[Televisionary]

Speaking Friday at the Television Critics Association, Showtime made a host of programming announcements, the most salient of which is its renewal of its Mary-Louise Parker dark comedy series Weeds , and handed out some series orders. The pay cabler has renewed Weeds for two additional seasons of 13 episodes a piece. Which means that the series will air its fifth and sixth seasons--which follow the misadventures of suburban pot-dealing mom Nancy Botwin (Parker) and her eccentric associates and family members--in 2009 and 2010 respectively. Weeds is currently airing its fourth season on Monday nights at 10 pm ET/PT. Showtime handed out series honors to the untitled Edie Falco comedy pilot, which will now officially be known as Nurse Jackie . (The name follows a series of name changes over the last few years for this long-dormant project, including Nurse Jenna, Nurse Mona , and Nurse Helen .) Edie Falco will star in the half-hour comedy series about a tough-as-nails Manhattan nurse who

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 reviewed the laughably bad BBC drama series Bonekickers , from the typically brilliant creators of Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes , and was shocked and horrified by just how truly awful it was. What else? I reviewed the phenomenal Season One DVD boxset for AMC's Mad Men , dished about the premiere episode of the last Bravo-based season of Project Runway , and discussed my reactions to the Emmy nomination announcements . Elsewhere in the sophisticated TV-obsessed section of the blogosphere, members of the TV Blog Coalition were discussing the following items... With the Emmy nominations out, Buzz (not surprisingly) had a few rants and raves. ( BuzzSugar ) GMMR's summer obsession, SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE , just went from the Top 10 dancers to the Top 8, but not without a little scandal and dra

I'll admit it: I joined the Mad Men party late. The reason? I was less than impressed by the original pilot episode I saw about two years ago and then, try though I might, just couldn't get into the series when it launched last year on AMC. Beautiful, yes, though I felt the first few episodes left me absolutely cold. But lest you think that I am a complete philistine, I'm beating myself up now because, having watched the DVD box set for Mad Men , I can see what I had missed out on all along. Created by Matthew Weiner, Mad Men ostensibly tells the story of ad man Don Draper (Jon Hamm), a brilliant creative director of ad agency Sterling Cooper in the year 1960; while Don may be the focus of much of the series' action, he is arguably the entry point to a complex cast of characters who reflect the era's shifting ideological, socioeconomic, and gender politics during the birth of modern, post-WWII consumerism. It dares ask the eternal question as to whether advertisin

After weeks of leaked semi-finalist nominee lists, it's good to finally get a glimpse of which series and actors actually made it onto the ballots, instead of seeing yet another list that showed who could make it to the nomination stage. The Emmy nominees were announced this morning and I have to commend them for showering such love onto diverse and unique series such as Mad Men, 30 Rock (17 nominations, no less!), and Damages ... while also locking some repeat offenders--like Ugly Betty in the comedy category--out in the cold. (Yes, I watch Ugly Betty but should it be competing with such comedy series as 30 Rock, Curb Your Enthusiasm, or The Office ? Hells no, especially when HBO's hysterical Flight of the Conchords didn't even get a mention.) So which series and actors did land Emmy noms? Let's talk about the major categories. Outstanding Drama Series: Mad Men (AMC) Boston Legal (ABC) House (FOX) Lost (ABC) Damages (FX) Dexter (Showtime) I'm actually qui

While another season of sartorial showdown Project Runway has begun on Bravo, it marks the very last time that the series will make its debut (not to mention its trademark blend of catwalks and catfights) on the cabler as it will move next season (set to launch in November) to Lifetime. Last night's season premiere episode ("Let's Start From The Beginning") offered a look back at the very beginning of Runway with a challenge that was a virtual flashback to the first challenge ever on the series, even as it introduced 15 contestants to the fabled world of Parsons, Atlas New York, and, well, mentor Tim Gunn. So far, there are very few designers that I am impressed with, especially as I didn't feel like they really took their first challenge to heart: armed with $75, they had 30 minutes at grocery store Gristede's to pull together supplies to create an entire ensemble back at Parsons. Would the designers stick to fabric substitutes like tablecloths? Or would the

Oh. My. God. I knew that there would be major fallout from Jeff's decision to install a hidden camera in his office in an effort to catch Chris Elwood slacking off, but even I was ill-prepared for just how much absolute drama this would create. For a series that has always been a hotbed of drama but has couched it in some hysterical set-dressing, I was pretty surprised by the gravitas of this week's episode of Flipping Out ("Tear Down") for a number of reasons. Jeff Lewis has always been a control freak who has had a hard time keeping his anger in check and, well, expressing emotion in a sympathetic and encouraging way. So I was surprised by how calm Jeff was when he took Chris Elwood into his office and told him that he was going to be fired, permanently this time. Jeff could have screamed and ranted and raved about violations of trust and turned this into the Spanish Inquisition but instead he calmly told Chris that he had installed the camera and had caught him us

The, er, non-spinoff spinoff of The Office from Office executive producers Greg Daniels and Mike Schur just got a hell of a lot more interesting. Saturday Night Live 's Amy Poehler is said to be in negotiations to join the cast of the untitled comedy opposite the previously announced Aziz Ansari, who was cast in the project last month. Confirming news I had heard from someone close to the production, the untitled comedy series will NOT be a spin-off as previously announced at the NBC Upfronts by Ben Silverman but will in fact be a completely separate series, which will not utilize any existing or forthcoming characters on The Office but remain its own entity. I think Poehler is a fantastic choice for this new series, whatever the premise might eventually be. I'm hoping that she actually is the de facto series lead as television needs more female lead actors in comedy series to join the current troika of Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Tina Fey, and Mary-Louise Parker. While there were n