Channel Surfing: John Stamos to Glee, Jorge Garcia Teases Lost Epilogue, Idris Elba Heads to BBC America and The Big C, and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. (Apologies for the late posting but I was out very late last night at the True Blood premiere party.)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that former ER star (and one-time Uncle Jesse) John Stamos has landed a recurring role on Season Two of FOX's Glee, launching this fall. If a deal is reached, Stamos would appear in a multiple-episode story arc as a new love interest for Jayma Mays' Emma. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos has a few details about just what that DVD-only epilogue of Lost--featuring Jorge Garcia and Michael Emerson--will contain. "It will address some of the issues, like the food drops, and it will deal with what happened on the island after Hurley took over and how he handled things," Garcia told E! Online of the bonus feature, which will be available on the DVD and Blu-ray release of Lost: The Complete Series, available August 24th. "It will give you a taste of what took place after Hurley took over as the new number one. There's a little epilogue thing going on with the DVD." Meanwhile, an unnamed source told Dos Santos that the bonus feature will also feature Malcolm David Kelley's Walt as well, though Garcia was quick to neither confirm nor deny that fact. "There are other people in it," said Garcia, "but I'm not going to tell you who." (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Idris Elba's gritty BBC One crime drama Luther is headed to BBC America later this year. The series--which also stars Ruth Wilson, Steven Mackintosh, Indira Varma, Paul McGann, Saskia Reeves, and Warren Brown--was co-produced by the US web offshoot of the Blighty broadcaster and revolves around John Luther, described as "an intellectually brilliant but emotionally impulsive murder detective" whose sole confidante is murderer Alice (Ruth Wilson), with whom he shares a complex adversarial relationship. "I'm delighted that the BBC has brought Luther to life," said creator Neil Cross (Spooks). It's an intense psychological thriller which examines not only human depravity but the complex nature of love … and how it's often this – our finest attribute – that leads us into darkness." Series will debut later in 2010. (via press release)

Meanwhile, Elba (The Wire, The Office) is also set to appear in at least four episodes of Showtime's upcoming Laura Linney comedy series The Big C, according to Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello. He'll play a love interest for Linney's character, a married suburban housewife with terminal cancer. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

UPDATE: Elba will play Lenny, a painter, on The Big C, according to an official press release from Showtime.

The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan has a first look at Season Three of FX's provocative drama series Sons of Anarchy, which returns this fall. As well as the first pictures from the upcoming season, Ryan has exclusive details about Season Three. (Chicago Tribune's The Watcher)

Elsewhere, Ryan has an ongoing list of television series that are going to be making the trek to San Diego Comic-Con this year, including True Blood, Fringe, Glee, Terra Nova, Walking Dead, Psych, Hawaii Five-O, White Collar, No Ordinary Family and many others. Keep checking back for more updates. (Chicago Tribune's The Watcher)

Vinnie Jones (Chuck) has signed on to NBC's vigilante drama series The Cape as a series regular; he plays Scales, a criminal with a terrifying skin condition that makes him appear reptilian. He'll star opposite David Lyons, Summer Glau, and Keith David. (Hollywood Reporter)

The Los Angeles Times' Glenn Whipp has a Q&A with Parks and Recreation's Amy Poehler, in which she admits that she's far more cynic than Leslie Knope. "When we picked up with [Leslie at the start of Season One], she was obsessed with this guy and couldn't let go," said Poehler. "But that was just one aspect of Leslie. The show was never going to be about this lady who's boy-crazy and deluded when it comes to relationships... She's not simplistic. It's an interesting thing to play somebody who believes change can happen without being stupid. Personally, I'm a lot more cynical than that." (Los Angeles Times)

ABC has given a pilot order to game show 101 Ways to Leave a Game Show, from Endemol USA, in which contestants "answer questions while sitting in various compromising positions like a catapult," according to Variety's Michael Schneider. "If they get one wrong, however, the player exits the show via one of several terrifying ejection devices -- such as being shot out of a cannon or speeding down a zipline." Project will be executive produced by Matt Kunitz. (Variety)

Andrew Bernstein (Mercy, Mad Men) has been hired as co-executive producer/director on CBS' upcoming--and as-yet-untitled--Criminal Minds spinoff. (Hollywood Reporter)

The final two episodes of FOX supernatural procedural Past Life have been yanked from the schedule and replaced with repeats of The Good Guys. (Futon Critic)

Taye Diggs is apparently up for a guest role on ABC's Cougar Town (or whatever it's eventually called), according to E! Online's Megan Masters. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

BBC One has commissioned a pilot for comedy Accidental Farmer, to star Ashley Jensen (Extras, Ugly Betty) as a high-powered executive who, after catching her boyfriend in bed with another woman, impulsively buys a run-down farm in Yorkshire, among other things with his credit card. Project is written by Daisy Coulam and directed by Mandie Fletcher. (BBC)

NBC has resurrected its current programming department and placed Vernon Sanders at the head of the division as EVP. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Bulletville: An Advance Review of the Season Finale of FX's Justified

It's only fitting that FX's lawman drama Justified should go out with a bang.

The first season of Justified, based on characters created by the incomparable Elmore Leonard, wraps up its run tonight with a fantastic installment ("Bulletville") that is more than aptly titled.

Over the course of the thirteen-episode run, Justified has succeeded in creating a vividly drawn world of crime and punishment, a Southern Gothic landscape set in the hills of Kentucky (and the offices of Lexington) where violence runs amok, fugitives are caught, and the good guy dons a cowboy hat and slings a gun with the best of them.

In the capable hands of Timothy Olyphant and Walton Goggins, Raylan Givens and Boyd Crowder have become some of the most deftly drawn adversaries on television, former friends turned enemies whose relationship is a constantly shifting morass of blame, confession, and enmity. Like Raylan, the audience has never been sure of whether to fully believe Boyd's alleged conversion and newfound religious belief. Can a leopard change its spots? Can a bad man turn good?

Those questions about human nature seem to be at the forefront of tonight's season finale, which wraps up the season-long Crowder family storyline in a hail of bullets and offers some intriguing twists along the way. With the emphasis placed squarely on Raylan/Ava/Boyd, it sadly means very little screen time for the other U.S. marshalls this week but it also means that the pacing is killer, allowing the tension to seep into every scene.

While Raylan and Boyd are the focal points for the episode, it's also about the twisted relationships between fathers and sons and how that formative relationship can shape a man. Can we ever live up to our father's expectations? Do we want to become him or kill him? What happens when we turn our backs on where we came from? Important and weighty questions that both Raylan and Boyd are forced to contend with as the first season comes to a dramatic close tonight.

Additionally, the season finale examines issues of causality. Can one crucial action define a man's life... and possibly his death? Justified began with Raylan's transfer to Harlan because of his "justified" shooting in Miami, an moment in time from which everything else spins out as a result. Returning to Harlan, Raylan finds himself falling into a relationship with Ava Crowder (Joelle Carter)--and reigniting something with his ex-wife Winona Hawkins (Natalie Zea)--and becomes enmeshed in yet another war with the Crowders.

Throughout the season, the threat of the Miami drug cartel--whose lieutenant Raylan shot in a posh Miami restaurant overlooking the ocean--has loomed large and that shooting, justified though it may have been, comes back to haunt to Raylan Givens in no uncertain terms, even as it connects with the meth trade in Harlan and the insidious involvement of Bo Crowder (M.C. Gainey).

We will find out just how far Boyd's supposed religious conviction will take him, what lengths he'll go to for retribution, and the sacrifices he's prepared to make for his cause... whatever that might be. Suffice it to say, there are some surprises remaining in Goggins' wiry self-appointed preacher and some nicely rendered epiphanies to boot.

It all comes down to a final shootout in Bulletville, as these things should, and the body count for tonight's episode is mighty high. Who will walk away and who will be six feet under? Find out tonight in the riveting season finale of a series that's at once smart, provocative, and action-packed. Fire in the hole, indeed.

Justified's season finale airs tonight at 10 pm ET/PT on FX.

The Daily Beast: "19 Reasons to Watch TV This Summer"

Looking to set your TiVo season pass this summer before you head out on vacation? Or sticking around and wondering just what's worth watching (or at least checking out) this summer?

Head over to The Daily Beast, where you can read my piece entitled, "19 Reasons to Watch TV This Summer," where I break down 19 new and returning series airing during the sweltering season, including HBO's True Blood AMC's Rubicon and Mad Men, Bravo's Work of Art and Top Chef: DC, FOX's Masterchef, Syfy's Haven, USA's White Collar, TNT's Memphis Beat and Rizzoli & Isles, BBC America's Being Human, and a lot more.

Check out the gallery to read descriptions of the series and then head to the comments section to discuss just what you're most excited about this summer.

Channel Surfing: Julia Stiles Heads to Dexter, Doctor Who Writer Wants Lady Gaga, All Clear Given to Spartacus Star Whitfield, and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television update.

