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Chopping Block: Knives Out for Start of Top Chef: All Stars

And that's how you start a season of Top Chef . While there was heated drama and some tears, the focus was once again on the innate talent and staggering skill sets of these fierce competitors. While I already shared my pre-air thoughts about the season opener of Top Chef: All-Stars , now that the episode ("History Never Repeats") has aired, we can discuss specifics of this fantastic installment, which saw some fan-favorites return for another shot at Top Chef glory and what might just be the very best Elimination Challenge to date (which is what I told executive producers Jane Lipsitz and Dan Cutforth when I saw them the other night). Forcing the chefs to redo the dishes that got them sent home the first time they were on Top Chef was a stroke of genius that played up to the chef's egos and their nerves. Would they be able to overcome what sunk them last time around? Would they redeem themselves or fail again? And which of the chefs would be forced to bear

Reminder: Do Not Miss Tonight's Episode of Fringe!

Fringe fans: you do not want to miss tonight's fantastic episode ("Entrada"). While I raved about tonight's installment a few weeks back in my advance review of "The Abducted" and "Entrada" (which you can read here ), if that wasn't enough of an incentive, I suggest you check out FOX's awesome feature film trailer-style promo for "Entrada," which you can view in full below. Fringe airs tonight at 9 pm ET/PT on FOX.

Kingdom Come: Fry Bread and Breakdowns on Friday Night Lights

"Julie Taylor is a slut!" Let's be honest about this: we all knew that Derek Bishop was bad news and we all knew that it would come to this, a screaming match in a crowded college setting in which his wife railed at Julie for sleeping with her husband. Or at least, it's what I've suspected--and dreaded--for some time now. I've been upfront about my dislike for Julie Taylor's storyline this season and the way that her college experience, summed up by her relationship with doctoral candidate/TA/fry bread-addict Derek has veered sharply into cliche, which is something that Friday Night Lights doesn't typically do. Julie's arc thus far this season has seemed to be the means to an end: the way to get Julie back to Dillon without her just dropping out of college, despite her ambition and her smarts. Enter the crazy wife of Derek, with a well-timed rant (even if I found it hard to stomach that this PhD candidate would mispronounce "cliche") and

The Daily Beast: "Twin Peaks' Strange Reunion"

"She's dead. Wrapped in plastic." Twenty years ago today (yes, precisely to the day), Laura Palmer's killer was unmasked for Agent Dale Cooper and Sheriff Truman on ABC's seminal series Twin Peaks . Tonight, many of the original cast members of the haunting and harrowing series will reunite on-screen for the first time in two decades on USA's Psych , which airs its Twin Peaks homage episode, "Dual Spires," tonight at 10 pm ET/PT. Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, entitled " Twin Peaks ' Strange Reunion," in which I explore the enduring legacy of Twin Peaks and speak with the series' co-creator Mark Frost and Laura Palmer herself, Sheryl Lee, about the groundbreaking drama series and where things went wrong, and speak with Psych 's star James Roday (who penned tonight's "Dual Spires" episode) about his Twin Peaks obsession (one that rivals my own). All this plus, a damn fine gallery featur

Under the Nail: An Advance Review of Psych's "Damn Fine" Twin Peaks Homage, "Dual Spires"

Smell that cinnamon... While USA may not have planned the stars aligning just so, it is twenty years to the day that Agent Dale Cooper unmasked Laura Palmer's killer on Twin Peaks , so it's only fitting that Psych should celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the series that changed television with an episode that both a send-up and a loving tribute to Twin Peaks . Tonight's damn fine episode of Psych ("Dual Spires"), written by James Roday and Bill Callahan, does just that, offering a plot in which Shawn (Roday) and Gus (Dule Hill) travel to the quirky small town of Dual Spires for a cinnamon festival and encounter a revolving door of eccentric individuals. But their presence in town coincides with an eerie mystery, the murder of a local girl that is far more sinister and weird that it initially seems. If you've never seen Twin Peaks , you might be slightly bewildered by the oddness unfolding around Shawn and Gus in this bucolic town where there's alway

The True Cutthroat Culinary Competition Returns: An Advance Review of Top Chef: All-Stars

Longtime readers know that I am obsessed with Bravo's culinary competition series Top Chef , but also that I've been disheartened by the last season (and the trainwreck that was Top Chef: Just Desserts ), so there was a lot on the line for tonight's season premiere of Top Chef: All-Stars , which reunites some of the fiercest competitors ever seen on the series for another shot at the title. Arriving as it does on the heels of Top Chef: Just Desserts , there hasn't been a lot of time to regain one's appetite for the franchise, thanks to a schedule that now sees three iterations of the Top Chef formula airing basically year-round. Which might be a recipe for brand awareness, but it doesn't quite keep the franchise at its freshest. Last season, which saw the competition move to Washington D.C., might is regarded by many as the worst season to date, saddled with some lackluster casting, some dull challenges, and some lazy editing. And Top Chef: Just Desserts , whil

The Daily Beast: "Twitter's TV War"

Twitter should be a tool for audiences to interact with the talent behind their favorite shows—instead, anonymous users heap abuse onto writer-producers for ruining "their" shows. Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "Twitter's TV War," in which I speak to Community 's Dan Harmon, Bones ' Hart Hanson, and Grey Anatomy 's Shonda Rhimes about the complicated relationship between access, privacy, and angry fans on the social networking platform. I'm curious to know what your take is and whether you side with showrunners or fans. What happens when the dialogue turns ugly? Head to the comments section to discuss.