Reminder: Ming-Na Visits "Two and a Half Men" Tonight (May 17)

Ming-NaStargate star Ming-Na established her recurring character Judge Linda Harris on the CBS show Two and a Half Men a few years ago. Tonight, she reprises the role in “Gumby with a Pokey”, which can be seen at 9 PM ET.

The show, currently in its seventh season, stars Charlie Sheen as Charlie Harper, Judge Linda’s love interest (at one time). “As much as I’m proud to be part of the Disney legacy as Mulan,” Ming-Na teased in an audio interview at Blog Talk Radio, “I’m also proud to be one of the Charlie Harper women—that legacy. We’re acting, we’re working. And even though we’re in bed together, it’s just part of our crazy, crazy job.”

You’ll have to tune in to find out if Charlie and Linda are back together!

[NOTE: If you’d like to see Linda’s introductory episode “Dum Diddy Dum Diddy Doo” from Season Five, tune in to The CW this Saturday, May 22, at 7 PM ET. Check Ming-Na’s IMDb profile for additional appearances.]

[spoiler intro=”TV Guide’s Episode Summary”]TV Guide’s Bill Ecklund describes the episode, “While Alan and Jake are away, the apparitions of Charlie’s former girlfriends visit him, which, considering Charlie’s conquests, should leave the “other” world as empty as Charlie’s scotch bottle. Among the actresses making return appearances are Katherine LaNasa, Ming Na, Emmanuelle Vaugier, Rachel Cannon, Aja Evans, Jodi Lyn O’Keefe and Rena Sofer. ZZ Top make a cameo appearance.”[/spoiler]

Stargate Planner: Week of May 17-23

You might be interested in these news tidbits and announcements that have been noted on this editor’s calendar and notebook for this week. If you’ve got more to add, please don’t hesitate to announce them in the comment section below. We’ll update this article if something comes to our attention during the week.

Calendar

Monday, May 17 Ming-Na returns to her role as Judge Linda Harris in the episode “Gumby with a Pokey” in Two and a Half Men on CBS at 9 PM ET.
Tuesday, May 18 Stargate Universe “Sabotage” on the UK’s Sky One at 8:00 PM.
Wednesday, May 19
Thursday,
May 20
Today, The CW is holding their Upfronts and they’ll announce whether or not Ben Browder will be appearing weekly as a regular cast member of Tom Welling’s Hellcats. The word is that this show is a strong contender. ETA: The CW did pick the series up, but Browder has decided not to appear in it. Instead, he will be pursuing some film projects that have become available to him.
Friday,
May 21
Stargate Universe “Pain” on Australia’s Sci Fi Channel at 8:30 PM.

Stargate Universe “Subversion” on Syfy at 9 PM ET (Canada’s Space has delayed it until May 28 at 10 PM ET). Richard Dean Anderson and Michael Shanks guest star!

Torri Higginson‘s turn as Beatrice in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing ends tonight at A Noise Within theatre in Glendale, California.

Saturday, May 22
Sunday, May 23

News Notes

There have been several recent interviews with Alaina Huffman and David Blue that cover the end of Season One and into Season Two of Stargate Universe:

Last week, we posted a few background articles in our LJ Companion that you might be interested in. These articles don’t have a companion piece in our News Blog here:

Reminders

For news as it happens, make sure to visit the Stargate Twitter Superfeed for tidbits directly from the Stargate stars and production crew. And don’t forget our new feature Beyond the Event Horizon, which consists of “home pages” with dynamic feeds from our LJ and Blog for the stars of SG-1 and Atlantis.

Our LJ Companion has news bites, polls, and glimpses into the lives of the actors that we don’t necessarily cover here in our more formal news blog. Make sure to visit the LJ’s feed on our front page or visit the site directly to see its mostly fun little tidbits.

For the latest in convention appearances, which are subject to change, make sure to visit Stargate Actor Appearances.

Ming-Na to Appear on "Today" May 5

Ming-NaStargate Universe star Ming-Na just notified her followers on her Twitter that she’ll be appearing on NBC’s morning news and magazine show Today this coming Wednesday, May 5!

Packing 4 NYC! Watch 4 me on Today show this Wed May 5th! Better yet, come by & say hi! Hope 2 visit folks at @Syfy as well!

Mark your calendars and tune in (7-11 AM ET)! If you do happen to miss it, the show’s website posts segments from the day’s broadcast.

