[Televisionary]

"I'd never harm you." - Eric Northman In the world of True Blood , vampires may be a part of nature, but they also exist in their own unique sphere of the natural world. After all, their status quo is vastly different than anything else on the planet: they shun the light and their bodies retain their youthful looks after centuries--or even millennia--upon this earth. There's an unnaturalness to their very naturalness, even in Charlaine Harris' and Alan Ball's vision of the world. Which might explain why the vampires are so concerned about necromancy: it represents a real threat to the very balance of their existence. Vampires are dead, after all, and necromancers have an uncanny knack for controlling the dead. Which means that their very autonomy is at threat, and as we saw this week, necromancers like Marnie have the ability to remind the vampires that they are in fact the walking dead. On this week's episode of True Blood ("I'm Alive and

The nominations are out: Parks and Recreation, Game of Thrones, Friday Night Lights , and Mad Men get their shot at the awards, while Community , Nick Offerman, and many others are shut out. Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, entitled, "The Emmy Awards’ 10 Biggest Snubs," in which I examine shows and actors were snubbed by the TV Academy. Plus, view our gallery of the nominees . The 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards will be televised live on September 18th on Fox.

"If you have to ask the question, you already have your answer." - Patty Hewes Serpentine legal thriller Damages returns for a twisty fourth season of backstabbing and betrayal, though if you don't have DirecTV, you'll have to wait until the inevitable DVD release to check in with Glenn Close's Patty Hewes and Rose Byrne's Ellen Parsons. The show, which aired its first three seasons on FX, moves over to the satellite platform's The Audience Network (formerly called The 101 Network) for an exclusive run. (That's right, exclusive. You're not going to see it anywhere else.) Given its nature, Damages is one of those tense, labyrinthine dramas that's nearly impossible to discuss without spoiling the plot in some fashion, making it really, really difficult to review in advance. The first two episodes of Season Four ("There's Only One Way to Try a Case" and "I've Done Way Too Much for This Girl"), which I watched a fe

As often happens in Bon Temps, people don't seem to be falling together, but rather falling apart. Case in point: star-crossed lovers Jessica and Hoyt, who have embarked on a life of domesticity together, only to find that playing house isn't as easy as it looks from the outside. Over the last few weeks, we've seen these two engage in all manner of domestic sparring, as insignificant squabbles blow into something bigger and more indefinable about their relationship: an argument over dinner turns into a raw-egg-eating contest, a trip for Advil becomes a case of Jessica feeding on another man, and a confession turns into something brutal and heart-breaking here. On this week's episode of True Blood ("If You Love Me, Why Am I Dyinʼ?"), written by Alan Ball and directed by David Petrarca, the widening chasm between Jessica and Hoyt looked all the more vast and empty, as something terrible came between the two young lovers on opposite sides of the vampire-huma

When we last saw Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles) and Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman), they had managed to save the world from a menacing alien incursion that threatened to harvest the world's child population. While Team Torchwood managed to save the day, it came once more at a heavy price: the loss of team member Ianto, the sacrifice of Jack's own grandson, and the discovery that Gwen herself was pregnant. Jack took off for the stars, while Gwen went into hiding. Pyrrhic victories are something of Torchwood 's stock-in-trade, really. The spinoff of Doctor Who , which originally launched in 2006 on BBC Three (and on BBC America here in the States), is far less sunny than its predecessor, more concerned with the darkness of both the extraterrestrial threats to the planet and to that inside its alien hunters. This is a series that revolves around some inherently flawed, damaged individuals who are constantly forced to make some tough choices. It naturally then inhabits the g

After a six-year wait, George R.R. Martin’s "A Dance With Dragons" finally hits bookstores next week. Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "George R.R. Martin’s Triumphant Return," in which I review "A Dance With Dragons," the fifth installment and the latest in Martin’s bestselling "A Song of Ice and Fire" series, on which HBO's Game of Thrones is based. "A Dance With Dragons" will hit bookshelves on Tuesday.

With Torchwood: Miracle Day , the British cult sci-fi drama travels across the pond to investigate a global conspiracy. Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, " Torchwood Heads to America," in which I visit the Los Angeles set of the BBC/Starz series (a spinoff of the venerable British science fiction drama Doctor Who ), which premieres July 8 in the U.S., and sit down for breakfast with creator Russell T. Davies. Plus, allow Russell T. Davies to bring you up to speed on who’s who in among Torchwood: Miracle Day 's cast of characters . Torchwood: Miracle Day begins Friday, July 8th at 10 pm ET/PT on Starz.