If I gave these entries titles, this one would probably be called "Reinventing the Wheel." (Which is why I don't give these entries titles, I have to say.)

The Hallmark Channel has revived the tradition of the NBC Mystery Movie Wheel with their Hallmark Channel Mystery Movies on Friday nights. (The NBC Wheel thing was a series of weekly TV movies, rotating through three different characters, so each character would feature every third week. Columbo was the only major success to come from the wheel, although other "spokes" included Banacek, McCloud, McMillan and Wife, and quite possibly Quincy, before it became a weekly series. Thanks to the format of the wheel, Universal was able to produce a limited number of quality Columbo movies every year, without having to hope the network found times to run them, and without wearing the concept out by trying to force a new story every week.)

The Hallmark movies feature Kellie Martin as a crimesolving photographer, John Laroquette as a crimesolving lawyer, and Lea Thompson as a crimesolving suburban housewife and former government agent. Now, so far, I haven't seen any of them, although I did kind of zip through the first Kellie Martin Mystery Woman movie, and I did record the first of Lea Thompson's Jane Doe movies last night. From what I can tell, they're aimed at the same audience as Matlock, Murder, She's Old, and the Dick Van Dyke crime doctor show, Prognosis: Murder. Which is good, because there isn't a whole lot of TV out there for that all-important 45-dead demographic.

And yet... While it's clear that I'm not the intended audience for these movies (I think CSI is way too TV-fake and self-conscious, and it's way more stylish than these ones), I'm sort of intrigued by them. Part of it is the rotating format; I like the idea of a series of TV movies that happen regularly, rather than a weekly series or movies that crop up whenever. Part of it is a certain affection for Lea Thompson and Kellie Martin. But mostly... No, wait. I think those are the only two reasons. But they're good enough for me right now.

Let's see, what else... Return of both Stargate series to SciFi last night. To a certain degree, I think I'm enjoying Atlantis a little more than SG-1 at this point. No surprise, this puts me at odds with the general Stargate fandom hive-mind, but screw 'em. I'm always drawn in by the thrill of the new. SG-1 has been around long enough that it feels so familiar, whereas Atlantis, I'm still getting to know everyone. (Of course, next year, with Richard Dean Anderson gone, Ben Browder in, and Amanda Tapping in a reduced role, SG-1 may feel a lot more new and fresh, too...)

And Battlestar: Galactica continues to be great. Last night, original series star Richard Hatch showed up in a guest role and didn't suck. Which, I'm sure, the longtime fans of the orignal series--both of them--were really upset about, because it distances the new show even further from the original.