[Televisionary]

Welcome to your Wednesday television briefing. E! Online's Jennifer Godwin has a look at what lies ahead for FOX's Dollhouse as she catches up with the Joss Whedon-created series' stars to get some dirt on what's going on inside the Dollhouse next season. "They have a connection," said Tahmoh Penikett of Echo and Paul Ballard next season. "It's not a physical attraction, but I hope it's something that we explore a lot more this season. You're not quite sure what it is. There's a past, there's a history, there's an understanding between them that's very different. I think the audience is really going to like it and be really curious about where we're going in the first few episodes." As for that other would-be couple, Sierra and Victor, Enver Gjokah said, "Sierra and Victor are definitely still involved. They're going to explore that relationship more. They explore the Sierra-and-Victor love as dolls, but then...

It was inevitable that the double-life that Jackie Peyton strove so hard to create for herself would come crashing down around her eventually. And so it would appear to have done so on the gripping and profound season finale of Showtime's exquisite dark comedy Nurse Jackie ("Health Care and Cinema") as Jackie (Edie Falco) was startlingly slammed out of her reverie and into reality. Written by Liz Brixius and Linda Wallem, the season finale saw Jackie's lover Eddie (Paul Schulze) find out about her husband Kevin (Dominic Fumusa) and cause a scene at the hospital, forcing Jackie to sink lower than we've ever seen her before. Throughout the complex and lyrical first season of this unique and beautiful series, Edie Falco has brought a rich humanity to the role of the deeply flawed Jackie Peyton, a woman who tries so hard to do right by her patients but often does more harm than good to herself and those around her. It was only a matter of time before one of the men i...

It's a great day at Jeff Lewis' office. The gloves are coming off on tonight's episode of Bravo's addictive docusoap Flipping Out ("Pajamas and Other Games"), which I had a chance to watch last week. While the season premiere gave us a glimpse at what Jeff Lewis and his merry band of misfits has been up to since we last saw them in 2008 , tonight's hysterically stressed installment amps up the tension between the staffers at Jeff Lewis' office. Wondered whether Jeff's newest assistant Rachel will crack under the pressure of Jeff's frequent and extremely precise demands? You're in luck as tonight's episode features Rachel attempting to please her boss and failing miserably in the process. While the fallout doesn't quite match up to onion- and guacamole-related debacles of previous seasons, one argument does revolve once more around Baja Fresh. Two words for you: brown salsa. Meanwhile, Jeff and Jenni go on what must be one of the st...

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. MTV is developing a US adaptation of hit British teen drama series Skins , which airs on E4 and Channel 4 in the UK. Co-creator Bryan Elsley will executive produce the new version, which will be shot in Baltimore with unknown actors, with Company Pictures' Charlie Pattinson and George Faber. "It's been two years that I've been personally involved in trying to get this here to the network," MTV's SVP of series development Liz Gateley told Variety , "and I don't think I've ever had a negotiation drag out as long as this, but I knew it was something very special." Elsley will write the pilot script for the US version of Skins , which MTV has committed to filming. ( Variety ) FX has ordered a pilot script for sports drama March to Madness , about a corrupt college basketball program that manages to reach the March Madness NCAA basketball tournament through some duplicitous means. Project, writt...

"Bacchus drowns within the bowl/Troubles that corrode the soul." - Horace On this week's episode of True Blood ("New World in My View"), written by Kate Barnow and Elisabeth R. Finch and directed by Adam Davidson, homecoming proved to be an eye-opening experience for Sookie, Bill, and Jason, Jessica and Hoyt's relationship was tested by Maxine's mercilessness, and Andy and Sam attempted to evade the entire blood-thirsty population of Bon Temps. The inhabitants of Bon Temps have worked themselves into a frenzy, pushed into an ecstatic state by the malevolent Maryann; their every inhibition is stripped bare, resulting in a wave of chaos overtaking the sleepy backwoods town, a darkness that cascades over the souls of every man, woman, and child and threatens to consume them from the inside out. A vengeful god demands his sacrifice, after all, and that sacrifice just happens to be our favorite shifter Sam Merlotte. So just how did Sam manage to evade being ...

Times, they are a changing. Bob Dylan may not have wrote the lyrics to his hit song until 1964, but the words are especially apt for the goings-on at Sterling Cooper this week on Mad Men . Just a few quick words about this week's remarkable installment of Mad Men ("Love Among the Ruins"), written by Cathryn Humphris and Matthew Weiner and directed by Lesli Linka Glatter, which I thought was absolutely beautiful in its elegance and pathos. I knew that the matter of Betty's stroke-afflicted father Gene (Ryan Cutrona) would have to come back into play, likely this season but I never expected things to take such a dramatic turn, with Don confronting Betty's manipulative brother William (Eric Ladin) and forcing his hand: Gene would be installed into the Draper household, William would support him financially, and Gene's house would remain untouched. That Gene would now seem to have become a permanent fixture at the Drapers', pouring out their liquor into the s...

The BBC today unveiled a first look at animated Doctor Who adventure Dreamland , the second animated Doctor Who adventure after 2007's Doctor Who: The Infinite Quest , which finds the Doctor landing in "infamous alien hot spot" Roswell, New Mexico. The 45-minute animated Dreamland is slated to air this autumn on CBBC on BBC Two and on BBC HD channel in the United Kingdom. Doctor Who: Dreamland , written by Phil Ford ( Torchwood ) and directed by Gary Russell ( Doctor Who: The Infinite Quest ), will feature the voices of David Tennant (once more reprising his role as the Tenth Doctor before leaving the series at the end of the year), Georgia Moffet ( Spooks: Code 9, The Bill ), and David Warner ( Wallander ). But don't look for Moffet to reprise her role as the Doctor's daughter Jenny from Doctor Who . Tennant's real-life girlfriend will play Cassie Rice, a new companion for the Doctor. Project is executive produced by Russell T. Davies, Julie Gardner, and P...