[Televisionary]

Must. Restrain. Myself. I was going to write a post about last night's episode of The Amazing Race ("I Hate Chinese Food") but I'm actually still too angry at contestant Nick to think clearly... and at the producers for keeping this buffoon around another week. Quick recap: after shouting at his asthmatic girlfriend Vicki all season, making her do just about every challenge, and managing to avoid elimination several times thanks to Vicki, Nick decides that he's going to take a nap rather than help Vicki look for a boat registration number in the dark, even though he spent several hours sitting in a chair while Vicki gorged on Chinese food and puked her guts out. Nice boyfriend. Nick had given up and wanted to walk off the race when they opted to take the six-hour penalty for not completing a Detour and simply walked onto the mat. It had to be over for them, right? They were so far behind the first place team--Nat and Kat--and had that penalty on top of it. But, s

"You're so wicked." - Robert The sins of the past were on everyone's mind this week as tensions came to a head in every corner of the Emerald City: the tenuous relationship between Nucky and Margaret seemed to shatter like her looking glass; the uneasy past between Gillian and the Commodore was dragged out into the light; and Angela made a difficult decision, only to have her choice explode in her face. And then there was that baptism scene... This week's penultimate episode of Boardwalk Empire ("Paris Green"), written by Howard Korder and directed by Allen Coulter, gave us several displays of sleight-of-hand, intricate magic tricks designed to distract, to incapacitate, or simply to kill outright, an extravagant and riveting installment that pulled back the curtains to reveal the true face of Oz himself. Atlantic City exists because of the power structure that the Commodore built and Nucky Thomson finessed in his inimitable style. But the walls are clo

Knock-knock. It's been a while since we've had an episode of Chuck that focused on Chuck Bartowski's better half, Agent Sarah Walker. We've been given slivers of Sarah's backstory--it was only last season that we learned her true name (that would be "Sam" for those keeping score)--but the enigmatic spy who has stolen Chuck's heart has remained largely an international woman of mystery, her heart encased in stone until Chuck came around. But does Sarah love Chuck for the man he is or the man that she thinks he could be? And with the Intersect out of commission for the foreseeable future, what does that mean for their own? This week's episode of Chuck ("Chuck Versus Phase Three"), written by Kristin Newman and directed by Anton Cropper, did not disappoint on that front, giving Yvonne Strahovski the perfect showcase for her skills, both in terms of silently emoting and kicking butt. While the action led Sarah (and Casey and Morgan) to far-

"I remember my dream now." - Jim Those of you who follow me on Twitter know that I've been watching screeners of AMC's zombie apocalypse drama The Walking Dead but haven't been as captivated as I was with the pilot episode. However, I watched the fourth and fifth episodes of the series over the weekend and found both of them to be on par with the harrowing atmosphere of the pilot, giving viewers an intense experience that shows the gripping struggle for and by humanity. In a land beset by demons, can the survivors of a global apocalypse retain their humanity? Or does killing monsters make you a monster yourself? Once you cross that moral line, can you step back over it? This week's sensational episode of The Walking Dead ("Vatos"), written by Robert Kirkman (who created the series' underlying material) and directed by Johan Renck, put the focus back on the human aspect of the drama, giving us an installment that largely revolved around familial

I find it depressing that some viewers are less than enchanted with HBO's soaring period drama Boardwalk Empire , which once again turned out a remarkable installment ("The Emerald City"), written by Lawrence Konner and directed by Simon Cellan Jones, this time about truth, consequences, and the lies we all tell ourselves. Every fairy tale, after all, has to come to an end, even for Margaret Schroeder. The parallels between Dorothy's visit to Oz within L. Frank Baum's novel, Margaret's discovery of her own artifice, and Richard Harrow's dream brought the lesson right out into the light. We can all dream and our dreams can be filled with beauty but eventually we all come crashing back down to reality, whether that be Richard's realization that he is once again disfigured (poor Emily screaming bloody murder) or Margaret catching sight of herself in a mirror. What we see looking back at us isn't what we expected. Whether she chooses to admit it or not

Fringe fans aren't the only ones concerned by the midseason schedule unveiled this evening by FOX, which includes the move of American Idol to Wednesdays and Thursdays in January . The move means that the reality juggernaut, which has seen its ratings deflated somewhat of late, will now air opposite NBC's cult comedy Community . But it's not time to send in the save our show letters just yet. Creator Dan Harmon, reached by Televisionary on Friday evening, had this to say. "My reaction: We have nothing to worry about," Harmon told me. " American Idol has a totally different audience. They like popular things." So there. Viva Greendale.

Well, Fringe , it was nice knowing you. Fox has today announced that it is moving Fringe to Fridays at 9 pm (sound familiar, Dollhouse fans?) amid a series of scheduling moves that include reality juggernaut American Idol moving to Wednesdays and Thursdays this January. Fringe will make the move beginning January 28th and it's already potentially a sign that the writing is on the wall for the sci-fi drama, now in its third season. Traditionally the death slot for television series, Friday nights often signal that a series is on its way out the door. Whether this proves to be the case for Fringe remains to be seen, but it's not a promising move, even if the series has been underperforming on Thursdays. (Sigh.) The full press release from Fox can be found below. FOX ANNOUNCES 2010-2011 MIDSEASON SCHEDULE “AMERICAN IDOL” MOVES TO WEDNESDAYS AND THURSDAYS WITH TWO-NIGHT SEASON PREMIERE WEDNESDAY, JAN. 19 AND THURSDAY, JAN. 20 FOX TUESDAYS CONTINUE TO SING WITH DEBUT OF NEW E