I had intended to “live-blog” the Oscars last night, but technical difficulties totally cock-blocked that idea. So instead I’m “live-plus-same-day-blogging” it, to borrow a Nielsen term. I was very excited to see this year’s broadcast because it seemed to have a lot more hype and energy than broadcasts past—and because director/choreographer/SYTYCD-judge Adam Shankman was producing. But it didn’t seem outstanding to me—just ordinary. I’ll explain:

• Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin were good hosts, but the jokes weren’t as hilarious as I was expecting. And their opening monologue was upstaged by Neil Patrick Harris’s song-and-dance. Next year, I vote Ricky Gervais. Or, for that matter, Tina Fey and Robert Downey, Jr.
• I’m glad the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers were featured during the Best Score pastiche, but their performance was shot as such a distance that it wasn’t as hard-hitting as it could have been. The cameras should have been right in the thick of it. Hey, where’s that 3-D TV technology when you need it?
• The “In Memoriam” montage (or, as my roommate dubbed it, the Death Reel) was reverent and respectful, but it seemed short. I wonder how they determine who gets featured, especially considering Bea Arthur and Farrah Fawcett were left out. Yes, those two actresses are known for their television work, but both also did films. If the King of Pop was included, they should have been, too.
• Also, not that I minded, but why did late director John Hughes get singled out? Has that happened before for someone who wasn’t receiving an Oscar?
• A showcase like that typically introduces the Honorary Award, but that particular trophy wasn’t even handed out during the ceremony this year, maybe because the segment is perceived as being boring to younger viewers. Along the same lines, there was no address from the Academy president this year.
• Like most everyone else, I think that expanding the field of nominees to ten is a cheap ploy to get viewers, but I can’t fault the Academy for it. They have to do what they have to do to stay culturally relevant and alluring. And it apparently worked out, with this year’s broadcast being the most-watched Oscar night in five years.
• There were no real upsets, except for perhaps The Hurt Locker beating Avatar. That seemed to be the only neck-and-neck race in the big awards. Good thing it was presented last!
• Incidentally, If you’re wondering what was up with that woman “pulling a Kanye” during the Best Documentary Short Subject acceptance speech, Salon has the skinny.

Lordy lordy, do I have a ton of news items to share. Let’s waste no time:

