What Are You Still Watching This Fall? (And What Have You Given Up On?)

With the fall season now officially a few weeks old, I thought it was time to check the pulse of the television landscape a bit.

I'm extremely curious to know what new and returning series everyone is watching. Have you fallen for ABC's Modern Family? In love with NBC's Community? Dying to see ABC's V? Surprised by how much you're enjoying CBS' The Good Wife? Laughing your head off over NBC's reinvigorated Parks and Recreation? Singing your heart out to FOX's Glee? I want to know.

Conversely, which new or returning television series have you given up on? Have you moved out of Melrose Place? Been traumatized by NBC's Trauma? Frustrated by FlashForward? Already forgotten about The Forgotten?

I'd be interested to know either way which series are at the top of your must-view list and which ones have been deleted from your season pass. And, most importantly, why.

Talk back here.

Finding Alison: An Advance Review of "Place of Execution" on PBS' "Masterpiece Contemporary"

Every now and then a mini-series comes along that just sucks you in by the sheer force of its spellbinding story.

Such is the case with the sensational British mini-series Place of Execution, airing Stateside in a two-episode format that begins this Sunday as part of PBS' Masterpiece Contemporary. From its haunting opening minutes to the truly and horrifically shocking final scenes, Place of Execution is a thriller which will remain with you long after the closing credits have rolled.

Anchored by three incredible performances, Place of Execution--written by Patrick Harbison and Val McDermid (and based on the latter's novel) and directed by Daniel Percival--takes place both in the present-day as well as in 1963 rural England as two very different investigators explore the disappearance of a 13-year-old girl who vanished without a trace one winter afternoon in 1963. Told in two overlapping and interlocking plots, the story telescopes outwards from that fateful day to ensnare the lives of several people obsessed with the case.

Place of Execution is a gripping and provocative glimpse into the choices we make in our lives, the events that shape us, and the hold that obsession has over us. It's also a terrifying look into the heart of darkness lurking behind the hedgerows of a seemingly idyllic English village. Just what happened that afternoon to young Alison Carter is, as they say, in the eye of the beholder.

In 1963, the inexplicable disappearance of wealthy teenager Alison Carter triggers a manhunt in the sleepy farming village where she lives. As the snow begins to fall and clues begin to mount, university-educated Detective Inspector George Bennett (Lee Ingleby), an outsider in a village of farmers, becomes hell-bent on finding Alison before she is killed and locating the perpetrator of this heinous crime when it quickly becomes clear that Alison may have been the victim of something far worse than just kidnapping. As Bennett doggedly questions Alison's parents, the well-heeled Ruth (Emma Cunniffe) and Philip Hawkin (Greg Wise), class distinctions, prejudices, and misdirection soon become shockingly clear.

Bennett's quest to find Alison's attacker plants a seed of obsession inside him and the Alison Carter case propels him to great heights over the course of his career. In the present day, a much-older George Bennett (Philip Jackson) is a participant in a documentary film about the Alison Carter case that is being directed by filmmaker Catherine Heathcote (Juliet Stevenson), a gifted documentarian whose skill with the camera and her subjects is sadly greater than her maternal instincts. We first see Catherine as she's forced to post bail for her fifteen-year-old daughter Sasha (Elizabeth Day), accused of vandalizing some local businesses.

And that's where the story begins. Old George Bennett is able to pull some strings with the local constabulary to get Sasha released but the cooperative former copper stuns Catherine by saying that he's pulling out of the film and refuses to discuss the Alison Carter case any further, saying that mistakes were made in the investigation. It's Bennett's silence that spurs Catherine to action as she begins to pour over the evidence once again in order to find out what has provoked Bennett's sudden reluctance.

Catherine's investigation in the present-day dovetails quite nicely with that of DI Bennett's in 1963 as the duo conduct their own explorations of the townspeople and Alison Carter's disappearance. As each of them does so, the audience is invited along for the ride but certain clues take on new meaning in the harsh light of present-day scrutiny, leading Catherine and the audience to believe that not everything about the Alison Carter investigation was as it seemed.

I'm loath to say more about Place of Execution's plot because it is a corker of a story, a first-rate thriller that will have you guessing from start to finish.

As mentioned before, the piece is brought to life by three compelling performances from leads Juliet Stevenson, Lee Ingleby, and Greg Wise, the latter of whom turns out an eerie performance as Alison's icy and domineering stepfather at the manor house, a social pariah who views himself as above the muck and rabble of the village. Ingleby is absolutely perfectly cast as the grimly determined George Bennett, who has himself, perhaps in an homage to Otto Preminger's noir masterpiece Laura, fallen in love with the missing Alison Carter.

Juliet Stevenson, meanwhile, anchors the entire piece with her all-consuming need for the Truth, at any cost. Her performance is stunningly nuanced as she allows Catherine to be both truth-seeker and muckraker at the same time; a mass of flaws and inconsistencies who is searching for a girl long-missing but can't see her own daughter crying out for help in front of her.

Ultimately, Place of Execution is gorgeously directed, written, and acted and is perhaps one of the finest thrillers on the large or small screen, forcing the audience to come to terms with our own preconceptions, notions, and investigative instincts. You'd be wise to fall under its dangerous spells now before the inevitable American big-screen adaptation.

Place of Execution airs Sunday, November 1st and Sunday, November 8th as part of PBS' Masterpiece Contemporary. Check your local listings for details.

Channel Surfing: "Bones" Flashback in the Cards for 100th Episode, Maggie Grace Finds "Lost" Again, Ricky Gervais to Host the Golden Globes, and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing.

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Bones' 100th episode will in fact be a flashback episode to reveal the first time that Emily Deschanel's Temperance Brennan and David Boreanaz's Seeley Booth worked together. "We’ll be there for the first time those two personalities clashed, Bones executive producer Stephen Nathan told Ausiello. "Events will conspire to make them come out of the case hating each other and vowing that they will never work together again... We’ll also see the introduction of Angela and the genesis of her friendship with Brennan." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Maggie Grace is confirmed to be returning for Lost's sixth and final season, according to TV Guide Magazine. She'll return to Oahu next month to reprise her role as Shannon Rutherford, who was last seen on the series in 2005. "Producers had invited Maggie back earlier, but the busy actress had to wait for shooting to conclude on a string of three film projects, including the role she just wrapped as Cameron Diaz’s kid sister in Knight & Day, also starring Tom Cruise," writes TV Guide's Will Keck. "I’m hearing Shannon may be cut into an episode shot earlier this fall with brother Boone, played by Ian Somerhalder." (TV Guide)

Ricky Gervais will host the 67th Annual Golden Globes award telecast, slated to air January 17th on NBC. The attachment of Gervais marks the first time since 1995 that the awards show has utilized a host. The Los Angeles Times' Denise Martin talks to Gervais about his upcoming stint. "I don't know! Maybe I'm cheap?" said Gervais when asked why he was asked to host the Golden Globes. "They're saving on presenters now because they all need goody bags," he said with a giggle. "No, no, someone must have said, 'Is there like a fat shmuck from Britain who doesn't know our ways and would think this is a real honor? Who'd do it for a giant pizza?' My agent overheard them..." (Los Angeles Times)

Microsoft has pulled its sponsorship of Seth MacFarlane's upcoming FOX comedy special Family Guy Presents: Seth and Alex's Almost Live Comedy Show. The commercial-free special is still slated to air on November 8th, even without Microsoft on board and the network will announce another sponsor closer to broadcast. "We initially chose to participate in the Seth and Alex variety show based on the audience composition and creative humor of Family Guy, but after reviewing an early version of the variety show, it became clear that the content was not a fit with the Windows brand," said a Microsoft spokeswoman in a statement. "We continue to have a good partnership with Fox, Seth MacFarlane and Alex Borstein and are working with them in other areas. We continue to believe in the value of brand integrations and partnerships between brands, media companies and talent." (Variety)

TNT has given a pilot order to drama Delta Blues, about a Memphis policeman who moonlights as an Elvis impersonator and who lives with his mother. Project, from Warner Horizon and Smokehouse Pictures, is written by Liz Garcia and Josh Harto, who executive produce with George Clooney and Grant Heslov. (Hollywood Reporter)

Chazz Palminteri (Bullets Over Broadway) will guest star on an upcoming episode of ABC comedy Modern Family, where he will play a friend of Ed O'Neill's Jay. (TVGuide.com)

FOX has given a pilot script order to Ravens Parish, a family adventure story about "a man and his teenage son who return to their rural Mississippi hometown in search of a fabled cavern hidden beneath a nearby swamp that allegedly holds hidden treasure." Project, from 20th Century Fox Television and Generate, will be written/executive produced by Dan McDermott (Eagle Eye), who has a first-look deal at the studio. Generate's Peter Aronson and Jordan Levin are also on board to executive produce. Project shouldn't be confused with the network's similarly-themed The Mysteries of Oak Island, also about treasure-hunting family members; FOX is said to be looking for a scripted series with wide appeal to schedule alongside American Idol. (Hollywood Reporter)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Phil Morris will return to the CW's Smallville to reprise his role as Martian Manhunter in the upcoming "Society" two-part episode written by Geoff Johns, which sees the arrival of such Justice Society members as Doctor Fate, Stargirl, and Hawkman. The two episodes are slated to air in 2010. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Did you miss Nathan Fillion's Halloween shout-out to Firefly's Captain Mal on last night's episode of ABC's Castle? Fret not as you can catch the clip here. (Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed)

Augusten Burroughs has teamed up with Ashton Kutcher's Katalyst Films to develop several television projects based around his work, including a Showtime comedy based on his memoir "Dry" and a drama at CBS entitled The Nature of Fire, about male firefighters who are forced to work with a female arson investigator. Both projects will be written by Borroughs and produced by CBS Television Studios. (Variety)

Sherri Saum (In Treatment) has been cast in a recurring role on the CW's Gossip Girl, where she will play Holland Kemble, "a powerful business executive-turned-Upper East Side trophy wife and could be trouble for Lily (Kelly Rutherford) and Rufus (Matthew Settle)." (Hollywood Reporter)

James Van Der Beek will guest star in an upcoming episode of ABC's crime procedural The Forgotten, where he will play a financier who is questioned by The Forgotten Network. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Comedy Central has ordered an animated project called Hounds, which will star comedian Ron White as the voice of Chicken, described as "a countrified Yoda with a bottle of Jack and a bag of weed, an opinionated Southern philosopher who considers himself the center of the universe." Chris Thompson will write the pilot script. Elsewhere at the cabler, Joey Kern (The Sasquatch Gang) has replaced Jonathan Sadowski in supernatural comedy pilot Ghosts/Aliens. (Hollywood Reporter)

MGM Domestic Television has acquired syndication rights to Discovery's quiz show Cash Cab and plans to get it on broadcast networks by next fall. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Los Angeles Times: From The Others to the Visitors: Elizabeth Mitchell talks about battling the otherworldly on her new ABC series 'V'

Those of you looking for some more information about ABC's upcoming reimagining of the 1980s sci-fi mini-series V, should head over to the Los Angeles Times to read my lengthy interview with the series' lead Elizabeth Mitchell, entitled "From The Others to the Visitors: Elizabeth Mitchell talks about battling the otherworldly on her new ABC series 'V'."

