Channel Surfing; HBO Renews "Big Love," Elizabeth Mitchell Talks "Lost," Cynthia Watros Heads to "House," "V" Adds Cast, and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing.

Break out the carrot and raisin salad (and mix up some fry sauce)! HBO has renewed drama series Big Love for a fifth season, with ten episodes set to air next winter. The long-running drama series has been on a roll of late, with ratings up 13 percent among viewers this season and some well-earned awards recognition, with Chloe Sevigny walking away with a Golden Globe for her performance as Nicki. "We've taken the show deeper and darker over the last couple of seasons," said executive producer Mark V. Olsen, "and we're overjoyed that HBO has come along with us." Production is expected to begin on Season Five in June or July. (Variety)

E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos and Jennifer Godwin have an interview with V and Lost star Elizabeth Mitchell. "I feel really bad for Juliet all the time," Mitchell told E! "I feel like, you know, karmically, maybe she's due, because when she was a prisoner, instead of being morally upright, she was Ben's (Michael Emerson) little henchman. But oh, she really has redeemed herself, so I feel like she's deserving of a lovely end. We'll see what happens. We've got another reality going on, and I'm sure she's probably tortured herself in that one, too, but hopefully in that reality we will get to see her happy and vibrant and excited. That to me, would be fun." (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Cynthia Watros (Lost) has been cast in a multiple-episode story arc this season on FOX's House. Watros, who will first appear in April, is set to play the first ex-wife of Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard), "who comes back into his life as his new girlfriend." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

TV Guide Magazine's Will Keck is reporting that Charles Measure (Crossing Jordan), Nicholas Lea (The X-Files), and Lexa Doig (The 4400) have been added to the back half of ABC's sci-fi series V. Mesure will play mercenary Kyle Hobbes, described as "an in-demand black ops expert who forms an unlikely alliance with the resistance when he’s hired by Erica (Elizabeth Mitchell), Ryan (Morris Chestnut), Jack (Joel Gretsch) and Georgie (David Richmond-Peck) to strengthen their fight against the Vs." Lea will play Eric's ex-husband in a two-episode story arc. Doig will play Dr. Leah Pearlman, "an OB/GYN treating Valerie Stevens (Lourdes Benedicto)." (TV Guide Magazine)

E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos is reporting that Rob Lowe (Brothers & Sisters) could be circling a role on CBS' untitled Criminal Minds spin-off, though reps wouldn't comment and publicists for CBS and ABC Studios shot down these rumors. However, citing an unnamed source, Dos Santos is reporting that Lowe would join the already cast Forest Whitaker in the spin-off series. "Lowe's casting would not be as a replacement for Whitaker, but as a costar," writes Dos Santos. "So maybe he could play the good-looking Thomas Gibson type to Whitaker's older and brilliant Mandy Patinkin type?" [Editor: in other words: take this rumor with a grain of salt.] (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Major changes afoot at AMC's upcoming drama series Rubicon, where creator/executive producer/co-showrunner Jason Horwitch has departed the production and has been replaced by executive producer Henry Bromell. Series, which stars James Badge Dale, revolves around an analyst at a national think tank who becomes enmeshed in a conspiracy. Project was ordered to pilot in August 2008 and is production on the series is set to begin in March and is scheduled to launch this summer. [Editor: I watched Rubicon's disappointing pilot last year. It definitely needed a lot of major work. Hoping Bromell can get this project back on track.] (Hollywood Reporter)

Virginia Madsen (Monk) has been cast as the lead in ABC's eight-episode series Scoundrels, based on Kiwi drama series Outrageous Fortune. She'll play the matriarch of a family of criminals who are forced to go straight after their patriarch ends up in prison. When ABC previously developed the project with executive producer Rob Thomas, the character was played by Catherine O'Hara. (Hollywood Reporter)

Elsewhere, Gary Cole (Entourage) has been cast as the titular character in TBS hour-long comedy pilot Uncle Nigel, where he will play Nigel Wells, described as "a veteran Philadelphia homicide detective who takes on his inexperienced, incompetent nephew as a partner." The attachment of Cole lifts the casting contingency on the project, written and executive produced by Andy Breckman (Monk). (Hollywood Reporter)

Former Scrubs star Sarah Chalke has been cast in ABC comedy pilot Freshman, about a bunch of newbie politicians who live together in Washington. Chalke will play Jane, a former businesswoman turned freshman congresswoman who is unlucky in love. Project, from 20th Century Fox Television, is written/executive produced by Greg Malins and executive produced by Arianna Huffington. (Variety)

ABC announced that supernatural/mystery drama series Happy Town will launch on April 28th at 10 pm ET/PT, assuming the Wednesdays at 10 pm timeslot currently occupied by Ugly Betty, which will wrap its run earlier that month. (HitFix)

CBS has ordered a pilot for multi-camera comedy Team Spitz, which will star Rob Riggle (The Daily Show) as a high school football coach. Project, from Sony Pictures Television and CBS Television Studios, is written by Bill Martin and Mike Schiff, who will executive produce alongside Peter Principato, Paul Young, Eric Tannenbaum, Kim Tannenbaum, and Mitch Hurwitz. (Hollywood Reporter)

FOX has given a pilot presentation order to sketch comedy Naked But Funny, which has begun casting. Project, from Peter Engel Prods. and New Wave Entertainment, is executive produced by Peter Engel, Barry Katz, and Eric Weinberg. (Variety)

Season Seven of dance competition series So You Think You Can Dance is set to launch with a two-hour season premiere on Thursday, May 27th on FOX. (via press release)

Mo'Nique will host Showtime comedy special Shaquille O'Neal Presents: All-Star Comedy Jam, set to air this summer on Showtime. (It will also be made available via pay per view, DVD, and online.) Special will include such comics as George Willborn, Mike Epps, Paul Mooney, Muchael Blackson, and Corey Holcomb. (Variety)

Reality shingle A. Smith and Co. is developing a series based on the life of Tad Skylar Agoglia, who founded First Response Team of America and a recipient of CNN's 2008 Top 10 Heroes of the Year kudos. Project, executive produced by Arthur Smith, Kent Weed, and Frank Sinton, will follow "Agoglia and his team as they travel to communities impacted by natural disasters." (Variety)

Mark Pedowitz, the former president of ABC Studios, has signed a producing deal with Warner Bros. Television. Terms of the deal are still being discussed and both sides declined to comment. (Variety)

Scott Free, the production company owned by Ridley and Tony Scott, is expanding its UK television operations and has added BBC Films development executive Jack Arbuthnott and BBC television drama script editor Surian Fletcher-Jones (Little Dorrit) to its ranks. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Nothing is Irreversible: The Season Premiere of "Lost"

"Sorry you had to see me that way."

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you reveal the solution to a mystery six seasons in the making. Lost has been criticized in the past by some (not me, fortunately) for stringing viewers along with a series of new mysteries while never quite offering answers to the story threads already long dangling. But this is, after all, the final season of Lost and showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse wisely decided to take an approach of beginning to answer questions right from the start this season.

Last night's two-hour sixth season premiere of Lost ("LA X"), written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse and directed by Jack Bender, was a phenomenal start to the season, offering yet another narrative device employed by the duo and pushing the story along while also offering some more of the series' now trademarked serpentine mysteries.

So what did I think of the episode and the latest plot twists being thrown at the audience? Let's discuss.

The biggest thrill the season opener offered was the chance to see the castaways in two divergent timestreams: one in which Oceanic Flight 815 never crashed on the island and one in which everything we've seen on the series has come to pass and the castaways didn't avert their fates but winded up (as I had suggested back last May) on the island in 2007.

Time travel is, after all, a very sticky wicket, especially when you're attempting to change the past. The castaways' efforts to use the pocket of energy underneath the Swan Station in order to prevent their future from coming to pass was an effort to battle fate itself: what's done is done. For them, anyway. Their actions end up creating a divergent reality, one in which the plane never crashes on the island (it's deep under the sea) and therefore they never wind up there, instead safely landing in Los Angeles.

But that doesn't mean that destiny doesn't play a hand in what unfolds for this group of people, who I'll call the Lost-X castaways. They still continue to cross paths, not just aboard Oceanic Flight 815 but also at LAX and likely in other ways once they've left the airport. Even those not glimpsed about the plane (read: Claire) have a way of winding up back in the mess, as witnessed when Kate carjacks a taxi containing Claire.

While certain circumstances are different for these Lost-X castaways, they are essentially the same flawed individuals, plagued by the same fears and doubts and suffering under the weight of the same sins. The one exception to this rule would seem to be Hurley, who is now convinced not that he's bad luck but that he's blessed with good luck. After all, he still used the numbers to play the lottery and win but those numbers lack their power now that the island has seemingly been destroyed. (Loved, by the way, the shot of the Dharma shark swimming through the undersea landscape.) But Hurley's perception of the events unfolding around him have changed now that he isn't followed by a dark cloud: Mr. Cluck's still stands, after all.

Other changes abound: Boone doesn't manage to convince Shannon to accompany him back to Los Angeles so he returns alone, and ends up sitting in coach next to Frogurt and Locke. Charlie doesn't flush the heroin but attempts to swallow it and is revived by Jack when he loses consciousness. Artz recognizes Hurley. Bernard returns from the restroom to sit down next to Rose. Cindy gives Jack not two but one little bottles of alcohol. Sun and Jin appear to be unwed, given the fact that the TSA officer calls her Ms. Paik and not Mrs. Kwon. (Unclear: whether or not Sun can speak English. She appears to understand what is being said but does not intervene when Jin becomes increasingly angry and can't understand them. But she could be concealing her knowledge as in the mainstream reality.)

And, most interestingly, Desmond Hume is on the flight. With no island to shipwreck aboard and no button to push, Desmond isn't down in the Swan hatch (which may not exist at all) and therefore cannot cause the crash of Oceanic 815. But clearly his fate is inexorably bound to that of the castaways.

But while The Incident may have created a divergent timeline for the castaways, that doesn't mean that there aren't still echoes from the life that they had already lived elsewhere. It's Jack who remembers... something. A half-remembered memory, a sense of deja vu, a shadow that casts a pall over him. He grips the armrest of his seat when the plane hits that pocket of turbulence and doesn't let go. An unexpected spot of blood underneath his collar shocks him when he looks in the mirror. When Desmond sits next to him and calls him "brother," there's a frisson in the air that stirs up some deep memory within Jack's subconscious.

But there's another mystery. Just where does Desmond go? He seemingly vanishes from the plane without a trace. Neither Rose nor Bernard claim to have seen him get up but Desmond's disappearance is strangely troubling to Jack. From my perspective, Desmond has already existed in other divergent timestreams (see: "Flashes Before Your Eyes") and Eloise Hawking previously acted as an agent of course-correction in order to push events back into their proper place. Is that what happened aboard the plane? Is Hawking already attempting to maneuver the unfolding of time into its appropriate pattern?

But destiny is, after all, a fickle bitch. Despite getting off the plane without their lives being noticeably changed by their interactions with their fellow traveling companions, the Lost-X castaways are being pushed back together. Sawyer has seemingly already made a mark out of Hurley and assists Kate in her flight to freedom after her escape from Edward Mars. Boone admits to Locke that he would stick by him if the plane went down after hearing the (false) stories of his walkabout in the outback.