It's official: Julia Stiles (The Bourne Ultimatum) has signed on to appear in ten episodes of Showtime's serial killer drama Dexter next season. Stiles will play "a mysterious young woman who forms a unique relationship with Dexter (Michael C. Hall) in the wake of the death of his wife," according to Showtime. Production on Season Five of Dexter gets underway this month and is expected to premiere this fall. [Editor: any guesses on just who Stiles will be playing and just what her relationship is to Dexter? Let the speculation begin.] (via press release)

Could pop superstar Lady Gaga be heading to Doctor Who? If writer Gareth Roberts has his way, she would be. While Gaga hasn't signed on to appear in an episode of Who, Gareth maintains in an interview with OK! Magazine that he has already thought out a plotline for the "Bad Romance" singer to appear in. "She is no stranger to dressing up and would be more than a match for the Doctor," said Roberts in the interview. "It would be a real coup to get her." (via io9)

Good news for Spartacus' Andy Whitfield. Deadline's Nellie Andreeva is reporting that Whitfield, the star of Starz's period drama Spartacus, has been given a clean bill of health and is ready to return to work following his treatment for Stage 1 non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He's expected to appear in two episodes of Starz' upcoming six-episode prequel series starring Lucy Lawless and John Hannah and then segue directly into shooting Season Two of Spartacus afterwards. (Deadline)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Jesse Williams has been promoted to a series regular on ABC's Grey's Anatomy next season, citing unnamed sources. Fellow Grey's frosher Sarah Drew is also expected to return next season, though a deal has yet to be closed. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Take this news with a grain of salt: British comedian Matt Lucas (Little Britain) has reportedly signed on to appear in an upcoming episode of FOX musical-comedy Glee, according to British tabloid The Sun, where he will play a British teacher who conceals a hidden passion for musicals... and might even burst into song. FOX has yet to confirm the casting. (via Digital Spy)

Is Matthew McConaughey heading to FX? Sort of. His production company, J.K. Livin, has teamed up with the cabler to develop single-camera comedy pilot Kick Ass Militia, according to Deadline's Nellie Andreeva. Project will be written/executive produced by Marc Hyman, based on source material by JR Reed and will revolve around "two brothers whose divergent views are always pitting them against each other on their Malibu compound, one a survivalist and one a free-loving cult leader." (Deadline)

AMC will offer viewers a sneak peek of its upcoming drama series Rubicon on Sunday evening, immediately following the season finale of Breaking Bad. Series, which stars James Badge Dale, Miranda Richardson, and Arliss Howard, will officially launch on Sunday, August 1st at 8 pm ET/PT. (via press release)

Deadline's Nellie Andreeva reports that FOX drama pilot Breakout Kings, which failed to receive a series order at the network, may be heading to A&E as production entity Chernin Entertainment is said to be in talks with the cabler about picking up the crime procedural. Project was written by Matt Olmstead and Nick Santora and directed by Gavin Hood. "At A&E, Breakout Kings would fit into the character-driven procedural direction the channel is taking with the upcoming cop drama The Glades, which also is male-centered," writes Andreeva. (Deadline)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that John Seda (The Pacific) has signed on to guest star on USA's Burn Notice this season, where he will play Cole, described as "a disgruntled ex-Marine who now works as a killer for hire." Meanwhile, Garrett Dillahunt and Tim Matheson will reprise their roles as Simon and "Dead" Larry Sizemore on Burn Notice, Carlo Mendez is heading to Pawnee for a multiple-episode story arc on Parks and Recreation, and D.W. Moffett (Friday Night Lights) and Lauren Holly have been cast in USA's upcoming drama Covert Affairs. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

TVGuide.com's Robyn Ross has an interview with Lucy Hale, who stars in ABC Family's new mystery drama series Pretty Little Liars, which launches tonight. "In the first episode, you're introduced to these characters who have dark secrets that can basically ruin their lives," said Hale. "The series is figuring out what happened to Alison and who is threatening us, but also we have our everyday issues. I think that's what's going to hook people. It's got really cute boys, great love stories and you get to see some cool fashion as well." (TVGuide.com)

Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts have signed a two-year overall deal with ABC Studios, under which they will develop new projects for the studio and join the staff of Shonda Rhimes-executive produced medical drama Off the Map, where they will executive produce alongside Rhimes, Jenna Bans, and Betsy Beers. (Deadline)

Vanessa Marcil will return to ABC daytime soap General Hospital, where she will reprise her role as Brenda, for which she won a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in 2003, beginning August 11th. "We are so thrilled to welcome Vanessa Marcil home to General Hospital," said executive producer Jill Farren Phelps. "Vanessa is a wonderful, talented actress and her portrayal of Brenda makes her a force of nature in Port Charles." (SOAPnet)

Universal Media Studios has signed a two-year overall deal with Outsourced co-executive producer Michael Pennie, under which he will focus on NBC's Outsourced and develop new projects for the studio. "UMS are willing to take some chances," Pennie told The Hollywood Reporter. "Outsourced is an example of their willingness to try something different in a year where there's a lot out there that feels like versions of stuff I've seen before, and that's definitely something I'm attracted to." (Hollywood Reporter)

Katy Perry will host and perform on the Teen Choice 2010 awards show, scheduled to air on Monday, August 9th on FOX. (via press release)

Former Bachelor contestant Melissa Rycroft has been tapped to host ABC spinoff series Bachelor Pad alongside Chris Harrison. Series, which features past contestants from The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, is set to launch August 9th at 8 pm ET/PT. (Variety's On the Air)

Kevin Hooks (Prison Break) has signed on to executive produce ABC's drama series Detroit 1-8-7 and will direct at least two episodes of the series' initial thirteen-episode order. (Hollywood Reporter)

Rob Schiller (The King of Queens) will direct two of CMT's comedy pilot presentations, The 30 Percent and Working Class. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Captain Jack to Return: Torchwood Spies New Home at Starz

Doctor Who spinoff Torchwood is set to return to the airwaves next summer, but likely not to where you might expect it.

Starz has today announced that it has come on board as the US home for a new season of Torchwood, with ten episodes slated to launch on Starz and BBC One in Summer 2011. Move comes after FOX passed on a US version of Torchwood, which, like this new season, will be produced by BBC Worldwide Productions.

John Barrowman and Eve Myles are expected to reprise their roles as Captain Jack Harkness and Gwen Cooper respectively, while new characters--as yet uncast--will be added to the Torchwood team. Creator Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner will return as executive producers for Torchwood.

But there will be some changes to the series: "The new series will allow Davies and his writing team to tell a more explosive and global story, one that takes advantage of the unlimited narrative opportunities of a premium television service like Starz," according to the press release. Which, to me anyway, means a more global-scope and likely less Cardiff-based plots.

“We’re committed to programming exceptional television that is entertaining, imaginative and provides a premium TV experience, and by any measure the new concept for Torchwood fits that mandate,” said Starz, LLC, President and CEO Chris Albrecht in a statement. "I’ve been part of successful partnerships with Jane Tranter and the BBC previously, and I’m very much looking forward to working with them again."

"Torchwood has attracted remarkable attention and loyalty in both the UK and U.S., and in this new partnership with Starz, the next chapter will not only reward our current fans, but also introduce new viewers to the most impressive installment yet,” said Jane Tranter, EVP, BBC Worldwide Productions. "Chris Albrecht and his team are committed to delivering quality premium programming to their subscribers, also a core attribute of the BBC, and we are excited to be working with them as the Torchwood adventure continues."

The full press release from Starz and BBC Worldwide Productions can be found below.

STARZ FIRED UP FOR A NEW SERIES OF
THE BBC’S HIT FRANCHISE ‘TORCHWOOD’
New Installment From BBC Worldwide Productions to Add
To Starz’ Premium Programming Lineup in Summer of 2011
Key Cast - John Barrowman (Capt. Jack), Eve Myles (Gwen) –
To Return for the Next Installment, Along With New Faces
Los Angeles, CA – June 7, 2010 – Starz Entertainment has acquired U.S. television rights to the next installment of the BBC’s audience sensation “Torchwood,” developed and produced by BBC Worldwide Productions. Starz will debut the 10-episode series exclusively in the U.S., and BBC One will debut it in the U.K., both in summer, 2011. This is a co-production between Starz, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Worldwide, and BBC Worldwide will distribute the show outside the U.S. The deal was jointly announced today by Starz, LLC, President and CEO Chris Albrecht and BBC Worldwide Productions EVP Jane Tranter.

The stars of the previous versions of “Torchwood,” notably John Barrowman (Capt. Jack Harkness) and Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper), will return for the new version. Additional key cast, reflecting the more international scope of the series, will be announced soon.

“Torchwood” is a drama that puts extraterrestrial threats into a very real world, and asks how humanity deals with the danger - while fighting mankind’s darkest instincts. The series’ previous three seasons aired on BBC America in the U.S. and garnered record-breaking ratings for the network. Created by visionary writer/producer Russell T Davies, “Torchwood” has to date been located primarily in Cardiff, Wales. The new series will allow Davies and his writing team to tell a more explosive and global story, one that takes advantage of the unlimited narrative opportunities of a premium television service like Starz.

Davies and BBC Worldwide Productions’ SVP Scripted Julie Gardner return as executive producers, with Davies also serving as show-runner for the new “Torchwood.”

“We’re committed to programming exceptional television that is entertaining, imaginative and provides a premium TV experience, and by any measure the new concept for ‘Torchwood’ fits that mandate,” Starz, LLC, President and CEO Chris Albrecht said. “I’ve been part of successful partnerships with Jane Tranter and the BBC previously, and I’m very much looking forward to working with them again.”

“‘Torchwood’ has attracted remarkable attention and loyalty in both the UK and U.S., and in this new partnership with Starz, the next chapter will not only reward our current fans, but also introduce new viewers to the most impressive installment yet,” said Jane Tranter, EVP, BBC Worldwide Productions. “Chris Albrecht and his team are committed to delivering quality premium programming to their subscribers, also a core attribute of the BBC, and we are excited to be working with them as the ‘Torchwood’ adventure continues.”

“Russell, Jane and Julie came to us with a compelling vision for the evolution of the ‘Torchwood’ saga that really takes the story into whole new areas,” added Carmi Zlotnik, Managing Director of Starz Media – the production and development division of Starz. “The compelling story and characters this trio created provide a strong template for driving this narrative in exciting ways.”

Ben Stephenson, Controller, BBC Drama Commissioning said: "We have a long history of working with many U.S. networks, but it is incredibly exciting to be working with Starz for the first time, as well as to be reunited with the best of British in Russell, Jane and Julie. ‘Torchwood’ will burst back onto the screen with a shocking and moving story with global stakes and locations that will make it feel bigger and bolder than ever."

“Torchwood” is the latest piece of notable programming from Starz. It follows on the heels of the recently concluded first season of the epic “Spartacus: Blood and Sand,” this summer’s highly anticipated event series “The Pillars of the Earth,” based on author Ken Follett’s international bestseller, and the recently announced series “Camelot,” which Starz is co-producing with GK-TV and will air early in 2011.

“Torchwood” originally debuted in the UK on BBC One in 2006. All five episodes of “Torchwood: Children of Earth” reached the Top 10 list in TV Episodes across the entire iTunes TV Store, with episode 1 of the series reaching the top spot the week of launch in August, 2009.

