Ronald D. Moore, who also helmed Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and HBO’s edgy Carnivàle. While, yes, there are plenty of lookers in the cast, the new show offers more grit than sizzle. The fleet is often shown suffering under the pressure of their fight for survival. Haggard characters deal with real-world problems like alcoholism, class warfare, and political upheaval. ONE NEW THING YOU NEED TO KNOW: The new Battlestar’s core plotline is essentially the same as the original series’. There are 13 human colonies (all planets). In the original Battlestar, Cylons are a race of alien cyborgs. In the current Battlestar, the humans on these planets created the Cylons. In both series, the Cylons turned on the humans and destroyed 12 of the colonies. Now, left with a mother ship called the Galactica and a fleet of smaller ships, the humans are in search of the one remaining planet -- one they aren’t even sure exists outside mythology. It’s called Earth. Sounds familiar. THE CYLONS OLD BG: The Cylons were robotic alien cyborgs fitted with Darth Vader–like masks that were a shiny silver. They had Knight Rider–like LED eyes that ping-ponged from one side to the other. They looked cool, but as characters, they were about as exciting as storm troopers. NEW BG: The current Cylons are Terminator-like cyborgs who can take human form. Indeed, the best-looking member of the cast may be a Cylon named Number Six. She’s played by former runway model Tricia Helfer. ONE NEW THING YOU NEED TO KNOW: Several Cylons have infiltrated the Galactica fleet in the past three seasons. Many were sleeper agents who didn’t even know they were clones of actual humans until their programming was switched on and their mission was revealed to them. So, the final season’s biggest questions are: How many more unmasked Cylons are left? Who are they?  COMMANDER ADAMA
OLD BG: The Galactica’s leader, Commander Adama, was played by Lorne Greene. Adama was troubled yet calm, wise, and fair. NEW BG: The current Adama, as played by Edward James Olmos, is certainly troubled. Weary, even. But unlike Greene’s character, Olmos’s doesn’t always do what seems fair or wise or popular. In one episode, he decides to destroy a civilian ship -- and its crew -- because the Cylons may have taken control over it. ONE NEW THING YOU NEED TO KNOW: In the new series, Commander Adama’s son, Lee, is sometimes called Apollo, a reference to Captain Apollo of the original series. RICHARD HATCH OLD BG: The star of the original series took his clothes off a lot and won a million bucks at the season’s end. No, wait -- that’s a different Richard Hatch. This Hatch actually starred as Captain Apollo, the handsome, tough leader of the fleet’s pilots. NEW BG: Hatch had long hoped for the development of a Battlestar Galactica that would pick up where the 1978 series left off (meaning he’d hoped to be cast as an older Captain Apollo who’s still looking for Earth). Instead, he was cast in the Sci Fi series as a jailed political activist named Tom Zarek, who eventually is released from his prison barge and goes on to pursue the presidency of the surviving humans. ONE NEW THING YOU NEED TO KNOW: Mary McDonnell, who plays the president, is one of a slew of tough, powerful women in the Battlestar cast, which includes Katee Sackhoff as Starbuck and Grace Park as Boomer. THE CLIFF-HANGERS OLD BG: The show lasted just one full season, with 17 total episodes airing. No ratings champion, it was canceled without a satisfying series-ending episode -- the ultimate cliff-hanger. NEW BG: Each season has unveiled memorable cliff-hangers. The first season ended with the attempted assassination of Commander Adama by Boomer, who was revealed to be a Cylon. The second season ended with the humans being trapped by and living under Cylon rule on a planet dubbed New Caprica. Baltar (whom we think is a traitor -- maybe) was sworn in as president, while Adama escaped with the Galactica to plot a rescue mission. ONE NEW THING YOU NEED TO KNOW: The most important of the cliff-hangers is arguably the most recent of them. The third season ended with Starbuck unexpectedly returning from the brink of death and promising that she can now lead the beleaguered human fleet to Earth. But her near-death experience has led fans to wonder whether this Starbuck is actually a Cylon clone. (Cue dramatic music.)
Watch These now
Want to know everything you’ve missed? Track down these Battlestar Galactica DVD releases, all from Universal Studios. Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Epic Series ($60). This is the 1978 series in its entirety. See if you can find the version that comes packaged in a Cylon head. Battlestar Galactica: Season One ($60). It includes the complete first season of the new Sci Fi show, which premiered in 2004. Battlestar Galactica: Season 2.0 and Season 2.5 ($50 each). Frustratingly, these were released in separate DVD sets; you’ll need both to catch up on the entire second season. Battlestar Galactica: Season 3 ($60). Just released in March, this DVD set contains 15 hours of special features, including Battlestar Galactica’s third-season Webisodes.
