Rabies is Real: A Rundown on the "The Office" Season Opener

I'm not entirely sure how I felt about last night's season opener of The Office ("Fun Run"). I really did like the first half-hour but felt that the hour-long format really does not suit this series, which definitely dragged in the second half despite a promising start. I do think that the episode--written and directed by showrunner Greg Daniels--would have been a hell of a lot funnier had it been a standard 30 minute episode (well 20 mins after commercials) rather than a woefully padded hour.

So what was last night's episode about in a nutshell? Michael inadvertently runs down Meredith in the Dunder-Mifflin parking lot, putting her in the hospital for a cracked pelvis; unable to accept that she won't forgive him, Michael later learns that because of her stay, the doctors found that Meredith had rabies. Michael then launches a charity 5K fun run in order to raise awareness for this "silent killer" and forces the employees to participate. Pam catches Michael naked in his office; Dwight euthanizes Angela's beloved cat Sprinkles. And so on.

One factoid from last night's installment: the doctor who tells Meredith she has rabies was played by Office writer Justin Spitzer (who wrote last season's "Product Recall" and "Back from Vacation"). Teehee.

Jim and Pam. Remembering my Office Season Four Wish, I'm happy to see that Jim and Pam are a couple but that their romantic situation isn't completely overtaking the plot. After all, their secret romance was hardly the focal point for the season premiere but a delicious subplot that was characteristically low-key. I loved the little hand-hold on the 5K run, their furtive rendezvous around the corner from the office, and the way that they both shifted so uncomfortably when shown the evidence by the camera crew. Happy that it was Pam who revealed their dating status to the documentarians, rather than Jim. Could it be our little Pam is finally happy and secure in her relationship? It certainly appears that way from her new wardrobe and the fact that she's finally literally let down her hair.

Michael. More grounded than he was in some of his over-the-top moments from last season, he nonetheless brought some serious funny, whether it was getting naked in his office, pantsing Toby right before the fun run, or eating an enormous plate of fettucine alfredo in order to carbo-load before the race. Still, I could have done without the vomiting scene altogether.

Meredith. I can't tell you how pleased I was to see Meredith (Kate Flannery) finally have something to do besides be the office alcoholic. It was fantastic to give her an actual storyline that impacted the rest of the office while not, you know, killing her off (I was a tad worried). I thought the scene in which Michael plows her down was remarkably done and looked completely real. (My jaw was on the ground.) Kudos also for the closing scene in which Michael nearly shares a moment with his injured employee. Almost.

Karen. I miss you already, Filippelli. I'm glad that the writers brought her back for a scene to wrap things up (but didn't force us to listen to the gruesome scene between her and Jim), but I already miss her sarcastic-yet-glowingly happy vibe. And it was rather sad to see her desk all vacant and empty already. Sure, I don't know what they'd do with Karen now that Jim and Pam are officially dating (and Rashida Jones has been cast in FOX midseason comedy Unhitched), but I kinda wanted to keep her around. Sniffle.

Angela and Dwight. Trouble in paradise after Dwight kills his beloved Monkey's, well, beloved cat Sprinkles. While it does seem as though Dwight had the very best of intentions (putting a wounded animal down), stuffing your girlfriend's cat in the freezer doesn't exactly scream true love. Or sanity. Poor Angela is hopelessly mired in grief and something tells me that she's not going to be forgiving Dwight any time soon. I was very surprised by how absolutely gorgeous Angela looked on last night's installment (lots of see-through fabrics, even on her mourning wear), which leads me to believe that this prim and proper conservative might be coming out of her shell a little bit. Interesting...

Jan. Glad to see she's still in the mix and is continuing the shame spiral that is her relationship with Michael. Loved the opening scene with her passed out on the bed and her warning to Pam (after catching Michael naked in his office) to stay away from her man. Jan's turned into a deliciously loopy character and I am very curious to see where they take her. Hmm, could she be replacing Karen as a salesperson at Dunder-Mifflin Scranton?

Andy. I can't let this review end without mentioning the nipple-chafing incident. From the scene in which Andy taped his nipples to the groan-inducing scene of the, er, bleeding, it was a surreal and hysterical subplot that perfectly suited Ed Helms' comedic timing. Not to mention awesomely grotesque.

What did you think of last night's season premiere and the one-hour format? What worked and what didn't? And where, oh where, do you hope they go from here?

Next week on The Office ("Dunder-Mifflin Infinity"), Ryan, newly promoted to corporate, returns to the Scranton branch to bring it into the digital age, while Angela is still distraught over the untimely death of her beloved Sprinkles.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Ghost Whisperer (CBS); Deal or No Deal (NBC); Friday Night SmackDown (CW; 8-10 pm); Just for Laughs/Just for Laughs (ABC); Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? (FOX)

9 pm: Moonlight (CBS); Las Vegas (NBC; 9-11 pm); 20/20 (ABC); Nashville (FOX)

10 pm: NUMB3RS (CBS); 20/20 (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

8 pm: Doctor Who on Sci Fi.

This week on Doctor Who ("The Sound of Drums"), The Doctor, Martha, and Captain Jack Harkness return to England just as the Master (John Simms) travels through time to assume his post as Prime Minister Harold Saxon (gasp!) and announces first contact with an alien race. Part One of the two-part season finale.

Aspen Showdown: Final Four Chefs Face off on the Season Finale of "Top Chef"

I was pretty anxious to see last night's season finale of Top Chef (well, the first half of it, anyway), if only to see which one of these impressive chefs would end up getting cut right before the final showdown. To be honest, I really didn't know which way it would play out as each one of these chefs had wowed me at various points during the competition. What I did know was that I definitely wanted Casey to make it to the final round...

So it was interesting that with last night's episode ("Finale, Part One"), the judges decided to mix things up a bit and not have the final cook-off go down between two chefs; instead they'd have three of our finalists face off in one final challenge in Aspen. For me, half the fun of last night's episode had to do with the gorgeous Aspen setting. I love that little town (only been in the winter) and think the Hotel Jerome is just beautiful. I also love game--give me elk, venison, or boar to eat and I am a happy, happy boy--so I was very happy to see what these four would do with different takes on elk, which can have a very overpowering gamey taste. So how did they do? Let's find out.

