Lawren poked his head into my office and informed us: “Claire just called. Nora and Mark would like to speak with you and Paul just as soon as Mark has finished up his meeting.” Paul and I exchanged bewildered glances. “Any idea what this is about?”I asked. Lawren shrugged back. Nope. Lawren headed back down the corridor to his office, leaving Paul and I to our wild assumptions. The show had been picked up! The show had been cancelled! They had a problem with one of the scripts! They wanted to have a talk about that Binder guy!
Well, it was none of the above. It turned out to be great news for Nora O’Brien who, on the heels of a well-deserved promotion, will be leaving SciFi for NBC where she will assume the duties of VP of Development. As many of you long-time readers of this blog know, I’m a big Nora fan. She’s a pleasure to work with – smart, savvy, creative, and, well, just one hell of a nice person on both a professional and personal level. Never in my many years on Stargate did I ever get off a call with her and say “What terrible notes!” or “She doesn’t know what the hell she’s talking about!” or “I think she must be drunk!”. At the end of the day, I may not have always agreed with her, but I always respected her opinion. And so, to be perfectly candid, while I’m thrilled to see Nora move up and on to hopefully bigger and better things, a selfish little part of me is kind of bummed. I know I speak for Paul, Rob, Brad, Martin, Carl, and Alan when I say we’re really going to miss her. Nevertheless, congratulations to Nora. Maybe some day, if and when Stargate ever ends, we’ll get the chance to work together again.
Speaking of work, I swung by the set today to see check out how things are coming along on Andy Mikita’s episode. Wow. I’ve heard some directors can be tough, but I had no idea what a taskmaster Andy could be. Check out the two thoroughly exhausted extras trying to wind down after a grueling day’s shooting. Also check out Infanity host and very funny foodie Lisa Joyner who swung by the studio for a couple days to interview cast and crew for an upcoming Stargate: Atlantis piece. ALSO also, look who dropped by the production offices the other day to presumably drop off the bagged lunch he had no doubt packed with love and PB&J sandwiches for his wife Jewel. Matt swung by for a couple of hours, long enough to take the grand tour of my super villain office statues, (sort of) enjoy a power bar, and pose for this stagy argument pic with his wife.
Oh, and I’ve noticed that a thoroughly innocent passing comment I made in yesterday’s blog installment has engendered a fair amount of discussion. I wrote: “watched the episode with the engagement scene”. First, keep in mind that on average two and half weeks pass between episodes so it’s very possible for a relationship that develops early in the season to pay off in some surprising way later in the season. Second, it’s all the more likely if there are extenuating circumstances. Third, fans are getting angry and upset, so forget I mentioned it.
Mailbag –
Steph writes: “What’s your favorite of Shakespeare’s plays?”
Answer: Henry IV Part 1 and 2.
Keirberos writes: “First up?”
Answer: Any suggestions? Let’s put together a list of nominations, choose one, then give everyone two weeks in which to read it.
Jenny Robin writes: “Once upon a dinner dreary, while he dined, red-eyed and bleary…”
Answer: Brilliant! Just for that, this entire weekend’s blog is dedicated to you.
Jill_Ion writes: “Have you always been a foodie?”
Answer: Yep. Although when I was younger, my tastes were much less refined. My powdered doughnuts and milk breakfasts come to mind.
LogicSequence writes: “All kidding aside (not that i was kidding about the plant eating death of KB), can i have a blog dedicated to me? I hurt my foot so bad…”
Answer: This blog entry is dedicated to both you and your foot.
Anonymous #1 writes: “Rising is a strong pilot b/c it is a total copy of the the SG1 pilot.”
Answer: True. It had both a Stargate AND science fiction elements! We tried to do a pilot that was radically different than the SG1 pilot but instead of naming it Stargate: Atlantis, they ended up calling it Desperate Housewives.
Platschu writes: “1. Will Christopher Judge be in Reunion and Midway? 2. When will be released the first offical season 4 team photos? 3. Why do you prefer the Earth-based stories? 4. Will Ronon or Teyla have an own character centric episode in the second half of the season? 5. What do you think about the Stargate : Worlds game?”
Answers: 1. He will be in both. 2. No idea. 3. I do? 4. The majority of the episodes in the back half will be team-centered. 5. No opinion as I’m not familiar with it.
TJ writes: “Where is ‘Fuel’ because I’m currently dribbling into my keyboard over the latest entry and photos!”
Answer: 1944 West 4th Avenue, Vancouver, B.C.
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