Channel Surfing: Alexis Denisof Heads to "Private Practice," Jessica Walter, Starz Plots "Spartacus," and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. It's currently freezing here in LA (well, relatively speaking anyway) but I am still shaking after last night's season finale of Mad Men, not to mention another shocking installment of Skins. (Poor Sid.)

Former Angel star Alexis Denisof will guest star in the November 19th episode of ABC's Private Practice, where he'll play a father-to-be with two very expectant wives in need of Addison's specialty. In real life, Denisof and wife Alyson Hannigan announced last week that they are expecting their first child. (TV Guide)

CBS is once again developing some rather, er, unique properties that aren't crime procedurals (did they not learn their lesson from Moonlight or Cane?). Among the projects currently said to be in development at the Eye: Hex Wives, a one-hour drama from Neil Meron and Craig Zadan about four women with magical powers; 1960s period drama Magic City about an iconic Miami Beach hotel from executive producer Mitch Glazer; an untitled medical drama from Curtis Hanson and Carol Barbee; and a variety series. Expected to return: Survivor and The Amazing Race. (TV Week)

Cabler A&E has renewed drama The Cleaner for a second season of thirteen episodes. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Jessica Walter dishes about playing Tabitha on 90210, atonement, Flipper, and that possible Arrested Development movie, of which she says "Mitch [Hurwitz] does have a story line." Reeeeeally? (Los Angeles Times)

Could the struggling economy have anything to do with the networks picking up low-performing series (like FOX's Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles or ABC's Private Practice) for full seasons? (Hollywood Reporter)

NBC is shifting Lipstick Jungle to Friday nights (ouch) beginning October 31st and creating a crime-centric block of programming on Wednesday nights that will include Knight Rider (a crime in and of itself), Law & Order, and Life. Law & Order will return to the lineup on November 5th, the same night that Life will move to its new Wednesday digs. And, oh, the Peacock has delayed reality competition series Momma's Boys once again; it's now set to launch on December 22nd. (Variety)

Following the recent launch of Crash, pay cabler Starz has announced its second drama effort, ordering thirteen episodes of period drama Spartacus from executive producers Sam Raimi, Robert Tapert, and Joshua Donen, who are all behind the syndicated drama series Legend of the Seeker, which launches nationally this weekend. The series, which is inspired by the life of a slave in the Roman Republic who leads a revolt, will be reimagined for today's viewer used to "cutting-edge production technology" and is being eyed for a Summer 2009 launch. Steven DeKnight (Smallville) has signed on as head writer and showrunner. (Hollywood Reporter)

Are Booth and Bones the Nick and Norah of the 21st century? The Los Angeles Times seems to think so as they offer a look at FOX's Bones. (Los Angeles Times)

Lifetime announced several casting additions to its two upcoming Nora Roberts adaptations: Emilie de Ravin, Ivan Sergei, and Cybill Shepherd will star in High Noon, while Jerry O'Connell, Lauren Stamile, and Faye Dunaway have joined the cast of Midnight Bayou. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Have a Burning Question for Team Darlton, Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, or Michael Emerson?

Lost fans: you don't have to make your way to the island via Ajira Airways in order to ask a question of the creative team or the series' stars. Televisionary is taking questions from fans to put to Lost 's executive producers/showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse and stars Matthew Fox ("Jack Shephard"), Evangeline Lilly ("Kate Austen"), and Michael Emerson ("Benjamin Linus") for a series of on-camera interviews taking place this weekend. If you have a specific question for any of the above producers or actors from Lost , please leave it in the comments section below . I'll be accepting questions until midnight PT tonight and, while I can't promise I'll be able to ask any specific inquiry due to the brevity of these on-camera interviews, I am looking for some insightful and thought-provoking questions to add to the mix. So who knows: your burning question might get asked after all.

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What's Done is Done: The Eternal Struggle Between Good and Evil on the Season Finale of "Lost"

Every story begins with thread. It's up to the storyteller to determine just how much they need to parcel out, what pattern they're making, and when to cut it short and tie it off. With last night's penultimate season finale of Lost ("The Incident, Parts One and Two"), written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, we began to see the pattern that Lindelof and Cuse have been designing towards the last five seasons of this serpentine series. And it was only fitting that the two-hour finale, which pushes us on the road to the final season of Lost , should begin with thread, a loom, and a tapestry. Would Jack follow through on his plan to detonate the island and therefore reset their lives aboard Oceanic Flight 815 ? Why did Locke want to kill Jacob? What caused The Incident? What was in the box and just what lies in the shadow of the statue? We got the answers to these in a two-hour season finale that didn't quite pack the same emotional wallop of previous season

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In Defense of Downton Abbey (Or, Don't Believe Everything You Read)

The proof of the pudding, as they say, is in the eating. Which means, if I can get on my soapbox for a minute, that in order to judge something, one ought to experience it first hand. One can't know how the pudding has turned out until one actually tastes it. I was asked last week--while I was on vacation with my wife--for an interview by a journalist from The Daily Mail, who got in touch to talk to me about PBS' upcoming launch of ITV's period drama Downton Abbey , which stars Hugh Bonneville, Dame Maggie Smith, Dan Stevens, Elizabeth McGovern, and a host of others. (It launches on Sunday evening as part of PBS' Masterpiece Classic ; my advance review of the first season can be read here , while my interview with Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes and stars Dan Stevens and Hugh Bonneville can be read here .) Normally, I would have refused, just based on the fact that I was traveling and wasn't working, but I love Downton Abbey and am so enchanted with the proj

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