In this exclusive interview, I talk to the lovely and articulate Elizabeth Mitchell about her time as Juliet on ABC's Lost, her character FBI Agent Erica Evans on V, Erica's relationship with Joel Gretsch's Father Jack, what's coming up on the sci-fi series, and much more.

If that weren't enough, V-related goodness for you, here's a link to my original advance review of the pilot episode from May, and you'll find a video of the first nine minutes of the V series premiere below.



V premieres Tuesday, November 3rd at 8 pm ET/PT on ABC.

Freudian Slip: Confronting Hard Truths on "Mad Men"

"And who are you supposed to be?"

Rarely ever has a question been asked that has carried more weight than that one. On this week's stunning episode of Mad Men ("The Gypsy and The Hobo"), written by Marti Noxon & Cathryn Humphris and Matthew Weiner and directed by Jennifer Getzinger, the truth about Don's secret past finally comes tumbling out as he was forced to confess his true identity to Betty.

It was only a matter of time before Matt Weiner decided that Betty ought to know just who she has been married to all of these years. After nearly three seasons, Don has managed to pull the wool over Betty's eyes about his affairs, his indiscretions both romantic and professional, and about his past. But Freud once said that there is no such thing as a mistake. Did Don want to be found out? Is that why, as Betty surmises, he left that key in his bathrobe pocket and kept those photographs, dog tags, and legal documents in their house? Or was it just an oversight?

The scene in which Betty confronted her husband, not about his philandering but about his marriage to Anna Draper and the family photographs hidden inside his desk drawer was one of the most powerful on the series to date as we see a flustered and broken Don Draper for the first time, unable to grasp a cigarette with a shaking hand as it flutters sadly to the floor. It's a glimpse at Don diminished, not only in Betty's eyes but our own, the polished facade of the flannel suited ad man ripped away to reveal a broken man deeply ashamed of the choices he's made in life.

For years, Don has carried the burden of guilt about a fateful choice he made amid the terrors of war. He assumed another man's identity, dressed himself up in the clothes of someone else (how fitting that the episode circled around Halloween and Sally and Bobby's request for costumes), and attempted to navigate a minefield of possible discovery, looking after the widowed Anna Draper, denying any relationship to his mentally unstable brother Adam, lying to Betty about his past and his family. But secrets, even those long buried, have a way of rising to the surface eventually.

Even Betty, instructed by her family lawyer to leave things alone and return to Don rather than divorce him, can't allow things to continue as they have. She deserves the truth, deserves to know who and what she married, though I believe that Don never thought the day would come where he would have to unburden himself to her, to tear away the plastic mask he's been wearing all these years and show his wife his true face. But it's perhaps that moment, of full-blown honesty, that saves their marriage. Betty's tenderness in the scene on their bed, when she places her hand on Don's shoulder, spoke more about love and kindness than any of their bedroom romps. Things might not be perfect between them, but a light has been shown on the truth and revealed a chink in the armor of their marriage. (America itself is about to get a rude awakening; in just a matter of weeks, John F. Kennedy will be assassinated and the nation will be dragged into the harsh light of day.)

Of course, Betty has no idea that while she's confronting her husband, Don's latest inamorata, Suzanne Farrell, is outside in his car, as the two were about to leave for a romantic trip to Mystic, Connecticut. Don is so shaken by Betty's furious confrontation that he forgets about Suzanne completely, perhaps not remembering until the following morning that she must have been outside for hours. That he would have taken to Suzanne to his house shows a complete disregard for any discretion; he's making massive mistakes in this romance. It's almost as though he wants to be caught by his wife, wants to be punished.

Suzanne, of course, wants more of Don than he's willing to give, despite her assurances early on that she knew just what she was getting into when she climbed into bed with him. I'm firmly of the mind now that it was Suzanne who called the Draper residence last week and, in spite of her teary declaration that it was over between them, I don't know that she's going to relinquish Don quite that easily.

But it's not just Don and Betty who have to deal with the harsh glare of the truth in this week's episode. Joan finally sees her husband Greg for what he is: a perennial screw-up who represents the exact opposite of what she dreamed of as a girl. Her act of defiance--smashing him over the head with a flower vase--was a breaking point for Joan, clearly still in denial over the fact that he raped her when they were engaged and that her dreams of marrying a wealthy doctor have resulted in nothing but heartbreak. Greg, as aimless as ever, blows an interview for a psychiatric residency and then, without discussing it with Joan, enlists in the army. He thinks it's the best decision he's made as it will allow him to become a surgeon and he might be sent to Germany or Vietnam, "if that's still going on." I had wondered just how Joan would manage to disentangle herself from Greg and I had an inkling when he wondered what to do next that he would end up in Vietnam eventually...

I was also pleased to see a reunion of sorts between Joan and her former lover Roger Sterling, as she called him for a favor that he was only too happy to comply with (namely to find her a job somewhere). I'm still hopeful that Joan will end up back at Sterling Cooper and I thought it a nice touch that their reconciliation came at a time where Roger himself was confronted by the ghosts of girlfriends past in the form of the woman who broke his heart, Annabelle Mathis (Mary Page Keller), and chose faithfulness to Jane over an affair with Annabelle. Still, if Annabelle wasn't "the one," as he tells her, who was? Is it the youthful Jane, Roger's child bride? Or is it Joan Harris nee Holloway, whom Roger says is "important" to him?

Just who is lying now?

Next week on Mad Men ("The Grown-Ups"), Don meets with an impressive candidate; Peggy second guesses her taste in men; Pete makes big career decisions.

Saboteurs and Lovers: An Advance Review of "Battlestar Galactica: The Plan"

There are many copies. And they have a plan.

I feel a bit conflicted about Battlestar Galactica: The Plan, the nearly two-hour-long direct-to-DVD movie that's set roughly around the first two seasons of Syfy's groundbreaking drama series Battlestar Galatica.

On the one hand, I was excited to return to the dystopian world of human survivors and Cylon skinjobs, ahead of Syfy's planned prequel series Caprica (which launches in January), but on the other I can't help asking myself if this was a story that cried out to be told.

Battlestar Galatica: The Plan, written by Jane Espenson and directed by Edward James Olmos, doesn't really tred any new territory, per se. What it does offer is a different perspective on the events of the first two seasons of Battlestar Galactica, from the POV of the Cylon attackers. It's through their eyes--both the Cylon skinjobs and the mythical Final Five--that we see the chain of events unfold, from the attack on the Colonies to the reunion between Sam Anders (Michael Trucco) and Kara Thrace (Katee Sackhoff) on Caprica. Between those two narrative bookends, we see Cylon model Number One (Dean Stockwell) manipulate the other Cylons into carrying out various acts of sabotage and self-destruction while hidden among the ragtag human fleet.

It's Stockwell's One, operating under the guise of Brother Cavil both on Caprica and aboard Galactica, that provides the throughline for the plot, which is made up of pre-existing footage from the series along with original material. Even as two versions of his nihilistic line plot and scheme, each attempts to come to terms with the decisions they've made, watching the members of the Final Five for signs that they've learned from the cycle of destruction.

In addition to providing a glimpse behind the curtain into the Cylon perspective, the plot also focuses on what happened to each of the Final Five immediately after the nuclear holocaust that wiped out the Twelve Colonies: we see Ellen Tigh (Kate Vernon) gravely injured on Picon, Sam assume a leadership role of his group of resistance fighters, Chief Tyrol (Aaron Douglas) deal with his impossible relationship with Cylon sleeper agent Sharon Valerii (Grace Park) even as he later must come to terms with the possibility that he too is not who he believes himself to be. Saul Tigh (Michael Hogan) and Tory Foster (Rekha Sharma) also appear briefly but the plot doesn't quite manage to ensnare their characters in quite the same way.

There's also the inclusion of a minor character from the original BSG mini-series, Gianna (played by Olmos' real-life wife Lymari Nadal), a widowed Caprican who becomes a member of the knuckle-draggers on Galactica and crosses paths several times with Chief. She also unwittingly enters into a relationship with a Cylon Number Four (Rick Worthy), calling himself Simon, and their romance provides one of the more tragic elements of the film. We're also given a deeper portrait of Simon himself, following the dual paths of two versions of his model, one embedded within Sam's pyramid team and the aforementioned one within the fleet, who is forced to choose between his duty and his heart. (Six and Leoben also get some moments to shine as well as we're given a look at some events from their specific points of view.)

In other words, there's a lot going on here. Which should be a good thing but part of the problem is that, unless you've very recently rewatched the first two seasons, it's virtually impossible to keep track of all of the various events which we're seeing from different perspectives this time around. The film seeks to provide some minor answers to some very minor moments, such as just how Six appeared to vanish off of Galactica after outing Baltar (James Callis) or how the Cylons managed to pass along information to Boomer when she was still a Cylon sleeper agent (hint: it involves a ceramic elephant) and unaware of her true nature.

The overall effect feels like quite too much has been shoehorned into a film whose running time is an hour and fifty minutes and which juggles numerous timeframes, characters, and events in order to compress roughly two seasons of storylines into a single film. There are some interesting thematic elements at work here, such as the series' underlying question about what it means to truly be human, and some insightful moral and philosophical debates about complicity, genocide, and penance. But, as faithful viewers of Battlestar Galactica know, much of this has been dealt head-on within the series itself, with entire episodes devoted to deciphering the Cylon mentality and mores.

Even as a die-hard Battlestar Galactica fan, I wondered if we hadn't already known about much of the Cylons' vaunted "plan" ahead of time and whether there weren't more intriguing untold stories amid the plot of Battlestar Galactica that would serve to further deepen the mythology and world of the series. We've seen Cylons debate the merits of genocide and whether they were right to spite their makers, we've seen them squabble and fall in love with humans, and we've seen them take moral stands that prove that there is individuality even among a line of mass-produced copies.

