I gotta take my problem to the United Nations

This is a "Battlestar Galactica" heavy week for me. Last night, I saw a screening of the two-hour series finale -- and before anyone asks, I am embargoed from saying anything whatsoever about it (even whether or not I liked it) until Friday, pending threat of getting locked up by Brother Cavil -- and tonight I'm going back into the city for a panel discussion at the United Nations between several key "BSG" people and several UN representatives.

This is all exciting stuff, but it also takes up time I would otherwise be devoting to watching TV, blogging, column writing, etc. So after the jump, I want to do a quick State of the Sepinwall, plus link to a few notable developments out there in the TV-related world, before putting my head back down and trying to fit in as much work as possible before I have to head into Manhattan and forge a path to the East Side.

• While I've seen last night's "House," I don't have time to do a proper write-up, so a few minutes from now, I'm going to post an open thread to discuss the episode.

• Similarly, I've already seen tonight's "Reaper," but I'm too swamped to do more than set something to go live at 9 p.m. for you all to discuss it.

• Because I'll be hobnobbing with diplomats and Admiral Adama, I won't be watching "American Idol" live tonight, but will hopefully get something in before I go to sleep tonight, or else early tomorrow morning.

• Speaking of "Idol," once the results show starts going head-to-head with "Lost" tomorrow night, my allegiance is going to be first and foremost to "Lost," which means I'll be watching and writing about each episode of that before I even think of putting on "Idol." So if you need to know who got the boot at 10 p.m., this blog isn't going to be the best place. Sorry. But I'll have some sort of results show post hopefully up every Thursday morning at the latest.

• I was so busy making preparations yesterday to go to the "Galactica" screening and the Sci Fi Channel upfront that followed that I never had a chance to weigh in on the channel's plans to rebrand itself as SyFy (see new logo above). The explanations I've heard from Sci Fi and NBC/Universal people range from their wanting to bring in people outside the core fanboy/fangirl audience, to the fact that Sci Fi is a name that can't be trademarked. But the new name seems both silly and too similar to the original (it's supposed to be pronounced the same, though the critics at the "BSG" screening were calling it "See-Fee," or "Sigh-Fee," or "Syeh-fay") to really bring in anyone who's currently skeptical about wanting to watch "Eureka." And the whole move smacks of the approach TV sports coverage takes, where they assume the real sports fans will watch no matter what you do to them, and therefore gear their coverage to bring in non-fans. I hate any strategy that takes the core audience for granted, but this isn't the first time it'll be tried, nor the last.

• Finally, today marks the launch of "Rockville, CA," the online-only series for TheWB.com from "O.C."/"Chuck"/"Gossip Girl" creator Josh Schwartz and his frequent music supervisor, Alexandra Patsavas. You can watch the first four episodes here (they're around 5-7 minutes each, I believe). Basically, imagine an "O.C." spin-off set at The Bait Shop, starring Seth Cohen's long-lost identical cousin, and you get the idea. There's some comedy, some music, and some familiar faces, notably Ryan Hansen (aka Dick Casablancas from "Veronica Mars") as a character aptly known as "The Douche," and Natalie Morales (aka Dub-Dub from "The Middleman") as a club-goer who first turns up trying to "ironically" wear a pair of stripper heels.