Locke has not received the miracle that the island afforded. Paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair, Locke suffers the same crippling self-loathing and anger that he felt before the series began. The look of shame on his face as he is lifted out of his seat and into a chair by airport personnel as Jack watches was gut-wrenching. He doesn't believe. Yet an airline screw-up--involving the disappearance of the coffin containing Christian's corpse and a suitcase with Locke's knives--brings Jack and Locke together once more. He offers Locke his card, saying that he is a spinal surgeon. Despite Locke's belief that his condition is irreversible, Jack says the immortal line, "Nothing is irreversible." Which makes me believe that Locke WILL walk again, but thanks to Jack's hand and not the island's involvement. It's an especially ironic comment to make in the face of the fact that for the castaways in the main reality, their actions didn't seemingly reverse anything. And yet...

Castaways. The castways find themselves back on the island, after the events of the first five seasons. Which means that the Swan has been destroyed by Desmond turning the failsafe key and everything they've experienced has come to pass. Strange that it isn't just their bodies that are moved through time. The wreckage at the Swan site travels with them as does the Dharma VW van and Hurley's guitar case. Curious...

Juliet. Somehow Juliet managed to survive the fall down the Swan shaft and was pulled through time to 2007 with the other castaways, living just long enough for Sawyer to make his way through the wreckage to kiss her one last time. (I found this scene just as gutting as Juliet's plunge down the shaft at the end of last season and her lines about getting coffee were heartbreaking.) It's clear that Sawyer did love Juliet and he holds Jack responsible for her death, unleashing a blood feud with the good doctor that will likely carry through this season. Juliet died before she could tell Sawyer "something important," but Sawyer very wisely buried Juliet and then asked Miles to find out just what it was. The message: "it worked." Clearly, Juliet--perhaps existing in the space between life and death or closer to the energies contained underneath the Swan station site--was somehow aware of the creation of the divergent reality. Multi-dimensional awareness? Or just blind faith that their actions did produce the results they wanted... just not for them.

Smoke Monster. We finally got an answer to one of the series' most enduring mysteries, one that has existed since the pilot episode. The nature of the smoke monster has been a source of constant speculation among viewers. Was it a security system? An inexplicable Rover-like entity? Or something entirely different. The answer, we learned, was far more complex: the smoke monster and the Man in Black were one and the same.

Having successfully found a loophole in his never-ending battle with Jacob, The Man in Black used Ben to slaughter him and then pushed his body into fire before defiling Jacob's sanctuary: wiping his knife on the tapestry and then murdering Ilana's team in his guise as the smoke monster. It's a rather canny reveal that should have been obvious since last season's finale. After all, the Man in Black can take on any shape he desires (or at least that of the dead) and that's just what the smoke monster has done in the past. Shifting his appearance from that of the false John Locke to that of the smoke monster, the Man in Black reveals himself to a horrified Ben.

Just what are we dealing with here? Is this the Man in Black's true form? Or just another incarnation of this entity. And if the Man in Black can become the smoke monster... just what does that mean about Jacob? Did he have another form too?

Jacob. Lest there be any confusion, Jacob is definitely dead. He went so far as to tell Hurley this fact before reminding him of the guitar case he gave him in Los Angeles before he boarded Ajira Flight 316. But can he really be killed permanently in a place where the dead walk as freely as the living? Separated from his corporeal body, Jacob still managed to talk to Hurley (who, like Miles, can communicate with the dead) and moved events into motion, telling Hurley to take the critically wounded Sayid to the Temple, where he can be saved.

The Temple. Jack, Hurley, and Kate brought Sayid to the hole in the wall where Montand lost his arm and the French research team went crazy. But they didn't encounter the smoke monster down in the catacombs beneath the Temple but rather some Others who were less than pleased to see them. Dragged out into the central courtyard, they beheld the Temple for the first time and met its overseer, the mysterious Dogan (Hiroyuki Sanada) and his right-hand man Lennon (John Hawkes). While Dogan ordered the intruders killed, Hurley managed to save their lives by telling him that Jacob sent him and producing the guitar case that he had been given... a guitar case which contained a large wooden ankh. Inside the ankh: a piece of paper containing their names and a message that if Sayid dies they are all in serious trouble.

After learning that Jacob is dead, the Others take extreme precautions to bar the smoke monster from the Temple, reinforcing walls and spreading protective ash around the entrance. It's this same ash that encircled Jacob's cabin as seen several seasons back and likely protected Jacob until the circle was broken. Bram attempted to protect himself below the four-toed statue using this method but when he was struck by a rock, he fell just outside the circle, making him easy prey for the monster.

Cindy. I was beyond thrilled to see a resolution to the subplot of flight attendant Cindy and the tailie kids taken by the Others. Cindy seems to have assimilated herself into the culture of the Others and, despite recognizing Jack, seemed more than willing to let them die, should that be the wish of Dogan. She's vastly different and almost recognizable from her previous life as a perky flight attendant. Just what happened to her during her stay with the Others remains to be seen.

Dogan. I'm already deeply intrigued by Dogan. Speaking in Japanese, Dogan refused to communicate directly to the castaways, instead forcing Lennon to translate his words. But Hurley realized this and forced Dogan to speak English (which he said was insulting to his tongue). He seems to hold a position akin to master priest and it was Dogan who oversaw Sayid's body beng placed into the healing pool. Just who is he? How long has he been on the island? What is his relationship to Richard Alpert and his tribe? There's a distinctly Eastern-meets-Egyptian theme going on, from the hieroglyph-laden walls of the Temple to their vaguely Asian style of dress.

The Pool. Now where is Ra's al Ghul when you need him? The Others have a healing pool capable of saving Sayid and a ceremony in which he must be submerged in the waters (while Dogan watches black and white sands flow through an hourglass); it definitely reminded me of the Lazarus Pit from the Batman comics. But something was wrong with the waters, which were tinged with red instead of clear. A sign that Jacob had died and his healing influence was no longer flowing through the island? Perhaps. Dogan tested out its healing capabilities by cutting his hand but the waters did not heal him.

Was this the same ceremony used to heal the teenage Benjamin Linus back in the 1970s? Were the risks that Dogan spoke of the same ones afforded to Ben? Could it be that, if successful, the pool would heal Sayid's body but corrupt his soul? Curious.

Sayid. With his life slipping away, Sayid was brought to the pool and then held under the water until he drowned... and Jack was unable to revive him. Dogan writes him off as dead and leaves but Jack is summoned by Lennon for a private talk away from the pool. What he wished to discussed remains a mystery for now as they were interrupted by Sayid coming back to life. Hmmm, another island resurrection? But while Sayid whispered, "what happened?" a chill ran over me. He didn't sound quite like Sayid, now did he? (Or am I overthinking?)

Richard Alpert. Meanwhile, the Man in Black strolled out of Jacob's sanctuary and berated the Others, saying he was "disappointed" in them. After the incident in the sanctuary, I was glad that Richard urged Ilana and the others not to shoot him (he now knows just what False Locke is), but Jacob's Nemesis has plans for Richard, punching him and then carrying him off into the jungle. Just what did he mean when he said that it was good to see Richard out of his chains? A clue that perhaps Richard Alpert was aboard the Black Rock, a slave that came to the island and engaged in yet another round of the war between Jacob and his dark brother? Interesting...

Home. Just where is home for the Man in Black? And what does it mean that he wants to get there? Has he been exiled to this island and have all of his actions been leading up to an attempt to flee the island and escape? And, if that is the case, just what does it mean for the Lost-X castaways that his cage--the island--has been destroyed?

Lost Literary Allusion of the Week: Montand was reading Søren Kierkegaard's 1843 book "Fear and Trembling," a philosophical discussion of the relationship between faith and morality that circles around the Biblical story of Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac (fitting given Ben's sacrifice of Jacob). And, aboard Flight 815, Desmond was reading Salman Rushdie's 1990 magical realist children's novel "Haroun and the Sea of Stories," which contains such fantastical elements as the Ocean of the Streams of Story. (Fitting again, given the island's location beneath the sea.)

Ultimately, "LA X" offered a fantastic opening installment for the final season of Lost that was filled with a tantalizing combination of answers, mysteries, and divergent realities. If Jack is right and nothing is irreversible, then it means that anything--and everything--is possible this season on Lost as the road to the endgame rapidly approaches.

Next week on Lost ("What Kate Does"), Kate finds herself on the run, while Jack is tasked with something that could endanger a friend's life.

Broken Airplanes: Let Them Eat Cake on "Last Restaurant Standing"

It's sad to say that I'm now completely fed up with and frustrated by BBC America's Last Restaurant Standing (which airs in the UK under the title The Restaurant), with which I had been previously obsessed.

After two fantastic seasons of culinary competition, the series has completely gone off the rails this season, bringing in unqualified contestants (some of whom don't even bother to cook) and throwing all sense of production values or carefully coordinated challenges right out the window, along with the series' once winning format.

Last night's episode of Last Restaurant Standing ("The Cake") was shockingly awful. Besides for the fact that I found it inconceivable that this group of shoddy wannabe restaurateurs had made it this far in the competition (we're nearly at the end!), I felt like the series was even further undermined by the producers themselves, who created an illogical challenge for the teams--cater a tea dance in under five hours' time--that would be impossible to win unless you had purchased at least some of the cakes yourselves and which was so poorly organized that the teams were doomed to failure from the outset.

At this point in the competition, just a few rounds before the final showdown, I expected to see some real talent emerge from these chefs, which just isn't happening at all. I think that Chris is the only one even in this competition who can cook at all and he's consistently let down by front-of-house partner Nathan, who has shown absolutely no growth or remote understanding of the subtleties of service. Still, they managed to pull off a VIP dinner without a hitch--even producing a stellar cake made in the shape of a ski resort--that was diametrically opposed to their truly terribly performance at the tea dance, where they showed up 45 minutes late, didn't include any mention of tea on the menu, and didn't end up serving anyone, thanks to Nathan's lackluster approach.

JJ continues to remain hands-off in the kitchen of the picnic-themed restaurant he's meant to be running with James but he wasn't even at the pass expediting this week as he spent the entire service decorating his cake in the walk-in. Yes, I get that he baked the cake and all (perhaps the first time he's made anything since they got the keys to the restaurant) but come on. This isn't a cake decorating show; it's meant to be a culinary competition. Grr.

The cake was truly a trainwreck (or shall I say plane crash?) at The Front Room and Stephen's efforts to create an airplane-shaped confection for his VIP guests was a disaster from start to finish. The smooshed nose on the plane, the childlike writing, and the ghastly craftsmanship had me agog. Just shockingly bad.

And then there were Daisy and Nadine, who seemed to lose all focus of the fact that they were running a Westernized Nigerian restaurant and instead cooked up a BBQ for their guests and failed to register the fact that pasta, potatoes, and bread were carbs and that the rugby coach had specifically requested for no carbohydrates to be served and if they had to be that they were wholemeal-based. Instead, the ladies took this to the extreme and offered not one but three major components of the dinner that were carb-based. Argh.

No surprise that Daisy and Nadine's restaurant was closed this week as the emphasis seems to be on the overall concept and its execution. I think they failed on all points but I can't say that I am really rooting for anyone to win this at this point. It's a sad state of affairs that such a promising and exciting program such as Last Restaurant Standing should devolve into such a mess.

What did you think of this week's episode? And have you given up on the series altogether? Just what went wrong this season? Discuss.