13-4-13: Stargate Universe 1.0, Feature Wrap-Up

SGU Season One Cast

It’s hard to believe, but that time has arrived! We’ve reached the final installment of our Thirteen Weeks for Thirteen Years (13-4-13) series. You know what that means? That means that new episodes of Stargate Universe resume next week on Friday, April 2, at 9 PM ET/PT on Syfy! Canadians watching Space will also see it on April 2 at 10 PM ET/7 PM PT. Australians getting Sci Fi will see it April 9, and UKers getting Sky One, April 13! (For more information on these schedules, visit the Stargate Universe main page in our Stargate Wiki.)

In the meantime, let’s look back at the beginning of the third series in the Stargate franchise. Premise-wise, Stargate Universe had been in the making for several years, first as a stand-alone Stargate movie, then as a series. Brad Wright told The Official Magazine, “The germ of Stargate Universe began as a movie by Robert Cooper [series co-creator/executive producer], as do many of our ideas. We always come up with a movie, pitch it to MGM, and they say, ‘Terrific, let’s make it a TV show.’ When we were spinning the film idea, we knew deep down that Universe was really a series because it had so much scope.

“Oddly enough we pitched Universe a couple of years before we actually thought we were going to end up doing it. We went to the Syfy Channel with the idea and it appeared to be really well-received, but then a very long time went by without us hearing anything more. At one point we thought, ‘Oh, well, it looks like it’s not going to happen,’ and then we received the series order. It came as a little bit of a surprise. Honestly, I expected Atlantis to go another year, and then we’d either have another year before Universe started up, or we would just wind up doing a couple more direct-to-DVD Stargate movies. Now, however, we’re doing Universe, which, believe me, is great.”

Getting down to the driving force behind the change in Stargate‘s proven 15-season signature of maintaining a sense of humor while not taking themselves too seriously, co-creator Robert C. Cooper explained to the Canadian Screenwriter Magazine, “What I really wanted to do was to shake up the approach to the show. I wanted us to move stylistically in a very different direction. We had made a plot-driven, action adventure show previously. The characters were fun and interesting, and one of the key reasons people liked the shows was because of the characters, but when people tuned in they knew what to expect: the crew would get into some trouble, go through the gate, have an adventure and then come home after saving the world. I don’t mean it in a derogatory sense, but it was a comic-book adventure, with larger-than-life bad guys, all about bad vs. good—very broad, primary colours. I felt like we had done as much of that as we could possibly do.

“I pitched the idea of doing something slightly more real as a character drama. It’s a sci-fi show: you’re still dealing with space ships. But I wanted the characters to feel real.”

Reaction to this change in format has been mixed, but ultimately, the first season of Stargate Universe has been deemed successful enough that a 20-episode second season was ordered (and is currently filming). Stargate Universe indeed is quite different in style, but still at the heart of it is the foundation laid in the previous twelve years’ worth of work done for both Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis.


Universe Season 1.0


If you haven’t had a chance to watch SGU 1.0, there’s going to be a marathon on Syfy to lead into the new episodes on Friday, April 2, starting at 11:00 AM ET!


The SGU Ensemble Cast


Cast interviews have been aplenty for the newest Stargate! Here at Solutions, we’ve reported on several, both here in the Solutions Blog and at our less-formal LJ Companion. Recently, we’ve added tags to both places that will lead you directly to the reports. We’ve also started actor and character biographies in the Stargate Wiki. Click on the following links to get you to your favorite’s entries (clicking on the image will get you to our Gallery’s larger version):

Robert Carlyle as Dr. Nicholas Rush

Robert Carlyle
(Dr. Nicholas Rush)
Louis Ferreira as Col. Everett Young

Louis Ferreira
(Col. Everett Young)
Brian J. Smith as Lt. Matthew Scott

Brian J. Smith
(Lt. Matthew Scott)
Elyse Levesque as Chloe Armstrong

Elyse Levesque
(Chloe Armstrong)
David Blue as Eli Wallace

David Blue
(Eli Wallace)
Alaina Huffman as Lt. Tamara Johansen

Alaina Huffman
(Lt. Tamara Johansen)
Jamil Walker Smith as MSgt. Ronald Greer

Jamil Walker Smith
(MSgt. Ronald Greer)
Ming-Na as Camile Wray

Ming-Na
(Camile Wray)
Lou Diamond Phillips as Col. David Telford

Lou Diamond Phillips
(Col. David Telford)

Solutions


Did you enjoy our journey through the years of Stargate in this Thirteen Weeks for Thirteen Years series? Would you like to see more series of this type in the future? If so, what would you like to see? Let us hear from you in the comment section below, or contact us through our e-mail address. Thanks. 🙂

io9: Ming-Na and David Blue on SGU's April Return

io9 caught up with Stargate Universe stars Ming-Na and David Blue at Syfy’s recent Upfronts in New York and got to talk a little about the second half of Season One that is coming to Syfy on April 2 (at 9 PM ET/PT). The two managed to avoid talking about specific plot points, but you should be aware that they do briefly touch on some of the things happening on Destiny. So, visit the article forewarned that there might be information therein that some would consider spoilers (even the title of the article might be spoilery to some).

