[Televisionary]

I have no love lost for Jill, who couldn't even properly defend herself or her dish at judging table, yet I have to say: Ariane should have gone home. I'm speaking, of course, about last night's episode of Top Chef ("Show Your Craft"), which had the cheftestants preparing their own hot dogs as part of the Quickfire Challenge and then devising a New American lunch menu for Tom Colicchio's flagship restaurant Craft in New York. (FYI, the Los Angeles outpost is one of my favorite restaurants, full stop.) While the chefs clearly brought the razzle dazzle last week and managed to impress Tom with their creativity and flair, this week was an entirely different story as the chefs' overall performance was really pretty shabby, if I'm being honest. Yes, they had a lot of pressure placed on them by having to work in Tom's kitchen at Craft and the expectations were high (not to mention that NYC chefs who failed to get on Top Chef aren't the kindest of c...

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. I'm now way behind on last night's telly offerings as Wednesday appears to have become overfilled with series but I made a special point to not only watch Pushing Daisies but to watch it live... just in case the numbers actually do matter. James Van Der Beek speaks about his return to his old Dawson's Creek stomping ground in Wilmington, North Carolina, where he's filming three episodes of the CW's One Tree Hill , where he will play a feature film director who is interested in adapting Lucas' novel into a film. "I thought it was a real fun character," said Van Der Beek about his Tree character. "I'm excited to work with my friends and to play a little bit." ( Associated Press ) One reason to celebrate: Pushing Daisies beat out NBC's Knight Rider in the key adults 18-49 demo for the very first time last night. Huzzah! ( Futon Critic ) Lifetime has filed a countersuit in a Manha...

January brings us new beginnings, fresh starts, and the return of some of our favorite television series, sadly off the air for reasons as numerous as the writers strike, truncated seasons, and the vagaries of cable network scheduling. But in less than two months, we can look forward to the return of such series as Lost , Big Love , Damages , and HBO's inimitably zany comedy Flight of the Conchords . While I miss each and every one of those dramas something crazy, I have to say that I am just itching with anticipation to catch up with Bret and Jemaine, Murray and Mel, and, well, the music. Check out the promo for Season Two of Flight of the Conchords , lifting off on January 18th on HBO, after the jump. Just the sight of Bret firing off that gun like he's in a 1970s cop show makes my heart soar with glee. (I think I've watched the promo now about five times.) Flight of the Conchords ' second season begins January 18th on HBO.

I don't know about you but I cannot wait for tonight's episode of Top Chef on Bravo. No other reality competition series gets my blood pumping (or my mouth watering) as much as Top Chef does and, after only just one episode, I'm already ravenously waiting for each week's fix to my craving. Are you just as addicted to the culinary competition as I am? If so, you'll be happy to get not one, not two, but three sneak peeks at tonight's episode of Top Chef ("Show Your Craft"), in which the contestants are tasked with tackling the humble NYC staple the hot dog in the Quickfire Challenge and then must prepare and serve lunch at judge Tom Colicchio's flagship restaurant Craft. Preview clips can be found after the jump. "Nervous Ariane": "$100 Million Dish": "The Toughest Crowd": Catch the latest episode tonight at 10 pm ET/PT on Bravo.

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. I'm still a little tired after staying up to watch Fringe last night after attending the Los Angeles premiere of Doubt , starring Meryl Streep, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and Amy Adams. (Verdict? A good film but not a great one.) NBC has confirmed a long-standing rumor and announced that Rashida Jones ( The Office ) has been cast in the untitled Amy Poehler workplace comedy project from Greg Daniels and Michael Schur that isn't a spin-off to The Office . Jones will play Ann Logan, a nurse whose boyfriend has suffered a strange injury that leads her to the characters played by Poehler and Aziz Ansari. Do they work in a specialized medical clinic? A psychiatrist's office? Witch doctor's emporium? That remains to be seen but I am happy that Jones and Poehler will appear together in this project. I've missed Jones, especially since her last Office visit. The series is expected to be ready by late spring but may not ...

I'm not entirely sure how NBC's Chuck became such a contentious, controversial series, but after my write-up of last week's episode ("Chuck Versus the Ex") garnered some vociferous responses on both sides (those who loved the episode versus, well, those who didn't), I wanted to be sure to see what everyone thought of this week's episode ("Chuck Versus the Fat Lady"), the second in a three-part storyline that featured the return of Chuck's ex-girlfriend Jill. (You can read my advance review of the entire three-episode story arc here .) While Chuck and Jill grew closer--despite the disapproving glare of Casey and the more-than-slightly jealous shifty glances of Sarah--astute audiences were, of course, waiting for the other shoe to drop. And drop it did in last night's episode in which the team goes on the hunt for a computer file containing the identities of every single Fulcrum agent within the CIA, Chuck betrays Casey and Sarah to save...

