Battlestar Galactica veteran Michael Trucco is going from playing Starbuck’s husband and one of the “Final Five” Cylons on that show to playing a lizard alien on ABC’s V. He will be taking on the role of “mysterious resistance leader” John May for at least one episode when the show returns next month.

As you may know if you watch the show, May is the founder and leader of the Fifth Column, a group of Vs who are fighting against their race’s plans for the domination of Earth and humanity. Ryan (Morris Chestnut), a sleeper V who has been on Earth since before the Visitors arrived, once was involved in the resistance and worked with May.

Now he and humans Erica (Elizabeth Mitchell) and Father Jack (Joel Gretsch) are attempting to resurrect the Fifth Column, with the help of May, and hopefully bring an end to the V’s plans for world domination. Sounds like a plan. Let’s hope they succeed.

V will return to ABC on March 30 with eight new episodes. Hopefully, it won’t go away again for three months after that, which is a pretty odd strategy if you’re trying to build an audience for a show.

So far, Trucco is set to appear as John May in an episode airing on April 13, but I’m sure if he does well and audiences respond, you can expect to see a lot more of him.

I suppose I should disclose a couple things about me, in particular, writing this article. The first is that I haven’t watched the last couple seasons of 24. Furthermore, for all the fanfare the show gets, it prescribes to the same cookie cutter formula every season. That’s why I dubbed the show “twenty-formulaic.” Every season is just as good as the last; which basically means the series has been exactly the same since season two. Oh, I can just hear angry 24 fans starting to write emails to me.

The second point is that I’m still pretty angry from the laughable conclusion to Battlestar Galactica. Yes, I’m one of those guys who thought Ron Moore and company pretty much gave up trying to provide logical closure to the show in favor of whatever you want to call that mess that was the end of the show. Again, I can hear you typing.

Now, even with those points noted there’s nothing to say I can’t provide a very objective take on Katee Sackhoff’s new gig on 24. Alright, maybe not the most objective but I’ll give it my all. Which is to say, I’ll limit my ranting because I could go on forever.

While there was a lot of unnecessary controversy about Sackhoff playing Starbuck on the new BSG (a role originally played by clearly all-man Dirk Benedict) I thought she did a great job with the character. Even when the story got derailed some Sackhoff was faithful to her role, even if she herself wasn’t sure what she was. This is clearly evident in the somewhat labored explanation she provides to the show’s end:

“So when she at the end was saying goodbye to [Anders], I think that she was saying goodbye to their bodily forms,” she said. “I think she knew, especially if he says, ‘I’ll see you on the other side,’ I think she’s with him. I think they’re both dead, but I think she’s with him.

That was a decision that we made, because I selfishly wanted her at peace, and the only way to do that was to have her with someone at the end, or to be with the person she wanted to be with. I don’t know. That’s kind of where I think she is. She’s with Michael Trucco playing pyramid in the sky somewhere.”

Now, count the number of times she says “I think” in that explanation. Yes, six times. That’s a whole lot of guess work for a show highlighting antagonists who we were told very specifically had a plan from the very beginning Whoops, I said I wouldn’t rant didn’t I?

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Among its many virtues (and believe me, there were many) Battlestar Galactica had a terrific bunch of actors in it. Because of their high quality, its should really be no surprise that many of them, including Katee Sackhoff and Tricia Helfer to name a few, have gone on to do more work in TV and look to have long careers ahead of them. To that list we can add one more name: Michael Trucco.

Trucco, along with How I Met Your Mother co-star Virginia Williams, are set to star opposite Sarah Shahi (last seen on of one of my favorite recent shows Life) in the upcoming USA drama pilot Facing Kate. The show, in case you’re not familiar, concerns a divorced San Francisco woman (Shahi) who leaves her job as a lawyer to become a mediator following the death of her father, who headed a law firm.

Trucco will play Kate’s ex-husband, who’s also an attorney, a charmer, and who, surprise surprise, still has feelings for her. Williams will play Kate’s “obsessive and controlling younger stepmother who is determined to keep her husband’s firm.” Could be interesting. And really, who doesn’t want to see Anders in more shows? I know I do. He’s cool.