411’s Al Norton sits down for an exclusive interview with Katee Sackhoff to discuss working on 24, the Battlestar Galactica finale, if she’d want to be one of Charlie’s Angels, and her cross country motorcycle trek with Tricia Helfer.

>> Read the interview

+ Some more info on Katee’s upcoming abc pilot:

NAME: Boston’s Finest (ABC)
STATUS: currently in development (2010-2011 season)
DESCRIPTION: drama about a beautiful female detective who teams with a disgraced ex-cop to solve crimes and untangle the conspiracy that sent him underground
PRINCIPAL CAST INFORMATION:
· Katee Sackhoff as Julia Scott
· Richard T. Jones as Lt. Gerald Jaglom
· Will Yun Lee as Eddie Lao
GENRE(S):
· drama
STUDIO INFORMATION:
· ABC Studios

“Battlestar Galactica” alumna Katee Sackhoff is set to star in ABC’s untitled Richard Hatem drama pilot. Sackhoff, who co-stars on Fox’s “24″ this season, fielded multiple offers this pilot season before settling on the Richard Hatem project. The crime drama centers on a beautiful female detective (Sackhoff) who teams with a disgraced ex-cop to solve crimes and untangle the conspiracy that sent him underground. The producers of “24″ are tightlipped about any plot twists on the real-time action drama, but it’s understood that Sackhoff’s story line would allow her to take on a new series for next season even if “24″ was to return for a ninth cycle. Sackhoff, who played Kara “Starbuck” Thrace on “Battlestar Galactica,” toplined NBC’s drama pilot “Lost & Found” last season. She is repped by Gersh and Bleu.

Holy frak! An interview with Cally Henderson Tyrol and Lieutenant Kara Thrace! Who would have thought that Ron Moore and David Eick’s re-imagining of Glen A. Larson’s 1978 television series Battlestar Galactica would garner such a wide range of critical acclaim? From the Peabody Award to the Television Critics Association’s Program of the Year Award, to Emmy nominations for its writing and directing, Battlestar Galactica has changed the way science fiction is perceived. Katee Sackhoff and Nicki Clyne reflect on the production of that series in the following Fulle Circle exclusive interview, and also discuss a few of the stories and inspirations that got them there.

>> read more

While at the TCAs last week in LA, BuzzSugar got some one-on-one time with my favorite BSG alum, Katee Sackhoff, who’s settling into her new role on Fox’s 24. Although we’re used to seeing Kara Thrace bust some heads on the small screen (and it doesn’t seem that there’ll be any shortage of drama in her new role), the real Katee has a vulnerable side which keeps her from pointing her browser to Google to see what fans are saying about her. It’s really quite sad, and kind of intense! When asked if she likes to keep up with her fans online, she said:

I learned a long time ago not to go online when a guy said I was so ugly it looked like I fell out of the ugly tree, hit every branch on the way down, fell on my fat ass, crawled back up, fell down again, and landed on my ugly face. I learned at that moment you can never make everyone happy and that it’s better just to avoid it. What the Internet has provided is this wealth of information and knowledge, but I think it’s also allowed people to be critics without having to step up. And the reason I remember that is because it was so painstakingly written to be cruel. And it’s amazing to me the things that people say online. I would never say something like that about a person. It’s hurtful. And so I learned a long time ago just to avoid the Internet like the plague.

Yeesh! I for one think she’s gorgeous, and unfortunately her experience isn’t unique. No wonder she doesn’t Google . . .

When it comes to keeping secrets, Katee Sackhoff has become a real pro, having safely zipped her lips when it comes to plot spoilers (“After Battlestar Galactica, I’m sooo good at it,” she says proudly). But even now that’s she’s got a super-classified role on the new season of 24, she couldn’t resist giving a teeny, tiny tease to TV Guide Magazine, and she spilled news that she’ll be penning her own comic book series.

When it comes to what she’s enjoyed about her role as Dana Walsh, a CTU agent who may be hiding her own big secret, she says “This is kind of a spoiler but I like when things get physical – and not in a sexual way.”

That’s about all she’s willing to give up – including whether or not the producers asked her to maintain a certain level of physical fitness for the role. “That’s just a prerequisite of my own!” she laughed. “I feel like if I didn’t work out, my ass would be the size of Texas.” She’s playing her character’s cards close to vest. “Everyone keeps asking me and I’m like, ‘Of course I can’t say anything!’”

Fortunately, close friends who are super-fans of 24 haven’t pestered her for inside intel, preferring to wait for the show itself. “They don’t want to know!” she says, and Sackhoff herself is waiting to watch the finished episodes as they air. “I want to wait. I am going to watch the show. Of course there’s enough of it that I’m not in that I’m so excited about.”

