Friday night's episode of Painkiller Jane was weirdly lesbianish, The Closer's third-season opener was (mostly) great, and the newest episodes of Standoff and Hidden Palms were pretty good, but probably only watched by me.

This morning I was talking to my girlfriend Lori about these shows, and it occurred to me that instead of writing up a blog post about all of them, I could just set up our new web cam in our home office and record our conversation about it. After I bribed Lori with smoothies and cupcakes, she finally agreed to do it.

Just to set expectations, this is Lori’s first time doing anything on camera, our home office is badly in need of some art on the walls, and once the camera was on, we somehow wandered from talking about Painkiller Jane and The Closer to South of Nowhere, Maeve Quinlan, Stevie Nicks and Renee O'Connor. But if you don't mind those things, you might find this an amusing way to pass 10 minutes.

I also added some snarky commentary to it after the fact, just for the fun of it. Watch it now here: … continue reading

The SCI FI Channel has cast out actress Kristanna Loken (Bloodrayne, Terminator 3) in the title supehero role of its new TV series Painkiller Jane. Here's how the press release describes the show:

Based on the comic book created by Jimmy Palmiotti and Joe Quesada, 'Painkiller Jane' is the story of Jane Vasko (Loken), a DEA agent who is recruited by a covert government organization tasked with capturing "Neuros" - genetically-enhanced individuals who possess superhuman powers of the mind. During the course of her first investigation with the team, Jane inexplicably discovers that she too possesses extraordinary abilities - abilities that render her impervious to injury but not pain. She develops miraculous regenerative powers, healing from every injury and finding herself stronger than she had been before. As she continues to work with the government to hunt Neuros, Jane tries to uncover the cause of her own transformation and what - if any - connection she shares with the very people she is pursuing.

Production on 22 one-hour episodes of the series begins in Vancouver next month, with the series slated to premiere in the Spring of 2007. But first, look for Loken in several episodes of The L Word this winter, as a "friend" of Shane's (and by "friend", I mean, well, we all know what kind of friendships Shane has).