• Most excitingly, William Keck at TV Guide reports that Terry O’Quinn (Lost’s Locke) is pitching a series in which he and Michael Emerson (Ben) star as “suburban hit men juggling family issues.” My buddy Andy says he might not be able to see these Emmy-winners as anything other than their iconic Lost personas, but I think that we’ll eventually get accustomed to them portraying different characters. Eventually.
• And speaking of shedding past roles, SCI FI Wire tells us that James Callis (Battlestar Galactica’s Gaius Baltar) has joined the cast of FlashForward and will appear in this season’s last handful of episodes. The fate-defying drama returns March 18 for an uninterrupted run of 13 installments.
• Nip/Tuck’s series finale airs on Wednesday, which means I really have to make haste to catch up. (I’m not sorry it’s leaving the airwaves, though—I loved it a few seasons ago, it’s past its expiration date now.)
• A Washington middle-schooler was given detention for what, to my mind, was a pretty well-placed utterance of The Office’s catchphrase “That’s what she said.”
• FOX’s Past Life, a show which looked terrible just from the previews (and also bumped Fringe off the air for a while), has been axed after three episodes. But series lead Kelli Giddish, who was apparently one of the show’s redeeming qualities, was promptly hired for Jerry Bruckheimer’s U.S. Marshall pilot for NBC, Chase. What with a show premiere, a show cancellation, and a new job, it has been a climactic February for her.
• E! Online revealed that Ellie Kemper, a.k.a. new hire Erin on The Office, was a student at a St. Louis High School where her drama teacher was none other than Mad Men’s Jon Hamm. She said: ”He taught me drama work, mostly improvisation, which I did a lot of in college and in New York. It’s my favorite thing to do.” And he said: “It’s really cool to see [former students] blossom and find their own way in.”
• BuddyTV has a list of five reasons why Heroes should be cancelled, including a pretty damning line graph of the show’s bombing ratings. I agree with most of the reasons, but the last reason is that cancellation is the only way to avoid disappointment. I think it’s too late for that. It’s already disappointing, considering how the show squandered the promise it held during its first season. I’m way behind on the show and unsure whether to even continue. In related news, star Adrian Pasdar was charged with DUI this month.
• Remember when I told you that NBC’s Trauma had been cancelled? It lives! To help fill the void left in the wake of the Jay Leno failure, NBC has resurrected the show. If you’re interested, it returns on March 8.
• Speaking of Leno, he returns to The Tonight Show next Monday, using a renovated version of his set for The Jay Leno Show (and not the impressive Tonight set that Conan used). As strong as my distaste for Leno is, I’ll watch to see his Olympic guests: Lindsey Vonn on Monday, Shaun White on Tuesday, and Apolo Ohno on Wednesday.
• More movie stars are migrating to TV. Matthew Broderick will star in NBC comedy Beach Lane, in which he’ll play an author hired to work for a Hamptons newspaper. (Promisingly, Lorne Michaels is producing.) And Virginia Madsen (Sideways) will lead ABC’s comedic drama Scoundrels, in which she’ll play a mother in a family of crooks who decide to live a life of lawfulness. Based on the New Zealand show Outrageous Fortune, the adaptation was developed a couple of seasons ago under the name Good Behavior with Catherine O’Hara and Kristen Bell attached.
• The fifth season of Friday Night Lights will be its last. But the fourth season hasn’t even aired on NBC yet—only on DirecTV. So Dillon devotees still have two seasons to enjoy before the show bows out.
• Longtime Top Chef judge Gail Simmons—who also works for Food & Wine—will be the host of spin-off Top Chef: Just Desserts.
• NBC’s version of BBC hit Prime Suspect is on hold while the network searches for a suitable star. Considering the original star was Helen Mirren, that’s a tall order.
• Also, director Roland Emmerich says that 2013, his follow-up to blockbuster disaster flick 2012, isn’t likely to make it to air because of budget constraints. Even though the movie was terrible (or so-terrible-it’s-actually-awesome), the series sounded interesting. It would have focused on the efforts to rebuild a human civilization in Africa. I mentioned last post how much I appreciate it when shows film on location, and it would have been awesome for an American series to have been filmed in Africa. (That’s part of the reason why the TV movie 24: Redemption was so effective for me.)
• Speaking of 24 (and boy, do I love smooth segues!), the feature film is apparently back on. Screenwriter Billy Ray—who wrote State of Play and Shattered Glass—will take Jack Bauer to London. But the timing of the production depends on whether or not the TV series gets another season, which FOX has yet to determine.
• To the surprise of just about no one, Charlie Sheen is back in rehab, so you Two and Half Men might be out of luck later this season if CBS runs out of episodes to air.
• PBS and BBC are planning another Sherlock Holmes series with Benedict Cumberbatch (Atonement) as the deerstalker-wearing detective. And, in what I consider inspired casting, Martin Freeman (who had the “Jim” role of Tim in the U.K. version of The Office) will co-star as Watson.
• Happily, First Lady Michelle Obama invited the cast of Glee to perform at the White House for the White House Easter Egg Roll on April 5, and the producers of the show shuffled up the show’s filming schedule to accommodate her request. As Lea Michele belted out during her bravura “Maybe This Time” duet with Kristin Chenoweth, “It’s gonna happen!”
• And finally, to honor the Olympics (or, more specifically, the television coverage of same), here is an amazing photo of Bob Costas atop a stuffed moose with Stephen Colbert looking on.

