[Televisionary]

Having come to the Gossip Girl party fashionably late, I'm finding myself yelling at the characters on screen to slow down for the love of god. Is it just me or are you finding that Gossip Girl seems to be going through a nasty strain of The OC Syndrome, whereby the writers burn through as much story as quickly as possible, a condition which can ultimately lead to creative burn out? This week's episode of Gossip Girl ("All About My Brother") definitely brought the drama but it also forced the action to occur so rapidly that many of the revelations and reveals lacked any real tension as a result. In the course of two episodes, Little J rose to become Queen Bee of her little social clique, nabbed a wealthy Upper East Side boyfriend, disobeyed her father, threw a luxe party that was crashed by Blair Waldorf, lost said boyfriend, and apologized to her father. A little much perhaps? I understand that the season has been truncated slightly due to the writers strike but t

Casting is ramping up on several Sci Fi Channel pilots this week, including Warehouse 13 , two-hour backdoor pilot Revolution , and Battlestar Galactica spin-off Caprica . Drama pilot Warehouse 13 has nabbed its two leads: Eddie McClintock ( Bones ) and Joanne Kelly ( Vanished ) have been cast as two FBI agents--headstrong Peter and buttoned-up Myka--who are "rewarded," after saving the life of the US president, by being relocated to the titular Warehouse 13, a government-controlled depot that houses supernatural and extraterrestrial artifacts that the feds have gathered over the centuries. Together, their job is to retrieve missing objects and investigate the discovery of new items. Project, from NBC Universal Cable Studio, is written by Rockne S. O'Bannon ( Farscape ); Battlestar Galactica 's Ronald D. Moore and Jane Espenson worked on previous drafts of the pilot script. Jace Alexander ( Burn Notice ) will direct. Over on Revolution , Peter Fonda has been cast in

Frak. I've gotten a lot of comments and emails from you all asking me why I haven't been discussing the latest season of Battlestar Galactica . Was it because I haven't been enjoying this season? Or that it's become overtly religious in nature? Hardly, on either account. In fact, I've found myself completely enthralled by Battlestar Galactica , now in its fourth and final season, that I find it hard to stomach the wait, week to week, to find out what exactly is going on with the characters. As for the allegations that this season's religious focus has been off putting, I couldn't disagree more. Religion has always played a major role in the mythology of the series, with its focus on a shadow war between the old gods of the humans and the Cylon's singular deity. Additionally, Battlestar has always worked best as a metaphor for the human condition, no matter what the era or planetary location. As it delves into the complex relationship between politics an

I didn't always hate Lindsay Lohan. There was a time, probably around the era of the Tina Fey-scripted comedy Mean Girls, where I quite liked Lindsay; she had matured from a kid actor into a sexy, self-assured bombshell of a woman with fine comedic chops and a burgeoning career. Since then, she's become a punchline of a joke no one cares about any more: trashy, crotch-flashing tabloid fodder. So I was pretty irked to see that she was joining the cast of Ugly Betty , a series which is making me slightly nauseous with all the good cheer, melodrama, and "heart" that they've been cramming down our throats since firing showrunner Marco Pennette, the man responsible for adding some much needed laughs (and for making characters Alexis, Mark, and Amanda not only likable but three-dimensional). Yes, folks, the same people that wrote the word "heart" on the white board in the writers room of Betty have chosen to cast one of the most despicable starlets not just i

Televisionary is proud to be a member of the TV Blog Coalition. At the end of each week, we'll feature a roundup of content from our sister sites for your delectation. This week, I was enthused about the fourth season pairing of David Tennant and Catherine Tate in Doctor Who , offered a casting scoop about Catherine O'Hara in Rob Thomas' new drama pilot Good Behavior , and once again found myself enthralled by the latest episode of Lost ... and laughing out loud at the latest brilliant installment of 30 Rock . Oh, I also dissected the solemn second season ender of FX's The Riches , provided an advance review of the inanity of CW's new reality series Farmer Wants a Wife , and discussed my disappointment in this sub-par season of The Office . Elsewhere in the sophisticated TV-obsessed section of the blogosphere, members of the TV Blog Coalition were discussing the following items... With the Sex and the City movie looming, Buzz proposed a dozen essential episodes of

Another great episode of Lost last night ("Something Nice Back Home"), but were you expecting anything else really? While I knew that they would intentionally keep us hanging about the Locke/Ben/Hurley/Jacob storyline until next week, I was happy to see everyone back on the beach as well as Claire and Sawyer. All in all it really reminded me--in the best possible way--of an episode from Season One: taut, gripping, and character-driven, with an ominous quality to every on-screen moment. Lovers. I was absolutely stunned to see Kate step out of the shower and kiss a completely waxed Jack, though it was of course nicely set up moments before with the Millennium Falcon toy (obviously Aaron's) on the floor and the Yankee-Red Sox news (whoa, it's 2007!); still, that and the marriage proposal were nice twists, especially given what we've seen of their future together, when Kate has to be persuaded to meet a suicidal, painkiller-addicted Jack at the airport. We begin to s

There are few things in life that you can count on. Death, taxes, and laughing your butt off while watching 30 Rock usually top the list. Last night's episode of 30 Rock ("Sandwich Day") was no exception to this rule, with multiple plotlines that took the characters into unexpected directions... and hilarity. Ostensibly about the first encounter between Liz and Floyd (Jason Sudeikis) since their breakup--and his moving to Cleveland--the episode also involved Jack's fall from grace to the 12th floor of 30 Rock, a drinking contest between the TGS staffers and the transpo guys over a special sandwich from a secret location. Oh, and a fantastic guest turn from Brian Dennehy! What more could you ask for? I'm thrilled to bits that Floyd is back in Liz's life, even if it is just temporarily. I've missed their goofy rapport and UNO sessions and I absolutely loved the scene in which Pete choreographed Liz's entire scene on the TGS set with Floyd, from the lig