OK, I confess. I'm enjoying "Desperate Housewives" in semi-regular doses this season.

The show lost me a few seasons ago with too many inane flights of fancy. Maybe I've mellowed, maybe in these turbulent times a guilty, soapy, silly pleasure is just what you need on a Sunday night. Or maybe the ABC sudser has simply gotten better after leaping five years into the future at the end of last season.

The storylines this season, from Lynette's son's affair with the soccer mom to Carlos' miracle blindness cure to the blossoming of Bree's Martha Stewart empire to Neal McDonough as Edie's hubby with the psycho-vendetta against Mike Delfino (who's now shacking up with Katherine, etc. etc.), have been fun and lightly addictive, kind of like M&Ms. Eva Longoria Parker has also been a standout this season, offering comic relief in all the right places. Felicity Huffman is unfailingly good at what she does, and earlier in the season Lily Tomlin was also a fun addition to the troupe.

I don't watch "Housewives" religiously every Sunday as I did in season one, but this season I've found myself checking in every other week or so to keep up with As Wisteria Lane Turns ...

Meanwhile, after all the fanfare and critical  hosannas showered on the series finale of "Battlestar Galactica" this past Friday, I'm feeling awful for never diving into the show.

It really makes no sense. By all rights, the remodeled "Battlestar" should be my kind of show -- smart fantasy drama with great characters, swell spaceships and scribes with a lot to say, Gene Roddenberry-style, about the state of our world by imagining the goings-on in distant galaxies. On top of all that, I'm a fan of Edward James Olmos.

Somehow, I missed Sci Fi Channel's initial boarding call for this mission when it began as a miniseries in 2003, and I just never caught up. I suppose that's what DVD box sets are for. If only spare time could be acquired as easily.

OK, so I slept on it. I still hate the idea of Sci Fi Channel morphing into "SyFy" as of July 7. 

Makes no sense. What better moniker could the channel have than Sci Fi. It just sounds cool. I know that execs at Sci Fi have chafed a bit at what they feel are the constraints of the sci-fi genre in their programming thrust, but I've never understood it.

(Variety's Sam Thielman explains Sci Fi prexy Dave Howe's thinking in this report from the channel's upfront event in Gotham on Monday.) To my way of thinking, sci-fi is a pretty broad canvas, encompassing everything from fantasy fiction a la C.S. Lewis to schlocko horror to the intellectual pursuits of "Star Trek" and "Lost."

In the bazillion-channel universe, you gotta have a niche. Sci Fi Channel has a great one that they absolutely own. I can't understand the impetus to move away from it.

The stellar Variety features section put together a bunch of feature stories commemorating "Battlestar Galactica" as it kicked off its final season last week. Read them all here.

Also, for a bonus, our friend Mo Ryan of the Chicago Tribune talked to show creator Ron Moore about everything "Battlestar," as well as David Weddle and Bradley Thompson, who wrote the first episode, "Sometimes a Great Notion." She also chatted with Michael Nankin, who directed it. Check out Mo's revelatory conversation here.

— Stuart Levine

Nothing says TCA like stars in awkward situations. (See pic at left of "House" star Hugh Laurie in a bumper car at Fox's TCA party on the Santa Monica pier last summer.)

Yep, the Television Critics Assn. summer press tour is upon us, starting Tuesday at the Beverly Hilton hotel. The January TCA gathering was scuttled by the writers strike, so undoubtedly there will be pent-up excitement (agitation? irritation? ultra-obnoxious lines of questioning?) than usual among the scribes, execs and stars who make TCA go 'round.

As we did last year, On the Air will offer team coverage of this fortnight of frothing about shows to come and the strike-interrupted season that just was, and any other issues that crop up between Tuesday and July 22. Variety's Stuart Levine plans to park himself at the BevHilton for the duration, while our TV leader, Michael Schneider, reporter Daniel Frankel and myself will also be availing ourselves of the hotel's free Wi-Fi to cover the events...and drink. I'm guessing it's a safe bet that the tradition of TCA bingo (in which attendees track the over-use of buzz words by panelists) will include the phrase "writers strike" this year.

It all starts Tuesday with a heavy rotation of cable presentations, including Hallmark Channel, HD Net, BBC America and E! nets.

Wednesday's lineup includes: AMC and WE; MTV Networks; A&E Networks

Thursday: Discovery Networks; ESPN; Sundance Channel; HBO

Friday: Turner Broadcasting; Fox Reality Channel; Starz; Lifetime

Saturday-Sunday: PBS -- whose talent roster includes none other than Sir George Martin, plugging his series "On Record: The Soundtrack of Our Lives."

Bonnie Hammer went a few steps beyond the garden-variety charitable kudos acceptance speech Tuesday night at the Anti-Defamation League's Humanitarian Award at the org's annual showbiz gala fundraiser.