‘Tis the season for development, and Lynette Rice at EW.com has released a list of the pilots the broadcast networks are considering. (Bear in mind that only a fraction of these shows will make it to the airwaves.) After perusing the list, I’ve reached the following conclusions:

• The public’s desire for shows about cops, doctors, and lawyers is still insatiable. By my count, 25 of the pilots are about these three professions. But some of these procedurals might be worth watching because of the attached talent: Forest Whitaker is heading up CBS’s Criminal Minds spin-off, NBC is pursuing Julianne Moore for their adaptation of BBC’s Prime Suspect, and Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica, 24) will star in a yet-to-be-titled detective series.
• Multi-camera comedies are coming in droves. If the term “multi-camera” doesn’t ring a bell, it refers to the traditional type of sitcom with live (or implied) audiences, three-sided sets, and cue cards. Seinfeld is a multi-camera comedy, whereas 30 Rock is a single-camera one. After the critical success of 30 Rock, there was high demand for single-camera comedies, but now it looks like the trend is reversing, probably because multi-camera ones are cheaper to produce. The multis on the development slate outnumber the singles 21 to 12. This disappoints me. I have a knee-jerk disgust to the very word “multi-camera.” I don’t like for the canned laughter, the fake-looking sets, the bland lighting, and—often times—the type of comedy itself. I know good work is being done on sitcoms like How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory, but I just haven’t been able to get into them. I’m not even making much headway on Seinfeld.
• The remake fever might not be a the pitch it was a couple of seasons ago, but we still have a few. CBS is updating Hawaii Five-O with Lost’s Daniel Dae Kim and Moonlight’s Alex O’Loughlin. NBC is taking another stab at The Rockford Files, this time under the direction of David Shore (House). And, interestingly, the CW is producing Nikita, an adaptation of La Femme Nikita.
• Spies and the CIA are once again in vogue. Now this is a trend I can get behind, mainly due to my undying love for Alias. All of the espionage series on the slate sound intriguing. CBS’s Chaos has Freddy Rodriguez heading up a “ragtag group of CIA operatives ensnared by backstabbing and bureaucratic snafus.” Fox’s The Station is a single-camera (huzzah!) comedy focusing on a “covert CIA operative and his work buddies embedded in South America.” Even the CW is getting in on the action with Nomads, a drama about “free-spirited” backpackers who carry out CIA missions around the world. But the pilot that I’m most excited about bar none is Undercovers, an NBC drama about married spies who pulled back into service. Why am I pumped? It’s created by my hero, god-among-men J.J. Abrams.
• Remember the 2005-2006 season when everyone wanted a piece of delicious Lost pie? Now everyone seemingly wants to replicate the critical and commercial success of Modern Family. ABC’s It Takes a Village and NBC’s Perfect Couples and Love Bites are all about various couples and their various intersections and intertwinings. I’m thanking God that Love Bites isn’t the name of another vampire series.
• I kind of miss the Lost knock-off trend, though. I want more heavily-serialized stuff, like this season’s intriguingV and FlashForward. There’s only one enigmatic-sounding pilot on the list, NBC’s The Event, a “thriller about a regular Joe caught up in a large conspiracy.”
• We may have dodged a bullet on Love Bites, but terrible names abound elsewhere. Some names are yawningly on-the-nose (Friends with Benefits), some are pun-ishing (Strange Brew—a brewery comedy), some have unfortunate connotations (The Wyoming Project, which brings to mind The Laramie Project), and some are just bizarre (Edgar Floats—a type of inner tube or a soda-fountain treat?). The worst one, however, is The Quinn-Tuplets. Naming characters to serve a pun in the title is a practice that needs to end. I’m still not convinced that Meredith Grey was so-named before the show was christened Grey’s Anatomy.
• Shonda Rhimes’ new show Off the Map is, once again, about doctors (presumably) in love. Okay, Shonda, you have a formula that works—I understand. But what’s neato about this ABC pilot is that it’s being filmed in Puerto Rico. As much as I love Los Angeles, New York City, and Vancouver (woohoo!), I appreciate when a show is filmed in the actual place (like Breaking Bad, which is filmed in New Mexico) or a reasonable stand-in (like Lost and Hawaii).
• There are two dramas about superheroes, NBC’s The Cape and ABC’s No Ordinary Family, the latter of which marks the small-screen return of The Shield’s Michael Chiklis.
• The rotten banana of the bunch seems to be Chuck Lorre’s latest sitcom for CBS, Mike and Molly, about “a couple that overeats.” If that right there is the punchline for the whole show, it sounds abysmally bad. As much as Eddie Murphy might disagree with me, obesity isn’t that funny, especially in today’s America.
• But on the other end of spectrum are pilots that seem quite promising. Reno 911! creators and Night at the Museum scribes Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant are producing a sitcom for NBC about a ex-child star who opens a bar in Vegas. ABC has a drama pilot in the works called Matadors, which centers on two feuding Chicago families and stars David Strathairn (of Good Night, and Good Luck fame). And the Alphabet Network is also developing a comedy called Mr. Sunshine starring Matthew Perry as a “self-absorbed manager of a sport arena” and co-starring Allison Janney. (Both of those stars previously guest-starred on each other’s Aaron Sorkin show, Perry on Janney’s The West Wing, and Janney or Perry’s Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.)

