"Girls look sexy in bikinis, it's fine, but I was fighting for a a one-piece." she says. "I was like, let's be classy, let's have something cool and La Perla-like."

It was a nice thought.... but that one piece looks distinctly bikini-esque. Does that mean we should expect Nikita to trade more in cheesecake than in legitimate action chops? Maggie says no -- and she's got a good reason.

"The thing I loved about that sequence -- me running around in a bikini and shooting people -- is that it was all a bad dream." Wide-awake Nikita sometimes dons fancy frocks, but she's more often seen in functional but-kicking gear.

"I've gotten to that point where I'm so used to being sweaty and wearing pants and sitting like a guy in boots and that when I'm dressed up and people are touching me up, I'm less comfortable. I like to wear less makeup and be tougher."

Besides, Maggie says, playing dress-up is hardly the point: "It's about the acting. It's about the story. It's not really about blush."

And, as the show is filming in Great White North, Maggie says we can expect the clothing to get even more functional. "In the winter in Toronto, screw you all, I'm wearing a balaclava. I don't care if they can't tell who I am."

We’re introduced to the Hellcats world by our trusty narrator, Marti Perkins, a pre-law major at Lancer University in Memphis. She rides her bike everywhere (without a helmet but WITH cycling gloves that she never seems to take off) because she’s poor. The school is run by its sports, and where there are sports, there must be cheerleaders. They even live in their own dorms -- with the very imaginative name, "Cheer Town."

Unconventional scholarships rock
When Marti discovers that her unconventional and sometimes drunken mother didn’t make up the payments for her schooling, she realizes that she must find a different way to pay for college. And then she discovers that there’s a scholarship for being a "football groupie." Yes, cheerleaders get scholarships. So Marti rents "Bring it On" and makes some pom poms and after a montage that is fairly reminiscent of Kevin Bacon in "Footloose," she’s ready! Apparently she taught herself those moves in Country Western bars that she was forced to hang out in with her mom. And then when Marti can't keep up with the rest of the real choreography at tryouts, she makes up her own moves, and it’s...different. The coach likes the "crazy dancing thing." Marti clearly has what it takes to wear Hellcat Blue.

Marti, meet your new roomy
After she makes the cheer squad, Marti moves into Cheer Town and her new roomy is none other than Team Captain Savannah. She’s quirky, but it's Alice who surfaces as the troublemaker for Marti. She makes it clear that Marti is just around for the six weeks' recuperation, and then she’ll be gone. Alice is clearly a crazy, disparaging beotch.

Alice in Wanda Land
The college announces that they will cut the cheer squad (What? It’s the South!) if they don’t kick butt at qualifiers. When Alice learns how much of a freak Wanda, Marti’s mom, is and how she ruined Marti’s high school gymnastics career, Alice makes sure that the woman is invited to the big competition. Alice isn’t exactly a team player. But don’t underestimate Marti just yet.

Not that Seventeen magazine wasn't really cool, but in Cycle 15 of America’s Next Top Model, the winner skips all that fluff and goes straight to the top -- Italian Vogue! And it’s not just with one, but two fashion spreads, one in Italian Vogue and another on the cover of Beauty IN Vogue. And this time the winner will be signed by IMG. Everything is elevated and this cycle will create a serious fashion superstar!

Tyra shows up and the contestants go nuts -- as per usual. But we're thinking that Tyra is lookin’ really good this year (gone are the freaky, alien unitards from Cycle 14) and she’s ready to take Top Model to another level. She tells the girls to "go past the type and ride that hype" -- we’re still trying to figure out what that means -- but meanwhile, the show is ready for some serious High Fashion.

The girls are immediately taken to the runway where they will strut their stuff in their first walk-off with the Jays. The contestants will model Cynthia Rowley designs and they are sectioned off into groups -- the quirky girls, sexy girls, strong bone structure, blonds and brunettes. We're truly shocked that there's no freaky runway walker this time around. These girls have been practicing!

The pressure is on
Since the game is so darn stepped up in this Cycle, everyone is feeling the pressure -- even Tyra. Since the winner will be immediately recognized by the public and the industry, everything is on the line...even Tyra's rep.

