No More Waiting for the Blooper Reels at the Conventions

Remember to catch "UPN's Funky Flubs" Tuesday night at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT (check your local listings for airtimes). If you saw the promos during Enterprise last week, you know that the network special promises never-before-seen outtakes from several UPN shows including Enterprise, such as Jolene Blalock bursting out in laughter while trying to keep a Vulcan straight face. More information can be found at UPN.com.

Two Visual Effects Award Nominations for Enterprise

"Shockwave, Part I" and "Dead Stop" were honored by the Visual Effects Society with nominations in the organization's first annual awards. The VES Awards honor excellence for visual effects in feature films, television, commercials and music videos. Visual effects producer Dan Curry, supervisor Ronald B. Moore, and coordinator Elizabeth Castro are the individuals listed on the "Shockwave" nomination in the category "Best Visual Effects in a Television Series." (The competition is Dinotopia and Firefly.) The Roxann Dawson-directed "Dead" is competing in the category "Best Models and Miniatures in a Televised Program, Music Video or Commercial," for its depiction of an automated repair station. The individual modelmakers named are John Teska, Koji Kuramura, Pierre Drolet and Sean Scott. (They are going up against the ABC miniseries "Stephen King's Rose Red" and a Gatorade commercial.) The awards ceremony will take place February 19 as a black-tie dinner event at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. More information can be found at the Visual Effects Society Web Site.

McNeill's "Action"

Robert Duncan McNeill, whose face is familiar as "Tom Paris" in Star Trek: Voyager, is primarily keeping busy these days yelling "Action!" to other actors. Be sure to set your VCR for Dawson's Creek this Wednesday, January 15 (because you'll be watching Enterprise on UPN at that time, right?), and then again on January 29 to catch the latest two episodes of the WB drama directed by McNeill (check your local listings for airtimes). According to his official Web site, McNeill will not only helm another Dawson's soon, but he is finalizing a deal with the producers of The Dead Zone (i.e., Michael Piller, et al) for his first directing assignment on the USA/Sci-Fi Network original series, probably to commence in late March or April. Plus, the site is reporting that McNeill will return to Paramount this season to direct his second Enterprise episode. (Keep an eye on STARTREK.COM's Production News for updates.) McNeill previously directed "Cold Front."

For those dying to see McNeill in front of the camera again, they will have their chance on February 4 when "Infested," a low-budget horror flick directed by Josh Olsen, is released on DVD. McNeill plays one of five friends who gather for a "Big Chill"-like reunion that gets interrupted by a mean strain of mutant flies. The DVD is available on Amazon.com, but purchases made through this link will benefit McNeill's designated charities. More about the actor/director's recent activities and appearances can be found at RobertDuncanMcNeill.net.

A Revolutionary Role

Kelsey Grammer — one of our favorite 23rd-century cameo stars — has jumped back to the 18th century to play the father of our country. Grammer appears in A&E's "Benedict Arnold: A Question of Honor" as George Washington. The two-hour telepic premieres tonight (Monday) at 8:00 ET/PT on the A&E network, and will repeat several times in the days ahead. As usual, check your local cable listings for airtimes. As if you needed to be reminded, Grammer was the time-jumping "Captain Morgan Bateson" in Star Trek: The Next Generation's "Cause and Effect."

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