[Televisionary]

Can’t remember how Revenge, Homeland, The Good Wife , or Dexter ended? Refresh your collective memory about the cliffhangers for 27 returning shows—and previews of what’s to come. Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "Fall TV Preview: Where We Left Off," in which Maria Elena Fernandez and I refresh your memory about how 27 shows--from Revenge and Homeland to The Good Wife and Boardwalk Empire --ended last season... and offer a glimpse about what's to come. Carrie remembered stuff! Leslie was elected! Sheldon took Amy’s hand! Gloria is pregnant! Nucky whacked Jimmy! Victoria Grayson’s plane blew up! Dexter…oh, Dexter! The fall TV season is officially here, which means we can all breathe a sigh of relief and pull ourselves up from the cliff-hanging precipice. Sure, there’s a bunch of new TV shows across the dial champing at the bit for your attention. But we want to focus on your returning old favorites. What’s next on Scandal—will we find o...

Looking back, 2011 proved to be a particularly deadly one for television characters, whose bodies were stacking up even before the return of AMC’s The Walking Dead , which rather notoriously raises the body count each season. From Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones to Downton Abbey and Boardwalk Empire , TV-show creators this year proved that they were only too willing to kill off beloved characters or shock their respective audiences with deaths involving characters long believed to be “safe,” whether those were little girls, Halloween trick-or-treaters, or heroes. Safety, it seems, is an outmoded idea. Head over to The Daily Beast to read my and Maria Elena Fernandez's latest feature, "Most Memorable TV Deaths of 2011," in which we examine our choices for the most memorable TV demises this year, rounding up an unlucky 13 who left their fictional lives too soon. But beware : if you’re not up to date on the 12 shows discussed below, you’ll want to avoid reading any ...

Twitter should be a tool for audiences to interact with the talent behind their favorite shows—instead, anonymous users heap abuse onto writer-producers for ruining "their" shows. Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "Twitter's TV War," in which I speak to Community 's Dan Harmon, Bones ' Hart Hanson, and Grey Anatomy 's Shonda Rhimes about the complicated relationship between access, privacy, and angry fans on the social networking platform. I'm curious to know what your take is and whether you side with showrunners or fans. What happens when the dialogue turns ugly? Head to the comments section to discuss.

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. FX has renewed motorcycle drama Sons of Anarchy for a fourth season. Series, which wraps up its third season on November 30th, is the most-watched series in the cable network's history. " Sons of Anarchy is the most popular show FX has ever had, and the No. 1 series in basic cable for our key demographic," said FX president/general manager John Landgraf. "It is also one of the best, most original series on television." ( Variety ) Elsewhere, Syfy renewed freshman drama Haven for a second season, with thirteen episodes on tap for next summer. Production is slated to resume in the spring in Nova Scotia on the sophomore season. ( Variety ) Robert Kirkman's zombie comic, "The Walking Dead," which is heading to the small screen later this month with AMC's television series of the same name, will also be transformed into a trilogy of original novels, the first of which will be released in 2011. K...

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. Variety 's Robert Abele has a very interesting feature on the future of serialized programming, following the conclusion of Lost and 24 (and the narrative burn-out of ABC's FlashForward and NBC's Heroes ) last season. Abele talks to AOL Television's Maureen Ryan, NBC's Laura Lancaster, and The Event executive produce Evan Katz about viewer fatigue, commitment, and concerns. "Viewer trust is something you earn by delivering -- it's that simple," said Katz. "It's not easy to accomplish, but when it works, you have something big on your hands... This show is very Hitchcockian in that it's an ordinary man in extraordinary circumstances, and you experience the twists emotionally with him," said Katz. "We don't have 660 beats laid out," Katz says, "but you need to know where the characters are going, and those benchmarks are in place. The line is, mystery is good, co...

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. TV Guide Magazine 's Will Keck is reporting that Bones producers have turned lemons into lemonade with their upcoming Jersey Shore -inspired episode, following the breakdown in talks with The Situation. Instead, Bones has recruited Antonio Sabato Jr. to play a "guido bouncer at a Jersey Shore club that Brennan (Emily Deschanel) and Booth (David Boreanaz) visit to question someone involved with a murder." ( TV Guide Magazine ) Mad Men 's Sam Page is heading to the Upper East Side, according to Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello, who reports that Page has been cast in a multiple-episode story arc on the CW's Gossip Girl , where he will play a new love interest for Blake Lively's Serena. He's first expected to turn up in an episode slated to air in October. ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) The Chicago Tribune 's Maureen Ryan--soon to be AOL's chief television critic--has an ...

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. AMC has given a series order to pilot The Killing , which hails from writer/executive producer Veena Sud and Fox Television Studios and is based on Danish television series Forbrydelsen , ordering thirteen episodes which will air sometime in 2011. Series, which will star Big Love 's Mireille Enos, revolves around the murder of a young girl and a police investigation that connects several seemingly separate story threads. "We are thrilled to be moving forward with this stunning piece of television," said Joel Stillerman, AMC's senior vp of original programming, production and digital content, in a statement. "It is a crime drama, but it is also a gripping character based story that pulls you in and doesn't let go. The storytelling is completely compelling, and the show is visually breathtaking." In addition to Enos, the project--which will be renamed, sadly--also stars Billy Campbell, Michelle Forbes, ...