About Starz Entertainment
Starz Entertainment, LLC, is a premium movie and original programming entertainment service provider operating in the United States. The company offers 16 premium channels including the flagship Starz® and Encore® brands with approximately 17.1 million and 31.1 million subscribers respectively. Starz Entertainment airs in total more than 1,000 movies and original series every month across its pay TV channels and offers advanced services including Starz HD, Encore HD, Starz On Demand, Encore On Demand, MoviePlex On Demand, Starz HD On Demand, Encore HD On Demand, MoviePlex HD On Demand, and Starz Play. Starz Entertainment (www.starz.com) is an operating unit of Starz, LLC, which is a controlled subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation, and is attributed to Liberty Starz (NASDAQ: LSTZA), a tracking stock group of Liberty Media Corporation.

About BBC Worldwide Productions
BBC Worldwide is the main commercial arm and wholly owned subsidiary of British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). In the U.S., BBC Worldwide Productions, one of BBC Worldwide’s seven core businesses, is based in Los Angeles and New York. It is responsible for the smash hit Dancing with the Stars and develops scripted and non-scripted projects for U.S. cable and broadcast networks.

House of Cards: Nurse Jackie Wraps Its Sensational Second Season Tonight

I just wanted to offer a few quick words about one of my favorite series, Showtime's deliciously dark comedy Nurse Jackie, which wraps up its second season tonight.

I've been a ardent viewer of Nurse Jackie since before it premiered and the second season hasn't disappointed at all. While many series suffer through a sophomore slump, Jackie has actually become more acutely pointed and shocking in its second year, deepening its characters rather than making them cartoonish, and giving everyone in the talented cast--Edie Falco, Merritt Wever, Eve Best, Paul Schulze, Dominic Fumusa, Anna Deavere Smith, Stephen Wallem, Arjun Gupta, and Peter Facinelli--moments in the spotlight in which to shine. (Deavere Smith's Akalitus has become, over the course of the second season, a personal favorite thanks to some deft shading.)

What makes these characters instantly fascinating isn't that they are likeable but because their flaws and quirks are relatable. Jackie Peyton's quest to be good, to her patients, her family, and herself, is one that we all go through on a daily basis, although I can only hope that we don't quite toe the line into darkness that Jackie does, self-medicating with prescription medications, living a double life, and embarking on a series of behaviors that can only be described as self-destructive.

Jackie is forced to deal head-on with those behaviors and their inevitable consequences in Nurse Jackie's season finale ("Years of Service"), a remarkable installment that's at once humorous, tense, and heartbreaking, as the house of cards that Jackie has built in her head comes crashing down around her tonight.

I don't want to say too much about the episode because I don't want to ruin what is a fantastic and ambiguous ending, one that acts as a callback to the Season One finale and one that sets up a potential new direction for the series in Season Three. Jackie's core relationships--her marriage to Kevin (Fumusa) and her friendship with Dr. O'Hara (Best)--are all severely tested by a chain of discoveries, ones that will have increasingly dire implications for Jackie herself.

While Jackie might be at the center of the episode (and the series), it's the colorful cast of characters around her that keep the series buoyant and intoxicating. Look for some fantastic moments from Wever's Zoey Barkow, Best's Eleanor O'Hara, Facinelli's Coop, Fumusa's Kevin, and Wallem's towering giant of a nurse, Thor.

I'm going to miss each and every one of them as we begin the long, grueling wait for a third season of Nurse Jackie. After tonight's brilliant episode, that wait will be made even more torturous...

The second season finale of Nurse Jackie airs tonight at 10 pm ET/PT on Showtime.

Ghost Town: An Advance Review of NBC's Persons Unknown

There's a term in mystery writing called a "locked room mystery." You know the sort, a crime--typically a murder--is discovered in which the deed occurred behind a locked door. Unless the killer is still in the room, there is seemingly no means of egress from this chamber, resulting in a baffling and impossible situation.

NBC's new summertime mystery-drama series Persons Unknown, from executive producers Chrisopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects), Heather McQuarrie, and Remi Aubuchon, aims to be the television version of such a locked room mystery, revolving not around a singular crime but rather a central mystery: how did a group of seven strangers find themselves taken from their ordinary lives and deposited into a seemingly deserted town? And why is it impossible to leave this place?

The premise alone warrants comparisons both to Lost and to the seminal 1960s British television series The Prisoner, with its use of inescapable and remote scenery, head-scratching laws of reality/society, and the sort of disorientation experienced by the characters.

However, the comparisons end there, really. Despite the presence of creator McQuarrie, Persons Unknown isn't as groundbreaking or memorable as either series. Nor is it as clever.

Part of that, I would suspect, would come to the production model itself. Produced by Fox Television Studios as an international co-production, Persons Unknown feels a bit like a hodgepodge of elements, a shadow version of a first-run broadcast program. The writing seems a bit stilted and weak (a surprise given McQuarrie's involvement), and the performances flabby as well. (The one stand out is the always fantastic Alan Ruck, here a full head and shoulders above the rest of the cast.)

It's hard to become invested in the first hour due to these elements, despite some of the mind-bending elements contained within the series, including an unseen organization that is monitoring the kidnap victims via a series of ominous and ubiquitous video cameras that are set up all over the town (itself a sort of anachronistic place that has the local hotel at the epicenter), a Chinese restaurant that functions as the main dining establishment (just don't ask any questions), suspiciously accurate fortune cookies, and implanted devices that can sedate the victim if they get, well, antsy.

Like Lost, the series attempts to mine the characters' backstories as well. Just why was single mom Janet (Daisy Betts) plucked from her life (leaving behind a scared little girl on a public playground)? Just who is the enigmatic Joe (Jason Wiles) and what was he before he arrived in this place? What connects these individuals? The rest of the characters are made up of paper-thin archetypes--spoiled party girl, gruff solider, angry man, crazy woman--that we've seen done many times before.

Meanwhile, the producers hope to eat their cake and have too by introducing a haggard journalist named Renbe (Gerald Kyd), who is investigating Janet's disappearance and who will likely begin to uncover the truth behind the town and the people running it... that is, unless he ends up there himself. The effect is a clear attempt to offer the best of both words: the high-stakes mystery of this inexplicable town and the outside world, where other events are unfolding. The problem is that they often seem like they're occurring two different series altogether, neither of which is particularly engaging.

Ultimately, Persons Unknown manages to successfully create an aura of doom and mystery, but there's precious little else going for it as NBC burns off its thirteen episodes this summer. While there's perhaps hope for some sort of narrative resolution as a result, I'm not sure too many viewers--known or unknown--will be sticking around that long.

Persons Unknown airs tonight at 10 pm ET/PT on NBC.

Channel Surfing: Sarah Chalke in at Mad Love, BTS at Parks and Rec, Jason O'Mara in Talks for Terra Nova, and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing.

There is major recasting underway at CBS' comedy Mad Love, which is allegedly thisclose to scoring a thirteen-episode midseason order from the network. According to Deadline's Nellie Andreeva, Sarah Chalke (Scrubs) is said to be in talks to come aboard the comedy, where she would replace Minka Kelly (Friday Night Lights) as Kate on the Sony Pictures Television and CBS Studios-produced project. Meanwhile, Lizzy Caplan (Party Down) has backed out of the project after she couldn't commit to the series and her role, Connie, will also be recast. (It's the second wave of recastings on the pilot as Dan Fogler and Ashley Austin Morris were previously replaced by Tyler Labine and Lizzy Caplan respectively.) (Deadline)

Hollywood Reporter's Carita Rizzo offers an insightful behind-the-scenes look at NBC's critically acclaimed comedy Parks and Recreation, which recently wrapped its second season, by spending the day with the talented writing staff of the Universal Media Studios-produced series as the team--which includes Mike Schur, Greg Daniels, Emily Spivey, Dan Goor, Katie Dippold, Norm Hiscock, Aisha Muharrar, Harris Wittels, Alan Yang, and Emily Kapnek--attempts to break a script. (Hollywood Reporter)

Deadline's Nellie Andreeva is reporting that Jason O'Mara (Life on Mars) is said to be in talks to star in FOX's upcoming prehistoric/time-travel drama Terra Nova, which revolves around a family from the future who travels back to pre-historic times in an effort to save the human Race. O'Mara would play Jim Shannon, who is described as "a devoted father with a checkered past who guides his family through this new land of limitless beauty, mystery and terror." Andreeva reports that two actors were previously offered roles on the series but neither negotiation got off the ground. Pilot episode will be directed by Alex Graves (Fringe). (Deadline)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Pauley Perrette has signed a new multi-year deal to remain aboard CBS' NCIS. Pertte's successful contract renegotiation now means that only two actors--Michael Weatherly and Sean Murray--have yet to close deals to return to the procedural drama, however Ausiello's unnamed source indicates that both are likely to close deals soon. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Variety's Michael Schneider is reporting that a stalemate has been reached between CBS and 20th Century Fox Television over the fate of the Brett Ratner-executive produced action series Chaos, which had originally been given an eight-episode series order from the network (which 20th turned down) and then ordered a thirteen-episode order, albeit at a reduced license fee. "That may still be a difficult go for 20th, however, as the studio has already reduced costs on the project, including shooting it in Dallas, where the studio already built the tax incentives into the show's budget," writes Schneider. "From the Eye's perspective, the network doesn't really need Chaos, given that it already has a jam-packed schedule, including the net's previously announced midseason Criminal Minds pickup. What's more, the humor-laced Chaos is a departure for the net, which airs mostly straight-ahead procedurals like the CSI, NCIS and Criminal Minds franchises." If the two sides can't reach a deal over Chaos, CBS could still opt to grant a series order to the John Wells and Hannah Shakespeare-executive produced medical drama Gimme Shelter... or it may not order anything else. (Variety)

Could Disney be putting ABC on the block? The Hollywood Reporter's Elizabeth Guider takes a look at the current rumors, which have Disney mulling its options over whether to keep ABC in its portfolio or attempt to find a buyer for the broadcast network. "The wearying recession also has reshaped the thinking at media companies, making everyone with decision-making roles more ruthless in, or resigned to, cutting loose whatever doesn't appear to be easily or consistently monetizable," writes Guider. (Hollywood Reporter)

