Thursday, February 12, 2009

transmigration

Where do "Battlestar Galactica" characters go as the series draws to a close? Why, they head over to "Burn Notice," of course! Tonight's episode of BN featured everybody's favorite BSG lawyer, Romo Lampkin (played by actor Mark Sheppard). BN has also hosted BSG big-shots Tricia Helfer, who has a recurring role, and Lucy Lawless, whose BN character threw herself off a building (instead of stranding herself on a radioactive Earth) after making reference to "another life." Pretty soon, secret agent Michael Weston's going to be inhabiting a Miami full of Cylons.

I've started to think of the migration of BSG actors to "Burn Notice" as a sort of running joke, and I hope it continues. The series finale should feature Edward James Olmos. Bringing Olmos onto the show would pretty much shatter the fabric of reality, since he not only has BSG ties but is famous for his role on that 80s classic, "Miami Vice." Hollywood is nothing if not recursive and intertextual: familiar actors (and storylines) pop up everywhere.

All this has happened before; all this will happen again...


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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Actually, Lucy Lawless had a few other lives on "Xena" where the King of Thieves was none other than Bruce Campbell, and they all work (-ed) on the Universal (now NBCUniversal) payroll.

Now, Starbuck (Katie Sackhoff) has really branched out and taken her show on the road to "Nip/Tuck" which is owned by FOX. While the subject matter is a little out there, she chewed up the scenes she was in. I think it’s her best work outside of the BSC episode, Scar.

Other networks and production companies try to keep the actors in house as they are tied to production deals even after their shows end their runs or are cancelled. One such actor is, the very much in-demand, Alex O'Loughlin (Moonlight), who is returning to CBS by way of a guest-starring gig on “Criminal Minds.” Simon Baker is another one who stayed with CBS from his days on "The Guardian" to the short-lived "Smith" and now to the break-out, "The Mentalist."

For those "BSG" fans, Tahmoh Penikett has moved on to Joss Whedon’s “Dollhouse.” It should be a fun ride, especially if "Buffy," "Angel," and "Firefly" were just his humble beginnings in the industry (Whedon's).

John from Daejeon