Countdown to Doctor Who: More with Series Star Matt Smith

Geronimo!

The eleventh hour is upon us as the US premiere of Doctor Who, overseen by new head writer/executive producer Steven Moffat and starring Matt Smith and Karen Gillan, is set for tomorrow on BBC America. (I caught up with Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Steven Moffat, and Russell T Davies at last night's fantastic BAFTA/LA screening, Q&A, and cocktail party here in Los Angeles.)

I had the opportunity to speak to Doctor Who's Matt Smith (who replaces David Tennant as the Time Lord known only as the Doctor) and Steven Moffat a few weeks back for a feature piece for The Daily Beast (which you can read here in its entirety), but I wanted to dive back into both interviews to bring you the stuff that you didn't get to read in my original feature. (You can also read my review of the first two episodes here.)

With Doctor Who set to premiere on Saturday on BBC America (with an extended-length episode with limited commercial interruptions), I thought I'd apply even more Who goodness with the rest of the transcript from my one-on-one interview with new series star Matt Smith, who talks with me about getting advice from David Tennant, working with Steven Moffat and Karen Gillan, when it hit him that he was the lead on Doctor Who, and where (and when) he'd like to take the Doctor, among other things. (Part One--more from my one-on-one interview with Steven Moffat--can be found here.)

Televisionary: Did David Tennant give you any advice about stepping into the role of the Doctor?

Matt Smith: Well, we didn’t really talk specifically about the character or stuff like that, but he said, ‘Look, mate, just go and enjoy the ride, because what a ride it is.’ I think with things like this you have to carve out the part in the way you play it yourself.

Televisionary: You and Karen Gillan are both new to the series. Was it less scary to have someone else in the same position as you?

Smith: Yeah, I think that’s quite a nice thing, actually, that we get to share it together. And, my, what a journey we’ve been on. And, of course, there have been huge highs and huge lows. I’m very fortunate because I get on very well with her, which is a real bonus, because if you didn’t get on with the girl who plays the companion, you’d be in real trouble.

Televisionary: How would you describe the Eleventh Doctor in terms of him as a character?

Matt Smith: The Doctor is always The Doctor. But I think this particular Doctor has got a kind of recklessness about him. He’s a bit of a thrill-seeker, a bit of an addict. He has a real lust for time-travel and a real sort of madness, a [sense] that he’s living on the edge.

Televisionary: What did you base your Doctor on? Did you consciously try not to emulate the 10th Doctor or make your Doctor different from all of the incarnations that have come before?

Smith: Yeah, I don’t think you can think about what’s come before you. I think it just has to be an instinctual response to the text that’s in front of you. I tried to do it as clearly and honestly as I could on my terms, in my way, without thinking about any previous incarnations of it. Of course, you wouldn’t want it to be exactly the same but the head writer’s changed as well so the flavor of the show is slightly different as well. But the Doctor is always the Doctor.

Televisionary: What is it like working with Steven Moffat? How would you describe his creative style?

Smith: He’s a genius. I say that unequivocally: he is a complete genius. Russell [T. Davies] made the TV series the most popular show and did that brilliant but I think that Steven [Moffat] has made it the most magic. He’s really turned it into a fairy tale and a magic one. The way he plays with time is extraordinary--actually. It really is--and structurally what he does with it. There are little details in the first episodes that come back up in Episode 12 and you think, how has he managed to weave that into the arc that succinctly and brilliantly? He’s got such wit and intelligence and humor. Steven is truly brilliant.

Televisionary: When was the moment where it hit you that you were actually playing the Doctor?

Smith: Oh, god. I dunno, really. That’s a good question. The first day was really bizarre because I was on the beach and the TARDIS was there and it was quite extraordinary. But I guess it’s when you start thinking about what you’re going to have for lunch: when you forget that you’re sort of saying, “Hello, I’m the Doctor, and I’m this and I’m that,” and you just start doing it instead of thinking about it, really. There have been so many moments. That first day when you shoot [in] the TARDIS, you are unmistakably aware that you’re about to play the most famous part in British television.

Televisionary: What is your favorite part of doing the show so far? What’s been the scariest?

Smith: The first day was pretty scary, to be honest, in terms of days I look back on and go, “Ooof!” But my favorite part? Oh my God, there’s been so many. Karen’s been amazing, the scripts are just so inventive and ingenious. We did some filming out in Croatia for Episode 6, which is about vampires and is brilliant. Richard Curtis wrote a script for us; that was exciting. There’s been so many. They are vast and varied. I could talk about them all day, the highlights.

Televisionary: This season you end up battling vampires in Venice and Van Gogh shows up. What would you like to see happen to the Doctor? Is there anywhere or anywhen you’d like him to travel to?

Smith: I’d quite like him to go to the lost city of Atlantis at the bottom of the ocean. But I think, production-wise, that would cost an absolute fortune, so I don’t know that they ever will. But I’d like to go there and I’d like to visit the dinosaurs. They would be great. If there was some mad dinosaur episode, that would be cool. And Atlantis, if you had to take the TARDIS down into the sea, that would be amazing.

You can read the finished feature for The Daily Beast here, and be sure to read the first part of this series, my in-depth Q&A with Steven Moffat.

Doctor Who premieres Saturday at 9 pm ET/PT on BBC America.

More Whispers in the Darkness: Lost Questions, More on "Everybody Loves Hugo"

Welcome to what's proving to be a twice-weekly feature now that Lost only has a handful of episodes remaining before it sets sail for the island in the sky.

I'll be taking a second look at this week's episode of Lost ("Everybody Loves Hugo"), which brought up so many reader questions and seemed to offer some tantalizing answers to the season's overarching mythology, I felt like it more than merited another post.

While I discussed "Everybody Loves Hugo" in full over here (along with theories about the totality of consciousness, Locke, the Boy in the Jungle, and more), I thought I'd answer some reader questions from the episode that arrived via comments, Twitter, or email.

So without further ado, let's tilt our heads and listen to those whispers once more.

Whispers. This week's episode finally revealed just what the whispers were, though recent seasons haven't utilized the whispers as much as the early seasons. On that note, rockauteur asked, "Didn't the whispers get Shannon killed? What were they warning of exactly in that situation?"

Good point. In this week's episode, Michael explained to Hurley just what the whispers were, saying that they were those who couldn't escape the island and had to remain there and that he was trapped there because of what he had done. The whisperers then are people who once were on the island and committed actions that chained their souls to the island. But while it seems here like the whisperers want to help Hurley, maybe that's not their main agenda. At least, not typically.

Shannon was killed by Ana-Lucia after Walt appeared to her (whether or not that was actually Walt is still under debate, several seasons later) and the whispers surrounded her. But who is to say what the whispers were urging her to do? Walt, in particular, seemed to tell her to be quiet, placing his finger on his lips in a strict "shhh!" fashion. Had Shannon not run into the jungle and remained silent, Ana-Lucia wouldn't have had reason to shoot. Could it be that the whispers were actually warning Shannon of her impending death?

When We (First) Meet Again. rockauteur asked, "Pierre - wouldn't he remember Hurley from 1977 Dharma?"

Short answer: nope.

Long answer: still nope, but I'll tell you why. Hurley met Pierre Chang in 1977 as part of the Dharma Initiative but the reason he did so was the last link in a long chain of causality. Let's look at that backwards: he was in 1977 because he traveled back in time after returning to the island on Ajira Flight 316. He was on that flight because he wanted to return to the island. He wanted to return to the island because he escaped as a result of the island moving while he was aboard the helicopter with the other members of the Oceanic Six. He was looking to get off the island after being there for more than 100 days. He arrived on the island because Oceanic Flight 185 crashed.

It's that last point that's the most important. The only reason Hurley met Pierre Chang in 1977 stems from the fact that the plane crashed in 2004. Had the plane not crashed, Hurley would not have met Pierre Chang. Therefore, in the Lost-X continuity, because Oceanic Flight 185 doesn't crash, it never lands on the island (it's undersea, remember), so Hurley never travels back in time to meet Pierre in 1977.

Confused? Let me break it down further. Because time travel has played a role in several formative events for the series, those events have all been negated because the plane never crashed on the island in the first place. Even though Juliet detonated the hydrogen bomb in 1977, the Lost-X 1977 was a different place because the castaways weren't there. That explains why certain things haven't lined up: why Ben and his dad are on good terms and live together in LA, why Pierre works in a museum, why Daniel became a concert pianist.

Of course, the plane also didn't crash because there was no island for it to crash on. And because there was no island, there was no need for Desmond to be pressing a button every 108 minutes. Or not pressing it once. Given that Desmond's failure to do so is what brought down the plane, everything once again spirals back to Desmond. Without him, none of this plays out as it "should."

The Bag. There has been some confusion about the bag that Hurley swiped from Ilana's stuff after she, well, exploded. To me, there was never any thought that it was anything other than Jacob's ashy remains. Which is what Hurley was looking for in the first place, given that he knew of its existence from when Miles "read" the ashes in order to see what Jacob's last thought was. [CORRECTION: Hurley wasn't with the group at that point, so he didn't know of the ashes ahead of time, but the rest holds true here.] Some have incorrectly believed that they were Nikki and Paulo's diamonds but this makes absolutely no sense to me at all. Why would Ilana have had the diamonds? Why would she have taken them from Miles, who did have them?

She wouldn't have. The bag is what's left from Jacob's corporeal form and it's necessary that Hurley keep these with them as they make their next move. Sometimes the simplest answer is the correct one...

Walkabout. Wes asked, "So you really think that Locke will walk again in the X timeline?" It's a theory at least, yes. I think that we're seeing more examples of course correction at work here. The fact that Locke was so against taking Jack up on his offer and even went so far as to tear up his card doesn't matter: they have always been destined to come together. While Locke's paralysis won't be cured by the island, something else will have to give him the ability to walk again.

And now that he's been struck down by Desmond's car, Locke is going to end up right in Jack's OR... and Jack will have to make the decision to perform spinal surgery. Just what Locke's reaction will be remains to be seen, if that does play out how I envision. He'll either be furious... or will once again regain the ability to believe in miracles, especially after he experiences the emergence of his own island memories.

It makes me wonder just how much fate versus free will is at work within the Lost-X timeline. Locke chose not to undergo a surgical consult to see if Jack could repair his spine but, regardless of that decision, he's still likely to end up right under Jack's knife. The web of destiny that has bound together all of these individuals looks to become tighter and tighter as we ramp up to the finale and as Desmond's plan to reawaken the passengers of Oceanic Flight 815 continues apace.

On a similar topic, KriZia wrote, "Does that mean he's going to recall dying off the island and experience a zombie-like reawakening on the island? Or will he affect FLocke simply because MiB is imitating his appearance?"

I don't think that Locke will wake up on the island. His body is dead--and likely rotting--and the Man in Black assumed his form, so I don't think we'll see Zombie Locke climb up out of the grave and start taking bites out of oranges any time soon. Like Charlie and Libby (not to mention Boone, Shannon, and Ana-Lucia), Locke is dead in the mainstream reality so his consciousness has nowhere to go and can only remain within the Lost-X timeline. For him, it's a one-way street: he will be able to access memories from the other world but not transmit anything back.

As for why Desmond sought to run Locke over, Harleypeyton asked, "Why would Locke require this kind of violence in order to get him in touch with whatever?" My answer would be that (A) Locke didn't have a love on the island, and (B) it worked when Charlie unlocked Desmond by placing him in jeopardy. Of course, in the mainstream reality, Desmond had just been chucked down a well by someone who looked like John Locke, so there's always the possibility that he's just really, really angry. (Though I don't think it's a revenge fantasy but Desmond looking to activate him as quickly as possible.)

The Boy in the Jungle. In a comment on the main thread, reader Caitlin wondered about the mysterious boy in the jungle and said that she believed that there were in fact two boys lurking about: one with light hair and the other dark.

Any truth to that? While his appearance in this week's episode was marked by a somewhat darker tint to his hair, there's only one boy running about in the jungle. The boy seen in the jungle in "Everybody Loves Hugo" is the same boy who appeared in "The Substitute" and was seen by the Man in Black and Sawyer. In both cases, he's played by Kenton Duty. So, while his hair might appear darker this time, it's the same mysterious kid...

On that note, Caitlin also asked, "Could Jacob and Nemesis at one time have been the same person? (Which might explain the emphasis on both good and evil being present in the characters, and it not always being clear which will win out.) Thoughts?"

It's an interesting theory and one that I pondered briefly. If Jacob and his Nemesis are the same person, it raises some intriguing possibilities. For one, it would explain why we haven't yet learned the Nemesis' name, the answer being that he doesn't necessarily have one if he's an incarnation of Jacob himself. Was he always comprised of various incarnations--Jacob, Nemesis, Smokey? Is he a trinity?

Additionally, such a reveal would also mean that Jacob is both jailer and prisoner, a trippy scenario that would, however, make a lot of sense within the emotional context of the series: is it possible that we create our own prisons and have within ourselves the ability to unlock our cages? Do we choose to punish ourselves, to ask for forgiveness, or do we try to break free?

That said, I don't know if Team Darlton would go that route. It's a little too metaphysical, even for this series. While the struggle between light and dark, good and evil, has been part of the series since the beginning, I don't know that I want that duality to be quite so blatant as to have an entity split himself into two warring factions. We all have those battles raging within us on a daily basis but I don't know that I want to see them go that route in such a fashion.

Good Versus Evil. Frank1569 wrote, "Jacob is the bad guy. More proof - he let Ilana die. Who did Smokey kill this week? Nobody."

True, Smokey didn't kill anyone this week... but he did toss Desmond down a well, so I wouldn't consider that the actions of someone "good." As for Jacob killing Ilana, he may have "let" her die but he didn't kill her. Ilana chose to get the dynamite and failed to listen to Hurley's warnings about the explosives being highly unstable. Plus, Ilana isn't a candidate and wasn't touched by Jacob (remember, he wore thick black gloves when he went to see her in the hospital). Ilana's main purpose in life is to protect the candidates: to fight for them and, if need be, to die for them.

Besides, by your argument, any deity that lets anyone die for any reason would be evil. And if the Devil himself were to play nice for a bit, he'd be good. Smokey has murdered countless victims directly, by his own hands. While Jacob's name has been invoked in the murder or torture of others, there's been no sign that he was either aware of this or condoned it. After all, religion has been used as a motivation for all sorts of violence for thousands of years. Doesn't mean that it's just or right but that the message is often corrupted or abused by its followers...

Lost-X Locke. Seat42F wrote, "I thought Locke being run over by Desmond was proof that the Man In Black got off the island and Desmond was doing something about that. The idea of going from one prison (the island) to another (the wheelchair) seems perfect."

There is a nice symmetry there but I don't think we've seen any evidence that supports that Lost-X John Locke is anything other than John Locke. Certainly not that he's the Man in Black somehow. I think Desmond is trying to awaken those dormant memories in Locke's subconscious rather than attempt to run down a pan-dimensional entity that can turn into ethereal black smoke and scan your memories and kill you with a thought. Just my feeling though...

Willy Wonka. Yes, Roald Dahl's eccentric chocolatier would seem to play at least a thematic role in the goings-on within Lost, as evidenced by the use of Gene Wilder's "The Wondrous Boat Ride"/"The Rowing Song" from the 1971 feature film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, based on Dahl's 1964 novel "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."