Unfortunately, it's those same elements that the film seeks to dramatize again, often with a sense of deja vu. Battlestar Galactica: The Plan isn't bad--there are some gorgeously shot sequences and some pretty thought-provoking moments--but it's also not nearly as revealing as it ought to be.



Battlestar Galactica: The Plan is available for purchase beginning tomorrow for a suggested retail price of $26.98. Or you can pick up a copy in the Televisionary store for $16.99.

Sunday Night Television: "The Amazing Race," "Curb Your Enthusiasm"

Looking to discuss the latest episodes of CBS' The Amazing Race and HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm? You're in luck.

Head over to the Los Angeles Times/Show Tracker site, where you can read my take on last night's episodes of both series. In "The Amazing Race: Slip and slide," I explore what some people aren't willing to do, even with a million dollars at stake. And, yes, deal with the push heard around the world head-on.

Switching channels, I explain why I am still scratching my head over the oddly surreal episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm in a piece entitled "Curb Your Enthusiasm: Trust your gut," following an episode "overflowing with flashbacks, splashbacks, murder, an arrest for napkin theft, a bald police lineup, a urine-stained Jesus painting, a suicide attempt, and finally life-saving belly flab."

Head to the comments to discuss both.

Channel Surfing: TNT Close to Deal for "Southland," Bravo Hungry for "Top Chef: Just Desserts," "24," NBC Picks Up Three Series, and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing.

The Hollywood Reporter's Nellie Andreeva is reporting that TNT is very close to a deal with Warner Bros. Television to acquire cancelled NBC cop drama Southland. The deal, which is now said to appear "likely," would save the series--which produced six new installments for a second season at NBC--from cancellation, after NBC axed the series before launching the series' second season. (Hollywood Reporter)

Bravo has ordered a spinoff of its culinary competition series Top Chef entitled Top Chef: Just Desserts, which will air next year and focus on a showdown between pastry chefs in a weekly competition. Top Chef producers Magical Elves are on board for the spinoff, which will begin casting this week. No host or judges have been determined yet for the series, which will air in between cycles of Top Chef and Top Chef Masters. (Variety)

The Wrap's Josef Adalian takes a look at what appear to be the first two promos for Day Eight of FOX's 24, which have been leaked onto the internet. (The Wrap's TVMoJoe)

NBC has given full-season pickups to comedies Community and Parks and Recreation and drama series Mercy, bumping the episodic total to 22 installments for the trio this season. (Televisionary)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello talks to incoming Grey's Anatomy actress Kim Raver about her upcoming multiple-episode story arc on the ABC medical drama. "She was in Iraq with Owen," Raver told Ausiello about her character, Teddy. "She’s a cardiac surgeon. She’s really good at what she does. There’ll be some interesting stuff between Teddy, Cristina and Owen." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

NBC is developing two new projects, including drama Nola Rising, about the unlikely partnership between a struggling private investigator and a charismatic ex-con who is a spiritual medium as they "help solve the problems of New Orleans citizens, living or dead." Project, from Universal Media Studios and Yellow Brick Road, is written by Medium's Diane Ademu-John and executive produced by Teri Weinberg. The Peacock is also developing hybrid comedy Ordinary People, about a twenty-something African-American married couple who are "fast-tracked professionals with four kids," whose lives are changed when the husband becomes a columnist for Rolling Stone and begins to work out of their house. Project, from Universal Media Studios, is executive produced by Kenya Barris and Scott Stuber. (Hollywood Reporter)

Warner Bros. is in final talks to pick up an untitled animated comedy pitch about a peacock from writers Austin Winsberg and Heath Corson. The studio is keeping the plot firmly under wraps for the project, which will be executive produced by Underground Film & Television's Trevor Engelson and Nicholas Osborne. (Variety)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that David Costabile (Damages, Flight of the Conchords) has been cast in at least four episodes of Season Three of AMC's Breaking Bad, where he will play Gale, the new assistant of Bryan Cranston's Walt. "Described as an eager student and a brilliant chemist, Gale is the antithesis of Jessie (Aaron Paul) in that he’s more interested in the magic of chemistry than getting rich," writes Ausiello. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

HBO has renewed drama series In Treatment for a third season. (Televisionary)

FOX has given a script order to an untitled single-camera comedy about a team of twenty-something computer geniuses who crack computer security systems. Project, from Sony Pictures Television and Happy Madison, is written by Adam F. Goldberg (Four Christmases), who will executive produce with Seth Gordon, himself attached to direct should the project be ordered to pilot. (Variety)

TV Land has given cast-contingent pilot orders to two projects. The first, comedy Hot in Cleveland, revolves around three female friends from Los Angeles, each in her forties, who end up in Cleveland but decide to stay "when they realize the locals consider them glamorous." (Editor: Flashbacks to 30 Rock's "Cleveland" episode.) Project, written by Suzanne Martin (Frasier), will be executive produced by Hazy Mills Prods.' Sean Hayes and Todd Milliner. The second, Retired at 35, about a wealthy businessman who leaves Manhattan to settle in his parents' Florida retirement home. Project was written by Chris Case (Reba), who will executive produce with Mindy Schultheis and Michael Hanel. (Variety)

Mad Men's Sam Page has been cast in a recurring role on ABC Family's Greek, where he will play Joel, "a smart and accessible local campaign manager for a congresswoman" who worked on Capitol Hill with the father of Dilshad Vadaria's Rebecca. Page is set to appear in Season Four of Greek. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Fineman Entertainment, the shingle behind FX's upcoming drama series Lights Out, has hired former ABC executive Ray Ricord as VP of development. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Victims and Villains: Belonging on "Dollhouse"

I've expressed frustration with FOX's Dollhouse in the past; the series seemed always out of touch with its own potential, focusing on engagements of the week or fitting up Eliza Dushku in outrageous ensembles rather than delving into the heart of darkness within the Dollhouse itself.

With the notable exception of the unaired post-apocalyptic bookend "Epitaph One," the series hasn't come close to fulfilling its promise over the past seventeen episodes or so. Until this past episode, "Belonging," that is.

The evocative and bleak installment, beautifully scripted by Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen and flawlessly directed by Jonathan Frakes, showed us the Dollhouse that might have been: a series filled with ethical dilemmas, morally compromised characters, and tough decisions. In an episode, it posits that the evil performed by the Dollhouse's staffers isn't being done willingly; in fact, they could be victims as much as the poor Actives they whore out to the highest bidder.

It's a novel conceit that forces the audience to question everything we've seen so far from the morally grey characters like Adelle (Olivia Williams) and Topher (Fran Kranz) and it opens up a host of new and intriguing questions about their motivations. Is it evil if you're forced into it? How complicit are they in the cycle of abuse and exploitation going on? How do they live with what they've done?

They're thought-provoking questions that have lingered on the fringes of the series but here they're brought front and center, as they should be as several staffers, including the aforementioned Adelle and Topher, as well as Boyd (Harry Lennix) are forced to examine their own lines in the sand, over which they must step at their peril. They are part of the machinery that keeps the Dollhouse moving, keeps the clients satisfied, keeps the money rolling in, keeps the institution's numerous victims continue to be used and discarded.

But how do they live with it? Adelle says that each of the Dollhouse's employees are "morally compromised," such as herself, but that Topher has no morals whatsoever. And yet that's not quite the case. He firmly believes that he's helping Priya not once but twice: by wiping her memories away when she arrives at the Dollhouse, he's giving clarity and purpose to a woman he believes is beset by paranoid schizophrenia. Later, when forced by the higher-ups to turn Sierra over to her rapist and kidnapper Nolan, he reinstates Priya's true personality, knowing full well that she's likely to murder Nolan.

Did he help her by enabling her to enact her deadly vengeance? Or did Topher make things far worse for Priya than he could have imagined? Having finally conquered the man who made her a slave and destroyed her life, Priya chooses not to run but to have her memories wiped clean again, to return to the Dollhouse, and to forget what happened. Some might see that as weakness but for Priya, she's crossed a moral line that can't be uncrossed; the blood on her hands can't be washed off so easily. Revenge might have been on her mind a few hours earlier but her actions, unlike those of Topher or Adelle, are not something she can live with. In asking Topher to erase her knowledge of killing Nolan, she's seeking to step back over that line in the sand, even if it means going back to sleep for a while.

Well-deserved praise goes to Dichen Lachman for effortlessly carrying this episode on her shoulders; her performance was so nuanced, so profoundly moving and powerful, that it's yet another reminder of my feelings since the first episode that she be the focal point of this series rather than Eliza Dushku. The raw emotion she pulled off, both in Priya's mental hospital scenes and in her murder of Nolan, were starkly contrasted with the look of serenity as Sierra emerged, tabula rasa-style, from the chair once again. (Should Dollhouse go to the way of the dodo, I heartily predict that Lachman will be one of the series' breakout stars and land a series regular gig elsewhere within a matter of seconds.)

Likewise, Kranz, Williams, and Lennix each turn in magnificently polished performances within this episode that not only serve to broaden the plot but also deepen their characters. Seeing Adelle as perhaps the ultimate victim in this scenario made for a nice change of pace as we're used to seeing her as the ice queen of her own domain; by setting her up as a pawn in the larger machinations of the Rossum Corporation, her actions--forced as they are by blackmail and threats of murder--take on new and tragic consequences. Her speech to Nolan, in which she hisses that she would not let him near Sierra or any of their other dolls ("I would no sooner allow you near one of our other actives as I would a mad dog near a child"), displays a stunning contradictory nature within Adelle and points to some moral fiber as well. Too bad that she's as trapped as the others; a bird in a gilded cage who can no more fly away than Sierra or Echo.

I loved seeing Boyd as a cleaner following Priya's murder of Nolan. The ease with which he disposed of Nolan's body, concocted a cover story, and arranged it to look as though Nolan had fled the country were staggering. While he hands Adelle a convenient cover story, there's a spark of recognition and complicity in her eyes; she knows exactly what Boyd has done. If Boyd is truly morally compromised, he still seems largely on the side of the angels here. He discovers that Echo is not only gaining self-awareness but is able to read (knowledge in this place is, after all, deadly and she's keeping notes in her bed chamber) and is pushing the other dolls to "wake up." It's a testament to Boyd's inherent goodness that he doesn't alert Adelle or the higher-ups to Echo's manipulation of the other dolls or of the staffers as well. (After all, it's Echo who starts the chain of events that leads Nolan to demand Sierra forever.) And then there's the matter of that keycard. Given the fact that Echo and Boyd discuss the "storm," we're led to believe that it's Boyd that hides that keycard inside Echo's book, but I think it's a red herring of the most scarlet variety...

