[Televisionary]

As Jack said, we have to go back... After weeks of speculation, ABC has finally unveiled its midseason schedule, following the consistent trend of filling the winter timeslots with new and returning reality fare and a few scripted launches. The biggest news, of course, is that Lost will launch its fourth season on January 31st, with a new timeslot as it moves to Thursdays at 9 pm, formerly occupied by Grey's Anatomy . I do think the earlier berth will help with the ratings; 10 pm was waaaaay too late for such an intense serialized drama and I am a Lost devotee. In any event, here is the new winter schedule for ABC: MONDAY (JANUARY) 8:00 pm: Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann 9:30 pm: Notes from the Underbelly 10:00 pm: October Road MONDAY (FEBRUARY) 8:00 pm: Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann 9:00 pm: Samantha Who? 9:30 pm: Notes from the Underbelly 10:00 pm: October Road MONDAY (MARCH) 8:00 pm: Dancing with the Stars 9:30 pm: Samantha Who? 10:00 pm: The Bachelor TUESDAY 8:00 pm: Jus...

If after watching last night's episode of 30 Rock , you're still unclear about how much rewriting goes into polishing TV scripts before shooting, there's no saving you. I had been looking forward to 30 Rock all week long as the comedy has become a shining beacon of hope in a primetime schedule getting more crowded by the day with reality series as the WGA strike goes on. While I thought the episode might be a little bittersweet--it being the penultimate 30 Rock until the WGA and the AMPTP can end their conflict--I wasn't prepared for how lackluster an entry into the 30 Rock canon it would be. And it's sad because this week's installment (the untitled episode 209) had a set-up and plotline that could have been hysterical and absolutely brilliant... if only the writers had been able to rewrite the script. Instead, it was a mostly flat episode that gave me only a few chuckles, a rare feat for the indomitable 30 Rock , which typically has me roaring with laughter...

Um, wow. If you saw last night's brilliant and heartbreaking episode of Pushing Daisies ("Corpiscle"), you know exactly what I'm talking about. (And if you didn't catch it, shame on you for missing out on the most astoundingly inventive series to come along in years!) While this installment was sadly the last produced episode of Pushing Daisies before the strike, it was the absolute perfect cliffhanger--in scope, tone, plot, and characterization--to nine episodes of whimsy, charm, and the very best witty dialogue this side of Dashiell Hamnett. The facts were these: this week's episode--written by Lisa Joy and directed by Brian Dannelly ( Saved! )--itself revolved around a murder spree in which the bodies of insurance adjusters from Uber-Life Life Insurance turned up outside the home of a boy thrice turned down for a heart transplant, but it was also about the fractured relationship between Ned and Chuck, who recently learned that her childhood sweetheart had...

I swear, if Chantal won this season on America's Next Top Model , I was going to stop watching this series because I just could not take it seriously anymore. Whew. Fortunately, Chantal didn't walk away with the top prize--the cover of Seventeen magazine and a $100K contract with Cover Girl Cosmetics (as Tyra reminds us each and every week)--but I was blown away by the fact that she was chosen first at the judging panel and guaranteed a place in the final two, a move which eliminated far stronger competitor Jenah, whom I believe could actually have a future in high-fashion modeling. Rather than go into details about Top Model 's season finale, which as usual featured yet another Cover Girl photo shoot and commercial, I wanted to talk about something else: the complete and utter disconnect between what the judges claim they are looking for and what they actually end up awarding the top prize based upon. Throughout this entire competition, the judges continually harraung th...

Ah, awards season is upon us, but I can't seem to muster the same enthusiasm this year, what with the strike still going on and no sign of resolution anywhere to turn to. Still, it's a little bit of comfort to know that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, in handing out their nominations, did decide to include some of my favorite series this year around, including Pushing Daisies, Big Love, 30 Rock, and Damages. So thanks to the HFPA for recognizing creative genius and innovative television. My hat is off to you! So which series and actors got nominated and which ones got left out in the cold? Below is a list of the TV award categories and their nominations, along with my reactions to the major categories. BEST TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA: BIG LOVE (HBO) DAMAGES (FX NETWORKS) GREY’S ANATOMY (ABC) HOUSE (FOX) MAD MEN (AMC) THE TUDORS (SHOWTIME) While I loves me some Big Love (and I am absolutely pickled that the HBO polygamy drama has gotten some much-deserved recognit...

I swear, I cannot make this stuff up. NBC has announced a launch date for its two-hour backdoor pilot of Knight Rider (you can read my advance review of the pilot script here ), which will bow on February 17th from 9-11 pm. While the choice of February is hardly surprising, given the lack of first-run scripted programming for sweeps, what is mind-blowing is the choice of the actor hired to provide the voice of sentient car KITT. You ready for this? It's Will Arnett. Whoa. Yes, I'm stunned and slightly intrigued by this casting. I never, in my wildest dreams, imagined the former GOB Bluth playing the voice of KITT, a decision which will either be completely inspired or just outright wacky. What do you think? Can Arnett fill the shoes formerly occupied by William Daniels? Stay tuned.

