Good News: BRITAIN’S GOT TALENT phenom Susan Boyle has reportedly been offered a cameo on the new season of UGLY BETTY. Bad News: Three words: Jump. The. Shark. [Source] According to ABC, rumors of Susan Boyle appearing on UGLY BETTY have been greatly exaggerated. And by that we mean, false!

Good News: Over the weekend, VIRTUALITY made headlines for FOX. Bad News: For delivering a fourth place finish on Friday night after attracting a mere 1.8 million viewers. [Source]

Ronald D. Moore, he of various STAR TREK incarnations, ROSWELL, and BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, has earned enough creditability in the last 15 years that when his name is attached to a project, just enough eager heads turn to look. Like his fellow auteurs JJ Abrams and Joss Whedon, he garners a viewership that – no matter where he takes them – is willing to at least have a peek and look around. Their devotion is anchored mostly by one or two hits: Whedon’s BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER helps drive what little viewership DOLLHOUSE has – the fact that JJ Abrams is one of the masterminds behind LOST and FRINGE probably didn’t hurt the recent Star Trek film’s box office gross.

Which is part of the initial allure of VIRTUALITY (airing tonight at 8PM on FOX), the hope that lighting can indeed strike twice. Set in a nondescript future, a team of 12 astronauts travel the far reaches of the Milky Way on a 10-year journey to a faraway star system that could hold the salvation of the human race – scientists back on earth have concluded that the planet will succumb to environmental doom in the next century. They travel in, by comparison to BATTLESTAR’s cramped, rickety ship, a luxury cruiser called Phaeton, equipped with a talking computer system that speaks in calm, dulcet tones, and seemingly has complete control over the ship’s functions.

On the ship are virtual reality modules that allow the crew members to enter realms devised by their own desires – the captain (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) is a soldier for the Union during the Civil War, a computer scientist (Kerry Bishé) moonlights as an international pop star – one imagines a world where he can speak with the son he’s never had. Ostensibly these modules were put in place to help keep the shipmates sane over the course of their journey, but a figure begins to haunt their experiences. A glitch, or just a big fat metaphor?

We’ll never know. VIRTUALITY was originally conceived as a series, with tonight’s two-hour movie being the pilot. It works as the latter, and not at all as the former: it sets up what could have been (the fact that FOX is airing it all puts it at a marginally greater chance of survival, but I wouldn’t hold my breath) an ambitious narrative, laying the groundwork (if a little broadly) for the kind of layered, complicated story Moore does. But by making it a self-contained film, it has unintentionally cut itself short.

It weaves a worthy thematic thread by having part of the mission financed by an entertainment company that has decided to pay the bill by porting the happenings aboard Phaeton back to earth as a reality series. The ship’s psychologist (James D’Arcy) is a producer; the pert computer scientist the host, this conflict of interest compounded a certain quandary: is earth really doomed, or is this a ratings ploy?

But like the remaining plot lines, it remains dangled in front us, unresolved, culminating to a frustratingly ponderous ending that exudes, “See ya next week!” as opposed to “The End.” But Moore (and director Peter Burg, whose signature close-ups serve him just as well in deep space) can’t be blamed for this – how could he have known that his new show would end with the pilot? It boasts capable dramatic performances from a cast that is mostly spent setting up for future nonexistent episodes and it does create an engaging sense of tension, and from the looks of it, a pretty penny was paid in producing it.

In the press kit for VIRTUALITY, Moore explains that he and his team “set out to tell a cool story…intended to entertain and provoke.” He would have succeeded had the show gone to series, but now it only gets three out of four: cool, entertaining, and provoking. Story? Nope. Those have beginnings, middles, and ends. Grade: B-

VIRTUALITY airs tonight at 8PM on FOX

With FOX unveiling Ronald D. Moore and Michael Taylor’s much buzzed about first post-BATTLESTAR GALACTICA project tonight at 8PM on FOX, this TV Addict thought now would be as good a time as any to dedicate today’s Top 5 to things you should know about VIRTUALITY.

1. It’s reality TV in space
Recognizing what co-creator Ronald D. Moore calls, “a fundamental interest of people watching other real people or at least what they perceive as real people as opposed to watching fictional programming,” Moore alongside co-creator Michael Taylor cleverly built their series around exactly that; a reality TV show entitled Edge of Never: Life on the Phaeton. Complete with branded crew uniforms, confessionals, not to mention a group of really good looking actors — fans of SURVIVOR and THE AMAZING RACE will be right at home, as the good, bad and ugly from the Phaeton crew’s 10-year mission is ‘broadcast’ back to earth.

2. It will not cause depression
While BATTLESTAR GALACTICA was many things — including by not limited to: Genius, groundbreaking and an emotional roller-coaster — funny it was not. Seriously, outside of the show’s uncharacteristically upbeat swan song, BSG — with its penchant for killing innocents at the press of a button, or the trigger of a finger — was perhaps the bleakest series in the history of television. Which is one trait Moore promises didn’t carry over to VIRTUALITY. “Let’s put it this way,” explains Moore when asked it their might be a little more opportunity for humor in VIRTUALITY, in comparison to the show that eviscerated millions billions. “There’s definitely more humor. There’s more humor probably in the first ten minutes of VIRTUALITY than there was in the run of BATTLESTAR.”