The episode also touched on emotional truth. Despite the fact that Priya had only met Victor (Enver Gjokaj) once (and he was in the guise of a programmed Italian art dealer), she knows instinctively that he's the object of her love. She tells Nolan that she loves Victor more than she hates him, despite not knowing who Victor is. Yet, sitting in the Dollhouse with Topher, she knows instantly that she loves Victor. Some truths can't be erased by technology; love endures despite a personality wipe or a doll-like state. The honest emotion between them is real and true. Priya knows it, Sierra knows it, and even a changed Topher knows it too. Like Lachman, Gjokaj is a true find; his charisma and chameleon-like abilities make this actor destined for stardom.

But, despite the sweetness of Sierra and Victor's holding hands and curling up together in bed, there's still a shadow casting a pall over the Dollhouse. Call it a storm, call it a war, call it consequences, whatever you will, it's very likely to rip the lovers apart at the seams. This installment represented perhaps the pinnacle of happiness for Sierra and Victor and, this being a Joss Whedon series, I shudder to think just how hard they'll fall when they come crashing back down to reality.

Ultimately, "Belonging" was the strongest episode of Dollhouse to date and showcased the remarkable potential of the series, should it be allowed to go down a path of exploring self-awareness, morality, and complicity. It also helped that the emphasis was taken off of Dushku's Echo and Tahmoh Penikett's Paul Ballard and placed instead on the far more interesting and compelling supporting cast members here. Should Dollhouse never quite reach the dizzying heights of "Belonging" again, I will at least feel some cold comfort in the fact that for one remarkable episode, Whedon and Tancharoen showed us just what their Dollhouse could be like.

Dollhouse returns December 4th with back-to-back episodes.

UPDATED: NBC Orders Full Seasons of "Community," "Parks and Recreation," and "Mercy"

It's about time: NBC has handed out a full season order to freshman single-camera comedies Community and Parks and Recreation as well as drama series Mercy.

News about the full season pickup of the Sony Pictures Television-produced Community--which stars Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, Yvette Nicole Brown, Danny Pudi, Alison Brie, Donald Glover, Ken Jeong, and Chevy Chase--was broken on Twitter by creator Dan Harmon, who wrote, "NBC ordered 9 more episodes of Community. I only went to community college for 1 semester, but MASH was longer than the Korean War, right?"

A source close to the production confirmed to Televisionary on Friday afternoon that Community has been picked up for a full season, bringing the episodic total this season to 22 installments.

UPDATE: Just minutes after posting the above, NBC has confirmed the full-season pickup for Community and announced additional full season orders for Parks and Recreation and Mercy, all three of of which have been extended to 22 episodes.

I couldn't be happier about the full season commitments for Community and Parks and Recreation and I tip my hat to NBC for not only taking chances with these winning comedy series but also allowing them time to grow and broaden their audiences. Best of luck and congratulations to the cast and writers on both series!

The full press release from NBC, announcing the pickups, can be found below.

NBC PICKS UP COMEDIES 'COMMUNITY' AND 'PARKS AND RECREATION' AS WELL AS FRESHMAN DRAMA 'MERCY' FOR FULL-SEASON COMMITMENTS

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. ˆ October 23, 2009 ˆ NBC has picked up the comedies "Community" (Thursdays, 8-8:30 p.m. ET) and "Parks and Recreation" (Thursdays, 8:30-9 p.m. ET) -- as well as the new drama "Mercy" (Wednesdays, 8-9 p.m. ET) -- for the rest of the season by adding nine additional episodes to each, it was announced today by Angela Bromstad, President, Primetime Entertainment, NBC and Universal Media Studios.

"We are very pleased with the critical and audience reaction to our wonderful new comedy 'Community,'" said Bromstad. "The cast and producers are delivering a first-rate, quality show that is very promising as the newest of NBC's first-rate Thursday-night comedies."

About "Mercy," Bromstad added: "This drama has found a dedicated audience and continues to build in the ratings. We've seen future episodes and we're confident 'Mercy' can be a strong player for us." She continued, 'Parks and Recreation' has proven to be a steady performer for us on Thursday nights and gets better with every show. We look forward to continuing our creative collaboration with Amy Poehler, Greg Daniels, Michael Schur, and the rest of the great cast and production team."

So far this season, "Mercy" has averaged a 2.1 rating, 5 share in adults 18-49 and 7.8 million viewers overall. "Mercy" has finished #1 in its time period in total viewers with each of its last three telecasts. "Mercy" is up 31 percent versus NBC's 1.6 average in this slot for the traditional 2008-09 season in adults 18-49. In total viewers, "Mercy" is up 37 percent versus NBC's 5.7 million in the hour during the traditional 2008-09 season.

"Community" has averaged a 2.6 rating, 5 share in adults 18-49 and 5.7 million viewers overall so far this season. Since shifting to the Thursday 8-8:30 p.m. (ET) slot on October 8, "Community" has improved the time period by 12 percent in adults 18-49 versus NBC's average in the time period earlier this season. "Community" is also one of the most upscale series on primetime broadcast television, ranking #3 in concentration of homes with $100,000-plus incomes in its adult 18-49 audience.

"Parks and Recreation" has averaged a 2.1 rating, 5 share in adults 18-49 and 4.8 million viewers overall this season. It's retained the time period's full adult 18-49 lead-in with six of six telecasts so far this season. With its most recent telecast on October 22, "Parks and Recreation" matched its highest adult 18-49 rating of the season (2.1) and hit a new season high in total viewers (4.9 million).

"Community" comes from Dan Harmon ("The Sarah Silverman Program") and Emmy Award winners Joe and Anthony Russo ("Arrested Development"). The smart comedy series concerns a band of misfits who attend Greendale Community College. At the center of the group is Jeff Winger (Joel McHale, "The Soup"), a fast-talkin' lawyer whose degree has been revoked. With some help from his fellow classmates, Winger forms a study group who eventually learn more about themselves than their course work.

Also among the series stars who comprise the group are: Chevy Chase ("Chuck") as Pierce, a man whose life experience has brought him infinite wisdom; Gillian Jacobs ("The Book of Daniel") as Britta, the 28-year-old dropout with something to prove; Yvette Nicole Brown ("Rules of Engagement") as Shirley, a sassy middle-aged divorcée; Danny Pudi ("Greek") as Abed, a pop-culture junkie; Alison Brie ("Mad Men") as Annie, a high-strung perfectionist; Donald Glover ("30 Rock") as Troy, a former high school football star trying to find his way and Ken Jeong ("The Hangover") as Spanish professor, Señor Chang.

"Community" is a Krasnoff Foster Entertainment, Harmonious Claptrap, Russo Brothers production, Universal Media Studios production in association with Sony Pictures Television. Russ Krasnoff ("The Soloist"), Dan Harmon ("The Sarah Silverman Program"), Joe Russo ("Arrested Development"), Anthony Russo ("Arrested Development"), Garrett Donovan ("Scrubs"), Neil Goldman ("Scrubs") and Gary Foster ("The Soloist") serve as executive producers.

"Mercy" is from creator/executive producer Liz Heldens (NBC's "Friday Night Lights"), executive producers Gretchen Berg & Aaron Harberts ("Pushing Daisies") and Gail Berman and Lloyd Braun. The new medical drama concerns the lives of the people who work at Mercy Hospital seen through the eyes of those who know it best ˆ its nurses.

Nurse Veronica Callahan (Taylor Schilling, "Dark Matter") is an Iraqi war veteran who has just returned to Mercy Hospital and joins with fellow nurses Sonia Jimenez (Jaime Lee Kirchner, "Rent" on Broadway) and Chloe Payne (Michelle Trachtenberg, "Gossip Girl"). The cast also includes James Tupper ("Men in Trees") as Dr. Chris Sands, a new doctor at the hospital who complicates Veronica's life, Diego Klattenhoff ("Supernatural") as Mike Callahan, Veronica's estranged husband, Guillermo Diaz ("Weeds") as Nurse Angel Lopez and James Le Gros ("Ally McBeal") as Dr. Harris.

"Mercy" is a production from BermanBraun and Universal Media Studios.

"Parks and Recreation," from Emmy Award-winning executive producers Greg Daniels (NBC's "The Office," "King of the Hill") and Michael Schur (NBC's "The Office," "Saturday Night Live"), is a mockumentary that looks at the exciting world of local government. The documentary cameras follow Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler, NBC's "Saturday Night Live," "Baby Mama") an ambitious, upbeat and mid-level bureaucrat in the Parks and Recreation Department of Pawnee, Indiana.

Also starring are: (Rashida Jones, NBC's "The Office") as a local nurse; Aziz Ansari ("Human Giant," "Scrubs") as Lesley's colleague; Nick Offerman ("Children's Hospital") plays Lesley's boss; Paul Schneider ("The Family Stone") is the city planner; Aubrey Plaza ("Mayne Street") is Lesley's uninterested college intern; Chris Pratt ("The O.C.," "Everwood") portrays a loser ex-boyfriend.

"Parks and Recreation" is a production of Deedle-Dee Productions and Universal Media Studios. Along with Daniels and Schur, Howard Klein and David Miner also serve as executive producers for the series.

The Doctor is In: HBO Renews "In Treatment" For Third Season

In a surprise move, HBO has renewed psychologist drama In Treatment for a third season.

Production on the series will begin early 2010, with Season Three of In Treatment set to air later that year.

"In Treatment is synonymous with inspired writing and brilliant acting," said Michael Lombardo, president of HBO's Programming Group and West Coast Operations, in a statement. "This is the kind of show that could only flourish on HBO, and we’re proud to bring it back."

Gabriel Byrne will reprise his role as Dr. Paul Weston. Additional casting announcements will be made as they happen.

Behind the scenes, Anya Epstein (Tell Me You Love Me) and Dan Futterman (Capote) have come on board as as executive producers, joining Stephen Levinson, Mark Wahlberg, and Hagai Levi. According to HBO, it's anticipated that Paris Barclay will return as an executive producer/director as well.

The full press release from HBO, announcing the renewal, can be found below.

HBO RENEWS CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED DRAMA SERIES IN TREATMENT FOR THIRD SEASON, WITH PRODUCTION
TO START IN NEW YORK NEXT YEAR;
GABRIEL BYRNE STARS

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 23, 2009 - HBO has renewed the Emmy®-winning half-hour drama series IN TREATMENT, which will begin production on its third season in New York in early 2010, with debut scheduled for later in the year, it was announced today by Michael Lombardo, president, Programming Group and West Coast Operations, HBO.

