[Televisionary]

I decided to switch gears a bit today and take a look at two pilots that the new CW network ordered to series: Runaway , which premieres this fall, and Hidden Palms , which the CW has decided to hold until mid-season. While both deal with a mix of teen and adult actors and storylines, the two shows couldn't be more different and I would have swapped Runaway for Hidden Palms . I'm no network programmer, but Hidden Palms is easily the superior of the two series and could have used the visibility of a fall launch to gain an audience early on. Runaway From executive producer Darren Star ( Sex and the City ), Runaway is the story of the Rader family, on the run after papa Paul Rader (Donny Wahlberg) is framed for the murder of his assistant/girlfriend. When it becomes clear that his family's lives are in danger from the people who set him up, Paul packs up wife Lily ( 24 's Leslie Hope), teenage kids Henry (Dustin Milligan), and Hannah (Sarah Ramos), and eight-year-old so

Growing up, the summer television season used to consist of endless reruns and maybe the burn-off for a few middling series left over after the end of the schedule. But in the last few years, networks have used the airtime as a fertile ground to launch new series (remember The OC 's original summertime run?) and many a reality juggernaut has started its run in the warmer months, including Survivor , American Idol , and The Amazing Race . While it's anyone's guess as to whether this season's offerings will reach those heights, this summer will bring couch potatoes quite a lot to snack on. While this week's Entertainment Weekly lists "67 Shows You Can't Miss," I do have a life and can't spend ALL my time in front of the telly. (Well, nearly all my time, anyway.) So, crank up the A/C, grab a mojito, sit back, and relax... Here are the fifteen series that I'll be watching this summer. monday 9 pm: Hell's Kitchen (FOX). Sadistic chef Gordon Ra

There seem to be a number of trends with this season's batch of new series, whether they be numeric titles ( 20 Good Years , 30 Rock , Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip , Six Degrees , and The Nine all join fellow digit-obsessed series 24 , Two and a Half Men , One Tree Hill , 20/20 , and the blatantly-named NUMB3RS on the schedule), series revolving around strangers brought together by fate ( The Nine , Six Degrees , and Heroes ), or a genre that seems to have captivated the national imagination in the wake of Lost , 24 , and The Da Vinci Code : conspiracy dramas. This season's pilots seem to have an inordinate fixation on vast reaching conspiracies and Kidnapped , Traveler , Runaway , and Vanished all deal with conspiracies involving missing persons ( Kidnapped and Vanished ) or wrongfully accused fugitives ( Traveler and Runaway ). While I'll get to those shows later--you can catch my review of Kidnapped from a few weeks ago here --let's take a look right now at FO

One of the biggest surprises of this past season was how much I grew to love HBO's polygamy-minded drama Big Love . And last night's slam-dunk finale reminded me of how much our relationship had only strengthened and grown over the past few months. While the season finale may have answered a few questions, it also raised a few new ones and left all of the characters in some sort of jeopardy, enough that the anticipation for new episodes (really, HBO, next year ?) will be killing me. So what burning questions did Big Love resolve? And which ones are still smoldering in the back of my head? Let's check in with the Henricksons and find out. Who was poisoning Bill's dad Frank? While all signs initially pointed to Roman Grant, I loved the reveal that it was Bill's quietly simmering sister-in-law Wanda who was the one cribbing from The Young Poisoner's Handbook . While Wanda was slowly killing the old man with arsenic to punish him for harping on Joey all the time, i

I know, I know. I said I'd be reviewing the pilot for ABC's new drama Six Degrees last week, but I was so completely distracted by the CW's botched pilot of Aquaman that it's taken me this long to get back to this drama pilot. And unlike Aquaman / Mercy Reef , I really enjoyed Six Degrees , a far worthier addition to the J.J. Abrams/Bad Robot oeuvre than the ABC mid-season replacement What About Brian . Keeping with a rather familiar theme this season--fate bringing together strangers (it pops up here in Six Degrees , Heroes , and The Nine )--the pilot charts the interconnected stories of six Manhattanites who are separated until a quirk of fate slowly begins to bring them together. Before saying anything else, I have to immediately begin by saying that any show that has both the luminous Hope Davis and Campbell Scott as series regulars is already a hit in my book. But add to that Jay Hernandez, Erika Christensen, Doran Missick, and Bridget Moynahan, and you've g

I can't say enough about this fantastic travelogue series, currently airing on the Travel Channel . I love the cast, I love the locales, and I'm even beginning to love the new timeslot (they traveled from Mondays at 8 pm to Thursdays at 10 pm). But I'll admit that I was a little harsh in my initial assessment of one of the Travel Journalists (or TJs as 5 Takes constantly refers to them). Yes, I may have made a snap judgment about Josh. But even Josh was shocked by how viewers reacted to him and judging from the postings at the Travel Channel's 5 Takes Message Board, I wasn't alone in my thinking that Josh was way too over the top and, well, way too over-caffeinated. But in the last few installments, I've grown fond of Josh and, after realizing how he was coming across on screen, Josh himself has toned down his schtick, transforming himself from a hyperactive ball of energy to an upbeat, genuinely excited traveler. And the self-proclaimed adrenaline junkie'

According to reports in the British tabloid The Daily Star , Ricky Gervais is considering making new episodes of the original UK version of The Office , despite his statement that the beloved series had run its course. According to the paper's source, said to be close to Gervais and co-writer Stephen Merchant, the cause of the renewed interest is NBC's veddy American version of The Office : "Stephen and Ricky have been getting sent the scripts of the US version of the show – which is now in its third series – and falling about laughing. They’re encouraged to edit the scripts but can’t find fault with them. " If the above is believed to be true (and given the source, it's rather likely to not be true), then Gervais and Merchant are considering writing new material for a possible return to The Office . No comment from Gervais or Merchant yet, but it's only a matter of time before the rumor is confirmed... or denied. (Where's Gareth when you need him?) Two b