Hung. Despite what the Vietnam-born chef might say, his dishes really do lack soul. They are refined, yes, and technically precise, but there's just something lacking from them, most of the time. He has fantastic plating and presentation skills but there's a modernity and preciousness to his dishes that seems slightly too empty for my tastes. In last night's case, he presented a seared loin of elk with pommes boulangere, shiitake mushrooms, and a red wine, balsamic, and chocolate sauce with cinnamon. I do agree that his garnish--roasted tomatoes with garlic, olive oil, and lemon confit--was seasonally off, far too summery, they just jarred with the autumnal quality of the elk. Still, elegantly plated and technically proficient. But isn't it really time that Hung either (A) stepped outside his comfort zone or (B) really injected his own personality and viewpoint into his food? If he's ever going to, now is the time to do so.

Dale. I'll admit that I was more than a little worried that this week's dish would go the route of so many others: overly ambitious dishes that fail in the execution, usually after something doesn't quite go off right. In this case, it was a goat cheese and onion tart that failed to set up properly and which shouldn't have been made in the first place sans cream cheese to cut the richness of the goat. However, Casey wisely had a Plan B during prep and decided to throw some potatoes and cauliflower into some boiling milk. Throwing away that failed tart, Dale instead served a still hugely ambitious dish: seared elk loin with cauliflower and fingerling potatoes, with a silky huckleberry and blackberry demi-glace. It's true that Dale--who had yet to win a single elimination challenge all season--had been known for his superior saucework but he won over guest judge Eric Ripert (of the fabulous Le Bernardin in Manhattan) with this luscious, silky sauce. Plus, who knew that Dale had stopped cooking for a year and a half before the competition began? Crazy, but it's definitely evident that this chef has found his groove again...

Casey. As much as I adore Casey, I didn't think this was her best work to date. Sure, she was familiar with elk (and had even hunted it with her family) but it was served way too rare for my liking (and the judges' as well). Her dish: mushroom-crusted loin of elk with cauliflower duo, poached pear, and a smoked tomato butter did sound appealing; however, the loin was undercooked and she made a rare misstep with the duo of cauliflower. I do agree with Tom Colicchio that it seemed bizarre to create a silky cauliflower puree and ruin that texture by studding it with chunks of caramelized cauliflower. Not her best move. But Eric Ripert was blown away by her smoked tomato butter which was the perfect accompaniment for the smokiness of the elk; rather than distract from that flavor profile, Casey's sauce elegantly enhanced and enriched that element of the dish.

Brian. Finally, there's seafood chef Brian, who I knew was a goner as soon as the producers kept cutting away from and back to his laborous description of his "carnival"-like dish which seemed to integrate no less than 30 individual elements into a single dish. His dish--a whiskey-braised elk shank served with horseradish and sour cream potato puree, pancetta, corn, and asparagus relish, cherries, spicy radish sprouts, almonds, sage, blackberry-balsamic-brown butter sauce, and topped with a choice of intense cheese--seemed over the top in its complexity. Did it taste good? Perhaps, but the dish was overwhelming, overambitious, and overly complicated. Plus, there was no reason why, as Ripert suggested, that he allow his guests to choose between two pungently rich cheeses. After all, he's the chef and should be delivering exactly the dish he envisioned to his clientele; plus one of the cheeses (if I remember correctly it was the Roquefort) was extremely offensively headstrong. It was only fitting that Brian be the chef to get the boot. I do think every now and then that he was able to pull it out of the bag but there was a period where he either didn't cook (remember Restaurant Wars?) or only did raw crudo, ceviches, and sashimis; it was time for this cowboy to ride off into the sunset.

Which leaves Casey, Hung, and Dale as the final three contestants going into the final elimination challenge. I have to say that I am actually really, really happy with the choice of this final troika: each of these chefs is so different from the others and each has a fascinating and compelling backstory. As for who will win, I am rooting with all my heart for the self-taught Casey to win this thing, becoming the first female Top Chef, but I'd also be happy if Dale won, too. As for Hung... I think he still needs some serious comeuppance and a little reality check, to boot. Who are you rooting for in the end? And who will you be happy to see pack their knives and go?

Next week on Top Chef ("Finale, Part Two"), the final three chefs face off in the final elimination challenge, but the producers have arranged a twist or two along the way to throw a snag into their plans.

An Advance Look at the "Ugly Betty" Season Premiere

I'll admit that, while I fell under the pratfall-laden charms of Ugly Betty last season, I had grown a little tired of the series' forced sentimentality by the time the season finale had rolled around last May. Or, to be more precise, of the sullen mawkishness Ugly Betty seemed to employ more often then not in lieu of the over-the-top comedy the series claims to be.

So, it was with a certain curiosity that I sat down recently to watch an advance screener of Betty's season premiere ("How Betty Got Her Grieve Back"), which kicks off tonight on ABC. Would the maudlin tone of last season's finale continue over into this season? Or would it actually be a bright, shiny new start for Betty Suarez and Co? Let's find out.

What did I like? The telenovela-influenced dream sequence that opens tonight's season premiere, complete with attempted murder, jilted lovers, and one hell of an outfit was the perfect way to begin the new season, tongue-in-cheek and campy as hell (hola, Senor Grubstick). What else? Wilhelmina's morning greeting to Marc and Amanda (seriously, this one made me laugh out loud); farmer's market blueberries in the Hamptons; a grooming session by Marc of one Bradford Meade; and... Fat Amanda.

When we last saw bitchy waif Amanda last season, she had learned the decades-old secret of her parentage: she was actually the daughter of Fey Sommers, a discovery that has caused Amanda to seek out the comfort of junk food and completely balloon. I thought that the reveal of Amanda's connection to Fey (one guess who that makes the father) was the sort of deliciously soapy twist that Ugly Betty needs: campy, comical, and, well, just plain fun. If it were up to me, Marc and Amanda would be in nearly every scene. It doesn't have to be all doom and gloom all the time...

Which brings me to what I didn't like about the season opener: a series of depressingly downbeat and saccharine storylines. There's a resolution to the cliffhanger in May's finale that had Hilda's fiance Santos get shot as a bystander in a botched robbery that's both sappy and emotionally manipulative the worst possible way. Ignacio is still stuck in Mexico, a holdover of a storyline that I had hoped would have gone far, far away during the haitus (no luck that the season premiere is set three weeks after the finale), while the producers don't really seem sure what to do with Christina. Remember Alexis and Daniel's car accident? Well, it's safe to say that both of the Meade children make it out of that smashed car alive, but we're forced to sit through several scenes of Daniel staring at Alexis' hospital room in an inadequate attempt to give his character some emotional depth (we get it: he feels guilty!). I will say, however, that there is a very interesting twist at the end of the episode involving Alexis. (Sorry, my lips are sealed!)