NBC Universal's prexy of Cable Entertainment and Cable Studios "reined in the rhetoric" by citing, in detail, incidents from her own experience as a mother that taught her a lot about the pernicious subtleties of prejudice in kids who are raised in a progressive environment.

She noted that her brood is a blended family consisting of a daughter, Kimae, from her husband Dale Heussner's previous marriage who is part Malaysian and part Caucasian; and her son, Jesse, now 14, who shares his mother's Russian-Jewish heritage and Dale's Midwestern WASP roots.

At an extended family dinner seven years ago, Jesse declared himself to be at least "one-eighth Chinese," judging from the diversity around the table. "That line brought down the house," Hammer recalled.

A year or so later, Jesse regaled his mother and father at dinner with a joke he'd picked up on the playground, which was crudely racist and utterly intolerant of Chinese cultural differences, Hammer recalled. The jolt reminded her of the importance of being vigilant and maintaining a zero-tolerance policy against stereotyping and expressions of ethnic bias even in its most seemingly innocuous forms (i.e. no brushing it off with "oh, he's just a kid").

Hammer was saluted by the ADL for spearheading USA Network's Emmy-winning "Erase the Hate" public service campaign in the 1990s during her first tour of duty at the now top-rated cabler. More recently, she's championed USA's "Character's Unite" initiative designed to promote the importance of diversity in all aspects of life. Dule Hill and James Roday, stars of USA's drama "Psych," emceed the dinner at the Beverly Hills Hotel (which also doubled as a polling place on Tuesday).

As always, the evening included a witty tribute reel, full of pics and clips of the guest of honor sporting bygone hairdos and retro fashions that weren't at the time.

(Pictured above: Bonnie Hammer and U Studios prexy Ron Meyer)

Bonnie Hammer's footprint at NBC Universal continues to grow.

News that caught many in town by surprise out of the Peacock today is that in order to keep Hammer in the fold for a new multi-year pact, NBC Universal has given her oversight of scripted cable production -- cutting Universal Media Studios in half, basically -- and as well as oversight of a bunch of its fledgling networks like Sleuth, Chiller and Universal HD. She exchanges the mouthful of a title of prexy USA Network/Sci Fi Channel for the slightly streamlined prexy, Cable Entertainment and Cable Studio, as reported by Variety's Michael Schneider (news first broke on the L.A. Times' website).

Rewarding Hammer with more turf comes as no surprise; her USA Network and Sci Fi Channel are among the brightest jewel's in NBC U's crown. She's highly regarded by NBC U topper Jeff Zucker. We know she's been on short lists to conquer other fields within the conglom. What is a little surprising is that her gain this time around would come partly at the expense of NBC Entertainment/Universal Media Studios co-chairmen Marc Graboff and Ben Silverman and Universal Media Studios prexy Katherine Pope. Not that those three don't have their hands full with the ongoing rehab of NBC proper (two words: "Bionic Woman"), but as we all know, execs tend to get fussy about losing turf.

Another immediate question is if Hammer's bump could have a ripple-effect within USA Network. In January, Sci Fi channel marketing guru Dave Howe was boosted from exec vp and general manager to prexy of Sci Fi Channel. There's already insta-speculation that a similar promotion could be in the works for one of Hammer's hard-working lieutenants at USA.

(Pictured above: Bonnie Hammer in December at the L.A. premiere of Sci Fi miniseries "Tin Man," with a new-model Toto.)

Not much of an upset Saturday night during the first leg of the Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony as HBO's "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" maintained its trophy market share with a total of five wins, followed by Discovery Channel's "Planet Earth" (wha?) and NBC's "Tony Bennett: An American Classic" with four apiece. (For a proper report on who-won-what, click here for the report from Variety's Jeff Sneider, who sacrificed his Saturday night so that you and I wouldn't have to.)

Contrary to conventional wisdom the Creative Arts ceremony isn't all craft and tech honors (though let it be said here that the below-the-line folks are not only H'wood's salt of the earth but its true artisans). NBC nearly swept the guest-star awards categories, which can be a handy career reviver for the right actor at the right moment if the sun and the moon and the stars align...

Elaine Stritch (pictured left) bagged the guest actress in a comedy trophy for her turns in "30 Rock." Leslie Caron (pictured right) took the drama trophy for her one-shot on "Law & Order: SVU." John Goodman's visits to "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" were recognized for guest actor in a drama, while Stanley Tucci (pictured above) got the nod on the comedy side for having fun with the great Tony Shalhoub on "Monk." (So if you count USA Network as one of "the networks of NBC Universal," as the Peacock likes to put it, NBC U did sweep the category. That bit of bragging rights and a dollar will buy you a cup of coffee at Musso & Franks...)