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[dl] Misc.
 Always on His Mind
After spending a career covering Willie Nelson, a journalist and fellow Texan puts Nelson’s work into a 500-page perspective. By Bob Mehr To journalist and author Joe Nick Patoski, Willie Nelson is no redheaded stranger. One of Patoski’s earliest assignments as a cub reporter in the 1970s was to interview Nelson, who at that time was just on the cusp of superstardom, beginning to carve out his niche as a country-music outlaw. In the decades since then, Patoski has been something like Nelson’s unofficial James Boswell (Samuel Johnson’s famed biographer) . Patoski has penned insightful pieces on Nelson for publications ranging from Rolling Stone to Texas Monthly. So it makes sense that he would be the writer to take on Nelson’s life story, which he has done in the new volume Willie Nelson: An Epic Life (Little, Brown and Company, $28 ). The product of several years of intense research, Patoski’s nearly 500-page opus charts the breadth of Nelson’s 75 years, from the depths of his hardscrabble upbringing to the peaks of his fame to his falls -- numerous falls -- from grace. Patoski effectively captures Nelson’s transformation from struggling songwriter to American musical icon. But more importantly, he shows what Nelson’s career has meant to Nelson’s and Patoski’s native state: Texas. You’ve written acclaimed biographies of Lone Star State guitar-great Stevie Ray Vaughan and Tejano pop superstar Selena . Did that make Nelson an obvious choice for a biography? I’ve felt like I had another “Texas book” in me for a number of years. And, to me, there is no single person in the twentieth or twenty-first century that epitomizes what Texas is and who Texans are as well as Willie. From a cultural standpoint, I’ve always made the argument that popular music is the finest of the fine arts in Texas. It hasn’t necessarily been accorded that respect. People look at opera and ballet as being much more important. But, frankly, looking at a population and a people and a place -- Willie and his music represent them perfectly. Did being a native Texan allow you to have a better understanding of Nelson’s journey? I think so. I mean, this is a guy who’s all about a sense of place, and I have experience with that. My stepmother’s family came from Venus, which is one county north of Abbott, Willie’s hometown. So I knew what cotton gins and cotton-farming communities in north central Texas were all about. And I found that Willie’s early years in Fort Worth were very pivotal in developing his career. Musically, it informs what he is today. I grew up in Fort Worth, so I was able to work out a lot of my personal interests in exploring his life. But his life is remarkably interesting in itself. One theme in the book is that music has been a saving grace for Nelson. We come to see how he’s basically merged his family life and his musical life. That has deep roots. Look at it: His mom abandons him when he’s six months old. He comes from what we’d call a dysfunctional family, so he’s made up his own family. He and his sister, Bobbie [his piano player], were performing on the radio when he was 14, so from the beginning, it was a way of achieving something. At the heart of everything -- and this is the biggest cliché of all -- he and his sister were raised to do exactly what he’s doing today. They were raised by grandparents who believed in the goodness of music. And when all else has failed, in Willie’s life and in Bobbie’s, music has bailed them out. Willie doesn’t have a classically great voice, and he’s not conventionally handsome, yet audiences are passionate about his work. Why? There are very few people in music, or in the public, period, where the audience can project whatever they want on him. And in the case of Willie, more often than not, they’re right. He really is the person you think he is. That’s a big part of his appeal. Your book is an epic rendering of Nelson’s life. Is this intended to be the final statement on him? Well, I like to think that mine is the most complete telling and the most intimate as far as trying to help the reader understand not just who this person is but also where he comes from and why he is the way he is. But I hope this book lays down a marker for others to follow. There are so many ways you can get at this guy’s life: musically, personally, culturally, and socially. And I hope there are other tellings. I genuinely believe his life and his music are that important.
THREE NEW CDS WE’RE PRETTY SURE WILL ROCK AND/OR ROLL The CD: Accelerate
The Band: R.E.M. Don’t Call It a Comeback: Since the band signed its much-publicized $80 million record deal in 1996, R.E.M.’s studio output has mostly been considered underwhelming (even if their recent, somewhat sleepy-sounding efforts like Up and Around the Sun didn’t quite deserve the lashing they received from some critics). But on their latest album, Accelerate, the band -- singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, and bassist Mike Mills -- hits the gas hard with a batch of beefed-up guitar rockers and lively pop songs.
Shiny Happy People: Stipe recently noted that the problems with previous recordings were partly due to a lack of both chemistry and communication among the bandmates. And, indeed, a sense of renewed harmony is almost palpable on Accelerate.