Sackhoff does have one secret of her own she’s ready to reveal: “I’m launching my own comic book that we’re getting ready to launch at Comic-Con next year. It’s called Versus. I wrote it with my friend Sxv’Leithan Essex. We’re very excited and as soon as I have anything I’ll give you a scoop!”

Her experience with Galactica introduced her to the world of comics’ traditional superhero, sci-fi and fantasy fare – the former Starbuck’s taste previously ran toward decidedly more feminine fare: Archie’s gal pals.

“I grew up reading ‘Betty & Veronica,” she says. “I was obsessed with it. Every time that we would go on an airplane or on a car trip I would go and get them and now I’ve become a fan of just the genre in general. It really makes me excited. I’m a huge fan of [comics writer and television producer] Jeph Loeb. I’ve read all his work and I think he’s phenomenal. And I love all the Superman stuff he’s done.”

Which begs the question: is Katee a Betty or a Veronica? “I was always a Betty, because I felt like identified with her,” she says, “but at the same time Veronica kicked ass, right?”

Katee Sackhoff spills on 24—and talks Starbuck’s fate
The following takes place between 11 a.m. and 12 p.m.

The newly re-formed Counter Terrorist Unit: New York branch is hidden in a Chatsworth, Calif., soundstage. As we prepared to infiltrate the set (see images below), techie extraordinaire Chloe literally provided decoy cover. Actress Mary Lynn Rasjkub got a makeup touchup outside, so we slipped into the studio while crew were focused on the pretty actress.

The hand scanner in the lobby accepted our prints for entry. Our plan to hack into the system to authorize our DNA for access worked, or maybe the hand scanner was just a prop. Either way, we were in. Through the bullpen of monitors capturing video feeds from high-population areas around town, past the medical bay where a monitor showed a flat line (someone dies this season!), we cornered new cast member Katee Sackhoff in the underground car park.

Sackhoff joins the cast of Fox’s sci-fi-ish spy series 24 this year and spoke with a group of reporters on the set. Her CTU training proved strong against interrogation tactics, but as 24 proves, repeated badgering and torture works. Here are seven pieces of intel she gave up. 24 returns this January on Fox.

Katee plays Chloe’s boss. Chloe has never let authority stop her from getting the job done, but she’s never dealt with anyone like Dana before. “Dana is permanently happy,” Sackhoff said. “I think that also pisses Chloe off, because Dana’s like, ‘Oh, no, it’s totally fine that you don’t get it. Let me help you. It’s great. I’ll do that. It’s fine. You don’t need to figure it out, because I’m good enough to do both our jobs.’ So that really pisses Chloe off.”

Dana kicks ass. But intellectually. Starbuck fans might be disappointed they don’t get to see Sackhoff beat up terrorists. The show’s writers have a different idea for utilizing Sackhoff’s talents. “I wanted to just blow s–t up, and they were like, ‘I don’t know if we can do that,’” she said. “I came in and sat down with the producers and writers, and we had a discussion as far as what they wanted from me and what I wanted to do, and hopefully we’ll all [meet] in the middle, so we’ll see.”

You’ll see Sackhoff in a whole new light. Dana may be locked inside the CTU offices all day, but the premise is that she’s had an earthbound life. That allows Sackhoff to finally get some sun. “The first thing I thought was, I’m going to constantly have a tan, which is fantastic for me, because I spent the last five years on a show that you were in space, so you weren’t supposed to have a tan,” she said. “So this is, like, the orange [stage light] bounces off your skin, and everyone just has a nice little glow. You’ve either just been to Mexico, or you’re pregnant, so it’s perfect. It’s really nice, and just new. Orange looks good on me, so it’s exciting. I went from a show where color was bad to you’re now in an orange set, which is awesome.”

Something happens at CTU. Gee, thanks for the big tip. Sackhoff’s allowed to reveal that something’s going on at CTU. “I was like, ‘Seriously? I don’t know if anyone thinks that’s actually a big secret,’” Sackhoff joked about her gag order. “Could you imagine? So this is a 24 episode, and the whole season is just about nothing. No controversy, nobody dies, nobody gets beat up, Jack Bauer doesn’t do anything. He might not even show up, and for 24 hours that would just be what it is. Could you imagine?” That might actually be funny for like the first six hours. “It would, and then people would go, like, ‘Are you serious?’ Just office lives. I’m handing my files to Chloe. They show us at lunch.”

Continuity is easy. A lot may happen in a day on 24, and by episode 20 it can be hard to remember what you were playing in episode 2. At least her wardrobe doesn’t have to change. “It almost makes it easier, because it all takes place in the same day,” she said. “It’s one of those things where the continuity as far as your wardrobe doesn’t change, so it’s like, ‘Something’s [off]… my watch isn’t here.” Because you’re so used to wearing it that it becomes kind of like the gunbelt from Battlestar. It would seem very odd to not have it on. You have to remind yourself what room you were in last, not what happened last episode, because it all is taking you to the exact same place at the end of the day, kind of. So I found that easier.”