“IN TREATMENT is synonymous with inspired writing and brilliant acting,” noted Lombardo. “This is the kind of show that could only flourish on HBO, and we’re proud to bring it back.”

Gabriel Byrne (Emmy® nominee and Golden Globe winner for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama) stars in the series as Dr. Paul Weston, with additional cast members to be announced as they are confirmed.

The second season of IN TREATMENT inspired resounding critical praise, with the New York Times hailing the show for “powerful acting and well-wrought dialogue,” while the Los Angeles Times said the “well-drawn and compelling performances are uniformly terrific.” The Chicago Sun-Times called the series “fascinating” and Newsday termed it a “fine and absorbing show.”

Joining the show as executive producers are Anya Epstein (HBO’s “Tell Me You Love Me”) and Danny Futterman (“Capote”). Returning executive producers on the show include Stephen Levinson, Mark Wahlberg and Hagai Levi. It is expected that Paris Barclay will return as an executive producer/director.

IN TREATMENT is produced by HBO Entertainment; executive producers, Stephen Levinson, Mark Wahlberg, Hagai Levi, Anya Epstein and Danny Futterman; co-executive producers, Noa Tishby and Gabriel Byrne; producer, Sarah Lum.

IN TREATMENT is produced by HBO Entertainment in association with Leverage, Closest to the Hole Productions and Sheleg.

Blackout: Why "FlashForward" is Still Frustrating Me

Oh, FlashForward, I really do want to love you. But I keep finding that I just can't.

Last night's episode of FlashForward ("Gimme Some Truth") was the worst yet and underlined once again the problems that I have with the series, which seems to be coasting by on some lazy plotting, wooden acting, and an odd mix of tones that's ultimately frustrating. Despite its promising concept and a pilot episode that had one of the best cliffhanger endings in recent memory, subsequent episodes of FlashForward have been alternately dull and unintentionally hysterical. (What it needs to be is better.)

There are moments of cleverness, such as last week's Bjork-laden opening sequence but for the most part, FlashForward continues to chug along at an almost glacial pace, introducing new mysteries that aren't all that compelling and forcing many of the characters into situations that are just completely unbelievable. (Last night's example: having Aaron at Olivia's house just so she could overhear a conversation in which Aaron tells Mark to go to an AA meeting while he's in Washington.)

Last night's installment was almost sleep-inducing. At this point in the series, I should care for these characters but "Gimme Some Truth" did nothing to make them more three-dimensional or sympathetic. Part of the problem is that much of their dialogue is of groan-inducing variety (case in point: Demetri's "There's still time, my friend. There's still time") that doesn't work on the page, much less on screen.

Additionally, Joseph Fiennes still hasn't won me over as as FlashForward's leading man. His Mark Benford is so icy and dull that it's hard to root for him. I keep half wishing he would take a drink just so that he'd warm up slightly. Placing him in jeopardy in the opening moments of the episode didn't add any tension to the mix, as I knew we'd flip back to that point later. So the "flashback" to roughly 36 hours later wasn't surprising or compelling in the least; the writers would have been better off having the ambush (which, by the way, no one else seemed to be anywhere near) come off as a shock when it unfolded in linear time.

Likewise, it was blatantly obvious as soon as we saw Janis in her karate class that we were about to meet her love interest. (I actually called it out loud, turning to my wife and saying, "Love interest in 3... 2... 1...") I understand, given her jarring flashforward, that Janis would be questioning how she got pregnant but the sudden intimacy between her and Navi Rawat's Maya was off-putting. Sure, you might wonder about the person you're on your first date with but I found it hard to swallow that she would actually bring up her thoughts and feelings about a future relationship with this person on a first date. It should have been a signal for Maya to run but because she saw she was wearing a wedding band in her flashforward, she's all for taking a leap of faith as well.

Janis is one of the few interesting elements of the series and I hate to see her getting caught up in a surface-level romantic subplot already, particularly one that doesn't really make much sense. So in the next six months, her relationship advances to the point where she gets pregnant (artificially inseminated?) and gets married to someone she's only just met? Huh? Really?

The most shocking moment of the entire forty-odd minutes was the attack on Janis simply because we hadn't seen that play out in the opening. Her stunning moves, learned clearly from the karate class, saved her life, though still resulted in her taking a bullet, after which she felled her attacker and then fell to the ground on a deserted street and began bleeding out as a bejeweled alarm clock rotated in the puddle of blood forming around her, telling her to wake up.

Are we to believe that the attack leads Janis to believe that life is too short and she needs to start living now? Perhaps. But it's a tiny footnote in the grand scheme of things on FlashForward, which is kicking up all sorts of global mysteries, tension-ridden Congressional hearings, personal revelations, and relationship crises (Olivia getting the mysterious text). Which could be a heady mix of compelling elements if they were being handled organically, which they're not.

As it is, FlashForward is teetering on the edge of falling off my watch list. If the writers can't plot some tighter episodes, improve their dialogue crafting, and make these characters more three-dimensional, it doesn't take a flashforward to see that I won't be sticking around for much longer.

Next week on FlashForward ("Scary Monsters and Super Creeps"), Mark, Demetri and Wedeck investigate the links between all the attacks involving themselves; Demetri and Gough find a clue that was missing from Mark's flashforward; Lloyd is heartbroken when his son goes missing from the hospital.

Checkmate: An Advance Review of PBS' "Endgame" on "Masterpiece Contemporary"

Apartheid is an ugly word, conjuring up images of racial segregation and hatred from a time in the not-too-distant past of South Africa.

PBS' new political thriller Endgame, which airs Sunday evening as part of the public broadcaster's Masterpiece Contemporary wheel, dramatizes not the plight of the common South African man and woman under the draconian decree of apartheid but rather the machinery operating behind the scenes to bring an end to apartheid once and for all.

Written by Paula Milne (Second Sight) and directed by Pete Travis (Vantage Point), Endgame revolves around a series of secret talks between the ANC and the South African government brokered by Consolidated Goldfields, a multi-national company with vested financial interests in South Africa. The talks took place at an estate in England, far away from the violent rebellion in South Africa, and despite the risk in bringing together these enemies, the open lines of communication actually did bring about stunning social and political change in South Africa.

The piece, which plays out as a political thriller rather than as a history lesson, boasts some highly impressive actors, including Clarke Peters (The Wire), William Hurt (Damages), Chiwetel Ejiofor (American Gangster), Jonny Lee Miller (Eli Stone), Mark Strong (Body of Lies), and Derek Jacobi (Gosford Park). (You can view my video interview with Ejiofor, who plays the African National Congress' Thabo Mbeki, here.)

While all of the actors deliver stunning performances (particularly Ejiofor), of particular note is Clarke Peters, who plays imprisoned leader Nelson Mandela, a global symbol of oppression and apartheid. Peters' performance is so subtle and assured that it's impossible not to be drawn into Mandela's story. His gilded cage imprisonment is a stark reminder of the games employed by the security forces (look for some Machiavellian maneuvers by Mark Strong's Neil Barnard, the South African security czar) and of the underestimation the South African government made on their gambit that they could contain the riots, violence, and Mandela himself.

However, the focus of Endgame isn't on Mandela but the aforementioned secret talks occurring on a British estate over five years' time, leading to a sensation that the piece is somewhat off-balance as a result. Mandela's story is so compelling, so remarkably courageous and stirring, that it seems almost shoehorned in as a subplot rather than as the main emphasis of the piece. Part of that is due to the magnetism of Peters but also because Mandela's story is so well-known and moving.

In trying to dramatize both the talks at Mells Park and Mandela's situation, Milne and Travis end up leading the audience in two directions at once. It's also not all that clear just how these talks lead to the abolition of apartheid in South Africa; there's a sea change so quickly that the film feels almost truncated as a result, with the talks plot wrapped up extremely quickly and unceremoniously. It's a bit as if part of Remains of the Day was grafted onto a Mandela biopic and an action-packed political thriller, with car chases, explosions, and espionage.

Which is somewhat disheartening as the performances at the heart of Endgame are so utterly fantastic. Ultimately, Endgame, despite its best intentions, doesn't quite add up to the sum of its parts. Still, it offers a glimpse behind the curtain to the power brokers, politicians, and revolutionaries who brought an end to one of the century's most evil political practices and brings to life one singular moment in time where words overcame violence.



Endgame airs Sunday evening at 9 pm as part of PBS' Masterpiece Contemporary. Check your local listings for details.

Tune-In Reminder: Series Premiere of USA's "White Collar"

Just a quick reminder to tune in to tonight's series premiere of White Collar, which airs tonight at 10 pm ET/PT on USA.

You can read my advance review of the pilot episode, which I called "effervescent and engaging." Matthew Bomer and Tim DeKay are perfectly matched as reluctant partners and the entire series crackles with style and retro charm.

So don a fedora, pour yourself a scotch, and settle in for the first episode of what promises to be a fun and witty series about capers, coppers, and custom suiting.

White Collar airs tonight at 10 pm ET/PT on USA.

Channel Surfing: Kristen Bell and Jane Lynch to "Party Down," Angie Harmon Cast in TNT's "Rizzoli," Two Evicted From "Melrose Place," and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.

