Fighting the Numbers (and the Odds): USA's "The 4400" Panel

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I'm never quite sure why The 4400, a smart, slick series with sci fi appeal, somehow always gets overlooked, sitting there in the shadow of its sister network's series Battlestar Galactica.

So I was happy to see that the cast and crew of The 4400--including Jeffrey Combs, Jenni Baird, Conchita Campbell, Megalyn Echikunwoke, supervising produce Craig Sweeney, and executive producer Ira Steven Behr--returned to Comic-Con again this year to drum up some support for the series.

Let's get the big news out of the way. Two former cast members are due to return to The 4400 this season; of all the casting changes over the past few seasons, I've noticed the loss of these two most acutely. (Stop reading right now if you're spoiler-adverse!)

Returnee #1: it's going to happen in Episode Nine and it's none other than Mahershalalhashbaz Ali, a.k.a. the telekinetic Richard Tyler, who has a reunion of sorts with his now grown daughter Isabelle in Promise Town... Oh and he might not be too happy to see Tom and Diana.

Returnee #2: Laura Allen. Yes, Lily is returning to The 4400 and she's apparently not (A) dead and buried, nor (B) an elderly lady played by Tippi Hedren. So just how is Lily alive and restored to her youthful looks? Your guess is as good as mine, but expect her return to happen close to the conclusion of Season Four.

Random fact that makes me question the sanity of USA executives: Behr said that USA asked the writers to downplay the promicin storyline and then based their entire promotional campaign--including a nifty viral site--around the ability-granting substance. Riiiight.

Speaking of the drug, which members of our illustrious panel would take the promicin shot, knowing that there's only a 50% chance of survival? "I already did," joked Combs, while Campell says no and Beard and Echikunwoke said that they would. (Me, I'm on the fence.) Behr notes that by the end of the fourth season it might not matter whether or not anyone WANTS to take the shot or not. Hmmm, ominous. (Please tell me Jordan is not spiking the water with promicin!)

Then again, it seems as though Combs' character, Dr. Burkhoff, has figured out a way to increase the odds of survival in an upcoming episode and has rigged something like a CAT scan to predict whether or not a person will survive the promicin dose.

Regardless of the outcome of Burkhoff's research, it seems as though there is a definite storm on the horizon and not every character will make it out of this season alive. "It's going to be a rock-em, sock-em finale," said Behr.

Have a Burning Question for Team Darlton, Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, or Michael Emerson?

Lost fans: you don't have to make your way to the island via Ajira Airways in order to ask a question of the creative team or the series' stars. Televisionary is taking questions from fans to put to Lost 's executive producers/showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse and stars Matthew Fox ("Jack Shephard"), Evangeline Lilly ("Kate Austen"), and Michael Emerson ("Benjamin Linus") for a series of on-camera interviews taking place this weekend. If you have a specific question for any of the above producers or actors from Lost , please leave it in the comments section below . I'll be accepting questions until midnight PT tonight and, while I can't promise I'll be able to ask any specific inquiry due to the brevity of these on-camera interviews, I am looking for some insightful and thought-provoking questions to add to the mix. So who knows: your burning question might get asked after all.

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What's Done is Done: The Eternal Struggle Between Good and Evil on the Season Finale of "Lost"

Every story begins with thread. It's up to the storyteller to determine just how much they need to parcel out, what pattern they're making, and when to cut it short and tie it off. With last night's penultimate season finale of Lost ("The Incident, Parts One and Two"), written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, we began to see the pattern that Lindelof and Cuse have been designing towards the last five seasons of this serpentine series. And it was only fitting that the two-hour finale, which pushes us on the road to the final season of Lost , should begin with thread, a loom, and a tapestry. Would Jack follow through on his plan to detonate the island and therefore reset their lives aboard Oceanic Flight 815 ? Why did Locke want to kill Jacob? What caused The Incident? What was in the box and just what lies in the shadow of the statue? We got the answers to these in a two-hour season finale that didn't quite pack the same emotional wallop of previous season ...

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Comics "Authority" Warren Ellis to Pen Original Series for AMC Network

I was initially surprised when AMC announced late last year that they intended to enter into the original programming route, particularly scripted series. But my jaw dropped last night when I learned who was developing a show with the network: British writer Warren Ellis, better known to many as a god among comic writers. (Full disclosure: Yes, I am a comic geek.) For those of you not familiar with Warren Ellis or his outstanding body of work, he's an extremely prolific comics writer whose work touches upon sociopolitical commentary. Some of his best known works include "Planetary" (penciled by Joss Whedon 's "Astonishing X-Men" collaborator John Cassaday), "The Authority," "Global Frequency" (which had been developed by John Rogers of Kung Fu Monkey fame as a pilot for the WB two seasons ago), "Excalibur" (starring my favorite X-Man--along with Joss Whedon's--Kitty Pryde), and "Transmetropolitan." And if you, my...

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