The international return schedule of Stargate Universe is as follows – subject to change:

  • United States – Syfy – Friday, April 2, 9 PM ET/PT (their website)
  • Canada – SPACE – Friday, April 2, 10 PM ET/7 PM PT (their website)
  • Australia – Sci Fi – Friday, April 9, 8:30 PM (story; their website)
  • UK – Sky One – Tuesday, April 13, 8:00 PM (not yet confirmed; their website)

Ming-Na Interview at Celebrity Baby Scoop

Ming-Na talked with Celebrity Baby Scoop about many things, including her work in Stargate Universe as Camile Wray.

Like some of Stargate‘s American stars before her—Richard Dean Anderson, Ben Browder, Beau Bridges, Joe Flanigan, and Jason Momoa—Ming-Na commutes between the sets of Stargate Universe in Vancouver in Canada and her home in California in the United States. The busy mother of two explained to CBS how she managed this type of schedule last year:

CBS: We hear you ‘commute’ to Vancouver, BC for Stargate. How do you balance work and motherhood with your frequent traveling?

MN: “I have an amazing husband and truly great kids. We all had to adjust the first year. I never took any jobs outside of LA unless it was for a week or a day since I became a mom. But when I worked in LA, I also felt terribly burnt out working full time, 12-16 hour days and then coming home and trying to do all the mommy stuff. I didn’t feel I was doing a good job at either end.

I find when I’m in Vancouver, I just focus on work. When I come home, I’m a full time mom. I don’t have to worry about a 4:30 a.m. calltime or memorizing my lines for the next day. SGU producers work it out as best they could so I get time to be home.

It’s tough for me and my family when I’m away, but it really makes us all appreciate each other so much more when I’m home! There are always pros and cons to any situation, right?”

Principal photography for Season Two of Stargate Universe will begin following the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and Ming-Na plans to be there (that might be a spoiler!). In the meantime, we’re waiting for the second half of Season One to begin on Friday, April 2, on Syfy.

Make sure to visit Celebrity Baby Scoop’s exclusive interview with Ming-Na for more on this busy mother’s activities, including her charity work.

Ming-Na Reveals More of Wray’s Private Life

Jenna Busch of the Huffington Post got a chance to talk with Stargate Universe star Ming-Na about many things, including her role as IOA representative Camile Wray and what it was like acting with guest star Reiko Aylesworth, who’ll be making her first appearance as Camile’s girlfriend Sharon in Carl Binder’s episode “Life” (which premieres this Friday).

The interview is full of spoilers for SGU, especially concerning Camile Wray’s private life, so be careful when you visit the Post, but as a consolation, we’ll provide a few non-spoilery quotes here:

On the small amount of screen time Camile Wray has been given thus far:

You’ll see more of Camille Wray later on. I think in the beginning she was definitely a character that was still in development, and I think once they latched on to her voice and who she is, she became a more integrel part of the show as things go on. … you will see more of Camille, especially in the next episode. November 20th. The episode called, “Life”. You’ll really get to see a personal side of who she is.

On not being a fan of Stargate when she joined the SGU cast:

That’s the only thing! No, I really wasn’t! I think at the point when the series had started, I was so much focused on my career and working and then the kids came along, so it was definitely a love of mine, like so many other things, that I put on the back burner. And it’s kind of been great because, now that I’m in the show, I’m being reintroduced to one of my great loves, which is science fiction. And I’m meeting all these great sci-fi fans, either on Twitter or at conventions … I love it! I feel like I’ve kind of come around full circle and I’m back to my high school days. It’s great! [Laughs]

That fellow cast-mate David Blue is responsible for getting her on Twitter:

Yes he is! And he won’t let me forget it either. [Laughs] I told him, I said, ‘You’re like a drug dealer, man! You get people hooked and that’s it. We’re hooked for life.’ I’m very grateful that he got me on this thing. I’ve got to keep up with the times! I’ve got to know what’s going on around the world here! [Laughs]

On the appeal of Stargate Universe:

I think ultimately, aside from all the sci-fi stuff, which … the amazing special effects have been blowing me away. I can’t believe the look of the show. It’s fantastic. Really, the CGI guys that we have are incredible. And the music is amazing and the writing, but ultimately I think it’s a combination of a lot of things. The characters are really relatable and the people fall in love with each different character and they’re intrigued with each different character in their own way. And I think the chemistry that the cast members have on and off the set also contributes to it. Sometimes it’s one of those intangible things that happen in a series, and I’m really thankful that it’s happening to us. It just makes life and work so much more fun.

