Behold, the audio podcast for last night’s episode, Automatic for the People. This week’s edition features Executive Producer James Middleton and Co-Executive Producer/Writer Natalie Chaidez.

Update: Podcast apparently cuts out at the 8:00 minute mark. We’re working on fixing it…

202 Podcast

First off, a correction. Our fearless showrunner didn’t have the fan-boy flu. My bad. Guess I misinterpreted the sour look on his face while I was pitching episode twelve — which is my next episode and now that is has passed through the Friedman story crucible is going to be absolutely sick! It’s kind of an homage to one of our staff’s all-time fave shows, The X-Files, with Sarah playing the Mulder part. More to come on this one…

Secondly, some answers: No, David, Shirley Manson’s accent hasn’t been a problem. In fact, it makes all the guys on set swoon. Yes, Cory and Allergygal, our staff is determined and ready to do twenty two eps this year; after all, there is no fate but what you make. And yes Rafie, Cromartie will be shirtless this season. Episode three to be exact. I have seen dailies and I hope it isn’t a spoiler to say Cromartie’s isn’t just made of metal, he looks like he’s been pumping some as well. Talk about Terminator sex…

Speaking of fabulous physiques, as promised, I wanted to give you guys the inside scoop on the women of the SCC writers’ room. The other chick co-exec, Toni Graphia, has written an episode so good I’m positively jealous! It’s a Cameron origin story, some of it takes place in the future, and you guys are going to LUUUUURVE IT. It even has a frickin’ tiger! Summer is sooooo amazing in it. Toni rock that script, you’ll see.

Staff Writer Denise “Whippet” The just ran a marathon, hence the nickname. This while working on episode six, which will contain, among many cool moments, a super rad Terminator fight. Denise’s Dad is some kind of kung-fu grandmaster (not making that up), and she definitely got the badass gene. She’s about a hundred years younger than Toni and I, so you’ll definitely be seeing lots more great sci-fi from her in the years to come.

Then there’s Jami O’Brien, our loyal writers’ assistant. She rocks a pair of sex librarian glasses and went to Yale Drama School, though she’s too polite to lord that over us. We’re gonna drag her down into the TV trenches soon enough, you’ll see.

As for me, I’m putting the finishing touches on episode two, which is fantastic if I do say so myself, and starting work on twelve. We break all the stories together in the room. The boys do the action and the girls write the character stuff… NOT. I personally love love love action. Never enough robot fights, imho. Friedman is definitely in touch with his feminine side — creatively, I mean — but the women on staff do contribute greatly to Sarah’s character. After all, when it comes down to it, Sarah Connor is just a hard-working single mom — albeit one whose job is saving humanity from killer cyborgs.

Well I’m off to slay a cyborg myself — on paper of course — so until next time…

So everyone here at SCC has a post Comic-Con hang-over. The earthquake yesterday didn’t help. There’s also some kind of Con-related flu going around; Chairman Friedman and Amanda our Wardrobe Goddess have sore throats and such. So thanks to everyone who came out and supported our panel. And gave us some kind of fan-boy virus, apparently.

Thanks also for your thoughtful comments on the swimming issue. It makes me feel better that you guys disagree on whether Terms can swim, since we argue about it here as well. It will play an important role in the finale of one of our upcoming Fall episodes. This may or may not include Cameron in a bikini. You’ll just have to wait and see…

Your comments, Alastair’s in particular, also got me thinking about another topic we talk a lot about in the Writers’ Room: Why does Skynet want humans dead? What the hell, robots, did we ever do to you? Why can’t everyone just get along? Friedman himself will address this issue in a big way in Episode 13, so it’s something we spend a lot of time musing about. It’s definitely something the entire staff is interested in exploring creatively – well, that and Terminator sex.

For those of you interested in the more prosaic Writers’ Room going ons, it’s a bit slow in there this week. Friedman is holed up in his office working his magic on a re-write. John Wirth is busy in post and casting. So that leaves us proles to play with our iPhones, bitch about the lack of good junk food in the kitchen and plot out the last half of the season. That’s right, we are already thinking about how to mess with your minds in Episodes 14-22. Making your heads explode is what we live for.

Speaking of the Room, Toni “Battlestar” Graphia is back from her Starbucks walk. She and the other women on staff will be the topic of my next blog. I promise not to post pictures, as I assure you we are nowhere near as cute as our cast — though we will take them on at Scrabulous any time. p

Hey SCC fans. I wanted to be the first writer to welcome you guys to our new site. It took a foot race down the hallway to beat fan-boys/writer-producers Zack Stenz and Ashley Miller to their prolific little cyber-savvy keyboards but ha! Here I am.

Of course big talk inside the Writers’ Room this week is Comic-Con, or as I heard Seth Green call it on KROQ this morning, “The Con”. El Jefe Mr. Friedman will be emceeing the SCC panel, which will feature our gorgeous talented cast members, both old and new. Both Josh and John Wirth (or the “J’s” as we call them here in the office) have been sneaking off to post-production to work on a Comic-Con only special treat for our SCC peeps. Lots of questions buzzing around staff: who’s gonna drive to San Diego, who’s gonna take the train, and most importantly… where exactly are we going to drink afterwards?

A little work getting done as well. Lots of amazing stories brewing inside the writers’ room here at SCC – and I hope that’s not just our daily 4pm Starbucks-run talking. Friedman would terminate me if I spilled any secrets, but I think I can divulge a few of the broader topics we’ve been noodling over the past few weeks. And who knows, maybe there’s even a fan or two out there who would like to weigh in on these matters:

Can Terminators swim? What are the physics of Terminators in water?
How close are we, real world-wise, to a Skynet-esque, sentient artificial intelligence?
How does the Resistance feed itself in the future?

Well I have to run now, I can hear the pitter-patter of little brain waves gathering inside the writers’ room. Hope to see you all at the Con. Until next time …

Natalie Chaidez aka 22