Good news for Party Down fans! Kristen Bell and Jane Lynch will reprise their roles as Uda Bengt and Constance Carmichael respectively on Season Two of Starz comedy Party Down, which will launch next year on the pay cabler. Bell is set to appear in one episode of the comedy and Party Down star Adam Scott revealed that Henry and Uda are dating while Lizzy Caplan's Casey is seeing someone else. Uh-oh. Lynch, meanwhile, is set to appear in the second season finale, where the Party Down staffers cater... her wedding. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Angie Harmon (Women's Murder Club) has been cast as the titular character in TNT's mystery pilot Rizzoli, where she will play Jane Rizzoli, a detective who teams up with a medical examiner (as yet uncast) to solve crimes in Boston. Project, from Warner Horizon, is based on Tess Gerritsen's novel series and is written by Janet Tamaro. Harmon's casting lifts the contingency off of the project. (Hollywood Reporter)

SPOILER! Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Melrose Place cast members Colin Egglesfield and Ashley Simpson-Wentz have been let go from the nighttime soap as part of a creative overhaul of the struggling series that will allow it to "take on a lighter, more fun vibe." Ausiello spoke to Melrose Place executive producers Todd Slavkin and Darren Swimmer about the changes. According to the duo, Simpson-Wentz was always going to leave after the twelfth episode. "Because we felt that once the murder mystery was resolved, the tone of the show was going to shift into a much more fun, romantic, sexy upbeat kind of show, and [her] character would move on," said Slavkin, who went on to say that Egglesfield's "brooding alcoholic [character] tonally didn’t fit the paradigm moving into post-murder mystery Melrose Place." There are also no additional plans for Laura Leighton to return to the series as well, though Slavkin indicated that Thomas Calabro will stick around to interact with Heather Locklear's Amanda. "She’s in every episode moving forward," said Slavkin of Amanda. "She’s a major focus [of the show]. She has a hidden agenda that will become not so hidden as the episodes move along. She’s not just the boss of Ella [Katie Cassidy]." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

E! Online's Jennifer Godwin, meanwhile, caught up with Colin Egglesfield about his departure from Melrose Place, which came as a surprise to the actor. "I got the call this morning from our producers, Todd [Slavkin] and Darren [Swimmer]," Egglesfield told Godwin. "They were really saddened, and you could tell it was difficult for them to break this news to me. They said it was a network decision, and they said the network thought Auggie was a little too dark, with his alcoholism. They felt like in the landscape of Melrose they wanted to change the tone of the show. So that's the explanation that they gave me." (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

NBC has given script orders to three projects, including a multi-camera family sitcom from executive producers Adam Carolla, Kevin Hench, Jimmy Kimmel, Daniel Kellison, Gail Berman, and Lloyd Braun about a contractor whose life is sent out of orbit when his wife leaves him, which hails from Universal Media Studios, Jackhole Industries, and BermanBraun. The Peacock is also developing an untitled comedy from Don Cheadle and Aaron McGruder (The Boondocks) about two very different brothers who open a private security company; that project will be produced by Universal Media Studios and Crescendo Prods, with McGruder writing the script. NBC is also developing an untitled comedy from Bill Oakley (The Simpsons), Dutch Oven, and Universal Media Studios, about a circuit courthouse's young judge. (Variety)

TVGuide.com talks with this week's ousted chef from Bravo's Top Chef. (TVGuide.com)

The Hollywood Reporter's Nellie Andreeva is reporting that FOX will change its pilot casting process, switching from in-person network tests to taped tests, which will be shot by the studio and then sent to the network. Screen tests are, of course, de rigeur in the feature world and were embraced by new Fox Entertainment chairman Peter Rice, who came over from the film side of NewsCorp. "The network spends months and months developing a show, and then we have this network test where three actors wait nervously in the hallway, staring at each other and talking on the phone with their agents whether or not to sign the contract," FOX casting chief Marcia Schulman said. "Sometimes we can't cast the right lead for a show because they had a bad moment. Casting is more than 50% of the success of a show, so after spending all that money, why have we been going through that crazy process for so long?" (Hollywood Reporter)

The Wrap's Josef Adalian is reporting that ABC is close to ordering six episodes of an untitled extreme weight loss series from 3 Ball Entertainment, the producers of NBC's The Biggest Loser. "Each episode [is] focused on the weight loss journey of a single morbidly obese person. It's expected the participants will have as much as 200 pounds to lose." Cameras will therefore spend as much as a year trailing the individuals, who will live at home with their families while shedding the pounds. According to Variety, the project has the working title of Obese. (The Wrap's TV MoJoe, Variety)

SPOILER! TVGuide.com's Natalie Abrams caught up with Smallville executive producer Kelly Souders about some specific plot points coming up on Season Nine of the superheroic series. "You will see more people than you can imagine die in the first 12 [episodes]," teased Souders. "Luckily it's Smallville, so not all of them stick." (TVGuide.com)

Style Network has ordered ten episodes of an unusual makeover series entitled What I Hate About Me, in which women will "address the 10 aspects of their lives they dislike the most. Along with the obligatory complaints about cellulite and relationships, the women who appear on the show will look to get a handle on everything from intra-family dynamics to the way they manage their financial affairs." Project, which will be hosted by Lisa Arch, is set to launch on January 2nd. (Hollywood Reporter)

The Lego Group and reality producer Scott Messick are developing unscripted programs that are based around the multi-colored interlocking blocks, including competition series, docusoaps, gameshows, and children's programming. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Just Desserts: Restaurant Wars on "Top Chef"

Ah, Restaurant Wars. My favorite Top Chef elimination challenge got even more heated last night with a showdown between the two teams that had to be seen to be believed.

While you read my advance review of last night's episode of Top Chef ("Restaurant Wars"), now that the episode has aired, there are still a few things left to to discuss that I couldn't until now.

For one, I was completely shocked to see just how poorly the blue team performed in last night's badge of honor challenge (or to quote Tom Colicchio, "badge of courage"). Was it overconfidence? Nerves? Lack of support from front of house? Or all of the above, really? I'm not entirely sure what went down in the blue team's kitchen in their upscale eatery, Mission, while I was certain that everything would implode in the red team's kitchen, especially with confrontation between the Voltaggio brothers an inevitability and the fractious paring of Eli and Robin.

So what exactly happened and how did the chefs perform? Let's discuss.

Before we get to Restaurant Wars itself, I want to reiterate my comments from the other day that this week's Quickfire Challenge has to be one of the best Quickfires to date, as the chefs were forced to cook relay-style, with each chef getting ten minutes in the kitchen before handing off the metaphorical baton to the next chef... without uttering a word about what they were doing. Oh, did I mention that they'd be blindfolded until it was their turn?

To say that this was complicated is a major understatement. Relay-cooking would be tricky at any time but each chef walked into a dish that was already underway and had to quickly adapt to what was in front of them, try to decipher the intent of the chef(s) before them, and execute a dish from the elements assembled that would hopefully build on what came before. To watch our cheftestants do just that was in a word: stunning.

The Red Team--Bryan, Michael V., Robin, and Eli--made a pan roasted New York strip with whipped miso, avocado puree, nasturtium salad, and pickled vegetables. I have to say that they worked quite well together as well, with Bryan ably predicting how Michael would best be able to finish the dish and preparing several elements for his brother to follow through with. But while an admirable effort, it didn't quite match up to what was going on on the other side of the Top Chef kitchen.

The Blue Team--consisting of Jennifer, Laurine, Mike I., and Kevin--prepared a pan-seared sablefish with sauteed mushrooms, ginger-shiitake-shrimp broth, and a radish salad with yuzu vinaigrette. (Poor Jennifer seemed to be all nerves in this episode, calling the sablefish "trout" here in front of guest judge Rick Moonen.) The team was able to follow through on what was set out for them and the credit really goes to Jennifer for creating that amazing stock in the first place, which made the dish sing. No surprise that they took home the win, which included a $10,000 chip. But rather than take the cash, the quartet decided to let it ride on the hopes of winning $10K apiece in the elimination challenge, if they won. Hmmm....

For their elimination challenge, the chefs would remain in their teams and would open up individual restaurant spaces in Rick Moonen's rm seafood space in Las Vegas. Due to the fact that the location was already a fully functional (and gorgeous) restaurant, the chefs wouldn't have to deal with the issues of decor and table settings as they had in previous years. As I noted in my advance review, I think that this was a smart move on the part of the producers; it removes the emphasis on an unrealistic complete overhaul of a blank space and puts it squarely on the cuisine. But the chefs would still be responsible for front of house and training their staff... and whoever was selected to man the front room would still be responsible for conceptualizing an individual dish as well.

So what did the two kitchens prepare? Let's discuss.

Red Team:

• Eli: smoked arctic char with beet sauce, horseradish sour cream, and crispy potatoes
• Michael: pressed chicken and calamari "noodles," tomato confit, and fennel salad
• Michael: cod with parsley sauce, billi-bi croquettes, and zucchini tenderloin
• Bryan: duo of beef with braised short ribs and prime NY strip with sauce matignon and sunchoke puree.
• Robin: pear pithivier with intense vanilla bean ice cream, frangipane, almond praline, and elderflower syrup
• Bryan: flexible chocolate ganache with spearmint ice cream and chocolate tuiles

Blue Team:

• Mike I.: skillet asparagus with six-minute egg
• Mike I.: arctic char tartare
• Jennifer: trout with brown buter emulsion, hazelnut, and braised endive
• Jennifer: Alaskan halibut with muscles and clams and saffron ailoi in bouillabaisse consomme
• Laurine: lamb with carrot jam and green bean salad with herb dressing and morel mushroom sauce
• Kevin: pork three-ways with maple-glazed pork belly, pork sausage wrapped in cabbage, cornmeal mousseline, and red-eye gravy

I knew right away just from glancing at the menu that this would likely be a very uneven battle. I understand the Blue Team's position that dessert is always tricky but what they needed to realize was that they were cooking not only for the judges but for their restaurant's patrons as well and after a meal like that, they do expect dessert of some kind. The Blue Team realized this and offered not one but TWO dessert dishes for the end of their meal; I think it was a wise choice. Desserts have led teams to lose Restaurant Wars in the past but dessert is also a critical and crucial element of any tasting menu. To decide not to put it on at all was a major oversight and blunder.

Mike's first courses were totally outshown in every respect by Michael's genius pressed chicken and calamari "noodles" dish (which netted him the overall win and, in an uncharacteristic display of generosity, distributed his $10K prize among his team). Asparagus and a six-minute egg? Really? At this point in the competition? Adding insult to injury, his artic char tartare was bland, underseasoned, and just dull. Unless you ate every bite with every single ingredient on the plate, it had no flavor whatsoever.

But even Mike's poor showing was nothing compared to Jennifer's unusual lackluster performance. I was stunned to see her cooking her shellfish to order in a course where she was also responsible for another warm dish. And she herself was more than chagrined that her brown butter was broken when it arrived at the judges' table. I was convinced that she would be going home, which would have made me chuck my television set out of the window. (Yes, Jennifer going home would have led to some serious destruction.)

Kevin was responsible for that truly gorgeous pork dish, which the judges were incredibly pleased with. It was ambitious, confident, and beautifully presented. But Kevin also really undercooked that lamb dish that Laurine concocted, which surprised the hell out of me. His precision and execution has been top-notch this entire competition so it was really odd to see him mangle the hell out of that dish.

Of course, Laurine didn't send the dishes back as she promised Tom she would if she was dissatisfied with how they looked at the pass. Her mismanagement of the front of house was appallingly bad. Was it the reason the Blue Team lost the challenge? It certainly added to it and made things even worse. (Look at the poise and charm of Eli in the Blue Team's dining room and compare it to Laurine's sullen, harried, and terrified behavior here.) I knew that it would come down to the judges choosing between Laurine and Jennifer, which had me freaking out that one of my picks for the Final Four could be booted only halfway through the competition.

