So, I guess we'll find out if Cameron makes it out of that Jeep after all. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles has been renewed for a second season. A whole new season of Lena Headey and Summer Glau running around in tank tops with shotguns while saving the world? Hell and yeah.

The show's strike-abridged nine-episode first season ended on a big bang of a cliffhanger (which, if you haven't seen yet you should stop reading now, but — gosh, that was like a month and a half ago so what's the hold up?). Cameron went kerplewie after starting the family Jeep while on a cake run for John's birthday. The car bomb was planted by internet café owner/sneaky owner of The Turk Sarkissian. So, looks like she is going to need that recipe for fake Terminator skin that Cromartie cooked up earlier this season.

The series has earned a 13-episode pickup. The extended season is good news and means they can flesh out (puns!) the show's deeper themes about identity, duty, technology and the very nature of the human soul. And, given its prevalence, Lena's scowl might as well have its own subplot. … continue reading

In a career spanning little more than 15 years, Lena Headey has appeared in close to 50 films. On-screen, she’s portrayed the tough-as-nails Queen Gorgo (300), the tough-as-nails Sarah Connor (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles), the tough-as-nails super-sexy cave-diving scientist Kathryn (The Cave), and Luce, the ... uh ... hot-as-nails florist who wins Piper Perabo’s heart (Imagine Me and You).

Hell, if you dig deep enough into Headey’s past, you’ll even find that she’s appeared alongside a certain mulleted secret agent: I’m talking about the 1994 made-for-TV film MacGyver: Trail to Doomsday. My current to-do list has increased by one; to wit: 1) get peanut butter, 2) learn to live without sleep so I can play the new Silent Hill game all the time, 3) see MacGyver: Trail to Doomsday ASAP.

Though I’d leap at the chance to watch Headey read the phone book (eh, who am I kidding — I’d leap at the chance to watch Headey simply look at a phone book), as a horror fan I’m psyched because she’s got several genre flicks coming down the pike: The Broken, an Invasion of the Body Snatchers–esque thriller which earned good reviews at this year’s Sundance Film Festival; and the just-announced Black Death, an apocalyptic medieval gothic horror film about necromancy and ... you know, that bubonic plague thing. … continue reading

OK, I'll admit it: I gave up on The Sarah Connor Chronicles after the third episode. For me, Lena Headey's hotness just couldn't make up for the convoluted story lines and John's terrible acting. But I know I'm in the minority, and plenty of people love the show.

Tonight's two-hour season finale has a very tantalizing description: "Sarah enters into a business deal with a mysterious partner." If only Piper Perabo were playing the partner.

Meanwhile, if real-life showdowns are more your style, there's another finale tonight: the women's college basketball Big East regular-season title game. UConn takes on Rutgers at 7/6c on ESPN2.

And there's one more face-off tonight — probably the most dramatic one. Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett give female bonding a new meaning in Notes on a Scandal at midnight/11c on HBO2. The film polarized lesbian audiences (at least here on AfterEllen.com — see my take and Malinda's for examples), but no matter how you feel about it, you'll probably be fascinated.

 

You know, I thought that Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (for which Dorothy Snarker helpfully coined the acronym T:SCC) would make fans of kick-ass females happy. I mean, here's a show that is entertaining, well acted and has not one, but two hot women stars, Lena Headey and Summer Glau.

As Ms. Snarker so delightfully put it, whoever cast those two together "deserves a raise or, at the very least, a large muffin basket."

The series is not perfect, but it's definitely worth watching. And compared to Bionic Woman, T:SCC is beyond brilliant. So, what's the problem? According to some Terminator fans, Headey is too thin. Painfully thin. Emaciated, even.

Huh? That is not an emaciated woman. Thin, yes. Fit, yes. But too thin? I don't think so. Granted, Headey is not ripped like the original Sarah Connor, Linda Hamilton. But who is? … continue reading

Well, gosh, that was exciting. The two-night, two-episode premiere of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (henceforth to be known as T:SCC because, geez, that’s a lot to type over and over again) was an apocalyptic good time.

