[Televisionary]

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. This being the week of Christmas, look for the television programming news to be light but we do have a few headlines to discuss. I spent the weekend catching up on some screener-viewing (episode 203 of Damages , for example) and preparing for the hols this week. Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello has a sneak peak clip of Joss Whedon's latest drama, Dollhouse , which launches Friday, February 13th on FOX. In the two-minute clip, Echo (Eliza Dushku) has her imprinted memories wiped by Fran Kranz's Topher, who then engages in a philosophical discussion about the nature of his work with Echo's handler Boyd (Harry Lennix). Does it make you rethink your position on the series? Are you more or less excited to see it now? ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) The Guardian has a brand-new interview with the oh-so-talented cast of British import comedy Gavin & Stacey , including James Corden and Ruth Jones (

I won't lie to you: I couldn't help myself and watched last night's Gavin & Stacey season finale all over again last night. I'm a sucker for the laughs-and-tears combo of the brilliant British import. You've already read my advance review of Gavin & Stacey 's sophomore season finale (the series returns this month in the UK with a Christmas special), which aired Stateside last night, but I am curious to see what you thought of the episode, which featured the birth of Nessa and Smithy's baby, a truce between Bryn and Dave of Dave's Coaches (who knows Bryn and Jason's secret about that fateful fishing trip), and, of course, a possible reconciliation between estranged couple Gavin and Stacey. Did you think it fitting that Gavlar and Stacey reconnected after seeing Nessa with baby Neil? Did you buy the happy coincidence that Nessa's dad and Smithy both happened to share the same first name? Did you howl with laughter at Nessa's choice of

Over the course of thirteen episodes, James Corden and Ruth Jones, the writers/stars of British comedy Gavin & Stacey , have done the impossible: create a comedy series that manages to make you laugh and cry in equal measure, capture the pathos of twenty-something true love (which at the best of times never does run smooth), and, well, make the Welsh seem pretty damn cool. BBC America tonight airs the brilliant second season finale of Gavin & Stacey (I was lucky enough to watch it last week) and it absolutely breaks my heart that this could be the penultimate time we catch up with Gavin and Stacey, Nessa, Bryn, Gwen, Smithy, and the Shipmans. BBC is airing a Gavin & Stacey Christmas special later this month in the UK (no word on when it will air Stateside) and has already commissioned a third season of Gavin & Stacey . But I won't lie to you, there is a fly in the ointment: Corden and Jones' schedules have been too busy to accommodate getting together to write

BBC America's sweet and caustic comedy Gavin & Stacey returns tonight to launch its second season and I couldn't be happier. Longtime readers know of my love for this twinkling little comedic gem which manages to be both mordantly funny and genuinely touching. (It's the very definition of bittersweet.) Gavin & Stacey , created by series co-stars Ruth Jones and James Corden, follows the lives of Essex boy Gavin (Mathew Horne) and Welsh lass Stacey (Joanna Page) as they meet cute after talking on the phone for months and end up falling head over heels in love, despite dealing with their extremely eccentric family relations and friends. Season One ended with Gavin and Stacey tying the knot after some serious complications (most notably the fact that Stacey had never told Gavin that she had been engaged about six times before) and the newlyweds headed off to Greece for their honeymoon. Season Two, which kicks off tonight on BBC America, picks up where we left off, with

Good morning and welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. I ended up watching 90210 's two-hour debut last night, so look for a review of the premiere in just a little while. Could the upcoming second season of comedy Flight of the Conchords --set to air in 2009 on HBO--be the series' last? That's the indication of a report in The New Zealand Herald, in which creator/stars Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement are quoted as saying that, due to creative difficulties with creating songs for the sophomore season, Flight of the Conchords could be over sooner rather than later. "The second series seems to me like it would be a good end to the show," said McKenzie. ( TV Guide ) Jennifer Aniston will guest-star on 30 Rock this season as Liz Lemon's former roommate/stalker. But you lucky Televisionary readers knew that yesterday. ( Televisionary ) Ted Danson ( Damages ) has been cast as a lead in HBO's comedy pilot Bored to Death , opposite Jason Schwa

I hope you took my advice and tuned in last night for the launch of BBC America's latest Britcom import, Gavin & Stacey , from the fertile minds of Ruth Jones and James Corden, who co-star in this witty and wicked comedy about love at first, er, meeting. (You can read my original review of Gavin & Stacey here .) For those of you who did, I am curious to see what you thought of Gavin & Stacey's first episode, of the way that Corden and Jones infused the series with both a romantic streak as well as a caustic sense of humor in a way that no American television series has come close to reaching. Were you as utterly charmed and captivated by this sweet and hilarious romantic comedy? Did you swoon when Gavin and Stacey finally met... and Smithy and Nessa, er, made use of the en-suite facilities at the hotel? And were you as taken with the eccentricities of Gavin and Stacey's respective families, especially Uncle Bryn (Rob Brydon) and Pamela (Alison Steadman)? Who w

Every now and then a series comes along that's just so charming, just so perfectly witty and adorable, that you just know that the poor sod who tries to adapt it for American television is going to have a proper mess on his hands. The latest British series to be developed as a US series is, of course, Gavin & Stacey , which has a script order at NBC. But rather than wait to see what will likely be a massively sub-par retread of this fantastic concept, why not tune in to see the British original version of Gavin & Stacey , which kicks off Tuesday night on BBC America. Written by co-stars Ruth Jones and James Corden, Gavin & Stacey tells the story of, well, Gavin and Stacey, a pair of star-crossed would-be lovers who connect over the telephone at work and finally work up the nerve to see each other in person to see if it's actually a match made in heaven... Gavin (Mathew Horne) is an Essex boy (think New Jersey) who loves beer, footie, and hanging out with his best m

Good morning (on what appears to be a spectacularly grey day here in LA) and welcome to your early morning television briefing. Hungry for more Torchwood ? The official Torchwood magazine, published by Titan, has the details for the third season's story arc... or at least the title of the five-part story. Creator Russell T. Davies has revealed the title to be "Torchwood: Children Of Earth." The series' third outing is set to air over the course of one week on BBC1 in Spring 2009. "I usually give you all one or two tone words when we have a meeting like this," Davies told the production team during his tone meeting last month, "But if I were to give you two words this time, they would be 'Euros Lyn'. More than ever before, this series of Torchwood will be director-led, and it will look absolutely amazing." Euros Lyn directed such Doctor Who episodes as "The End Of The World," "The Girl In The Fireplace," and the two-pa

Looking for your next British telly series fix? Look no further as BBC America announced their latest comedy acquisition: the delightfully wry Gavin & Stacey , which will launch on the digital cabler this August. Starring Joanna Page ( Love Actually ), Mathew Horne ( The Catherine Tate Show ), Ruth Jones ( Saxondale ), James Corden ( Teachers ), Alison Steadman ( Life is Sweet ), and Rob Brydon ( Little Britain ), Gavin & Stacey tells the story of Englishman Gavin and Welsh-born Stacey, who only ever spoken on the telephone; when they finally meet up, it's true love, despite their different backgrounds and the pressures of their quirky families and respective best friends Smithy and Nessa, who only seem to get along when they're drunk. The series was created by co-stars Jones and Corden and, like all great British series, a US adaptation is already being developed at NBC. (Gee, that took long.) I cannot wait for Gavin & Stacey to make its way across the pond. BBC A