But it was Laurine who would be packing her knives after all. I'm glad that the judges did the smart thing and kept the supremely talented Jennifer around. Yes, we've been told in the past that you're only as good as your last dish but they clearly see that Jennifer has talent, passion, and vision and there's no way anyone could keep Laurine around and boot Jennifer.

Whew.

What did you think of this week's episode? Where did the Blue Team go wrong? Were you stunned that Robin was called out for praise for her pear pithivier? Who would you have sent home? Discuss.

Next week on Top Chef ("Meat Natalie"), TV Guide editors stop by to complicate the chefs' latest Quickfire Challenge with a list of shows to use as inspiration for "TV Dinners," the chefs are tasked with preparing dinner for Natalie Portman and her friends at craftsteak, Tom Colicchio's Las Vegas restaurant. But, as always, there's a catch.

Top Chef Preview: TV Dinners:



Top Chef Preview: It's Natalie Portman:

Channel Surfing: "Dollhouse" Benched for Sweeps, Perrineau Would Like to Return to "Lost," David Fincher, Sarah Shahi "Facing Kate" at USA, and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. Loads of television-related headlines to get through today!

Futon Critic is reporting that FOX has pulled Dollhouse from its November sweeps lineup. The Joss Whedon-created series will air its episode this Friday, after which the Friday lineup will be filled with repeats of House and Bones. ('Til Death and Brothers will also go on hiatus after this week.) Dollhouse will then return in December where it will air back-to-back episodes on December 4th, 11th, and 18th. It's unclear when FOX will air the remaining three episodes from Dollhouse's thirteen-episode commitment. No return dates for 'Til Death or Brothers were indicated. (Futon Critic)

E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos talks to former Lost star Harold Perrineau about the recent rumors that he wouldn't be returning to the ABC drama series this season along with the other original cast members of Lost. The reason, says Perrineau, is not that he's holding out but because he hasn't been asked by producers. "Honestly, no one has asked," Perrineau told Dos Santos. "But if I was asked to come back to Lost, indeed I would say yes. We all started that journey together, and I would love to be able to end it with everybody. It would be a great thing to do, to get to say goodbye to them all at the same time. I would love to go back and hang out a little bit." (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Media Rights Capital and David Fincher are developing a US adaptation of British miniseries House of Cards, which will be reimagined as a one-hour drama series about "political ambition and blackmail." Fincher is on board to executive produce with Eric Roth, Andrew Davies, original novel author Michael Dobbs, and Josh Donen. Project will be taken out to networks soon. (Hollywood Reporter)

Former Life star Sarah Shahi has booked the lead in USA drama pilot Facing Kate, about a divorced lawyer in San Francisco who begins a careers as a mediator. Shahi's casting lifts the contingency on the pilot, which was written by Michael Sardo, who will executive produce with Steve Stark. (Hollywood Reporter)

The CW has given a full season order to supernatural drama series The Vampire Diaries, picking up the series for a full 22-episode run this season. The netlet also ordered five additional episodes of struggling soap Melrose Place, clearly looking to see what effect will be of the return of Heather Locklear to the franchise. (Variety)

Sebastian Roche (The Beautiful Life) has replaced Thomas Kretschmann on FOX's Fringe, following the latter's departure from the series due to a scheduling conflict. Kretschmann had appeared in the series' October 8th episode as a super-soldier from another world. Roche will recur as the same character, described by the Hollywood Reporter's Nellie Andreeva as "a soldier from another dimension who is not quite human/not quite machine, trying to gather information for opening a stable door to the other side." (Hollywood Reporter)

E! Online's Jennifer Goodwin teases upcoming developments on Dollhouse, particularly a reunion between former Buffy and Angel co-star Alexis Denisof and Eliza Dushku, writing that "Dushku and Denisof reunite for scenes centered around industrial espionage, counterintelligence and just a smidgen of existentialism." (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Entertainment Weekly is reporting that Trent Reznor has teamed up with Fringe for a new promo featuring Nine Inch Nails song "Zero-Sum" and Reznor reciting lines of dialogue spoken on the series by Leonard Nimoy's William Bell. The promo can be viewed below:


(Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan is reporting that former Battlestar Galactica star Katee Sackhoff, now a series regular on FOX's 24, will guest star as herself on CBS' The Big Bang Theory, in the series' November 23rd episode. (Chicago Tribune's The Watcher)

Jamie Denbo (Weeds) has been promoted to series regular on FX drama series Terriers, where she will play an attorney who is frequently consulted by the unlicensed private investigators played by Donal Logue and Michael Raymond-James. Elsewhere at FX, Joelie Carter (Wonderland) has been bumped up to series regular on drama series Lawman, where she will play a former girlfriend of Marshal Givens (Timothy Olyphant) after guest starring in the pilot. (Hollywood Reporter)

Entertainment Weekly's Dan Snierson gets Friday Night Lights executive producer Jason Katims to issue some teasers for the fourth season of the drama series, which kicks off on October 28th on DirecTV. (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

Showtime is developing comedy Rapture, based on Craig Chester's memoir "Why the Long Face?: The Adventures of a Truly Independent Actor," that will dramatize his experiences as the 9-year-old gay son of a "devout mom who has visions of Christ and a rock 'n' roll guitar player dad who fears his wife is losing her mind." Lisa Kudrow and Dan Bucatinsky are executive producing via their Is or Isn't Entertainment shingle, along with Paul Miller and Kimber Rickabaugh. Don Roos is additionally attached to direct, should the project be ordered to pilot. (Variety)

Jerry O'Connell has been cast in a multiple-episode story arc on ABC's Eastwick opposite his real-life wife Rebecca Romijn. O'Connell, set to appear in the final two episodes of Eastwick's thirteen-episode commitment, will play Colin, whom Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello describes as "a hot new neighbor of Kat’s (Jaime Ray Newman) who is hiding a dark and magical secret." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Warner Bros. Television has signed an overall deal with Rob Corrdry, under which the former Daily Show staffer will create, star, and executive produce a comedy pilot presentation for the studio, said to be an "unconventional family comedy" parody set in a "an off-kilter world." Peter Principato and Paul Young will executive produce the project along with Corrdry, with production slated for this December. (Variety)

Bravo has renewed culinary competition series Top Chef Masters for a second season, slated to air in 2010. Kelly Choi will return as the series' host, along with judges Gael Greene, James Oseland, and Jay Rayner. (Los Angeles Times' Show Tracker)

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment will release the first thirteen episodes of Glee on DVD on December 29th. Entitled Glee Season One: Road to the Sectionals, the box set will include the director's cut of the pilot episode and behind-the-scene materials as well as a voucher for the Season One box set, which will be released sometime in 2010. (via press release)

In other Glee-related news, Entertainment Weekly is reporting that Madonna has given the FOX musical comedy the rights to her entire catalog, with co-creator Ryan Murphy said to be very keen to do an all-Madonna-music episode for Glee's back nine. (Entertainment Weekly)

NCIS' Pauley Perrette will guest star on NCIS: LA's November 24th episode. "While Abby has talked to the Left Coast expansion team on the phone, this will be her first time touching down at LAX," writes Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello. "Sadly, it looks like it won’t be much of a vacation, as she finds out not everybody in the City of Angels sports a halo. Someone’s going to abduct our dear Abby!" (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Adult Swim has given a pilot order to live-action comedy Eagleheart, about "the fate of a fading TV action icon, and begins when a low-level TV exec is sent to Texas to produce an action series (Eagleheart) with the star. Instead, he winds up in a power struggle with the temperamental thesp." Project, from Conaco and Dakota Films, will be written by Michael Koman and Andrew Weinberg, who will executive produce alongside David Kissinger and Troy Miller. (Variety)

Jesse Metcalfe (Desperate Housewives) will star in Hallmark Channel telepic Fairfield Road, written by Tracy Rosen and directed by David Weaver. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Revolution is the Mission: An Advance Review of "Restaurant Wars" on "Top Chef"

There are few series more stressful (in the best possible way) than Bravo's culinary competition series Top Chef.

And there are few challenges that are more stressful that that of the pressure-intensive Restaurant Wars, a highlight of each and every season in which the chefs are split into two groups of four and told to open a restaurant in a matter of hours, planning everything from the menu to the decor and service.

On other series, this could be the culmination of the entire season, but on Top Chef, it's the halfway point, with the eight remaining chefs forced to not only participate in a team challenge (with their individual dishes either making or breaking their continued participation in the competition) but also to work their station, stay true to their vision, feed a dining room full of hungry customers, and turn out inventive, imaginative, and delicious dishes. It should be a cakewalk for these talented chefs, many of whom work on the line professionally, but it's always filled with chaos, confusion, and often calamity.

This season's truly sensational episode of "Restaurant Wars" airs tonight on Top Chef but I was able to take an early look at the episode and feel that it is hands-down the best (and most intensive) Restaurant Wars yet, pitting the two teams in a showdown from which only one will remain victorious. So who triumphs? That would be telling. While I won't spoil the outcome of the episode (you'll have to watch tonight), there are a few (minor-spoilery) things I have to say about this year's fan-favorite challenge.

As if Restaurant Wars wasn't enough to throw at the chefs, this week's Quickfire Challenge must be one of the most disorienting and difficult of any season. Again, I don't want to say too much but I will say that it (A) involves blindfolds and (B) really puts the pressure on the chefs to adapt to some unknown variables... and quickly. For the viewer, it's a real treat to watch as it really gets into the mindspace of the individual chefs and allows the viewers to follow the process of concept and execution on a scale we haven't seen so far on the series.

As for Restaurant Wars, this season's big challenge has some minor differences to other seasons but each of them is a step in the right direction. Gone for example, is the onus of the chefs to design the decor of the space and purchase plates, etc. I get what the producers were going for with that aspect of the challenge but it was an unrealistic and unneeded pressure to put on them with such a tight timeframe. Yes, decor and place settings are important parts of a restaurant's overall atmosphere and concept but when they have limited cash, limited time, and limited access, the raw spaces are inevitably rather cheesy-looking. (After all, it's Top Chef, not Top Design, though in future seasons I could see producers pairing the teams with interior designers to transform the raw spaces.)

And so this year's Restaurant Wars removes some of the pressure of decor by setting the action inside one of Rick Moonen's pre-existing restaurants, which has two dining rooms, two kitchens, and two very different essences on its two levels. The move places the emphasis squarely on the food and the service itself rather than bread plates and napkin rings.

