georgetakei

I have to say that of everyone I've interviewed, George Takei (for the record it's pronounced "Tah-kay" ... like "okay") has to be one of the most gracious, kind, accommodating, and honest people I've ever met. Not just in the entertainment industry either. He's definitely from the old school of politeness, etiquette and speaking well, yet he has a sharp sense of humor and is always quick to hand out thanks and give kudos where necessary. Just check out Joel Keller's TV Squad interview with him from a year ago (with bonus audio) and you'll see what I mean.

He has no qualms about the fact that his continued success in his acting career is due directly to Star Trek, which made him a fan favorite, and a household name. This past year he's been riding a wave of renewed popularity, thanks in part to his many appearances on The Howard Stern Show, and it has culminated, at least for now, with a recurring role as Hiro Nakamura's father Kaito on NBC's Heroes. It couldn't be happening to a nicer guy.

(S01E14) Before the heroes can eliminate troublesome distractions they must discover what their own true distractions are.

Claude is a kick, and Peter finds out the hard way that he is also quite the hands-on teacher. The invisible Claude might be cynical and a misanthrope, but he does get results. Being thrown off a thirty-story building quickly clarifies things for Peter, though his subsequent revelation is exactly the opposite of Claude's philosophy. And Peter's breakthrough makes him more clearly a kind of anti-Sylar. Each absorbs powers, Sylar does it while killing, Peter does it by allowing himself to feel a life-affirming connection to the other heroes he has caught an ability from. It starts with a memory of Claire, who we now know ...

(S01E13) One of the things I enjoy almost every episode is how the the creative team of Heroes manages to juggle so many characters reasonably well. The majority of the dozen-or-so major players in the half-dozen-or-so major plot threads have important and relevant scenes each time out, quite an accomplishment for just under forty-three minutes of television a week. But, nah, I didn't miss the Artist this time out.

Tonight's episode saw a number of broken relationships on the mend. On the way to the mend, anyhow. There is no longer any question that egocentric politician Nathan Petrelli is now more concerned with helping little bro' Pete than he is on his congressional run. He has certainly given up pretending that things like genetic mutations and human nuclear explosions are inconvenient distractions that can be argued away. That's a relief. Skeptical characters in the face of overwhelming evidence that weird crap is happening start to get tedious after a while, and I'm happy Nathan hasn't turned stuck it out as one of these.

It seems like George Takei has become quite the popular actor lately, hasn't he? Since he came out of the closet last year, then joined Howard Stern and crew on Sirius, he's been in high demand. We at TVS have a soft spot for the guy because he was nice enough to give us an in-depth interview, complete with his trademark halting laugh (if you don't believe me, listen to the attached audio of the interview. That laugh is infectious).

Anyway, he'll be guest-starring on the new Disney Channel sitcom Cory in the House, a spin-off of the Disney show That's So Raven. This show takes Raven's brother Cory and father Victor to the White House, where Victor has been hired to be the personal chef of the new President. Takei will play the head steward on Air Force One, who I'm sure will not take kindly to Cory's wacky schemes. Also guesting in the episode is Don Stark, who played Bob Pinciotti on That '70s Show.

I just have two words for all this: Oh my...

Related:
George Takei joins cast of Heroes
New episodes of Star Trek?

Well, kind of. Star Trek: New Voyages aims to pick up where the original Star Trek left off by filming new adventures for Kirk, Spock, and the rest of the crew of the USS Enterprise, NCC-1701. This is not your ordinary fan film project though. Now a couple years into the project, the producers of New Voyages have been able to attract a lot of talent from the Trek family to work on the show. They have writers that have worked on various Trek incarnations writing the episodes, and now are getting actors with Trek experience as well.

Joel interviewed George Takei earlier this year, and they talked about the New Voyages episode he is doing. That episode, titled "World Enough And Time", begins filming this month. It will follow "To Serve All My Days", which stars Walter Koenig, reprising his role as Pavel Chekov. Other notable casting announcements include Michael Mack, who played Commander Sirol in "The Pegasus" episode of ST:TNG, and Leslie Silva. You may remember Leslie from Showtime's short lived Odyssey 5 where she played Sarah Forbes.

Wow, we've made it to numer ten! The format we followed last week worked out great, so we're continuing with it again this week. Some subjects we yack about:

• We've got a couple of clips from Joel's upcoming interview with George Takei. You tell us: does George call William Shatner a loser?
• Some interviews we're persuing soon.
• The Holmes/Cruise baby and the general weirdness of Scientology.
• The Gilmore Girls creators are gone. So, what now?
• Were Parker and Stone high when they wrote the latest South Park?
• An all-Lost Spoilers Anonymous meeting.

Grab the file directly (link), subscribe to our podcast RSS feed (link), or visit the iTunes music store (link).  (Running time: 37:03)

Apparently there was some excitement here in Minneapolis last Monday, but I missed it. A student activist group called the Soulforce Equality Riders, who travel around visiting colleges with religious policies against homosexuality, were locked out of North Central University in downtown Minneapolis, a private Christian university. One PR person from the university said the protesters declined an offer last week to have a third party mediate the discussion. Well, whatever the situation was, the group of thirty-three wound up rallying in a park across the street, where they were eventually joined by Star Trek's George Takei (Mr. Sulu) who was in town for a gay pride event at the University of Minneapolis and who recently came out himself. Naturally, he compared their struggle to Star Trek, referring to it as an "equality trek."

Joel and I try something a little different this time, limiting our topics to five minutes each. I think it worked out pretty well, so let us know what you think. Topics we cover this week:

• Joel's upcoming interviews: George Takei and Christopher Gorham.
• The new "Five Quick Questions" interview feature.
• Al Roker ... funny?
• What's with all the Paula Abdul talk lately?
• Comedy Central Motherlode contest -- will it make someone's career?
• SNL's best of TV Funhouse is coming! Sweet!
• HUGE I mean HUGE and very spoilery spoilers about not this week's, but next week's Prison Break. I'll likely not post these, so you'll have to listen to know.

Grab the file directly (link), subscribe to our podcast RSS feed (link), or visit the iTunes music store (link).  (Running time: 40:09)