Cabler Nicktoons is resurrecting classic 1980s animated series Voltron, ordering 26 half-hour episodes of Voltron Force, which will focus on "five space explorers who pilot robotic lions that combine to form Voltron, an invincible guardian sworn to defend the Universe." Further more, Variety's Marc Graser indicates that the series will "remain faithful to the old show, while introducing new recruits to fight alongside the original characters." (Variety)

Broadcasting & Cable's Melissa Grego has an interview with 20th Century Fox Television chairmen Dana Walden and Gary Newman in which the duo discuss a number of topics, including Simon Cowell, Ryan Murphy, and how they are positioning Glee in order to avoid overexposure, as they feel it is destined to become television's highest-rated series. "I don't worry that the novelty is going to wear off quickly," said Walden. "We are careful and sober about the potential shortcomings of something that's burning this brightly. As brand managers on this particular show, we turn down a lot of opportunities. It might not seem like it, but you can only imagine [it] if you see the opportunities that we have exploited so far. We have a truncated tour. There was an opportunity to take this show around the country, right now, and sell out arenas... [Ryan has] already pitched out the next 13 episodes of the next season, and the storytelling and the characters and the new characters that are being introduced to keep things feeling fresh. He's a very contemporary storyteller, and that's one of reasons why I think the show is connecting with audiences, that these stories accelerate at a very quick pace. There's no navel-gazing. This is not soap opera of years before where one moment is mined over several episodes. It's how a younger demo consumes content and he's tapped into that." (Broadcasting & Cable)

Katalyst Media has signed a new two-year overall deal with Warner Horizon Television, under which they will develop and produce new unscripted programming for the studio arm. (Hollywood Reporter)

Disney XD has renewed animated series Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil for a second season, set to launch next spring. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: No Ordinary Family Cuts Two, Emily Deschanel Talks Booth/Brennan Romance, HBO Axes Tim, Parks and Rec, and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that ABC's upcoming superhero drama No Ordinary Family is undergoing some casting changes as Tate Donovan (Damages) and Christina Chang (CSI: Miami). The actors respectively played the family's doomed pilot and a detective at the precinct where Michael Chiklis' character worked as a police sketch artist. An unnamed source close to the production told Ausiello that the decision was storyline-based and that producers hoped to bring both actors back in a guest starring capacity if their schedules allowed for it. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos has an interview with Bones star Emily Deschanel, in which she asks the actress about the will-they-or-won't-they romance between Brennan and David Boreanaz's Booth. So will the star-crossed duo ever come together? "[In] the 100th episode we came very close," Deschanel told Dos Santos. "And I think we keep moving forward... I was just talking to Hart Hanson, the creator of our show, about if Booth and Brennan get together in the next season, and I can't tell you what we decided." (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Deadline's Nellie Andreeva is reporting that HBO has cancelled animated comedy The Life and Times of Tim... but studio Media Rights Capital is said to be shopping the Steve Dildarian-created series to other outlets, including Comedy Central, Adult Swim, and TBS. "A deal would be complex as it would include the existing 20 episodes as well as a potential new season of the show," writes Andreeva. [Editor: I heard about this a few days ago and was crushed to learn of HBO's decision as I adore Tim and hope it finds a new home soon.] (Deadline)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Saturday Night Live (and MacGruber) star Will Forte is set to guest star in a third season episode of NBC's Parks and Recreation, which will return to the lineup in midseason. "The MacGruber spoofster will play a Pawnee resident whose obsession with the Twilight franchise complicates a pet project Poehler’s Leslie is working on," writes Ausiello. "Hint: Think time capsule."

Starz has unveiled its cast for its ten-episode medieval drama Camelot, set to premiere in early 2011. The cast of the international co-production will include Joseph Fiennes (FlashForward) as Merlin, Eva Green (Casino Royale) as Morgana, Jamie Campbell Bower (The Prisoner) as Arthur, and Tamsin Egerton as Guinevere. "With Joseph Fiennes, Eva Green, Jamie Campbell Bower and Tamsin Egerton in the cast, we've got actors who can bring real passion and intensity to their roles," said Starz President and CEO Chris Albrecht in a statement. (via press release)

CBS is said to have given a thirteen-episode order to comedy Mad Love, created by Matt Tarses, and will air the Sony Pictures Television-produced series in midseason, according to Entertainment Weekly's Lynette Rice. Project stars Minka Kelly (Friday Night Lights) Lizzy Caplan (Party Down), and Jason Biggs (American Pie). (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

Ira Ungerleider has been hired as showrunner and executive producer of NBC's upcoming comedy series Friends with Benefits, from 20th Century Fox Television. As part of his deal, Underleider has also signed a blind script deal with the studio. (Variety)

Entertainment Weekly's Lynette Rice is reporting that Lauralee Bell will reprise her role as Christine Blair on CBS soap The Young and the Restless beginning July 15th. "Her return is expected to last about a month, during which time Christine will reunite with Paul and Nina," writes Rice, "and harbor some secrets that will impact them and their children." (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

HBO has ordered a documentary based on Carrie Fisher's one-woman show Wishful Drinking, which will mix segments from the stage show with archival footage and interviews. (Variety)

BSkyB signed a deal to purchase Virgin Media Television's portfolio of channels, which includes Bravo and Living and five other webs in the UK. The deal, hailed by BSkyB CEO Jeremy Darroch as "an attractive investment opportunity which complements our existing content business and delivers strategic and financial benefits," is subject to regulatory approval. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

TCA Award Nominees Announced: Modern Family, Glee, Mad Men, Lost, Parks and Recreation, Party Down Represented

The Television Critics Association today announced their short-list nominations for the 2010 TCA Awards, which will be handed out during TCA Summer Press Tour, which kicks off at the end of July.

Among the nominees for Program of the Year, such series as Breaking Bad, Friday Night Lights, Glee, Lost, and Modern Family. In the individual genre categories, Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Lost, Sons of Anarchy, and The Good Wife will compete for the top drama prize, while Glee, Modern Family, Parks and Recreation, Party Down, and The Big Bang Theory are up for comedy kudos and such talents as Eric Stonestreet, Jane Lynch, Aaron Paul, Katey Segal, Nick Offerman, and many others are up for individual honors.

I'm glad to see so many broadcast network series competing side by side with their cable brethren. It almost gives one hope that the network model isn't completely cracked.

Additionally, this year's TCA Awards is also the first time that I'll be voting, as a newly installed member of the Television Critics Association. I was extremely pleased to see so many of my own personal nominations make the list here and I've already gone ahead and cast my ballot. (You can guess who and what I voted for.)

The full list of nominees can be found below.

2010 TCA Award Nominees

Program of the Year:

"Breaking Bad" (AMC)
"Friday Night Lights" (DirecTV/NBC)
"Glee" (Fox)
"Lost" (ABC)
"Modern Family" (ABC)

Outstanding Drama Series:

"Breaking Bad" (AMC)
"Lost" (ABC)
"Mad Men" (AMC)
"Sons of Anarchy" (FX)
"The Good Wife" (CBS)

Outstanding Comedy Series:

"Glee" (Fox)
"Modern Family" (ABC)
"Parks and Recreation" (NBC)
"Party Down" (Starz)
"The Big Bang Theory" (CBS)

Individual Achievement in Drama:

Bryan Cranston ("Breaking Bad," AMC)
John Lithgow ("Dexter," Showtime)
Julianna Margulies ("The Good Wife," CBS)
Aaron Paul ("Breaking Bad," AMC)
Katey Sagal ("Sons of Anarchy," FX)

Individual Achievement in Comedy:

Ty Burrell ("Modern Family," ABC)
Jane Lynch ("Glee," Fox)
Nick Offerman ("Parks and Recreation," NBC)
Jim Parsons ("The Big Bang Theory," CBS)
Eric Stonestreet ("Modern Family," ABC)

Outstanding New Program:

"Glee" (Fox)
"Justified" (FX)
"Modern Family" (ABC)
"Parenthood" (NBC)
"The Good Wife" (CBS)

Outstanding Movie, Miniseries or Special:

"Life" (Discovery Channel)
"The Pacific" (HBO)
"Temple Grandin" (HBO)
"Torchwood: Children of Earth" (BBC America)
"You Don't Know Jack" (HBO)

Outstanding Achievement in News & Information:

"30 for 30" (ESPN)
"America: The Story of Us" (History Channel)
"Life" (Discovery Channel)
"The Daily Show" (Comedy Central)
"The Rachel Maddow Show" (MSNBC)

Outstanding Achievement in Youth Programming:

"Dinosaur Train" (PBS)
"iCarly" (Nickelodeon)
"Star Wars: The Clone Wars" (Cartoon Network)
"Word Girl" (PBS)
"Yo Gabba Gabba" (Nick Jr.)

Career Achievement:

James Garner
Bill Moyers
Sherwood Schwartz
William Shatner
Dick Wolf

Heritage Award:

"24"
"M*A*S*H"
"Law & Order"
"Lost"
"Twin Peaks"

I Want To Meet Them: Go Inside The Event With Three New Clips

What is The Event?

I could tell you (or offer my best guess, based upon my reading of the pilot script for The Event a few months back), but I think NBC would have my hide.

So instead, check out these three new teasers for The Event, introduced by actors Blair Underwood, Jason Ritter, and Laura Innes, and offer up just what your best guess is about the mysterious incident that NBC wants you to be whispering about the next few months.

The three brand-new Event promos can be viewed in full below.

I Want To Meet Them


How Do You Think I Got On?


Do Whatever It Takes:


The Event will premiere this fall on NBC.

Trailer Park: Showtime Releases Season Six Trailer for Weeds

The plot deepens.

Showtime has released a new trailer for Weeds, which returns in August with its sixth season.

Featuring the song "Terrible Things" by April Smith & The Great Picture Show, the promo shows Mary Louise Parker's Nancy Botwin digging a hole and throwing in a whole lot of items into a pit. Those items would include a passport, a pistol, a cell phone (which happens to ring and displays a call from Esteban), a croquet mallet (recalling how Shane bludgeoned Pilar to death with one at the end of last season), a Jesus bobblehead, and a gasoline container, each items that connect back to one of the previous seasons.

