Last night’s dinner at Don Francesco Ristorante was a nice change of pace, a return to an old favorite I haven’t visited in a while. Finally, after several weeks of waiting, I got my pasta fix and am good for another month. Or day anyway as my agent, Robb, is in town and suggested we hit that “great Italian restaurant across the street from the hotel”. Yup, back to Don Francesco Ristorante for another serving of the squash-stuffed agnolotti with black truffle butter. That should tide me over to Spring of 2008 – or at least until next week’s SciFi dinner.
At times, incorporating notes is not unlike playing Jenga – the removal of one seemingly inconsequential bit of dialogue is enough to trigger an avalanche of problems. Change a line here, add another there, and suddenly that carefully crafted scene is a shambles and you‘re starting over from scratch. Next to visiting the dentist, there’s nothing I hate more than doing a script rewrite. Oh, and to truly make my week, Fondy informed me that I have a dentist appointment on Thursday.
The pics: Don Francesco dinner Take #2, director extraordinaire Robert C. Cooper in action, and doing that Satanesque eye glow thing he usually reserves for the writer’s room, SG-1’s lovely VFX Producer Michelle Comens, Camera Operator Andy Wilson camera operating, the Prior presides – and unwinds, the dungeon, the producers at work – on the Golden Tee Arcade, Alex Levine thrilled to be sporting his Ark of Truth cap, a thoughtful Evil brings me flowers – for approval in Reunion.
Over to you…
Smiley Face06 writes: “On a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest), how comfortable is the captain’s chair of the Daedalus?”
Answer: It’s about a 4. Could use a little more cushioning.
Crazymom writes: “Well, I’ve succeeded in converting 3 more to Atlantis.”
Answer: 3 down, 997 to go!
Shawna writes: “You do know you all are like the coolest show producers/makers/what-have-you EVER, right?”
Answer: We’re alright cool I guess.
Royal Nonesuch writes: “Do the ratings folks take into account Tivo/DVR hits and DVD sales?”
Answer: Yes to the former; no to the latter.
Just Jess writes: “So tell me how much leftover chocolate did you have??”
Answer: Lots and lots of bars, although guests helped out with the filled chocolates by putting together some take-home loot bags. Today, I brought in some of the leftovers. The Theo’s Chai Milk Chocolate was a hit; their coconut curry not so much.
Anonymous #1 writes: “Will there be any Wow I didnt see this coming moment events? that make peoples jaws drop?”
Answer: There’ll definitely be a few of those in season four.
Arctic Goddess writes: “Is there any sort of pattern to episodes with good vs. bad ratings?”
Answer: Not really. Some subscribe to the fact that people are not tuning in as a reaction to the previous week’s episode while others subscribe to the fact that viewers are actually not tuning in a specific episode. For what its worth, the individual episode tracking showed that viewership for both shows built over the course of its airing which is always a good sign.
Ses110 writes: “The ratings are down 30%.Is it time to admit the Stargate francise has major problems and is in need of big changes?”
Answer: Like a telepathic alien dog? I hear ya!
PrimatesForever writes: “One of thing ive noticed about the Scifi promos for each show is they make them look like B-flicks…do you think that contributes to the drop in ratings?”
Answer: Best not to comment. Better yet, I’m just going to say “no comment”. No, even better, I will ignore the question. P.S. Remind me to delete your question before posting this entry.
Spamco writes: “What other lovely anime do you suggest I should watch as well?”
Answer: Depends where your interests lie. I’m presently watching the second season of Ghost in the Shell and enjoying it a lot.
Tory writes: “I’m a little curious if you know anything about the reasoning behind airing the back half of season three in Canada a full … what, three, four months before it airs in the U.S.?”
Answer: SciFi pushed back the original episode airings of both Stargates to April of 2007 while broadcasters like Sky simply stuck to their established schedule.
Anonymous #2 writes: “This is strange because Echoes is really one of the fans favorite episode for season 3 !!”
Answer: It IS strange because we all thought Carl did a wonderful job on the script. Still, the ratings did drop and we had to blame someone so who better than Carl who was forced to return the money he was paid for Echoes. Hopefully his next episode, The Game, will do better (I hope so as he has already spent the cash on such vanity purchases as food and clothing).
Konman72 writes: “Bender from Futurama: “They’re doing the minor technical awards. I think they’re up to writing.”
Answer: Which reminds me. I need to have a Futurama night.
Vikitty writes: “And, I’m curious, are you Canucks fan?”
Answer: I don’t not support them. I know this is sacrilege my being Canadian and all, but I’m not that big a hockey fan.
Lily writes: “What can we do to help you and the show out?”
Answer: If you can just manage to convince a half million more viewers to tune into the show next week…
Anonymous #3 writes: “I note in one of your shows Mitchell makes reference to the Da Vinci Code. Have you read it?”
Answer: That was Rob Cooper’s gag. And, yes, he has.
CassieTheGater writes: “It’s not looking good for season 5 is it?”
Answer: To be honest, it’s still too early to tell.
Crazymom writes: “I’ve been meaning to ask: how are actors who play recurring roles contracted?”
Answer: They are contracted on an episode-by-episode basis.
SMB Books writes: “What is the hardest type of scene for you to write for SGA? And, why is it the hardest?”
Answer: Writing exposition is a real pain the ass because the information has to be relayed in as economical and entertaining a way as possible. But it’s exposition!
Cheeky Lil Devil writes: “Could you possibly tell the whumping crew and lil ol’ me if it will be Our Shep that get’s the [strike]crap kicked out of him [/strike] sorry, whumped, or will it be Evil Shep?”
Answer: Two for the price of one. Both.
Anonymous #4 writes: “If the ratings were still in the 2.2 – 2.4 range like they were for season 8 (32 short episodes ago BTW) would the ratings sytem still be unfair, wrong, inaccurate, yada, yada?”
Answer: I never claimed the ratings system was unfair, wrong, inaccurate, yada, or even yada. Given the fact that the episodes have aired elsewhere and been available online for months now, I would have been stunned had we been pulling in those stellar numbers.
Andrew writes: “Are we likely to see any new types earth warships in season 4 since earth has gotten access to all of the asgard’s technology?”
Answer: New Earth ships are a long way off. Souped-up versions of our established Earth ships are another matter.
J Williams writes: “Anywho are we going to learn the wraiths weakness in season 4?”
Answer: Yup. And they’re not the only ones.
Anonymous #5 writes: “I am a bit puzzled by your response to Alyssa’s heartfelt tribute to Torri’s acting.”
Answer: Really? Did you happen to stop reading after a certain point?
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