I'm definitely curious to see what your reactions will be to the second season of Ugly Betty, a series that's definitely trying a little too hard to have equal parts of prettiness and ugliness. I don't need pratfalls all the time, but let's be honest: I'd rather watch Ugly Betty: The Comedy than Ugly Betty: The Melodrama. What do you think?

Next week on Ugly Betty ("Family Affair"): Betty finds herself in a dilemma when Wilhelmina's new bodyguard (guest star Rick Fox) is getting a little too friendly with his employer and faces a new situation with Henry; Amanda receives her inheritance; and Hilda comes to terms with recent events.

Talk Back: NBC's "Bionic Woman" and ABC's "Dirty Sexy Money" and "Private Practice"

Several of new fall series launched last night, including dramas Bionic Woman, Dirty Sexy Money, and Private Practice.

Now that you've seen the pilot episodes of all three series, what were your reactions to these new series?

I'll admit that Dirty Sexy Money's pilot was a full head and shoulders above the original network cut I saw in early May and lived up to the promise of the original script. As for my full feelings about the campy series, you'll have to wait until next week when I discuss the pilot episode and the series' third installment. But one note to producers: no more transsexual hooker storylines; it's been done to death already.

As for Private Practice, I'm not a Grey's Anatomy fan, so this isn't normally my cup of medicine-laced tea. That said, I thought that Kate Walsh was as adorable as ever and Tim Daly very charismatic; still, I'm hoping that Addison and Taye Diggs' Sam Bennett hook up (not that I'll be watching). As for replacing Merrin Dungey with Audra McDonald? To be honest, I preferred Merrin. As for the series itself, Private Practice seemed less doom-and-gloom than Grey's but I was hoping for a better mix of dramedy and romance: the medical cases were downright depressing and, please for the love of all things holy, do not ever show me Paul Adelstein naked and tied to a bed. Ever. Again.

And how did my original advance review of Bionic Woman's pilot (found here) live up to the hype? Did you agree with my assessment that NBC downplayed Michelle Ryan's looks a little too much?

Which series has joined your TiVo Season Pass list and which, well, has fallen right off of it?

Discuss in brutal and/or glowing terms right here.

Peacock Resurrects "Knight Rider" from KITT's Watery Grave

OMG. Could NBC really be bringing Knight Rider back to the small screen... with a K.I.T.T. that transforms?

Yes, true believers. It's true. NBC has hired Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity) to produce an update of Knight Rider, the 1980s action/adventure drama about a secret agent and his sentient car, voiced by that old guy from Boy Meets World.

According to Variety, the project is said to be "Transformers-inspired" and NBC has already ordered a two-hour backdoor pilot for the series, which it plans to air at some point later this season. If the pilot takes, a series could be on the schedule by next fall.

Limon is open to directing (can't wait to see the budget overruns on that front), should his feature schedule allow him to take the gig. Dave Andron, who wrote Raines for NBC, has been hired to update the series and will serve as supervising producer on the project.

One caveat: that Transformers tag. Ben Silverman was apparently so taken with the recent Michael Bay bombastic opus that he is pushing for K.I.T.T. and the other sentient cars (apparently evil ones, too) to, er, shapeshift into new and interesting shapes and models. Otherwise, the story--about a man who fights crime with the aid of his bitchin' vehicle--will remain pretty much the same. But, man, that transforming car suggestion worries me quite a bit.

The announcement comes as NBC launches another series remake in the form of Bionic Woman; Silverman has also ordered an update of classic series American Gladiators, making this jaded TV writer feel a slight tingle of deja vu.

Casting Couch: FX Snags Three for Ryan Murphy's New Series

Ryan Murphy's latest FX drama--about a man who discovers that he's a transsexual--has locked three A-list actors as its leads.

The untitled project (formerly known as 4 oz.) from executive producers Ryan Murphy, Brad Pitt, and Dede Gardner and co-writer Brad Falchuk, has cast Joseph Fiennes, Blythe Danner, and Robert Wagner. The cabler has ordered a pilot and three additional scripts for the drama.

Joseph Fiennes ("Running with Scissors") will play a married man with two children who decides to begin the arduous process of transforming himself into a woman. Blythe Danner ("Huff") will play Bob's mother Bunny, while Robert Wagner ("Hustle") will play Bob's father Scotch, a doctor who shares a gynecology practice with Bob.

Production on the pilot, from studio 20th Century Fox Television, will start at the end of October.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Survivor: China (CBS); My Name is Earl (NBC); Smallville (CW); Ugly Betty (ABC); Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (FOX)

9 pm: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS); The Office (NBC); Reaper (CW); Grey's Anatomy (ABC); Don't Forget the Lyrics (FOX)

10 pm: Without a Trace (CBS); ER (NBC); Big Shots (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

8 pm: Ugly Betty.

It's the second season premiere ("How Betty Got Her Grieve Back") as Betty attempts to put Henry out of her thoughts, Amanda distracts herself with junk food after discovering that Fay Sommers was really her mother, and Wilhelmina plots to use the recent events involving the Meades to her advantage.

9 pm: The Office.

Season Four of The Office begins tonight with a one-hour episode ("Fun Run"), in which Michael believes the Dunder-Mifflin Scranton offices are cursed after a freak accident in the parking lot and hosts a charity 5K run to draw attention to a, er, lesser publicized illness. Will the writers have listened to my Office Season Four wish list and downplayed Jim and Pam? Find out tonight.

10-11 pm: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia on FX.

FX's hilariously subversive comedy It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia continues tonight with two back-to-back episodes. On the first ("The Gang Solves the North Korea Situation"), the gang decides to declare war on a Korean restaurant owner who threatens to remove Paddy's from its spot on the annual pub crawl. On the second ("The Aluminum Monster vs. Fatty McGoo"), Dee is horrified to learn that a loser from her highs school class is now a successful fashion designer.

10 pm: Tim Gunn's Guide to Style on Bravo.

