[Televisionary]

Am I the only one who is suffering from Project Runway ennui? Last night's episode of Project Runway ("Transformation") did little to cure me of my lingering symptoms: a decided lack of interest in most of the contestants, withdrawal from the drama and energy of last season's contestants, and a feeling that we've seen this all done before. Sigh. I can't be the only one who is looking for the sort of sweeping vision and innovation of Christian among a pack of contestants who seem mostly destined to be forgotten as soon as the end credits roll on the Bryant Park finale. And it definitely has seemed like a forgone conclusion for quite some time now that the final three designers would be Jerell, Leanne, and Korto. In fact, the only shred of excitement I had for the series came from the scenes for next week's installment, in which it seems like spoilt Kenley finally gets her comeuppance at judging. That, in my opinion, is worth tuning in to see. Last night&#

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. I'm in fashion overload after back-to-back episodes last night of Top Model and Project Runway (more on the latter in a bit) but can't say that I am as enthused with either series as I was in the past. Lest you worry about the fate of Joss Whedon's action drama Dollhouse --beset by multiple problems months before the series' launch--you can dismantle the shrine. FOX is said to be still deeply committed to the project. “With months before our broadcast premiere, we have the rare luxury of extra time,” a 20th Century Fox Television spokesman said. “We believe in this show and want to give it every opportunity to succeed.” Let's hope that's true, given the recent reports that the network was decidedly less than pleased with the series' creative direction. ( Entertainment Weekly 's Hollywood Insider ) Meanwhile, FOX must be pleased as punch that its other cult drama Fringe performed so well in its seco

In a surprise move, pay cabler HBO has ordered a second season of drama True Blood, shortly after airing the series' second episode earlier this week. Production on Season Two of True Blood is set to kick off early next year in Los Angeles with HBO slated to air the sophomore season of the Alan Ball-created series during Summer 2009. “We are absolutely thrilled that the critics and our viewers have embraced True Blood ,” said HBO's Michael Lombardo, president of the Programming Group and West Coast Operations, in a prepared statement. “Alan Ball has done it again – made an addictive series that is unlike any other.” “I am thrilled to be able to continue to work with such a talented group of writers, cast and crew to explore the characters and world created by Charlaine Harris in her novels,” said Ball. “It really is a joy to go to work every day and I couldn’t be happier to be back home at HBO.” Stay tuned.

I was extremely excited to see the second episode of Fringe ("Same Old Story"), which aired last night on FOX. After all, I was thrilled by the potential of the pilot episode and relished watching something that clearly set out to blend together the serialized mystery of the week element of The X-File s with the overarching mythology of Lost . (Plus, how kick-ass is the Remote Free TV aspect of Fringe ? 53 minutes of story with limited commercial interruption? I am so there.) This week's episode featured just the right amount of exposition at the start, reintroducing our three main characters for a room of shadowy Fringe Division council members, including one Nina Sharp (Blair Brown)... an interesting reveal that clarifies her position in the pilot episode, when she is surprised to discover that her security clearance (at the time anyway) exceeded that of Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv). We now know that she is working with Broyles (Lance Reddick) vis-a-vis this shadowy counc

Sigh. I'm already growing way too bored of 90210 and we're only a four episodes in now. Yes, we learned in last night's episode of 90210 ("The Bubble")--after several weeks' worth of Kelly referring to the father of her child as "Him" (though I preferred to secretly call him "He Who Must Not Be Named")--that her baby daddy is none other than Dylan... which leads me to wonder whether CBS Paramount Television and the series' producers were finally able to reach a deal with Luke Perry (thus the reveal). Yes, Shannen Doherty dropped by again as Brenda for some reminiscing with Jennie Garth's Kelly as they recounted the "Donna Martin Graduates!" storyline from the original series and filled in the blanks on what Donna's been up to... which apparently involves a child of her own. Clearly, the producers are hoping that they'll get around to paving things over with Tori Spelling and making a deal for her to reprise her r

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. I was absolutely riveted by last night's episode of Fringe (more on that in a bit) and not so riveted by another dull installment of 90210 . Meh. The CW's buzz-worthy Gossip Girl scored the highest numbers ever in the life of the series, drawing in 3.7 million viewers on Monday, an increase of nearly 500,000 from the week prior and 300,000 above Gossip Girl's second season premiere on September 1st. Those numbers are even more palatable for the netlet when you realize that it's a full one million viewers more than tuned in to the third episode of the first season. Not doing quite as well? FOX's Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles , which lost 800,000 viewers from last week's season premiere to sink to a low of 5.5 million, off 36 percent from its Season One average. Ouch. ( Entertainment Weekly ) More talk from NBC chiefs about the quality work co-chairman Ben Silverman is doing (in between "[party

In a move that's hardly a surprise to anyone watching the ratings, TNT has renewed original series Saving Grace and Raising the Bar . Saving Grace will air the back eight episodes of its 15-episode second season beginning in March; it will kick off Season Three with 15 new installments sometime later in 2009. Saving Grace averaged 4.4 million viewers this summer. Raising the Bar has only aired three episodes to date (and has lost about 2.2 million viewers since the premiere) but that hasn't stopped the cabler from ordering a second season, which has been slated for sometime in 2009. TNT ordered 15 episodes of the Steven Bochco-produced legal drama. No news on the fate of The Closer , which will wrap its fourth season in January, though a renewal for a fifth season is said to be in the bag and will be announced soon. Elsewhere, TNT will launch Dean Devlin and John Roger's Leverage about a former insurance adjuster turned Robin Hood-style enforcer in December and will lau