Echoing my own thoughts on the subject, reader Caitlin drew a parallel between Dahl's story and Lost, "a story which relies on candidates to take over an operation, and in doing so, tricking them to test their loyalty and true character." Like Lost, Dahl's novel and the subsequent feature films had a quixotic individual bringing some candidates to a magical place after being selected as possible replacements to his duty: the care and oversight of this place. While the island isn't a chocolate factory, it is a magical place and, like Wonka, Jacob is looking for a replacement... and the competition gets whittled down as the story goes on. So which character will be our Charlie Bucket? We'll have to wait to find out...

And with that, I'll leave you will the full lyrics for "The Wondrous Boat Ride/The Rowing Song" from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (itself adapted from Dahl's poem "The Rowers").

"There's no earthly way of knowing
Which direction we are going
There's no knowing where we're rowing
Or which way the river's flowing
Is it raining? Is it snowing?
Is a hurricane a-blowing?
Not a speck of light is showing
So the danger must be growing
Are the fires of Hell a-glowing?
Is the grisly reaper mowing?
Yes! The danger must be growing
For the rowers keep on rowing
And they're certainly not showing
Any signs that they are slowing!!!"
Come back Wednesday to discuss next week's episode and head to the comments section here to discuss any of the above thoughts, theories, or additional questions...

Next week on Lost ("The Last Recruit"), alliances are forged and broken when Locke and Jack's camps merge.

Motherland's Cold Embrace: An Advance Review of Small Island on PBS' Masterpiece Classic

"One should respect his motherland, his culture and his mother tongue because they are givers of happiness." - Rig Veda

Adapted from Andrea Levy's novel of the same name, the lyrical and profound Small Island--airing the next two Sundays as part of PBS' Masterpiece Classic--recounts the struggle of two very different couples, bound by a invisible web of fate, who attempt to reconcile their own notions of the motherland and the reality of their circumstances.

Set during and immediately after World War II in London, two-part drama Small Island--adapted by Paula Milne (Endgame) and Sarah Williams (Becoming Jane) and directed by John Alexander (Sense & Sensibility)--explores the imaginary landscape of the motherland, the promise of its embrace, and its cold reception towards those who might be willing to lay down their lives to her defense but whose skin color makes them outcasts.

For Jamaican schoolmistress Hortense (Pirates of the Caribbean's Naomie Harris) and military driver Gilbert (The Last King of Scotland's David Oyelowo), England represents the promise of happiness, a place of broad-minded people who will immediately embrace them as fellow children of the same mother. But their expectations are brutally shattered when they discover that the motherland that they have grown to love with such reverence rejects them completely because their skin is not white.

Hortense and Gilbert's relationship--a marriage of convenience for both are looking to escape Jamaica--is juxtaposed against that of white British couple Queenie (Jane Eyre's Ruth Wilson) and Bernard (The Last Enemy's Benedict Cumberbatch), themselves also enmeshed in another marriage that might seem idyllic on the surface but lacks any real connection or passion.

The four individuals find their lives connected in a variety of ways, some known and others more ethereal. Serving in the British military, Gilbert meets Queenie when she takes her father-in-law to her family farm in Yorkshire, a place she swore she would never return to. A fatal accident binds the two of them together in unforeseen ways and, after the war, when Gilbert is looking for a place to stay, he goes looking for Queenie, herself struggling to make ends meet after the disappearance of her husband, Bernard.

Moving into Queenie's spare room, Gilbert sends for his wife, the haughty Hortense, who only married him so that she would be able to travel to England and escape Jamaica. Giving him the funds to make his way to the United Kingdom, Hortense sells away her matrimony, looking upon her nuptials as little more than an escape route from her small island. With her elegant manners and imperious attitude, Hortense finds the squalor of Gilbert's home at odds with her fantasy of England, a place where her home would have an doorbell, a garden, and electric lights in every room. What she discovers is that England is just as small as Jamaica and that the reality of her situation is far different than she had anticipated.

For Hortense, Gilbert was a replacement for the true love of her life: Michael (Ashley Walters), the dashing man that was raised as her adopted brother. When he left for England and was declared missing in action, Hortense was heartbroken. But Michael also left his presence on Queenie when he meets her during the war. That these two very different women should be so united by their shared love for the same man is one of the quirks that makes this such a remarkable drama.

Filled with both humor and pathos, Small Island meticulously recreates the feeling of post-war London with a combination of grit and upbeat charm. The effect renders the plights of Hortense, Queenie, Gilbert, and Bernard as both heartbreaking and uplifting in equal measure. While there are some truly emotional beats, there are some terrifically funny ones as well and the cast excels at creating a very real vibrancy to these characters, delivering some of the very best acting--on film or television--seen this year.

Ultimately, the gripping and evocative Small Island serves as a taut exploration of the lure of opportunity and the way in which our lives may or may not turn out the way we imagined. The motherland might beckon to each of us in her own way but more often that not we'll be surprised to discover that we've just traded one small island for another. It's what we do next, when faced with overwhelming obstacles, that defines us for who we really are.



Part One of Small Island airs Sunday night at 9 pm on PBS' Masterpiece Classic. Check your local listings for details.

Channel Surfing: Two-Season Renewal for Burn Notice, Patton Oswalt Out of Beach Lane, Anatasia Griffith to Royal Pains, and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. I still have to get caught up on last night's telly as I was out rubbing elbows with the cast and crew of Doctor Who at a BAFTA/LA screening, Q&A, and cocktail party. (Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Steven Moffat, and former showrunner Russell T Davies were all in attendance and all very chatty.)

Burn Notice fans will be very happy this morning: USA has announced that it has renewed the drama series for a fifth AND sixth season even before Season Four of Burn Notice has even launches. The two additional seasons will run at least a respective 15 and 18 episodes, with Season Five set to begin shooting in about a year. "Once Saturday Night Live makes fun of you,' how can you not commit to extra seasons?" Jeff Wachtel, USA's president of original programming, told Variety. It also helps that USA will begin stripping the series in October 2011, following a deal with studio Fox Television Studios for the off-net rights. (Variety)

The Hollywood Reporter's James Hibberd is reporting that Patton Oswalt has departed NBC comedy pilot Beach Lane, just days after being cast alongside Matthew Broderick and Kristen Johnston. Move comes after Tuesday's table read, though it was immediately unclear just what Oswalt's status on the pilot was. "One source added that producers have offered Oswalt another part instead," writes Hibberd, "but it's unclear at this time if Oswalt is interested in staying on the show in a different role." (The Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Anastasia Griffith (Trauma) is joining the cast of USA's Royal Pains when the series returns for its second season on June 3rd. Griffith will recur as Dr. Emily Peck, described as "a no-nonsense MD and a potential business rival of Hank’s (Mark Feuerstein)." Ausiello also has the spoilery details about just how Griffith's Emily becomes entangled in Hank's world: "Griffith’s doc will be introduced during the USA Network hit’s second season (premiering June 3) when Boris (Campbell Scott) hires her to temporarily fill in for an MIA Hank." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

SPOILER! E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos has the skinny on a surprising twist (or not too surprising, if you pegged it from the start) coming up on FOX's Glee, which just happens to involve Lea Michele and Idina Menzel. (Guessed it yet?) Regardless, the two will duet on Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" later this season and co-creator Ryan Murphy teased a link between the two characters. "Lea and Idina Menzel will do an acoustic version of 'Poker Face' that [Lady Gaga] blessed and that she wanted us to do," Murphy told Dos Santos. "It's sort of like a stripped-down mother-daughter 'Poker Face' that Lady Gaga was involved in." [Editor: ahem!] (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Debra Winger is said to be in talks to come aboard HBO's In Treatment as a series regular next season, where she would play "a patient of Gabriel Byrne's psychotherapist character Paul [who is] a former big star who is battling insecurity and fear about her career," according to Deadline.com's Mike Fleming. (Deadline.com)

E! Online's Megan Masters interviews Smallville showrunner Brian Peterson about what's coming up on the rest of season for the CW superhero drama. Asked if Lois will learn Clark's secret, Peterson said, "What I can say is that this year we've really explored the tough duality of Lois having one relationship with this hero, the soldier of duty relationship, and one romantic love relationship with Clark, and so that just drives all the way through episodes 19, 21 and the finale. Everything that's been going on with that love triangle converges." (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Fancast's Matt Webb Mitovich is reporting that Tim Matheson will not only direct the Season Two opener for USA's White Collar, but will also guest star in the episode as "a hedge fund manager who likes to dip into other folks‘ funds – as a part-time bank robber." Season Two of White Collar is set to launch in July. (Fancast)

FOX has announced launch dates for Hell's Kitchen and new culinary competition series Masterchef, with the new season of Hell's Kitchen set to start on Tuesday, June 1st, when it will air two-hour episodes until Masterchef takes over at 9 pm on Tuesday, July 27th. (via press release)

Stage actress Lynn Blackburn has been cast in a recurring role for Season Five of Friday Night Lights, where she will play Laurel, described by Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello as "a smart, tough, and dedicated teacher at East Dillon who befriends [SPOILER ALERT!] the school’s newest hire, Tami." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Casting update: Emily Rios (Men of a Certain Age) has been cast in a multiple-episode arc on DirecTV/NBC's Friday Night Lights, where she is set to play Epyck, described as "a rebel goth girl"; Austin Highsmith (Big Love) will guest star on CBS' Criminal Minds; Sunny Mabrey has been cast in a recurring role on TNT's upcoming drama series Memphis Beat; Janel Parrish (Heroes) will recur on ABC Family's Pretty Little Liars; and Warren Kole (24) has been cast in CW drama pilot Nomads, where he will play Ryker. (Hollywood Reporter)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello talks to Desperate Housewives executive producer Bob Daily about the drama's May 16th season finale and has five hints about upcoming twists, from money problems and an explosion to a birth and a death. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Elsewhere, TV Guide Magazine's Will Keck is reporting that a former series regular of ABC's Desperate Housewives will return to Wisteria Lane in the season finale this May. "I've promised the show that I'd keep the actor's identity a secret," writes Keck, "but the way they re-introduce this character is genius and sets the stage for some major awkwardness in Season Seven. (TV Guide Magazine)

Spike has ordered a pilot for comedy Playing With Guns, which will star Danny Masterson (That '70s Show) and Joey Kern (Super Troopers). Project--from writers Bob Castrone, Brian Levin, and Jason Zumwalt and executive producers Brian Robbins and Sharla Sumpter Bridgett--revolves around two "childhood best friends who become police officers in their hometown for the everyday perks." (Hollywood Reporter)

Bill Irwin will reprise his role as Nate Haskell on CBS' CSI: Crime Scene Investigation for the season's final two episodes, according to Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello. "Nate knows who Dr. Jekyll is, which is kind of interesting since he’s been in prison for the last 11 years," executive producer Carol Mendelsohn told Ausiello. "The [May 20] season finale is all about what it will take to get him to give them a name." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

HBO has renewed Real Time with Bill Maher through 2011 and has bumped its episodic order to 35 episodes per season. The current season is set to end in November, with Season Nine expected in February. (Variety)

CBS Television Studios has signed a two-year overall deal with Lost co-executive producer Paul Zbyszewski, under which he will develop new drama projects for the studio and will become a co-executive producer on Hawaii Five-O, should it be ordered to series. (Deadline.com)

The Wrap's Josef Adalian has issued a request of ABC: to let the final credits for Lost's series finale run unadorned by promos, bugs, or spots for The Bachelorette. "Specifically, what if ABC actually just aired the closing credits to Lost unadorned, as Darlton intended them, and with the haunting closing score viewers hear only if they watch the show on DVD, on demand or via syndication?" writes Adalian. "A nation of Lost fans whose minds will (hopefully) have just been blown and heartstrings tugged will appreciate the time to let what they've just seen sunk in." (The Wrap's TVMoJoe)

Discovery Channel has ordered a sixth season of Cash Cab. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Countdown to Doctor Who: More with Executive Producer Steven Moffat

Geronimo!

With the US premiere of Doctor Who just two days away, anticipation for the new series, overseen by new head writer/executive producer Steven Moffat and starring Matt Smith and Karen Gillan, is about to reach a fever pitch, thanks to a series of well-timed publicity stops around the country this week.

I had the opportunity to speak to Doctor Who's Steven Moffat and Matt Smith (who replaces David Tennant as the Time Lord known only as the Doctor) a few weeks back for a feature piece for The Daily Beast (which you can read here in its entirety), but wanted to dive back into both interviews to bring you the stuff that you didn't get to read in my original feature. (You can also read my review of the first two episodes here.)

With Doctor Who set to premiere on Saturday on BBC America (with an extended-length episode with limited commercial interruptions), I thought I'd spend the next two days offering up the offcuts from that feature. First up: Steven Moffat, who talks with me about following Russell T Davies on the series, Tintin, why Doctor Who endures, and Sherlock, among other things. (Click here to read more from my one-on-one interview with Matt Smith.)

Televisionary: Was there a lot of pressure taking up the reins from Russell T Davies and rebooting the series?

Steven Moffat: There’s a lot of pressure making 13 episodes of this kind of show by any standards. Taking over from Russell isn’t a particular thing I think about, to be honest. You’re taking over from an awful lot of people when you’re taking over on Doctor Who. They’ve been making the show since 1963! So that wasn’t the first thing on my mind at all. But it’s very exciting. People keep asking me about the pressure. It’s a very, very exciting job. I’m not going to waste time feeling pressured about it. There’s enough to worry about without worrying about that.

Televisionary: You were originally attached to write three scripts for Steven Spielberg’s Tintin trilogy but opted to focus on Doctor Who. Can you explain the draw that the Doctor had for you?

Moffat: I’ve always been fascinated with Doctor Who so to be offered that job. Two: the movie business, while I love it dearly and all that, isn’t as good a place for a writer to be that’s why—I’m hardly the first writer you’ve heard of departing movies to work on a television series. Bluntly, television is a better place for writers to be, so it’s not such a radical decision, frankly.

Televisionary: Would you say that this Doctor Who is tonally different than RTD’s Doctor Who?

Moffat: Doctor Who changes tone every single week. That’s the truth. One week it’s a comedy, the next week it’s a romance, the next week it’s a horror film. We can do a musical, if we wanted. It’s not really got one tone but that’s for other, more boring shows than ours. Generally speaking, I suppose I fall back on this cliché of calling it a dark fairy tale and we probably pushed it more towards that storybook fairy tale feeling. But I feel that the most important central thing about Doctor Who is that its tone changes every week. It’s not the same show every time. It’s the same main character, the same main two characters, and it’s the same TARDIS. Everything else changes.

Televisionary: How would you describe the Eleventh Doctor in terms of him as a character? What makes him tick?

Moffat: First of all, really, really importantly, he’s the same man. There isn’t an eleventh Doctor. There’s just one Doctor, he’s just now got his eleventh face. So the fundamental things that make the Doctor tick haven’t changed in a very long time. If you put on different clothes, you feel and act differently. Can you imagine putting on a new body? That would change you even more. He’s altered in that sense and he feels and acts different... He’s both clumsy and graceful at the same time. Both elegant and a mess at the same time... The best thing about the Doctor is that he’s always a set of contradictions. You can’t quite nail him in a sentence and you shouldn’t be able to.

