I Vote Apollo Off the American Idol Flight Deck

Wifezilla and I sat down and watched the season four premiere of Battlestar Galactica last night. This last season isn't off to a strong start.

To recap, season three left off with a bang. Starbuck came flying out of no where claiming she'd found Earth and four main characters discovered the ringing music in their heads means they've been Cylons all along; it all came together beautifully in those last five minutes and had me shaking Wifezilla in anticipation for what would happen next.

The season four premiere started strong enough, with a sweet-ass fire-fight between the Galactica fleet and the Cylons. But the moment Starbuck stepped foot on board the Galactica, the pacing zigzagged, then crawled. Predictably, everyone suspects Starbuck might be a Cylon sent to spy or terrorize. Which she passionately denies.

But I've seen that already. A lot. Cue the yawning.

It gets worse though. Baltar gets whisked away by these strangely cloaked people who take him to an uninhabited portion of a ship's hold. They've got alters devoted to him and they bring him their sick kids for him to cure. I guess I blinked and missed an entire story thread here. Why in the hell does he have a cult worshiping him? And more importantly, how come their "secret" hideout is adjacent to a public restroom, a convenient venue for a father bent on revenge for the death of his son to attack Baltar? That entire storyline makes no sense, is boring as hell, and managed to diffuse all the tension and anticipation I was feeling at the end of season three.

Finally, now many times is Apollo going to quit flying and Adama give him his wings back? Holy crap, they must have gone through that little ritual at least three times already in as many TV seasons. Sure, Apollo turned him down this last time, rambling on about public service or some such rubbish. Never mind they've spent the entire life of the show bitching about the severe shortage of trained pilots, Apollo is going to run for the Senate because apparently there's an even greater shortage of crooked politicians. But like a main character being suspected of Cylonism, I've seen Apollo's off-again on-again romance with flying too many times already. I swear by my TV remote, if Apollo joins the fleet again and quits only to have Adama offer him his wings back, I'm going to not only start watching American Idol, but genuinely vote for an act I think is best.

So Apollo, you better steer clear of that flight deck now, ya hear? 'Cause I'll vote for the next Sanjaya before you can say "cockpit."