Was it perfect? Certainly not. Were there continuity issues? Most definitely. But you’d be hard pressed to find a weak link in the acting department (OK, Thomas Dekker’s John Connor is a bit like Zac Efron with an attitude problem) or a show with more beautiful women kicking ass in tank tops. Whoever decided to put Lena Headey and Summer Glau in a series together deserves a raise, or at the very least, a large muffin basket.

Since I’m just a casual fan of the films, I came to the series with fewer expectations in terms of the Terminator mythology. But for those who demand consistentcy, T:SCC takes place after T:2 and before T:3, thus basically negating (or, more accurately, reimagining) the final film. But, again, since I’m a fan but not a fanatic of the movies, I was just looking for a good story that could balance action with emotion. … continue reading

One night last week, Gladiator was showing on TV. I used to love that movie — in fact, I think I owned it at one point — but I realized something this time around. I didn't want to see the ending, Connie Nielsen notwithstanding.

(Speaking of whom, watching Gladiator did make me wonder what she's been up to, aside from guesting on Law and Order: SVU a while back. Turns out, she appears in Battle in Seattle with Michelle Rodriguez and Charlize Theron. Yet another reason to try to see that movie.)

Then, over the weekend, my girlfriend rented a few movies. One of them I haven't exactly avoided, but haven't been dying to see: 300. I know, I know, Lena Headey. Period costume works for her, but somehow I just couldn't get worked up about a movie that could realistically be called More Than 300 Really Horrible, Bloody Awful Ways to Die.

So what did this make me realize? (Besides that my girlfriend really, really loves sword-and-sandal movies? To the point where we wrestled over the remote?) It's not the violence (although I admit the over-the-top spraying blood of BloodRayne made me queasy. Possibly that was the acting). No, it's the fact that sometimes if I know the ending to a movie up front, I don't see the point in sitting through it. … continue reading

Come with me if you want to live. Sorry, I didn’t mean to get all dramatic. But with all my favorite shows in or entering repeats, you can understand why Sunday’s premiere of the Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles has me all excited about taking back the future from the endless reality wasteland we’re about to enter. Well, that and the presence of Lena Headey, Summer Glau and some really big guns.

The much anticipated, much drooled-over two-night premiere airs Sunday and Monday on Fox. Since I missed the Yahoo! TV stream of the pilot last week (vacation makes you do the wacky, like not log on to your computer for days at a time), I’m looking forward to it with the proverbial bated breath. Though after looking at Summer, Lena and Lena’s mischievously cocked eyebrow at the premiere party this week, I think I may have stopped breathing altogether.

The reasons I’ll be watching are obvious: Lena, Summer, guns, explosions, fights, killer machines from the future hell-bent on destroying the world as we know it. You know, girlie stuff. … continue reading

If I told you that the new British boarding-school comedy St. Trinian’s, released in the U.K. on Dec. 21, has aspects of the Kristy McNichol film Little Darlings crossed with Tina Fey’s comedy Mean Girls, you might think that you ought to be excited about seeing it. Unfortunately, it’s nowhere near as good as either of those movies. But it does begin with a similar premise: the female of the species — and particularly the teenage female — is much, much more deadly than the male.

Although I don’t think they’re really known of in the U.S., the fierce and fictional schoolgirls of St. Trinian’s have been iconic in the U.K. for over half a century. They first sprang from the brain of the cartoonist Ronald Searle, who in 1941 was a soldier stationed in Scotland near a friendly family whose daughters attended a school named St. Trinnean’s. Encouraged by the success of his early cartoons within the family, Searle sent them off to a magazine. By 1947, the series was a national hit, being published in book form as Hurrah for St. Trinian’s! … continue reading

I would wager that about 80 percent of AfterEllen.com readers are looking forward to the two-night premiere of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles on Jan. 13–14. Actually, that number may be a little low; it's probably more like 99.9 percent.

Turns out you won't have to wait quite that long: Starting tonight at 9 p.m. PT, the pilot episode will be available on Yahoo TV. The free (and commercial-free) preview features an introduction by Lena Headey.

Swoon — why does she look so good with a gun?! (You can download a wallpaper-sized version of that photo from the Fox site.)