Televisionary: Why was Matt Smith the right man to take on the mantle of the Doctor? How would you describe him as an actor?

Moffat: Because he gave the best audition. [Laughs.] First and foremost, he’s an astonishingly brilliant actor. Within the industry, he was already tipped for stardom, absolutely was. It’s been a meteoric rise. People refer to him as an unknown but the truth is, barely out of acting school, he’d had major acting roles in the West End, major roles in television, already been cast in a movie. He was already tipped for the top, right from the off. That’s the first thing. He’s a proper star and a proper actor.

There was something about Matt, though he didn’t at the very beginning know the show very well at all, he just—-taking it off the page—-got the tone you need. The kind of actors we get in to audition for Doctor Who tend to be very, very high-level, very, very good actors. You don’t get any bad auditions for a role like this. It would be inconceivable. But you can miss the tone of Doctor Who, the playfulness, the joy of it, the energy of it and Matt just got that. I don’t know if it’s a matter of instinct or that he’s just a very clever man. He read the scripts, which was all he really knew about Doctor Who, and gave us, fully formed in that first audition, exactly what we were looking for.

Televisionary: When I spoke to Matt, he said that the Doctor was one of very few roles—the other being Hamlet—that a 60-year-old and a 27-year-old could both play. What is it about the character that innately allows for such flexibility and range?

Moffat: Just the simple and rather brilliant device that they came up with back in 1966 of regeneration. The Doctor, when his life is in danger, just creates a new body for himself. And when he does that, he’s not exactly the same man, he’s a bit different. He reboots himself into a new face and form. That’s what’s innate about it, a simple, brilliant piece of plot mechanics which enables the Doctor to be literally a new person.

Televisionary: We’ve seen many incarnations of the Doctor over several decades. Why do you think the character endures?

Moffat: To theorize about that, you’re talking about people like James Bond and Sherlock Holmes. I think you need a strong, clear, visually identifiable character. I think you need one where there can be different takes. There are different James Bonds, there are different Sherlock Holmeses. There are many different Doctor Whos. You have to have a character where it’s not static. It’s not that he’s going to date, it’s that he’s going to adapt to the modern age very easily and properly. But above all else, let’s be clear, Doctor Who hasn’t lasted for any mysterious reasons; it’s lasted because it’s really, really good. It’s really, really entertaining and vital and brilliant and I think, probably, the best character that television has yet come up with.

Televisionary: You’ve also got another project for BBC One coming up. What can you tell us about Sherlock?

Moffat: Sherlock, which I devised with Mark Gatiss and is being filmed at the moment also in Wales, is Sherlock Holmes but Sherlock Holmes set in the modern day. Not by any trickery; it’s not like he’s resurrected or any nonsense like that but we just do the stories but we relocate them in the modern day.

What Mark and I both felt was that the brilliance of Sherlock Holmes is getting obscured by all of the trappings of Victoriana whereas to the contemporary readers of Sherlock Holmes, it was sort modern and vital and now. Just taking all that Victoriana away, I honestly really think reveals the character, just what a great pate of character in Sherlock Holmes and Watson are and it’s a dream project for Mark and I. We’ve been talking about it for years and finally my wife, who is producing it, made us sit down and get on with it.

I’ve seen quite a bit of it now and I think it’s absolutely astonishing. The director, Paul McGuigan, directed Gangster Number 1 and Lucky Number Slevin. I think it’s a really remarkable piece of work and I’m just thrilled by it.

You can read the finished feature for The Daily Beast here, and Part Two of this series, the rest of my interview with the Doctor himself, Matt Smith, can be found here.

Doctor Who premieres Saturday at 9 pm ET/PT on BBC America.

Soul Food Celebration: Grilled Cheese and Poolside Stew on Top Chef Masters

If you're participating in a reality competition series, should you help out a competitor if they find themselves in the weeds? And does the answer to that question change if you're competing for charity?

This week's episode of Top Chef Masters ("It's My Party"), the season's second, welcomed five new master chefs to the Top Chef kitchen--Carmen Gonzalez, David Burke, Marcus Samuelsson, Monica Pope, and Thierry Rautureau--as they made their way through a Quickfire Challenged designed to tie into National Grilled Cheese Month (yum!) and catered a soul food-themed birthday party atop the Thompson Hotel in Beverly Hills (about a block away from where I live) for actor Mekhi Phifer (ER).

But one chef found themselves in a bit of a bind when they realized they had left a crucial element of their dish back at the the Top Chef kitchen and had to return to collect it while the timer continued to tick down. Which is where the above question really came from. Given that these are master chefs who are competing for glory, certainly, but also charity, should they have put their own dishes at risk to help out their colleague? Or should they forge ahead and not give said colleague's success or failure a second thought?

Ordinarily, I think reality competition series are all about the individual's chance of winning but with charity donations on the line, doesn't everyone really win in the end? These guys have all had enormous success so shouldn't need the validation of a Top Chef Masters win to further massage their egos.

I was happy to see that the producers ditched last week's doubles arrangement to allow the master chefs to compete individually. I think it just makes more sense for the series and for these famous faces to compete on their own. (That said, I would have been really angry if I had been one of last week's losers to see that the chefs won or lost based on their own dishes and not those of their partner's.)

This week, the chefs were tasked with creating an outrageous grilled cheese for Kelly Choi in under twenty minutes. There would be no guest judges and no other palate to think about other than Kelly's. One of the chefs--I believe it was Carmen Gonzalez--said that the best way to test a chef's prowess is to order the simplest thing on the menu. I'd agree with that: not only does it force the ingredients and preparation to shine but there's nowhere for the chef to hide their mistakes. It's either flawless or a mess, with no real middle ground.

So how did the chefs do? Let's take a look.

Quickfire Challenge (Grilled Cheese):

• Carmen Gonzalez: Italian Baguette with manchego, garlic, cilantro, and lime
• David Burke: triple-cream Cheese with prosciutto, almonds, tomato, and rosemary
• Marcus Samuelsson: grilled gruyere and cheddar with tomato gazpacho & salad
• Monica Pope: feta on raisin walnut bread with basil, cilantro, and mint salad
• Thierry Rautureau: grilled taleggio & goat cheese with olives, harissa and a pear, pine nut and baby arugula salad

Grilled cheese is a funny thing: slap two pieces of bread around some cheese and melt it and you can call the dish done. But the humble grilled cheese can take some massive gastronomic improvements and encapsulate just about anything melted between some sort of bread.

While Samuelsson offered a full meal on his plate--a grilled cheese, a gazpacho soup, and a salad--I didn't really feel like he pushed the actual grilled cheese to another level. (A fan of Samuelsson's cooking, I actually didn't feel like he came off particularly well in this episode.) Burke overloaded his plate with a ton of ingredients that didn't really seem to gel all that well (almonds and prosciutto AND a whole pickle?).

The magnificently hatted Rautureau offered up an almost inside-out take on the grilled cheese with taleggio on the outside of the bread but Choi chided him for not having enough taleggio (a virtual reversal from last week's episode when James Oseland believed that the taleggio was too strong). Gonzalez offered a Latin twist on the Italian sub that was nicely spiced.

But it was Pope who won this with one hand tied behind her back, delivering a flawless and drool-inducing feta on raisin walnut bread with basil, cilantro, and mint salad, an exotic grilled cheese that seemed to bridge Greece and the Middle East somehow, evoking a Marrakesh market stall redolent with heady spices. Well done. Considering her nervousness going into the episode, I was impressed with how well Pope delivered the goods here. I can honestly say that I wanted to reach into the television and have myself one of those grilled cheeses right then. Yum.

But that was only the first challenge; next, the master chefs would have to get in touch with their inner selves to deliver their own takes on soul food for a party of 150 people celebrating the birthday of actor Mekhi Phifer at the Thompson Hotel rooftop pool.

Here's what these masterful chefs prepared...

Elimination Challenge (Soul Food):

• Carmen Gonzalez: oyster & hot sausage stew with cilantro
• David Burke: sweet potato custard with green beans, corn & crab BBQ, pickled watermelon, and hush puppies
• Marcus Samuelsson: BBQ chicken with mac & cheese and collard greens
• Monica Pope: peel and eat shrimp, mac and cheese-style grits, with smokin' ocra, pickled green beans, and tomato jam
Thierry Rautureau: Moroccan-spiced pork shoulder, farro, roasted cauliflower, and Brussels sprout slaw

It's important to note that Gonzalez, having left the stew at the Top Chef kitchen, had to return there during their scheduled on-site prep time in order to pick it up and return back to Beverly Hills... all during insane Los Angeles rush hour traffic. No easy feat and it left Gonzalez with just the stew to serve up as she had no time to prepare her yucca for the mash. After freaking out about the missing stew, she asked her fellow competitors to prepare her yucca and keep an eye on it while she raced back and forth between the Thompson and Top Chef HQ.

Which is where things went wrong. (Or right, depending on how you look at it.) I was happy to see that several of the chefs were more than willing to lend Gonzalez a hand, even though they were racing against the clock to complete their own dishes. There should be a sense of camaraderie and support among these master chefs, who aren't eager and hungry young upstarts but established professionals in their own rights with reputations and vast careers. Which is what really irked me about Samuelsson. Yes, this is a competition but at the end of the day, you're competing for a charity; to get so focused on a personal need to win and to conquer the other chefs puts a bad taste in my mouth. Samuelsson flat out refused to help Gonzalez, an odd position that earned him some confused reactions from his fellow master chefs. Not cool.

Experimentalist Burke once again overloaded his plate with a variety of elements but everyone--especially Gail Simmons and James Oseland--praised him for his pickled watermelon, a preparation he had never attempted in the past. I also appreciated the little deft touches: the egg shell serving as vessel for the custard and crab hash, the wrapped hush puppy. But too much bacon, the lack of cohesion between the custard and the hash sealed his fate.

Pope had what Simmons called "the most soulful dish" of the season and praised Pope's grits, which earlier Jay Rayner hadn't really appreciated all that much, saying that it was "an acquired taste which [he] hadn't acquired." (Ouch.) Oseland praised the spicing and flavor, saying that she elevated the dish to a new level, while the jam and pickled veg were also praised. But Pope's dish was marred by a major problem: the peel-and-eat shrimp that she had purposely left in their shells were completely undercooked. Eeek. (I felt really bad for Pope at the end of the episode, as she said that the lesson she learned from this experience, because of Samuelsson, was to just look after herself.)

Samuelsson's chicken and mac and cheese were universally praised, with the succulence of the chicken and the almost deconstructed nature of his mac and cheese getting major points, but the critics really seemed to almost take offense to the fussiness and complexity of the collard greens. While Samuelsson defended his approach, saying that he didn't want to compete with grandma, there's something to be said for simplicity and rustic quality of the greens. You don't need to mess with perfection. Still, it was a minor flaw in an otherwise perfect dish, earning Samuelsson a place in the champions round.

Rautureau took some risks with his dish that paid off beautifully, with the Brussels sprouts slaw (delicious!) and farro (unusual for a soul food dish) being singled out for excellence but several of the critics seemed unhappy with his decision to keep the corn and onion in his salad raw. His thought was that spicy food needs a cooling element and the rawness of these ingredients would be able to capture that sensation. But Rayner and Simmons were both concerned by the amount of elements jostling on the plate that didn't really complement each other. Just way too much going on there.

Gonzalez explained the circumstances that led to her abandoning her yucca mash, originally intended to sit underneath the stew, but having to race back and get the stew (while sadly the yucca burned) left her scrambling for a new direction. She thickened the stew and served it very simply with some cilantro, creating a pared down yet soulful dish that--very surprisingly, in fact--ended up making her the winner of this round. Hell, it didn't even matter that she didn't make that sausage herself.

I'm really impressed that Gonzalez managed to pull off a victory when faced with such setbacks. She nearly threw in the towel early on when she returned to the hotel and I'm glad that she continued to persevere and push through. It proves, yet again, that it's not over until it's over.

What did you think of this week's episode? Would you have awarded Gonzalez the top spot? Was Samuelsson right not to help Gonzalez? Head to the comments section to discuss.

Next week on Top Chef Masters ("Pub Food"), the master chefs must convince high-brow clients of pub grub's merits as they try to show that flair and flavor can be found elsewhere than just in haute cuisine.

Channel Surfing: Michelle Forbes Gets Killing, Annie Wersching Talks 24 Consequences, Glee, Lost, Modern Family, and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing.

From maenad to murder victim's parent: Former True Blood series regular Michelle Forbes has joined the cast of AMC drama pilot The Killing, along with Brent Sexton (In the Valley of Elah), Eric Ladin (Generation Kill), and Jamie Anne Allman (The Notebook). They join the previously announced Billy Campbell in the drama pilot, from Veena Sud and Mikkel Bondesen, which revolves around the police investigation into the murder of a young girl. Forbes and Sexton will play Mitch and Stanley, the girl's parents. (Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed)

If you haven't seen Monday's episode of 24, stop reading. TVGuide.com's Natalie Abrams has an interview with 24's Annie Wersching, who discusses the aftermath of this week's surprising twist and what's next for her. "In not knowing each other for that long, they are very similar and understood each other in a lot of ways," said Wersching about the relationship between Renee and Jack Bauer. "No one truly understood what it is to exist as someone who has to do the things that Jack Bauer does. Renee is as close as he was going to get to finding someone that really got him, and vice versa... Poor Jack cannot get a break. As you can imagine, he wants to take care of every single person who was involved with this... I'm so sad that I died, but she's very much still there in these last episodes all the way up until the end. For the most part, he goes rogue and wants to do things that people don't want him to do. Of course, he's Jack Bauer, so he finds a way to do them." (TVGuide.com)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Jessalyn Gilsig's Terri and Cory Monteith's Finn are getting a "major season-ending storyline" that won't involve them becoming enmeshed in a romantic relationship. (Whew.) "Finn gets a job at Sheets & Things," co-creator Ryan Murphy told Ausiello. "He is very down on himself, and Terri realizes that she was not very supportive of her husband and she sees a lot of him in Finn. She met Will at 16, so she sees a way to redemption…a way to redo that relationship in a positive way [by acting] almost as Finn’s guardian angel, his fairy godmother. She gives him proper moral advice." The storyline will continue into Glee's second season, which launches this fall. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

SPOILER! E! Online's Megan Masters talks to Lost star Jorge Garcia about this week's Hurley-centric episode of the ABC drama series and about the explosive death of Zuleikha Robinson's Ilana. "Don't hold your breath about too much more information about Ilana," Garcia told Masters. "You will see her again, but there's a lot of stuff to get to in the next six hours, so..." [Editor: I figured that we'd at least see Ilana again before The End but assumed that we'd get at least some information about her backstory, either via flashback or the divergent reality.] (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Fancast's Matt Webb Mitovich talks to Modern Family star Julie Bowen about iPads, Julianna and Clive, working with Sofia Vergara, and why she won't be returning to Lost for the final season. "I really wish that was true, but that’s just a rumor," said Bowen about filming Modern Family in Hawaii and sneaking off to shoot scenes for Lost. "I would have loved to have done more for Lost. I’m a huge fan of the show, I love doing the show..." (Fancast)

