pattonoswalt

Jerry Seinfeld will be the first guest on 'The Jay Leno Show,' premiering Sept. 14 on NBC.

Also in the news today: 'Dancing With the Stars' announces its next cast, while 'Good Morning America' books a popular comedian.

See more of today's top TV headlines after the jump.

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.

When I first wrote about the cast changes for season six of Reno 911!, a few readers were disappointed that their favorite deputies were killed in a tragic taco stand explosion. Clementine (Wendi McLendon-Covey), Garcia (Carlos Alazraqui), and Kimball (Mary Birdsong) all died, and were replaced this season with Deputy Frank Rizzo (Joe Lo Truglio) and Sergeant Jack Declan (Ian Roberts).

Clementine and Garcia were both part of the show since the beginning, and were often the most appealing characters on the show. The racial tension between Garcia and Deputy Jones (Cedric Yarbrough) was a fun plotline, and Clementine's undercover pot bust at a head shop was one of my favorite scenes. Kimball came aboard in season three, and had her adherents, as well.

Those that have even half-paid attention to my Saturday Night Live posts know that I am not a huge fan of featured player Casey Wilson. In fact, I would go so far as to say I actually kind of dislike her on the show. I feel a great deal of familiarity when I watch her on SNL, because she acts the way I probably would if I ever made it onto the program.

Due to my intense, psychologically and emotionally crippling levels of self-loathing, this makes Wilson extra-painful for me to watch. Oh, those poorly timed glances at the camera, they are Casey Wilson's as much as they are mine.

One of my favorite things that Reno 911! does is to weave in guest stars with little or no fanfare, and to just let them mix it up with the cast. I smile every time I see Patton Oswalt as a role-playing geek running, in full chainmail, from Dangle & Co. Or Paul Rudd as a Lamaze coach. Or Cheryl Hines as trailer trash (there has been a lot of trailer trash).

It's never a big deal, it's never announced to promote the show. It's just people who are good at what they do goofing off and having a lot of fun, which is what the rest of the cast is doing anyway.

Looks like the new season, which premieres Wednesday at 10:30PM, will continue that tradition. Here's a bit with Jonah Hill, uncensored.

(S01E06) So this is the biggie. The episode that changes everything. Did it have to be on the same night as the series finale of Battlestar Galactica?

It looks like the rumors aren't true. At least, not this week. Somewhat disappointing, but they could prove true before season's end.

Tonight's episode wasn't so much about Echo as it was about the Dollhouse itself and how the world perceives it. It also discussed (via documentary) the moral and philosophical implications of such a place, the sort of questions that Joss Whedon excels at exploring (good thing he wrote the episode).

(S01E02) Last week we were introduced to T and Buck, and this week we got to meet Alice. While T may be the most outrageous, and Buck the strangest, this first impression suggests that Alice is the most dangerous of Tara's alters. Along with learning about Alice, and her future plans, it was also a big night for guest spots. Tony Hale, Patton Oswalt, and Nathan Corddry were all along for the ride.

Lewis Black's second season of Root of All Evil is back next week. And the topics on the premiere are close to my heart: Ultimate Fighting Vs. Bloggers. Because I am both a blogger and an ultimate fighter (okay, maybe not the second one), I will definitely be tuning in to see Patton Oswalt and Andrew Daly argue the case for each and hear Black's final judgment on which is more evil. I have a sinking feeling it's going to be bloggers.

The show is also getting a few new comedians. Jerry Minor and Andrea Savage will join Daly, Oswalt, Greg Giraldo, Andy Kindler, Kathleen Madigan, and Paul F.Thompkins. And here's some of the other topics: Steriods Vs. Boob Jobs, Disney Vs. Scientology, Strip Clubs Vs. Sororities, Olympic Games Vs. Drinking Games, NRA Vs. PETA, and The Hills Vs. Rocket Scientists. I think the Disney Vs. Scientology episode is going to be especially funny. Which debate do you think will be good?

Root of All Evil premieres on July 30th at 10:30 p.m. ET on Comedy Central.