See the style maven make it work on his own fashion series, where he and supermodel Veronica Webb take on one hapless fashion victim and make them over into a sartorial superstar. On tonight's episode, Tim and Veronica take on the challenge of remolding a a pediatrician.

"Do You Regret What We Did?": Patty and Ellen Conspire on "Damages"

Wow. I, um, certainly didn't expect that to happen. (Patty sobbing, I mean.) What more is there to say after last night's episode?

I was absolutely glued to the television last night, positively riveted, during last night's installment of Damages ("Do You Regret What We Did?"), which pushed the plot into completely new and unexpected directions. I'm still reeling from a few developments including the possible (but highly probable) death of Gregory Malina (Peter Facinelli), the fact that maybe Tom isn't such an asshat after all, and the revelation of Arlington.

Frobisher. So it looks like Arthur Frobisher is even more of a villain than I had realized. When he's not seducing the deposition expert Fiske brought in (on his desk, natch), he's covering up even more crimes. I never imagined that there was a Chappaquiddick-esque incident in his past; according to George Moore (formerly known as Baby Carriage Man), Frobisher was involved in a car accident that left a young girl dead in the early 1980s. Allegedly, Frobisher was the driver of the vehicle but claimed that the girl was, a story backed up by police. The entire affair went away when the girl's family ceased their inquiries, paid off with Frobisher stock. Curious. Power goes scary things to people and, with Frobisher, it's put him above the law in every respect. Anything can be bought, including silence.

If there's one thing that this series excels at (and, believe me, there are many things), it's the use of dreams to reveal characters' innermost thoughts and fears. This week featured a doozy of a dream--less shocking than Ray's teeth falling out but stunning in its own right--in which Arthur attended the gala function a white smock-clad Patty was the keynote speaker at and danced with her. The scene, which seemed like reality rather than fantasy, quickly escalated when Patty began to make demands about the settlement, using the dead girl in Arlington as bait, until the price rose to $850 million. Still, nothing was enough for "dream" Patty, who promised Frobisher that she wanted to erase his accomplishments from the face of the planet and have his children sneer whenever they thought of him. I couldn't help but think of Shelley's "Ozymandias" during this scene: "Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!/Nothing beside remains: round the decay/Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,/The lone and level sands stretch far away." (Okay, enough poetry for today.)

Lila. Our little Cassavetes-adverse Soda Skank has turned into quite the psychopath. In last night's episode, she copied the keys she stole from David and returned the originals (left in a drawer where Ellen found them) and went to Hewes & Associates, where she calmly told Ellen that David didn't love her anymore and was sleeping with her. Fortunately, Ellen called security and believed David when he said that there was nothing going on between them. (There really isn't, as even David keeps brushing Lila off.) And Ellen turned up evidence that Lila has several restraining orders against her and was arrested for stalking. Just wait until Ellen learns that Lila's grandfather isn't even dead. There will be hell to pay. I'm still concerned that the psycho will be the one to smash David's head to bits with that Statute of Liberty bookend...

Katie and Gregory. I'm glad that the writers wisely brought Katie back into the mix, even if she's still not speaking to Ellen (and seeing as David now dies in six weeks, she won't be any time soon). I loved the scenes between Katie and Gregory as they come to realize that they were both pawns in this grand scheme of Frobisher and George Moore. I was completely blown away by the fact that Gregory used Katie's parents' video camera (good use of plant and pay-off) to enact a confession of his own, in which he reveals Baby Carriage Man's identity and links Fro with the SEC, and that he left Katie a check for $128,000. At least he feels guilty enough to do something good for Katie for once; any thoughts if it's the money left from his share of the Frobisher stock? While I knew Gregory was a goner, I didn't expect him to die chasing Kate's puppy Coco into the street... where he was promptly run over by a car. (Lesson learned: always use a leash and look both ways before crossing.) Poor Gregory, but at least he got the opportunity to find redemption in the end. Which is more than I can say for...

Fiske. I am blown away by the fact that he absolutely sold Gregory out to George Moore, revealing his location, and singlehandedly causing his demise. Throughout this all, I thought Fiske acted out of his responsibility to his client, but this is beyond the pale and now looks as though he and Moore are in collusion. They are tying up all the loose ends, starting with Gregory, but given Ray's feelings for the star witness, I'm surprised he signed his death warrant like that. Still, there was that uncontrollable shudder after he was told it was done. Also, we learned that Fiske gave Gregory the Frobisher stock in payment for setting up the condo in Palm Beach, a convenient location for an illegal rendezvous between Frobisher and Moore. Oh, Ray, you vampire; there's more blood on your hands than you know.

Ellen. Ellen really is turning into Patty, seeing the worst in everyone, believing that everyone has a secret motive, a hidden agenda, a corrupt or dark side to their personality. She's turned into quite the little protege and has learned from her master very well. The scene between Ellen and Moore spoke volumes about how much Ellen has changed these past few episodes, as she turns to her anonymous witness and says that she better not find out that he has an ulterior motive for talking to them. (Um, the biggest!) But, seeing a distraught-but-in-control Ellen in prison made me truly realize how she's subsumed her naivete and innocence into a now jaded and embittered shell. She's learned the ultimate lesson that Patty tried to teach her from Day One: trust no one. Apparently, not even yourself.

Patty. Just what did Ellen and Patty do? It would appear to be something extremely serious for Ellen to run over to her apartment after her breakup with David for a little heart-to-heart, asking Patty if she regretted what they did. Not that their actions were a mistake, mind you, but if there was regret over what they did. Just what did they do? My guess: murder. I can't help but think about Tom's words from a few episodes ago: there's a dead man. I don't think he was referring to Gregory Malina. But since we know that Greg's already dead six weeks earlier and Tom and Fiske are both alive, who could the corpse be? Moore? Frobisher? I'm not entirely sure. What we do know is that it's serious enough that it's spooked Patty herself, who retreats to her beach house, where she throws a glass of Scotch against the wall and terrifyingly sobs on the beach, and then flees New York. Where is Patty going? And why is she keeping Tom in the dark? (It seems as though he might not be as tight with Patty as we thought.) And did Patty set up the murder attempt on Ellen to tie up her own loose ends, namely silence her partner in crime? Only time will tell.

Next week on Damages ("Sort of Like a Family"), Frobisher and Patty face off during his deposition, David receives a surprising visitor, and Ellen, pushed to the sidelines, considers a series of daring moves that might bring her back into Patty's inner circle.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Kid Nation (CBS); Deal or No Deal (NBC); America's Next Top Model (CW); Dancing with the Stars (ABC); Back to You/'Til Death (FOX)

9 pm: Criminal Minds (CBS); Bionic Woman (NBC); Gossip Girl (CW); Private Practice (ABC); Kitchen Nightmares (FOX)

10 pm: CSI: New York (CBS); Life (NBC); Dirty Sexy Money (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

8 pm: America's Next Top Model.

On tonight's episode ("The Models Go Green'"), the finalists move into a Los Angeles mansion and participate in a photo shoot that shows the negative effects of smoking. Um, okay.

8 pm: Back to You.

A former network president I was talking to a few weeks ago called the Kelsey Grammer/Patricia Heaton series "time capsule television," and I'd have to agree. It definitely seems like a throwback to a different time in TV but there's something vaguely comforting about that. On tonight's episode ("Fish Story"), Chuck tries to convince Kelly that he can be a a nurturing caregiver while Gary prepares for a police story and Marsh tries to figure out a magic trick.

9 pm: Gossip Girl.

On tonight's episode ("The Wild Bunch"), Blair tells Serena that she knows her secret while Chuck hosts a fund-raising party, which Serena attends with Dan. Is anyone watching this?

9 pm: Bionic Woman.

It's the series premiere of David Eick's reimagining of classic TV series Bionic Woman, starring Michelle Ryan. (Read my original review of the pilot here.) On tonight's episode ("Pilot"), bartender Jamie Sommers must deal with her new life after a near-fatal car accident leaves her clinging to life and she undergoes advance reconstructive surgery using bionic implants. Oh, and Katee Sackhoff comes by as a femme fatale with a bone to pick with our girl.

10 pm: Top Chef on Bravo.

On tonight's episode ("Finale, Part One"), the remaining four chefs jet off to Aspen, Colorado, for the semi-final and some rather interesting in-the-wild cooking, only to fall victim to some hard questioning and even harsher criticisms from the judges. It all starts here!

10 pm: Dirty Sexy Money.

On ABC's new primetime soap, Dirty Sexy Money, a young lawyer (Peter Krause) inherits an sadistic and wealthy family to look after, following his father's untimely death, and must deal with their every whine and complaint. But he does make a cool $10 million, so you can't feel so badly for him...

Huzzah: Sci Fi Renews "Eureka" for Third Season

Fans of Sci Fi's quirky drama Eureka, you are in luck. I've got some excellent news for you.

Multiple sources have informed me that the NBC Universal-produced series has been given a third season order by cabler Sci Fi.

New episodes of Eureka--most likely thirteen in number--are slated to return next summer.

Eureka, which stars Colin Ferguson, Ed Quinn, Joe Morton, Jordan Hinson, and Salli Richardson-Whitfield, wraps its second season next Tuesday night at 9 pm, with the second part of a two-part installment entitled "A Night in Global Dynamics."

Deathwatch: FOX's "Nashville"

Could the fall season already have claimed its first victim? Sure appears that way over at FOX.

FOX has announced that it has benched reality series Nashville, effective immediately, and will instead air repeats of new drama K-Ville in its Fridays at 9 pm timeslot for the next two weeks. After that, the broadcaster will fill the slot with Major League Baseball on October 12th and the launch of reality series The Next Great American Band on October 19th.

According to The Futon Critic, FOX did not confirm that the series bad been canceled and would instead "be rescheduled at a later date."

Which, come on, has become shorthand for don't hold your breath. But given the low numbers for viewership which Nashville has engendered in its few outings, I don't think anyone will be missing this botched series.

This Bites: A Look at CBS' "Moonlight"

I haven't exactly been shy with my opinions about CBS' new fall drama, Moonlight (formerly known as Twilight), which I unfavorably compared to Angel and Forever Knight when I first saw the pilot presentation the network had assembled back in May.

Since then, there's been no shortage of changes to the project, from casting (goodbye Shannon Lucio, Amber Valetta, and, well, nearly everyone else; hello Sophia Myles, Jason Dohring, and Shannyn Sossamon) to the guys steering this series (David Greenwalt joins, then leaves the project, and is replaced by Chip Johannsen).

Not exactly good signs but sometimes a network does have to make drastic changes in order to make a series work. After all, NBC wisely replaced Rachel Dratch with Jane Krakowski on 30 Rock last season. Sometimes, it's good to jettison what isn't working and focus on how to fix what you've got.

In the case of Moonlight, that meant recasting everyone save series lead Alex O'Loughlin, who plays private investigator Mick St. John who has a rather dark secret: he's a vampire prone to long black coats and old convertibles. (Hmmm, if that doesn't remind you of Angel, I don't know what will.) However his vampiric tendencies, Mick does have some compunctions: he doesn't feed off of humans (frequent trips to the morgue and synthetic blood solve his hunger). He's instantly sucked into solving the crime of a murdered college student, who appeared to have been killed by two puncture wounds to her neck. Vampire? Mick decides he'll appoint himself the victim's saviour and investigates everyone and everything involved with the crime.

The only problem is that beautiful internet reporter Beth Turner (Doctor Who's Sophia Myles, replacing Shannon Lucio) is already sticking her neck where it doesn't belong and Mick can't help but fall for her charms. Of course, there's a fairly obvious connection between them, which for some reason reminded me of Beauty & the Beast (not sure why, though Moonlight does come from that series' creator Ron Koslow), and is helped along by the fact that Beth seems to know Mick from somewhere. They agree to team up on this case and help each other out with leads, but when Beth goes undercover at the same study group as the victim (one that seems to deify vampires, no less), it's up to Mick to rescue this damsel in distress. (Spoiler Alert: AGAIN.)

Rounding out the cast are Veronica Mars' Jason Dohring, who here plays the amoral Josef, a vampire who has lived for hundreds of years but who retains his youthful looks and energy lives life as a high-powered fund hedge fund trader; Shannyn Sossamon (Dirt) as Mick's vampire bride/sire Coraline; and Alias' Kevin Weisman as Beth's trusting cameraman Steve Blafour.

