NBC’s Thursday night lineup may be some of the funniest comedies on TV today, and that is in no small part due to the outrageous ensemble cast on Parks & Recreation. Sure, people love Amy Poehler and Aziz Ansari, but another performance that stands out beyond many others is the dry one-liners of Aubrey Plaza.

She’s done great things on Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, Parks & Rec, and seems to have a continuing relationship with College Humor. A few years ago, she worked on a Twilight spoof for the online comedy site, titled Three Wolf Moon. Now she’s back again, this time spoofing Star Wars.

Sure, they avoided a heavy budget and a letter from Lucas Ranch by using knockoff stormtrooper helmets, but that doesn’t mean the skit didn’t capture the true essence of the Imperial prison from A New Hope.

Sadly, you can’t add Plaza to the list of actresses like Olivia Munn and Alessandra Torresani who have donned the epic Slave Leia outfit, but that doesn’t mean she still doesn’t have the hair buns. Check out the skit after the jump.

Continue Reading →

Welcome to this week’s On the Radar where we delve into all corners of the entertainment, tech and geek Internets for news, views and whatnot that may have escaped our regular coverage this week. Let is know if we missed something interesting. Otherwise, on to the links!

• A comprehensive breakdown of what Republicans and Democrats watch has hit the web. Wait, democrats watch 30 Rock and Republicans watch Dancing With The Stars? Who Knew?!

• In case you missed it, and aren’t a big fan of sleep, here’s the Planters commercial starring Robert Downey Jr.

• Arnold Schwarzenegger in Phantom Menace? According to this list of bootleg DVD box art, that’s just the least amazing of the bunch.

• Love The Walking Dead? Then you’ll definitely love this new weekly recap show all about the show.

• Thanksgiving may be just around the corner, but it’s time to start picking out some great gifts, with a little help from the coolest gadget holiday gift guide we’ve seen yet.

• If you’re one of the few that weren’t blown away by Cameron’s Avatar, maybe you should try it drunk. Here’s an Avatar drinking game to help you get there.

• Why not some tunes for your weekly list fix? Here’s a list of 10 kick-ass cover songs. Sadly, Foo Fighter’s “Darling Nikki” didn’t make it on the list.

Continue Reading →

With not even one season under its belt, SyFy has decided not to renew the struggling Battlestar Galactica prequel Caprica for a second season. Not only that, they will stop airing episodes immediately and the remaining five for this season will air sometime in 2011 and, you would imagine, be included on any eventual DVD release.

“We appreciate all the support that fans have shown for Caprica and are very proud of the producers, cast, writers and the rest of the amazing team that has been committed to this fine series,” said Mark Stern, Syfy’s EVP of original programming. “Unfortunately, despite its obvious quality, Caprica has not been able to build the audience necessary to justify a second season.”

Never a ratings hit, the show debuted with relatively low ratings at the beginning of the year and once it returned for the second half of the season, the ratings were even lower. In fact, the show had only 889,000 viewers and a 0.4 rating with adults 18-49 so speculation about cancellation began almost immediately. Now, that speculation is proven correct.

Even with the show’s cancellation, there’s still one bright spot for fans of the BSG Universe. As we mentioned previously, SyFy still has plans to go forward with at least a pilot for another BSG prequel called Blood and Chrome. This show, which will deal with a young Willliam Adama during the first Cylon war, will hopefully fare better than Caprica.

So long Caprica, we hardly knew you.

With the return of Caprica for season 1.5 fast approaching, it’s time for Syfy to start to publicize it. Of course, that means we’re going to have all kinds of videos and more to commemorate the event.

We’ll start things off with these two videos today. Both are from the first episode of the season entitled “Unvanquished” and both give us a great look at the episode and help remind us how nice it will be to have Caprica back on the air.