Just a little while after I posted my "Who's In?" post about this year's San Diego Comic-Con International (along with details of the V panel I'll be moderating), I got an email from 20th Century Fox Television in which they spill the details about the eleven series they're bringing to Comic-Con this year. Those series will include Bones, Glee, Sons of Anarchy, The Simpsons, Family Guy, Terra Nova, Futurama, The Cleveland Show, American Dad, Bob's Burgers , and Neighbors From Hell , all of which will present panels in San Diego next month. And, yes, dates and times for the above are included. Intriguingly, both Glee and Sons of Anarchy will be held on Sunday, traditionally a less hectic and relatively more quiet day of programming... while Bones will hold court on Friday afternoon in Ballroom 20 (along with Terra Nova , which is heading to the smaller Ballroom 6A). The full press release from 20th Century Fox Television can be found below. TWENTIETH C...

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello has the scoop on why Katee Sackhoff ( Battlestar Galactica, 24 ) turned down the role of Debbie Pelt on Season Three of HBO's vampire drama True Blood , a role that was later filled by The Middleman 's Brit Morgan when Sackhoff decided instead to join the cast of ABC drama pilot Boston's Finest . "I am a huge fan of True Blood ,” Sackhoff told Ausiello. "It’s a phenomenal show and [executive producer] Alan Ball is a f—ing genius. But I wanted more security than one season of something, so I rolled the dice with [ Boston's Finest ]. This entire business is about rolling the dice and hoping you made the right decision. I almost didn’t take 24 to do my own series on USA Network, and that worked out. I’m sure [Brit] is going to be fantastic [as Debbie]." ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) The Wrap's Josef Adalian takes a look at just which cast me...

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. Looks like ABC is trying to make its Lost fans even happier. The Wrap's Josef Adalian is reporting that ABC has scheduled a repeat airing of its two-hour pilot for Lost , which will air Saturday, May 22nd (from 8-10 pm ET/PT), the night before the series finale of Lost , bumping the number of hours the network is devoting to lost to ten that week. The network will be airing the enhanced (read: pop-up) version of the pilot. ( The Wrap's TVMoJoe ) In other Lost -related news, tickets go on sale today at 10 am PT for Lost Live: The Final Celebration, being held May 13th at UCLA's Royce Hall. The event will feature Michael Giacchino conducting a full orchestral performance of original music from Lost , an advance screening of the penultimate episode of Lost and appearances from cast members Nestor Carbonell, Michael Emerson, and Jorge Garcia. Tickets can be purchased here or here . (via press release) RadarOnline.com is re...

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. The Chicago Tribune 's Maureen Ryan is reporting that Paula Malcomson ( Caprica ) has been cast in an eight-episode story arc on Season Three of FX's Sons of Anarchy , where she will play a character named Maureen. Sons of Anarchy is expected to return to FX's lineup in September, with production slated to begin in roughly three weeks' time. ( Chicago Tribune 's The Watcher ) SPOILER! Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Seth Gabel ( Dirty Sexy Money ) has joined the cast of FOX's Fringe . Gabel will play the lead Fringe Division investigator in the alternate universe and is slated to make his first appearance during the season's two-part finale, airing May 13th and 20th, and could, according to Ausiello, also recur next season. ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) The second half of Maureen Ryan's mammoth interview with Chuck co-creator Chris Fedak is now live at...

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. TVGuide.com's Natalie Abrams talks to Lost executive producers/showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse about candidates, numbers, and the flash-sideways. "The concept of the candidates is really central to the final season of the show," Cuse told Abrams. "Jacob is dead so that leaves a significant problem for the people on the island. Who is destined to be the person who is protecting this place?" Lindelof went further, stating that we'll get answers in the next few weeks about why these particular people have been brought to the island. "One of the big questions of this show is: Why were these people brought to this island?" said Lindelof. "At least now we have some sense — if Jacob is responsible for bringing them there — that it has something to do with the fact that he's been observing them for quite some time. We now have information that he had this lighthouse, that he was abl...

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. On the heels of Tuesday night's second season finale, FX has ordered a third season of Kurt Sutter's biker drama Sons of Anarchy , with thirteen episodes on order for September 2010. Additionally, the cabler has signed a two-year deal with Sutter that will keep him on board Sons of Anarchy as the showrunner/executive producer. "This has been a wonderful ride and we're just getting started," said Sutter in a statement. "I'm really proud of the work by our incredible cast and crew. The response this season from the fans and critics has been terrific and I can't wait to get back to the writer's room and start on season three." (via press release) BBC One has commissioned a third season of Shine Television-produced medieval drama Merlin . "With its mix of magic, adventure and humour Merlin is perfect Saturday-evening family television, and we are thrilled that Shine Television will be c...

Ending several months of rumors, FX has now officially announced the launch dates for its returning series Sons of Anarchy, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia , and nip/tuck . Season Two of Sons of Anarchy will kick off on Tuesday, September 8th at 10 pm ET/PT. The second season of the Charlie Hunnam-led series will feature guest turns by Alan Arkin and Henry Rollins. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia returns for a fifth season of madcap adventures on Thursday, September 17th. The twelve-episode season will air Thursday nights at 10 pm ET/PT. nip/tuck returns for its sixth and penultimate season of ten episodes in October (specific date TBA). Guest stars next season will include Vanessa Redgrave, Rose McGowan, Mario Lopez, Barry Bostwick and Gilles Marini. Additionally, the network will also launch an as-yet-unannounced new comedy series as a companion to It's Always Sunny on Thursday evenings. (I'd assume, then, that the poorly-received Testees won't be back fo...