The trailer can be viewed in full below.



Season Six of Weeds is scheduled to premiere August 16th on Showtime.

Channel Surfing: Amy Ryan Nabs In Treatment Role, Jessalyn Gilsig Talks Glee, Sanaa Lathan Spies Tilda, and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing.

Deadline's Nellie Andreeva is reporting that Amy Ryan (The Office, The Wire) has landed a role on Season Three of HBO's psychiatric drama In Treatment, where she will play the new therapist for Gabriel Byrne's Paul. That role was formerly supplied by Dianne Wiest's Gina, who was Paul's mentor/psychotherapist for the first two seasons. (Wiest has departed the series.) [Editor: it's about high time that Ryan had a regular gig on a series. She's been a favorite since her turn on The Wire as Beadie, so it's only fitting that she returns to HBO for In Treatnment.] (Deadline)

E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos has an interview with Glee's Jessalyn Gilsig, who plays Will's scheming ex-wife Terri. So will Terri be returning for Season Two of Glee? And just what was up with her potentially inappropriate interest in Finn (Cory Monteith)? While Gilsig admits that she hasn't yet received her official pickup from FOX for next season, she did discuss what happened with Finn in this week's episode ("Funk"). "What happened was completely by accident," Gilsig told E! Online about Terri's relationship with Finn. "She sees in Finn so much of what she saw in Will when she first met him because he's the same age as Will was. It's her way of remembering happier times—when she used to be kind to Will. And she realizes, here's a chance to be supportive of this kid." (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Sanaa Lathan (Nip/Tuck) is the latest actor to board HBO's comedy pilot Tilda, which stars Diane Keaton, Jason Patric, and Ellen Page, according to Deadline's Nellie Andreeva. Lathan will play Sasha Litt, described as "a mysterious new head of operations that RMG head Andrew Brown (Jason Patric) brings in to work at the studio." Production on the pilot, written by Cynthia Mort and directed by Bill Condon, is slated to get underway soon in Los Angeles. (Deadline)

ABC won't be coming to the rescue of cancelled CBS comedy series The New Adventures of Old Christine after talks broke down between ABC and studio Warner Bros. Television. "The network had showed strong interest in picking up Old Christine for the past three years," writes Deadline's Nellie Andreeva. "But when the show finally became available this year, a deal proved impossible to make as ABC was said to be unwilling to pay the high license fee needed to keep the veteran comedy series going." Which means that the Old Christine episode that aired May 12th will in fact serve as the series finale. (Deadline)

SPOILER! Leonard Nimoy has hinted that he might be returning to FOX's Fringe, despite the fact that his character, William Bell, appeared to have died in the season finale. "Do I think William Bell is really dead?" said Nimoy in a video on the official website. "This is science fiction. I have died in science fiction many times and somehow magically or scientifically come back. Given that he has disintegrated, what happens in the future remains to be seen." [Editor: his conjecture would also cast doubts upon Nimoy's "retirement" from acting as well.] (via Digital Spy)

What, was the title Conveyor Belt of Doom already taken? Chris Jericho will serve as host of ABC's "extreme game show" Downfall, set to air launch June 22nd. Series, which has been ordered for six episodes, will feature "contestants try to answer questions while on the roof of a Los Angeles high-rise. Meanwhile, 'the largest conveyor belt ever seen on TV' will send potential winnings (cash and prizes), the player's personal possessions and even friends and family over the side of the building." (Hollywood Reporter)

NBC Universal has signed a two-year overall deal with writer Lisa Zwerling (FlashForward), under which she will join the staff of NBC's upcoming drama series The Event as a consulting producer and develop new projects for Universal Media Studios. "Lisa is a breath of fresh air, so smart and passionate," said NBC Entertainment/Universal Media Studios drama exec VP Laura Lancaster told Variety. "We're impressed with her creative range and feel so fortunate she's decided to make UMS her home." (Variety)

"Sword of omens, give me sight beyond sight!" Cartoon Network has ordered a new animated series of ThunderCats (based on the much beloved 1980s animated series) from Warner Bros. Animation. "The update will combine swords and science with high-stakes battles as good and evil clash for the Stones of Power," writes The Hollywood Reporter's James Hibberd. News comes after Cartoon Network gave a series order to animated superhero project Green Lantern. (Hollywood Reporter)

BBC Worldwide America has hired former Nickelodeon executive Herb Scannell has the new president of U.S. operations, where he will oversee digital channel BBC America as well as BBC Worldwide America's US-based studio and production entity. "I would assume (BBC America) has more original shows launching than any other channel in cable TV," Scannell told Variety. "That's just by nature, given the number of shows coming from the BBC that haven't aired here in the States. I do have an interest in supplementing that with made-in-America shows that kind of have the three major attributes that make a BBC show: That they're smart, innovative and irreverent. Those are the key building blocks to think about programming wise and in branding." (Variety)

After nearly 40 years, the axe has fallen on Roy Clarke's long-running British comedy series Last Of The Summer Wine, which will end its run after more than 30 seasons this year, BBC One confirmed. "Last Of The Summer Wine has been part of BBC One for nearly 40 years," said Jay Hunt, Controller, BBC One, in a statement. "This wonderful final series is a fitting farewell to these much loved characters and I am delighted some of the channel's other heritage brands will be helping to say goodbye in style." (BBC)

Frances Berwick has been promoted to president of Bravo, filling a position that has been empty since Lauren Zalaznick was promoted to president of NBC Universal Women & Lifestyle Entertainment Networks in 2008. [Editor: congrats, Frances!] (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Glee Watch: When Is There Just Too Much "Funk"?

I'd never accuse FOX's Glee of being subtle but this episode left me in a serious funk.

Recent weeks have found the musical-comedy approaching its thematic storytelling with all of the subtlety of dropping an anvil on the heads of its viewers, hammering home the same points over and over again. It's not helped by the fact that the series' writers seem hell-bent on pushing each of the characters to share similarly themed storylines each week, regardless of whether or not their characters fit into these pre-conceived narrative pigeonholes.

We get it! They're all in search of a home! They can't give up on their dreams! They're in a rut!

I decided this week to count the uses of the installment title over the course of the episode as it's driven me mad week after week how many times the writers attempt to insert the title into the dialogue. I'm glad I did count because it was staggering.

Last night's episode of Glee ("Funk") was perhaps the most egregious offender, as the episode itself contained no less than 60 uses of the word "funk" over the course of the installment, including having Mr. Shuester write it on the dry-erase board for those of you who didn't get it the other 60-plus times or notice the episode's title. (With 66 uses of "funk," it averaged out to more than 1.5 occurrences of "funk" per minute of roughly 41 minutes of scripted fare.)

It's not the first time that the characters have been forced to parrot the title--and theme--of the episode. When the writers have Mr. Schuester utter embarrassing statements like, "Why are you all wearing your theatricality costumes?" as in last week's episode (which was, not surprisingly, entitled "Theatricality"), you know that there's a serious problem. Either the writers are not confident enough in their own writing and need to use the constant reinforcement of the title to get their point across (which I doubt), or they underestimate the audience's intelligence.

Yes, we can figure out just what theme you're hammering home this week, Ian Brennan. We don't need to be told dozens of times that this week's weighty issue is about being in a "funk."

(Aside: I was also disturbed by the fact that this episode was so blatantly swapped out of order with last week's Gaga-fueled "Theatricality," so that FOX could air it during sweeps. It at least explains why Jesse St. James wasn't in last week's episode and why this week's installment also featured Idina Menzel's Shelby Corcoran, post-"Poker Face" duet/mother-daughter "breakup" with Rachel.)

Was anyone else as disturbed by the titular trend, which seemed to hit its nadir in "Funk"? Can Glee's writers figure out how to tell convincing stories that are character-based without sticking in yet another song or hitting us over the head with the episode title? Discuss.

Next week on the season finale of Glee ("Journey"), the team's chances at Regionals are threatened when Sue pulls a fast one and becomes one of the judges; Quinn's life is forever changed.

Trailer Park: HBO's Newest True Blood Trailer

Looking for something to sink your "teeth" into?

HBO has released a new trailer for Season Three of vampire drama True Blood, which kicks off later this month with a new season of down South debauchery likely to set many fans' hearts aflutter.

This new trailer, unveiled at last night's True Blood fan event, can be viewed in full below (beware: contains SPOILERS!), as well as a trailer featuring Lady Gaga's "Teeth."

(Meanwhile, you can read my advance review of the first three episodes of Season Three of True Blood right here.)





Season Three of True Blood premieres Sunday, June 13th at 9 pm ET/PT on HBO.

Channel Surfing: Hugh Laurie's House Contract to Expire Next Season, Tilda Nabs Cast, Diane Farr to White Collar, 90210, and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing.

