Spring into Fall: NBC Renews "Chuck," "Life," and "Heroes"

Good news, bad news for Chuck fans: the series will be returning to NBC, just not as early as those promos would have you believe.

NBC picked up second seasons of freshman dramas Chuck and Life, along with a third-season order for drama Heroes, but has no plans to return either series to their schedule before this fall. All three will have major re-launches next season.

Which means those of us hooked on the adventures of Chuck Bartowski and his gang of spies and retail clerks will have to wait quite a while for fresh installments.

"We are thrilled to be bringing back the high-energy dramas Chuck and Life for next season," said NBC Entertainment Co-Chairman Ben Silverman in a statement. "Additionally, we will be saving and re-launching our #1 drama and most successful franchise, Heroes, so that it will run in all original episodes in the fourth quarter."

"These pickups are a sign of our confidence in these quality series and will allow the respective producers to get a head start on their creative arc for next season," continued Co-Chairman Marc Graboff. "As a result, they give us a lot to build on as we point to next year's schedule."

While I am happy that Chuck didn't get a premature cancellation in the face of fallout from the writers strike, I was hoping to get my Monday night fix a little earlier than, say, September. Still, good news for the kids at the Buy More. I think it might just call for sizzling shrimp for everyone.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Survivor: Micronesia--Fans Vs. Favorites (CBS); Deal or No Deal (NBC); Smallville (CW); Lost (ABC); NAACP Image Awards (FOX; 8-10 pm)

9 pm: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS); Celebrity Apprentice (NBC); Supernatural (CW); Lost (ABC)

10 pm: Without a Trace (CBS); Lipstick Jungle (NBC); Eli Stone (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

8 pm: Lost.

Missed last week's episode which introduced four new strangers to the island? Here's your chance to catch it again before this season's third episode at 9 pm!

8 pm: Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares on BBC America.

Season Four of the original UK Kitchen Nightmares begins tonight. On this week's installment ("The Fish & Anchor"), Gordon Ramsay heads to rural Wales where he encounters a bar and restaurant owned by a former boxer and his combative wife. Can he save this sinking place before the owners end up in yet another row with the customers? And is it worth it? Find out tonight. (A hint to those with some major DVR conflicts: the episode also airs at 5 pm and 10 pm PT AND at 11 pm ET.)

9 pm: Lost.

On tonight's episode ("The Economist"), Kate and Sayid attempt to find Locke and negotiate with him into calling a truce when they learn that Charlotte may be the key to getting off of the island.

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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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...

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