Next week on Last Restaurant Standing ("The Singles"), the three remaining couples must create a romantic takeout dinner for two and cater a singles night at their restaurants.

Channel Surfing: "Lost" Series Finale Date Revealed, FOX Has Had "Conversations" with Conan, "Doctor Who," and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing.

Lost showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse appeared on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live last night and announced that the series will wrap its run on Sunday, May 23rd. "The reason I think that anybody even cares about Lost is that we announced an end date three years ago," said Cuse. "We are eternally grateful to [Steve McPherson] to end the show on our own terms and I think that made all the difference in terms of Lost being the show that it still is." (Hulu)

Entertainment Weekly's Jeff Jensen has an interview with Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse about some of the more specific plot points from last night's season premiere of Lost. As it's not yet aired everywhere yet (UK gets it on Friday), I won't quote anything from the piece but urge you instead to check it out. (Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch)

FOX's Rupert Murdoch has acknowledged that it has had "conversations" with Conan O'Brien about hosting a latenight show at FOX but said that no real negotiations have gotten underway. The comments were made by Murdoch as part of his quarterly earnings call with investor. "If the programming people can show us we can do it ... and make a profit, we would do it in a flash," said Murdoch about O'Brien. He went on to say that he was "sure there have been some conversations" but "no real negotiations" had taken place. (Hollywood Reporter)

Doctor Who Magazine has revealed the titles for the first three episodes of Matt Smith's run on Doctor Who, set to premiere this spring on BBC One and BBC America. New showrunner and head writer Steven Moffat has written the first two installments, entitled "The Eleventh Hour" (fitting given Smith's status as the Eleventh Doctor) and "The Beast Below." These will be followed up by the third episode, entitled "Victory of the Daleks," and written by Mark Gatiss. Other writers confirmed for the fifth season of Doctor Who include Richard Curtis, Gareth Roberts, Chris Chibnall, Simon Nye, and Toby Whithouse. (via Digital Spy)

HBO is developing an untitled political drama that revolves around a "young political aide and his relationship with his idol--the former President of the United States." Project, from Leverage, will be written by Ben Schwerin and executive produced by Stephen Levinson, Mark Wahlberg, and Doug Ellin. Separately, the pay cabler is also developing a project with executive producer Tim Gibbons that will be based on Pamela Des Barres' memoir "I'm With the Band." Zooey Deschanel is attached to star. (Variety)

Pilot casting alert: Billy Gardell (My Name is Earl) has been cast as the male lead in CBS comedy pilot Mike and Molly, from executive producer Chuck Lorre. Elsewhere, Harish Patel (No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency) has been cast in NBC comedy pilot Nevermind Nirvana, where he will play the father of two adult Indian-American children. (Hollywood Reporter)

Futon Critic is reporting that the fourth and final season of Saving Grace will return to the TNT schedule on Monday, March 29th with back-to-back episodes beginning at 9 pm ET/PT before it moves into its regularly scheduled timeslot of 10 pm ET/PT the following week. Southland, meanwhile, will wrap up its second season on Tuesday, April 6th. (Futon Critic)

The CW has ordered pilot presentations for dramas HMS and Hellcats and a full pilot for supernatural drama Betwixt. HMS, from writer/executive producer Amy Holden Jones and executive producer Hayden Panettiere, follows the freshman class at Harvard Medical School. Hellcats, from writer/executive producer Kevin Murphy and executive producer Tom Welling, is set within the highly competitive world of college cheerleading. Betwixt, from writer/executive producer Elizabeth Chandler and executive producer Paul Stupin, follows "'changelings' in an urban setting who are responsible for saving humans from evil." All three are being produced jointly by CBS Television Studios and Warner Bros. Television. (Hollywood Reporter)

Elsewhere, CBS ordered a pilot for drama ATF, from writer/director Michael Dinner, about "an ATF agent who hunts down the most dangerous criminals while trying to balance life as a dad to his teenage daughter who has re-entered his life." Project, from Sony Pictures Television and CBS Television Studios, will be executive produced by Dinner, Sarah Timberman, and Carl Beverly. Also on tap: a pilot order for drama The Quinn-tuplets, based on an Israeli series about five adult siblings who have had their entire lives documented on film. Project, from CBS Television Studios, is written by Mike Kelley and Chris Kelley (Swingtown). (Hollywood Reporter)

Looks like Oprah Winfrey isn't quite ready to leave behind her daytime talk show. Winfrey's nascent cable network, OWN, which launches in January 2011, will air Behind the Scenes: Oprah's 25th Season as a weekly primetime series that will depict the behind-the-scenes goings-on at the syndicated daytime talk show and focus both on Winfrey and other staffers. OWN also announced four additional series in development: Kid-napped, based on a British reality format about kids who force their working parents to spend time with them by taking away their Blackberries and mobile phones; Miracle Detectives, which follows a real-life believer and skeptic as they investigate mysterious incidents; Search, which follows people as they attempt to track down people from their pasts in order to find closure; and Sentenced, about real women in prison. (Variety)

CTV isn't waiting for CBS to announce an airdate for the co-produced drama series The Bridge, starring former BSG cast member Aaron Douglas. CTV will launch the series on Friday, March 5th at 9 pm with a two-hour premiere before shifting the series to its normal timeslot at 10 pm the following week. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

The Daily Beast: "Lost, For the Last Time (Part Two)"

It's here: the sixth and final season of Lost begins tonight!

But before we set off to the island for the last time, get prepared for tonight's season premiere of Lost ("LA X") with the second part of my interview with Lost showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse over at The Daily Beast, entitled "Lost, For the Last Time."

In Part One of my interview, Lindelof and Cuse discussed Season Six of Lost, the series' influence on television programming, its legacy, and why viewers shouldn't expect to see every mystery get answered this season.

In the newly released second half of my Daily Beast interview with Cuse and Lindelof, the duo talk specifically about the sixth and final season of Lost: the fates of Henry Ian Cusick's Desmond Hume and Sonya Walger's Penelope Widmore; the return of such long-dead characters as Michael (Harold Perrineau) and Libby (Cynthia Watros) to the series; the show's final image; the future of the Lost franchise; their emotional state; and what oft-rumored project the duo won't be tackling next.

So head over to The Daily Beast to see just what Cuse and Lindelof had to say and be sure to tune in tonight for the start of Season Six of Lost.

Lost returns February 2nd with a one-hour special at 8 pm ET/PT followed by the two-hour season premiere at 9 pm ET/PT on ABC.

Nothing Is a Sure Thing: Actions and Consequences on "Damages"

"Girls have secrets; men have honor." - Barry

"You are only as happy as your saddest child." - Ibrahim

"When I look at you, all I see is guilt." - Patty

This week's taut and engaging episode of Damages ("The Dog is Happier Without Her"), written by Aaron Zelman and directed by Matthew Penn, advanced the parallel plots in the present day and the six months in the future timeframe, offering a number of intriguing twists even as the plot continued to uncoil itself.

But while the episode's focus was piecing together the various mysteries that confront both the Tobin family, the district attorney's office, and the lawyers at the newly minted Hewes Shayes & Associates, the specter of the past had a way of showing up in the form of Patty's ex-husband Phil Grey (Michael Nouri). With only the utterance of two words ("Ray Fiske"), Phil has a way of ripping through Patty's armor in a way no one else can. Could it be that she does still regret what they did all those years ago to poor Ray?

This week's installment found Patty and Tom inching their way closer to the truth about the Tobin case, aided by Ellen Parsons. That Ellen would be the one to do what neither Patty nor Tom could do (track down the person to whom the initials DMM belonged) is rather ironic. Or, should you believe Patty to be the ultimate gamesman, only fitting, really.

So what did I think of this week's episode? Let's discuss.

This week's episode, the season's second, was another superlative installment that ramped up the tension and kept the various plots moving at a breakneck pace. While we see more of the fallout from Patty and Phil's divorce (as well as a host of regrets), the Tobin case becomes more personal for Tom and Ellen finds herself being increasingly drawn back into Patty's orbit.

Crash, Redux. In the future storyline, Detective Huntley continues to investigate the automobile collision involving Patty, and makes a number of shocking discoveries this week, many of which revolve around Tom Shayes himself. For one, he's discovered a connection between Tom and the "residentially challenged" Barry (Michael Laurence) as the two appear to be associates who helped each other out from time to time. Barry is still wearing Tom's expensive watch, which he exchanged for the monogrammed cowboy boots he spied in Barry's shopping cart... boots which happened to be custom-made for Louis Tobin himself.

Barry is also the same individual who answered the burner cell phone that Patty called at the end of last week's episode. A cell phone that was tossed into the dumpster next to which Barry resides and in which Tom's corpse was discovered. Why toss the boots and the cell phone there? Curious...

Detective Huntley, or "The Welshman" as Barry calls him, believes that Barry murdered Tom but that's clearly not the case. Barry is loath to discuss anything about Tom, other than saying that he was a "good egg." Not only did the bloodstained $3000 Chanel bag discovered among Barry's things belong Ellen but it contained her driver's license as well. Just why was it dumped there? Whose blood is on the bag? And what happened that night?

Barry also maintains that Tom and Ellen were seeing each other, a story that seems to check out when Ellen visits Tom's widow Deb (Jennifer Roszell) and asks her who else knew about her and Tom? Hmmm... If Tom was murdered, then mightn't the killer also be after Ellen? Is that why Ellen is seemingly panicked after she learns of Tom's death and needs to know who else knew about the two of them? And were they actually involved? Or is something else going on here?

But it's the final reveal this week that's most intriguing as the medical examiner's report shows three superficial wounds on Tom's body, none of which were actually the cause of death. Instead, we learn that it wasn't the collision that killed Tom Shayes: he drowned to death. Just what that means and what Ellen is thinking as she stares out into the ominous waters of the Hudson River remains to be seen...

Patty. Loved this week's storyline with Patty being reunited with her soon-to-be ex-husband Phil, an emotional rollercoaster that started with Patty blindsided by Phil's line about Ray Fiske and which culminated with Patty laughing telling Phil--after she had won him over with their lonely dog and several, meaningful drinks--that she didn't need him and didn't want him back. The journey from Phil looking to punish Patty to him looking to get back together with her was masterfully manipulated by Patty herself. She wound up not only getting the apartment and keeping their dog but also putting Phil in his place. Nicely played.

Tom. Tom is, of course, more deeply invested in the outcome of the Tobin case than he even knew. The look of horror when Roger (Michael Gaston) tells him that he is one of the thousands swindled out of their savings by Louis Tobin is compounded by his admission to his wife that they've lost everything and that the "sure thing" he poured their money into was a scam that ensnared all of their relatives as well. While Joe is concerned about how he'll support his family, the Tobins have destroyed countless others. The usually unflappable Tom was a zombie when Ellen ran into him in the street; while her info helped advance their case, it's meaningless now that he's lost everything.

The Tobin Family. Joe, meanwhile, agrees to use the funds ("enough for generations") that his father has secretly hidden and promises to take care of the entire family. It's no mean feat, considering that Patty continues to have the family's assets frozen and their palatial Manhattan apartment seized. Joe's wife Rachel (Reiko Aylesworth) wants to take their son away from the chaos to her parents (one can't blame her) and Joe is beginning to unravel, seeking out his AA sponsor Ibrahim (Souleymane Sy Savane) for a pep talk and looking for some way to get his family out of the situation his father has created.

