[Televisionary]

Sigh. I was really hoping by now that the writers of ABC's Life on Mars would have stopped cribbing from the original UK series but was sadly disappointed to see that last night's episode ("The Real Adventures of the Unreal Sam Tyler"), the series' second, once again borrowed way too heavily from the original script. Last night's episode of Life on Mars followed the squad as they attempted to take down the organizer of a series of armed robberies at local check cashing stores, introduced Lee Tergesen as Assistant District Attorney Lee Crocker, and had Gene and Sam coming to blows (yet again) when Sam's plan put one of their own (Heather Matarazzo's June) in harm's way. To me, this series needs to be a hell of a lot more clever by half as much of the action and plotting seems predictable and pedestrian. The fact that Sam would go to the ADA and tell him that he suspects that the robberies are an inside job and implicate members of his own precinct

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. I spent last night in front of the telly, watching The Office (meh), SNL Weekend Update Thursday (hilarious), Crusoe (mind-numbingly boring), It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (funny), and Life on Mars (humdrum). I still have to watch last night's Ugly Betty , however. AMC has renewed Mad Men for a third season mere weeks before the series' current series wraps up. However, talks continue apace between the cabler, studio Lionsgate Television, and creator Matthew Weiner. Lionsgate does not have a deal in place with Weiner to stay on as showrunner/executive producer for Season Three and he is seeking a raise "commensurate with the white-hot level of acclaim (including the Emmy for drama series last month) and pop-culture buzz the show has generated." Studio hopes to reach a deal with Weiner for both the third and fourth season, which it would then use to leverage an early pickup for Season Four from AMC. Fing

Out of every series returning to the airwaves this autumn, there was one series that I was jonesing for with every iota of my very being. That series, of course, is NBC's wickedly uproarious comedy 30 Rock . And as soon as I received the first two episodes of 30 Rock 's third season from the good folks at the Rainbow Chicken itself, I tore into them with a wild abandon, eager to find out just what the denizens of TGS were up to. After a shortened second season, I was desperate for a 30 Rock fix and the first two episodes of the upcoming season (launching October 30th on NBC) sated me in every possible way. There's deft racial comedy (Tracy and Jenna dress up as a white woman and a black man respectively as part of a "social experiment"), guest stars galore (Oprah Winfrey and Megan Mullally!), and tongue-in-cheek soap operatics (how far will Jack go to get Kathy Geiss to reinstate him at NBC?). I haven't laughed this much in a long time. Since, well, 30 Rock

I watched last night's episode of Pushing Daisies ("Bad Habits") a few weeks ago but I couldn't resist saying a few things about this fantastic installment that ranks up there with some of the series' very best episodes. Written by Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts (who created the WB's short-lived series Pepper Dennis ), "Bad Habits" not only continues the storylines elegantly established in the previous two episodes--Olive running away from the Pie Hole, Lily covering up her tracks, Chuck attempting to be independent--but also puts a nice little bow on them as well. We know that Olive won't stay metaphorically cloistered now that Chuck knows the truth about her birth mother but I can't wait to see whether she moves in with Chuck (who is now residing in her old apartment)... or is forced to move in with Ned in the meantime. Strange bedfellows, people. I loved Ned, Chuck, and Emerson going undercover as Vatican investigators (a better inspir

Last night's season finale of Project Runway wasn't filled to the brim with surprises, per se, but it did offer a nice showcase of each of the final three designers' aesthetics as they each put on shows at New York Fashion Week. And while I had a feeling that Leanne would ultimately take home the top spot, I actually began to hope during the runway collections that it would be Korto who went home the ultimate winner of this season. (Hell, just as long as it wasn't Kenley, I'd be happy.) So what I did I think of each of the designers' individual collections? Let's talk. Kenley show ed her collection first and I have to say that she didn't set the bar very high. Yes, there was a very specific point-of-view evidenced in her work and you could tell that it was definitely Kenley's collection, what with the painted fabrics and the use of rope (which I still think was inappropriate and, yes, did break the organic feeling of the collection, as Tim pointed o

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. While not totally TV-related, you can see a sneak peek of the cover of the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly (which hits newsstands tomorrow) to the right, depicting Heroes ' Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine as Spock and Kirk in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek . The issue also features an in-depth interview with Abrams, in which he talks about Star Trek , his YouTube-fueled feud with William Shatner, and also features quotes from Leonard Nimoy and Quinto about the new film. Are you GOB Bluth? FOX is said to be in final negotiations for a talent/development deal with Will Arnett ( Arrested Development ); under the deal, FOX would develop a comedy vehicle for Arnett or cast him in a pre-existing project at the network. Arnett, who is currently recurring as Devon Banks on NBC's 30 Rock , also stars (or his voice does, anyway) in FOX's upcoming animated comedy series Sit Down, Shut Up . ( TV Week ) Not such good news, however, f

I'll be blunt: I like Fringe . I really do. But I can't help shake the feeling that the series could be bigger, bolder, and, well, better. I've enjoyed the five episodes of Fringe that have aired to date (especially the fourth installment, "The Arrival") but I keep finding myself wanting to be a bit more fulfilled after the end of each week's episode. Sure, part of that has to do with the series' procedural structure, which seems more intent on creating intriguing mysteries-of-the-week than on furthering the character development or the overarching mythology of a heavily serialized series. (Before I start to get angry emails, I am aware that there is a mythology at work here but it's being parceled out far too slowly for my liking.) So rather than discuss this week's episode ("Power Hungry"), I thought I'd offer up my five suggestions on how to improve Fringe so that it reaches its full potential. (1) Break the--no pun intended--pat