Talk Back: "Life on Mars" Season Two

So hopefully you all tuned in and watched last night's two-hour installment of Life on Mars (well, two back-to-back one-hour episodes anyway), so here's your chance to talk back about the second season opener.

If you haven't yet seen the episodes in question, beware as there are spoilers lurking here.

(If you missed my advance review of the two episodes, click here to read.)

What was with that near-kiss between Annie and Sam? So tantalizingly close! I am happy, however, to see Annie join the CID as a plainclothes detective (a difference between the UK and potential US version, which already has Annie as a full detective when the pilot begins) as hopefully this will mean she finally gets a little bit of the respect she deserves.

One word: stinger.

I was completely stunned by that shocker of a telephone call in which Sam connected with the mysterious caller from Hyde, who promptly told him that he should not be contacting him as it's not part of "the plan." Hmmm, does this mean that Sam was intentionally sent back in time for a specific reason? And if so, who would be the people behind this and what is the connection to (A) the Colin Raimes serial killings investigation and/or (B) the car accident that left Sam for dead?

Theories, anyone?

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Kid Nation (CBS); Deal or No Deal (NBC; 8-10 pm); America's Next Top Model (CW); Pushing Daisies (ABC); Back to You/'Til Death (FOX)

9 pm: Criminal Minds (CBS); Crowned: The Mother of All Pageants (CW); Private Practice (ABC); Kitchen Nightmares (FOX)

10 pm: CSI: New York (CBS); Dateline (NBC); Dirty Sexy Money (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

8 pm: Pushing Daisies.

On tonight's episode ("Corpiscle"), Ned tries to heal the rift between him and Chuck while Emerson tries to get him to focus on their latest case involving a frozen insurance adjustor and scent expert Oscar Vibenius returns to discover what makes Chuck and Digby so utterly different. Uh-oh.

8 pm: America's Next Top Model.

On tonight's season finale ("The Girl Who Becomes America's Next Top Model"), the final three girls face off on a commercial and national print ad for corporate sponsor Cover Girl, get some advice from Jaslene, and then the final two compete in a runway show in the Forbidden City.

10 pm: Dirty Sexy Money.

No, sadly, it's not a new episode of Televisionary fave DSM but here's a chance for you all to catch the pilot episode once more, in which Nick inherits an sadistic and wealthy family to look after following his father's untimely death, and must deal with their every whine and complaint.

10 pm: Project Runway on Bravo.

Season Four of Bravo's Project Runway continues. On tonight's episode, the designers are challenged to do something involving seamless fashion transformations. Heh, seamless.

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.

Continue reading full story...

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 ...

Continue reading full story...

In Defense of Downton Abbey (Or, Don't Believe Everything You Read)

The proof of the pudding, as they say, is in the eating. Which means, if I can get on my soapbox for a minute, that in order to judge something, one ought to experience it first hand. One can't know how the pudding has turned out until one actually tastes it. I was asked last week--while I was on vacation with my wife--for an interview by a journalist from The Daily Mail, who got in touch to talk to me about PBS' upcoming launch of ITV's period drama Downton Abbey , which stars Hugh Bonneville, Dame Maggie Smith, Dan Stevens, Elizabeth McGovern, and a host of others. (It launches on Sunday evening as part of PBS' Masterpiece Classic ; my advance review of the first season can be read here , while my interview with Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes and stars Dan Stevens and Hugh Bonneville can be read here .) Normally, I would have refused, just based on the fact that I was traveling and wasn't working, but I love Downton Abbey and am so enchanted with the proj...

Continue reading full story...

[Televisionary]

Search This Blog