Boom: Michael Bay has teamed up with Magical Elves' Jane Lipsitz and Dan Cutforth to develop reality series One Way Out, a reality-based action-adventure series that that "pits everyday people against one another in a competition that involves physical challenges as well as the PSYOPS of creating alliances and keeping their own 'secret pasts' hidden from other players," according to Variety's Cynthia Littleton. Project is being shopped to the networks this week. (Variety)

Former Scrubs star Sarah Chalke is in high demand this development season: after shooting ABC comedy pilot Freshman, Chalke has now been cast in a second pilot, CBS high-school comedy Team Spitz. Given her role in Freshman, Chalke's participation in Team Spitz, where she will guest star as a high school guidance counselor, is said to be in second position. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Cast change afoot at Josh Schwartz and Matt Miller's CBS comedy pilot Hitched, where Sara Fletcher (My Secret Girlfriend) has replaced Kristin Kreuk just before the table read for the pilot. "Kreuk starred on two drama series, including her star-making turn on Smallville, and she was wonderful in an arc on Schwartz's NBC dramedy Chuck this season but she has never done a half-hour sitcom and Hitched ultimately proved not a perfect fit for her," wrote Deadline.com's Nellie Andreeva. (Deadline.com)

Tina Brown and Bill Haber have optioned Laura Lippman's novel "In a Strange City," which revolves around female investigative journalist Tess Monaghan (who becomes a gumshoe when her paper closes), with an eye to adapting the book as an ongoing television series. Jay Cocks (Gangs of New York) has been brought on to adapt Lippman's novel and the trio plan to shop the project to broadcast and cable networks for next year's development cycle. (Variety)

Carla Gugino (Watchmen) and Addison Timlin (Cashmere Mafia) have signed on to appear in multiple-episode story arcs next season on Showtime's Californication), where Gugino will play a love interest for David Duchovny's Hank and Timlin will play an actress who stars "in a film within the show," according to Deadline.com's Nellie Andreeva. (Deadline.com)

Comedy Central has ordered ten episodes of comedy The Onion Sports Network, will offer a satirical look at the work of sports. Project, executive produced by Julie Smith and Will Graham, will premiere in first quarter 2011. (Variety)

Production has been shut down on A&E's Steven Seagal: Lawman by the Jefferson Parish Police Department, following news that the series' star has been accused of sex trafficking. (Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed)

Color me intrigued: UK's Channel 4 is developing a female-oriented comedy with the creators of comedies Peep Show and Two Pints of Lager and a Bag of Chips. (Broadcast)

MyNetwork has shored up its fall primetime schedule, which will include off-network acquisitions of such series as Burn Notice, Monk, and Without a Trace. Returning to the schedule are Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, and Don't Forget the Lyrics! (Broadcasting & Cable)

VH1 has ordered eight episodes of reality series Football Wives, which will follow the lives of NFL spouses. Project, from Shed Media, is set to launch at the end of 2010. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Whispers in the Darkness: Guided by Voices on Lost

Well, we finally learned just what those whispers are in the jungle.

This week's episode of Lost ("Everybody Loves Hugo"), written by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz and directed by Daniel Attias, provided a few answers as well as some explosions in an episode that focused on Hugo Reyes in both timelines. Acting as a bookend with Season Two's "Everyone Hates Hugo," this weeks installment cast Hurley not as a doomed victim but as a millionaire philanthropist beloved by everyone and lucky in every way.

Except maybe love.

Given that we now know that Lost as a whole is about the transformative and redemptive powers of love, it's only fitting that Hurley would get a second chance at achieving true happiness with his own soul mate. If the Lost-X timeline represents a new set of variables for the character, what was Hurley's greatest desire? The chance to reverse his luck, to bring good to the people around him rather than destruction?

So what did I think of this week's episode? Grab yourself a family size bucket of Mr. Cluck's chicken, make a donation to the Human Fund, pucker up, and let's discuss "Everyone Loves Hugo."

While not my favorite episode of Lost this season, I thought that this episode did a fine job at delivering some answers to a long-standing mystery (the whisperers), reintroducing Libby (Cynthia Watros) back into the overarching mythology of the series, and paying homage to some classic moments from the series' past. (Boom.)

Jorge Garcia's Hurley has long been one of my favorite characters and a misunderstood one at that. I've loved the way that the writers have gradually given Hurley more prominence within the castaway group, slowly raising him to something approaching a spiritual leader, one who connects the world of the living with that of the dead and is able to pass messages back and forth between the two spheres.

But this Hurley is one who has been plagued by self-doubt, by thoughts of despair, and by self-hatred. His ability to see and communicate with the dead has lead him to the madhouse and his bad luck has tainted nearly every one of his relationships. Which is why Libby once offered him the promise of something better: of the happiness that comes from romantic union, from finding your soul mate and having your love reciprocated. That revelation was cut short for Hurley when Libby was brutally murdered by Michael back in Season Two.

Lost-X Hurley. So imagine just how lucky you'd be if you got the chance to make that first connection all over again, which is just what Hurley gets to do in the Lost-X timeline. Here, Hurley is a successful businessman, the owner of a global chain of Mr. Cluck's chicken restaurants and a gracious philanthropist who donates his time and money to many charitable organizations. (Hence, the good karma, one can assume.) He's introduced at yet another function celebrating his achievements and good works by none other than Pierre Chang, here a warm and loquacious master of ceremonies who is only too willing to fete Hurley and announce the opening of a wing of the museum in his name.

But while Hurley might be successful and magnanimous, he's still being bullied by his overbearing mother, who arranges a blind date for him with a neighbor's relative, Rosalita. The assumption is that, despite his wealth, he can't be truly happy without the love of a woman. But, despite his mother's well-intentioned meddling, Rosalita doesn't turn up for their blind date at Spanish Johnny, leaving the door open for Hurley to be reunited--in a sense, anyway--with someone else.

Lost-X Libby. While we're no closer to learning about the mainstream Libby's still mysterious backstory than we were several seasons ago, we did get a chance to see Hurley and Libby get that first date after all. Here, Libby is once again a patient of Santa Rosa Mental Hospital (while Hurley is psychologically stable) but, unlike in the mainstream reality, Libby isn't a catatonic mess but there voluntarily, hoping to uncover the truth about the seemingly false memories that are rattling around in her skull.

Like Charlie before her, Libby is able to tap into her subconscious to remember events from the mainstream timeline, events that--as it's 2004--haven't even happened yet and will never happen. While they're impossible memories, they're also entirely real, the cumulative experiences of another Libby living a different life. So why are Charlie and Libby able to remember while the others cannot? Easy: they're both dead in the mainstream reality. They have no consciousness in the other timestream so instead the totality of their being is housed in their Lost-X bodies.

Given this fact, the memories are closer to the surface for them, they are more easily accessed, and therefore more vivid. They don't need Desmond to awaken them for they've already been activated. It's this juxtaposition of memory, the dissonance of having two sets of memories laid on top of one another that leads Libby to Santa Rosa. It's important that she's there out of free will rather than being imprisoned, though her time at the hospital likely means that she wasn't a passenger aboard Oceanic Flight 815, a major difference between this reality and the mainstream one. (Likewise, Shannon too wasn't aboard the flight, which makes me wonder about tailies Mr. Eko and Ana-Lucia as well.)

Is it fate or coincidence that brings Hurley and Libby together at Spanish Johnny? After all, Hurley is meant to be meeting his blind date Rosalita when he's approached by Libby, who tells him that they are soul mates and that she has memories of time shared with him. While Libby is led off by Dr. Brooks (Bruce Davison), Hurley can't shake what happened, even though he has no recollection of Libby and believes her to be mentally unstable.

But the two are meant to be together. And Desmond, acting in the capacity of course-correction, appears at Hurley's side at Mr. Cluck's (along with the number 42) in order to bring the two of them together. Desmond's plan works as Hurley goes to see Libby at Santa Rosa (where, in quite a nice callback, a patient plays Connect Four in the background) and arranges a picnic with Libby on the beach. Once there, Libby's kiss awakens the dormant memories within Hurley's subsconscious as his mind is flooded with images from the time he spent with Libby on the island.

A switch has been flipped, not just within Lost-X Hurley, finally able to complete himself now that he's been reunited with Libby but also within the mainstream Hurley, as he steps into his own destiny: to lead the survivors.

Hurley. Back on the island, Hurley seems to be able to finally take on the mantle of leader as Jack is oddly willing to take a back seat for a change. (Which, if I'm being honest, makes me like Jack a hell of a lot more.)

While that role is initially Ilana's, having trained her whole life to protect the candidates, her divine mission comes to an end this week as she's blown up by the volatile dynamite she brought back from the Black Rock. Boom. It's a nice callback to Leslie Arzt, who suffered a similar fate at the end of Season One. It's interesting that the writers would chose to kill Ilana off now: we still haven't gotten her backstory and, despite the fact that we've spent nearly two seasons with her, I don't feel like we've gotten to know her at all. But it does mean that it's one less newbie to focus on as the emphasis is being placed back on our original castaways... and Desmond Hume.

With Ilana dead, the group is unsure what to do next. Richard wants to go get more dynamite and use it to blow up the Ajira plane so that the Man in Black cannot use it to escape. (Little does he know that there's another means of egress from the island with the submarine.) But Hurley, having been instructed by the ghostly presence of Michael, knows that he can't allow that to happen as people will be killed as a result of that. He opts to play along with Richard but instead uses the dynamite to blow up the Black Rock, destroying the cache of explosives and the historic ship in the process.

And that's when things get interesting. Hurley lies to Richard and claims that Jacob told him that they need to go talk to the Man in Black but Richard's far from convinced, especially after Hurley is unable to tell him what the island really is. (Hint: it's the cork in the bottle metaphor.) Richard opts to continue on the path to render the plane inoperable, suggesting they head to the Dharma barracks to get explosives; he's joined by Miles and Ben. (Interesting.)

While Richard seems to be on a path of destruction, Hurley opts for a nonviolent confrontation with the Man in Black, choosing words over grenades. It's fitting with his sudden emergence of a Christ-like leader among the group, with a foot in both the worlds of the mundane and the divine. While Richard wants to destroy, Hurley wants to turn the other cheek, to talk rather than battle. And, only fittingly, Hurley stands up to Richard rather than be cowed by the former spiritual leader of the Others. He doesn't have anything to prove to Richard. Not anymore.

So what did Hurley take from Ilana's pack? We see him toss aside Ilana's Russian book to take a sack with him. Does it contain Jacob's ashes? And is that why he suddenly has a hell of a lot more conviction? While he claims to Jack that he has no idea what he's doing, he's leading them right into the heart of darkness, armed only with torches: a fire to illuminate the night, the spark of truth set against deadly lies.

Interesting too that the group that contains Hurley is symbolically comprised of those whose purpose is to lead: a shepherd (Jack), a pilot (Frank), a sun (Sun), and a true leader in Hurley himself. Each are tools by which others can follow and yet each of them chooses the path of peace rather than that of war. Could it be that Jacob was right to bestow his favor on these individuals? And could Frank Lapidus also be a shadow candidate?

Whispers. This week's episode answered the question about just what those mysterious whispers are in the jungle: the souls of those who can't leave the island, who are trapped there by dint of their actions. The whispers precede Michael Dawson's appearance at Libby's grave at the start of the episode and when Hurley hears them once more in the jungle at night, he finally realizes just what they are. When Michael appears to him once more, he gets his confirmation: the whispers are the voices of those for whom the island is truly purgatory: a place of eternal unrest where they remain, perhaps until they can redeem themselves. The whispers then are an attempt for the dead to communicate with the living, to help, to perhaps act as a chance at redemption.

As for Michael, he seems to be acting here as a positive influence for Hurley. While he doesn't tell him that he has to go see the Man in Black, he's able to point Hurley towards his camp and issues an apology of sorts to Libby, saying that if he ever sees her again (which he has in the Lost-X timeline) to tell her that he's sorry. For, you know, killing her.

I'd be interested to know just who else is trapped on the island, unable to move on: those who committed crimes against the island and its inhabitants or souls who were never able to come to terms with their own issues, trapped by their own inability to grow psychologically, spiritually, or physically. Or those who just never achieved closure?

The Truce. By bringing the group right into the Man in Black's camp, Hurley has seemingly fulfilled the wishes of Jacob's Nemesis, as he was looking to grab as many of the Oceanic Flight 815 survivors--and those that managed to return on Ajira Flight 316--as possible as he believes that's the only way that his plan will work and he'll be able to flee the island.

He's already prevented from harming the candidates, per the rules of his eternal agreement with Jacob, but that doesn't mean that he can't attempt to sway them to his side. Giving his knife to Hurley is nothing more than a symbolic truce, a way of saying that he won't harm them directly, a physical bond of his word. But I think he's hoping that he'll be able to manipulate the candidates into siding with him... and that they'll chose otherwise. At the very least, I'm hoping that this reunion isn't short-lived now that each of the castaways--save Jin, of course--is finally in one spot together.

And then there's the look the Man in Black gives to Jack when he sees him enter the camp. It's a look that a cat might have upon seeing a mouse, an expression right before he pounces. The game is, as they say, afoot and the Nemesis has just gotten even closer to controlling all of the pieces.

The Boy in the Jungle. Of course, Jacob's Nemesis hasn't won, not yet. There's still the fact that he appears to be alternately afraid of and irritated by that young boy that keeps popping up in the jungle. It's significant that the boy smiles at him here and that it enrages the Man in Black to no end... and that Desmond, like Sawyer before him, can see the boy.

So who is he? I theorized a few weeks back when we last saw The Boy that he was an incarnation of Jacob and I'm still convinced that that's true. After all, dead isn't really gone, not on the island. Just because Jacob's corporeal body was destroyed and burned up in the fire, doesn't mean that another--ethereal manifestation--won't rise from the ashes, a holy spirit rather than the man himself. (It's also telling that The Boy appears after Desmond says that the island has it in for all of them.)

The fact that both Sawyer and Desmond are able to see him points to the candidates being privy to the island's mysteries, able to see the hidden face of the island. Sawyer, as we know, is a candidate. Desmond likely is too, the Wallace (a traditionally Scottish name) indicated on the 108 degree mark on Jacob's lighthouse wheel. After all, Jacob wanted Jack to turn the mirror to that mark, saying that someone was coming to the island. That someone did end up being Desmond, the shadow candidate whose fate is bound up with the number 108, not just with the candidates' reference points (themselves representing the 4-8-15-16-23-42 of the cursed numbers) but also the fact that he pushed the button every 108 minutes for three years. Could it be that he's the island's last hope?

Desmond. Desmond, meanwhile, found himself the unwitting prisoner of the Man in Black and Sayid this week but didn't seem to be in any real need of escape. (I loved his line about having nowhere to run.) This Desmond, one experiencing a Zen-like inner calm, is at odds with the one we saw at the beginning of last week's episode, one who attempted to kick and punch and escape his captors at every turn. He's very cool towards the Man in Black, saying that he knows that he's John Locke. (Or does he know something more? Hmmm...) And he's all too willing to share with him just what Charles Widmore did to him in the solenoid chamber, dosing him with a massive amount of electromagnetism.

