Josh Holloway (Lost) is in final talks to join Brad Bird’s upcoming untitled Mission: Impossible sequel/quasi-reboot.  This is the first major studio picture for Holloway since Lost‘s finale.  Risky Business reports that Holloway was offered larger opportunities but that they conflicted with his shooting schedule on Lost, which filmed in Hawaii.  While I think Holloway is good enough to be leading a major motion picture, hopefully this supporting role is the beginning of a long and successful career movie for the charismatic actor.

Hit the jump for more on the fourth Mission: Impossible, which is slated to open on December 16, 2011.

We’ve heard a lot about dirty shenanigans in the financial sector over the last few years, but if you really want to know about a high-risk investment that hardly ever pays off, forget about the Ponzi scheme — look no further than the serialized television drama.

Much as we all love to snigger at the stereotype of the housewife or credulous college student weeping over her soap opera, there are good reasons that shows like General Hospital have lasted for decades, and chief among them is the unique pleasure of following characters and storylines over an extended period of time. The networks dress it up in different outfits each fall, but it’s that same enduring promise that lures viewers into new serialized series every year, and if you’re any kind of television fan, you’re well acquainted with the pain of giving yourself over to a show’s arc, only to watch it land with a thud — or worse, find that the show’s been canceled before it can reach a satisfying conclusion. (This writer is still smarting over the way NBC pulled the plug on Journeyman under cover of the writer’s strike.) Read more about Lost: The Complete Collection after the jump:

Here’s a trio of TV casting additions coming your way! First up, CBS announced today via press release that Michael J. Fox will guest star on the forthcoming season of The Good Wife where he’ll actually be facing off against series star Julianna Margulies. He’ll play Simon Canning, a shrewd and cynical litigator whom Alicia (Margulies) faces in a massive class action.  Canning is willing to use anything in court, including symptoms of his neurological condition, to create sympathy for his otherwise unsympathetic client: a giant pharmaceutical company.

Despite his debilitating Parkinson’s disease keeping him from taking on more roles, Fox has previously been able to take on multi-episode arcs on shows like Scrubs, Boston Legal and Rescue Me (though he’ll only appear on one episode of The Good Wife). Fox has always been a favorite of mine from Back to the Future to Spin City and it’s a shame we don’t get to see him more often. Hit the jump for new casting for the final season of Smallville and NBC’s forthcoming remake of The Rockford Files.

The Saturn Awards honor genre movies, particularly in the sci-fi and fantasy genre.  So it’s no surprise that James Cameron’s Avatar cleaned up at last night’s ceremony.  The Oscar-winning film nabbed ten awards including “Best Science Fiction Film”, swept the film acting categories, and three trophies for James Cameron (Best Director, The Visionary Award, and *giggle* Best Writer).

The awards in the TV category were much better.  Josh Holloway won “Best Actor”, Aaron Paul won “Best Supporting Actor”, Breaking Bad won best Syndicated/Cable series, and Lost won Best Television Series, although I’ll presume that was for the show as a whole rather than the disappointing last season.  Hit the jump for a full list of the winners.

Of the massive ensemble that Lost employed over the last six years, I think Josh Holloway is in the best position  to vault into stardom after the show ended its run last week.  His manly brand of Southern swagger is suited to fill a void in a Hollywood that often looks overseas for rugged masculinity (see Jason Statham, Sam Worthington, Christian Bale, Russell Crowe).

It seems Marvel took notice: it is rumored that the studio talking with Holloway about starring in an upcoming film.  There’s no word on which character he might play, but it is exciting news nonetheless.  Marvel Studios is really the place to be if you’re looking to launch a film career (though the pay might not be great).  Hit the jump for speculation on roles that might fit the Holloway profile, including Ant-Man, Hawkeye, and Dum Dum Dugan.

It’s no surprise that if there was a character you wanted to play when Lost first started, it would be Sawyer (or Locke).  Thirteen audition tapes from the original cast (minus Terry O’Quinn) have landed online and it’s fascinating to see Matthew Fox, Jorge Garcia, and Dominic Monaghan all try out for the character.  Of course, when you see Josh Holloway’s audition, it’s hard to imagine that he didn’t get the role in the room.  One of the most impressive aspects of Lost is that it’s been able to maintain the strength of its best characters (or at least my personal favorites).  Sawyer, Locke, Ben, and Hurley have been fantastic throughout the run of the series.  But watching these tapes, the biggest challenge is in seeing the actors play

Hit the jump to see the thirteen audition tapes, which also include Naveen Andrews, Ian Somerhalder, Maggie Grace, Harold Perrineau, Daniel Dae Kim, Emile de Ravin, Malcolm David Kelly all auditioning for the roles they eventually got, plus Yunjin Kim auditioning for Kate. There’s also a joke audition from Comic-Con of Michael Emerson trying out for the role of Hurley.

Most everyone except Emile De Ravin’s Claire Littleton returns for Season Five of Lost. Even some of the dead ones. To that point, when Season Five opens Locke (Terry O’Quinn) is introduced in a coffin and yet spends most of the rest of the season walking around alive (?). Some members of lost flight have returned to the real world, including Dr. Jack Shepherd (Mathew Fox), Hurley (Jorge Garcia) and Kate (Evangeline Lily), while others still stuck on the island are lost in time, with Sawyer (Josh Holloway) settling into the Dharma institute as one of its head security agents. Everything is in chaos, and it looks like those who left the island must return to salve the time-jumping. My review of Season Five of Lost on Blu-ray after the jump.

[Obviously, if you've never seen Lost and are waiting until the entire series is available on DVD, stop reading now]

Let the official countdown begin.  In 74 days, Lost one of TV’s best shows will begin its final season.  Starting with a two-hour season premiere on February 2, 2010 at 9pm E.T., we begin (or hope) to unravel the island’s final mysteries: the smoke monster, time jumping, the statue, the temple, the island’s healing power, why the dead appear to the living, and so many other questions.  It’s all come to this and 74 days seems like an eternity and yet by the time the series finale airs sometime in May 2010, it will feel like it was over too fast.

After its two-hour premiere (which will follow the inevitable yet likely helpful one-hour recap show), Lost will begin airing at its regular time slot of 9-10pm ET on Tuesday nights beginning the following week, February 9th.  So grab your constant, blow the hatch, and get ready for the end.  If you’d like to read the press release ABC sent us, hit the jump:

Until a week ago, I had never seen more than thirty seconds of Lost. There’s a good reason for this: I don’t watch TV. That’s not because I’m a snob, it’s because I always have a pile of movies to watch. And as that is the case, making time to watch television has always been a luxury I’ve denied myself. So, with that in mind there’s going to be two types of people reading this. People like me who never watched the show, and those who are religious about it, or got turned off at some point. I will gear the first part of the review for those who haven’t seen it and the second part for those who have. It’s all after the jump: