[Televisionary]

As I said over on Twitter early this morning, "Six years ago today, Oceanic Flight 815 left Sydney for Los Angeles...and took our hearts with it. Happy birthday, Lost ." It's hard to believe that it's been six years since the passengers of the doomed Oceanic Flight crashed on that mythical, magical island and launched not only a television saga for the ages, but also a series of copycat programs that the original far outlived and an enduring legacy. While my feelings about the series finale are no secret (you can read my behemoth 4000-plus word post about the finale here and my shorter late-night take at The Daily Beast ), I still have a deep love for this series, which challenged the conventions of network drama series and introduced an overarching mythology whose spell many of us fell under in the years to come. My relationship with the series dates back more than six years to when I first viewed the feature-length pilot episode in a tiny office in May of 2004. I w

As premiere week slogs on, I'm curious to know what you thought of the two newest comedy entries to the network lineup, with last week's series premieres of FOX's Raising Hope and Running Wilde . Personally, I wasn't much taken by either of them, with the latter being truly depressing to me because it represented what will likely be the best shot at an Arrested Development reunion we can hope for, as it brought together creator Mitch Hurwitz, Will Arnett, and David Cross in one place. But the pilot--both versions of it that I saw--left me cold and, while the second episode is sitting right next to me as I type this--I don't really have much impetus to watch it. Especially as the numbers last night were less than stellar. I feel the same way about Greg Garcia's Raising Hope , which tries way too hard to be wacky and zany and instead overflows with poop and vomit jokes, none of which were all that funny. But now that both episodes have aired, I'm curious to

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. Break open the moonshine! HBO has renewed period drama Boardwalk Empire for a second season, after airing just one episode of the Terence Winter/Martin Scorsese crime drama, which averaged 4.8 million viewers in its premiere broadcast. “All the ingredients aligned for this one, from Mark Wahlberg and Steve Levinson’s initial pitch, to Martin Scorsese’s enormous contributions as director and executive producer, to the genius of Terry Winter and the expertise of Tim Van Patten, to a stellar cast led by Steve Buscemi,” said Michael Lombardo, President of HBO Programming, in a statement. “The response from the media and our viewers has been nothing short of amazing.” (via press release) In other renewal news, USA has finally closed a deal to renew Law & Order: Criminal Intent for a tenth and final season of eight episodes, with original series lead Vincent D'Onofrio set to reprise his role as Detective Robert Goren, while pro

And that's how you kick off a brand new season. Last night brought the fourth season premiere of NBC's action-comedy Chuck ("Chuck Versus the Anniversary") and I hope that the episode delivered all of the espionage-tinged goodness that I promised in my advance review of the season opener last week. I had also teased readers via Twitter about the premiere (" Chuck premiere: sexting, skydiving, Seinfeld references, (Harry Dean) Stanton? Sensational. Very fun opener.") and the episode held up extremely well under a second viewing in the time between now and then. For me, anyway, "Chuck Versus the Anniversary" was perhaps the perfect way to begin a new chapter in the life of Chuck Bartowski, a character who has slowly evolved over the course of three seasons from reluctant hero to tragic hero to, well, just plain hero. His decision to take hold of his own destiny, to set out with Morgan on a personal quest to track down his mother may have not lea

Ding ding. That sound you hear was the official start of fall premiere week last night as the networks took the wraps off of their new lineups and brought the launches of several new shows to the public last night. In the battle of the 9 pm dramas, NBC's tepid The Event overtook FOX's more original Lone Star in an outcome that should surprise no one. While I wrote about both The Event and Lone Star yesterday (and have been talking about them since last May on Twitter), I'm curious to see what you thought of the new series that launched last night. Which of the handful of new dramas and comedy Mike & Molly did you tune in for? What did you think of the plot, the characters, the dialogue, and the inherent promise of each? And, most importantly, which of the series will you come back and watch again next week? Talk back here.

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos is reporting that Gwyneth Paltrow is in talks to join the cast of FOX's Glee in a two-episode story arc in which she would play a potential love interest for Matthew Morrison's Will Schuester. "According to rock-solid Glee sources, Gwyneth would play a substitute teacher in two episodes airing in November," writes Dos Santos. "Mr. Schuester gets sick, so Gwyneth's character steps in and takes over the glee club. The kids love her, and Will starts to fall for her... complicating his relationship with Emma (Jayma Mays)... I'm told Glee creator/executive producer/creative badass Ryan Murphy wrote this role expressly for Gwyneth, as the two are friends. If it all comes together, Ryan will be directing her first episode, which begins shooting in two weeks." Should the deal close, Paltrow would appear in two episodes slated to air in November. ( E! Online's Watch

I'd like to think that we all fall sometimes. This week's sensational episode of Mad Men ("The Beautiful Girls"), written by Dahvi Waller and Matthew Weiner and directed by Michael Uppendahl, focused on the women in Don Draper's personal and professional life, crafting provocative storylines for Joan Harris, Peggy Olsen, Faye Miller, and little Sally Draper. While it's the latter who physically hits the floor at the end of the episode, there's the definite sense that each of these women not only picks themselves up but keeps moving ahead, their eyes on the future. For the three adults, the feminist spirit of the 1960s has awakened something in each of them and this forward-facing approach is best summed up when Peggy, Joan, and Faye board the elevator together at the end of the day. All three women have made a specific decision in her own life, one with dramatic consequences for each of them. Entering the confines of the elevator, they face ahead rather t