She’s still got a potty mouth. The word “frak” might not exist in the world of 24, and the Fox network has stricter language guidelines for broadcast than did Syfy, but behind the scenes, Sackhoff still talks dirty. She endeared herself to the 24 crew right away by sharing a dirty story about Battlestar. While Edward James Olmos was shooting The Plan, he reveled in the chance to include nudity on the DVD release. “There’s a scene in the Head where everyone’s just naked, and Eddie on the day is going, ‘Zoom in on the c–k. Zoom in on the c–k,’” Sackhoff recalled. “The camera guy’s like, ‘I can’t zoom in the c–k. He keeps covering up the c–k.’ They’re like, ‘Zoom in the c–k. Get him to do something else with his hands. Make him shave.’ So then he’s shaving, and he’s like, ‘Now, zoom in on the c–k.’ That’s on the daily. That is so Eddie. It’s one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard. ‘Zoom in on the c–k’ in Eddie’s voice. I think I told that story my first day here, and the crew was like, ‘We like you.’”

BTW, what really happened to Starbuck? Here’s Sackhoff’s theory about her ambiguous conclusion on Battlestar Galactica. “So when she at the end was saying goodbye to [Anders], I think that she was saying goodbye to their bodily forms,” she said. “I think she knew, especially if he says, ‘I’ll see you on the other side,’ I think she’s with him. I think they’re both dead, but I think she’s with him. That was a decision that we made, because I selfishly wanted her at peace, and the only way to do that was to have her with someone at the end, or to be with the person she wanted to be with. I don’t know. That’s kind of where I think she is. She’s with Michael Trucco playing pyramid in the sky somewhere.”

It’s every nerd-boy’s dream: bubble bath, a bottle and Starbuck.The Nov. 23 episode of The Big Bang Theory (CBS, Mondays, 9:30 ET/PT) features the diminutive and delusional Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg) sharing a toast in the tub with Katee Sackhoff, who is best known as Capt. Kara “Starbuck” Thrace on Syfy series Battlestar Galactica.

Her appearance is the latest of several geek-fantasy guests on Big Bang, whose ratings are up more than 40% in Season 3. The comedy draws nearly 14 million viewers an episode and is a top series among young adults.

The guest shot comes after a year’s worth of lobbying by co-creator and Battlestar fan Chuck Lorre, who originally envisioned her as the object of fanboy desire in last season’s “The Terminator Decoupling.” Sackhoff passed, and The Sarah Connor Chronicles‘ Summer Glau stepped in as the sci-fi starlet trapped on a train as Wolowitz and his friends try to woo her.

Lorre got another shot when Sackhoff visited the Two and a Half Men set with close friend and fellow Battlestar alumna Tricia Helfer. He pitched another scenario in which she’d play herself, and this time she agreed.

“The story is about how Wolowitz has this wonderful woman in his life” after a double-date with Leonard and Penny and one of her co-workers from the Cheesecake Factory, Lorre says. “But he can’t recognize what’s right in front of him because he’s mesmerized by fantasies about women from sci-fi. The scene is his mental image of Katee, but she’s telling him the truth, that he’s missing out on real life.”

For her part, Sackhoff enjoyed the rub-a-dub-dub so much that she says she hopes it leads to a recurring role as “Wolowitz’s Number Six” (a Battlestar reference), returning from time to time in his imagination to offer advice – for instance, disabusing him of the notion that he’s a ladies’ man.

Lorre says he could get on board with that idea. “That would be terrific – she could definitely be Number Six in Wolowitz’s head – his muse, the magnificent woman who tells him the truth. We should all have a conscience that looks like Katee Sackhoff.”

Her episode comes on the heels of another recent geeky casting coup: Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Wil Wheaton playing an evil version of himself who outwits Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) in a gaming tournament.

Lorre knew that getting Wheaton on The Big Bang Theory would generate interest but says he didn’t fully appreciate the depth of passion among Wesley Crusher devotees, a group that includes Sackhoff. “As a Star Trek fan growing up, I had such a crush on him,” she says.

 Sackhoff’s next small-screen venture also has a Star Trek connection: In January, she joins Fox’s 24 as CTU’s new head analyst. Both shows share a producer in Brannon Braga.

Speaking of Star Trek, inquiring minds want to know: Is Sackhoff a member of Team Kirk or Team Picard? “I am definitely a William Shatner girl. Hands down.”

 The geek hits just keep on coming for “The Big Bang Theory.”

