Casting Couch: Stevens is "Lost" Voice; Blackthorne Tries On "Lipstick"

That disembodied voice Jack spoke to over the satellite phone on the season finale of Lost finally has a face.

ABC has confirmed that Fisher Stevens (Early Edition) will play the role of the enigmatic Minkowski, who was introduced on-screen via that climactic phone call in the "Through the Looking Glass" episode last season.

According to some fans of the series, the name Minkowski refers to an early 20th century German mathematician Hermann Minkowski, whose theory of a four-dimensional system (three dimensions of space plus time) influenced Einstein's theory of relativity. And which might go a long way of explaining some of the inexplicable scenarios that the Losties have encountered during their stay on the mysterious island.

Of course, this being Lost, there are other theories, including conjecture that Minkowski refers to French philosopher/psychiatrist Eugène Minkowski, who studied the "subjectiveness of the lived Time," and made "the first serious attempt in psychiatry to reconstruct the other person's lived experience." Curious.

* * *

In other casting news, former Dresden Files star Paul Blackthorne--currently recurring on ABC's Big Shots--has been cast as a regular in NBC's midseason drama Lipstick Jungle.

He'll play the husband of Brooke Shields' character, a role originally played in the pilot by Chris Wiehl.

In the original pilot for Lipstick Jungle, the role was a rather insufferable buffoon who clearly didn't deserve Shields' movie studio mogul wife. It's unclear how the part has been rewritten, but I don't see Blackthorne playing a sad sack stay-at-home hubby with no direction.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Ghost Whisperer (CBS); Deal or No Deal (NBC); Friday Night SmackDown (CW; 8-10 pm); 20/20 (ABC)

9 pm: Moonlight (CBS); Friday Night Lights (NBC); Women's Murder Club (ABC)

10 pm: NUMB3RS (CBS); Las Vegas (NBC); Men in Trees (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

8-11 pm: BBC America.

If you happen to be staying in after a long work week, why not do in true Anglophile style with back-to-back episodes of The Office, Little Britain, Absolutely Fabulous, Mighty Boosh, and Catherine Tate Show?