Things are not looking too good for Dan Vassar. NBC had until yesterday to give a full-season pickup to its time-travel drama Journeyman but instead quietly let the option lapse , a move which has likely all but killed the Kevin McKidd-starring drama about a family man who discovers that he can travel to the past, where he encounters his dead fiancee, who also happens to be a traveler. Journeyman did manage to complete production on its 13-episode initial order and the Peacock plans to air the final two installments next week (Monday and Wednesday evenings, if you're keeping score). The news of Journeyman 's likely demise comes just shortly after full-season pickups for fellow freshman series Life and Chuck . ( Chuck 's Monday night at 8 pm timeslot will be taken over by reality revival American Gladiators come January and NBC recently tested out procedural Life in Journeyman 's soon-to-be-vacated timeslot.) The jury is still out on the fate of Bionic Woman , the l...

With Heather out of the running, I'm really not too sure who to root for on America's Next Top Model , which wraps its ninth season (ahem, cycle) tonight after a runway showdown between the final two girls in Beijing. While the final three girls are certainly beautiful in their own rights, I have to say that I am amazed (shocked, even) that Chantal is still there. Yes, she's cute and bubbly and screams Seventeen magazine, but I don't really think of her as top model material, even if that's print modeling. Chantal's pictures, to me, just come across as pretty flat (or even flatly pretty) but there's nothing original or striking about her. She's the equivalent of a blonde paper doll: pretty but ultimately blandly one-dimensional. Saleisha seems to be the one with the most raw talent but, while she's the most confident on the runway, her pictures don't seem to capture the intensity and skill that she possesses. Also, I don't care what you call...

So hopefully you all tuned in and watched last night's two-hour installment of Life on Mars (well, two back-to-back one-hour episodes anyway), so here's your chance to talk back about the second season opener. If you haven't yet seen the episodes in question, beware as there are spoilers lurking here. (If you missed my advance review of the two episodes, click here to read.) What was with that near-kiss between Annie and Sam? So tantalizingly close! I am happy, however, to see Annie join the CID as a plainclothes detective (a difference between the UK and potential US version, which already has Annie as a full detective when the pilot begins) as hopefully this will mean she finally gets a little bit of the respect she deserves. One word: stinger. I was completely stunned by that shocker of a telephone call in which Sam connected with the mysterious caller from Hyde, who promptly told him that he should not be contacting him as it's not part of "the plan." Hm...

Just in the nick of time (what with the holidays upon us and the strike in no signs of wrapping up any time soon), BBC America is finally bringing the second season of Life on Mars to this side of the pond. For those of you who don't know, I'm absolutely obsessed with Life on Mars , which stars John Simm ( State of Play, Doctor Who ) as Sam Tyler, a police detective who--following a car accident in 2006 during the pursuit of a serial killer who may have taken his girlfriend prisoner--wakes up in 1973 Manchester to the sounds of David Bowie, bell-bottom pants, rampant sexism on the force, and a general lack of policing savvy. The first season of this groundbreaking series focused on Sam's attempts to get home and to determine whether he had (A) gone mad, (B) fallen into a coma, or (C) truly traveled back in time to the year 1973 and joined up with the Manchester police force under the steely and often pigheaded gaze of DCI Gene Hunt (Phillip Glenister). At the end of the fi...

I'm still recovering from the past few days of junkets and press days for some of my favorite series, but one of the highlights has got to be hanging out with Zachary Levi, Yvonne Strahovski, and Adam Baldwin from Chuck . Yes, I spent yesterday with the troika from NBC's spy-themed action comedy while they shot some promos and photos to publicize the first season of Chuck , currently sold into more territories around the world than I can count. While I still have to sift through my notes and transcribe the several hours worth of digital tape, I'll just tell you now that this threesome is just as hilarious and dynamic as they seem on the television screen. While last week's episode of Chuck was the last one we'll be seeing for now, there are two more completed episodes in the can (the cast wrapped this past week), but it's anybody's guess as to when we'll be seeing these comedic gems. (My thoughts: it's February sweeps.) What we do know is that the n...

If one positive programming-related development comes out of the networks' sudden and terrifying need for mass quantities of reality TV, this is it. CBS has quickly ordered another season --the series' 13th--of reality stalwart The Amazing Race , a series many had written off after it failed to find a place earlier this year on the network's fall schedule. The Tiffany Network had originally intended to hold Season Twelve of The Amazing Race until sometime in 2008 but, after the swift and justified guillotining of musical-drama Viva Laughlin , went ahead and gave that timeslot back to TAR . The strategy has paid off as Amazing Race has racked up its best ratings since 2005 and CBS' decision to quickly pick it up for another season makes me believe we'll be seeing another edition of the Phil Keoghan-hosted series before the 2007-08 season is out. (According to Reality Blurred , casting on the 13th season is already complete.) Let's just hope it's not another...