It's a situation that's even more volatile now that the identity of DMM has become known. With the help of Ellen and the DA's files, Patty and Tom learn the identity of DMM: Danielle Marchetti (Madchen Amick), who received a call from Louis Tobin on Thanksgiving, accepted a gift of a $2000 shearling coat, and who just happens to be Louis' mistress.

But Danielle isn't just the receptionist at the health club where Louis Tobin plays squash; it's quite apparent from Joe's evasive behavior when questioned by Tom and Patty and his anger towards his father that he's extremely familiar with Danielle. And that, given the hostility he displays at Danielle's house (which once belonged to his own sister) that their history goes back further than we might think. I'd go so far to say that Joe and Danielle were romantically involved at some point before her relationship with Louis. His needling her about the "old Tobin charm" and his smashing of the photograph speak of an intimacy that wouldn't be there if the two had never met. It's a further betrayal of Joe by Louis, one that leads him to begin drinking again. And if he hadn't been drinking, he may not have run over Danielle in the driveway...

While we're clearly meant to think that Joe's inadvertent killing of Danielle will pose some problems, it's actually a good thing for Louis Tobin. Concerned that Danielle would be subpoenaed by Patty Hewes, he had arranged an expedited passport for her and she was meant to be on a plane that night. But Joe may have done Louis and devoted family lawyer Leonard Winstone a favor: she's now been silenced permanently and whatever Danielle Marchetti knew she took to her grave.

What did you think of this week's episode? Just what did Danielle know? How far will Joe go to clear his family's name and to cover up his crime? Are Tom and Ellen going to have a secret affair? Who murdered Tom and why? Discuss.

Next week on Damages ("Flight's at 11:08"), Patty races to prevent a key witness in the Tobin case from fleeing the country; Ellen learns a dark family secret.

The Invention of Lying: Another Geek Bites the Dust on "Chuck"

As much as I love Chuck (and am obsessed with this current season), I have to say that last night's episode wasn't my favorite.

Last night's installment of Chuck ("Chuck Versus the Nacho Sampler), written by Matt Miller and Scott Rosenbaum, was oddly inert after the strength of the last few episodes. I'm not entirely sure why, really, considering that Miller and Rosenbaum are two of the strongest scribes on the writing team but the episode felt like it was barely held together with all of the increasingly large plot holes.

While I was glad to see Hannah (Kristin Kreuk) attempting to fit in at the Buy More and Morgan and Ellie finally growing increasingly suspicious of Chuck's behavior as well as Chuck reevaluate his role in the spy world, the episode's strength lay more in its themes than its execution this time around.

It's been demonstrated throughout Chuck's run so far that Chuck is a fish out of water when it comes to the espionage world. He's a civilian who is in way over his head and he lacks the emotional deadening that comes with the job, along with the killer hours and dangerous weapons training. He cares too much: for his family, for his would-be true love, and for the people that they encounter.

It was only a matter of time before Chuck would be forced to use his own asset and I knew that this day would likely involve Chuck reflecting on how Sarah initially used him as well. I thought this was nicely achieved via the use of archival footage from the pilot episode (rather than faux flashbacks) featuring Sarah's first appearance at the Buy More and this sequence provided a rather nice bookend structure for the episode.

But I thought it was odd that said asset, Manoosh (Fahim Anwar), would be developing another Intersect, considering we've been told how impossible creating the Intersect was. And yet, by reverse-engineering some leftover components, Manoosh was able to essentially duplicate Chuck's 2.0 skill sets. Leaving that aside for now, I also wondered why Manoosh wasn't more sympathetic of a character. While Chuck sees him as someone sympatico, Casey is right: the guy is developing a weapon for money. I didn't feel bad at all that Chuck and Sarah were playing this chump, considering that he was willing to profit from other people's deaths. He wasn't a dupe employed by The Ring who believed he was doing something beneficial for all mankind; he knew he was doing something wrong and wanted to profit from it.

Additionally, I was confused by several plot developments along the way. Chuck and Sarah (wearing a revealing Frak Off t-shirt) meet Manoosh at the bar and, thanks to some tranquilizers, get him back to Castle, where they wait around for Langley to send a hazardous material team before they can even think of opening him Manoosh's briefcase, which allegedly contains a powerful weapon. Okay, I can accept that but I was confused by the fact that they took Manoosh at night, drugged him all night, woke him up in the morning, and then repeatedly tranquilized him with "twilight" tranqs which supposedly would erase the last five minutes of his memory each time...

Besides for the fact that they barely gave Sarah a chance to obtain information (she could have easily strung him along, in spite of his request for more sex), his repeated drugging would mean that he wouldn't remember agreeing to meet Chuck at the Buy More. And just how did he get to the Buy More? He's last seen being drugged after trying to leave his Castle cell... and then strolls into the Buy More fully dressed and no worse for wear. Just how did he get there? How did he get out of his cell? Color me confused.

But the real head-scratcher with this week's episode was the fact that, despite knowing just what flight Manoosh was on, the team traveled to Dubai to apprehend him instead of just picking him up at the airport. Why travel to the other side of the world to apprehend a suspect with a weapon when you knew where he was going to be? Why not just jump him at the airport and take him back into custody?

After all, Dubai isn't just around the corner from Burbank. Chuck's prolonged and inexplicable absence from the Buy More would be exceedingly noticeable and harder to construct a cover story for this time around. Besides, Hannah's presence at the Buy More has also meant more noticeable yogurt runs with Casey and his cover is looking more and more likely to be blown.

Perhaps that was the idea: maybe the Dubai trip is the tipping point for which Morgan finally realizes that Chuck is lying to him. Except it wasn't: it was Hannah tipping him off about Chuck's recent install in Paris, which he knew nothing about. I'm glad that Morgan is realizing that his friendship with Chuck seems to be based on lies of late but I would have rather that epiphany came more from this unexplained absence. (I do like the idea of stalkers Jeff and Lester spying on Chuck, however; it's about time someone at the Buy More noticed his odd behavior.)

And I'm glad that Morgan is confiding his fears in Ellie, who is herself suspicious of Chuck. The walls are beginning to close in on Chuck and his carefully constructed cover story won't really hold up to close scrutiny. It's about time that more of his friends and family became aware of his double life... or called him out more fully for his flimsy excuses and frequent disappearances.

However, I wasn't sure why Captain Awesome freaked out as he did about the Paris trip, considering that Chuck had managed to come up with an explanation about why he lied to Ellie. True, Devon doesn't like lying (and is terrible at it) but his odd outburst just drew more attention to Chuck. Also puzzling: yes, Chuck claimed that he had arranged for a honeymoon for Devon and Ellie at this guy's Paris flat, but who paid for their airfare? Their Parisian housing might be free but LA to Paris plane tickets don't grow on trees and Chuck isn't exactly rolling in cash...

Yes, Chuck's lies would eventually catch up to him and I'm glad to see that his eyes are finally being opened about what being a spy means and how one has to put aside personal feelings in order to be successful. His actions in Dubai--shooting Manoosh with a tranquilizer after letting him go--showed that he's attempting to swallow his moral qualms and follow orders... and that his own past experiences don't necessarily apply here. Sometimes assets have to burned and you can't get personally involved or you'll wind up gutted, emotionally or physically.

I did like the final scene of Chuck drinking a glass of Johnny Walker Black by himself as Sarah realizes that Chuck becoming a real spy might not be the best thing, considering just what Chuck has lost in the process: the very innocence and naivete that made him attractive to her in the first place. The truth hurts.

All in all, not the best episode of Chuck this season but one that I think set up some important story threads for the series that will be played out this season. While I wish that this episode had been a bit more clever than it was, I'm happy to see that the consequences are starting to stack up against Chuck as the walls begin to close in.

What did you think of this week's episode? Do you agree that it could and should have been better? Will Morgan and Ellie find out Chuck's secret? And how does Hannah fit into the overarching story? Discuss.

Next week on Chuck ("Chuck Versus the Mask"), Chuck and Hannah unexpectedly become part of Agent Shaw's latest mission; Morgan and Ellie continue their mission to get to the bottom of Chuck s strange behavior.

TV on DVD: "Doctor Who: The Complete Specials"

Prepare to say goodbye all over again.

I've only finally just gotten used to the idea that there won't be any more Doctor Who episodes starring David Tennant. Tennant departed the British sci-fi series after a handful of seasonal specials between December 2008 and January 2010 that depicted the Tenth Doctor locked in his final battle. A battle that resulted in the death of the Tenth Doctor and his regeneration.

Doctor Who has always been a series that not only endures after the departure of its lead actor but seems to revel in the new possibilities that an incoming actor can bring to the role of the Time Lord. Still, Tennant has carved out a sizable place in the ongoing mythos of Doctor Who for his portrayal of the lonely traveler and he'll be much missed.

BBC Video today releases Doctor Who: The Complete Specials, featuring David Tennant's final episodes as the Tenth Doctor. This five-disc set features all five of Tennant's Doctor Who specials, as well as a host of bonus material.

Each of the final five Tennant specials gets their own disk here, from December 2008's Doctor Who: The Next Doctor through the two-part swan song Doctor Who: The End of Time (Parts One and Two). It's actually quite nice to see each of the specials get some breathing space and warrant their own individual disks. Each of the specials really does function as its own mini-feature film, so there's something quite pleasant about them being treated as such rather than just shoehorned onto two discs.

Each of the specials is unique in plot and tone. Doctor Who: The Next Doctor finds the Tenth Doctor battling a steampunk robot in Victorian London and meeting a man who might just be his future incarnation; it's an adventure story about the price of vengeance and the power of loss. Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead is a caper story crossed with a tale of survival as the Doctor and jewel thief Lady Christina de Souza (Michelle Ryan) find themselves stranded on a strange planet with a busload of strangers with no way of getting home. Doctor Who: The Waters of Mars is a dark thriller as an alien presence invades Bowie Base One on Mars and the Doctor makes a decision that will haunt him. And the final two-parter Doctor Who: The End of Time (Parts One and Two) finds the Doctor fighting for his life as he is locked in battle once more with his greatest adversary, The Master (John Simm).

But the real treat here is the more than seven hours worth of bonus material that has been crammed into this release. Not only are there audio commentaries, deleted scenes, and episodes of Doctor Who Confidential, but there's also the Doctor Who at the Proms concert, David Tennant's video diaries from his final days on the set, and the entire Doctor Who Comic-Con panel from July 2009.

All in all, this is a must-own item for any fan of Doctor Who or David Tennant himself. With the fifth season of Doctor Who--starring Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor--set to launch this spring on BBC One and BBC America, there's no better time to say your final goodbyes to the Tenth Doctor with this incredible box set. Allons-y!

Doctor Who: The Complete Specials is available for purchase today for a suggested retail price of $49.98. Or pick up a copy today in the Televisionary store for just $36.99.

Channel Surfing: Lilly and Fox to Quit TV After "Lost," Broderick Finds "Beach Lane" for NBC, Kurtzman and Orci Sign 20th Deal, and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing.

