[Televisionary]

Showtime's new comedy series, Tracey Ullman's State of the Union may not launch for over another month, but that doesn't mean you can't celebrate Presidents' Day in style with the reigning British Queen of Comedy. To that end, a sneak peek at Ullman's new sketch comedy, in which she tackles the state of America, Dina Lohan, Suzanne Sommers, and a cast of hundreds in her own inimitable way. Tracey Ullman's State of the Union launches March 30th on Showtime.

Did you take a break from your three-day weekend festivities to tune into NBC's two-hour backdoor pilot for Knight Rider ? Were you as bored to tears as I was? Did you valiantly fight against the embrace of sleep? Did you think that lead Justin Bruening (as the spawn of Michael Knight himself, Mike Tracer) was so wooden that he made a redwood look positively animated by comparison and that he and Deanna Russo had no chemistry together whatsoever ? And were you so disappointed by a lifeless Val Kilmer as artificially intelligent car KITT that you (A) wished you could have gotten to hear Will Arnett channel GOB Bluth and purr "Michael" in his gravely voice and (B) hoped Arnett knew how very lucky he was to escape this showcase of mediocrity from director Steve Shill? (Still you know that Silverman will be so chuffed with the numbers from last night that he's just itching to hand out a series order as quickly as possible.) Talk back here.

What a difference a week makes. Last Monday, I was on pins and needles about whether the WGA membership would vote in favor of lifting the strike and getting back to work. The past week, however, has been a flurry of activity as studios and networks began taking stock of their current series, ordering second seasons for many freshman dramas, ordering additional episodes of current hits, and looking towards the 2008-09 season and seeing just how many pilot projects could be recovered in time for the upfronts in May. The very first post-strike sale was announced this weekend: ABC has picked up an untitled multi-cam comedy pilot from Will & Grace creators David Kohan and Max Mutchnick, from studio Warner Bros. Television. Project, which had been written on spec before the strike, revolves around two best friends and business partners--one who is straight, the other who is gay--who both end up landing significant others at the same time. This untitled comedy pilot about a pair of gay ...

What. The. Hell? Lost is back, baby, and it has sucked me into its twisted web of storytelling with a lure that no other series can approach. Last night's episode of Lost ("The Economist") was a single hour of bait-and-switches, double-crosses, and wha-huh? moments unlike anything else on television, as we learned the identity of another member of the vaunted Oceanic Six and came face to face with one of the most shocking, unexpected endings in the history of the series. Where to begin? For one, I did not expect that Sayid would be one of the six castaways to make it off the island nor did I expect him to draw his gun and shoot the mysterious Mr. Avellino on the golf course. (Which is what makes Lost so fantastic: the fact that it always manages to surprise with every turn.) And while I knew logically that this was a flash-forward I was still nonetheless surprised to hear Sayid so casually (and yet precisely) mention his status as one of the Oceanic Six. Right before h...

I had a feeling, even after Heidi made a point of saying that two designers would be auf 'd this week, that there would be four contestants making it to the final rounds. And, before you ask, yes, I've managed to avoid all spoilers about the season finale, New York Fashion Week, or anything else relating to this addictive series. On this week's episode of Project Runway ("The Art of Fashion"), the series' producers made up for their "quirky" challenges involving product placement, trash, or chocolate and gave the designers creative carte blanche when tasked with using a piece of art from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art (easily one of my favorite places in the world) as the inspiration for a garment. It was a dynamic challenge and one that I hoped would invigorate these designs and spur their designers to greater heights than we've seen so far. Christian won this challenge hands down. There wasn't a shadow of a doubt in my mind that...

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 prod...

If there's been one series that I've been dying to see since I first heard about it, it would be the BBC's Ashes to Ashes , a spin-off from its groundbreaking drama Life on Mars , which launched last week to about 7 million viewers in the UK. Sadly, it's going to be a long time until US audiences can catch the further story of DCI Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister), here partnered with tough 21st century profiler Alex Drake (Keeley Hawes), as BBC America, home to Life on Mars in the States, has yet to acquire Ashes to Ashes and has no air date for it. But television waits for no man and, fortunately for this TV devotee, I was able to get my hands on the superlative premiere episode of Ashes to Ashes just days after its UK premiere. So was the wait worth it to find out just what happened to Life on Mars' Sam Tyler (John Simm)? And just what is this series about? Let's discuss. Ashes to Ashes not only lives up to its pre-launch hype and the promise of Life on Mars ...