The Man in Black takes Desmond to an ancient well (not to be confused with the one that contains the frozen donkey wheel, now the site of the Dharma's Orchid Station). He claims that this spot is where compass needles spin and that people, looking for answers, dug down into the earth. Is it a meeting point for ley lines? Another pocket of electromagnetic energy, the very ones that Zoe is looking for? Jacob's Nemesis claims that Charles Widmore is looking not to protect the island but for power, but I felt like I couldn't quite trust the MiB here. Neither could Desmond either, as he seems skeptical about why MiB would have brought him to the well.

There's another reason, of course. The Man in Black seems infuriated by the fact that Desmond isn't afraid. That he has no fear, even being alone with him in the jungle, away from everyone, and standing over an ancient well that's pretty deep. While Desmond, again very Zen-like, says that there's no point to being afraid, the Man in Black knocks him right down into the well. Ouch.

Lost-X Desmond. In the Lost-X timeline, Desmond is spotted by Benjamin Linus hanging around the parking lot of the school where he and substitute John Locke work. Significantly, Desmond doesn't appear to be there for Ben (his name, after all, wasn't on the passenger manifest) but rather is keeping an eye on Locke himself. Ben is suspicious and Desmond lies about why he's there, saying that he's looking for a school for his son, Charlie. Why Desmond chooses Charlie as a fake name for a son he doesn't have is also significant; is it because Charlie Pace is on his mind after recent events? Or does he have knowledge of his actual son Charlie in the mainstream reality?

Interesting too that Desmond then puts his car in full throttle and runs down John Locke in his wheelchair. Is he looking for payback? ("Locke" did just throw him down a well in the mainstream reality.) Or is he looking to awaken Locke's memories of the island? Given that he has no island love to reconnect him with, Desmond chooses to instead bring Locke close to death, to use his brush with mortality to fire his synapses and recover those lost memories.

Locke will, of course, have to be rushed to the hospital, where I believe Jack will be forced to operate on him, removing the choice of spinal surgery from Locke and course-correcting once more. This Locke will walk again and will once again regain his belief in miracles, especially after he glimpses another world through the veil. Casting off his pragmatism, Lost-X Locke will be forced to believe once again, to reconnect to the island.

I'm also intrigued by another possibility: given the fact that the Man in Black is currently using John Locke's form in the mainstream reality, would Lost-X Locke's repossession of his island memories have any consequences on his body back on the island? Could we be seeing the return of the one true John Locke? Hmmm...

What did you think of this week's episodes? Agree with the above theories? Disagree? Get yourself over to the comments section to share your thoughts on last night's episode, pose some questions, and discuss.

Next week on Lost ("The Last Recruit"), alliances are forged and broken when Locke and Jack's camps merge.

Los Angeles Times: "V: May Day, or Everyone Has a Breaking Point"

Looking to discuss last night's episode of ABC's V?

Head over to the Los Angeles Times/Show Tracker site, where you can read my take on last night's episode ("John May"), entitled "V: May Day, or Everyone Has a Breaking Point."

I'm curious to know what you thought of the episode. Head to the comments section to discuss.

Next week on V ("We Can't Win"), Chad and Anna head to Geneva, Switzerland for the U.N. Energy Summit, where Anna is going to present a gift of technology to the world; Erica learns that the V Task Force is investigating The Fifth Column; Valerie goes on the run, knowing something is different about her baby and not sure she can trust Ryan.

Channel Surfing: HBO Renews Treme, Damages May Be Dead, Jared Harris Promoted on Mad Men, 24, and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing.

It took just one episode, apparently, before HBO ordered a second season of New Orleans-set drama series Treme, from creators David Simon and Eric Overmyer. "We would have picked up this show last week," HBO president Michael Lombardo told The Hollywood Reporter's James Hibberd. "We've seen the first nine episodes it's as strong as any show we've seen. Much like The Wire, the audience is so passionate and so invested. We're about servicing our subscriber base and I believe that people will become addicted to this show. We have to be a place where this kind of excellence is giving space to continue." According to Lombardo, Season Two of Treme is being targeted for a spring 2011 debut, where it will likely be paired with the first season of fantasy drama Game of Thrones. "They should be ready about the same time," said Lombardo. "[Game] looks beautiful, the compelling scripts are just fantastic, we're doing reshoots but nothing major. The show is there." Production on Treme's second season will begin this fall. (Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed)

The Wrap's Josef Adalian, meanwhile, talks to Lombardo in a Q&A-style interview about the Treme renewal. "The first season of True Blood we picked up in the first week. Whether it was after the first day, I don't recall," Lombardo told Adalian. "But I must be candid: We knew we were picking this up (before the premiere). We were actually trying to arrange a phone call with David before we got numbers, but because of David Mills' funeral, that was just impossible. We were sure early on in a way that was unique." (The Wrap's TVMoJoe)

Variety's Stuart Levine is reporting that Monday night's season finale of FX's Damages may wind up being the series finale, after all. "Despite a meeting in the next two weeks between Sony Pictures Television and DirecTV to discuss the possibility of the Glenn Close skein changing networks, insiders say it doesn't look as though the drama is a good fit for the satellite provider," writes Levine. "Sony, of course, wants to see Damages continue, but the studio would have to take a substantial license-fee reduction. With what would be the fourth year of the show, and cast and crew expecting salary increases, it would likely be difficult -- though not impossible -- to cut costs." If Sony was able to broker a deal with DirecTV, their Channel 101 would want to take the first window of Damages' fourth season, which could be a problem for FX, which co-produces the legal drama. [Editor: I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that something could be worked out but in the meantime, I'm going to enjoy the finale as much as I possibly can.] (Variety)

Good news for Mad Men fans: Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Jared Harris has been promoted to series regular for Season Four of the period drama, which returns to AMC this summer. "Harris joined the Emmy-winning drama in Season Three as Lane Pryce, Sterling Cooper’s new financial officer (installed by UK parent company Putnam, Powell, and Low)," writes Ausiello. "In the finale, he became a founding partner in SCDP alongside Don Draper, Bert Cooper, and Roger Sterling." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Elsewhere, Ausiello also has a spoiler-laden interview with 24 executive producer Howard Gordon about this week's shocking twist... which I won't spoil here, but I will say that Gordon is candid about the decision they made and much more. "It was an incredibly emotional day," said Gordon about the final day of shooting on 24. "I’m just so incredibly proud to be a part of it... This has been an incredibly strong season. I can [only] judge it in terms of what my own opinion is of the show and what I hear about it anecdotally from the people who are friends and family, but I feel very proud of this year. Kiefer is very proud of this year. People are happy to be ending with such creative vigor." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Sophia Bush (One Tree Hill) has been cast in ABC comedy pilot Southern Discomfort, where she will play Haley, described as "a recent Harvard graduate who returns to her Texas hometown to reunite with her old boyfriend." She'll star opposite Don Johnson and Mary Steenburgen in the pilot, which hails from Sony Pictures Television, Tantamount, and ABC Studios. Bush's casting is said to be in second position to her role on the CW's One Tree Hill, which has yet to receive a pickup for another season. (Hollywood Reporter)

Elsewhere, Ben Browder (Stargate SG-1) has joined the cast of the CW's drama pilot presentation Hellcats, where he is set to play football coach Red Irvine. (Deadline.com)

More wrestling is coming to Syfy, following the conclusion of a multi-year deal between cabler Syfy and World Wrestling Entertainment to bring Friday Night Smackdown to the sci-fi channel beginning October 1st. As part of the move, Syfy will shift its traditional Friday night programming block of originals--which includes Caprica, Stargate Universe, and Sanctuary, among others--to Tuesdays. "WWE is the ultimate in imagination-based sports entertainment," said Syfy programming president Dave Howe. "The fantastical thrills of Friday Night SmackDown provide an ideal addition to the Syfy slate, as it targets the younger male and female demographics, which are the fastest-growing categories for WWE." Syfy's current wrestling series, NXT, will wrap up its run in October. (Hollywood Reporter, Variety)

Naren Shankar is said to be leaving CBS' CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, stepping down from his role as executive producer/co-showrunner on the procedural drama in order to focus on his development deal with CBS Television Studios. (Deadline.com)

Kevin Eubanks will depart NBC's Tonight Show on May 28th and will be replaced, beginning June 6th, by American Idol's Rickey Minor, the musical competition series' music director. (Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed, Variety)

Looks like Glee star Lea Michele injured her knee while filming an upcoming episode that features the music of Lady Gaga. (Specifically, it was the glee club's take on Gaga's "Bad Romance.") "I'm directing that episode and I did more coverage on that song then we've ever done in the history of the show," co-creator Ryan Murphy tells told E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos. "It's a big number. It's like, big and athletic and hard. And those girls and Chris [Colfer] I think did it for six hours straight." As for Colfer, he too was amazed that he wasn't injured shooting the show-stopping number. "I almost died just trying on my getup," Colfer told Dos Santos. "Literally, I probably almost died because I wear 10-inch heels and those take some getting used to. They're like stilts walking around. They're platform, stick stiletto heels. And I had to dance my ass off in them [laughs.]" (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

In other Glee-related news, FOX has released the Sue Sylvester "Vogue" video from next week's "Power of Madonna" episode of Glee. The video, a shot by shot remake of Madonna's "Vogue," can be seen in its entirety below:


BBC has confirmed that it will not be going ahead with a third season of post-apocalyptic drama series Survivors. "The BBC is committed to making a broad range of varied and ambitious drama, but in order to achieve this we do have to move on from some pieces in order to allow new work to come through," said a BBC spokesperson. "After two series, Survivors will not be returning." (Daily Telegraph)

Deadline.com's Nellie Andreeva is reporting that Wizards of Waverly Place showrunner Peter Murrieta will depart the Disney Channel comedy should it be picked up for a fourth season. (Deadline.com)

Arthur Smith and Kent Weed's reality shingle A. Smith and Co. is developing a reality series based around Aussie magician James Galea and will pitch the project--which mixes comedy, illusion, and sleight of hand--to networks. (Variety)

Looks like Carrie and Co. will be walking in their Manolos over to E! and Style, according to a report by Alex Weprin in Broadcasting & Cable. Comcast Entertainment Group has signed a deal to acquire off-net and ancillary rights to all 94 episodes of HBO's Sex and the City beginning in January 2011. (Broadcasting & Cable)

Warner Bros. Television has hired ICM agent Tom Burke as SVP/head of casting for the studio, where he will oversee all casting both for WBTV and offshoot Warner Horizon. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Not-So New Directions: Glee Returns Tonight

While some viewers swoon for Glee, I've had more of a love-hate relationship with Ryan Murphy's crooner comedy.

There are times when Glee makes me roar with laughter at its often witty and risque dialogue. Laden with innuendo and pop culture savvy, these are volatile bon mots delivered with precision and a killer left hook.

But these moments often serve to remind me that Glee can and should be so much better, they're glimpses into the better series that's buried within Glee should they mine deeper territory, instead of offering a series of saccharine treats.

That's not to say that there aren't moments in the next three episodes of Glee, which returns tonight to the FOX lineup, that aren't genuinely entertaining, because there are. Next week's episode in particular, "The Power of Madonna," might be the best episode of the series to date, focusing as it does on Sue Sylvester and the empowering music of Madge herself.

As a whole, the next three episodes offer a series of high and low points. And when the series hits those high notes, it does so with a terrific sense of accomplishment and joy. There are moments within "The Power of Madonna" that are far funnier and stomach-clenching than most sitcoms these days; the--SPOILER!--shot-by-shot remake of Madonna's "Vogue" music video starring Sue Sylvester is meticulously shot, lovingly produced, and with a nice wink or two thrown in for good measure. The episode, while it has some small flaws, offers a look at how great the series can and should be: the heights that it should attempt to reach and the right mix of sweet and sour, light and dark.

After all, the series thrives when it embraces its own quirky humor. The same episode features a scene between Kurt, Mercedes, and Sue as Kurt offers to help the Cheerios coach with... Well, that would be telling. But suffice it to say that Kurt's line effortlessly sums up the sort of dynamic humor and storytelling that the series should be embracing: "I'm gay, she's black. We make culture." It's a throwaway line but one that should be held onto tightly. I'd rather see some depth and grit here than another iteration of will-they-or-won't they couple Finn and Rachel get it on or break up or get back together.

Which typically happens over the course of a single episode. I've taken the Glee writing staff to task in the past for accelerated storytelling, whereby they rush an entire story arc through a single installment, introducing a plot twist at the beginning and then resolving it by the end of the episode, never to be seen again. There's a fair amount of that going on here, though I do give them credit for bringing up the star-crossed romance between Artie and Tina. But having Kristin Chenoweth's April Rhodes show up out of nowhere in the third episode ("Home") as a roller rink owner, offer the glee club a place to rehearse (which, oddly, they never do), and then depart again by the end of the episode doesn't really serve any story needs.

It's that third episode, jam-packed as it with music (some would say over-stuffed), that really got under my skin. Glee tends to flag when it attempts broadly thematic storytelling, attempting to link everyone's struggles in a single episode to a single theme, here the need to belong, to have a home, a family. From Mercedes to Will, nearly every character in this episode either sings a song (or multiple ones), argues, cries (and, yes, there's a lot of crying here), or just generally waxes about the concept of home. (There's also a really shrill storyline that involves Kurt and Finn and their parents which seems to spring out of nowhere and which definitely rubbed me the wrong way.)

I think you can accomplish thematic-based episodes if you have the foundations for some solid characters, but many of Glee's faces are little more than just that. I don't feel like I know many of these characters better than I did when I first met them thirteen episodes ago. While Finn and Rachel seem to get a lot of air time (along with Will), the rest of the characters still seem to be mostly background players comprised of reductive stereotypes.

But there are some fun moments embedded within these episodes: a showdown between Emma and Terri, Finn and Rachel's mash-up of Madonna's "Borderline" and "Open Your Heart," every second of the "Vogue" video, anything with Sue (especially when she claims her parents were Nazi hunters), the awkwardness of a certain three-person date, the nicely staged "Like a Virgin" montage, the scenes with Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff's involvement, and most of "The Power of Madonna" as a whole, the strongest episode of the three.

And there's some new competition for Jane Lynch's Sue Sylvester (who brings her A-game to every scene she's in) in the form of airheaded Cheerio Brittany, who is now getting some of the funniest lines in the entire show (look for the scene where Jonathan Groff's Jesse St. James is introduced by Will) and providing some much needed humor to some highly repetitive rehearsal scenes. These two, particularly together, could be a combustive force of comedy.

All in all, these next three episodes of Glee offer some fine moments and some not-so-fine ones. I had been hoping that the back nine episodes of Glee would have proven to be an improvement on the thirteen that came before but my ultimate feeling is this: you either love the series already or you don't. But if the writers want to built a long-term franchise rather than just a flash in the pan, they need to look towards constructing longer arcs, deepening the characters, and finding a tone that's consistent rather than all over the place. For a series that's meant to be as diverse and progressive as Glee, it still can feel awfully directionless.

Glee returns tonight at a special time of 9:28 pm ET/PT on FOX.

The Grifters: Schemers and Dreamers on Damages

Just a word of advice: don't mess with the person who knows all of your secrets.