I'll admit it. Initially, I was a little concerned with the idea of comedian Catherine Tate's Donna Noble joining the Doctor for the entirety of the series' fourth season... but Tate's winning performance as spunky and headstrong Donna quickly won me over and, if I'm being honest, I have to say that Donna is perhaps my favorite companion now. While Tate's turn in Season Three's "The Runaway Bride" pegged Donna as a comedic foil for the Doctor, Season Four quickly gives her some much needed character development and transforms the uppity Cockney girl into a tragic figure of pathos. (If that's not a head-turning surprise, I don't know what is.) If you missed Doctor Who 's superlative fourth season (or want the opportunity to relive it all over again, from "Voyage of the Damned" to "Journey's End), fret not as BBC Video releases Doctor Who: The Complete Fourth Series on DVD today in a glorious six-disc set. (Also availa...

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. I'm still laughing about last night's unintentionally hilarious episode of Gossip Girl , which in true Thanksgiving spirit, featured seemingly mortal enemies being polite to one another and everyone refusing to acknowledge the pink elephant in the room: namely Little J's ghastly "makeover." (Shudder.) Are the producers of CW's 90210 update going to do the unthinkable and kill off toothy Brenda Walsh? Fans are in an uproar about a possible rumor that Brenda (Shannen Doherty) will contract a terminal illness on her latest batch of 90210 episodes and, well, die. While some are livid about the potential storyline, Jason Priestley seemed open to the possibility of Brenda dying on-screen. "This is all news to me, but this is fantastic," Priestly told Access Hollywood. "That is going to be awesome. No they haven't given me anything yet. I don't even know if the episode is written yet, but I...

Well, Pushing Daisies fans, there's the good news and then there's the bad news. The good news is that ABC hasn't quite decided what to do about the fate of Pushing Daisies . Daisies and fellow sophomore drama series Dirty Sexy Money are both said to be in contention for renewal for the 2009-10 season. However, then there's the bad news: Pushing Daisies isn't anywhere on ABC's midseason schedule. (Its Wednesday night timeslot, according to the schedule obtained by Futon Critic from ABCStagePass.com, has been taken over by Scrubs and The Goode Family .) The decision to take Daisies off the schedule could mean that ABC merely decided to cut costs and truncate the second season and could later decide to magnanimously renew the series for a third season despite low ratings. (Production wrapped on the series' initial thirteen episodes last week so it's now a given that it won't shoot any additional episodes for this season.) I'm hoping that ABC ...

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. I hope everyone remembered to tune in to HBO's Ricky Gervais: Out of England special on Saturday, which was absolutely hysterical (if not, it repeats about a zillion times throughout the week) and to a rather odd and dream-like episode of Skins last night and another brilliant episode of Summer Heights High . CBS has given a seven-episode pickup to freshman comedy Gary Unmarried , bumping its season total to a surprising twenty episode order, and also ordered two additional scripts beyond that. Additionally, the Eye also gave some good news to the producers of comedy Worst Week , giving the comedy an additional three episode order, despite sagging ratings. ( Variety ) Over at NBC, Medium (which returns to the lineup in January) received a six episode pickup. The news comes as NBC is in desperate need of some schedule hole-filling, with the recent cancellations of My Own Worst Enemy and Lipstick Jungle . Medium was originally ...

Televisionary is proud to be a member of the TV Blog Coalition. At the end of each week, we'll feature a roundup of content from our sister sites for your delectation. This week, I interviewed Chris Lilley, the creator/writer/star of HBO's new comedy series Summer Heights High , about what it's like to play Jonah Takalua, what's next for him and the characters, and those rumors that he refused to sell the format rights for Summer Heights High . I also offered up my thoughts on what appeared to be a strangely controversial episode of Chuck , wrote an advance review of the season premiere of Bravo's Top Chef as well as a detailed deconstruction of the episode , announced the cast of characters for Season Three of Skins , and shared my joyous enthusiasm for the return of FX's Damages , among other things. Elsewhere in the sophisticated TV-obsessed section of the blogosphere, members of the TV Blog Coalition were discussing the following items... From the curmudgeo...

Another Thursday night, another fantastic episode of 30 Rock . There are some things in life that are just meant to be and 30 Rock proves that it hasn't lost its kooky charm, absurd humor, or bizarre characters in its third season. This week's episode ("The One With the Cast of Night Court") proved no exception to the above rule, offering up a deliciously outlandish plot that involved new page uniforms, Liz's former roommate Claire (guest star Jennifer Aniston) stalking Jack, and a reunion of the cast of NBC's Night Court . That the latter storyline is a direct outgrowth of the first is just one reason why I can't help but fall for 30 Rock 's oddball nature. I was initially concerned that Aniston's Claire would steal the focus away from the other characters, but Tina Fey (who wrote this week's installment) and director Gail Mancuso did a fantastic job at juggling the Claire-Jack-Liz storyline and that of Kenneth and Tracy. In fact, I thought t...