Hugh Laurie's contract on FOX's medical drama House will expire at the end of next season, according to Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello, who talks to Laurie about the crossroads coming up. He claims that he's "open" to working past Season Seven but also feels that there's an ideal time to end a series and he hopes that moment becomes clear ahead of time. "I only hope we’ll know when the time is right [to close up shop]," said Laurie. "When people blunder on for five years after [they should have called it quits]… it gets taken out of your hands. Someone will say, 'That’s it.' But for now, I’m immensely proud of the things we did this season." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Loads of casting on HBO's upcoming comedy pilot Tilda, which may or may not be based on the life of infamous Hollywood blogger Nikki Finke. (Ahem.) Jason Patric (The Losers) has been added to the cast, where he will play Andrew Brown, the nemesis of Diane Keaton's titular character, who is described by Deadline's Nellie Andreeva as "the mastermind behind the media empire RMG, which Tilda is trying to expose the inner workings of." Also joining Keaton, Patric, and Ellen Page in the comedy pilot, a trio of actors: Wes Bentley (Ghost Rider), David Harbour (Royal Pains), and Leland Orser (24). (Deadline)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Diane Farr (Rescue Me, Desperate Housewives) will guest star in an upcoming episode of USA's White Collar, which returns in July for its second season. Farr will play Gina De Stefano, described as "a waitress Mozzie (Willie Garson) has a crush on. She drops a hint early in the episode that she’s in trouble and needs his help." [Editor: I'd love it if Farr could stick around White Collar for more than just one episode, personally.] (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

E! Online's Megan Masters takes a look at the season finale of the CW's 90210 and why it didn't feature the "juicy" twists that the series' stars had promised it would deliver, including the identity of who hit the homeless man at the end of Season One. "But come finale night, the only thing remotely left fieldish was the complete exclusion of said reveal. How do you explain that one, CW?!" writes Masters. "According to our reliable 90210 source, some story changes were made post-production (and post-press tour in Trevor's case), and the rumored "real" killer twist was canned. In the end, Annie made peace with her crime, largely due to an encouraging chat with Liam (Matt Lanter), and solemnly wandered home to confess everything to the 'rents. And that's it. If you're hoping to see more of Annie's hit-and-run issues in season three, don't. The Powers that Be are leaving the story as is from here on out: Annie was in fact the drunk driving guilty party." (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Jason Priestley (90210) has been cast in a multiple-episode story arc on ABC's upcoming summer drama series Scoundrels, where he will play "a prolific TV personality who is immediately smitten with Leven Rambin’s aspiring actress character, Heather," according to Ausiello. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

E! Online's Megan Masters talks to Life Unexpected stars Shiri Appleby, Kris Polaha, and Kerr Smith about what's coming up on Season Two of the CW drama. "Cate and Ryan are now married, and there are going to be some obstacles they're going to have to work through," Appleby tells Masters. "And Cate's job might be up in the air at some point... All I will say is that it's very common knowledge that the first year of marriage is very difficult. We are going to put that to the test. Just because she married him doesn't mean she doesn't still have feelings for Baze." (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

ABC single-camera comedy pilot How to Be a Better American will get a second shot at placement on the schedule as it has received an order for a new pilot, with major recasting expected on the ABC Studios-produced project. (Deadline)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Liz Vassey will not be appearing on CBS' CSI next season after the network opted not to renew her contract for another year. "The show is going in a different creative direction in its 11th season," an unnamed source told Ausiello. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

NBC has finally scheduled its reality series Breakthrough with Tony Robbins, slating the premiere for July 27th at 8 pm ET/PT. The series, which features self-help guru Robbins, is described as an "inspirational, hour-long series starring Robbins and his team of experts who will help participants and their families overcome complex challenges and personal obstacles, and turn their lives around." Project is executive produced by Robbins, Howard T. Owens, Mark Koops, Shauna Minoprio, and Tom Forman. (via press release)

A&E has moved the premiere of its upcoming drama series The Glades from July 13th to July 11th at 10 pm ET/PT in order to avoid direct competition with TNT's Tuesday night drama Memphis Beat. (Deadline)

The remaining episodes of ABC's Wife Swap and Primetime: What Would You Do? may be held over until next season, according to The Futon Critic. Seven episodes of Wife Swap remain unaired at this point, along with three of Primetime: What Would You Do?. (Futon Critic)

Warner Bros. Television has promoted Clancy Collins White to SVP of drama development, while Stephanie Groves will now serve as SVP of current programming. Meanwhile, Lisa Roos was promoted to VP of drama development, Adrienne Turner as VP of comedy development, Odetta Watkins promoted to VP of current programming, and Matthew King has been hired as VP of drama. "We have tremendous strength throughout the executive ranks at our company, and I am pleased to announce these very deserving new appointments and promotions which reward the dedication and accomplishments of this outstanding team," said Peter Roth, president of Warner Bros. Television. (Variety, Hollywood Reporter)

Elsewhere, Bob Tuschman has been promoted to general manager of Food Network. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Tooth and Nail: An Advance Review of Season Three of HBO's True Blood

It's time once again to invite HBO's gloriously addictive vampire drama True Blood, returning in just a few weeks' time with its third season, back into our homes.

Based on the strength of the first three episodes of the season, there's no need for it to use a glamour, as viewers will only be too willing to let it in without a struggle.

When we last saw the inhabitants of Louisiana bayou town Bon Temps, they were recovering after their brush with the immortal maenad Maryann (Michelle Forbes) and tensions were running high. When poor, doomed Eggs (Mehcad Brooks) finally remembered the actions he had taken while in her thrall, he sought to make a confession to Andy Bellefleur (Chris Bauer), only to be shot to death by Jason Stackhouse (Ryan Kwanten). Elsewhere, Sookie (Anna Paquin) considered a marriage proposal from Bill (Stephen Moyer), only to discover that he had been kidnapped.

I had the opportunity to watch the first three episodes of Season Three of True Blood and was quickly sucked back into a world of supernatural intrigue, illicit passion, and seductive darkness.

(WARNING: As always, please do not reproduce this review in full on any sites, forums, or blogs. Also, it goes without saying that the following review will contain (light) spoilers.)

The mystery of who seized the vampire Bill will unfold in the first few episodes of Season Three of True Blood, which picks up right where the Season Two left off, continuing the format established at the beginning of last season. (And, no, I will not be spoiling the identity of the kidnapper--or kidnappers--here, per Alan Ball's request.)

The effect of structuring the plot this way is a powerfully intoxicating one. By beginning mere minutes later, the third season--which kicks off with the Brian Buckner-scripted "Pack of Wolves"--quickly forces the audience right into the thick of it along with Sookie Stackhouse and the series' characters. It's not an opportunity to catch your breath (especially not in the action-packed season opener), but rather to be swept up in the momentum that's set up right from the opening scenes.

One of True Blood's strengths comes from its dense plotting, and the first three episodes of the season continue this in spades. While the residents of Bon Temps attempt to clean up after the maenad incident, there are a number of new threats that prevent people from going back to their normal lives. Bill's kidnapping reveals just how vulnerable all of them are, while multiple characters find themselves in jeopardy of both a mortal and psychological nature.

The season kicks up a number of questions about the characters' natures. How do we define ourselves? Are we a sum of our past actions or the choices we make in the present? Are we individuals or part of a larger collective? By knowing where we came from, can we finally claim to understand ourselves? Are we more than our birth-rights, more than our heritage? Are we free to follow the better angels of our nature? Or forced to fall in line with our inner demons?

There's an insidious darkness contained here (different from the frenzied excess of the Maryann storyline), one that lurks beneath the surface and threatens to pull down at least once character in its wake. Actions once done cannot be undone and several characters will learn that the past can't ever be escaped from... (This is especially true in Episode Three, "It Hurts Me Too," written by Alexander Woo.)

There are some fantastic and surprising character pairings going on here. Look for baby vamp Jessica (the sensational Deborah Ann Woll) to find herself contending with not one but two older vampires, including the caustic Pam (Kristin Bauer van Straten), who gives her some sage advice when Jessica finds herself in a bit of a bind. (One word: chainsaw.) Shifter Sam Merlotte (Sam Trammell) discovers that you need to be careful what you wish for, especially when he solves the mystery of his parentage, coming face to face with the trashy Mickens clan. (There's also quite a scene that will get many buzzing between Bill and Sam in the season opener.)

Not surprisingly, Sookie finds herself pushed towards the trickster vampire Eric (Alexander Skarsgard) in more ways than one as she asks for help in locating the missing Bill Compton. But does Eric want to help her... or hinder her? Just how complicit is he in Bill's disappearance? And with him out of the way, does it clear the path for him to claim Sookie as his own?

The first few episodes set up a number of tantalizing questions for the Sheriff and the telepathic waitress while Bill is faced with a series of choices of his own. While I'm forbidden to reveal just what those are--or what circumstances we find Mr. Compton in when we catch up with him early in Season Three--but I will say that things are far more complicated and more deadly than they initially seem.

While the main throughline would seem to be that of Bill's disappearance, there are a number of subplots for each of the characters that are equally entrancing. Tara (Rutina Wesley)--whose friendship with Sookie hits the rocks--finds herself drawn towards an inexorable fate, even as her cousin Lafayette (the always fantastic Nelsan Ellis) attempts to save her in more ways than one. Jason finds himself once again stumbling towards ecstasy... or at least towards realizing just what the universe has in mind for him isn't what he planned.

Star-crossed lovers Jessica and Hoyt (Jim Parrack) face a number of obstacles, making each of them question whether there is happiness to be had with one another. Elsewhere, the odd-couple pairing of Terry (Todd Lowe) and Arlene (Carrie Preston) have issues of their own to deal with, while a certain secret might just tear them apart.

In the hands of the talented writers, True Blood's universe, as well as its mythology, continues to unfold in some tantalizing ways as we learn more about the shifter community and get our first look at another supernatural sub-set of the America: the hidden werewolf nation lurking at the edges of society. I don't want to say too much about how the wolves are introduced but it's immediately made clear just how much of a threat they pose, even as Sookie is forced to form an alliance with the werewolf Alcide out of desperation. (Just how the werewolves fit into the already complex and dizzying political maneuverings of the vampires will play out over the season.)

I'm already in love with several of the new characters introduced this season, including Denis O'Hare's Russell Edgington (the Vampire King of Mississippi) and his consort Talbot (Theo Alexander), Joe Manganiello's Alcide, Grant Bowler's vicious Coot, Kevin Alejandro's sweet orderly Jesus Valasquez, and James Frain's Franklin Mott, the latter of which uncovers a very intriguing subplot that could change our perceptions of certain events in the series' very early days. Hmmm...

Meanwhile, several familiar faces return (in some very unexpected ways) and a new crop of mysteries threatens to have me on the edge of my seat all summer long. While the season opener offers a hell of a kick-start to the season, it's perhaps the second episode, "Beautifully Broken," written by Raelle Tucker, that might just be my favorite installment of the three that I screened as the past comes kicking and screaming into the present, alliances are tested, new bonds forged, and shocking decisions are made with fiery consequences.

All of which adds up to a hell of a beginning for a season that promises to shatter the status quo of the series and plunge headfirst into the physical and metaphorical darkness. Ultimately, once True Blood's third season sinks its pearly-white fangs into you, there's no letting go.