Let the interviews begin
Tyra is clearly a sucker for a sob story. Kayla slept in a sleeping bag until she was 13 and her family was poor -- she’s in! Rhianna is quirky and wears weird hats…in! After 15 rounds of this stuff you'd think these girls would know how to play it up, but some have clearly not learned how to work it properly. Heavy sigh…

Welcome to the "cut" party
A lucky 20 girls are invited to a Cynthia Rowley garden party, while some are excused -- including pageant-girl Vanessa and diary-mishap Emily. Frankly, Vanessa liked herself more than anyone else could, so we’re not exactly sorry to see her go. And note to Emily: Either keep your diary locked, or don't write things that make you sound racist. (Strangely, no one mentioned how much of a violation it was for someone to read her diary, but apparently that wasn't the lesson of the day.) Each of the survivors is paired with her direct competition for a pose off. And really, it just comes off as uncomfortable. For some, it’s their last shot.

The judge’s chambers have changed
Instead of sitting behind a stuffy table the judges now sit in a comfy living room with a fireplace. We just want to join them and offer up our opinions! But, alas, the final 14 contestants are selected for the groundbreaking Cycle 15 and we have zero input.

It's a serious nail-biter when Tyra announces the official contestants. Not only does she announce Chris, one of the sisters, early, she waits until the very last open slot to announce the other sister, Terra. And then there’s a lot of screaming, bookend style. What was perhaps the most shocking aspect of the entire elimination was that Jordan, who was so aloof and standoffish was in tears from the very start. She didn't get selected and we have to wonder if she was ever Top Model material anyway.

The final 14 are selected
So it’s down to the final 14 and we see some very unusual beauties this time around. Is there anyone who stands out as a winner to you already? Is there anyone who seems like she is completely unqualified? How did you think that the Jays and Tyra looked in the Cycle opener? And where-the-heck was our beau, Nigel Barker? Tell us in the comments!

No, not really. He's a sweetheart and would never openly acknowledge that talking to us is so painful. Because it is.

With the season premiere of 90210 right around the corner, someone has to keep the chaos to a minimum with those crazy kids. Thank god West Bev has its upstanding teachers.

Wait...

Well, driving under the influence and possibly contributing to another Rosemary's baby aside, Mr. Matthews will be back to his stronger-than-oak ways, or so says his alter-ego Mr. Eggold. We caught up with him on Mr. Matthews' new experiences as a father, Eggold's stage career in Catholic high school and getting attacked by the waterfowl of Santa Monica boardwalk. Needless to say, we covered a lot of ground.

So Jen will be letting him have a role in raising their child?
She doesn't want to, but she does. She needs him, she can't do it on her own. They don't know if they love each other, but they do need each other. They were actually some pretty hilarious scenes to play. They can't even agree on anything, even the baby's name.

If the series were to continue 14 years into the future, would you send Baby Matthews to West Bev?
(laughs) No, I don't think Ryan would want him in that kind of environment. But then again, if he were still a teacher there I think Ryan would want him around.

What was it like performing the scene on the Santa Monica boardwalk having to literally "make a scene?"
It was a lot of fun. It was kind of cool, because we had some people gathered around watching; it reminded me of doing theater. It was great because it was a really well-written scene. There was actually a point where I got swarmed by seagulls. I had to eat his huge chili dog and they just kept coming after me.

When you're playing a teacher, do you draw anything from your own high school teachers for inspiration?
I think I draw inspiration from all the teachers I've had. I think all of us could play the teacher because we all grew up with teachers. It's just kind of this peeking-over-the-shoulder presence that we've all grown up knowing.

If you were a high school teacher, would you teach English lit like Mr. Matthews, or a different subject?
I'd either teach English lit or drama, which are often very similar in what they study.

I don't know if you were familiar with 90210 day last Thursday; did you do anything to celebrate?
Yes, it was a crazy day for us all. We went down to Beverly Hills and they had a little shindig that we were apart of. I met the mayor of Beverly Hills and he was not what I expected, he was great. He was doing the samba, and I was like, "This is the mayor, this guy doing the samba?" It was a lot of fun. They had fireworks and live music. It really felt like we were a part of that Beverly Hills culture.

What's it like playing the teacher of your fellow actors when you're all around the same age?
It's like anything in acting. When you step into the character you're just playing the scene. It'd be weird if one of the actors playing a student was 45 or something, but since everybody is around the same age that just makes it fun.

How did you first get into acting?
I was 13 or something like that;. I always had an interest in it kind of from afar, and one day I told my mom I wanted to do it and I didn't really know why. One summer my friend and I went to summer camp and I acted in some plays there and I fell in love with it.

