[Televisionary]

Was it just me or was last night's episode of Top Chef Masters ("Offal Tasty") the series' very best yet? In every sense, last night's installment was the closest we've gotten to approximating the tension, drama, and conflict that's evident in every single minute of Top Chef itself. Helping matters in this direction was the flawless casting in this episode, which saw four vastly different master chefs--Frontera Grill's Rick Bayless, Cindy Pawlcyn of Mustards Grill, Pikayo's Wilo Benet, and Ludo Bites' Ludovic Lefebvre--tangle in the kitchen. The clash of larger-than-life personalities added a spark that was somewhat missing from last week's Lost -themed episode, which was a more somber affair. Here, there was the arrogance of Rick Bayless, the fanatical passion of Ludovic Lefebvre, the quiet precision of Wilo Benet, and the humility of the graceful Cindy Pawlcyn. In order words: amazing casting that added a fire to the competition. I'...

Hurricanes, snake bites, barefoot motorcycle treks through the jungle. Just another week for Teddy Rist. You had a chance to read my advance review of NBC's The Philanthropist , but now that the pilot episode has aired, I'm curious to hear what you thought of the James Purefoy-led drama. Were you charmed by Purefoy's billionaire playboy Teddy Rist? Or did you think his conversion from tycoon to altruistic philanthropist was far too easy and convenient? Were you captivated by the combination of action-adventure and inspirational drama? Or was it too earnest and trite for your liking? Did you cringe at the fact that the talented Michael Kenneth Williams (Omar himself!) was given precious little to do? And, most importantly, will you tune in again next week? Talk back here. Next week on The Philanthropist ("Myanmar"), Teddy visits Myanmar after the Maidstone-Rist Company is outed by a human rights organization as having ties to businesses there; Teddy gets advice fr...

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. Eddie Cibrian ( The Starter Wife ) has joined the cast of CBS' CSI: Miami as a series regular next season, where he will play a Hollywood police officer that joins the team in Miami. Cibrian most recently appeared in CBS drama pilot Washington Field, which was not picked up to series by the network. Meanwhile, the series' producers confirmed that Adam Rodriguez will be returning next season. ( Hollywood Reporter ) E! Online's Watch with Kristin caught up with Royal Pains star Mark Feuerstein to find out just what the USA drama has in store for Hank, Jill, and Evan, among other things. "You can expect moments of happiness interspersed with tempestuous fights that are filled with the sexual tension that we have, which leads to either our complete and total demise or our hot and heavy desire to continue that is challenged by lots of different circumstances," said Feuerstein. As for Hank and Evan's relationsh...

After weeks of anticipation (and speculation), 20th Century Fox has finally announced which series they will be bringing down to San Diego Comic-Con next month. The unusual suspects-- 24, Bones, Dollhouse, The Simpsons --are all going to be on hand to present cast and producer panels throughout the weekend but the studio has also announced panels for Glee, Cleveland Show, American Dad , and Futurama to boot. Meanwhile, such boldface names as Kiefer Sutherland, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Anil Kapoor, Freddie Prinze, Jr. Katee Sackhoff, Joss Whedon, Eliza Dushku, David Boreanaz, Emily Deschanel, Matt Groening, Seth MacFarlane, Seth Green, Mila Kunis, and the cast of Glee will be on hand as well. The full press release from 20th Century Fox Television can be be found below, along with dates and times (and descriptions) of each of their panels. TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX TELEVISION BRINGS NINE SHOWS TO COMIC-CON Kiefer Sutherland, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Anil Kapoor, Freddie Prinze, Jr. Katee Sackhoff, Jo...

"Happiness is the art of living well." We're told this in the opening minutes of NBC's new drama The Philanthropist by the series' main character, billionaire playboy Teddy Rist ( Rome 's James Purefoy). He's the sort of tycoon who is just as at home in the bedroom as he is in the boardroom, bedding young, lithe things and selling the planet's natural resources with equal relish. But for Teddy, there's a false air to his statement, as if he's trying way too hard to believe in the triteness of that aphorism. What follows then is part adventure story, part spiritual awakening saga as Teddy must come to grips with his own humanity as he discovers that happiness isn't material possessions (especially for a man with a Gulfstream as a toy) but rather philanthropy. He comes to this conclusion during the hurricane-induced flooding of a Nigerian resort, where he saves the life of a young African boy who would have been left to drown had it not been...

Following up on my recent exclusive (and candid) interview with Michael Taylor , co-writer/executive producer of FOX's Virtuality , which will air its two-hour pilot on Friday night, I participated in a recent press call with Taylor's co-creator on the project, Battlestar Galactica 's Ronald D. Moore, to get his take on the project, its viability, and the series' virtual worlds. So is Virtuality doomed to be a one-off movie or is there still hope that FOX could pick this up to series after airing the two-hour pilot, directed by Peter Berg? "I think you never say never," said Moore. "They haven’t picked it up to date. Their attitude, I think, is kind of wait and see. I think they want to see what the reaction is going to be. What are the critics going to say? Is it going to get word of mouth? Are fans going to gravitate to it or is the science fiction community really going to turn up for it? Is there going to be a certain buzz and excitement? I think rig...