Season Three of True Blood begins Sunday, June 13th at 9 pm ET/PT on HBO.

The Daily Beast: "Bill & Hillary & Tony & Cherie"

Over at The Daily Beast, I talk to Michael Sheen, Dennis Quaid, Hope Davis, Helen McCrory, and Richard Loncraine about HBO's upcoming biopic, The Special Relationship, which airs Saturday evening on the pay cabler.

You can read my article, entitled, "Bill & Hillary & Tony & Cherie," which features the cast and crew of the telepic--the third offering in Peter Morgan's so-called Blair Trilogy (after The Deal and The Queen)--talking about Clinton and Blair's legacy, the bedroom confession between Bill and Hillary, and the nature of political friendships.

The Special Relationship airs Saturday at 9 pm ET/PT on HBO.

Channel Surfing: ABC Circles Alias Reboot, True Blood Werewolves, ABC Passes on Ghost Whisperer, Chuck, Doctor Who, and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.

Could ABC be dipping its toes back in the Alias well? According to a story by E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos, ABC Studios is said to be considering a reboot of J.J. Abrams' Alias, which starred Jennifer Garner as superspy Sydney Bristow. "It's only very initial talk at this point, but I'm told that the development folks over at the Alphabet network are considering doing a new version of Alias that would borrow some elements of the original series," writes Dos Santos. "But the series would most likely not include any sort of complex mythological throughline such as the Rambaldi prophecy (a storyline that lost some of the fans). According to this source, ABC is hoping to hold onto its lost Lost audience with a re-envisioned J.J. Abrams series, in light of FlashForward not working out so well. (It was canceled last week.)" [Editor: Interestingly, ABC seems slow to get back into the superspy game, with NBC's Chuck already on the air and J.J. Abrams' own Undercovers heading to the network this fall. I also question the wiseness of rebooting a series that only ended a few seasons back and which is closely associated with a particular lead actress.] (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

UPDATE: The Wrap is reporting that the potential Alias reboot would be for first-run syndication (a la Legend of the Seeker) rather than for primetime broadcast on ABC. "Network stressed to TheWrap that the talks are in very early stages, and that Jennifer Garner would not be in any way involved," writes The Wrap's John Consoli. (The Wrap)

USA Today's Bill Keveney has an interview with the cast of HBO's True Blood about the third season of the vampire drama, which launches next month and brings a slew of werewolves to Bon Temps.It's just another element added to the supernatural craziness of it all," said Anna Paquin. "There's no way you can ever get bored on a show like this. When you think you've seen it all and done it all, something weirder and wilder comes out of the woodwork." (USA Today)

It's time for Ghost Whisperer to fade into the afterlife. Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that the CBS supernatural drama--which starred Jennifer Love Hewitt--will not be picked up by ABC. "After five wonderful seasons and over 100 episodes, we are disappointed to announce Ghost Whisperer will not be returning for a sixth season," said Ghost Whisperer executive producers Ian Sander and Kim Moses in a statement. "We’ve had an incredible experience and owe a debt of gratitude to everyone involved. We continue our relationship with ABC Studios and look forward to developing many more successful projects together in the future." ABC later confirmed the report via Variety's Michael Schneider. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files, Variety)

Jeffster! The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan has an exclusive full-length look at the latest music video from Chuck's Jeffster, their hilariously low-rent version of Jon Bon Jovi's "Blaze of Glory." (Chicago Tribune's The Watcher)

Doctor Who executive producer Steven Moffat has teased details about the two-part finale of his first season of Doctor Who to Doctor Who Magazine, which concludes with the provocatively titled two-parter "The Pandorica Opens"--which will feature a cliffhanger for the Time Lord (Matt Smith) and his latest traveling companion (Karen Gillan)--and "The Big Bang." "It's not just the cliffhanger for Episode 12," Moffat told Doctor Who Magazine. "It's like the cliffhanger for every single episode up until that point. This is where the wheels come off. Everything the Doctor is running from lands on his head today." (via Digital Spy)

Entertainment Weekly's Lynette Rice is reporting that Alex Graves (Fringe) has signed on to direct the pilot for FOX's upcoming time travel/prehistoric drama Terra Nova, from executive producers Brannon Braga, Peter Chernin, and Steven Spielberg. (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

Little Britain creator/stars David Walliams and Matt Lucas are heading back to BBC One, with a new sketch comedy entitled Come Fly with Me, which will be set an airport and feature the comedy duo in a variety of guises. "It's thrilling that Matt and David's next big show will be on BBC One," said Jay Hunt, controller of BBC One. "They are uniquely talented comic writers and performers and Come Fly With Me is a wonderfully exciting idea." (BBC News)

Cartoon Network is prepping weekly animated series Green Lantern: The Animated Series. No information was immediately available other than the fact that the series will follow popular DC Comics character Green Lantern and will launch after this July's direct-to-DVD animated Green Lantern movie. (Hollywood Reporter)

Former Top Chef contestant Marcel Vigneron is heading to sci-fi territory. Syfy has announced that it has given series orders to three unscripted series, which it will launch later this year: Marcel's Quantum Kitchen, Paranormal Witness, and Face Off. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

All of This Matters: Lost Questions, More on "The End"

Welcome to this week's second look at Lost, in what will be my final column on Lost for some time to come now that the series has wrapped, amid some controversy (those ABC-inserted final shots!) and viewer polarization over the reveal of just what the Sideways/Lost-X storyline was really about.

As I have throughout this season, I'll be taking a second look at this week's episode of Lost ("The End") by responding to reader questions and comments submitted via comments, Twitter, and email.

While I discussed "The End" in full over here (as well as a shorter piece over at The Daily Beast), it's time to dive deeper and get to some further theories, doubts, and questions. (You can also catch me on this week's Instant Dharma critics roundup as well.)

So, without further ado, let's pull the cork from the bottle, lay down in the bamboo grove, and discuss "The End."

As I stated in my 4500-word review of the Lost series finale (which I'd urge to you all read as I was far more eloquent there than I intend to be here), I wasn't all that pleased with the resolution of the Lost-X timeframe and the ultimate ending of the series (i.e., the final ten minutes or so set in the church), but I did love everything that took place on the island in the two-and-a-half hour series finale ("The End"), which saw the final battle between good and evil and the role of ultimate leader get passed from Jack Shephard to Hugo Reyes, the one person who really didn't want the responsibility but who seemed selected long ago for the role of island protector.

Which left me feeling extremely ambivalent about the series finale as a whole as so much during the sixth and final season of Lost was riding on how well Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse could integrate that Sideways timeline, which we learned wasn't a divergent reality at all but a sort of spiritual purgatory where the castaways could finally let go of their earthly troubles, come together one last time, and then move on to the afterlife, having finally achieved the peace they couldn't find in life.

It was a touchy-feely and pat ending that didn't sit well with me, given the stakes we've seen through six seasons and it ended the series on a bit too much of an uplifting note that felt a little too uplifting and buoyant. (Personally, I'd have preferred we ended on that gorgeous shot of Jack on his back in the bamboo forest as the Ajira flight soars away overhead and he finally closes his eyes, a direct inversion of the opening of the pilot episode.) While it didn't invalidate anything that had come before it, it didn't spark within me the emotional response that Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse sought to achieve. While I thought the scenes of connection and reunion between the pairs of lovers were beautiful, the final scene of the cast--or most of them, anyway--in the church didn't resonate with me in any meaningful way.

But it also didn't confuse me either, as it did many viewers (and a few critics, to boot), who mistakenly believed that the reveal that this world was in fact an elaborate purgatory constructed by the collective consciousness of the passengers meant that the island itself was also a fantasy.

Not so.

Purgatory. Whatever happened, happened. That's been said several times throughout the run of Lost and it applies full stop to the six seasons of plot that we saw unfold on that mysterious island that can skip through time and space. Putting aside all manner of smoke monsters, mythical corks in bottles, and four-toed statues, the island DID exist. It was real and the castaways who crashed on the island in the pilot episode lived there and died there before a handful of them managed to escape on the Ajira Airlines flight in the series finale.

There's no getting around that. The island was not, as some have clung desperately to, a purgatory. Nor did the castaways perish "on impact" in the pilot. They lived and loved on this island, explored its mysteries, and either died or escaped at the end. (Save Hurley and Ben, who remained behind to protect the island from further interlopers.)

In other words: they lived their lives until their deaths. Which, for some of them, came years or even decades later. While Jack died in the final moments of the episode, Kate and Sawyer and those who escaped returned to the mainland where they finished out their days. What happened to them and what they did after coming back from yet another plane crash (and how they explained the appearance of James Ford and Claire Littleton, both of whom were declared dead following the return of the Oceanic Six) remains tantalizingly unclear. It will be up to the viewers to imagine just what kind of lives they had post-island.

But everyone dies. That's true not just for those who were buried on the island during the 100-plus days they stayed there initially but those who left too... and even island protectors Jack and Hurley.

Bound together by the extraordinary and inexplicable times they shared together on the island, they jointly created a purgatory where they could meet and come together one last time before leaving for the afterlife together. Thus, the final church scene in the series finale where all of them--including, in the end, Jack Shephard--come together before they step into the light and are rewarded for their struggles, finally letting go of their mortal coil and moving on in peace.

It's fitting that original man of science Jack Shephard should be the last to be "awakened," the last to come to terms with his death. While on the island, he made a huge leap of faith, here Jack needs a sign, a divine intervention to prove to him what he's secretly and subconsciously aware of: he's dead and needs to let go. Thus, the exposition-laden scene with Christian Shephard at the empty coffin, where he spells out for Jack (and the viewers) the nature of this world.

All of it did matter in the end: their lives, their struggles, the traumas that they fought so hard to escape. It all brought them first to the island and then to this place between life and death, where they could say goodbye and be sent on to their heavenly reward. Hugs all around.

Lost-X Island. One question I keep getting asked is why, if this world was an afterlife constructed by the castaways post-death, was the island underwater? It's a valid question and I believe the shot from "LA X" of the island beneath the sea was a bait-and-switch employed by Team Darlton to make the viewer believe even more than this was a divergent reality and that Juliet's actions at the bottom of the Swan Station pit had been successful (echoed, of course, by her line "It worked," which wasn't referring to Jughead at all). By showing us the island at the bottom of the ocean, it was an intentional mislead on their part to make us thing one thing and then yank out the rug later one.