Now here’s some “PRspeak” which accompanies the videos to help get you excited: “The epic saga continues, transporting us from stunningly twisted Virtual realities to the fascinating outer worlds of the 12 Colonies. Revolutionary tensions rise, family power shifts, and our characters grapple with the physical and emotional consequences of their questionable decisions.”

Sounds good, right? I know it does to us. Check out both videos after the jump.

Caprica returns on Tuesday October 5th at 10/9C on Syfy.

Continue Reading →

It’s nice that an entire network has decided to devote itself to the pursuit of Sci-Fi movies and TV programs. After all, before Syfy (previously known as Sci-Fi) we geeks had to seek our reruns of Star Trek and monster of the week movies elsewhere. Believe me, it was no easy task.

And finding anywhere that was running not one or two but several Sci-Fi TV series at the same time, forget about it. Fortunately, the Sci-Fi Channel changed all that and now, re-branded as just Syfy, they continue to push the envelope and bring us even more compelling content each and every year.

With that in mind we’ve got a new promo for you today highlighting all the upcoming Fall shows new or returning to Syfy. Among them you’ll see fan favorites Caprica, Sanctuary, Ghost Hunters and Stargate: Universe and some new shows you’ve probably not heard about yet.

Check out the promo after the jump. Syfy will start airing these new and returning programs in the Fall. In other words, pretty darn soon. Enjoy.

Continue Reading →

The Syfy Network has confirmed that Caprica will return on October 5, three months earlier than originally planned. Previously, it was announced that season 1.5 of the Battlestar Galactica spinoff would not air until January of 2011, which really didn’t make much sense.

In its new timeslot, Caprica will air following new episodes of Stargate Universe, which makes a heck of a lot more sense considering they are both Sci-Fi shows and Stargate is a great lead in. Syfy EVP Mark Stern obviously agrees.

“Though we initially announced the January return of Caprica, we still had hopes of finding a way to get the series back on the air sooner,” said Stern. “We’ve been able to successfully re-work our schedule, and are thrilled to bring the show back during what is traditionally Syfy’s most-watched time of the year.”

Sadly, while this is good new for fans of the series, the fact that no decision has been made on a second season for the show makes this news not quite as good as it could be. It seems Syfy is trying to give the show a chance by moving the premiere earlier but will most certainly be watching the ratings carefully to see if a second season is warranted.

So, if you’re a fan of the show and want to see it come back for a second season, you had better encourage everyone you know to watch the show when it comes back.

At first when Caprica, the prequel to the awesome Battlestar Galactica, was announced I have to admit I was a bit skeptical. I was (and am) such a big fan of BSG that any other show, especially one that didn’t involve my favorite characters and a war with the cylons, just seemed like a pale imitation of the original.

However, once I learned more about Caprica and then began to watch and enjoy it, I realized it was a great show on its own and I have since become a big fan. With the first part of season one already aired, Syfy is finally bringing back the second part and will begin airing new episodes in January.

No specific date has been set for the premiere but if you happen to be at Comic-Con this week, Syfy will be debuting a brand new trailer for season 1.5 on Friday, July 23rd. We will, of course, bring you that trailer as soon as we can. It will also be available on the Zune Marketplace on XBox Live on June 26th.

For more info, click through to read the entire press release from Syfy. So say we all!

Continue Reading →

This week on The Flickcast Chris and Matt celebrate a one year anniversary milestone with guest host Elisabeth Rappe. Some of the topics under discussion this week include proposed sequels to Independence Day, a reboot of the Godzilla franchise, the Caprica mid-season finale and the oddity of “Chat Roulette.”

The trio also made some great picks as they always do including Elisabeth’s pick of the Gerard Butler film Beowulf & Grendel, Matt’s pick of AMC’s series Breaking Bad and Chris’ pick of the original Clash of the Titans featuring Laurence Olivier and Harry Hamlin.

As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques, offers of sponsorship or whatever, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter, at Facebook and MySpace or via email.