E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos is reporting that Lost co-stars Evangeline Lilly and Matthew Fox plan to quit television after the end of the ABC drama series and that Lilly wants to leave acting behind altogether. "I think this will be the last time you see me on TV," Fox told Dos Santos. "I'm either going to do the kind of things I want to do in the film world, or maybe I'll just do something else entirely... I've done almost 300 hours of [TV]. It's been two really great experiences between Party of Five and Lost. I'm ready to take it to the next step and see what I can do in that [film] world." As for Lilly, she is looking to continue in the film world in a capacity other than being in front of the camera and focus on philanthropic work in Rwanda. "I just haven't found where that is yet. I don't know if anything has gelled yet. I don't know if it fits," she told Dos Santos. "I want to have some quiet space. [I want to] drop off the radar a little bit and enjoy a little bit of normalcy again." (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

In other Lost-related news, it appears that most fans didn't watch the version of the season premiere that had been leaked online over the weekend. [Editor: good on them!] (Hollywood Reporter) And Mike Hale of The New York Times has a fantastic interactive chronological timeline for Lost's narrative as well as audio quotes from Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse. (New York Times)

Matthew Broderick has signed on to star in NBC multi-camera comedy pilot Beach Lane, where he will play a celebrated author who represents the last hope for a struggling Hamptons newspaper owned by an oblivious millionaire. The Universal Media Studios-produced project, written by Paul Simms, is executive produced by Lorne Michaels and Marci Klein. Casting is the first time Broderick has signed on as a regular on a television series. The Peacock also gave out a pilot order to multi-camera comedy Perfect Couples, about three couples who are each in a different stage of their respective relationships. Project, from Universal Media Studios, was created by writer/executive producers Jon Pollack (30 Rock) and Scott Silveri (Friends). (Variety)

Fringe co-creators Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci have signed a three-year overall deal with 20th Century Fox Television, which goes into effect on March 1st. Under the terms of the deal, Kurtzman and Orci will launch their own production shingle and begin developing series for the studio; while the duo will write, they will also work with other writers as well. "We looked at all the creative heroes that we've had: Steven Bochco, Shawn Ryan, Ryan Murphy," said Kurtzman. "That's the kind of brand-building we want to go for." (Hollywood Reporter, Variety)

CBS gave out two pilot orders yesterday, greenlighting cop drama Reagan's Law, described as a "multi-generational show revolving around a family of cops in New York." Project, from CBS Television Studios, hails from Mitchell Burgess and Robin Green (The Sopranos), who will executive produce with Leonard Goldberg. The Eye also ordered a pilot for an untitled medical drama from writer Hannah Shakespeare (The Philanthropist), executive producer John Wells, and Warner Bros. Television, about a team of traveling doctors who make stops across the US to help low income people. (Hollywood Reporter)

ABC has ordered a pilot for single-camera comedy It Takes a Village, about the unconventional family formed by two ex-spouses and their new significant others as raise their 15-year-old son. Project, from ABC Studios, is written by Casey Johnson and David Windsor (Greek) and executive produced by Mark Gordon, Deborah Spera, and Andrea Shay. (Hollywood Reporter)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Michael will get a new love interest on The Office this season. "Michael is going to meet someone," showrunner Paul Lieberstein told Ausiello. "It’s one of these set-ups where a bunch of people go out and you don’t know you’re being set up... he kind of flips out and goes into 'date mode.' And it goes in a weird direction from there." Casting for the role has yet to get underway but the character is expected to appear in March or April. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

HBO is developing a biopic based on the life of ex-beauty queen and anti-gay activist Anita Bryant, with Chad Hodge (Runaway) attached to write and Darren Star (Sex and the City) attached to direct the telepic. (Hollywood Reporter)

NBC has announced that it will air the two-hour backdoor pilot for Canadian co-produced drama Secrets of the Mountain (also known as The Mountain) on April 16th at 8 pm ET/PT. (Futon Critic)

Spike has ordered six episodes of reality series Half Pint Brawlers, which will "examine the world of little-person wrestling and its increasing popularity as an underground sport." Series, from The Idea Factory and Lumberjack Crew, is set to launch in June as part of a programming block with the ten-episode Scrappers, in which "participants search for scrap metal and other trash that can be converted into cash." (Variety)

Stay tuned.

A Yellow House: Unquiet Souls on "Big Love"

"There's no law against crazy." - Bill

Do we become our parents in the end? Regardless of the rights and wrongs of our forebears' actions, are our fates sealed from the moment we're born? Are we forced not to follow our own paths, but rather to fall into old patterns determined by those who have come before us?

These are questions brilliantly unearthed and examined in the latest episode of HBO's Big Love ("The Mighty and Strong"), written by Melanie Marnich and directed by Dan Attias.

Throughout its four seasons so far, the drama series--created by Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer--has done an incredible job at painting the struggles between multiple generations of believers, setting in motion an exploration of family destiny and a personal journey. Last night's episode brought these conflicts to the fore, exploring the relationship between fathers and sons and mothers and daughters and offering a shocking reveal at the episode's end that might point to the blindness of men when it comes to their pasts.

With the halfway point of the season already in sight, this week's episode of Big Love ramped up the tension and offered us a series of brutal revelations, many of which centered on the deeply conflicted Bill Henrickson. Belief is a dangerous thing, especially when it is accompanied by blind faith and an inability to see the consequences of one's actions.

Bill believes himself to be on a righteous path, one ordained by Heavenly Father, that has compelled him to run for political office. But he's stumbled into a moral quagmire, one that enables him to take a decidedly wrong ends-justify-the-means approach to his campaign... and his life. His decision to send Nicki on a recon mission at his opponent's campaign headquarters flies in the face of reason, considering that Bill was meant to keep Nicki on the straight and narrow. Why is his use of Nicki's skills here any worse or better than Roman drafting his manipulative daughter into going undercover at the D.A.'s office during his trial? While it's not illegal, it's just as morally reprehensible. Yet Bill does so without any compunction.

Likewise, he's only more than willing to throw poor Don Embry to the wolves. Don who has stood by his side for years, endured Bill's egocentricity with little more than a sigh, and done everything that his "partner" has asked of him, all while his own personal life has fallen apart around him. That Bill would ask his long-suffering friend to "take the bullet" and out himself as a polygamist is just too much. That Don would willingly go along with this, to endure the hostile glare of the polygamist-loathing media, and still show up at Bill's announcement, is the sign of a true friend. If only Bill would ever return the favor...

But it was Bill's behavior at the episode's end that truly shocked me to the core. Having been sent away by his own father Frank as a teenager, Bill does the very same thing to his own son, effectively banishing him once he learns that Ben's feelings for Margene are reciprocated. It's this falling into old, familiar patterns that made Bill suddenly seem as weak as Frank. That his actions--and his decision not to stop Ben from leaving--should come so soon on the heels of Lois introducing him at the rally and his words about how the man he is today is due to her influence alone is all the more ironic. Has Bill truly not learned from his past? Is he becoming Frank before our eyes, a tyrannical priesthood-holder whose will is ultimate among his wives and children? Is he so weak and jealous that he fears a wife being taken away from him by his teenage son?

It was interesting to me that Bill only perceived Ben as a threat after Margene tearfully admitted that it was she who kissed Ben and not the other way around. Bill could handle his teenage son having a crush on his youngest wife and learning, thanks to Teenie, that he had given her a love letter on their trip to Cumorah, but the moment it became clear that those feelings were reciprocated by Margene, the danger signs began to flash before his eyes.

I was proud, however, that Margene came clean about her feelings for Ben to Bill. The old Margene would have let Ben take the blame for the "blooper" at the television station in order to keep the peace at home. But Margene is transforming before our eyes too, becoming a strong woman who refuses to keep her feelings bottled up or lie about her own past. (Perhaps to a fault, her on-air confession about her parents may not have gone over well with "shiny things" purchasing viewers.) Her tearful display of honesty to Bill ("I kissed him. And I meant it.") spoke volumes about her inner conflict as much as when she subconsciously looked at Ben's stomach as he stretched to retrieve the hot cocoa mix for her earlier. She can't help the way that she feels. Despite striving for perfection, she is imperfect and has deep feelings for Ben that she can't control.

Sending Ben away might remove temptation for now but it won't fix anything in the long-term and it's only further sending Bill down a dark path towards the ideology of Frank. I was surprised that Frank turned up at Bill's announcement but he's quickly dispatched by Bill's glowing remarks about Lois, a surprise about-face considering his issues with his mother. But Bill's whole candidacy would seem to be based on a false foundation of traditional family unity, a lie that will corrupt his campaign from the beginning.

Others have plans for Bill as well. It's not immediately clear just what JJ wants Joey to do but he has Bill's brother under his thumb after he and Malinda photographed Joey and Wanda digging up Roman's body and burning it. Joey shows up at the rally and makes an entrance that plays up his own lost past (football hero) and his own morally fractious present. Will Joey sell out Bill in order to ensure JJ's continued silence? Most likely, yes. He yearns to give Wanda the life she wants and, rather touchingly, her dreams aren't big or lavish. They involve a yellow house, a sanctuary for her and her family away from interference.

But JJ isn't likely to allow that future to come to pass. He has plans for Juniper Creek and for the empire that Roman Grant built. His first request of the newly installed heir to the prophethood Alby is to request placement of Adaleen in his household, a marriage "for time" rather than eternity. Just why he wants Adaleen is a mystery but his twisted nature must find some "perverse" humor in the fact that he will marry the mother of his ex-wife and become, essentially, Nicki's father on earth.

As for Adaleen, her pained keening on the phone to Nicki was diametrically opposed to her out of character Zen-like calm when Nicki learned that she was to be sealed to JJ. Adaleen purports to be on a path of righteous obedience, but that's never been the case with Nicki's mother; she operates out of self-preservation more than anything. Was that why she turned her trailer around and returned to the compound? Did she realize that she couldn't exist on her own outside of Juniper Creek?

(Addendum: Also wanted to say how much I loved the moment where Jodean freed the Mexican parrots while Lois and Frank slept in the back of the car. Her satisfied smirk was the icing on the cake after her efforts at rebellion, payback for being treated like little more than a work mule. Nicely played.)

Alby, meanwhile, went to a whole other level of crazy when he broke into Dale's house in order to give him a present of grape jelly and cook him dinner... only to flee when he found proof of what he believed to be a grievous betrayal. I had wondered if Alby was playing Dale but he seems to have become obsessed with the UEB state-appointed trustee. His return to Dale's house signals perhaps a more honest union between the two but one that's doomed to come crashing down around their heads.

Our futures aren't always set from big actions but sometimes the small ones. I was glad to see that the writers dealt head-on not only with Ben's love letter from the Cumorah trip but also Sarah's miscarriage, turning it into something poignant about false second chances. Sarah's efforts to keep Leila's son after she abandons him (and tells the reservation authorities that Sarah took the baby) isn't so much the result of wanting to care for this child but the consequences of the loss of her and Scott's unborn baby. Unlike her mothers, Sarah has a supportive husband who isn't a dictator in their household; I was happy to see Scott offer Sarah his unwavering support and understanding, no matter what she decided to do.

Could it be then that there is hope for the next generation of Henricksons? Or are they too doomed to follow in their parents' footsteps? I don't think that Ben would have thought that his father--who earlier said that they shared an "open door" policy of trust between them--would have supported his exile from the Henrickson household. Is this breach a potential sign that Ben might have second thoughts about the Principle? Or that he sees his father clearly now, perhaps for the first time?

All in all, a fantastic installment that continues to see Bill sacrifice everyone around him to achieve his ends, even as his family continues to unravel at the seams. With only five episodes of Big Love remaining this season, I dare say that Barb may be right: the sugar is about hit the fan in a very big way.

