Can Ron Moore revive the TV western?

Moore, who has become a cult figure thanks to his work re-imagining 'Battlestar Galactica,' has sold a western pitch to ABC.

According Deadline, 'Hangtown' is described as a western procedural. The show is set in the early 1900s and centers on three characters: a marshal who solves crimes by instinct, a doctor who explores forensics to solve mysteries and a young female writer who is trying to sell dime novels about crime.

The pitch for 'Hangtown' sees the three characters coming together each week to solve a crime. The marshal's detective skills, the doctor's science and the young woman's desire to write good crime story all come into play.

Last year, Moore was said to be working on a 'Wild Wild West' reboot for CBS. NBC produced Moore's '17th Precinct' pilot that featured many 'BSG' actors, but never ordered it to series.

In other development news ...

Remember yesterday, when James Callis was cast alongside Jamie Bamber in Ron Moore's "magical cops" pilot '17th Precinct' and we were all like "AWESOME! 'Battlestar Galactica' reunion"?

Well, take that joy and multiply it by six because another 'BSG' alum has joined the cast: Tricia Helfer. That's right -- Number 6 herself (see what we did there) will star in the NBC series.

Helfer will play Morgana, whom Deadline describes as "a necromancer, the magical equivalent of a coroner, who is an expert at manipulating the potions, tools, herbs and spells of her trade."

Jamie Bamber -- the man also known as frakkin' Lee Adama -- will star in 'Battlestar Galactica' boss Ron Moore's new magical-world-based police drama, '17th Precinct.'

This pilot just went from intriguing to must-see TV.

According to TVLine, Bamber will play Caolan, "an extremely focused crime scene detective."

'17th Precinct' is set in the fictional city of Excelsior, a place where magic and the supernatural rule over science.

'Battlestar Galactica' mastermind Ron Moore has received a pilot order from NBC for '17th Precinct,' an ensemble police drama set in a world ruled by magic.

Stop. You had us at Ron Moore, then you throw in magic!? We're so there.

According to Entertainment Weekly, the project described as "Harry Potter for grown-ups" follows a police squad in the fictional town of Excelsior.

In other TV news ...

• Annie Ilonzeh has landed an angelic role in ABC's 'Charlie's Angels' reboot. The 'General Hospital' star will play Kate, a smart, athletic ex-cop who just so happens to be a martial arts expert. No word on the other two Angels. [Deadline Hollywood]

• Sheila Kelley has landed a key role on 'Gossip Girl.' Kelley, who was recently seen on 'Lost,' will play Carol, Lily's sister. Illeana Douglas was cast, but had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts. [TVLine]

• Jonathan Banks will play Jay's brother on 'Modern Family.' The 'Wiseguy' actor will appear in late February or March. [TVLine]

The people who create remakes of classic TV shows seem to like them more than TV viewers. Sure, once in a while we get a hit like the new 'Hawaii Five-0,' but the success of that show is probably less about the quality and more about how it fits into the CBS formula and its time slot.

The 'Battlestar Galactica' reboot was successful because they completely re-imagined the series -- and let's face it, the original wasn't that hot to begin with. 'The Bionic Woman' redo died a quick and painful death.

Now comes word that 'Battlestar Galactica' producer Ron Moore is going to do a new version of 'The Wild, Wild West' for CBS. This both thrills and terrifies me to my very core.

It appears that 'Teen Mom' star Amber Portwood will have to face more serious consequences than a stern talking-to by Dr. Drew for the physical altercations she got into with ex-fiance Gary Shirley during the latest season of the MTV show.

According to RadarOnline, an MTV attorney in Indianapolis was served with a subpoena requesting footage from 'Teen Mom' that depicts "all or potentially all physically violent encounters between Amber Portwood and Gary Shirley, in addition to any raw footage of the reunion shows in [which] Portwood and Shirley discuss any such violent encounters on the show 'Teen Mom,' either aired or unaired."

Mitch Carroll, spokesman for the police department in Portwood and Shirley's town of Anderson, Ind., told Radar that "MTV sent all the material ahead of time and once the subpoena was issued they said we could have access to the records."

In other TV news ...

• Production on 'The Biggest Loser' was halted Monay due to a labor dispute. Union representatives allegedly showed up on set and led a crew walkout. Production has still not resumed. [Deadline]

• Yet another scandal has rocked the U.K. version of Simon Cowell's 'X-Factor.' Fans are upset that one judge abstained from voting in this weekend's installment, which forced a fan favorite out of the competition. The judge's vote would've resulted in a tie, which means the fan vote would've determined who stayed. [Guardian]

• 'Battlestar Galactica' showrunner Ron Moore is planning an "ambitious" Coast Guard drama with NBC. The new action-adventure series follows the men and women aboard The McCulloch. [The Hollywood Reporter]

'Caprica' continues to deliver its own unique blend of intriguing sci-fi drama while also adding to the mythology of 'Battlestar Galactica'. So far, we've seen the "birth" of the first Cylon, explored Admiral Adama's Tauron roots, and discovered the origins of the Cylons' monotheistic leanings. But how far will 'Caprica' take us? What will the series' end game look like? Will it conclude with the first Cylon war? The eventual fall of the thirteen colonies?

In a recent video interview (embedded after the jump), series creator Ron Moore said that the end point of the series isn't clear yet. The writers still haven't decided how far they want to take the story. Moore did promise that we'd see Zoe's avatar "progress." He also revealed that we might eventually see her "in the flesh as it were, in the real world."