With a cast this good, you hope that the underlying material is as strong. I'm sad to say that Moonlight doesn't do its talented cast any favors. For one, it doesn't look to reinvent the vampire drama in any way, shape, or form. Sure, there are tweaks to the mythology here: vampires can walk around in sunlight and stakes and holy water have no effect on killing them (fire and beheading do the trick), but that's not what I call a plot advance. We've all seen the vampire-with-a-soul setup far too many times now (Angel, Forever Knight, Dark Shadows) and Moonlight doesn't so much as use this scenario for dramatic purposes (the push and pull of desire vs. moral duty) as it does as a convenient setup for yet another procedural.

As for the mystery, it seemed fairly straightforward and formulaic and the resolution did nothing to make me feel as though intelligent and independent Beth Turner were, well, intelligent and independent, as it involves her running right into the arms of the killer and having to be saved by Mick. (Yawn.) It's no fault of Sophia Myles, who I thought did a fantastic job with a fairly one-dimensional character (and her accent is pretty flawless to boot), but with some lazy writing.

Ultimately, I applaud CBS for trying to do something other than forensic dramas but I don't think that Moonlight, which feels in every way a throwback to 1990s syndicated dramas, will be the one to find a different audience. In the end, it's unlikely that Moonlight will stick around for many lunar cycles.

Moonlight launches Friday, September 28th at 9 pm on CBS.

Talk Back: NBC's "Chuck" and "Journeyman"

NBC launched several of its new fall series last night, including dramas Chuck and Journeyman.

Now that you've seen the pilot episodes of both series, what were your reactions to both series?

And how did my original advance reviews of the pilots (found here for Chuck and here for Journeyman respectively) live up to the hype? Which series has joined your TiVo Season Pass list and which, well, has fallen right off of it?

Discuss in brutal and/or glowing terms right here.

Anthologies All the Rage at NBC

I'm not quite sure what makes anthology series particularly zeitgeist-y right now. After all, TNT already aired their Stephen King anthology series Nightmares and Dreamscapes and ABC, well, dumped their sci fi series Masters of Science Fiction on Saturday nights during the summer, so why has NBC announced not one but two anthology series in the last 24 hours? Beats me.

The Peacock has ordered 13 episodes of a horror anthology entitled Fear Itself, which is essentially a version of Showtime's Masters of Horror that has been reworked for network television. The series, from Masters of Horror producers Lionsgate and Industry Entertainment, will air next summer.

As for NBC, it seems that they are looking to less expensive business models in order to justify ordering scripted programming for the warmer months: "It's less expensive than the traditional license fees we pay," said Ben Silverman. "That's allowing us to open up original programming to work across the whole year. There are different ways to get scripted shows on the air all year round.

Like its forebear, which ran for two seasons on cabler Showtime, Fear Itself will feature top-notch horror writers and directors; the series' title was changed to avoid comparisons with the original series and to broaden the audience without limiting the types of stories they could tell.

Likewise, NBC is developing an untitled romantic comedy anthology series from Sex and the City writer Cindy Chupack and executive producer Joann Alfano (30 Rock), which each week would feature between one and three stories and an animated segment, joined together via a common theme. Stories would focus on love stories, with no limitations on the age, race, class, or orientation of the couples.

Is the American public so tired of serialized dramas and appointment television that network anthologies just make sense again? Or would the viewing community rather visit each week to see characters change and grow? I'm not entirely sure. Stay tuned as NBC attempts to find out.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: NCIS (CBS); Biggest Loser (NBC; 8-10 pm); Beauty and the Geek (CW); Dancing with the Stars (ABC; 8-9:30 pm); Bones (FOX)

9 pm: The Unit (CBS); Reaper (CW); Boston Legal (ABC; 9:30-11 pm); House (FOX)

10 pm: Cane (CBS); Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (NBC)

What I'll Be Watching

8 pm: Beauty & the Geek.

I'm a sucker for the CW's "social experiment" Beauty & the Geek. On tonight's episode ("Opposites Attract"), the male beauty and female geek move into the mansion and the couples face their first challenge: the geeks must perform homemade raps in front of Three 6 Mafia, while the beauties face a political debate.

9 pm: Eureka on Sci Fi.

Season Two of Eureka continues tonight with "All That Glitters," the first half of a two-parter, in which a bronze statue turns gold, signaling a new danger to Eureka, while Beverly returns to Eureka after a little stay at Guantanamo. Michael Shanks guest stars.

10 pm: Damages on FX.

FX's brilliant legal drama continues with an-all new episode tonight ("Do You Regret What We Did?"), the mystery behind Gregory's disappearance deepens as a videotape he made about his knowledge of the case surfaces; Frobisher's team brings in a secret weapon; Ellen discovers some shocking information; someone is hit by a car; and Patty's whereabouts after David's murder are discovered.

10 pm: Cane.

It's the series premiere of CBS' new nighttime soap, Cane. (Read my original review of the pilot here.) Jimmy Smits heads-up an all-star cast in this drama about a family-owned rum manufacturer involved in a decades-long feud with a rival clan.

Casting Couch: "Sarah Connor Chronicles" To Get New Villain?

Hmmm, could heroine Sarah Connor be getting a new villain already?

That's the way it appears, anyway, thanks to a new casting notice that's gone out today concerning the midseason drama The Sarah Connor Chronicles. The FOX actioner, a weekly TV spin-off of the Terminator franchise, has secured the talents of Garret Dillahunt (Deadwood) as a character named Cromartie, a substitute teacher at the high school where John Connor attends.

And, oh yeah, SPOILER ALERT time: the "mysterious" Cromartie is a Terminator unit send back in time to kill Sarah (Lena Headey) and John Connor (Thomas Dekker). Dillahunt is no stranger to playing a time-displaced villain; after all, he played the Machiavellian Matthew Ross on The 4400 for 11 episodes.

What's the problem? Well, in the pilot that had been shot for Sarah Connor Chronicles, Cromartie was played by The Nine's Owain Yeoman and I actually thought he did an admirable job, considering the pilot itself was rather dicey.

So, is Yeoman off The Sarah Connor Chronicles? It would appear so, but no mention was given in Hollywood Reporter that Dillahunt would be replacing him in the role. Curious.

Dillahunt can be seen right now on the big screen in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and will appear in a multiple-episode storyline on FX's Damages.