3. It’s getting rave reviews
Ten out of ten critics agree, VIRTUALITY “boasts an interesting cast,” is “fascinating,” “impressively credentialed and stylish,” “a measured mix of sci-fi, soap and satire that offers new twists on old tropes,” “an observant commentary on our technology-obsessed culture and as a mystery-thriller,” “smartly filmed,” “thoughtful,” “has plenty going for it” and, as USA Today so correctly observed, “better than most of the networks’ summer offerings.”

4. It will leave you wanting more
Particularly since the series was originally conceived as a two-hour pilot, we can pretty much guarantee that fans will be asking, “What happens next?” With Moore being quick to point out on a recent conference call that, “It certainly does not resolve itself in two hours. I mean it sets up for a show, so it’s got some pretty heavy things that go down in it and kind of leaves you going, ‘Whoa! Where is that going?’ by the end of it.”

5. It’s already been cancelled
Okay, so this last point may not be the greatest of advertisements for the show. But in truth, we’re just going to go ahead and say that there is something oddly liberating about knowing full-well ahead of time that there is virtually no chance of FOX breaking our hearts yet again by banishing the series to Friday night, only to swiftly cancel it after thirteen low-rated episodes! That said, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention there is always that sliver of hope, or as Ron Moore put it, “I think you never say never. They [FOX] haven’t picked it up to date. Their attitude, I think, is kind of wait and see. I think they want to see what the reaction is going to be. What are the critics going to say? Is it going to get word of mouth? Are fans going to gravitate to it or is the science fiction community really going to turn up for it? Is there going to be a certain buzz and excitement? I think right now it doesn’t look like it’s going to series, but I think if enough people watched and enough people got excited about it anything is possible.”

Veteran television producer Michael Taylor (STAR TREK VOYAGER, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, CAPRICA) is no dummy. He understands how the television industry works and knows all too well that the only way VIRTUALITY (the show in which he co-created with BSG’s Ron Moore) has a shot of getting picked up as a regular series is if the fans tune into the pilot two-hour movie that FOX is dumping airing tomorrow night at 8PM.

“I think all of the online attention is important. Letter-writing campaigns, all that stuff, is wonderful. But really, it’s eyeballs on televisions on Friday night. That’s what it comes down to. People have to turn out and watch this show,” explained Taylor in an interview posted earlier today on HITFIX.com, “There’s a big audience out there and if FOX sees a hint of that big audience, or more than a hint, it could be a series.”

Which is why this TV Addict wanted to do his part by sharing with you Taylor’s Top 10 Reasons to check out VIRTUALITY — in the hopes that in turn, you’d share it with a friend or two via your blog, facebook, twitter etc. After-all, the success of quality fare like VIRTUALITY means less room for FOX to continue to contribute to television’s downfall with reality TV like MORE TO LOVE, the reality show which chronicles a ‘regular’ guy’s search for love among a group of real women, which incidentally comes to a small screen near you on Tuesday, July 28 at 9PM on FOX.

10. Free “Friend of Ron Moore” ball cap (normally only available on “Ron Moore Day” at Dodgers stadium).

9. Get reserved seats at the hottest panel at Comicon next year!

8. Receive your very own easy-to-assemble Starship Phaeton, no pilot’s license needed to operate provided you stay within the solar system and always wear a helmet.

7. What else are you gonna do on a Friday night? Um, okay, so maybe that’s a crappy reason but hey, that’s why it’s up here at number 7.

6. Yes, I know, by asking you to forward this message I’m essentially involving you in a pop culture pyramid scheme. But look at it this way: You’re getting in on the ground floor! So after this letter has propagated for 10 generations, you’ll be able to tell, um, 100 billion people “I told you so” when they write back to say they liked the show!

5. It’ll give my Mom something to brag about.

4. By staying in and watching the show, you’ll save gas and help save the environment! It’s socially responsible!

3. After watching the show, you too will be able to use the word “virtuality” in a sentence!

2. Because if enough people watch the show this Friday, there’s a decent chance it’ll actually get to become a full-blown TV series. And the number one reason to check out “Virtuality” on Friday and encourage your friends to do the same:

1. ’Cause it’s a frakkin’ cool show!

Source: The Good Ship Phaeton and HitFix

In a surprising move, FOX has quietly pushed up the premiere of VIRTUALITY, Ronald D. Moore’s two-hour movie (read: failed pilot) from July 4th to June 26. More peculiar still is that to coincide with said under-the-radar movie, an email found its way into theTVaddict.com’s inbox this morning asking if we’d be interested in interviewing any of the show’s producers/ writers/ and stars (yes please!) Begging the question: Does the one-two combo of FOX moving VIRTUALITY off of what is traditionally one of the least watched night’s of television of the year (July 4th, America’s Birthday), and the networks sudden/ unexpected need to promote the movie lend credence to the incessant rumors that VIRTUALITY is not nearly as dead as we all initially thought? Discuss.