This week's phenomenal episode of Damages ("You Were His Little Monkey"), written by Glenn Kessler and directed by Timothy Busfield, began to draw together the extremely diverse story strands of the series' taut third season before next week's finale. (It's worth noting here that Damages' ultimate fate is unclear and next week's installment may serve as either a season finale or a series finale. I'm hoping it's the former rather than the latter.)

I can't quite wrap my head around how the writers will manage to tie everything up, with Tom's murder, Patty's car accident, the Frobisher case, the Ponzi scheme, African charities, Wes Krulik, feature films, and dreams all in the mix somehow. Yet Damages has proven itself quite adept at building tension throughout the season and bringing together a slew of clues to offer one hell of a final act. Which means even if the series doesn't manage to return for a fourth season, it still will have gone out on an extremely high note.

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

My admonition earlier was thrown right at the Tobins, who this week decided to make a monumentally wrong-headed decision and fire Leonard Winstone. While Joe Tobin was shocked to discover that Leonard wasn't who he said he was, it really doesn't matter at the end of the day whether his name is Winstone or Wiggins: he's the man who literally knows where you buried the bodies. He's been aware of the fraud since the start and knows exactly how to procure the money that's being hidden in the charity with the help of Stuart Zedeck. He knows that Tessa Marchetti is the daughter of Joe Tobin and that Marilyn withheld this information from her son in a bid to get him to silence her forever.

So the question is: if knowledge is power and this man knows all of this, is it wise to make an extremely powerful man angry?

Yet that's just what Joe Tobin does, having it out with Leonard one final time and sharing with him just what Louis Tobin called him behind his back: his "little monkey," the creature who does his dirty work while he gets to keep his well-manicured hands clean. Leonard Winstone may have been a fraud but he was their fraud, a man so desperate to belong that he convinced himself that he was a valued member of the Tobin family, that he belonged to something bigger than himself. Marilyn first makes it clear what she really thinks about him, saying that he couldn't possibly understand her thought process because he doesn't have a family. It's a gutting scene but it pales in comparison to the one between Joe and Leonard. Joe's hold on sanity or logic expired some time ago: he's been making sloppy, stupid choices that have only shined a greater spotlight on the Tobin family and now he's cut ties with the one man who had made it his life's mission to protect them.

Just what did he think that Leonard would do? Was he so foolish that he thought that the little monkey would just dance away back in the shadows and keep the family's secrets for them? But that's not in Leonard's nature; he's a survivor and a grifter at heart. Scorned by the Tobins, he makes a deal with Tom Shayes to save his own skin at the expense of the Tobins... but he also makes a fatal error that will have lasting consequences: he steals from Stuart Zedeck.

There's a nice parallel in this episode between two very different thefts, both of which will have some nasty repercussions for the parties involved, and between the actions of intermediaries. Ben's appearance at the charity to withdraw the secreted funds and his line about people making their attorneys do things rather than doing them themselves is clearly meant to echo Leonard Winstone's predicament (and also inadvertently allows the former Tobin family counsel access to the funds themselves). Meanwhile, Leonard and Albert's efforts to use the system that Zedeck set up in order to get Tom back some of his lost financial status--tantamount to theft itself--also nicely parallels the theft committed by Jill when she agrees to take Patty's money... and then turns around and spends it on Michael. Ouch. Something tells me that neither Stuart Zedeck nor Patty Hewes will take too kindly to people stealing from them.

Patty. This week, Patty's dreams about the beautiful horse continued as she fell asleep at the office and later experienced a waking dream on the streets of New York City when she glimpses a police horse. In both cases, the horse seems to calm her initially as she's struck by its beauty and majesty but there's a jarring sense of shock when Julian Decker turns up in both cases. In the dream in her office, Julian appears next to the horse as she watches through the ripped-up hole in her wall and he calls her Patricia. Later, she transposes Julian's face onto the mounted police officer. Julian is clearly on her mind but seems to represent something just out of reach.

A reader suggested a few weeks back that Julian was a figment of Patty's imagination, as the only person he interacted with was Patty... and it's not like any renovation work has actually been done at Patty's apartment since their "meeting." But while I don't think that Patty has created Julian out of whole cloth, I do think that he's a figure from her past, someone who meant something significant to her. Otherwise her reaction upon seeing his face on that policeman--leading her vomit--wouldn't be quite so violent.

It's interesting too that these manifestations should come on the heels of the knowledge that Michael is the father of Jill's baby. While Patty had doubts about the baby's parentage, Michael turns up at her office to tell her that the chromosomal test came back clean and the DNA proved that he was the father. He offers to send her a copy of the report and turns on his heel, but it's Patty's surprisingly vulnerable face--a crack in the wall--that's the true kicker of the scene. Her armor has fallen and here we see a woman who has realized that she has lost her child. The anguish she feels is palpable.

So it only makes sense that she would seek to bring Michael back to her the only way she knows how: by getting rid of Jill and breaking his heart. She agrees to meet Jill and pay her $300,000 to go away and never see Michael again, even though she is carrying his child. (Parallels here too between Jill and Michael and Danielle Marchetti and Joe Tobin.) But Jill's not going anywhere: she demands a cool $500,000 and then turns around and buys Michael a flashy ride and makes a down payment on an apartment. But all of this is on borrowed time: Patty is going to find out that Jill is still in the picture and come after her. And I don't think Jill wants to find out the full force of Patty's rage.

Ellen. I loved the scene between Ellen and Patty where she tells Patty that the reason that she didn't want to come back to work for her was that she wanted to make her own choices. While I thought that Patty might react negatively to that sentiment, she seems to respect Ellen all the more for it... as she does Ellen's decision to protect Tom and give him her loyalty rather than Patty. He did, as Ellen says, need it more than Patty at that point. I'm just thrilled to see these two back in the same room together again, with Ellen clearly willing to put aside the awful argument she had with Patty and focus on the case. Could it be that these two have gotten through their first spat as friends and come out the other side? I was also chuffed to see that Patty hasn't forgotten the promise she made to Ellen to find David's killer, to use her resources to put his murderer behind bars. Ellen might not work for Patty anymore but she clearly intends to honor that commitment to her former protege.

Josh Reston. I loved that it was Josh who is able to give Ellen and Patty a major break in the Tobin case, using his contact at the jail to learn that Leonard Winstone had bailed Albert Wiggins out of jail. It's a nice callback to the favor that Ellen did for Josh and a way to balance things out between them. His quick-thinking sends Ellen on a path of discovery, learning that the real Leonard Winstone died in a car accident just a few weeks after graduating law school and low-life grifter Lester Wiggins stole his identity and reinvented himself as a hot-shot lawyer, becoming the family counsel for the well-heeled Tobin clan. But the past always catches up to you and it's Albert who brings the house of cards tumbling down around his son's head.

Arthur Frobisher. I was wondering just how the Arthur Frobisher storyline would play into the overarching storyline this season and this week--even without Ted Danson's presence--it finally began to pay off three seasons of dangling plot threads as Terry Brooks told Patty that Frobisher had implied that he had someone killed and had hired a man--a cop--who would do anything. While Patty laughs off the implications and denies that Frobisher would be capable of murder, she quickly goes to see A.D.A. Gates and Ellen and leads to reopening of the investigation into David Connor's murder. Plus, they've now thisclose to connecting Frobisher to Rick Messer and Wes Krulik. While Messer is dead, it's Krulik who might finally provide some closure to this story. Ellen attempts to reach Wes but can't get a hold of him. But he's the key to finally putting Frobisher away for murder by proxy and laying David's spirit to rest.

The look of shock when Ellen sees the photograph of Messer and his former partner Wes is one that's hard to shake. Given that they were lovers, I am sure Ellen is wondering just if Wes knew anything about David's murder... while being unaware that he's the one that was (A) ordered to kill her and (B) shot and murdered his partner in order to protect Ellen. I'm just hoping that Ellen finally learns the truth about Detective Messer and David's death. With the end of the series possibly occurring next week, it's about time that some of these plotlines were dealt with.

Tom. Poor Tom's life is unraveling before his eyes. Having been forced to resign from the firm in light of his conflict of interest (which was disclosed to Patty by the judge), Tom has a row with Deb on the steps of their brownstone and she kicks him out. With nowhere to turn, he makes a deal with Leonard Winstone, offering him immunity from prosecution in exchange for information about the hidden Tobin fortune. And Leonard is able--thanks to some help from his crooked father (who assumes the identity of Stuart Zedeck)--to offer Tom a bag of cash as a sign of good faith.

Of course, we later learn that Tom himself engineered his entire resignation. Which didn't quite make sense to me while I was watching the episode. Why would Tom make himself unemployed when he's literally got no money and no prospects... in order to risk the chance that Leonard Winstone might talk to him? Especially as this entire affair plays out BEFORE they learn the truth about Winstone's identity and BEFORE Joe Tobin fires Leonard. Given that Leonard was antagonistic towards Patty and Tom, what made Tom think that this was a risk worth taking? Why would Leonard have sold out the Tobins at that point, given that Tom had no leverage over him? It was the odd misstep in an otherwise flawless episode but one that I couldn't put out of my head last night as I went to sleep. Odd.

And then there's the matter of the car, the one that ends up plowing right into Patty's vehicle. Tom is seen late at the office looking on Bing for... something. The search results pull up photographs of the car we saw smashing into Patty, including a shot of the Statue of Liberty bobblehead on the dashboard. But why is Tom researching cheap cars? Why does he in fact purchase it and register it to Leonard Winstone's apartment building? And how does it get from there, with the stolen funds, to the street where the accident occurs? And just who is driving it when it hits Patty? Curious.

While Ellen offers Tom a place to stay, he turns down her offer to instead sleep on the floor of one of the creepy lofts that Leonard owns in an otherwise empty building. Given from what we see from the future-set timeframe--now only Three. Days. Later.--Tom uses it as a makeshift office as well as a meeting place for his rendezvous with Leonard. I'm a little concerned by the presence of homeless man Barry after he sneaks into the loft and wakes Tom up, asking if he can stay there. While I don't think that Barry would hurt Tom--they seem to have something resembling an odd-couple friendship--the fact that he was able to get into the building and the loft so easily doesn't sit well with me.

Three Days Later. And then there are the jumbled flash of images from the future-set timeframe, now just three short days later, scenes that depict each of our protagonists in jeopardy, as Ben pulls a knife, Ellen is confronted by someone, Tom bashes the hell out of someone's face, Patty is involved in a collision, and someone jumps off of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Just what does it all mean? I'm still convinced, as I have been since early on this season, that Tom is tortured--waterboarded--by Zedeck's men in an effort to discover just what he knows about the funds stolen from the charity (after all, Ben will learn that "Stuart Zedeck" showed up to collect some cash and Leonard's the only one who can connect all of the dots) and where the money is. The presence of the empty water bottles on the floor of the flat support this theory as does the presence of water in Tom's lungs without the accompanying waterlogged condition that his corpse should be in had he been drowned. Given that we've seen Ben with a knife, he ends up stabbing Tom, who is able to escape and who calls Deb on the pay phone.

As for the bridge incident, I'm convinced it's either Leonard Winstone (my thought a few weeks back) or Joe Tobin, who learns the truth about Tessa Marchetti and realizes that he's destroyed his entire family rather than saved them. And, like his father before him, he takes his own life rather than be prosecuted and imprisoned for his crimes. In other words: it's the Fall of the House of Tobin.

But I still can't wrap my head around the car accident, however. Unless, Ben manages to find the bag of money, takes Tom's car, and then seeks to silence Patty as well. He orchestrates the accident and jumps out of the passenger side of the car after the impact. But why leave the money behind then? Hmmm...

What do you think of the above theories? Got some of your own? What do you think will happen in next week's season finale? Head to the comments section to share your thoughts.

Next week on the 90-minute season finale of Damages ("The Next One's Gonna to Go in Your Throat"), Ellen and Tom take matters into their own hands in an attempt to win the Tobin case; Patty Hewes is haunted by the price of her success.

Channel Surfing: Billy Campbell Lands The Killing, More on Conan-TBS Deal, NBC Gets Law & Order: Los Angeles, and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing.

Billy Campbell (The 4400) has been cast as one of the leads in AMC drama pilot The Killing, where he will play Darren Richmond, a City Council President in Seattle. Series, executive produced by Mikkel Bondesen and Veena Sud, revolves around three interlocking stories that are connected by the murder of a young girl. (Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed)

TBS' deal with Conan O'Brien for a latenight talk show is described as a "watershed moment" by Variety's Stuart Levine, who reports that the cabler's deal with O'Brien will bring more viewers to the channel who may not have come to the comedy-centric cabler before. Deal will create a two-hour latenight block (with George Lopez's Lopez Tonight that will air Mondays through Thursdays on TBS. (Variety)

The Wrap's Josef Adalian has an interview with Turner Broadcasting Company's Steve Koonin about TBS' surprising deal with Conan O'Brien, who will bring his latenight show to the cabler in November. "The most important point is: Conan chose TBS. And he had lots of different opportunities," said Koonin. "We've been very vociferous and vocal about trying to grow our business and saying we're as good as broadcast. To have someone like Conan (come to TBS) ... validates what we've been saying. We are every bit as good as broadcast television. It's a win for the whole (cable industry)." (The Wrap's TVMoJoe)

[Editor: FOX affiliates are said to be relieved that Conan O'Brien won't be coming to their network, according to a report by Broadcasting & Cable's Michael Malone, which can be read here.]

