[Televisionary]

In Ancient Egypt, the scarab beetle was a sacred insect. The daily behaviors of the Scarabaeus sacer were viewed as symbolic of greater issues of immortality; among them, rebirth, resurrection, and renewal. They were believed to be created out of death itself, given that the parasitic insects would lay their eggs in the bodies of hosts. Keep that in mind when watching tonight's stellar episode of Fringe ("Immortality"), written by David Wilcox and Ethan Gross and directed by Brad Anderson, which is set entirely "Over There," as we learn that fallout that has occurred in the life of their Olivia Dunham after her escape from "our" world. Revolving around a deranged scientist's quest for glory and the use of those beetles, here just as sacred to him as they were to the Egyptians, the episode raises questions of immortality. How, as humans, we're ever aware of the fragility of the mortal coil, and how we're so desperate to find a way to escape ...

"Never say you know the last word about any human heart." - Henry James Logan Mountstuart, the central character of Any Human Heart , which begins this Sunday on PBS' Masterpiece Classic , has experienced the sort of life that is overflowing with love and loss. It's a portrait of not just a life lived, but also of England in the 20th century. The three-part drama (which aired last year in the UK on Channel 4) is adapted from William Boyd's 2002 novel, "Any Human Heart: The Intimate Journals of Logan Mountstuart," and recounts the extraordinary life of the central character, played throughout his life by Sam Claflin, Matthew Macfadyen, and Jim Broadbent. Told in a non-linear fashion, we witness key moments in Logan's life: his Oxford collegiate days, the blush of first love and fatherhood, wartime encounters, romance and death, success and failure. It's the elderly Logan (Broadbent) who is sorting through the detritus of his life and, it seems, hi...

Yes, last night marked the end of Friday Night Lights and television--and perhaps the world--is a little sadder for its loss. I have two connected features over at The Daily Beast that tie into last night's series finale ("Always") of Friday Night Lights . The first is "Goodbye, Friday Night Lights ," a eulogy for the show, in which I examine the series' legacy and talk (briefly) to executive producer Jason Katims and series lead Connie Britton about the show's influence and its passing. The second is a fan-centric gallery-style feature , in which I talk to Katims and Britton about some of the more nitty-gritty aspects of the show. Just what was the deal with Hastings Ruckle? Why wasn't there a finale scene between Jason Street and Tim Riggins? Do they think the Julie/Derek storyline worked? Does Katims still stand behind Season Two's controversial Tyra/Landry plot? Was it tricky to play with the dynamic of Tami and Eric this season? How import...

"Texas Forever." Those words have been spoken quite a few times throughout the five-season run of Friday Night Lights and each time they've been said with a slightly different meaning in mind. Early on, they represented the optimism and vitality of youth, of dreams for the future that were spoken by those who had yet to learn the lesson of loss. But here, they're some of the last words spoken in the series, a statement of freedom and happiness, yes, but they've been tempered by the experiences of the last few years for Tim Riggins. It's with a great deal of emotion that we've reached the end of the road with Friday Night Lights , which wrapped up its storylines and left the door open for the viewers to imagine the future ahead for the Taylors, for Julie and Matt Saracen, for Vince and the super-team of the Panthers, for Luke and Becky, and for Tim Riggins himself, finally able to build his house on his land. The series finale of Friday Night Lights (...

Lawman Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) is back with a bang as the gripping second season of FX's taut drama series Justified kicks off tonight. In the time since we last caught up with the beleaguered Raylan, this taut series hasn't lost any of its luster or its off-kilter nature. Season Two, which launches tonight, begins with "The Moonshine War," which picks up exactly where we left off at the end of last season as Raylan, Boyd (Walton Goggins), and Ava (Joelle Carter) attempted to fend off fire from the Miami drug cartel's hitmen. The action picks up moments later to reveal just how the three manage to live to tell the tale. But rather than sweep last season's plotlines under the rug, there are consequences to the shootout in Bulletville and to Raylan professionally. Will he be held accountable for the death of Bo Crowder? Will he stay in Harlan or return to Miami? Will he choose his ex-wife Winona (Natalie Zea) or Ava? Will Boyd choose the path of vengea...

There has been a lot of discussion of late about the creative differences between broadcast and cable, between what's possible at the legacy networks and at the basic cable upstarts. This conversation can really be traced back to the launch of Shawn Ryan's The Shield in 2002. The gritty cop drama singlehandedly transformed the fortunes of basic cabler FX, establishing it as a home for thought-provoking, challenging fare. That legacy continues to this day, amid a proliferation of original programming at the basic cable networks as AMC, FX, TNT, USA, and others shake up the foundations of television, bridging the gap between the FCC-controlled broadcasters and the wild landscape of premium cable. Nearly ten years after the premiere of The Shield , creator Shawn Ryan has another cop drama in The Chicago Code , which premieres tonight. But unlike its predecessor, The Chicago Code isn't headed to cable, but rather to FOX. In doing so, Ryan offers up what's easily the best ...

We were never meant to know exactly what other people are thinking. It's a given fact that our own egos, not to mention our hearts, are saved a great deal of grief by not being able to peer into the mind of the person sitting across from us at the dinner table, or the girl at the coffee shop, or the estranged lover whose mixed signals you're desperately trying to parse. Sometimes, it's better not to know what secrets lurk inside that mind, what true thoughts they're concealing from you, and perhaps just what feelings they're struggling with. For Olivia, the opportunity to peek into Peter Bishop's mind would be a gift, to be able to separate the feelings that he claims to have for Olivia from the experiences he shared with Fauxlivia. To be able to know, in no uncertain terms, just which version of herself he cares for: the one that's quick to smile, easy with a laugh, or the real her, the one who dresses in blacks and greys, who doesn't often wear a dress...