TV Geek Week: Lucas Can Keep His Star Wars TV Show

Welcome to TV Geek Week -- a new weekly column about sci-fi TV news and programming. Don't forget to click through for this week's TV picks.

Is George Lucas finally moving ahead with that promised live-action Star Wars TV show? Sources say yes. Sources also say the show will be produced in Australia by a hand-picked crew of Aussie TV vets. And we might even get to see it before the end of 2010. But I got a question: Do we really want a live-action Star Wars TV show?

Well, yeah, of course we do. For most of us, the original Star Wars trilogy was a thrilling entry point into the bizarre and inspiring world of science fiction. For an '80s kid like me, Star Wars was nothing less than a dazzling blast of awesome that I couldn't get out of my head. There was nothing cooler. (I wore the sh*t outta my Yoda jammies.) I'd love to see a Star Wars TV show deliver the same unpolished pluck, heart and spirit of the original trilogy, but we all know that's not gonna happen.

You've seen the prequels. You've seen The Clone Wars. It's likely the new series will be heavy on cartoony CG effects and kid-friendly concepts and light on the simple but engaging storytelling we fell in love with decades ago. Word is the series will focus on "relationships and emotional landscapes." Normally, I'd say that's a good thing. What's a TV show without engaging relationships and characters motivated by emotion? But we've already seen the new Star Wars' version of relationship drama, and it is very, very bad. Remember that "Sand sucks. It is so rough and sand-like, but you are so soft" nonsense between Anakin and Padme from Episode II? It only got worse from there.

I know it's almost become a national sport to bash Lucas about his much-loathed Star Wars prequels, but come on, he screwed that sh*t up pretty good! Does anyone out there actually think this show will be any better than the soulless dreck we sat through in the prequels, even if Lucas isn't calling all the shots? Get ready for weekly drama with Baby Boba Fett and laughs with the wacky CG gang at Dex's greasy spoon. I have a bad feeling about this.

OK. Hate filed. Let's move on to this week's TV picks ...

Angel - Who said these picks all had to be new shows? This season five ep is a standout thanks to the vampire with a soul's transformation into a "wee puppet man." It's on early, but that's what DVRs are for. Tuesday, 7 a.m. on TNT.

Warehouse 13 premiere - Syfy's new summer show has a great pedigree, a fun premise and a fine cast. The show centers on two CIA agents charged with tracking down the world's supernatural artifacts for a super secret government storage facility. I'll be digging in to my promo copy later today to let you know if creators Rockne S. O'Bannon (Farscape) and Jane Espenson (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Battlestar Galactica) have another winner on their hands. Tuesday, 9 p.m. on Syfy. Repeats at 11 p.m.




Smallville - This repeat ep is one of season eight's goofier entries, but it's worth a watch to see Clark's relationship with Lois develop and for guest star Charlotte Sullivan's ultra-slutty turn as Maxima. Thursday, 8 p.m. on The CW.

True Blood - Bill and Sookie are still in Dallas where Sookie meets someone she has a lot in common with. Vampire Bill bonds with Erik, but Bill's past keeps catching up with him. Friday, 9 p.m. on HBO.

Eureka season 3.5 premiere - The quirky show about a town full of geniuses returns to burn off the final ten episodes of season three. TV Squad asked series star Colin Ferguson and co-creator Jamie Paglia about what fans can expect from the new batch of eps. "We wanted to bring in a new love interest for Carter, and change the dynamic that we had traditionally," says Paglia. "We wanted to bring in a new character, with the actress Jamie Ray Newman [who will be playing Tess Fontana], who has a history with Allison; they are old friends. But that gets a little tense, when she and Carter begin to develop a romantic connection. Which was really fun to play, and to give Carter a real honest love interest." Friday, 9 p.m. on Syfy.