George Lopez, meanwhile, will move his TBS latenight talk show Lopez Tonight to midnight in order to accommodate O'Brien's new series. "I want to say that I am completely 100% on board with this move," said Lopez on last night's show. "I talked to Conan on Wednesday and I talked to him last night and I said I welcome you into my deep loving embrace." (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

NBC has allegedly ordered thirteen episodes of Law & Order spin-off series Law & Order: Los Angeles (a.k.a. LOLA), which it will launch this fall, according to Deadline.com's Nellie Andreeva, who reports that Blake Masters (Brotherhood) has been hired to write the series. However, neither NBC nor executive producer Dick Wolf would comment on the report. Should the move go forward, it's possible that the Peacock will once again be home to at least three iterations of the Law & Order franchise (with original-flavor Law & Order said to be look to return), but I can't help but wonder if NBC didn't learn its lesson about not shooting pilots first before ordering projects to series. (Deadline.com, The Wrap's TVMoJoe, Fancast)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Diane Keaton is in talks to star in HBO comedy pilot Tilda, from executive producers Bill Condon and Cynthia Mort. Should a deal close, Keaton would play a Hollywood blogger who is said to share some, uh, attributes with Nikki Finke. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Looks like Matthew Broderick is getting some company on the beach. Patton Oswalt (Caprica) and Kristen Johnston (3rd Rock from the Sun) have been cast in NBC comedy pilot Beach Lane, which stars Broderick as an author who is hired by an slacker millionaire named James (Oswalt) to run his newspaper, based in the Hamptons. Johnston will play James' real estate agent step-sister. Project, from Universal Media Studios and Broadway Video, is written/executive produced by Paul Simms. (Variety, Hollywood Reporter)

Reports are swirling that post-apocalyptic drama Survivors (which airs Stateside on BBC America) has been axed by BBC One after just two seasons. "Sadly the BBC aren't going to do any more Survivors," an unnamed source told Total Sci-Fi Online. "They expressed genuine affection for the show and a real desire to go again but felt that with the ratings having slipped a little since the first series they couldn't take the risk. The sad truth is that we're somewhat the victims of having gone out on the main channel - in some ways the exposure is wonderful but in other ways it's a mixed blessing." (via Digital Spy)

TVGuide.com's Natalie Abrams has an interview with V's Joel Gretsch about what's coming up on the ABC sci-fi drama series. "Yeah, he will," said Gretsch, when asked about whether Father Jack would have to choose between being a priest or a soldier. "The episode we're filming now, that question is very much in the forefront. Father Jack is really an unlikely resistance fighter. He's ill-equipped. Even though he was in the war, he was there from more of a spiritual standpoint. Father Jack is a fish out of water, yet he is learning that he's got to do something. He will definitely find his way through this, though it's not an easy road for him and it pushes his moral dilemma." (TVGuide.com)

Pilot casting update: Kyle Howard (My Boys) has been cast opposite Olivia Munn in NBC comedy pilot Perfect Couples; Max Ehrich (The Pregnancy Pact) has been cast in two CBS pilots, Quinn-Tuplets and Team Spitz. (Hollywood Reporter)

Starz is said to be developing two mini-series projects with Ben Silverman's Electus: historical drama William the Conquerer, from executive producer Pierre Morel, and action-thriller Peacekeeper, co-created by Fisher Stevens and Silverman. Move comes after Starz has announced several international co-productions, including Pillars of the Earth and Camelot. (Variety)

Syfy has teamed up with RHI Entertainment to produce two telefilms for the cabler: The Other Side and Roadkill. (Hollywood Reporter)

Scott Free and Tandem have announced that they are developing a mini-series sequel to their upcoming period drama Pillars of the Earth that will be based on Ken Follett's sequel, "World Without End." John Pielmeier will write the script for a possible eight-hour mini-series and Starz will co-finance the development of the project with Tandem. (Variety)

Hasbro Studios has hired Cartoon Network executive Finn Arnesen as SVP of international distribution and development, where he will oversee the studio's international expansion and report to Stephen Davis. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Secrets and Shadows: An Advance Review of Steven Moffat's Doctor Who

Fairy tales are funny things.

Ostensibly stories for children, they manage to capture that incredible sense of wonderment and awe that we all have when we are younger, as well as darkness and terror, a fear of the things that go bump in the night.

When I spoke to Matt Smith and Steven Moffat a few weeks ago for a feature I wrote on the new iteration of Doctor Who--which launches Stateside this Saturday on BBC America--both of them described this new Doctor Who as a "dark fairy tale," and, having seen the magical first two episodes, I can say that the comparison is particularly apt.

Under new head writer/executive producer Steven Moffat, Doctor Who has been transformed. 27-year-old Matt Smith has stepped into the role of 900-year-old Time Lord the Doctor with an equal mix of relish and madcap verve and he's joined in the TARDIS (which itself gets a facelift, along with the Doctor's trademark sonic screwdriver) by Scottish actress Karen Gillan, who plays new companion Amy Pond.

While I have an eternal love for David Tennant's Tenth Doctor (as fans of this site will undoubtedly know), I do have to say that Smith's Doctor is remarkable: at once mad scientist, man-child, and manic magician rolled into one.

I don't want to reveal too much about the plot of these first few episodes because Doctor Who truly thrives when it surprises. And these first two installments offer much in the way of surprise and tantalizing thrills. In other words: they have to be seen in order to truly feel just what Moffat, Smith, Gillan, and Co. are trying to achieve here. But I will say that Smith's charm, poise, and quirkiness are one of the series' best weapons.

In just his first scene--where he attempts to sample an array of food in order to settle into his newly regenerated body (culminating in a stomach-churning combination of custard and fish sticks)--Smith wins you over through sheer force of will, effortlessly offering the very best aspects of Tennant's Doctor with new twists of his own. The result is one that pays homage to Tennant (he wears his cast-off wardrobe for the first 45 minutes or so) while setting up the Eleventh Doctor as a separate entity in his own right.

It's not an easy feat to follow in the footsteps of David Tennant but Smith proves that he's more than up to the task. His Doctor is at once all wide-eyed wonder and haughty tutor rolled into one: a creature of paradox whose knowledge is only ever truly appreciated when he's in the company of another.

Which brings us then to Gillan's Amy Pond. I don't want to give too much away about Amy but I will say that Gillan's spin on the role of the companion is one for the ages, offering a character that's not only different than Billie Piper's Rose, Freema Agyeman's Martha, and Catherine's Tate's Donna but who is uniquely connected to the Doctor in a way that no other companion has been.

A Scottish girl in an English village, Amy shares the outsider status of the Doctor, exploring the notion of belonging or not belonging, of sharing a home but not having one. There's immediately a simpatico spirit between the two travelers, a connection forged in a sense of being the Other, with its roots in the series' dark fairy tale aura. She's plucky, resourceful, and secretive, keeping something vital from the Doctor that might have changed his offer to her to travel the stars with him. (You'll have to watch to find out just what that is as well as the circumstances of their first meeting.)

The first episode, "The Eleventh Hour," written by Steven Moffat and directed by Adam Smith, is a staggering beautiful introduction to the new Doctor Who, a one-off mystery caper that at once sets up the new characters while exploring the small English village that Amy lives in, a village that conceals a dangerous creature known as Prisoner Zero, whose presence might spell doom for the entire planet. (My only complaint is that Prisoner Zero is far more terrifying when he's not seen than when he is. Which I promise will make more sense when you see the episode.) The installment deliciously sets up that overarching fairy tale sensation, offering a plot that is at once exciting and utterly heartbreaking. It seems that even a Time Lord is a prisoner to time itself...

The second episode, "The Beast Below," written again by Moffat and directed this time by Andrew Gunn, offers the first real adventure for the Doctor and Amy Pond as they travel to the far future and encounter a Great Britain that is little more than a metal spaceship amid the stars. But this ship and its seemingly docile society hide a dangerous and horrific secret. Look for Sophie Okenedo in a fantastic guest starring role as the mysterious Liz Ten, and for Amy to prove her worth to the Doctor.

Moffat's Doctor Who seems to have retained the sense of awe and beauty of Russell T Davies' run but has replaced some of the--for wont of a better word--silliness of some of those episodes with a darkness and grit. Fairy tales aren't always upbeat stories of magic and mirth but are often cautionary tales that explore the darker impulses of human nature. They might be intended for children but that doesn't mean that they are exclusively created for children.

In the hands of Moffat--the writer of some of Doctor Who's most beloved installments including "Blink" and "The Girl in the Fireplace"--the series becomes a winning mix of light and dark, adventure and heartache, home and away, the past and the future. Based on these early episodes, Moffat's tenure promises to be a legendary run on Doctor Who, filled with fire and spirit, joie de vivre and madness. In other words: exactly what the Doctor ordered.





Doctor Who launches Saturday at 9 pm ET/PT on BBC America.

The Girl with the Mousy Hair: The Lovely Shaz on Ashes to Ashes

"It's a god-awful small affair/To the girl with the mousy hair."

David Bowie's seminal song "Life on Mars" may have provided the musical hook to 1970s set metaphysical cop drama Life on Mars but its presence had until this point been limited to that series and not crossing over into sequel spinoff Ashes to Ashes. Until now, that is.

The song--along with Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl"--offered two of many memorable moments in the latest fantastic installment of Matthew Graham and Ashley Pharoah's Ashes to Ashes, a mind-bending installment that offered some additional clues to the identity of Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister) and his war with Jim Keats (Daniel Mays) as well as the circumstances surrounding the death of Life on Mars' Sam Tyler (John Simm) and the presence of Alex (Keeley Hawes) in this strange world.

While retaining its aura of dread, this week's episode of Ashes to Ashes focused not only on a case involving a serial killer stalking the female clients of a dating agency but also on the team's most junior member, Sharon "Shaz" Granger (Montserrat Lombard), who has reached a crossroads with her career. Will she stay with Fenchurch East or will she leave the police force all together?

That was the question but while Shaz's employment may have seemed like a subplot, it became a driving force in the ongoing battle between Gene and Jim, with both of them manifesting a vested interest in Shaz's decision. But why? Hmmm...

Warning: spoilers abound for US viewers who haven't seen Season Two of Ashes to Ashes.

I have to give Graham and Pharoah credit for meticulously recreating Billy Joel's 1983 music video for "Uptown Girl," right down to Alex wearing the hat in the car, Gene fixing his hair and tucking in his shirt, and the pin-up girl poster in the garage. Both hysterical and period-appropriate, Alex's "Uptown Girl" dream sequence continued to position Gene and Alex as star-crossed lovers from different worlds, here manifesting itself as the uptown/downtown dichotomy of Joel's song. (I'll also admit that I watched the opening about three times as I just loved seeing the guys sucked into Billy Joel's romance fantasy and found all of it to be absolutely hilarious.)

Of course, Gene Hunt seems to run Fenchurch East much like a garage: all pin-up girls, testosterone, and boys only. Alex and Shaz's presence there offers an injection of estrogen, along with a more modern approach to policing that's in line with Alex's experiences in the gender-neutral police force of the present day.

But the women aren't the spanner in the works. That role goes to Daniel Mays' Discipline and Complaints officer Jim Keats, who this week continued to search out Gene Hunt's weak spots, looking to turn the team over to his side. In addition to creating an uncomfortable environment in the hellish little office he's using, Keats literally turns up the heat on the Fenchurch East gang, a little electric fire roaring away at full blast in the corner.

Interestingly, Keats has already learned the team members' trigger points: he looks to manipulate each of them by appealing to their vulnerabilities. Ray's loyalty to Gene is tested, as is Chris' sense of ambition and Shaz's fears that she's not up to the task at hand. But why is Keats so determined to sway them to his side? Is it to tear down the kingdom that Gene has constructed within the station? Or is something more going on here?

With Ray and Chris seemingly unwilling--yet, anyway--to bend to Keats' will, he turns his attention to the team member that's currently the most vulnerable: Shaz. Doubting her role on the team and her place within the police force, Shaz is convinced that she needs to leave behind her dreams of being a copper and leave the force altogether, a position that Keats seems to support. In fact, he seems hellbent on making Shaz leave. The choice has to be hers but the outcome must be the one that Keats wants, another domino falling that he's knocked over.

As for Keats, he's more than just a shifty D&C man with a grudge against Gene. His abhorrence of Gene does a hell of a lot deeper than just a personal dislike; there's something between them, something dark and mysterious that has brought him to this moment. I'm also intrigued by the notion that he knows exactly what Alex is going through and might even be from her world. The fact that he didn't twinge at all when she mentioned Jeffrey Dahmer, agreeing with her assessment, was an auspicious one as Dahmer's killing spree didn't reach its zenith until the late 1980s and early 1990s. Was his agreement with Alex just a cover for his lack of knowledge? Or was he agreeing with her because he knew of Dahmer from the future? Hmmm...

This week's case focused on a serial killer whose victims all belonged to a dating agency called Crescent Moon--run by Elaine Downing (Beth Goddard, who just happens to be Philip Glenister's real-life wife). The women were all buried in shallow graves and branded by their killer with a crescent moon, a solid link between the women and the killer. While Alex and the others sought to catch the killer by infiltrating the dating agency (with Alex inventing speed dating), it was Shaz who was reluctantly forced into providing their last-ditch effort at catching the man responsible for the crimes when their efforts fail.

But Shaz had already announced her resignation from the police force. Already uneasy, Shaz was nearly the victim of mob violence and proved unable to stop the attackers by displaying her badge. When one of them drew a screwdriver and threatened her, she ran and later broke down, unable to stand up to the gang and get them to drop their weapons with just a sheer force of will. But Gene is awfully persuasive and he convinces Shaz that she has to do one last thing for him: go undercover and lure out the suspected killer.

Which she does. Despite her uneasiness, Shaz does manage to get the killer to confess, though only after he lured her to the deserted shoreline, where he attempts to brand her and strangle her on the ground. Paying off both the gang sequence and the ongoing construction at the station, Shaz stabs him brutally with a screwdriver concealed in her coat and manages to get to safety, before collapsing into Gene's arms.

Later, the gang celebrates Shaz at Luigi's, with Gene even calling her "Granger" and Ray making a speech about women on the police force. Gene, meanwhile, says that, if she keeps up the good work, Shaz could be a member of CID by Christmas. It's a strange and evocative moment as Shaz is swept up in darkness and Bowie's "Life on Mars" plays as Alex seems to look on from a distance.

Just what does it mean? Is it meant to be a portent of doom? Or just a sign that Gene Hunt has exerted his influence over Shaz and reclaimed her from Keats? After all, the lyric of that section of "Life on Mars" would seem to match Shaz precisely: "the girl with the mousy hair." Curious, that, given the song's importance to the first series and to Sam Tyler.

Alex, meanwhile, continued her own investigation into Sam's death, going so far as to order his personal effects from Manchester and secreting them in her desk drawer, where Gene discovers them. While he doesn't directly confront Alex about her ongoing investigation, he warns her that they all have to stick together as a team. His words aren't just a discussion of solidarity; again, there seems to be some notion that they do need to offer a unified front against Keats' entreaties.

But Alex isn't one to give up, especially when her curiosity has been piqued. She wants to get to the bottom of what really happened to Sam Tyler and Gene appears to be stonewalling her, but why? And if it wasn't Chris who took the photograph of Sam's car in the canal, who did? She's not quite willing to question Ray directly about the photograph or Sam Tyler, knowing that he'll likely tell Gene just what she's up to. But there is someone else whom Alex should be speaking to, someone who hasn't yet been seen in Ashes to Ashes: Annie.

After all, Annie would have some answers to Alex's questions and, given Sam's untimely end, would likely be all too willing to speak to her about Sam, Gene, and everything that happened in Manchester. While I have no idea if Liz White is set to appear on Ashes, I'd love to see her turn up here and offer Alex a few clues about what really went down in 1980. She's the only major character that hasn't been mentioned since Life on Mars and I do hope that there's some way Graham and Pharoah deal with just what happened between Annie and Sam after the final credits rolled on Life on Mars.

Meanwhile, there was Alex's shocking vision at the very end of the episode, one that had my brain twisting in knots. In addition to the shot of the blue puffy clouds in the sky (at odds with the stars in the nighttime sky she envisions while following Shaz earlier in the episode), there's a shot of the young copper in a green field, and then a quick flash of a weathervane.

That weathervane is hugely significant. I went back and rewatched the vision unfold and the weathervane would seem to depict an old crone standing atop the directional arms of the vane. A crone, huh? And then there's the fact that the vane is pointing west. So crone plus west...

Wait, that couldn't be a reference to the Wicked Witch of the West, now could it?

Both Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes have featured imagery dealing with Oz but this seems so pointed that it's impossible to ignore. After all, if we use The Wizard of Oz as a (very) loose analogue for Ashes, the characters do match up: Alex is Dorothy, lost in a strange world; Shaz is the loyal Toto; Chris the often unintelligent Scarecrow, missing his brain; Ray, the heartless Tin Man; and Shaz the cowardly lion. (Hell, Shaz even makes a "lion" reference in this week's episode.)