Welcome to your Wednesday television briefing. AMC has handed out a twelve-episode series order to political thriller Rubicon , starring James Badge Dale, Miranda Richardson, Lili Taylor, Dallas Roberts, and Peter Gerety. Series, from Warner Horizon, writer/executive producer Jason Horwitch ( Medical Investigation ), and director Allen Coulter ( Six Feet Under ), revolves around an analyst (Dale) of a top-secret government think tank "whose work leads him to uncover a clue that points him toward an unfolding global conspiracy." Series, which will be shot in New York, is expected to launch in 2010. "The pilot is beautifully done and we are very, very excited to move forward with the series," said Joel Stillerman, SVP of programming and production at AMC. "It's a major challenge to find the right balance to take that into a serialized drama format, where you have to pose more questions than are answered but do it in a way that is still satisfying to the audie...

Looking for a sneak peak at some of NBC's new series? You're in luck as NBC today released three new promos for its upcoming fall series Parenthood, Community , and Trauma , all of which can be found below. PARENTHOOD Parenthood – Find out everything that makes Parenthood special. Parenthood , coming this fall on NBC. COMMUNITY Going Back To College – Life is full of opportunities. Community , coming Thursdays this fall on NBC. TRAUMA Trauma – Meet the people who run towards danger. Trauma , coming this fall on NBC Parenthood, Community , and Trauma premiere this fall on NBC.

When we last saw the Torchwood team, they were still reeling from the death of two of their own even as they teamed up with the Doctor (David Tennant) in order to save the universe. Torchwood returns next month with a five-episode event season entitled Torchwood: Children of Earth , which will air across five nights at 9 pm ET/PT on BBC America, following their transmission on BBC One in the United Kingdom. Written by Russell T. Davies, John Fay, and James Moran and directed by Euros Lyn, Torchwood: Children of Earth stars John Barrowman, Eve Myles, Gareth David-Lloyd, and Kai Owen, along with a slew of notable guest stars including Peter Capaldi, Lucy Cohu, Paul Copley, Nick Briggs, Susan Brown, and Tom Price. There's still a lot of mystery surrounding Torchwood: Children of Earth , so let's turn to series creator Russell T. Davies and series stars John Barrowman, Eve Myles, and Gareth David-Lloyd to describe what we can expect to see in their own words. So what is Torchwood...

I can't tell you how incredibly excited I am about the return of ABC's fantastic comedy series Better Off Ted this summer. It's especially true this summer when the season seems to be positively overflowing with network castoffs as the broadcasters burn off remaining unaired installments of their sadly canceled series. (Just take a look at Saturday nights to see what I mean.) But despite its place on the schedule this summer, ABC's winsome Better Off Ted isn't canceled; in fact, it earned a slot on the network's midseason lineup thanks to some goodwill from Steve McPherson and the programmers at the Alphabet. But there's still a handful of unaired episodes from the series' first season, which means that Ted fans will be getting a fresh batch of Veridian goodness over the next few weeks. Tonight's episode ("You Are the Boss of Me"), written by Dan O'Shannon, is a fantastic reminder of just how quirky and lovable this series is. I had t...

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller has left his position as consulting producer on NBC's Heroes , just a few months after he rejoined the writing staff of the NBC drama. The reason behind the departure: to focus on developing new series for the network (he has an overall deal with Universal Media Studios), rather than creative differences with Heroes creator Tim Kring. "I'm crafting two pilots right now and it's a lot of work," Fuller told Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello. "It was just too hard to [juggle] Heroes and my development; something had to give." Meanwhile, Fuller told Ain't It Cool News' Herc, ""Development was really starting to heat up, And it appears like I may be writing multiple pilots for NBC so that wasn't leaving a ton of room for Heroes , unfortunately. We crafted some really great arcs for the season that I'm excited to see come to fruitio...

I'm really going to miss The Unusuals . Given that the series ended last Wednesday evening without much fanfare, you might be wondering why I'm bringing this up now. I was on vacation so have only just gotten the chance to watch the final installment of ABC's tragically underrated cop drama The Unusuals ("EID"), written by Danny Zuker, and was not only impressed by the way it seemed to effortlessly fuse serious character beats, zany cases (this week's involved a serial accuser and break-and-enter gonzo porn), and off-kilter humor. Throughout its (far too) short run, The Unusuals --created by Noah Hawley ( Bones )--has always played by its own rules. Much like the dynamo partnership of Casey Shraeger (Amber Tamblyn) and Jason Walsh (Jeremy Renner), one of the best mismatched cop partners on television. Ever. Her wounded rich girl shtick was diametrically opposed to his low-key salt of the earth approach but they found a supportive (and, indeed at times, nurtur...