Link Tank: TV Blog Coalition Roundup for Jan. 16-18

Televisionary is proud to be a member of the TV Blog Coalition. At the end of each week, we'll feature a roundup of content from our sister sites for your delectation.

This week, I posted an advance review of the Season Three premiere of Skins and interviewed series co-creator Jamie Brittain, posted a spoiler-free review of the season premiere of Battlestar Galactica (and then later discussed the revelations at length), reviewed the first four episodes of Season Two of Showtime's Secret Diary of a Call Girl, reviewed the first three episodes of Flight of the Conchords and interviewed the series' Kristen Schaal (a.k.a. Mel), shared an exclusive statement from Virtuality co-writer Michael Taylor about the FOX pilot project, and reviewed the third season of BBC America's Gordon Ramsay's F Word.

I also reported from the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour where ABC Entertainment President Steve McPherson didn't give us any news on when they might be airing Pushing Daisies or Dirty Sexy Money, recounted Kevin Reilly's executive Q&A and news about Prison Break ending, recounted all the news coming out of NBC's announcements (including renewals for 30 Rock and The Office and casting for Chuck), shared news about CW's planned Gossip Girl spin-off, and recapped the discussion among the creators and stars of HBO's Big Love.

And I also discussed the latest episodes of 30 Rock and The Office and Damages, reviewed the Skins Volume 1 DVD, and reacted to the Golden Globes winners and losers,

Elsewhere in the sophisticated TV-obsessed section of the blogosphere, members of the TV Blog Coalition were discussing the following items...

From the Gossip Girl spinoff to Chuck's dad to the rise of Adrianna on 90210, Buzz scooped up some news at the TCA press tour. (BuzzSugar)
Sandie watched for the first time and fell in love with The Biggest Loser. (Daemon's TV)
Scooter sits down with John Lehr to talk 10 Items of Less and what it was like to host I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! And for those that hate reading, the interview is presented in pristine video format. (Scooter McGavin's 9th Green)
Despite some flaws and some overly Diablo Cody-speak, Vance really enjoyed Toni Collette's new show The United States of Tara and can attest that the episodes get better from there. (Tapeworthy)
Marisa had long since given up on The Real World, too, but the show's new setting of Brooklyn lured her back. This week she compares the MTV BK with the real thing. (TiFaux)
Heather got to sit on a darkened screening room and watch the first two episodes of the fifth season of Lost and mighty fine she says they were, too... (TV Spy)

Comments

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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