[Televisionary]

Still scratching your head over last night's season finale of Top Chef ? Head over to The Daily Beast, where you can read my latest feature, " Top Chef 's Surprise Finish," an exclusive interview with the culinary competition series' executive producers Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz--yes, the brains behind the ubiquitous Magical Elves--as we discuss the winner, what went wrong this season, culinary tourism, the language of reality television, and Justin Bieber. (Yes, you read that last bit correctly.) Head to the comments section to share your thoughts about the now-wrapped Washington D.C.-set season of Top Chef and whether you enjoyed the season or thought that it lacked the sophisticated palate of previous seasons... and what you'd do to correct any of the show's current issues, should you have any.

Um, yeah. After a seriously contentious season of Top Chef , the Washington D.C.-set seventh season came to a close with a final showdown between Angelo, Kevin, and Ed in Singapore, amid a head-scratching judges' decision that made me question just what they were thinking... and what we'd seen throughout the course of the season as members of the home audience. I watched the season finale earlier this week and had a very difficult time keeping my mouth shut about the winner and my intense disappointment over the outcome of the season. While the Singapore installments gave the series a much-needed jolt, it didn't remove the bad taste in mouth about this season as a whole nor the decision to crown a particular person the ultimate winner and bearer of the title of Top Chef. (If you haven't already, head over to The Daily Beast to read my exclusive interview with Top Chef 's executive producers , where we discuss my criticisms of the past season, what went wrong, and th

There are few series that are as gleefully absurd as FX's ribald comedy It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia , which returns for a sixth season tonight after what feels like way too long of a hiatus. Revolving as it always does about the denizens of a low-rent Philadelphia pub, Sunny continues to push its characters into uncomfortable territory, challenging them to not change, learn, or grow even as they sink lower and lower into their own filth. And that's truly the joy of watching this original and groundbreaking comedy. You can't help but fall in love with Mac, Dennis, Charlie, Dee, and Frank, even as you realize that you would immediately cross to the other side of the street if you ever saw these selfish and flawed individuals in real-life. From the safety of your living room, however, Sunny becomes a window into the world of arrested adolescence, where despite pushing their thirties (hard), the gang at Paddy's Pub becomes more a portrait of unfettered id, a lan

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. No surprise: J.J. Abrams and Elizabeth Sarnoff's hotly desired Alcatraz --from studio Warner Bros. Television--is headed to FOX after the network gave a pilot order to the project, which revolves around the infamous San Francisco island prison that was shut down in 1963... and once housed such inmates as Al Capone and the Bird Man himself. Abrams is no stranger to FOX: the network currently airs Fringe , which he co-created with Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. ( Variety ) How's this for kick-ass casting? Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Candace Bergen ( Boston Legal ) has signed on to a multiple-episode story arc on FOX's medical drama House , where she will play the mother of Lisa Edelstein's Cuddy. Bergen's first appearance is slated to air in November. ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) Lowenstein... Personally, I'm not sure what to make of this. ABC is reportedly

My fall TV preview--or at least part of it, anyway--is finally up. Head over to The Daily Beast, where you can read my latest feature, "Nine Shows to Watch, Six Shows to Shun," where I offer up nine new series to watch this fall and six shows to avoid like the plague. Just which ended up on which list? Hint, The Event ended up on my worst-of list, while things like Boardwalk Empire, Terriers, Nikita, Sherlock, Luther, Undercovers and others ended up on my watch list. (While The Walking Dead is on there, I still--like every other critic--have not seen a full episode, so there's that to consider.) But while this is my list, I'm also extremely curious to find out what you're looking forward to this autumn. What are you most excited about watching this fall? Head to the comments section to discuss, debate, and tear into my list.

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. It's official: TBS has cancelled comedy My Boys after four seasons. News comes after series stars Jordana Spiro and Kyle Howard had to withdraw from pilots that had been ordered to series due to their first position on the TBS comedy, whose days many suspected were already numbered. According to Variety 's Jon Weisman, roughly 14 months passed between the end of the third season and the beginning of the fourth season, which kicked off in July. One cast member--Jim Gaffigan--left between the seasons. Spiro's role on Love Bites was eliminated when she was unavailable as the show under went some retooling. ( Variety ) Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello is reporting that John Schneider ( Smallville ) has been cast in a multiple-episode story arc on ABC's Desperate Housewives this season, where he will play the father to Brian Austin Green's Keith, the new handyman/contractor overseeing the remodeling of

It's fitting that when Don Draper attempts to organize his thoughts, he does so with a pad and pen rather than Roger's confessional cassettes. Don's writing--reminding him of those 250-word essays he wrote before dropping out of high school-- is part of a concerted effort to gain some clarity in his life, to unburden his mind even as the last vestiges of his true self slip away in the wake of Anna's death. While Don might look the part of the carefree summer man, the internal struggle raging within him is anything but placid. Throughout this week's episode of Mad Men ("The Summer Man"), written by Lisa Albert, Janet Leahy, and Matthew Weiner and directed by Phil Abraham, we see glimpses of a very different Don Draper, one painfully aware of his own mortality--hence the look of horror at his actual physical condition while swimming--and of the coping mechanisms in his life. He sees for the first time perhaps the way that alcohol affects him, the way that i