In Stores: April 1 The CD: Attack & Release
The Band: The Black Keys
Buckeye Blues: This Ohio-based blues-rock two-piece (guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney) has been a slow-growing phenomenon that’s developed a ragtag fan base of guitar heads, jam-band lovers, and indie rock hipsters over the course of six LPs and endless tours.
Infrequent Fliers: The new CD marks the first time the Keys have recorded outside their own Akron studio. How far did they go for Attack? Nearly all the way to Cleveland .
Smell a Rat? After collaborating with hip-hop polymath Danger Mouse on an album for late rock pioneer Ike Turner, the Keys enlisted Danger Mouse to produce their newest release. He helped the band expand their signature sound by adding bits of banjo, organ, and flute. Yes, flute.
In Stores: April 1 The CD: Mr. Love & Justice
The Artist: Billy Bragg
Back to Business: It has been six years since English folkie Billy Bragg last released his own record. In the meantime, he’s kept busy by teaming with Wilco to set music to a couple of albums of Woody Guthrie lyrics and also by supervising a series of his own reissues.
With a Little Help from My Friends: The album, which offers a mix of highly politicized numbers and romantic weepers, finds Bragg backed by his longtime touring gang, the Blokes. One of the blokes in the Blokes is Ian McLagan, a keyboard player who has worked with the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan. Joining the Blokes as guest vocalist is longtime UK rocker Robert Wyatt, who was recently featured on David Gilmour’s On an Island CD.
In Stores: April 8
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[dl] Small Screen
 Worth Your Time
Here are the top TV and DVD offerings this month.
By John Ross DVD: Predator for Blu-ray ($40, 20th Century Fox)
IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE: With its dense jungle sets, blazing machine guns, and big, ugly monster, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s movie Predator is more deserving than most of high-definition, Blu-ray treatment.
SAY WHAT?
There’s another reason it’s great to watch this movie in crisper
detail: There’s not much going on dialogue-wise. Indeed, some of us can
recite practically the entire movie, a feat that takes about 10
minutes. Our favorite exchange is typically simple: Poncho tells Blain
(played by former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura), “You’re bleeding,
man,” and Blain responds, “I ain’t got time to bleed.”
BUY IT: April 15 TV SHOW: Monk
STRIKE WON:
Because the writers’ strike messed with the networks’ midseason
schedules, several original cable series are getting called up to the
big leagues. Monk, a USA Network series about an obsessive-compulsive detective, is among them. It moves to NBC early this month.
IT’S BETTER THAN JOEY: While not exactly groundbreaking -- Hey, Monk people, could you make the cases any easier to figure out? -- Monk is
always an enjoyable way to pass an hour, thanks in large part to the
understated performance of Tony Shalhoub in the lead role. It makes you
wonder how much of a hit the show would have been had it been on NBC
from the start.
BONUS VIEWING: Monk won’t travel alone from USA. That network’s Psych will be joining it.
SEE IT: Episodes of Monk and Psych begin April 4 on NBC.  TV SHOW: Bingo America
SHE’S TRASH, BOBBY, JUST PLAIN TRASH: So, it has come to this, has it? Handsome Patrick Duffy, the Man from Atlantis who took up residence on Dallas and
even survived his own, well, death, is now a game-show host -- and not
on just any game show, but on one about bingo. Oh, Bobby.
BINGO!
Actually, it’s not all bad. For one thing, it’s not as boring as
traditional bingo. There’s a bingo-style board, yes, but to fill in the
spaces on that board, players first have to answer trivia questions.
(For example: Name a former TV hunk who went on to join the ranks of
Wink Martindale.) And the game is inventively interactive. Viewers can
check GSN.com before each day’s show to get their own bingo cards to
play along with. Prizes will even be awarded to home players. We
suggest they give away a ranch.
SEE IT: Weeknights at seven p.m. Eastern time on the Game Show Network. (The show premiered March 31.)
TV SHOW: Carrier
THE DETAILS: It has two nuclear power plants and is home to about 6,000 people. No, it is not a small town in Middle America. It is the USS Nimitz,
an aircraft carrier that has been sailing around the world for more
than 30 years. But even if you know it is 1,092 feet long and has a
flight deck that’s 4.5 total acres, do you really know what it’s like
to be on this kind of vessel when it’s on active duty? No. But PBS can
tell you.
SAILING AWAY: For this 10-part series, PBS followed the crew around for six months in 2005 while the Nimitz was
in the Persian Gulf. Cameras caught the dull daily activity as well as
the nail-biting tension on board while producing this series, one of
the first in-depth looks behind the scenes of an aircraft carrier.
SEE IT: Carrier debuts April 27 on PBS stations.
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