Narratively, there's also another possible explanation: in this world, they don't need the island. This isn't a place of good and evil but a fictional construct where they can achieve happiness and then be released to the afterlife, a waiting room that's not predicated on them recorking any mythical bottle or facing down the smoke monster. The plane doesn't crash because there is no island to crash onto... and the plane doesn't crash because it doesn't need to. Those experiences have already been lived, those sacrifices already made, and those hard truths already learned.

What brings them together is their dawning realization that they are dead after going through another cycle of acceptance. While the castaways were joined by fate in life, so too are they in death. Their interconnectedness comes full circle here as Desmond acts as a divine messenger, awakening them to the truth of their situation, not that there is another world out there where they knew each other but that there is and always has been one world, one life, one that they shared together.

The island's presence under the water is just that: a symbol of buried truth and self-awareness. Rose says it best when she tells Jack in "LA X" that he can "let go now." The plane has crashed once before; it doesn't need to again. Like them, it reaches its final destination in the end.

Jack's Limbo? Saeine wrote, "The only thing that I want to add because it helped me reconcile it a little more was that this particular limbo/purgatory phase was Jack's only. The people that were there were the ones that were important to Jack. Jack was instructed to enter through the back, it was his father that was there to explain it to him."

I'd disagree with this entirely. For one thing, Christian Shephard flat out tells Jack that this world was built by all of them... and the entire season has used the shifting perspectives of each of the characters to flesh out this story and this world, not just Jack.

Each of them had come to this shared purgatory to connect one last time. While Jack is our main character--it's his eyes opening and closing at the beginning and end of the series--the purgatory that's explored here belongs to all of them, not just Jack. He's the last to come to terms with what this place is and his own death, which is why Christian has to appear to him and walk him through it and prove to the skeptical doctor the miracles of life and death.

Missing Passengers. An anonymous commenter wrote, "The second issue was certain people not being present in limbo at the end to move forward. I also think this makes sense. The island brought all these people together and completed their life. I think Walt's "purpose" wasn't the island, so he has his own limbo somewhere else. I think Ben's purpose was the "family" he had and needed to move forward with them. Richard's purpose was always his wife, and a "limbo" outside of the island again makes sense."

But Ben was in the purgatory they established. The reason that he didn't enter the church was that he wasn't ready yet to move on, as indicated by his conversation with John Locke. He chose to remain within the purgatory for an as yet undetermined about of time before letting go.

Others weren't yet ready to make the journey either. Hurley said that Ana-Lucia wasn't ready when he sees her in "What They Died For." Charlotte and Daniel Widmore (ne Faraday) haven't yet been awakened and are still unaware that they're dead. (Not helping matters: Eloise Hawking, who is aware of the purgatory aspect of this world but isn't ready to let her son go.) The same holds true for Miles.

The absence of Michael could be explained away by the fact that his soul is still trapped on the island and part of the whisperers. He hasn't earned his ticket to the afterlife yet. As for Walt, he too might not be ready to leave, even if he might be somewhere within this world...

Desmond. So what did Desmond see when he was dosed with the massive quantities of electromagnetic energy by Charles Widmore? Answer: that purgatory where the others had gathered. Not a divergent reality, not another world, but a twilight waiting room where they were being brought together once more.

Even Desmond seems confused about this in the episode. He pulls out the stopper in the bottle so that they can cross over and be with their loved ones, but that's not what happens nor was it meant to. In those moments in the chair, Desmond was pulled out of his mortal coil and given a taste of true happiness, a place where lovers weren't torn asunder by murderous demi-gods or mistakenly fired bullets but where they could be together, forever.

His purpose wasn't to allow them to cross over but to help them on their way to the true afterlife, just as his actions here enable Jack to finally slay the smoke monster and tilt the scales in the other direction.

Plane wreckage. Valdezign asked, "Could the plane wreckage in the credits be the Ajira plane?"

I got a number of comments from confused individuals who believed that the wreckage shown over the closing credits meant either (A) that the castaways had died in the pilot, or (B) that the wreckage was that of the Ajira flight.

Both are wrong.

I already tackled the first theory, that the castaways died on the island, above. I found it abundantly clear from the first viewing of the Lost series finale, but many people were confused about the outcome of the series and by those final images. I didn't think it indicated anything--after all, other relics of past crashes and civilizations have littered the island in the past (Black Rock, anyone?) and the photos also clearly showed signs that people had been there as well.

Additionally, ABC felt the need to clarify later the next day that they, rather than Lindelof and Cuse, had placed those images over the closing credits. (Long time viewers will recall the love/hate relationship between the showrunners and the ABC promo department, who oversee the promos and closing credit sequences.) Maria Elena Fernandez of The Los Angeles Times wrote a post about the plane crash imagery that confirmed this fact and indicated that ABC did not mean to mislead or confuse anyone with those images.

As for the theory that it was Ajira plane, no dice there. The final shot of the series from Jack's perspective is the Ajira plane soaring off into the skies and his expression of relief and happiness indicates that the plane made it off the island... and the shots of the wreckage were distinctively that of Oceanic Flight 815's fuselage, etc. No, Kate, Sawyer, and the others did escape the island and went on to lead lives that we'll never know about.

Answers. Rockauteur wrote, "Still very upset that no answers about Dharma/Hanso. Nothing about the supply drops on the island, or the outrigger shooting, or Libby's backstory, or how Christian (as Smokey potentially) was able to talk to Michael on the freighter or Jack in LA? Was that Smokey as Christian or Jack as Christian? Was Hurley's friend Dave Smokey? What about the Hurley Bird thing? I didn't care about that but that was something Team Darlton said we would get an answer to in the finale... What was Ilana's relationship to Jacob? Why did half the Oceanic 6 go to the 1970's and the other half the island in the main time stream? Why didn't The Others move through time? What happened to Cindy and the kids?"

Yes, there was still a lot of unresolved mysteries and dangling plot threads when Lost faded to white earlier this week. On the one hand, I fully expected this. There was never going to be a single unified theory that could be used as a rubric to solve all of Lost's diverse mysteries. And it was also inevitable that many questions would be left dangling in the wind when the series ended.

Some of the questions don't require answers as the viewers can piece together or theorize the solutions on their own without it being spelled out by Lindelof or Cuse. Others are just frustratingly ambiguous and should have been answered, if only to give some closure to these questions which loomed larger in the minds of the viewers than they did the writers (or the characters).

There are some questions which don't need solutions. I don't need to know what happened to Cindy and Zach and Emma because they were never the focus of the main story and we can interpolate why they were taken in the first place: the Others couldn't reproduce and therefore couldn't expand their population so they solved this by taking children and by testing women for fertility. Juliet Burke was brought in to attempt to solve the mystery of the pregnancy fatalities but never came close to reaching a solution. (I would assume the cause of this situation had to do with The Incident that Juliet herself caused, making it the height of irony that she was the one brought in to attempt to solve it... only causing it in the first place.)

Why didn't the Others move through time as the castaways did? Perhaps because they had been, over time, exposed to the electromagnetic energy of the island and had been locked in time as a result. (Though this doesn't quite explain why Juliet, having lived there for some time, did become unstuck and traveled through time.) But because we focused mainly on the castaways as they traveled through time in Season Five, it's possible that somewhere on the island, Cindy and the kids were themselves traveling through time. Or perhaps--if we really wanted to get nutty--the vaccine that the Others gave Claire and maybe the other inhabitants prevented them getting unstuck in time.

But, really, it's just not a major mystery that cries out for lengthy explanation. As for why Sun didn't travel back in time with the others, an argument could be made that Jacob had already invalidated her as a candidate when she gave birth to Ji Yeon. (Though Kate's name was crossed off because she too was a mother, yet she still traveled back in time, so scratch that.)

Regarding some of the other issues that Rockauteur raised, I too remember Darlton mentioning the Hurleybird would be resolved. The only thing I can think of is that Hurley eventually became the island's protector. Given that he was already attuned to the island's unique supernatural properties--he can see dead people--perhaps it was the island's way of reaching out to him and acknowledging that he would one day be its protector? Hmmm...

Some mysteries fell by the wayside, that's for sure. A television show is an organic things: it lives and breathes and changes as the writers are forced to adapt, change paths midstream, and shuffle things around. What was important back in Season Two when Team Darlton didn't have an end date for the series became less important when they did. Mysteries that were intended to help fill in the gaps and allow them to tread water for a bit quickly lost steam (and importance) as they began the marathon to the finish line.

However, some mysteries do beg answers: why the Dharma supply drops continued decades after The Purge? What was Libby's backstory and how did she get from the mental hospital to Oceanic Flight 815? Who fired at the time-tossed castaways in the outrigger?

And I'm not entirely convinced by Darlton's explanation that the Man in Black was masquerading as Jack's father Christian Shephard. Given the smoke monster's efforts to terrorize the castaways (starting with the poor, doomed pilot in the, uh, pilot), I don't believe for a second that he would lead them to water, thus saving all of their lives in the process.

Likewise, I'm not sure what to make of Christian's appearance in Jacob's so-called cabin, which was surrounded by ash, the sort that keeps the smoke monster out (or in), given that he was flying around the island at that point wreaking all sorts of havoc. I also have a hard time reconciling this reveal with the fact that Christian appeared to Michael aboard the freighter to say that the island was done with him... and to Jack in Los Angeles. While Jack was addled with drugs at the time, it still doesn't quite make sense to me.

His presence at the frozen donkey wheel? Sure, I can buy that that was the smoke monster in Christian's form as it set into motion Locke's death, his return to the island, and the Nameless One assuming his form. Christian with Claire in the cabin, after the dead Horace sent Locke there? Sure. But the others? I dare say that Team Darlton changed their mind along the way about the ghostly Christian.

And likely, quite a few other things as well. But that's the beauty--and often the pitfall--of doing a long-running serialized drama that is based around numerous and deeply layered mysteries. Things can, and often have to, change.

Even with Lost.