The CBS sitcom, which has begun its third season with a huge ratings improvement, has booked former “Battlestar Galactica” star Katee Sackhoff for a cameo in the Nov. 23 episode, CBS confirms. She’ll be playing herself, and Wolowitz’s (Simon Helberg) dream girl, in the episode.

A network source also tells the Chicago Tribune’s Maureen Ryan, who first reported Sackhoff’s cameo, that “there may be nudity.” It’s network TV, so probably not really — or nothing more than a shot of a bare back — but it’s not hard to imagine the comic possibilities.

Sackhoff is the latest in a line of geek cred-enhancing guest stars for “Big Bang.” Former “Star Trek: The Next Generation” actor and Internet eminence Wil Wheaton guested on Monday’s episode; Summer Glau and Sackhoff’s “BSG” co-star Michael Trucco appeared last season.

Fans of Sackhoff can see more of her (screen time-wise, anyway) on the forthcoming season of “24,” where she’ll play a CTU agent.

Plus If you haven’t already, go and check out Katee’s Los Angeles AIDS Walk Photos at KateeSackhoff.com.

by Nicole Sperling
Battlestar Galactica is getting the big-screen treatment. Universal Pictures has confirmed blog speculation that Bryan Singer, director of Valkyrie, will take on directing and producing duties for a BSG movie. Glen Larson, who created original series back in 1978, will produce as well. The film is not expected to be a continuation of current popular television show that’s running on the SyFy network but will be a complete re-imagining of the sci-fi lore that was invented by Larson back in the 70s.

“Credibility is a very, very good word to use,” Braga (FlashForward) said in an exclusive interview at the Television Critics Association’s summer press tour in Pasadena, Calif., last week.

Braga added: “Obviously, we’re all fans of Katee from Battlestar, and we were looking for this role of Dana Walsh—that’s the character’s name—a character who is really smart and part of a new CTU that is what we’re calling CTU 2.0. It’s the next generation of CTU. And we wanted to find someone who just had an inherent strength and intelligence, but was also very beautiful. That’s a very hard role to cast, and Katee fit the bill. It’s that Jeri Ryan type of actress, you know?” Braga added, referring to his former Star Trek: Voyager star. “They’re hard to find. I mean, no insult to the talent pool out there, but they’re not easy to find.”

For her part, Sackhoff said that she’ll be playing “the head programmer at CTU.” Will she butt heads with Mary Lynn Rajskub’s irascible Chloe? “Of course,” Sackhoff said. “Of course. That’s part of the fun, yeah.”

The new season, which kicks off at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Jan. 19, 2010, moves the action to New York, Braga said. “CTU has been reconstituted and is in the form of CTU New York,” he said. “And it involves the U.N. And a very, very important peace process that is being threatened. … Jack Bauer [Kiefer Sutherland] will get involved. … There’s some familiar faces coming back, but there are some new faces in the form of Katee Sackhoff and Freddie Prinze Jr. and Anil Kapoor [Slumdog Millionaire], and it’s a very cool season. But there are some big surprises as well that I think I’d be fired if I gave away.”

For Sackhoff, shooting 24 was eerily reminiscent of her time on Battlestar. “It’s a little weird,” she said. “Because Brad Turner directed one of the episodes of Battlestar Galactica, … and he was [one of] the first directors that I had for 24. So I literally, like, came in, and it was a seamless transition. … [Former Battlestar co-star] Callum Keith Rennie was there, and I was there, and Brad was there, and it was like, ‘Wow, this is great!’”

In addition to Sackhoff and Prinze, the eighth season will introduce new cast members Mykelti Williamson, John Boyd, Jennifer Westfeldt and Chris Diamantopoulos.

Here’s the official description of the season:

Season Eight will unfold in New York City amidst the shadows of the Statue of Liberty and the United Nations. In this new day, CTU has been upgraded and is run by MBA-schooled and razor-sharp head honcho BRIAN HASTINGS (Williamson, “Forrest Gump”). COLE ORTIZ (Prinze Jr.), an ex-Marine who wants to follow in JACK BAUER’s (Sutherland) footsteps, runs the division’s Field Operations. Expert data analyst DANA WALSH (Sackhoff, “Battlestar Galactica”) collaborates with systems analyst ARLO GLASS (Boyd, “The Notorious Bettie Page”) inside CTU. ROB WEISS (Diamantopoulos, “The Starter Wife”) serves as PRESIDENT ALLISON TAYLOR’s (Cherry Jones) new chief of staff, and MEREDITH REED (Westfeldt, “Grey’s Anatomy”) is an ambitious journalist with ties to the unfolding situation.

The show returns in January with a two-night, four-hour premiere

Source: SciFi Wire