Go Behind-the-Scenes on Showtime's "Californication"

Looking for more Californication? (The Showtime series, I mean, not... You get the idea.)

Two of the half-hour drama's hard-working assistants have launched a behind-the-scenes blog about their work on the series located here.

While there's no horror stories of series star David Duchovny throwing scalding coffee in their faces (he does seem to be a genuinely nice guy), you will find a Q&A with series creator Tom Kapinos, notable quotes from the series, and an insightful look at what goes on behind closed doors on a weekly television series (i.e., rating the relative hotness of the guest cast).

So take a look and let's hope that Mike Metz and Co. continue to share their experiences as Californication moves into its second season on Showtime. Scalding hot coffee not included.

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: "Heroes: Origins" Secures Feature-Level Writers

Heroes: Origins just got some A-list writing talent for its six-episode run next year.

Following the news earlier this year that Kevin Smith, late of CW's Reaper, would write and direct an installment of six-episode Heroes spin-off, Heroes: Origins, NBC has announced that they have secured two feature film writers for the series offshoot.

Michael Dougherty, co-writer on X2 and Superman Returns, will write an episode of Heroes: Origins, as will Hostel writer/director Eli Roth.

Additionally, Roth will direct his installment of the series spin-off, which introduces new characters as they discover their abilities. An interactive element will allow viewers to vote for their favorite new addition, who may join the cast of the original series in the third season.

The second season of Heroes begins tonight at 9 pm on NBC.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: How I Met Your Mother/The Big Bang Theory (CBS); Chuck (NBC); Everybody Hates Chris/Everybody Hates Chris (CW); Dancing with the Stars (ABC; 8-9:30 pm); Prison Break (FOX)

9 pm: Two and a Half Men/Rules of Engagement (CBS); Heroes (NBC); Girlfriends/The Game (CW); The Bachelor (ABC; 9:30-11 pm); K-Ville (FOX)

10 pm: CSI: Miami (CBS); Journeyman (NBC)

What I'll Be Watching

8 pm: Chuck.

You know how much I'm already in love with this dramedy, from creators Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak, so why don't you do me a favor and tune in? (Click here to read my original review of the pilot back in May.) On the series premiere of Chuck ("Pilot"), Nerd Herd employee Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi) inadvertently downloads top secret government intelligence into his brain and becomes a pawn in a conflict between the ruthless NSA agent (Adam Baldwin) and the beautiful and deadly CIA agent (Yvonne Strahovski) assigned to find him.

10 pm: Journeyman.

It's Kevin McKidd (Rome) as a time-traveling newspaper reporter in a drama that's more about human interactions and the nature of choice than, say, technicolored time machines. (You can read my original review of the pilot here.) On tonight's premiere ("Pilot"), San Francisco reporter Dan Vasser mysteriously wakes up in the past and alters some people's lives and runs into his long-dead fiancée, who has a secret of her own.

10 pm: Weeds on Showtime.

The third season of Showtime's acclaimed comedy, Weeds continues. On tonight's episode ("He Taught Me How to Drive By"), Nancy deals with the fallout from U-Turn's death and makes a deal, Andy gets recommended for a rather unusual catering job, Silas and Tara continue to bond.

10 pm: Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations on Travel Channel.

The third season of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations continues as Tony Bourdain travels to Tuscany, where he visits some family-owned farms, tastes some wine and cheese, and makes us all wish we were in Italy right now.

Checking Out "Beauty and the Geek"

I'm a sucker for the loopy charms of CW's Beauty and the Geek, so I was curious to see how this season's well-publicized "twist" would play out and how it would throw the social experiment into upheaval.

For those of you not in the know, that "twist" is the inclusion for the first time ever (or as the host emphatically put it, "in the history of Beauty and the Geek") that a female geek and a male beauty have been introduced into the game. Sure, it's not the biggest spanner in the works ever to hit a reality series, but it does cut through to the heart of the series' overaching premise: the tug of war between brains and beauties. I think it's about time that a female geek--in dire need of a makeover from the look of the socks n' shoes combo she was sporting in the season premiere--received the benefits of some social adjustments. As for the himbo they brought in as the first male beauty (who just screams stripper), it will be interesting to see how much he really gets out of this. Something tells me that he's really not going to be attracted to academic advancement, but rather towards the, er, enhancements of some of the female contestants.

For the rest of them, I already to have some favorites that I hope make it far in the competition. On the geeks' side, I can already see the potential in both 23-year-old electrical engineering student Luke, bowtie-clad medical student Tony, and 22-year-old electrical engineering and physics Master's candidate/analog circuit designer/amateur juggler John. I can honestly see them coming out of the other end of this season as more socially adjusted guys who could actually, you know, go on dates with women. And Tony is just, well, so adorably clueless as the sage Cher Horowitz would say.

On the beauties' side, I already adore 26-year-old Bettie Boop impersonator Hollie, who wowed me with her intelligence during the psychology segment (she was the only one to correctly identify "reading between the lines" and "tricycle" during the analysis), and
26-year-old bartender Shalandra (a.k.a. Shay), who is simply gorgeous but also truly a down-to-earth girl who tells it like it is.

I'm already beyond ready for space cadet Jasmine and LARPer David to hit the bricks. As for Joshua, what can I say? It's as though the producers try their damnest to find that season's Richard and they've done so with with the awkward stylings of 26-year-old grad student Joshua, who called his mother during the introductions so she could share his good qualities with the ladies. (Um, we won't touch that with a six-foot pole.)

And so another season of study books, dating advice, and extreme makeovers begins. Who are your fave beauties and geeks? Who do you think will hook up? (My money's still on Luke and Hollie.) And who will come the farthest and who will remain stuck in their little social pigeonhole? Discuss.

Next week on Beauty and the Geek ("Opposites Attract"), the male beauty and female geek move into the mansion and the couples face their first challenge: the geeks must perform homemade raps in front of Three 6 Mafia, while the beauties face a political debate.

Looking for Jaw-Droppingly Bad TV? Try CBS' "Kid Nation"

Sometimes I do feel as though I am a glutton for punishment. Case in point: the fact that I actually sat down to watch CBS' horrific reality series/child labor law violation Kid Nation in an effort to bring you, my readers, a complete picture of just what's going on in television. (I will, however, admit that I didn't waste my time watching it at night but caught it the following day.)