Next week on Big Love ("Sins of the Father"), Bill tries to win Paley's support for the state Senate nomination; Marilyn makes a pitch to represent the casino's interests in Washington; Frank drops by the casino with Lois and Jodean.

Ep. 39: Sins of the Father - Preview

Sweet Tart: An Advance Review of Season Three of Showtime's "Secret Diary of a Call Girl"

The musings of ambitious call girl Belle de Jour (Billie Piper) have made for some tongue-in-cheek and witty narration but the third season of Showtime's British series Secret Diary of a Call Girl finds art imitating life as Belle--or Hannah as she's known outside of the bedroom--authors a tell-all book about her life as one of London's most sought-after, er, companions.

Season Three of Secret Diary of a Call Girl, which begins tonight on Showtime, finds Hannah grappling with her newfound notoriety while also attempting to remain anonymous. It's a conundrum tantalizingly set up in the season's opening episode, in which she goes undercover at her own book launch party, only discover that her publisher Duncan (James D'Arcy) has hired a staggeringly stupid blonde bimbo to pose as "Belle de Jour" and read an excerpt from her book.

It's a nice moment that challenges both Hannah and our own preconceptions about who prostitutes are and who they should be. (It's those assumptions that were further dented by the realization that the real-life Belle de Jour is former prostitute turned PhD, Brooke Magnanti. You can read what Piper told me about meeting Magnanti here.)

I had the opportunity to watch the entire third season of Secret Diary back in December and found it to be addictively engaging... and as effervescent as a glass of vintage champagne.

Season Three finds Hannah attempting to begin a new chapter of her life as a famous author while attempting to put the events of the second season (and her disastrous love affair with Callum Blue's Alex) out of her mind. But once again, Hannah finds herself falling for someone she shouldn't, this time her dishy publisher Duncan (D'Arcy). But does Duncan want her for her body or her mind? Is he interested in Hannah romantically or in Belle for her lurid stories?

As Hannah finds herself being drawn inexorably towards Duncan, her alter ego Belle, delves deeper into the prostitution scene, accepting engagements from clients in an effort to generate more material for a second book. Over the course of the season, we see a Belle willing to try more and more as she continues to pound... the keyboard in search of more exciting and sexually adventurous chapters.

But there are new complications in Hannah's life besides for her attraction to Duncan. An unexpected houseguest--in the form of her married sister Jackie (Joanna Bobin)--throws Hannah's carefully ordered world into chaos. Besides for attempting to keep the two areas of her life separate, Jackie's entry into Hannah's life leads to a major fracture between her and best friend Ben (Iddo Goldberg), particularly when Jackie and Ben begin an affair.

Ouch.

Adding some comic relief is Belle's protege Bambi (Ashley Madekwe), a fellow prozzie and the closest thing Hannah has to someone who understands her situation. Hannah, Bambi, and Ben have formed a little troika of trust and friendship and it's quickly torn asunder by the arrival of Jackie. But Bambi has issues of her own, not least of which is her odd relationship with client Byron (David Dawson), an eccentric aristocrat who seems interested in dating Bambi... but who is paying her for her services.

And that's all I'll say about the plot of the well-crafted third season, which has some very funny moments, some unexpected plot twists, and a hell of a lot of soul-searching for each of the characters. D'Arcy and Dawson are two very welcome additions to the cast and there's a nice parallel narrative set up between Hannah and Bambi's romantic encounters this season, albeit with some very different outcomes for our two favorite working girls.

Season Three of Secret Diary is a delicious confection, the rare television series that blends dark comedy, sex, and witty dialogue into a fun and frothy package. It's the perfect antidote to your Monday workday blues.



Season Three of Secret Diary of a Call Girl begins tonight at 10 pm ET/PT on Showtime.

Channel Surfing: NBC Renews "Parks and Recreation," John Barrowman to Wisteria Lane, "Being Human" Gets Third Season, "Chuck," and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing.

Great news for fans of NBC's killer comedy Parks and Recreation: the Peacock has renewed the series for a third season, set to launch this fall. News of the renewal was broken by The Wrap's Josef Adalian, who reported that due to "certain production timing issues," an early renewal was required on the Universal Media Studios-produced comedy, which is executive produced by Greg Daniels and Mike Schur. (The Wrap)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Torchwood's John Barrowman is joining the cast of ABC's Desperate Housewives for at least five episodes this season. Barrowman, who is slated to appear beginning in April, will play "the Big Bad at the center of the Angie (Drea de Matteo) mystery," writes Ausiello. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

BBC Three has commissioned a third season of supernatural drama Being Human and announced that all three of the series' leads--Russell Tovey, Lenora Crichlow, and Aidan Turner--will return for a third go-around. Currently airing its second season in the UK, Being Human's third season will see the flatmates move to new digs in Wales. "BBC Three continues to provide us with a great opportunity to make unusual, ambitious drama, and we are very excited to be able to take the new series of Being Human into fresh territory," said executive producer Rob Pursey in a statement. "With the new location in mind, we’ve already established some startling new storylines and characters. We’ll also aim to deliver plenty more exclusive online content in the gaps between series." (BBC)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Fred Willard and Swoosie Kurtz are set to guest star later this season on NBC's Chuck, where the duo will play "a Hart to Hart-esque spy couple now over-the-hill but still in the game." Look for Willard and Kurtz to appear towards the end of the season. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Digital Spy is reporting that Bill Nighy is set to guest star in the fifth season of Doctor Who. Nighy will play a Vincent Van Gogh exhibition curator in an upcoming episode written by Richard Curtis that is set in 19th century France and the present day. "It was a real coup to get Bill Nighy in Doctor Who, especially in Richard Curtis's amazing episode," an unnamed Who insider told Digital Spy. "Bill plays a van Gogh expert with some similar fashion choices to The Doctor himself." (Digital Spy)

ABC has given a pilot order to a single-camera comedy pilot How to Be a Better American, about a man who decides to become a better person and forces his family along for the ride. Pilot, from ABC Studios, is written and executive produced by Scrubs' Steven Cragg and Brian Bradley. ABC also gave a pilot order to an untitled multi-camera comedy from writer/executive producer Dana Gould, who will star as well. Pilot, from Warner Bros. Television and 3 Arts Entertainment, revolves around a high school guidance counselor who is "caught between his own father's old-school beliefs and his wife's progressive attitude toward parenting." (Variety)

Allison Janney (The West Wing) has been cast opposite Matthew Perry in ABC single-camera comedy pilot Mr. Sunshine, about a 40-year-old sports stadium manager suffering a mid-life crisis. Janney will play Crystal, his boss, on the Sony Pictures Television-produced pilot. Elsewhere, Janney has also been cast in Showtime's US adaptation of British drama series Shameless, where she is set to recur. (Hollywood Reporter)

MTV has officially renewed reality series Jersey Shore for a second season, following the successful renegotiation of contracts for the cast members of the New Jersey-set series. Production is set to get underway on the second season's twelve-episode order, which is set to air this summer on MTV, though the gang "could escape the cold Northeast and find themselves in a new destination," according to the network's press release. (Variety, though I reported the renewal earlier in the week on Twitter)

Elsewhere at MTV, the cabler has ordered twelve episodes of reality series If You Really Knew Me, described as a reality version of The Breakfast Club, in which five high school students are put through Challenge Day, "a one-day program designed to break down barriers between different social cliques." MTV also gave out a second season renewal to Teen Mom, with eight episodes set to air this summer. (Hollywood Reporter)

Another series order at ABC Family: the cabler announced that it had ordered ten episoes of dramedy Melissa & Joey, starring Melissa Joan Hart and Joey Lawrence. Series, which is expected to launch this summer, will follow a politician (Hart) who hires a manny (Lawrence) to help her deal with her family. Hart and Lawrence will executive produce with David Kendall, Bob Young, and Paula Hart. (Variety)

Pilot casting alert! Reno Wilson (Crank: High Voltage) and Katy Mixon (Eastbound & Down) have been cast in CBS comedy pilot Mike and Molly, from executive producer Chuck Lorre. Meanwhile, Megan Hilty (Eli Stone) has joined the cast of NBC's untitled Adam Carolla comedy pilot. (Hollywood Reporter)

Spike has ordered weekly half-hour latenight series Manformation, which will "showcase everyday guys who have had extraordinary experiences, such as the convenience store clerk who fought off a robbery attempt or a stock broker who left Wall Street for a hitch in the military." Series, from Thom Beers' Original Prods., will be produced by authors George "Maddox" Ouzounian and Dax Herrera. Additionally, the cabler ordered a third season of reality series 1000 Ways to Die. (Variety)

Syfy is set to air five telepics that will offer fresh takes on classic fairy tales, including Beauty and the Beast, Hansel and Gretel, and Little Red Riding Hood. The first, Beauty and the Beast, will air on February 27th. (Hollywood Reporter)

Daytime syndicated lifestyle series The Nate Berkus Show is on track to launch this fall, after it was cleared on NBC's top 10 O&O stations. Series is co-produced by Harpo Prods. and Sony Pictures Television. (Hollywood Reporter)

TLC has ordered a third season of reality series Cake Boss. 26 episodes are on tap for the third season, which will launch in May. (Variety)

OWN has acquired Sundance documentary Family Affair, about the unraveling of a family when a ten-year-old boy shoots his sister in the leg. Written by Chico David Colvard, the film marks the first selection of OWN's documentary film club, which will air once a month on the cabler, which is set to launch in January 2011. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Countdown to "Lost": What Will Happen This Season?

Just what will happen this season on Lost?

With the season premiere of the sixth and final season of Lost only a few scant days away now, I thought it would be a good time to find out just what your theories are about (A) what happened to the castaways after Juliet detonated Jughead, (B) what will happen this season, and (C) what you predict the ending of the series will be.

I'd love to revisit these theories once Lost wraps up its run this May but, given that the first hour of Lost's season premiere is set to be shown to fans in Hawaii this weekend, we could engage in one final round of spoiler-free speculation for Lost before information begins pouring in.

So dig in: what do you think Team Darlton has in store for us this last season? What are your predictions about what will happen, who will die, who will end up together, and just what this all means? Discuss. (But, reminder: no spoilers!)

(Meanwhile, Part One of my interview with Lost showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse is up at The Daily Beast while Part Two--due to run this Tuesday--gets more into some elements of Season Six.)

Lost premieres Tuesday night with a one-hour retrospective special at 8 pm ET/PT and the two-hour sixth season premiere at 9 pm ET/PT on ABC.

Televisionary Exclusive: First Look at the Pilot Script for NBC's "Rex Is Not Your Lawyer"

One of the most eagerly anticipated (and constantly buzzed about) pilots of this current development season is NBC's legal dramedy, Rex Is Not Your Lawyer, which stars former Doctor Who star David Tennant as the titular non-attorney.

Given Tennant's stature and his popularity coming off of Doctor Who, expectations are running high for Rex, which had been rumored to be under contention for a March launch on NBC... but is now said to be in the mix for a possible slot on the Peacock's fall schedule. (Or is, off the table, should you believe what an unnamed insider told Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello earlier this week, though that has been unconfirmed.)

Regardless, I had the opportunity yesterday to sit down to read the pilot script for Rex Is Not Your Lawyer, written by David Lampson and Andrew Leeds, and was pleasantly surprised to encounter a quirky and compelling legal dramedy that juggled both a procedural element (the familiar case of the week) with an overarching, serialized plot.

