[Televisionary]

"Life is complicated... We live in the grey areas." - Arthur Frobisher On this week's episode of Damages ("Drive It Through Hardcore"), written by Glenn Kessler and directed by Tate Donovan, we received a few tidbits of information about the two overarching mysteries this season as Patty and Tom sought to learn the truth about what really happened on Thanksgiving (and how it involved Tessa Marchetti) and we're given another look at just what happens to Tom Shayes in the future storyline. (I'm still sticking by my theory even with last night's seeming revelation.) Meanwhile, Ellen had to contend with more family drama and Arthur Frobisher met with Terry's producing partner in an effort to bring his life's story to the silver screen, bringing them face to face with Patty Hewes herself. So what did I think of this week's episode? Let's discuss. The season's two timelines are now nearly touching one another as the gap between the pre

"It's America, Chuck. Everyone has a choice." - John Casey If there's one single theme for this season of NBC's Chuck it would be appear to be identity. How do we define ourselves? How do we let others define us? Does it matter whether Chuck is a spy, an asset, or a civilian? If you take John Casey out of the espionage world, is he still Casey? And are we more defined by the actions we take or those that we don't? This week's episode of Chuck ("Chuck Versus the Final Exam"), written by Zev Borow and directed by Robert Duncan McNeil, brought these issues to the forefront of the series, posing several questions about the way in which our three central spies see themselves in reference to the rest of the world and the way in which they view each other. As Chuck prepares to take his final mission, the one thing that stands in his way is a final test, the last hurdle in his path to becoming a full-blown spy. But if he's willing and able to take

For the survivors of the European flu, things have not been going so well lately. During Saturday night's season finale of BBC America's Survivors , members of the group were alternately kidnapped, shot, and forced to participate in a child thief gang that would have felt quite at home in Charles Dickens' Oliver . In other words: things couldn't really get much worse. And yet... In tonight's gripping second season premiere, the loose band of survivors discovers that things can in fact get a lot worse, as they face their toughest challenges yet and continue to become increasingly splintered by outside forces. Tonight's episode pushes them to the brink of death itself, as several characters find themselves trapped in untenable situations from which escape seems futile while one of them makes a selfless sacrifice in an effort to earn her place among the group. Survivors has thrived by offering a heady blend of post-apocalyptic suspense and a meditative exploration

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. Robert Knepper ( Heroes, Prison Break ) has reportedly been cast in a villainous recurring role on Season Two of Syfy's Stargate Universe . Citing internet reports, several sites are reporting that Knepper will play Simeon, a mysterious member of the Lucian Alliance, and will appear in a multiple-episode story arc to last between six to seven episodes. (via TV Squad ) Producing partners Josh Schwartz ( Chuck ) and Stephanie Savage ( Gossip Girl ) have signed a multi-year deal with Warner Bros. Television and have set up their own shingle, Fake Empire, which will be based at the studio. Pod will develop projects for television, film, digital, videogames, music, and publishing. ( Variety ) The Wrap's Josef Adalian, meanwhile, has an interview with Schwartz and Savage, who jointly answered Adalian's questions via email. [Editor: The duo answered the question I had, which was whether Chuck would fall under the Fake Empire um

"Why [do] the things that are so bad for you make you feel the best?" Season Two of Showtime's deliciously dark comedy Nurse Jackie begins tonight and the series, which launched last year, hasn't lost any of its sparkle, wit, or biting charm during its time off. This is after all a series that featured its hero--the overworked and underpaid Jackie Peyton (Edie Falco), a woman willing to cross several lines to save lives and score a fix--flushing a severed human ear down a toilet in its very first episode. Since then, the series' diverse cast of characters has deepened and grown as we've seen the staff of All Saints Hospital struggle with medical, moral, and marital issues and blossom into appealingly flawed individuals. None more so than Jackie herself, a woman devoted to the profession of nursing who is so caring towards her patients and her family and yet so entirely self-destructive, pushing herself into extramarital relationships, keeping nearly everyone

"Change isn't good or bad. It just is." - Don Draper In its third season, AMC's gorgeous and provocative period drama Mad Men offered a year of turmoil, both political and social, that was infused with the very essence of change as series creator Matthew Weiner and his writing staff forever altered the foundations of the series. While some so-called game-changers do little more than rearrange the furniture, Weiner and Co. used the third season to lead up to several powerful shifts in the dynamic of this intelligent and gripping series. Tomorrrow, Lionsgate will release the third season of Mad Men on DVD. If you have seen Season Three of Mad Men, then you know that it's a slow burn that culminates in a series of gasp-inducing moments as the action draws in the Kennedy assassination, the real-life figure of Conrad Hilton, and major changes on the domestic and business fronts for the cast of characters that inhabit this meticulously recreated 1960s snow globe. (You

Digital cabler BBC America today unveiled its newest promotional trailer for Doctor Who , which launches April 17th in the US. Starring Matt Smith and Karen Gillan, this new Doctor Who finds Smith tacking up the mantle of the Doctor, a 900-plus-year-old traveler from a vanquished planet who travels through time and space in his TARDIS. Joining the Eleventh Doctor is Gillan's Amy Pond as the dual-hearted time traveler's latest assistant. Plus, Steven Moffat comes on board as the new head writer/executive producer. Having written such standout installments as "Blink," "The Girl in the Fireplace," and "Silence in the Library," among others, I can't wait to see just what he gets up to when he's at the reins. You can watch the full minute-long promo below as we begin to count down the days before the new Doctor takes to the sky. Doctor Who premieres Saturday, April 17th at 9 pm ET/PT on BBC America.