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Televisionary in The New York Times Today!

I always hate to self-promote but if there's a time to do so it's when you get mentioned in The New York Times ... which doesn't exactly happen every day. That's right, longtime readers, Televisionary has earned a mention in the pages of The New York Times itself, with yours truly being quoted in today's Arts section. In " ‘Motherhood’ Viewers: Hold the Ideas ," an article by Brian Stelter about ABC ceasing to ask viewers for ideas for upcoming episodes of its new comedy series In the Motherhood , I'm quoted about why television series don't accept unsolicited (or, really, solicited) ideas from viewers for potential storylines... and I manage to relate the legal issue to Lost , of course. Did you really expect anything less?

Jill Scott and Richard Curtis Discuss HBO's "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency"

"Do not look where the harvest is plentiful, but where the people are kind." - Botswana proverb This Sunday, HBO is launching its newest original series, No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency , based on the best-selling novel series by Alexander McCall Smith. The series, created by the late Anthony Mingella and co-writer Richard Curtis, stars Jill Scott as Precious Ramotswe, the owner of the very first female-run detective agency in Botswana, as well as Anika Noni Rose, Lucian Msamati, and Desmond Dube, along with a host of high-profile guest stars. A departure for the traditionally bleak dramas at pay cabler HBO, No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency offers a glimpse into an Africa that's not the tragedy-ridden one we hear about on the evening news, but a joyful place where mysteries lurk round every corner. "I was a fan of 'The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency' book series before I even spoke to Anthony Minghella about them," said the series' executive pro

An Englishman's Home is His Castle: Dinner Party Disasters on "Last Restaurant Standing"

Organizing a dinner party is never simple, especially when you're thrown into it at the last second... and aren't exactly professional caterers. That's right: there's no hiding anymore, as Raymond himself put it. On last night's episode of Last Restaurant Standing ("The Dinner Party"), the three couples placed into Raymond Blanc's latest Challenge were in for the toughest trial of their lives as they catered three separate private dinner parties for three very particular (read: difficult) clients at their homes, which include a neo-Georgian mansion, a Tudor stately home, and a waterside chalet overlooking the Thames. I have to say that this was definitely their toughest task to date and I am glad that Raymond pushed them into the deep end at this point in the competition. In particular, Helen and Stephen's couple were excessively demanding about presentation, cutlery and stemware, and the food itself, which had been shot by the lord of the manor t

Channel Surfing: FOX Orders Six Scripts for "Bones," Rob Thomas Not Optimistic About "Veronica Mars" Movie, "Scrubs" Return Possible, and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. FOX inched its way closer to renewing drama Bones yesterday, ordering six scripts for the Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz-led series. While it's not a firm renewal yet for Bones , the script order does point favorably towards FOX picking up the series, which has improved the network's Thursday night timeslot by 43 percent since the series relocated there in January and has bested ABC's Ugly Betty and NBC's My Name is Earl . ( TV Week ) Some bad news for Veronica Mars fans: don't hold your breath waiting for the feature film spin-off of the much missed sleuthing series. Creator Rob Thomas told The New York Post that a greenlight isn't looking likely, though he'll "drop whatever" he's doing in order to make it happen should it materialize. "While the pitch [to producer Joel Silver] went well and I don't think the movie's dead, right now it's looking depressing," s

Orion's Belt: Chuck Evades Predators, Becomes Prey on "Chuck"

Oh, Chuck, you didn't really think that Beckman would just let you have the Intersect taken out of your head, now did you? On this week's fantastic episode of Chuck ("Chuck Versus the Predator"), written by series co-creator Chris Fedak, Chuck continued his search for the man codenamed Orion, the original creator of the Intersect software, so he could have the images removed from his brain and return to a normal life. A life that he hopes to share with his CIA handler Sarah Walker. It's nice to see the overarching plot take a turn for the decidedly serialized while still maintaining the sense of fun and quirky humor that we've come to know and love from Chuck over the past two seasons. This week's installment pulled off another fantastic parallel plot between Chuck's spy life and his life at the Buy More and gave Big Mike, Morgan, Emmett, Jeff, and Lester something to do between breaking into the Buy More and retaliating against the Beverly Hills br

Magic in a Pint Bottle: An Advance Review of PBS' "Little Dorrit"

"I am the only child of parents who weighed, measured, and priced everything; for whom what could not be weighed, measured, and priced, had no existence." - Charles Dickens, "Little Dorrit" Charles Dickens often wrote about money and his novels gave equal weight to the lives of the poor and downtrodden as they did the idle rich. But none of his novels pushed financial matters to the fore as much as his 1857 novel "Little Dorrit" did. Ostensibly the story of the debt-ridden Dorrit family, the plot centers on young Amy Dorrit, a young woman born in the Marshallsea Prison to a father who has fallen on hard times and spent more than twenty years in the debtor's prison that serves as Little Dorrit's home. "Little Dorrit" is a story of greed, betrayal, and malice... that resonates all the more today, given our current economic crisis. Hell, there's even a fantastically prescient parallel to our own time period's Bernie Madoff in Mr. Mer

Channel Surfing: Charlotte's "Lost" Timeline; Krause and Tierney Find "Parenthood," Silverman Talks "Parks and Recreation" Testing, and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. Still scratching your head about the apparent confusion surrounding the age of Lost 's Charlotte Staples Church, played by Rebecca Mader, who was allegedly born in 1979 but then turned up as a kid on the island in 1974? You're not the only one. In executive producer Damon Lindelof and Carlton's Cuse's latest podcast, they placed the blame for the mixup about Charlotte's age squarely on Mader, saying that she changed her character's age from 37 to 28. Mader then shot back on her Facebook page, blaming Team Darlton for the error. Now Darlton have cleared up the confusion and apologized to Mader. "Rebecca is absolutely right and we apologize to both her and the entire fan community for screwing up the story," said the duo in an email to Michael Ausiello (click through to read the full statement). "Our first mistake was the timeline gaffe, but the much more significant one was wrapping Rebecca up in