(Pics of Stritch and Caron on Creative Arts Emmy red carpet by Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage)

I didn't see it coming for the Defuser in the big finish of Sci Fi Channel's "Who Wants to Be a Superhero 2?" But the police detective from Austin, Texas (alter ego: Jarrett Crippen) impressed Stan "the Man" Lee with his fortitude, natural leadership skills and his ability to take Stan's direction to stand back every so often and let others take the reins. His self-professed superpower is the use of non-lethal weaponry to accomplish his missions and the ability to function at 110% (not to mention having huge abs and arms). My husband and I picked him to make it into the finals but not to go all the way.

Finally caught up with this week's seg of "Who Wants to Be a Superhero?"

Now this is my kind of reality TV (and that's a select category. I'm even immune to "American Idol" fever.) These contestants (such as this specimen on the left, Whip-Snap) are all unabashedly certifiable. They're running around in capes and tights, modified kitchen utensils and junk jewelry, and there's no pretense that they're trying to take part in a social experiment, do-gooder crusade or anything else but play the part of a comic book character.

Plus, it's got Stan Lee popping in and out on a TV screen as the overlord of his domain. What's not to like?

Been thinking a lot about why primetime TV is in such a superhero-loving moment. No, it wasn't brought on by the onset (onslaught) of Comic-Con this week. It was Television Critics Assn. press tour and all the yak yak yak during the past fortnight about the upcoming season's new shows.

I was struck by the superhero-mania by realizing that that even high-end, Emmy-winning drama types a la writer-producer Kevin Falls and director Alex Graves are working in the genre (sort of) with NBC's "Journeyman." Our hero in this show is a San Francisco newspaper reporter who can travel through time and change the course of people's lives. Falls and Graves during the TCA sesh on the show took pains to stress that they were going for "grounded sci-fi," and that the show would hinge not on time travel but on relationships.

"It's a a time-travel show made by people who don't believe in time travel," assured Graves, whose past  credits include "The West Wing," "Sports Night" and "Ally McBeal." Still, "Journeyman" has a mandate, one that he doesn't quite understand, to change people's lives for the better (and to keep viewers from changing the channel). Sounds superhero-ish to me.

It was NBC's own "Heroes," of course, sparked the most recent mania for supernatural storytelling with its breakout sizzle this past season. (BTW, the two pics posted here are from the soph season opener of "Heroes," tantalizingly titled "Four Months Later," set to air Sept. 24. Not many clues revealed in them but I figured they were a nice touch for anyone interested in this column's topic.)

In the coming season we have variations on the superhero theme in not only "Journeyman" but NBC's "The Bionic Woman," Fox's "The Sarah Connor Chronicles," and to a lesser degree (more about people with special powers than save-the-world-itis) in CW's "Reaper," ABC's "Pushing Daisies," from "Heroes" alum Bryan Fuller, and Fox's "New Amsterdam."

So why all the interest in characters with power to bend Newton's laws?

To your Web battle stations, "Battlestar Galactica" fans. Sci Fi Channel confirmed Sunday during its TCA sesh that it will launch an eight-week series of Web mini-sodes leading in to the rest of the series' fourth and final season. The two-to-three minute shorts are set to bow in October as a preamble to the Nov. 24 debut of "Battlestar Galactica: Razor," described as a special extended seg that will lay the foundation for the events that take place in the second half of mothership "Galactica" season. Can't say I'm a rabid fan of the new-model "Galactica" (one of these days I will catch up with it on DVD and see what all the buzz is about, if for no other reason than I've always loved Edward James Olmos) so I'm gonna defer to the Sci Fi press verbiage describe what exactly goes on in the minisodes and "Razor":

These shorts will provide a sneak peek into the original Cylon War, when a young pilot named William Adama (Nico Cortez) discovers a dangerous Cylon weapon that will come back to haunt him and his crew 40 years later. Filmed as part of the extended episode, the mini-sodes will be included in the unrated Universal Home Video release of Razor. They will also be available on SCIFI.COM after their on-air debuts. Battlestar Galactica: Razor will tell the story of Lee Adama's (Jamie Bamber, pictured above left) first mission as commander of the Battlestar Pegasus and will reveal the story of how Admiral Cain (Michelle Forbes, pictured right) served her ship during the original Cylon attack on the Colonies.

Sounds like good fun for the fans.

There was also good news for "Farscape" fans out of the Sci Fi Channel TCA sesh on Sunday. The cult-fave 1999-2003 skein, about an average-Joe astronaut's struggles when he gets flung into a distant galaxy in the thick of a nasty war, will be revived as a Web skein for the SciFi Pulse broadband net. Sci Fi has ordered up 10 installments, to be exec produced by Brian Henson and Robert Halmi Jr. for the Jim Henson Co. Sci Fi also unveiled two new info- and docu series for SciFi Pulse: "Sci Fi Tech," an extension of its blog offering reviews and demos of the latest gizmos and gadgets; and "Invent This!," described as a lighthearted look at the world's weirdest inventions and the people who dreamed them up. Both "Tech" and "Invent This!" hail from NBC Universal's newly formed news, reality and infotainment production shingle Peacock Prods., as Variety's Michael Learmonth reported last week.