While I'm not suggesting it's as black and white as that, the Oz parallel offers some interesting food for thought. Oz, like this world, was originally thought to be a dream (remember, Dorothy wakes up believing she dreamed the whole thing) but she discovers later that Oz isn't a dream but a real place that she can access, just like Sam and Alex were able to access this world. And if we take the Oz analogy even further, would that make Keats the villain of the piece? The Wicked Witch of the West? Or is he the all-powerful Oz, himself a refugee from the "real world" who holds a possible key to escape? Curious.

Looks like we'll have to wait for some more holes to be filled in on this yellow brick road before we can form a complete theory about what's actually going on here. But regardless of the outcome, I'm hooked and can't wait for the next installment. Graham and Pharoah are doing brilliant work here as they wrap up five seasons of storylines and in the next six episodes bid farewell to the rich universe created by Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes.

What will happen next is anyone's guess. But I'm curious to see what you thought of this week's episode. Do you agree with the above theories? Disagree? What was your take on the weathervane imagery? What's really going on? Discuss.

On the next episode of Ashes to Ashes, the team investigates a series of arson attacks in the run-up to the general election, with a Falklands veteran, now working as a fireman, identified as the prime suspect; Alex continues to be tormented by visions of the mutilated police officer as she investigates Sam's death.

Talk Back: Series Premiere of HBO's Treme

Now that HBO's new drama series Treme has premiered, I'm curious to see what you thought of the series' 80-minute pilot episode, which aired last night.

As a reminder, you can read my advance review of the first three episodes of Treme here and my feature interview with co-creators David Simon (The Wire) and Eric Overmyer (Homicide: Life on the Street) here.

But now that Treme has premiered, I'm curious to know just what you thought of the new series. Did you find the characters engaging? Were you turned off by Steve Zahn's Davis? (And don't worry if you were: I found him shrilly irritating until about Episode Three.) Did you like the juxtaposition of culture--music, cuisine, tradition--and survival? Curious about what happened to Daymo? Shocked at the Mardi Gras Indian costume coming out of the darkness? What did you think overall? Did it grab you or leave you cold?

And, most importantly, will you tune in again next week?

Talk back here.

Next week on Treme ("Meet De Boys on the Battlefront"), Albert takes the law into his own hands; LaDonna gets news about her missing brother.

Los Angeles Times: "The Amazing Race: Marching to the Beat of a Different Drummer"

Looking to discuss the latest episode of CBS' fantastic reality series The Amazing Race?

Head over to the Los Angeles Times/Show Tracker to read my latest piece, entitled "The Amazing Race: Marching to the Beat of a Different Drummer," where you can read my take on the latest episode, why U-Turns are often wasted on the dumb, and much more.

Sound off in the comments section and be sure to come back next week as I'll be discussing each episode of The Amazing Race all season long.

In two weeks on The Amazing Race ("I Feel Like I'm in, Like, Sicily"), the four remaining teams depart the Pit Stop at Marina Barrage in Singapore.

Channel Surfing: Fringe Musical, Conan Heads to TBS, Ryan Devlin Checks into Grey's, Fred Willard, and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing.

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello has an exclusive first-look at the upcoming musical episode of FOX's Fringe, set to air April 29th. "We didn’t set out to do a musical," Fringe's executive producer Jeff Pinkner told Ausiello. "We set out to do an episode that explored Walter’s state of mind — he’s dealing with some very upsetting news. When we realized that the way Walter would deal with such news would be to try to anesthetize himself with copious amounts of marijuana, well, singing and dancing became a natural outcome." [Editor: Hmmm, just what could that "very upsetting news" be?] (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

A rather big speed bump has emerged during the ongoing talks between Conan O'Brien at FOX. Hollywood Reporter's James Hibberd and Matthew Belloni are reporting that while the negotiations between the former Tonight Show host and FOX have been smooth, O'Brien won't commit to a late night talk show with FOX unless the network "can guarantee that stations will air his show in all or nearly all of the country." Which is a significant problem as some affiliates are less than excited by the idea of Coco taking over their late night timeslots, currently home to syndicated programming. The issue has so far prevented O'Brien from entering into "exclusive negotiations" with FOX, with his team continuing to look at other options outside of FOX, which wants to air O'Brien's new series weeknights from 11 pm to midnight. (Hollywood Reporter)

UPDATE! Hold the presses: O'Brien's team has opted not to sign with FOX and has instead concluded a deal with cabler TBS. Yes, you read that correctly. O'Brien's team has signed with TBS for a latenight talk show that will air between 11 pm and midnight on the basic cabler, a move that will push George Lopez's eponymous talker to midnight. "In three months I’ve gone from network television to Twitter to performing live in theaters, and now I’m headed to basic cable," said O'Brien in a statement released by TBS. "My plan is working perfectly." The move pushes the comedy-oriented TBS into a place of prominence. "Conan has been the comedic voice for a generation. TBS already has a huge audience of young comedy lovers, and Conan’s show will give these fans even more reasons to watch our network," said Steve Koonin, president of Turner Entertainment Networks. (via press release)

Ryan Devlin (Cougar Town) will guest star in the May 20th season finale of ABC's Grey's Anatomy, according to Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello, who reports that Devlin will play Bill, the husband of Mandy Moore's character Mary, who is a patient at Seattle Grace. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Entertainment Weekly's Mandi Bierly has an interview with the uber-talented Fred Willard, who will next been seen on Castle, Modern Family, and Chuck. Willard, set to reprise his role as Phil's dad on Modern Family, will guest star on Chuck as half of a super-spy couple. "That was an interesting one, because I play a part I’d always thought I was right for — a spy," said Willard about his upcoming turn on Chuck. "I’m with Swoosie Kurtz on that, we’re a bickering spy couple, kind of like Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers played [on Hart to Hart], and we’re showing the ropes to the young Chuck and his partner. And it’s like a real did we double-cross them or did we triple-cross them? That was a lot of fun." (Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch)

Delroy Lindo (Kidnapped) has been cast as one of the leads in Shawn Ryan's FOX cop drama pilot Ride-Along, opposite Jason Clarke and Jennifer Beals. Lindo will play "a longtime building magnate-turned-politician who is loved by his constituents, but there have always been whispers about possible ties to organized," according to Hollywood Reporter's Nellie Andreeva. (Hollywood Reporter)

NBC ordered a pilot for gameshow Secret Treasure, in which six contestants compete against one another as they answer trivia questions and try to steal one another's cash-laden "secret treasure boxes." Project, from ITV Studios, was created by Jeff Apploff. (Variety)

CBS, meanwhile, ordered a pilot for a revival of classic gameshow Pyramid, from Sony Pictures Television and Michael Davies (Who Wants to Be a Millionaire), which would replace As the World Turns in its daytime lineup. (Hollywood Reporter)

Starz is reportedly developing a series adaptation of culinary critic Gael Greene's 2006 autobiography "Insatiable: Tales From a Life of Delicious Excess," about her "gastronomic and erotic adventures" in 1970s and 1980s Manhattan. Starz will produce the potential one-hour drama series with Robert Lantos' Serendipity Point Films and Rob Lee's Bayonne Entertainment. (Variety)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Grey Damon (90210) has been cast in Season Five of Friday Night Lights as a series regular. He'll play Hastings Ruckle, described as a "sexy, laid back basketball player who ends up joining the Lions as a wide receiver." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Philip Seymour Hoffman and Emily Ziff's production company Cooper's Town is developing an HBO drama series based on Samantha Peale's novel "The American Painter Emma Dial," about a woman coming to terms with her identity crisis as she works within the Manhattan art world. Sarah Treem (In Treatment) will adapt. It's unknown whether the potential drama series would air as a half-hour or one-hour. (Variety)

Warner Bros. Television has signed a two-script deal with Miss Guided creator Caroline Williams--currently a consulting producer on ABC's Modern Family--under which she will develop two comedy projects for the studio, including a single-camera comedy project with executive producer J.J. Abrams. (Hollywood Reporter)

Chris Gethard (The Other Guys) will replace Jon Heder in the Comedy Central comedy series Big Lake. Series, ordered for ten episodes by the cabler, has an option for an additional 90 episodes. (Variety)

Showtime's Marc Wootton comedy La La Land is heading across the pond to BBC Three. (Broadcast)

Law & Order's Sam Waterston will guest star on the April 28th episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, according to TV Guide Magazine's Will Keck. "For the first time in Law & Order: SVU’s eleven year history, Sam will show up in the SVU squad room," executive producer Neal Baer told Keck. (TV Guide Magazine)

SPOILER! Taylor Momsen will be MIA when Gossip Girl returns next season. At least at first, anyway. Citing a source close to Gossip Girl's production, Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Momsen will be absent from the CW drama series for an unknown number of episodes but her temporary departure is for creative reasons. "When you watch the finale," the unnamed insider told Ausiello, "you’ll see that we’re doing something very big with her character." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Sony Pictures Television, Scott Free Television, Tandem Communications, and Peace Out Prods. is developing a four-hour mini-series based on Robert Harris' historical novel "Pompei." (Variety)

ABC will flip Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice on April 22nd, swapping the timeslots for each medical drama for one week. According to the Fuon Critic, "The Grey's/Practice swap... is simply to avoid having original episodes of FlashForward and Practice bookend a second run Grey's." (Futon Critic)

Holly Marie Combs (Charmed) has been cast in ABC Family's upcoming drama series Pretty Little Liars, where she will play the mother of Aria (Lucy Hale), one of four teenage girls who are bound together by a dark secret. She'll be playing opposite Chad Lowe, recently cast as Aria's father, who replaces Alexis Denisof. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

MTV has renewed reality series The Buried Life for a second season. (Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed)

Elsewhere, Spike has renewed reality series 1000 Ways to Die for its fourth and fifth seasons. Move comes before the third season of the Original Prods.-produced series has even debuted. (Variety)

And NBC has renewed The Sing-Off for a second season. The Sony Pictures Television-produced musical competition series will return for eight episodes next season. (Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed)

Stay tuned.

The Daily Beast: "Treme Is Not The Wire, Says David Simon"

The challenging and engaging new drama series Treme launches this weekend on HBO.

Looking to learn more about the latest series from David Simon and Eric Overmyer? Head over to The Daily Beast to read my latest piece, entitled "Treme Is Not The Wire, Says David Simon."

I caught up with Simon, Overmyer, and HBO's Michael Lombardo to discuss the series, set three months after Hurricane Katrina, its characters and influences, and why it's not The Wire.

Treme launches Sunday evening at 10 pm ET/PT on HBO.

The Weight of a Secret: Truth and Clues on Fringe

"Some Pandora's boxes are better left unopened." - Olivia Dunham

Secrets are funny things.

On the one hand, secrets are admissions of sort to an inner circle of trust; knowledge is, after all, power and knowing a secret gives one enormous sway over another. But that's also a hefty responsibility to shoulder: to carry around the weight of knowledge, to feel the pressure from such an onus.

On this week's episode Fringe ("Olivia. In the Lab. With the Revolver."), Agent Olivia Dunham is feeling that weight digging into her subsconcious. In learning the truth about Peter, she's become, in a way, complicit in Walter's betrayal of Peter, agreeing to carry the guilt of what he's done to his son, to perpetuate the fraud that's been perpetuated for decades.

Despite Olivia's vast reserves of strength, it's proving to be a burden that she doesn't want to shoulder any longer. She heard Walter's shocking confession in last week's episode ("Peter"), but instead of granting her a sense of solidarity with Walter Bishop, it's resulting in a splintering of the makeshift family the Fringe Division has established.

It's also ripped her apart from Peter Bishop just as they were possibly about to embark on a romantic journey together. Which, to me anyway, is a good thing: I much prefer these two as spiritual kinsmen than lovers. They had their moment to connect in a romantic sense and they missed it, particularly after Olivia discovered the truth about Peter's identity.

That knowledge has pushed the two of them apart and has had Olivia behaving extremely aloof and shifty towards Peter. I was glad to see Peter attempt to address the sudden distance between them with the scene in the car, though he believed that the cause of it was their almost-kiss in Jacksonville. Given what Olivia knows, being around Peter is just too painful and too fraught with complication. But I was happy to see them acknowledge the fact that they've grown fond of the weird little family they've built together and neither one of them wants to jeopardize that: not Peter for the promise of a relationship with Olivia... or Olivia by attempting to tell Peter the truth.

While Olivia must come face to face with a bizarre mystery that connects to her own shadowy childhood, she's also attempting to come to grips with what Walter did to her as a child, a fact that's clouding her judgment when it comes to Peter as well. Her inability to sleep does point to the fact that she's ambivalent about what she should do regarding keeping this secret. Is it better to tell the truth for the sake of telling the truth? Or do some truths more hurtful than others?

Nina was right that Olivia didn't go to Massive Dynamic to demand information that she didn't have (and Nina was telling her truth based on that final scene between Nina and Broyles) nor did she go there to warn her that she was going to expose Walter's secret. No, she was there so that Nina could talk her out of it and therefore free her from the feelings of guilt she was experiencing in keeping the truth buried. After all, her job is to expose the truth, to punish the wicked, and to protect the innocent. In colluding with Walter to keep Peter's identity under wraps, she is failing her own basic calling.

Or at least that's what Olivia is wondering about. In reality, she'd be shattering Peter's world forever and that's not her right to do so. I loved the scene between Olivia and Walter as both of them revealed that they had each changed their mind about how to proceed: Olivia had understood that no good would come from telling Peter and Walter that he had to face up to the consequences of his action, no matter what the outcome. Peter has a right to know about his identity and Walter's efforts to take control of his secret and to share the truth with Peter is a remarkable tipping point for the character. The past, after all, never stays buried... So why not be the one to do the digging yourself?

I'm glad that the writers have kept Kevin Corrigan's Sam Weiss in the picture. It's nice to see Olivia have an outlet outside of the Fringe Division, particularly since the death of Charlie Francis, and Sam is a quirky and intriguing character. The little spark between them--their easy rapport and the fact that Sam turned up in the middle of the night with Clue--is a great change of pace for the series. I'm not sure where their storyline is going but I'm completely invested in their friendship and hope that Corrigan sticks around for a while.

Likewise, I'm also glad that Nina Sharp is being pulled further back into the main focus of the series. Nina's hung around for far too long on the, er, fringes of the series and was too often relegated to the periphery. Instead, she should be a valuable--if shifty--ally for the Fringe Division. The aforementioned scene with Broyles points to the team and Massive Dynamic working more closely together to track down the other cortexiphan trial subjects--and the man seeking to activate them--and I'm hoping that we see a lot more of Blair Brown's Nina in the weeks to come.

All in all, another fantastic episode of Fringe that featured a compelling mystery of the week (though I wish one of the team members had mentioned the fact that the killer's attacks were suddenly increasing at an alarming rate) as well as an installment that placed the focus on the relationships between the core characters and their backstories. My only complaint: that more people aren't watching this remarkable series.

Next week on Fringe ("White Tulip"), when passengers aboard a commuter train appear to have died a still death, it seems that a switch was flipped because all cell phones, mp3 players, laptops, batteries and bodies have been drained of power; Peter remains suspicious that something is amiss with Walter; the investigation leads the Fringe Division to Alistair Peck, a very powerful man who wields tremendous energy with severe consequences.