[Televisionary]

Well, guys, it's time for me to hit the road and head off to San Diego Comic-Con 2009. I'm taking the train down this morning and will be reporting from the convention and covering panels for such television series as Lost, True Blood, Doctor Who, 24, Bones, Caprica/BSG, The Mighty Boosh, Fringe, V , and much, much more. (And hopefully I'll find time to relax a little bit too at one of the multitude of official parties going on this weekend in San Diego.) In the meantime, you can discuss Day One, Day Two , and Day Three of BBC America's Torchwood: Children of the Earth , talk about my review of Dollhouse: Epitaph One , read my interview with Mad Men 's Rich Sommer, check out my advance review of Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead , sneak a peek at the new Doctor and his companion , and check out the plethora of other original content here at Televisionary. I'll be posting as much as I humanly can amid the madness down in SD, but you can also follow my adventures vi

"We are here." "Day Three" of Torchwood: Children of Earth , written by Russell T. Davies and James Moran, certainly brought with it some rather unexpected twists, along with an extra heaping of tension, suspense, and terror as The 456 arrived at Thames House and announced just what it is that they want. Meanwhile, Torchwood attempted to use PA Lois Habiba (Cush Jumbo) as their literal eyes on the inside and get their new base of operations--nicknamed Hub 2--up and running so that they could stop The 456. That is, until Jack took off without so much as a by-your-leave. So what do The 456 want? What does Clem know? Why is Frobisher so hell-bent on keeping the previous encounter between Britain and The 456 off the record? Let's discuss. You've read my advance review of Torchwood: Children of Earth as a whole but now that "Day Three" has aired, we can discuss this installment in detail. (And, if you haven't yet watched the third episode of Torch

One thing that has separated Top Chef Masters from its predecessor is that these master chefs--for the most part, anyway--really do seem to love and support one another in a way that the hungry chefs on Top Chef really don't seem to do. This week's episode of Top Chef Masters ("Trick In A Box") could have been a prime opportunity for the chefs to stab each other in the back but the elimination challenge--in which Art Smith, Jonathan Waxman, Roy Yamaguchi, and Michael Cimarusti all had to shop for one another and prepare a mystery box of ingredients--resulted not in sabotage and subterfuge, but rather a celebration of both ingredients and one another. Aw. I thought that this week's gathering of master chefs was one of the toughest groups yet and each of them had some major strengths they were playing for, plus they each had such different, individual styles of cooking. Cimarusti of Los Angeles' Providence excels at seafood; Yamaguchi is the creator of Hawaii

This is the week of the Boosh. After releasing all three seasons of their eponymous series on DVD the other day , The Mighty Boosh--or at least the Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding parts of The Mighty Boosh--appeared last night on The Late Show with Jimmy Fallon to dazzle and confuse Jimmy with their crimps, outrageous style, and just general all-around fabulousness. The Boosh will be down at San Diego Comic-Con later this week to present a panel and a DJ mix set late Friday night but in the meantime, you can catch Barratt and Fielding (or Howard and Vince, if you prefer) on Fallon via the full clip of their appearance last night below. In their first American talk show appearance, Jimmy talks to British comedy duo The Mighty Boosh. Pick up copies of The Mighty Boosh: Seasons One to Three for a suggested retail price of $29.98 apiece. (N.B.: each season box set is sold separately.) Or pick up copies today in the Televisionary store for $19.99-$24.99 .

There won't be any Lost -style jumping through time for the cast of AMC's Mad Men , which returns next month. I caught up last week with Mad Men 's Rich Sommer--who plays the bow-tied Harry Crane, the head of television at Sterling Cooper--the day after the Emmy nominations were announced to try and ferret out some information about Season Three of Mad Men and what circumstances we'll find Sommer's Harry Crane under when the series returns with new episodes on August 16th on AMC. While Sommer was slyly tight-lipped about revealing any concrete information about the season (or whether it takes place before or after the JFK assassination), he did promise that the first episode of Season Three "pretty much kicks down the door right away" and assumes that viewers have been with the series since the very beginning. (In other words, make sure you refresh your Mad Men knowledge by picking up the second season on DVD straightaway!) Televisionary: Congratulations

"We are coming tomorrow." Never before have just a few words held such terrible import as they did at the end of the second installment of Torchwood: Children of Earth ("Day Two"), written by John Fay, in which the Torchwood team dealt with the aftermath of the explosion which ripped apart the Hub, their Cardiff base of operations, and their leader, Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman), and struggled to survive in the light of a massive political conspiracy that sought to silence them permanently. But just why would PM Brian Green (Nicholas Farrell) and Permanent Secretary to the Home Office John Frobisher (Peter Capaldi) want to eliminate Torchwood from the playing field when they might just be the few people in the world who have any chance in hell at stopping The 456? Hmmm... You've read my advance review of Torchwood: Children of Earth as a whole but now that "Day Two" has aired, we can discuss this installment in detail. (And, if you haven

While it's only been a month or so since the last Doctor Who special aired in the States, this weekend's David Tennant and Michelle Ryan-starring installment appeared on UK screens after a wait of a few months back at Easter following "The Next Doctor," the Doctor Who Christmas special. Here, it's set to air on Sunday evening on BBC America and--for the first time for Doctor Who --will also be available in high-definition. The first of final four specials featuring David Tennant as the Doctor, Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead , written by Russell T. Davies and Gareth Roberts and directed by James Strong, features the Doctor trapped on an alien world without the TARDIS as he must figure out how to get himself and his unwitting traveling companions back to Earth. I had the chance to watch the sexy, scary, and fun "Planet of the Dead" a while back and I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it both as a Doctor Who installment and as one of David Tennant