(S01E06) Yes, that was James Marsters (Spike from 'Buffy' and 'Angel') with the brunette hair and the distinctly non-British accent. The fangirls get a moment to squeal before we continue.

Tonight's episode was a lot of set-up and/or continuation of previous storylines. It didn't feel like anything major happened. There are only three episodes left in the season after tonight, so the only conclusion to be reached is that the creators are thinking beyond the first season.

I didn't even notice before tonight that Eric Stoltz's character was sporting a soul patch. He's quite the hipster. Plus, how is it that Caprica, a planet millions and billions of light-years away, has cucumbers, carrots and peppers? What are the odds? Are they available on every planet? Next they'll have cows.

With 'Caprica' struggling to find an audience, it seems natural for the show to hail the mother ship, 'Battlestar Galactica', for a little help.

According to TV Guide, 'Caprica' will soon begin an arc that reveals the backstory of 'BSG's "Final Five" Cylons.

It's unclear if the actors who originally portrayed The Five will return for the 'BSG' prequel, but we might get a visit from another familiar Cylon face. Word is that 'Caprica' producers have already asked Lucy Lawless to reprise the role of D'Anna, one of 'BSG's most troublesome toasters.

Battlestar Galactica creator Ron Moore's doomed Fox sci-fi pilot Virtuality is finally getting a DVD release. The pilot, billed as a TV movie when it premiered last year, is heading to DVD on May 4.

Fox showed little faith in the intriguing drama that followed a crew of astronauts haunted by a malfunctioning VR system and a bit of space madness. After ordering several changes to the show in order to make it more "mainstream," the network scrapped plans for a full series and dumped the premiere on a random Friday night last June with little promotion.

Needless to say, nobody watched.

So how's that direct-to-DVD market working out, SyFy? SyFy has just given a big middle finger to those that purchased the DVD of the Caprica pilot by offering the entire episode online via Hulu for free.

It's possible that I'm overreacting. After all, the episode will eventually be shown on SyFy (January 2010, in fact). I haven't had a chance to watch the online version but I'm assuming that the brief nudity from the DVD version has been edited out. It is the extended cut, so I could be mistaken about that.

In retrospect, this is a smart marketing move on the part of SyFy. Most of the Battlestar Galactica fans are pretty technically savvy and have likely watched the pilot already in one way or another. Offering it for free online is the best way of getting potential new fans involved in the Battlestar Galactica franchise, particularly since SyFy is pretty much ignoring the connection in its marketing.

Even better, the whole pilot is embeddable. It appears after the jump if you want to stick around and watch it at TV Squad for a couple of hours.

Now this is getting ridiculous. There's a rumor on the Web that Justin Timberlake might be cast in the new Battlestar Gactica movie.

At first I didn't know what to make of Universal and Bryan Singer's plans to move ahead with a Battlestar Galactica reboot flick, but now I'm sure I want to see the project die a fiery, fiery death. Casting Justin Timberlake in a new Battlestar movie isn't the problem. The problem is that its just plain ridiculous to have two very different versions of the same beloved franchise out there at the same time. It'll be like Marty McFly running into his future self at the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance in 1955. It could cause a chain reaction that would unravel the very fabric of the space-time continuum!

Patton Oswalt will be joining the cast of Caprica on SyFy. He will have a recurring role of Baxter Sarno, a Caprican comedian and talk show host. I can see how the building of artificial life forms such as the Cylons could provide him with a wealth of material.

One plot point revealed in the article is that Daniel and Amanda Greystone will appear on his talk show. If you're going to sell to the public the concept of robot slaves, a talk show is the place to do it.

Oswalt has long since revealed himself to be a sci fi nerd. Other than his role on King of Queens, he's also appeared on sci fi shows like Dollhouse. He's also had a recurring role on The United States of Tara, which while not exactly science fiction is pretty close to it. I think the true reveal for me of his nerdiness was when he co-wrote a Justice League of America comic (he's also written Batman).

Keep in mind that, according to lore of Battlestar Galactica from the mind of Ron Moore, we're all now descendants of Patton Oswalt.

Battlestar Galactica's Luciana Carro is returning to Syfy with a role on the BSG prequel series Caprica. Fans will remember Carro as Kat on BSG, the cocky Viper pilot and "stims" addict who became a thorn in Starbuck's side. Carro is the first BSG actor to join the Caprica cast, says Battlestar Blog, who heard the news at a recent Wizard World Chicago Q&A.

Kat succumbed to radiation poisoning after flying her last mission in season three of BSG. Carro will most likely be playing a new character on Caprica, since the show takes place more than fifty years before the events of BSG. The news has fans wondering whether or not Carro's Caprica character will be related to Kat.

We know that Caprica is coming to Syfy on January 22nd. We also know that Edward James Olmos is directing the Battlestar Galactica TV movie "The Plan."

An extra little tidbit of news today is Ron Moore's response to the Emmy committee for their snub of the final season of the show. In short, he is not a happy camper.

I wish I could say I was surprised by the Emmy snub, but Hollywood committees do tend to ignore science fiction and fantasy shows when it comes to awards (The Lord of the Rings being the only exception that comes to mind, and that's based on a pretty classic trilogy of books).

The good news is that really good science fiction develops a following that goes far beyond any sort of award recognition. Look at Star Wars. Did that Academy even notice that one? Not really. Yet it still sells loads of merchandise. Battlestar Galactica will likely do the same for some time to come.