[Televisionary]

Happy Festivus, everyone! To celebrate today (in addition to the feats of strength and airing of grievances), I rounded up the top 10 nontraditional Holiday television episodes over at The Daily Beast , from Community and Seinfeld to Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Doctor Who . (And, yes, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia 's direct-to-DVD special--which just aired on FX for the first time this month--made the list, naturally.) An aside, I could have filled the entire list with just British television shows, from The Vicar of Dibley and Doctor Who (which both made the list) to Gavin & Stacey, Blackadder, Catherine Tate, Absolutely Fabulous , and about a zillion others. But I am curious to know: what is your favorite nontraditional holiday episode/special? Putting aside the traditional Rudolph and Charlie Brown Christmas , what are some of the more out there holiday episodes or specials that add that extra spike to the eggnog? Or make that Festivus aluminum pole shine a li...

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. NBC has given a full season pickup to Knight Rider , bringing this season's total to 22 episodes despite sagging ratings . And that's all I want to say on the subject. ( E! Online ) CW has ordered a few additional scripts for freshman drama series Privileged , which has struggled to find ratings though has shown significant improvement in recent weeks (it's up 22 percent) despite softening numbers for its lead-in, 90210 . Should the trend continue, it seems fairly certain that Privileged will get a full season order. ( Hollywood Reporter ) One of my main suggestions for improving FOX's Fringe involved giving its supporting cast some real dimension , especially Jasika Nicole's Astrid Farnsworth. Nicole speaks with TV Guide and reveals in this interview that she doesn't know Astrid's backstory either, other than "Astrid majored in music" and is "really, really smart." Not quite the thr...

Good morning and welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. Like many of you out there, I'm bummed that my three-day weekend sailed by far too quickly... but am also thrilled that the fall TV season is finally upon us. Digital Spy has a roughly 90-second trailer up for Merlin , which airs on BBC One and on NBC this winter and stars Colin Morgan, Anthony Stewart Head, Michelle Ryan, Richard Wilson, Katie McGrath, Bradley James, Angel Coulby, and Santiago Cabrera. ( Digital Spy ) 90210 mania is upon us with mere hours to go before the launch of 90210 2.0, as it were. EW.com has some behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with Jennie Garth and Shannen Doherty from their recent cover shoot. ( Entertainment Weekly 's PopWatch ) Shannen Doherty, meanwhile, sat down with the Los Angeles Times for a brief interview, in which she said that the sudden goodwill being directed towards her from the public "definitely feels good" and "also feels scary." ( ...

I don't know about you, but I was unable to fall asleep last night as the series finale of Extras , Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's brilliant rumination on the fickle hand of fame, fortune, and success kept me thinking all night long. Living in Los Angeles and working in the industry, it's hard to escape the constant whiff of desperation that permeates this town. It's only fitting that the dark Extras , Gervais and Merchant's follow-up to the groundbreaking comedy The Office , would end on such a depressing note. It is, after all, the only way that the story of actor/writer Andy Millman (Ricky Gervais), dim-witted hanger-on Maggie (Ashley Jensen), and pathetic agent Darren Lamb (Stephen Merchant) can end: with more than a few cringe-inducing laughs, some raw emotion, and the potential for redemption. Over the course of twelve episodes and last night's feature-sized Extras: The Extra Special Series Finale , Gervais and Co. have given us an insightful look at...

Could the ubiquitous David and Victoria Beckham, subjects of an upcoming NBC reality special (read: backdoor pilot), turn up in the last ever episode of Extras ? British paper The Sunday Mirror has reported that the overbearing celebrity couple--who recently made the move to sunny Los Angeles so that hubby David Beckham could play for the LA Galaxy team--will play themselves in a cameo role in the Christmas special for Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's HBO/BBC series Extras . Previously announced special will mark the end of the series for Extras , much in the same way that the Christmas special of The Office served as its series finale. (Sniffle, sniffle.) The Beckhams would join George Michael, Madonna, and Clive Owen in the special, which will be written by Gervais and Merchant. "Ricky is over the moon after getting confirmation from David and Victoria," an unnamed source told the Mirror . "He's still discussing how the Beckhams will appear, but they have...

It had to happen sooner or later. Despite the fact that I've enjoyed every single second of Extras , Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's follow up to The Office , I've always known that like its predecessor, this would not be a long running show. The Office lasted 12 episodes and was wrapped up with a two-part special that tied up all of its loose ends, particularly the romance between Tim and Dawn. So I was curious to see what would happen if Gervais and Merchant actually created a third season of a show. But at the same time I knew the likelihood of Extras coming back for a third season (and outliving, as it were, The Office ) was slim to none. Sadly, we'll never know what a long-running Gervais and Merchant comedy would look like. The writing/producing/starring twosome have opted not to continue Extras , after all. Like The Office , the series will end with a special. That special, unfortunately, doesn't have a date or casting in place. A spokesperson for the...

Seriously, last night's episode of Extras may have been the most painfully funny episode of television since the original run of Ricky Gervais' The Office ... with an emphasis on the painful part of that equation. So, what new embarrassments did last night's episode, the fifth in the second season, bring us? There was the impromptu appearance of a former classmate of Andy's (played by guest star Jonathan Cake) who was blessed with the uncanny ability to chat up any woman effortlessly, leading Andy to try to steal his routine, involving the casual tossing and opening of a water bottle. Which would have been fine except for the fact that the bottle Andy grabbed was sparking water. The damned thing explodes in his hands and he stupidly, inanely, shoves the thing in his mouth. Yep, Andy, I am sure that woman will never forget you. Meanwhile, Andy's hit BBC1 sitcom When the Whistle Blows continues its assault on the intelligence of Britons and he's taken to task by...

I always get depressed when there's a series that I love watching that no one seems to talk about (or, hell, watch at all). In this case, I'm talking about the second season of Ricky Gervais' follow-up to The Office , the mordantly hilarious comedy Extras , which recently launched on HBO. Quick recap time: Gervais plays Andy Millman, a hapless extra, er, background artist who has been slaving away in obscurity for years and years with little hope of escaping a mindless life of drudgery and anonymity. (Hmmm, sounds like David Brent.) He's got a useless, boorish agent (played to great comic effect by co-creator Stephen Merchant, reunited here with his Office mate), no love life to speak of, and constant companion in his friend, the cute but clueless Maggie (played by Ashley Jensen, who has cleaned up and gone all glam as Christina on Ugly Betty .) The second season has brought Andy a modicum of success in the form of a BBC workplace sitcom called When the Whistle Blows ....