Our resident Spaced-nut Annie mentioned the upcoming region 1 DVD set back in March. If you haven't seen the show, just the fact that it's coming out is reason enough to go pick it up. It really is as good as everyone says. But if you have seen the show, it looks like this one will be worth checking out for you as well.

As I was going about my workday, a little blurb popped up on twitter from Diablo Cody that said, "SPACED (The ORIGINAL!) is coming out on DVD soon! (And a lucky bitch named Diablo Cody got to contribute commentary.)" That's interesting enough, and you should check out her Twitter feed. It's an entertaining read. Even better though, she goes on to add that we can also expect commentary from Bill Hader, Patton Oswalt, Quentin Tarentino, Matt Stone, and Kevin Smith. Sign me up for that.

A curious search later, Google sent me to spaced-out.org.uk, which confirms the commentary and goes into further detail about the extras included on the new set. They also have some fun quotes about the show from J.J. Abrams, Kevin Smith and Matt Stone.

(S01E09) "I feel like the weirdest drug dealer of all time." -- Bert "Sock" Wysocki

If there were a country populated by MILFs, Julie Cooper would be the President. I never realized how much I missed Melinda Clarke until tonight. She must have a great time running down her resume for people..."I've played a dominatrix, a scheming predator of high school boys and the devil's girlfriend."

(S01E06) Since Reaper made its debut, there has been a nagging question. It's great and all, but how is it going to hold up over time? The random soul to catch each week is fun, and they have done a good job with that so far, but it's not enough to sustain the show over the long term. The writers made some good strides last week introducing the subplot with Pa Oliver and the contract. And then they took a step backwards this week by resetting the Sam and Andi relationship.

That's not to say that this was a bad episode by any stretch. There was a lot to like this week. As we move through the season though, the bigger picture story is going to become more and more important. We're better than a quarter of the way through the season now, so it's worth bringing up some of those questions. The characters are introduced and we have a good feel for all the major players. It's time to make with some revelations.

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Some of us here are big fans of the Comedians of Comedy, a collection of various comedians (the core group consists of Patton Oswalt, Brian Posehn, Maria Bamford, Eugene Mirman and Zach Galifianakis) who play small rock clubs and similar venues rather than the usual comedy clubs.

Patton Oswalt recently posted on the comedy site A Special Thing that a brand new DVD, The Comedians of Comedy: Live at the Troubadour, would be released on October 2. What's even cooler, or maybe just equally as cool, is that the entire concert will be shown on Comedy Central's Secret Stash, completely uncensored and uncut, on September 29.

(S05E05) Tonight's episode took place at the Tempe Improv and despite the fact that it didn't look exactly like the old LA room, any fan of comedy had to get a little excited when they saw that brick wall and the big Improv letters attached to it. I felt like I was sucked right back into 1988 and I was watching what was, for me, one of the defining shows of my childhood: A&E's Evening at the Improv. The only thing that was missing was Bud Friedman introducing each comedian while wearing a ridiculous monocle.

The bad news tonight was that none of the comedians had the 80's comic uniform on: jeans, skinny-tie, and sports coat with the sleeves rolled up. I would have liked to see that.

The good news? Well, tonight's episode was actually kind of enjoyable...

Geeks get treated pretty badly in the media. Thanks to the fact that most people who get above-the-line credit in Hollywood are anything but geeky, when a script calls for a socially maladjusted character, it's almost always a terrible caricature of true geek culture. For years little geeklings only had the likes of Steve Urkel to look up to and that's not right (believe me, Jaleel White, when the geek revolution comes, you'll be the first one guillotined).

The fact that I'm about to become the father of my own little geek-spawn has led me to start looking around the current TV landscape, looking for appropriate geek role models. I was surprised to find so many...

The first season of Friday Night Lights is over, and NBC has begun to rerun some (but not all) of the first season episodes. Fortunately, you can watch the entire first season over on NBC's site.

I've been catching up with the first season online, after having avoided it completely when it originally aired on television. You see, I don't like sports, and I especially didn't like high school sports. In fact, I pretty much hated every aspect of high school. You can imagine a show about high school football was going directly on my "Never Watch In A Million Years" list.