As for the teams' performances, it's truly remarkable to see how well they do with this crucial challenge. With Elimination at stake (as well as, um, other considerations), it's imperative that the two teams dazzle the judges with well-executed dishes while also pleasing the diners. But that's not exactly what happens on tonight's episode. There are some major screw-ups, some surprising downfalls, and a general excess of stress, nerves, and bad decisions. (Also look for some major sparks to fly between the two Voltaggio brothers, both in the Top Chef kitchen and at the house; the competition between the two siblings is heating up in some very nasty ways.)

When the chips fall, you might be surprised by who performs well and who doesn't. To say that this episode had me on the edge of my seat would be a glaring understatement. It's more truthful to say that my heartbeat was pounding through my chest in a way that you might mistakenly think that I was on the line in one of these kitchens.

All in all, tonight's fantastic installment is intense, stunning, and surprising. All of the things that really go into making Top Chef the addictive thrill ride that it is week after week. Just be sure to eat ahead of time and prepare to be spellbound in more ways than one.

Top Chef: Las Vegas Preview: Blindfolded Relay Race:



Top Chef: Las Vegas Preview: Michael V. vs. Robin:



Top Chef airs tonight at 10 pm ET/PT on Bravo.

Leaping Lizards: Baby Drama on the Season Finale of "Flipping Out"

And just like that, Season Three of Flipping Out came to a close last night. Not with a bang but with Jeff walking off of Ryan's property during Chloe's third birthday party, with what seemed like a heavy heart.

I already alluded to much of the action in Flipping Out's third season finale ("Baby Boom") via my advance review of the episode, but now that the episode has aired, I can speak a little more freely about what actually went down this week.

I do feel for Jeff. Given the recent problems in his relationship with business partner Ryan Brown, Jeff is beset by a swirl of change in his professional and personal life: Ryan and his family might be moving to Santa Barbara, Jeff could be selling his own home, and there's a sort of biological clock ticking over the action, a sound that's all the more loud thanks to Jett's news that his girlfriend is expecting a baby.

Granted, Jeff isn't one for tact. (That's certainly apparent from the last three seasons of the series.) But I did think it was a little extreme and presumptuous that he would ask Ryan for access to the twenty or so frozen embryos that he and partner Dale have on ice. Yes, Jeff wants a child and he's so enamored of Chloe that it would be nice to have one of her siblings as his own child but really Jeff? Asking your estranged business partner and former boyfriend if you could take (or buy) one of his biologically-derived embryos was crossing a line that didn't need to be crossed, especially as Ryan himself was thoroughly creeped out by the entire conversation.

I find it hard to imagine Jeff raising a child on his own. After all, children are messy and uncontrollable and Jeff's entire life is based around order and tidiness. Which isn't to say that he would be bad parent but I think it's different raising a child than it is taking Chloe for a meal here or there or throwing her an elaborate birthday party.

After all, this is the same man who couldn't control his laughter when he found out that a client and her son walked into her house after it had been spider-bombed and they began throwing up repeatedly. (I get nervous laughter but Jeff brought a whole new meaning to that here.)

Likewise, I thought it was beyond sweet of Jenni to dress up as a lizard, green face and all, and perform a birthday rap (which I can't get out of my head) for Chloe. Jeff made a comment that Jenni will never met anybody if she dresses up like a lizard but really I couldn't help but feel a little heartbroken for Jenni. She's clearly in her element with kids and clearly adores them but given her recent relationship woes, a child of her own seems unlikely right now.

Was Jeff serious when he said he was considering hiring Jenni as a surrogate mother for his child? It's unlikely that he was but perhaps there was a kernel of truth there. Still, I'd tell Jenni to run as far away as she could if he actually seriously asked her. It's hard enough working for Jeff Lewis when you're not carrying his child, after all.

Ultimately, Season Three of Flipping Out was a fantastic look into the lives of Jeff and his eccentric band of employees and friends. I'm going to miss these guys but I'm also very much looking forward to next week's reunion special, where we'll get some answers to some dangling plot threads from this season. I have a feeling it's going to be quite heated.

What did you think of last night's season finale? Was Jeff wrong to ask Ryan about the embryos? Is there any hope of reconciliation for the two of them? Discuss.

Next week on Flipping Out ("Reunion Special"), Jeff and his crew reassemble to discuss the dramas of Season Three. Look for some major sparks to fly as Jeff and Ryan's troubled friendship is likely to be one of the focal points of the reunion.

Channel Surfing: "Castle" Gets Full Season, Showrunner Marc Guggenheim Departs "FlashForward," Jason Momoa Ascends to HBO's "Thrones," and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing.

Good news for Castle fans: ABC has picked up the Nathan Fillion procedural drama series for a full season of 22 episodes after the series has performed well in its Monday night timeslot against tough competition from CBS. The news comes on the heels of ABC picking up first year series Modern Family, Cougar Town, The Middle, and FlashForward for full seasons, leaving only Hank, Eastwick, and The Forgotten the only new series that haven't received back nine pickups. (Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed)

I wonder if he saw this in his flashforward... Co-showrunner/executive producer Marc Guggenheim has stepped down from his position on the ABC sci-fi drama series FlashForward, leaving sole showrunning duties to co-creator David Goyer. "Because of Goyer's limited hands-on TV series experience, Eli Stone co-creator Guggenheim was brought in after the FlashForward pilot to help with the launch of the mystery drama based on Robert Sawyer's novel," writes the Hollywood Reporter's Nellie Andreeva. "After learning the ropes in a co-showrunner capacity on the original 12-episode order of FlashForward alongside Guggenheim, Goyer will fly solo for the series' back-nine order." (Hollywood Reporter)

Former Stargate Atlantis star Jason Momoa has been cast in HBO's fantasy pilot Game of Thrones, based on the George R. R. Martin novel series "A Song of Fire and Ice." Momoa will play "horse lord Khal Drogo," according to the Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan. Also confirmed: The Prisoner's Jamie Campbell-Bower as Waymar Royce, Joseph Mawle as Benjen Stark, Richard Ridings as Gared, Ron Donachie and Ser Rodrik Cassel, Donald Sumpter and Maester Luwin, and Ian McNeice as Ilyrio Mopatis. Filming on the pilot has just gotten underway this week in Northern Ireland. (Chicago Tribune's The Watcher)

Judy Greer (Miss Guided) has attached herself to a comedy project based on Elaine Szewcyzk's novel "I'm With Stupid." Project, which has a script order at ABC, will star Greer as Kas Sienkiewicz, "a Manhattanite who has a fling with a park ranger while on safari in South Africa. She returns home -- and the ranger tracks her down in New York." Szewcyzk will write and co-executive produce the ABC Studios-produced project, with Allan Loeb, Steve Pearl, and Richard Lewis attached as executive producers. Elsewhere, the network gave out a script order plus penalty to comedy We Are Here, about four friends who met at the University of Texas but all still live in Austin and deal with adulthood in different ways. Project, from Sony Pictures Television, is written by Hilary Winston (Community), who will executive produce with Anthony and Joe Russo. (Variety)

NBC is developing an untitled sitcom from writer/star Paul Rust (I Love You, Beth Cooper) that is based on his experiences working at Wal-Mart after college in his small Iowa hometown. Project, from Conaco Prods and Universal Media Studios, will be written by Rust, who is attached to star as himself in a fictional version of his own experiences. (Variety)

ABC has given a script order plus penalty to single-camera comedy Boyfred, about six twenty-somethings who keep in touch via a Web site created by the titular Fred, a web designer whose girlfriend has gone overseas. Project, based on a $6000 presentation, is written by Alan Schmuckler, Michael Mahler, Blake Silver, and Jarrod Zimmerman and is executive produced by Thomas Schlamme. The Sony Pictures Television-produced project is said to be music-intensive, with several tunes written by Schmuckler and Mahler. (Hollywood Reporter)

Comedy Central has acquired off-network rights to FX comedy series It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which the cabler will begin airing next summer. FX has already committed to a sixth and seventh season of Sunny, bringing the eventual total to 84 episodes. Deal marks the first time that a basic cable channel has purchased off-network rights to another basic channel's property. (Variety)

HBO has given a script order for an untitled drama to star Stanley Tucci as a "brilliant, one-time powerful politician struggling to rebuild his career and relationships with his family and friends after being brought down by a scandal." Project, from Lionsgate and Olive Prods., the shingle set up by Steve Buscemi, Stanley Tucci, and Wren Arthur, will be written by Stu Zicherman (Six Degrees). Elsewhere, the shingle has received a script order for animated family comedy Good and Evel at TBS; that project, written by Daria co-creator Glenn Eichler, "revolves around twin brothers Jack Good and Bo Evel [who were] stolen by gypsy cab drivers at birth and taught how to behave and drive badly; Bo is a career petty criminal, and Jack bends over backward to mend his brother's ways and help his dysfunctional family." (Hollywood Reporter)

The Wrap's Josef Adalian is reporting that GSN has given a series order to docusoap Carnie Wilson: Unstapled, which will follow Wilson's life as a "gameshow host, media personality, and wife/mother." Series, produced by World of Wonder, is slated to premiere January 14th. The move comes as GSN looks to broaden the scope of their lineup. (The Wrap's TVMoJoe)

Nat Geo will unveil its first global tagline, "Live Curious," on November 15th across all of its channels in 165 countries and 34 languages. The cabler also announced a seven-hour mini-series Great Migrations, which will explore animal migrations around the planet "using advanced camera technology." (Hollywood Reporter)

George Stephanopoulous is said to be in discussions to replace Diane Sawyer on Good Morning America when Sawyer leaves to anchor World News, according to Broadcasting & Cable's Marisa Gurthrie, citing multiple sources within ABC News. (Broadcasting & Cable)

iCarly co-stars Jerry Trainor and Jennette McCurdy have been cast in Disney Channel telepic Best Player, where they will play "two online game addicts who encounter each other on and off the computer." Project, slated for a 2010 premiere, is written by Rich Amburg and Justin Ware and will be directed by Damon Santostefano. (Variety)

Scott Sternberg Prods. and Weinberger Media will produce reality series Legal Ease, in which lawyers from Manhattan law firm Tacopina Siefel & Turano will give advice to ordinary people. It's still unknown whether the series will be pitched to cable networks or is intended for first-run syndication. (Hollywood Reporter)

Adam Shankman and Bill Mechanic will produce the 82nd Academy Awards, replacing Bill Condon and Laurence Mark. The awards show is slated to air March 7th on ABC. (Variety)

Stay tuned.