(Note: As always, please do not reproduce this post in full on other sites. Quoting and excerpting are fine, but wholesale reproduction is definitely not okay.)

That ongoing storyline, which would run under the various cases Rex takes on on a weekly basis should Rex be ordered to series, involves not just the panic attacks suffered by Rex (Tennant) that have rendered him unable to act as an attorney, but also pulls in his panic-stricken shrink Dr. Barry Cannon (Jeffrey Tambor), his mother/mentor Ellen (Jane Curtin), his ex-fiancee Lindsey (Abigail Spencer), and his best friend Bruce (Jerry O'Connell). (There's also Rex's oft-put-upon assistant Sophia, played by Lindsey Kraft.)

But Rex isn't just another legal drama. Yes, there are courtroom shenanigans and cross-examinations, but what separates Rex from the pack is the series' underlying formula: Rex doesn't defend any of his clients himself but rather coaches them to defend themselves in court. The rationale behind the twist stems from his unexplained panic attacks, which leave Rex a wreck whenever he attempts to stand or say anything in a courtroom. For a showman such as Rex, one who loves to dazzle his audience, it's the ultimate form of stage fright.

I don't want to give away too much about the plot, other than that there's a nice love triangle developing between Rex, Lindsey, and Bruce, one that's enabled by Rex disappearing to Canada for six months, after his panic attack left him in the hospital. Reeling from Rex's abrupt departure (he takes off when Lindsey goes home to get a shower), Lindsey begins a tentative relationship with Rex's best friend Bruce. But Bruce isn't a stereotypical viper; he's a nice guy who's played second fiddle to showboat Rex for nearly their entire lives. (And, hell, he even goes so far as to ask Rex for permission to date Lindsey.)

My main complaint with the pilot script is that Jane Curtin's Ellen is given a little bit of short shrift here. Other than having a penchant for wearing bow ties and Prada suits and a subplot that has her dating Barry, Rex's now-former psychiatrist, her character is pretty wafer-thin. However, Curtin's astute comedic timing and superlative presence should help out her character's lack of definition. Still, given that it's one of the rare female characters over the age of 30 this development season, I was hoping for a bit more layering to Ellen; we're told that she skipped her sister's funeral to sit for the bar and that she and Rex like to take walks together but I want to see Ellen less as an extension of Rex and more as her own, fully formed individual.

Still, this is a minor quibble. There's a nice lightness to Rex that would separate it from other legal dramas and the lead character is fitting for David Tennant. Prone to hyperbole, dramatic gestures, and brainy discourse, Rex isn't a hotel-inhabiting lawyer embodying the Doctor but rather a compelling character whose both egocentric and sympathetic, a hyper-ambitious attorney knocked down a few pegs and humbled by his panic attacks. I can definitely see (and hear) Tennant in the dialogue and I think he's well suited for a role that calls for him to deliver fast-paced dialogue, steal the spotlight, and yet remain intriguingly vulnerable at the same time.

Rex Is Not Your Lawyer isn't groundbreaking television but it is fun and frothy, offering a novel take on a popular genre. In other words: should NBC decide to pick this up to series, I'd watch.

Gather Up the Dolls: The End of FOX's "Dollhouse"

I've had a very complicated relationship with Joss Whedon's Dollhouse, the metaphysical action series that wraps up its troubled run tonight on FOX with "Epitaph Two: The Return."

While I felt that there were moments of genius among the forced procedural element, the convoluted storylines, and gaping plot holes, Dollhouse often just left me pounding my head against the wall in frustration at times.

I never felt like Eliza Dushku's Echo became a gripping enough central character to anchor the series, which was always much more interesting when the focus shifted to that of Dollhouse's supporting players like Dichen Lachman, Enver Gjokaj, Olivia Williams, or Fran Kranz. (The latter of which grew on me exponentially as the series wore on.) But rather than shift into a full-blown ensemble, the action continually circled back to Dushku's Echo and Tahmoh Penikett's Paul Ballard, easily the two least interesting of the bunch. (Lachman's Priya/Sierra and Gjokaj's Anthony/Victor remain easy favorites.)

Additionally, while I thought that the early second season storyline involving Amy Acker's Whiskey was profoundly moving, it was quickly undone by the eleventh hour reveals of the last few weeks, which turned Dollhouse's compelling post-apocalyptic storyline (begun in last season's unaired and fantastic thirteen episode, "Epitaph One") into a bit of a mess.

Dollhouse has always been creatively uneven: the serialized aspect of the series has always tended to take a backseat to the procedural in both seasons and when the overarching plot has come into play, the results have been less than stellar. Season One's Alpha plot, which had such promise, degraded into a hodgepodge of soap operatics, truncated subplots, and metaphorical mustache-twirling. (It also revealed a shocking lack of security at the Dollhouse, a plot hole that has been used about a dozen or so times over the last two seasons as dolls, prisoners, and clients seemingly can wander in or out of the premises at will.)

The coming apocalypse gave Season One's "Epitaph One" such promise and emotional resonance; the Active technology, used for nefarious purposes via the doll's engagement, took on a portent of doom as it was the advancement of this tech that seemingly brought about the end of civilization. But some truly odd plot twists that come off as glaring retcons--such as the reveal that Harry Lennix's Boyd was in fact one of the founders of Rossum Corporation and that he'd kept the LA Dollhouse employees alive because he "loved" them--remove any sense of strong throughline here. To use one of the complaints of Lost-phobes, it seems like they are making it up as they go along.

Dollhouse will end tonight and that ending will be the ending of this narrative. It's highly unlikely that there will be any spinoff feature films, comics, or tie-in novels. And I'm glad about that. Not every one of Whedon's series can click with a huge audience nor can it find the same sort of obsessive adoration and respect that even the short-lived Firefly engendered.

I've stuck with Dollhouse against my better judgment at times; sometimes I was rewarded (the gripping Priya arc and Summer Glau's appearances as Bennett) and other times I wasn't (the lactating episode). I can't fault Whedon for trying something different and creating a series that asked some deep and dark questions about the nature of identity and reality.

But, ultimately, Dollhouse was a television series that no one--not Whedon, not FOX, not the series' writing staff--seemed to be on the same page about; it was as though everyone's agendas were at odds with one another and that was felt and seen on the screen each week. I'm hoping that Whedon lands somewhere more suited to his talents (FX, anyone?) and that his creative instincts and vision gel better with those of a future network.

In the meantime, I am more than ready to say goodbye to Dollhouse. Here's to hoping that some of the series' stand-out talents land on their feet after tonight's final future-set showdown.

The series finale of Dollhouse airs tonight at 8 pm ET/PT on FOX.

The Seahorse: Fathers and Sons on "Fringe"

I've said it before, but I'll say it again: won't somebody please give John Noble an Emmy nomination?

Noble's work on Fringe as the addled Dr. Walter Bishop has been absolutely superlative these past two seasons. As the action mounts to next week's winter finale of Fringe, Noble has rendered Walter as a truly tragic figure, one whose seeming innocence and scientific curiosity belies a true pragmatist, a man willing to make the tough decisions that no one else wants to make.

Never was this more true than in last night's compelling episode of Fringe ("The Bishop Revival"), which found the team dealing with a chemical weapon capable of targeting specific gene groups or individuals and unearthing a connection between the deadly technology and the Bishop family itself.

Despite its format as a procedural series, Fringe has done a smashing job this season at keeping the character development moving along swiftly and wisely placing the emphasis on the relationships between the three core characters. Over the past few weeks, we've learned a great deal about Walter's relationship to and obsessive love for his son Peter. This week, he looked to draw Olivia even closer into his family, urging Peter to marry Olivia.

It was a small moment but spoke volumes about the love that Walter has for Olivia. Despite what may have been done to her as a child by Walter and his former partner William Bell, it's clear that Walter has a paternal love for Agent Dunham. He cares for her deeply and wants to see her happy and he wants Peter to be happy. Therefore, the only logical solution is to put the two of them together.

I'm glad that Peter shot down this line of romantic inquiry straightaway. There's been a nice tension between Peter and Olivia since the start of the series but I've been extremely pleased to see that the writers haven't pushed the two of them into a full-blown flirtation or paired them off into will-they-or-won't-they couplehood. I think that Peter and Olivia work best as friends or emotional siblings; it gives their relationship some nice heft while also making Fringe different in this respect: the team isn't just colleagues, but a rather dysfunctional family.

Last night's episode once more mined the former estrangement between Walter and Peter for dramatic purposes, revealing that Peter had sold Walter's prize possessions--a series of German novels owned by his own father Dr. Bishoff--while he was in St. Clare's as an act of revenge. What Peter didn't know was that these novels were in fact repositories of secret Nazi science and that his grandfather was a Allied spy working to sabotage the scientific aims of the Third Reich.

I'm glad that it wasn't Peter's foolhardy sale of those books that brought about the killer airborne weapon that the mysterious German was developing but rather an unexpected coincidence. That the German was in fact over 100 years old and had known Walter's father was a more interesting twist, one that was left tantalizingly unsolved at the end of the episode. (Though it had been mentioned earlier that the Nazis were investigating a fountain of youth.)

(Interesting aside: I loved that Bishoff's signature was the seahorse--supposedly, he was a good swimmer--but given that we've so far only learned about the male side of the Bishop family tree, a fitting motif, given that male seahorses carry the eggs of their offspring.)

Walter's own attack by this individual placed his life in jeopardy (though, interestingly, the weapon was synthesized to only attack Walter and not his whole gene line) and Walter was able to turn the tables on the German and attack him using his own tools of destruction, murdering the man in front of an assembly of hundreds at the charity event. I had a feeling that Walter would strike back but didn't think that he would so calmly murder this man nor that he would tell Broyles that he knew what he had done and would face the consequences.

In the end, as Walter said, family is the most important thing to him. The act of murder he commits not only saves the world from this maniac's twisted ideals but also reclaims his father's work and safeguards them from once more falling into the wrong hands. If there's one thing that motivates Walter Bishop it is the protection of those he loves as evidenced by the lengths he went--wrongly--to bring his son back from the dead by replacing him with his alternate reality counterpart. It's an action that could end up destroying their world, even if it was based in a father's grief.

What did you think of this week's episode? Should Noble finally get some recognition for his amazing turn as Walter Bishop? Discuss.

Next week on the winter finale of Fringe ("Jacksonville"), a violent tremor at a Manhattan office building leaves only one survivor who leads the team to believe he is not from this reality; Walter surmises that what shook the building was not geologic, but rather something discovered by him and William Bell many years ago; the team races to Jacksonville, the site of Walter and William's experiments, forcing Olivia to face her mysterious past and save hundreds of people from certain death.

First Look: Season Two of Showtime's "Nurse Jackie"

Edie Falco's Jackie Peyton returns this March with a second season of the Showtime dark comedy Nurse Jackie.

The pay cabler released a two-and-a-half minute sizzle reel for the second season of Nurse Jackie, which kicks off on March 22nd.

Having seen the first two episodes of Season Two of Nurse Jackie back in December, I can say that the season gets off to a great start as the writers not only deal with the cliffhanger ending of of the freshman season but also introduce some compelling new story strands to follow. Suffice it to say, I'm already counting down the days until Nurse Jackie returns to television.

You can watch the Season Two trailer below.



Season Two of Nurse Jackie begins March 22nd at 10 pm ET/PT on Showtime.