Say what you want about the egregious violations of child labor laws and about the fact that these children's parents willingly signed away their rights during this production, but the truth is that Kid Nation is just mind-bogglingly bad television. I do wish I could understand the mindset of both the producers who thought up this exercise in craptacularness as well as the CBS programming and development executives who believed that adults would tune in to see a bunch of kids trying to win $20,000 gold stars and cleaning out latrines in a desert town. (I also don't understand why they'd pair it with lead-out Criminal Minds, which opened with shots of gruesome corpses seconds after Kid Nation ended.)

The premise: 40 adorable moppets are given the chance to fend for themselves in a New Mexico ghost town to see if they can create a working, orderly society better than the adults who tried and failed to make the same town in the past. Hmmm, so are producers saying that Bonanza City (teehee!) was, er, a real town at some point? I'm not entirely sure, but from the "authentic" historical diaries that the kids discover, it sure seems like some producer went out of their way to make the kids think so.

Along the way, the kids compete in way-too-confusing challenges (the premiere episode featured something about pumping colored-water from pipes) to determine who will complete what job within the new society: upper class (um, sure), merchants, cooks, and laborers. That last category should have been called "slaves" in my opinion considering what they are making eight-year-olds do, but, hey, at least they get paid ten cents for their troubles. Kids squabble, cry, and complain about anything and everything. They go rabbit hunting, cook meals, and try to organize themselves. At various points, irritating host Jonathan Karsh pops up to taunt them with prizes or advance the "story," at one point giving Gold Star winner Sophia a key to a locked building containing the only phone in Bonanza City. (How can this man sleep at night?)

I watched the episode with my jaw on the floor. Kid Nation has got to be one of the most appalling, exploitative concepts on television to date, yet it attempts to wear its earnestness on its sleeve, believing that it is a worthy "social experiment," rather than a demeaning way to sell advertising. Sure, the premiere was presented with limited commercial interruption but I couldn't help but see the haunting faces of little pre-teen indentured servants every time a commercial break came on.

But leave aside the legal and moral issues surrounding the series and the biggest horror of Kid Nation is the fact that it's just bad, mawkish television disguised as social-minded entertainment. And no amount of gold stars, however valuable, can change that.

Kid Nation airs Wednesday nights at 8 pm ET/PT on CBS.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Ghost Whisperer (CBS); 1 vs. 100 (NBC); Friday Night SmackDown (CW; 8-10 pm); America's Funniest Home Videos (ABC); Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? (FOX)

9 pm: The Unit (CBS); Las Vegas (NBC); 20/20 (ABC); Nashville (FOX)

10 pm: NUMB3RS (CBS); Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (NBC); 20/20 (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

8 pm: Doctor Who on Sci Fi.

This week on Doctor Who ("Utopia"), Captain Jack Harkness (of Torchwood fame) returns when the TARDIS makes a visit to Cardiff; the Doctor encounters a professor at the end of the universe. Is the Doctor really the very last Time Lord? Find out tonight.

Final Five Face Off at French Culinary Institute on "Top Chef"

Ah, the final five. The knives always do come out at this point, but I was happy to see on last night's episode of Top Chef ("Manhattan Project") that the cheftestants' knife skills were used in pursuit of the top prize rather than, you know, stabbing each other in the back.

Quickfire Challenge: After tooling around Manhattan for a bit and sampling some street food, the chefs were invited to have lunch at Le Cirque with legendary owner Sirio Maccione, a dapper Italian gentleman whose restaurant has become synonymous with high-end New York cuisine for several decades. They were treated to taste an exquisite off-the-menu lunch: russet potato-wrapped sea bass with creamed leeks which has been a specialty at Le Cirque for twenty years. Which sort of made my culinary spider sense tingle. Sure enough, just as the chefs settled into their chairs, Padma dropped a bombshell: their challenge would be to recreate the dish they had just eaten, in terms of taste and presentation, in only twenty minutes.

Hung impressed me immensely in this challenge, which gave him the rare opportunity to show off his classical training. His dish looked gorgeous and he cooked the fish perfectly AND remembered to wrap the sea bass in potato strips that were thick enough not to burn but thin enough to crisp in the saute pan. While others may quibble, I really don't blame Hung for not telling his fellow contestants how exactly he recreated the dish. After all, that WAS the challenge, so I was a little annoyed at Dale for getting miffed over this.

I was also taken aback by how much I'm suddenly rooting for Casey, who also prepared an elegant, perfectly cooked and seasoned recreation of Maccione's legendary dish. I was hoping she'd win this challenge, but alas, it went to Hung. Casey has really stepped up these past few episodes in a major way and she's become the one to beat. It should be a very interesting finale, if in fact she faces off against Hung... which at this point is her main competition.

As for the others, I wasn't really impressed by their performances. Dale and Brian both burned the potato "papillote" and Sara? Well, our Jamaican friend got so frazzled that she failed to cook the fish, leaving the center completely, inedibly raw.

Elimination Challenge: It was only fitting then, after using some classical techniques to recreate Maccione's sea bass, that the chefs continue this theme. Arriving at the French Culinary Institute, the contestants were shocked to learn their next challenge: create an awe-inspiring dish built around the simplest of ingredients--chicken, yellow onion, russet potato--along with $200 worth of ingredients from the Greenmarket in Union Square (an old haunt of mine).

I was absolutely stunned by what Brian put on the plate but even more so that the judges--including the deans of the French Culinary Institute--liked what they ate. In my eyes, it was a disgusting pile of green sludge on top of a pile of brown poo. Brian called it a Spring Harvest Peasant's Feast, with pheasant sausage, chicken, and a potato and ramp puree. I'm still amazed that it tasted as well as it did, a rich, hearty concoction that was a little overwhelmed by the use of the pheasant. But still, no seafood in sight, which is a change for our Brian.

Casey set out to do an interpretation of coq au vin, based on a recipe of her French grandmother, with potato puree, sauteed ramps, and asparagus. Her dish was beautifully plated, elegant, and intensely focused. Yes, coq au vin is traditionally cooked using an old rooster, but ease up, Tom Colicchio; I thought she created a stunning dish under some intense guidelines and thought classically, to boot, considering where she was.

Sara's dish--a fricassee chicken served with seared breast, couscous and potato risotto, and confit onions with a microgreens sa