[Televisionary]

Argh. Just when I was starting to root for the Beauty Queens too! In what seemed like an impossible situation, Dustin and Kandice began last night's episode of The Amazing Race marked for elimination, meaning that unless they completed the next leg and arrived at the mat in first place, they would receive a 30-minute penalty, a HUGE matter in a game which now only has four teams remaining. Sadly, they didn't even need the penalty in order to be eliminated, but more on that later. Teams started this leg of the race in Morocco and followed instructions that led them to Casablanca and specifically the Quartier des Habous, where they encounter a Roadblock. In this Roadblock, one team member must find a butcher and receive 1 lb. of uncooked camel meat, make their way to Cafe 11 in the crowded market and grind and season the meat, before presenting it to a cook to grill... and then eating it. Honestly, this seems a hell of a lot easier than fish eyes or cow lips... or that entire pl

In a surprising (but glee-inducing) move, NBC has granted a reprieve to struggling comedy 30 Rock . 30 Rock , created by Tina Fey and starring Fey, Alec Baldwin, Jane Krakowski, and Tracy Morgan, had recently shifted into a new home on Thursday nights, amid the Peacock's stable of fellow single-camera comedies My Name is Earl , The Office , and Scrubs . In a sign that the network wants to continue to nurture the series, NBC has ordered the back nine episodes of 30 Rock , bumping it to full-season status. The move comes on the heels of announcements of additional script orders for 30 Rock (guess those scripts were pretty damn impressive) and now means that four of NBC's six freshman series have received full season orders, as 30 Rock joins Heroes , Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip , and Friday Night Lights in the 22-episode club. ( Kidnapped and Twenty Good Years were not so lucky, having gotten cancelled earlier this season.) Let's just hope that star Tracy Morgan's

After the high I got from watching the fall finale of Veronica Mars , that thrill was shattered the following day by reading the interview Rob Thomas gave E! Online's Kristin about the future direction of the beloved series (in the Televisionary household anyway). One of the things that I love about Veronica Mars is the sprawling, overarching mysteries: Season One had the murder of Lily Kane; Season Two brought us the bus crash (and a sundry list of other smaller, interconnected mysteries); and so far we just got the resolution to the Hearst College Rapist mystery , one that played out in nine episodes this time around. While they are not exactly new viewer-friendly (to put it mildly), it's these mysteries that keep loyal Mars watchers guessing and hypothesizing... not to mention looking for clues in each episode with a fervor and dedication that's more akin to a Lost fanatic. And then I read Rob Thomas' interview and was struck in the gut by his answer to the very

My Name is... Fugly ? Well, maybe not. But CBS has just ordered a pilot of an old script called Fugly from Greg Garcia, creator of NBC's My Name is Earl . Said project was originally written by Garcia for Fox way back in the 2004-05 season as a potential star vehicle for Pamela Anderson (who had a talent deal at Fox during that time and ended up on comedy series Stacked instead). The comedy will center on three rather ugly sisters in North Carolina who decide to pool their inheritance money to purchase an extreme makeover for one of the sisters (I assume that originally this would have been Pam Anderson's role). Afterwards, they move to Los Angeles with stars in their eyes, hoping to start a new life (and earn back that cash) from the beautiful sister's new looks. Garcia will exec produce Fugly 's pilot in March, after the second season of My Name is Earl wraps production, in association with 20th Century Fox Television. Unlike Earl , Fugly will be a multi-camera co

It was with a bit of relief as NBC finally released its mid-season schedule... about two weeks later than promised by topper Kevin Reilly. No word on what led to the prolonged period between the intended announcement and, er, yesterday, but some rather unexpected results did manage to turn up. Let's take a look: MONDAY: NBC has kept its entire Monday night lineup intact, including the struggling Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip , which will remain at 10 pm. Many insiders had thought that the Peacock would try shifting the sinking Studio 60 in another slot, but it's staying tight for the moment, following a full season pick-up for the series, albeit at a reduced license fee. Look for a midseason drama (see below) to take over here in a few months' time. TUESDAY: Newsmagazine Dateline NBC will take over the 8 pm timeslot vacated by struggling freshman drama Friday Night Lights . Hmmm, anyone seeing shades of Reilly's announcement a little while back about programming cheap

The diagnosis is not good for 3 Lbs . After just three (yes, count 'em, three!) airing, CBS has yanked medical drama 3 Lbs. off the schedule, effective immediately. The drama, which starred Stanley Tucci, Mark Feuerstein (his series kiss of death continues!), and Indira Varma, was unceremoniously canned by CBS, which rushed the midseason medical drama onto the air. 3 Lbs replaced the crime drama Smith (which CBS also cancelled after three airings) on Tuesdays at 10 pm. Like Smith, 3 Lbs. didn't deliver the audience CBS was craving, averaging a rather unhealthy 8 million viewers. Additionally, the series' ratings were 16% below Smith . Call it a case of schadenfreude , but I can't help but smile when a cancelled cult audience series' replacement show winds up doing worse than the series it replaced. Ha-bloody-ha. In other scheduling news, ABC will air five episodes of newsmagazine Primetime on Wednesdays at 10 pm, subbing in for freshman drama The Nine , which i

Wow. Personally, I'm just blown away. From that killer opening scene (no pun intended) to the heart-breaking last few minutes of last night's episode ("Spit & Eggs") of Veronica Mars , I tossed and turned all night, unable to get it out of my head. I must have watched the promo for last night's episode about 100 times while counting down the hours to the latest installment of Veronica and I never imagined that Rob Thomas, who wrote and directed last night's ep, would use that scene of Veronica fleeing an unseen assailant... as the opening scene itself before flashing back two days earlier. It certainly set the mood for the entire episode and had me on the edge of my seat. How many of you out there were right about the identity of the Hearst College rapist? I was suspicious of creepy RA Moe at first, what with his handing out of cups of tea to women in distress and the fact that he had a massive set of keys to everybody's room , but those thoughts were