The NY Post has an article on BSG, and since it also has a rather spoilerish pic from this week's ep, I'll just put the text below:

February 24, 2006 -- WHAT prime-time show regularly tackles hot-button issues like torture, abortion, genetic engineering, religious fundamentalism and the war on terror?

"24"? "The West Wing"?

How about "Battlestar: Galactica," the SCI FI hit airing Fridays at 10 p.m. that's swiftly become one of the most complex, dark and political shows on TV.

Creator Ron Moore - who worked on shows like "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and "Roswell" - admits the science-fiction setting is a blessing.

"You can get away with things in the science-fiction universe that contemporary drama can't touch," says Moore.

"We'd be in endless arguments over the content of the show if we were actually dealing with Republicans and Democrats and Christians and Jews and Muslims and the war on terrorism," he says. "But give it a sci-fi spin, and you get a nice big pass."

On the show, humans are battling Cylons, which can look just like them but are not "really" alive. The show depicts the sexual abuse and torture of Cylons ("You can't rape a machine," one human says blithely.) And the entire story begins with a 9/11-style attack that wipes out virtually the entire human population.

"Battlestar Galactica" also messes with viewer expectations. Mary McDonnell plays President Roslin, the Secretary of Education who became president after everyone else in succession was wiped out by the Cylons. She seemed a classic liberal, but circumstances have forged Roslin into a steely leader convinced of her messianic destiny.

Recently, she outlawed abortion (much to her own dismay) because humans are down to their last 54,000 people and need every baby.

Then there's the fascinating twist that the humans worship multiple gods while the Cylons are monotheistic.

The result is a fan base that crosses the political spectrum. And sci-fi's traditionally liberal fans have come nose-to-nose with "Galactica's" core fans of the original series, who tended to be Republican.

"I see more conservative fansites and commentary than I think is usual for science fiction," says Moore, a political-science major in college who likes to tweak both sides. "I think the show is at its best when it makes you vaguely uncomfortable and makes you sort of wonder if you're rooting for the wrong side."

Tricia Helfer - who plays Number Six, a beautiful Cylon - finds herself fielding questions from fans about monotheism, polytheism, the influence of Buddhism on the show and other wildly complex issues.

"Sometimes on my Web site I get asked questions I can't even begin to answer," laughs Helfer. "I've gone to conventions and sometimes I worry I'm letting them down."

Speaking of which:

Tricia Helfer's official website!

Having Six host "Next Top Model" is very very funny.

I mean, they have barely enough housing, food and clothing for the tiny population they've got.

Well, but they kill off people with magnificent regularity. The real question is, a couple generations along, how are they going to control against inbreeding?

What's a generally accepted minimum number of breeders (of either gender) to repopulate without risking great genetic damage to the resulting population?

I don't have any idea for sure, but the examples I've heard where problematic diversity issues arose for populations have implied much smaller numbers than 49,000 and change.

Yes, someone on my flist did some calculations and said the BSG population is nowhere near small enough yet to worry about long-term survival and genetic diversity. Baltar is either wrong or lying, either of which could be interesting. My fear is that the writers actually think he's right.

[link]

In "The Millenium Ark", Soulé et al. conclude that 6 is the absolute minimum number of founders, and that with fewer, the group will lose more than 10% of its genetic diversity as soon as it reproduces. Twenty is a much safer number. Furthermore, the population size should be increased to 200-300 as quickly as possible to prevent significant loss of diversity. The necessity for increasing the population size is to prevent random loss of alleles that may be important.

BSG population is nowhere near small enough yet to worry

Well, but the population is all over the place larded into closets and cubbyholes, right? Unless they have the galaxy's coolest roommate lottery every couple of months, how are all the members of the population going to meet and mix their genes?

(That would be hilarious! Random grannies on the prison ship; that ship full of gamblers invaded by a Beadazzling housewife!)

how are all the members of the population going to meet and mix their genes

Well, there are more than 6 per ship. More than 300 too, unless I'm sizing the fleet way wrong.