You also grew up in southern California like the kids in "90210." Was your high school experience similar to the West Beverly kids?
In a few ways it was. I moved in junior high and I transferred from a public school to a a private school and there were a lot of similarities. Everyone was very financially secure and some kids were driving ridiculous cars. My first car wasn't quite like that. It was the most horrible color brown, this van that we called Shamu because it looked like a whale. But yeah, there were a lot of things that were like West Beverly High.

Since you went to Catholic high school, were there a lot of limits on the kinds of plays you could put on?
So many limits in Catholic high school! I'm not a bad Catholic, but everything was off-limits. It's like you scratch your butt and it was detention! God didn't want you to scratch your butt... Even what we wore was really restricted. The skirts had to be a certain length and you couldn't dye your hair a certain color. And yes, there were a lot of plays we couldn't do.

You've worked a lot in both theater and television. Do you prefer one over the other?
Yes, I think I'll always prefer theater to working in front of the camera. It seems a more distilled form of the craft. I'm actually doing a play soon with a friend, I hadn't done it in so long I was afraid I was going to forget how theater acting is done!

Are you looking to do any more work in film?
Yeah, absolutely! I'm doing a little independent film in a month, it's going to be a lot of fun. I worked on "Sironia" and "Trophy Walks." They were independent films, which I liked. With an
independent film you have a little more freedom, and you also have less money, so you're sort of struggling to get it done, to get something that works. With a big studio everything is there for you and it's easier. I'd definitely do a studio film in the future, but it was just a different experience.

If for some reason you couldn't act, what other career would you like to pursue?
If I couldn't act I'd really love to try music. I love performing and I am working on some music now, maybe one day I'll put that out there. Also writing, writing screenplays and scripts. Making music and writing kind of come from the same creative place.

Anyway, we suggest you celebrate by wearing some atrocious 90s fashion and watching the clips below. And don't forget to follow up by watching the season three premiere of 90210 on September 13.

Nina Dobrev of The Vampire Diares jumped in with Fallon and his rag-tag team of gleeks, singing and shimmying to Bruce Springsteen. Check out Dobrev's killer moves in the clip below.

Our lovely Matt Lanter is offering no new news on which character will be coming out this season, though there will be some action with Annie. We don't really care what he does, as long as he does it looking like this:

We're not so sure about Lanter getting vampire-ized for "Vampires Suck." Maybe we'll be more inclined to show an interest once the predictable 90210 drama goes inevitably over-the-top.

We're also in a good mood since we got to speak with a few of the stars from The Vampire Diaries. Check out the videos with Nina Dobrev, Katerina Graham and Ian Somerhalder below.

The CW released the first slate of audition cities for Cycle 16, so girls across the country have the opportunity to strut their stuff. It looks like they're changing things up this year -- instead of a cattle-call at a venue, they're asking interested potential models to email casting directors all their details. It's hard to stampede an inbox, we guess.

To grab an audition, email the person in the city of your choice with your name, age, height, weight, contact info, and 3 stellar pics of yourself. Remember, this is for potential Top Model immortality, so make them good!

Here's who to contact:

Chicago - Amy at ANTMAmy@gmail.com
Deadline: August 11, 2010

Houston - Ron at Ronnieincasting@gmail.com
Deadline: August 21, 2010

Nashville - Marshell at Marshellincasting@gmail.com
Deadline: August 25, 2010

New York City - Tlaloc at CastingANTM@gmail.com
Deadline: August 28, 2010

Los Angeles - Eric at ericincasting@gmail.com
Deadline: September 3rd, 2010

Good luck!

Our favorite bad-boy vampire Ian Somerhalder attended the Teen Choice Awards last night and found out that his fellow "Lost" cast mate Dominic Monaghan got to lock lips with the actress in Eminem's new music video, "I Like The Way You Lie." Somerhalder expressed a little jealousy on the red carpet:

We can't imagine Damon Salvatore or Ian Somerhalder being jealous of anyone, but at least we got this hilarious video clip out of it.

Laura Vandervoort and her adorable Canadian accent are back for the 10th and final season as Kara Kent. According to Laura, hijinks will ensue between Clark and her character.

First from The Vampire Diaries we have Michael Trevino, who plays werewolf-to-be Tyler Lockwood.