Concerning her next convention appearance:

Yeah, I think, depending on how things go, this year was really, really tough because there was so much adjustment for my whole family with me traveling to Vancouver and traveling back and forth, and being away. And so, I think for me this year, I don’t want to go anywhere else. I just want to stay put and spend time with the kids. And especially the holidays. And then we’ll see. You know, next year they’ll be a bit older and maybe I’ll take them along, because my daughter is a huge Star Wars fan and my son even knows what Star Wars is. It’s hilarious! We just got a game. The Star Wars version of Battleship. It’s so much fun! [Laughs] So maybe they’ll be old enough where I can take them with me to the conventions and we can have a good time together.

Make sure to visit Huffington Post for the rest of the interview in which the two self-professed geeks talk about Dungeons & Dragons, science fiction, and cooking, among many other things.

SGU Segment on ‘Today Show’ (Updated)

According to Craig Engler of Syfy, Stargate Universe will be included in the line-up for The Today Show tomorrow (October 1). Here’s his tweet:

FYI you can watch Robert Carlyle @MsMingNa & @LouDPhillips on @todayshow tomorrow morning! #sgu

Today is a four-hour morning show on NBC that begins at 7 AM (ET). If you miss Robert Carlyle, Ming-Na, and Lou Diamond Phillips as they make their appearances, you’ll be able to watch the entire program online at their website (most likely only available to those in the USA).

Stargate Universe premieres on Friday, October 2, at 9 PM (ET) on Syfy and Space.

UPDATE:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

SGU Momentum Builds; RDA Returns

With less than a week to go until the North American premiere of Stargate Universe, the press and promotion machine is going full-tilt, to the credit of Syfy and MGM. There have been few if any negative reviews of the three-parter, “Air,” which was screened by the press. Rather, the reactions have ranged from cautiously optimistic to positively glowing. A recent selection includes:

Pop Culture Zoo Review

Stargate Universe has one of the finest ensemble casts I’ve seen in a long time. When someone of the caliber of Robert Carlyle is cast in a lead role there is always the concern that they will overshadow the others (John Noble through most of Fringe’s first season is an excellent example of that). Here all worries are quickly dispelled as every actor that shares a scene with Carlyle easily holds their own and that amazing acting continues when he is absent.

CinemaSpy Review

If ‘Air’ sounds a bit downbeat, that is because it is. The episode is dark (literally as well as figuratively, since there seem to be few lights on Destiny) and less humorous than Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis. The plot also gives our heroes few major victories to cheer about.

LA Times: TV This Week

It’s no “Star Wars,” or even “Star Trek,” but 15 years after the 1994 sci-fi adventure “Stargate” — which has already spawned the TV spinoffs “Stargate SG-1” and “Stargate Atlantis” — the franchise soldiers on with the debut of “Stargate Universe” (above). Robert Carlyle and Lou Diamond Phillips star. (SyFy, 9 p.m.)

There are also many interviews coming out with the cast. The Province of Canada just posted interviews of Robert Carlyle, Louis Ferreira, Ming Na, and Lou Diamond Phillips.

Twitter reveals many tidbits as well (follow our superfeed here!). The cast and crew will gather tonight to watch the premiere together for the first time, as revealed by numerous Tweeters from the show.

Filming this week included a major action sequence involving Louis Ferreira, Lou Diamond Phillips, Jamil Walker Smith, and Brian J. Smith. LDP reported he was bruised as a result.

Amanda Tapping was on set this week and had lunch with the ladies of SGU. Ming Na tweeted the photo below here.

AT and SGU Ladies

It’s not clear whether Tapping will be appearing in an additional episode of SGU or if she was just visiting the set for some actor bonding. Meanwhile, it appears Richard Dean Anderson is on set for filming of the season finale, as “not” confirmed by Joe Mallozzi:

To those of you asking, I can neither confirm nor deny the presence of Richard Dean Anderson on the lot.  However, in the event I was to confirm it (which I’m not), I’d say he was in great spirits yesterday when he joined us for lunch in the writers’ room – joking away, his charming old self, simply happy to be back.  IF he is back.  Also, in the event he has returned for a guest spot(s), it’s possible he could have started shooting his scenes today.

Filming of Season 1 is scheduled to continue into October. Whether there is a Season 2 will depend of course on the ratings for the first few episodes of Season 1, as the decision will need to be made before the year is out.