Shirley Manson, lead singer of the band Garbage, joins the cast of “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles”.

From SciFi Wire:
“Manson turns up as Catherine Weaver, the chief executive of Cyberdine Systems, which all Terminator fans know develops the computers that eventually become Skynet. “She’s the CEO of a corporation that develops certain technologies,” Manson said. “And she’s very self-empowered, successful, self-assured, singular. So it’s a cool character to play.” (She added that producers will let her keep her Scottish brogue.)”

Pop culture confession: I own all four Garbage albums ( I have this strange loyalty to the band after seeing them open up for Smashing Pumpkins in ‘97). Thus, maybe that makes me a little biased and overly positive about this casting news. Nevertheless, watching Shirley Manson make her television debut has finally given me a reason to be pumped for the second season of “Terminator”.

Shirley Manson definitely has a strong stage presence, so it’s probably not that big of a leap for her to become an actress. I’m just surprised that Fox being so cool with it, especially since she has no acting training per se. It’s sorta risky to have a newbie play such a pivotal character as Catherine Weaver in the series. What are they gonna do? fire

“Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” returns September 8th at 8/7c. Buy the first season of “Terminator” dvd on August 19th.

“Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” was officially renewed last week by Fox.

According to /Film, the critics generally liked the show despite it having less than favorable ratings. The head of the network even said the show was at the top of the list for renewal!

Overall, I actually really liked the first season. The pilot was a little over the top with Sarah Connor fighting a Terminator in the skimpiest diner uniform I’d ever seen. And them jumping to the future and thus not knowing about 9/11 was tad unnecessary (and a cheap ploy at melodrama). But by the fourth episode, I was definitely sucked into the show.

My favorite parts by far are when they’re in the apocalyptic future. That’s where the show excels in special f/x, writing and character development. We get to see the circumstances surrounding how the first Terminator (aka Arnold’s T1) was sent back to protect Sarah. Do more of that TSCC producers and who knows, maybe the viewership will grow, and hopefully Fox won’t cancel it.