Today, sixteen members of the press representing outlets and sites from all over America and the world, visited the set of Dark Matter to interview the cast, take a tour, and eat lemon chicken. I was given the heads up about the junket a while back and, last week, was forwarded a preliminary schedule. The press would be arriving at 8:30 a.m. and then leaving at 2:30 p.m. Between then, they would interview our actors and, at some point, chat with me as well. Among those in attendance, representatives from Syfy, NBCU, and a couple of familiar faces (Sammi! Michael! Bridget!) as well.

I was asked to be there for their arrival so I could welcome them, perhaps squeeze in a quick Q&A, a set tour, and then head back to the office to do some writing. That was the plan anyway.

Sammi Agnoff, Publicity Coordinator at Syfy, was one of the first to arrive to oversee the action. Haven’t seen her since SDCC! She (and her team) have been doing a terrific job of supporting the show.

Also representing Syfy, their Manager Of Publicity – the lovely Fowzia Iranpur.

We picked up breakfast donuts! Alas, there were very few takers. I assumed that, like me, most were “on the program”.

Andrew Liptak (IO9), Tiffany Vogt (Seat42.com), Michael Simpson (SciFiNow) and Sarah Lewin (Space.com). We talked Dark Matter and Stargate. But mostly Stargate.

A rare photo of IO9’s Andrew Liptak in his early days at Stargate Command, serving as a communication officer on SG-12.

Anyways – everything went according to plan.

For about twenty minutes after which my brief Q&A became more of a Q&A&A&A as we awaited the first cast members. I regaled the gathering with tales from Dark Matter’s first season, my time on Stargate, and was THIS close to sharing some terrific dinner party recipes when our first two actors arrived on the scene – coming in on their day off no less!

As it turned out, the schedule was a little more…flexible than we’d first assumed because the rest of the cast was down on set, actually shooting a t.v. show, and stealing them away proved a bit of a challenge. And so, I stepped in and did my best to entertain (“Hey! Who knows how to play I Spy?!”), fielding any leftover questions and generally doing my best to move those donuts.

For the next five hours, I was on and off. They were a great group but I couldn’t help but feel like one of those comedians warming up the crowd before the headliner (“When’s Dane Cook getting here?!!”).

Finally, there was enough of a break in the action to allow us a quickie tour. We headed downstairs to check out the new sets (Hyperion-8 Gen Pop, the alley way, caves, “guest ship”, and the Marauder).

We’re heading onto a hot set. Make sure to turn off your cell phones. Or, yeah, just go ahead and check your twitter accounts.

We cram into the Marauder which is undergoing a new paint job. Two members of the press are overcome by the fresh fumes forcing the rest of us to beat a hasty retreat.

Nothing but blue skies!

A few more interviews and then it was on to lunch. Because of the horseshoe table layout and scarcity of seats, I was seated at the kids’ table in the center of the room where I entertained everyone by eating lemon chicken and spare ribs. I was one fire!



Alex Mallari Jr. (FOUR) and Anthony Lemke (THREE) on the hot seats!

Photographic proof that Zoie Palmer (The Android) and Jodelle Ferland (FIVE) are still on the show.

Or came in for the presser on their day off to give the illusion they’re still on the show.

Sadly, due to time constraints (everyone had to catch afternoon flights out so that they could be home in time to watch an all new episode of Grandfathered), the members of the press never got a chance to tour the Raza set.

That is, of course, presuming there was a Raza set to tour and the timing wasn’t an elaborate bit of trickery on our part to misdirect the press from discovering a HUGE spoiler!

In the end, a great time was had by all.

I think.

I’m pretty sure they had a good time.

I had a good time.

I do regret not having one of those breakfast donuts.

Anyway, thanks to our publicist Mario Tassone, Executive Producer Vanessa Piazza, Catherine from NBCU, and the gang from Syfy (Sammi, Fowzia, and Arune Singh).

P.S. Much of the Q&A’s revolved around the big season one finale reveal. The cast was asked how they found learned the news/reacted to the reveal of the mole?

Most of you have already seen this vid, but in case you missed it the first few times, THIS is how the cast found out the identity of the mole…before the last shot of the final day of main unit production:

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