Since Battlestar Galactica ended, fans of that world and characters have had to content themselves with watching the show on DVD or by watching the BSG prequel show Caprica. That show started strong but then floundered for a time finally hitting its stride over the last few weeks with some truly excellent episodes. Obviously, the quality of these recent episodes has paid off as the rating for the show have improved as well.

Now, the mid-season finale is upon us and to give you an idea of what’s going to happen, the folks at Syfy have sent us a little preview. Of course, we’re going to share it with you. Here’s what to expect from tonight’s episode, entitled “End of Line”, directly from Syfy:

Daniel (Eric Stoltz) finally sets a deadline for resetting the U-87 Cylon – and unknowingly ending Zoe-A’s (Alessandra Torresani) existence as she knows it – she makes a desperate attempt to save herself. But when her plan backfires, she finds herself out of time and out of options. Furious with a recent comeuppance, Barnabas (James Marsters) ignites his feud with Clarice (Polly Walker) into an all-out war. Trapped in the middle is Lacy (Magda Apanowicz), who is forced to make a decision she may regret forever. Daniel makes a confession to an already reeling Amanda (Paula Malcomson) that sends her over the edge.

Mmmm, sounds very interesting. Can’t wait. Check out this preview of tonight’s mid-season finale after the jump. Caprica airs tonight at 9/8C on Syfy

Continue Reading →

Okay, I’ll admit it. At first, I wasn’t exactly sure what to make of Syfy’s spin-off of Battlestar Galactica, otherwise known as Caprica. The pilot was good but once the show got going, it kinda took a down turn. I know it’s probably blasphemy to say this and it’s probably mostly due to my love of BSG that Caprica seemed to pale in comparison. But now, thank the Gods, this show has found its way and had vastly improved to be one of the best shows on TV.

To get you ready for tonight’s all new episode entitled “The Imperfections of Memory,” our friends at Syfy have given us a promo for the episode and we are, of course, sharing it with you right now. Also, because we care, we’ve also included a recap of last week’s episode “Know Thy Enemy” to help set the stage for tonight.

Also, before I forget, I need to mention that Syfy is hosting a Caprica mini-marathon today, starting at 2PM EST, beginning with the Pilot and airing all subsequent episode suntil the new one premieres tonight. Is that cool, or what? Now you can see the progression of the show from the beginning and gain a greater appreciation of how much the show has improved.

Check out both videos after the jump. The brand new episode of Caprica airs tonight at 9/8C on Syfy.

Continue Reading →

Yesterday, we had a preview of tonight’s all-new Caprica episode entitled ‘Gravedancing.’ And now, thanks to the folks at Syfy, we’ve got even more to share with you today.

In this new clips, we get more info on Adama’s plans for Greystone’s wife, how his brother fits into those plans, and what Greystone will do if his wife gets hurt. We also get to know a talk show host who may end up saving the Greystone name, but probably won’t do it just because he’s a nice guy.

We also get more bits on potential guest stars for this week’s episode and for future episodes as well. Plus, as a bonus, a couple promos for the show featuring even more tidbits to hopefully build your excitement for future episodes. In short, there’s a for you to check out.

The videos are after the break. Caprica airs tonight at 9/8C on Syfy.

Continue Reading →

As you may know, we’re big fans of anything Battlestar Galactica related here at The Flickcast. We loved the original show, follow the cast and report on their appearances in new shows and, of course, we are also fans of Caprica and watch each new episode with great interest every Friday.

After a week off, the show returns tomorrow night with a brand new episode entitled “Gravedancing” and we’ve got a preview of the episode and some other behind-the-scenes videos to share with you today. In the preview, we get a look at Adama’s plan for Greystone’s wife and the potential consiquences of his actions. We also get a glimpse of some new characters that may be making an appeance on the show.

In addition to the promo video, we’ve also got two video blogs featuring the cast and creators of the show. Good stuff.

Check out all three videos after the jump. Caprica airs Fridays at 9/8C on Syfy.

Continue Reading →