Channel Surfing: Maria Bello Finds "Emergency Sex" for HBO, NBC Gets "The Cape" and "Outsourced," Leno on Oprah, and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.

Maria Bello, Simon Beaufoy, and Russell Crowe have teamed up to develop HBO drama project Emergency Sex, based on Kenneth Cain, Heidi Postlewait and Andrew Thomson's nonfiction book "Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures: A True Story From Hell on Earth," about "the larger-than-life exploits of expatriate nongovernment-organization workers who find their sanity tested in the face of atrocities, loneliness and primal desires." Bello (A History of Violence) will star in the project, which is being adapted by Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire), who will executive produce with Bellow, Russell Crowe, and John Carrabino. (Hollywood Reporter)

NBC has handed out pilot orders to two projects, both hailing from Universal Media Studios. One-hour drama The Cape, from writer Thomas Wheeler (Empire) and BermanBraun, revolves around an ex-cop in Los Angeles who is framed and sets out to become a masked vigilante in order to clear his name and reunite with his son. NBC also picked up single-camera comedy Outsourced, based on the indie film about about a demoted middle manager who is sent to India to manage a call center. Robert Borden (The Drew Carey Show) will write the pilot script and Ken Kwapis (The Office) is still attached to direct and executive produce alongside Tom Gorai and David Skinner. (Hollywood Reporter)

The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan has a fantastic feature on Jay Leno's appearance yesterday on The Oprah Winfrey Show. "How can you do the right thing and just have it go so wrong? 'Maybe I'm not doing the right thing,' I would think," Leno told Winfrey. "Maybe I'm doing something wrong. This many people are angry and upset over a television show. ...My show got canceled. They weren't happy with the other guy's show. They said, 'We want you to go back,' and I said, 'OK.' And this seemed to make a lot of people really upset. And I go, 'Well, who wouldn't take that job though? Who wouldn't do that?'" (Chicago Tribune's The Watcher)

Score yet another job for Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother). The Wrap's Josef Adalian is reporting that Harris will travel to London later this year to tape a pilot for a US adaptation of British game show The Cube for CBS. Once executives view the pilot, CBS will decide whether to order the project to series. News comes after FOX abandoned its plans to adapt the unscripted format for US broadcast audiences in December. (The Wrap's TVMoJoe)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Leonard Roberts (Heroes) has been cast in the two-part episode of ABC's Castle that will feature Desperate Housewives' Dana Delany. Roberts will play Delany's federal agent partner on the two-parter, the first half of which is scheduled to air March 21st on a special night. In other Castle-related news, ABC ordered two additional episodes of the crime procedural, bumping its episodic total this season to 24 installments. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

FX has ordered a pilot presentation for comedy Sweat Shop, about a pair of step-siblings who run a gym in a Scottsdale, Arizona strip mall. Project, from creator/star Pell James, director Jonas Pate, and fellow executive producers Thomas Moffett and Braxton Pope, hails from FX Prods. and Lionsgate Television. (Variety)

Pilot casting alert!Tony Hale (Chuck) Matt Letscher (Eli Stone) will star opposite Danny Wallace in ABC hybrid comedy pilot Awkward Situations for Men, about an Englishman who moves to the US with his wife and discovers that his "everyday behavior clashes with American values and gets him into trouble." Hale will play Will, Danny's first American friend, while Letscher will play the boss at a Jamba Juice-type eatery. Elsewhere, John Michael Hill has landed a role on ABC drama pilot 187 Detroit, where he'll play a rookie homicide cop whose wife is expecting a child. British actor Matt Ryan (The Tudors) is said to be in talks about joining the cast of CBS' untitled Criminal Minds spinoff. (Hollywood Reporter)

In other casting news, many actors of cancelled or on-the-bubble series are said to be in particular demand this pilot season. The cast of Ugly Betty--including Eric Mabius, Becki Newton, Vanessa Williams, Michael Urie, and Ana Ortiz--have been inundated with pilot offers. Additionally, the casts of Lost, Nip/Tuck, Better Off Ted, Scrubs, Dollhouse, 24, and Three Rivers are said to be in demand. (Hollywood Reporter)

TV Guide Magazine's Will Keck is reporting that an upcoming episode of ABC comedy Modern Family will focus on the real-life fears of the child actors that portray the extended Pritchett clan's kids. (TV Guide Magazine)

Variety's Stuart Levine is reporting that NBC will offer a two-hour episode of The Biggest Loser on Tuesday which will go head-to-head with the sixth season premiere of ABC's Lost. "Move pits one of NBC's highest-rated shows against a Lost premiere that has been anticipated for months," writes Levine. "By having the second half of Biggest Loser from 10-11 p.m., net is extending an olive branch to the affiliates who have taken a beating since The Jay Leno Show has been on the air and were instrumental in having scripted programming return at 10 o'clock." (Variety)

TVGuide.com's Natalie Abrams talks to Smallville's Justin Hartley about a potential relationship between his Oliver and Allison Mack's Chloe. "Yeah, I think that's in the works," said Hartley about a Oliver-Chloe romance. "I don't know how long it will last or how far they're going to go with it because we haven't shot that much yet, but that's what's going on right now." But don't count out Cassidy Freeman's Tess, either. "She threw a knife at me the other day, so yeah, we're going to be working together," said Hartley. "I think I pissed her off again, so that's always fun. I don't know if they're going to be involved anymore. I would say no, but then at the same time who knows what Oliver's going to do? He's a dirty bird." (TVGuide.com)

SPOILER!Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello has some details about what the series finale of ABC's Ugly Betty, slated to air in May, will contain. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

VH1 has ordered several series that represent an expansion of their brand. Net ordered eight episodes of reality makeover series Transform Me, in which four transgender women help a woman remake herself from her clothes to her outlook on life. Series, from Left/Right Inc., will launch on March 15th. VH1 ordered seven episodes of Famous Crime Scenes, which will delve into the well-publicized deaths of celebrities such as Michael Jackson and Selena beginning February 12th. The cabler also ordered a week-long strip of primetime specials entitled Undateable, which will explore what guys shouldn't do when dating, from the woman's perspective. It's set to air the week of April 19th. Finally, the cabler acquired MTV Canada reality series Peak Season: Vancouver, following the lives of Whistler ski resort bunnies and workers, which it will debut on February 14th. (Variety)

TBS has given a cast-contingent pilot order to one-hour comedy Glory Daze, about the the 1980s pledges at a Wisconsin college fraternity. Project, from executive producer Walt Becker (Wild Hogs), is written by Becker and Michael LeSieur (You, Me and Dupree); Becker is also attached to direct, should the project officially go ahead to pilot. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

The Daily Beast: "Lost, For the Last Time"

Dying with anticipation for the start of the sixth and final season of Lost? You're not alone.

While the ABC drama series doesn't kick off until Tuesday, you can head over to The Daily Beast now and read my latest piece, "Lost, For the Last Time," Part One of an interview with Lost showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, in which the duo discuss Season Six of Lost, the series' influence on television programming, its legacy, and why viewers shouldn't expect to see every mystery get answered this season.

Part Two of my interview will run on Tuesday, the day that Lost returns for its sixth and final season.

Lost returns February 2nd with a one-hour special at 8 pm ET/PT followed by the two-hour season premiere at 9 pm ET/PT on ABC.

Channel Surfing: Theron and Fincher Team Up for HBO's "Mind Hunter," Jennifer Lopez Finds "Mother," ABC Axes "Ugly Betty," and More

Welcome to your (delayed) Thursday morning television briefing.

Charlize Theron (The Road) has teamed up with auteur David Fincher (Zodiac) to develop HBO drama series, Mind Hunter, based on John Douglas and Mark Olshaker's nonfiction book "Mind Hunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit," about the profiling of serial killers and rapists. Scott Buck (Dexter) will write the pilot, which will be produced by Theron, Fincher, Erwin and Buck and is set up at Fox21. (Variety)

Jennifer Lopez is set to guest star on CBS' How I Met Your Mother in an episode slated to air in March. Lopez will play Anita Appleby, described as "a no-nonsense author of self-help books that teach women how to train men into relationship machines through the power of denial," who makes it her mission to train Barney. (Hollywood Reporter)

ABC has officially cancelled Ugly Betty after four seasons. The dramedy, which stars America Ferrera, will wrap up its run this May and producers will have time to arrange to a suitable conclusion for the series, which has seen its ratings drop drastically over the last few seasons. (Televisionary)

Syfy has found its showrunners for the US adaptation of British supernatural drama Being Human: married writers Anna Fricke (The Beautiful Life) and Jeremy Carver (Supernatural) have joined the staff of Being Human as executive producers/showrunners. Series, which has a thirteen-episode commitment from Syfy, is expected to air later this year. (Variety)

E! Online's Jennifer Godwin rounds up the suspects for Season Four of AMC's Mad Men. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Martin Henderson (Bride & Prejudice) has been cast in Shonda Rhimes' ABC pilot Off the Map, where he will play one of three doctors working an a remote medical clinic in the tropics. In other pilot news, Alex Graves (Fringe) will direct and executive produce ABC drama pilot The Whole Truth, from executive producer Jerry Bruckheimer. (Hollywood Reporter)

Elsewhere, FOX has ordered a pilot for an untitled workplace comedy from writer Brent Forrester (The Office), who will executive produce with Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, and David Nevins. Project, from 20th Century Fox Television and Imagine Television, is set in an IRS district office. (Hollywood Reporter)

And ABC Family has ordered ten episodes apiece of two drama projects: weight loss camp drama Huge, from writers Winnie Holzman (My So-Called Life) and daughter Savannah Dooley and Alloy Entertainment; and mystery drama Pretty Little Liars, about four former friends who reunite when one of their group goes missing, from Warner Horizon, Alloy Entertainment, and executive producers Marlene King, Leslie Morgenstein, and Bob Levy. (Variety)

TV Guide Magazine's Will Keck is reporting that Robert Englund (Nightmare on Elm Street) will guest star in an upcoming episode of FOX's Bones, where he will play a creepy custodian in a slasher-themed storyline set at Brennan's high school reunion. (TV Guide Magazine)

The CW has ordered two pilots: Nikita, an update of La Femme Nikita that focuses on a replacement after the original Nikita goes rogue, from writer/executive producer Craig Silverstein, executive producers McG and Peter Johnson, and Warner Bros. Television, and an untitled Wyoming-based family drama from writer/executive producers Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino that will revolve around a family who runs a horse farm in Wyoming. (Variety)

ABC will air a two-hour Bachelor special, The Bachelor: Jason and Molly's Wedding, on March 8th. (Hollywood Reporter)

TBS has ordered a pilot script for animated comedy based on feature film The Adventures of Joe Dirt. Project, which revolves around a "mullet-sporting, muscle-car-loving loser with a heart of gold," hails from Sony Pictures Television, Happy Madison, and writer David Spade, who will executive produce with Fred Wolf, Donick Cary, and Doug Robinson. (via press release)

ITV has announced its hire for its top CEO position: former Royal Mail czar Adam Crozier. "ITV is a strong brand with talented people, facing an imperative for change as the media landscape evolves," said ITV chairman Archie Norman in a statement. "Adam is a very strong leader with a great track record in delivering transformational change. He has worked successfully in talent-driven organizations, with government and regulators, and has a thorough understanding of the media, advertising and branding industries." (Variety)

Stay tuned.