The online stream will be available for only 24 hours, so don't miss it! I can't think of a better way to start the weekend.

I have a really long to-do list in a notebook somewhere. I call it my things-to-do-before-I-croak list. It includes stuff like places I want to see, books I want to read and things I'd like to accomplish. Thanks to AfterEllen.com, I can sort of cross off one of those items. No. 67: Get published. Sure, the Internet wasn't what I had in mind when I added that particular item to my list, but it counts in my world.

Another thing on my to-do list is attend the Sundance Film Festival. If I could manage to squeeze in the time off and barter my way to Utah, I'd make 2008 the year to get that one crossed off the list. The complete list of films screening at next year's festival was released over the course of the past couple of weeks. Not only do some of the films sound intriguing, but the list of who's in those films should make the red carpet a true treat. In last week's Best. Lesbian. Week. Ever. we told you about one reason to head for the Utah mountains, a reason named Saffron Burrows. Here are a few more reasons to make the trek.

One of the people I would expect to see strutting about town is Lena Headey. Not only would I love to drool over her in person, but I'd also like to see the movie she's in that's screening at Park City at Midnight. It's called The Broken and tells the tale of a woman who sees herself drive by in her own car while on a busy London street. She follows the mystery double into "a living nightmare." Lena Headey in what sounds like an eerie psychological thriller? Count me in. … continue reading

Posters for The Sarah Connor Chronicles are all over New York City buses these days. The ominpresence of Lena Headey and her big gun is enough to make you feel like you're living in a futuristic apocalypse. (Frankly, simply walking out the door makes me feel like that, but never mind.)

Well, thanks to the magic of the Interweb, you too can pretend you're in a futuristic apocalypse with Lena. Fox has launched GetTerminated.com, "the site that allows you to become the ultimate terminator." You can upload an image and insert yourself into a scene from the new series.

Here's what happened when I uploaded a picture of Grover from Sesame Street: … continue reading

Like Siege, I'm a fan of pretty posters. Let's take another look at one, just to refresh our memories:

It's hard to imagine how anyone could improve on that, but now you have an excuse to try. Fox has announced a fan poster contest for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Create the winning promotional poster, and you'll win a trip for two to L.A., where you'll attend the premiere party on Jan. 9. Your poster will also be displayed on the show's official website. (And Fox will be forever grateful for the free labor.)

To create your own homage to Lena Headey, visit www.fox.com/terminator to download fonts, graphics and title cards. Apply your mad design skillz and submit your entry via the website by Dec. 14. The five finalists' submissions will be posted on the site, and public votes will determine the winner — so if you get that far, remind us all to vote you into the inner sanctum!

For inspiration, here's a Sarah Connor trailer: … continue reading

Last week I showed you my dream 2008 calendar. Since then, I have been trying to decide what to do with myself until January rolls around so I can officially adorn my cubicle with said calendar. Unfortunately, Bionic Woman, despite Michelle Ryan's abs and Katee Sackhoff's early appearances, is doing nothing to help me pass the time. So I decided to count down the days until the premiere of the next show I can't wait to see, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

We've been keeping an eye on this show, and really, can you blame us? What could be better than Lena Headey fighting for the future of humankind?

Wait, I know what's better than that. A little help from Summer Glau certainly can't be worse.

I've found some lovely Sarah Connor eye candy to hang in my cubicle, not to mention a few videos to watch over and over again. This is the poster I'll be hanging up where it might be viewed by other folks in the office. … continue reading

Whenever I turn on my TV these days, I get the strange urge to pull a Paul Revere in my living room and start screaming, “The British are coming! The British are coming!” Until I realize, oh wait, they’re already here. This season a brigade of British actresses are breaking out their best American accents to star in new prime-time shows. Among them are a bionic woman, an undead girl, a Terminator fighter and a vampire helper. Here's a look at the U.K. actresses making time on American TV screens.

I think you’ve already met Bionic Woman Michelle Ryan and her abs. In the last episode, they put her real accent to good use undercover as a British exchange student. An Englishwoman playing an American girl pretending to be a British student? It was like Victor/Victoria with accents instead of gender. … continue reading