Of course, everything is subject to change before May, when the networks present the shows that survive this phase to the advertisers at their “upfront” events. That’s when all this speculation will end, and hopefully by then the wheat will be separated from the (ahem, Mike and Molly) chaff.

Hi, my name’s Dan, and I’m a spoileraholic. (“Hi, Dan.”) Or, at least, I used to be. What is it about television spoilers that are so damn alluring, anyway? I’ve never skipped to the end of a novel to read how it ends. I’ve never looked up the ending to a movies. But TV spoilers have been too tempting to resist. I guess my compulsion to read spoilers was half impatience and half a desire to be “in the know.” I always justified it by saying that it’s not the destination that matters, it’s the journey. But with so many shows these days (like those that are heavily serialized) those “destinations” are monumental and are just as important as the “journeys.” I can appreciate that now. I’m always pleased when I watch a huge, unforeseen twist play out. I like the surprise.

Though I’m pretty much sober now, I still read some spoilers now and again. I never hunt them out, but if I see a spoiler alert in a review or preview, I might disregard it if it’s a show that I’m not obsessive about. But even with shows that I am obsessive about, I still happen across spoilers through other blogs and Twitter feeds. It’s an inevitability when you stay on top of television news while being a few episodes behind on a certain show (which I perenially am for almost every show). And friends of mine happen upon spoilers inadvertently, too. As my friend Omid was catching up on Lost, a blurb on iTunes gave away the identities of the Oceanic Six. Bummer.

But is iTunes to blame there? That question segues into a debate that television critics always have with their readers: what is the statute of limitations on spoilers? In other words, how long after a TV show reveals a twist can someone discuss it? I posit that eventually the onus of avoiding spoilers has to be placed on the reader. The reader should know when a discussion is veering toward a potential spoiler and stop reading. This also calls for some prudence on the part of the critic: no non-sequitor spoilers! You can’t just blurt out how The Sopranos ends (unless everyone knows by now). You have to ease into it. But yes, after a certain amount of time—which depends on the popularity of the show and the mindblowingness of the twist—critics should declare it safe to talk about. And blissfully-ignorant readers should always read with caution.

But what about the people whose appetite for spoilers knows no bounds? How to best satisfy them? There will always be spoiler sites out there because there will always be chatty insiders. (Loose lips sink ships… and sometimes storylines.) How do writers and producers thwart their efforts? Because writers never want their stories spoiled, as far as I can tell. I’ve never known a showrunner to say, “Sure, Internet, I’ll tell you how this season ends.” So they resort to radio silence and sometimes even subterfuge, and they tell their actors to do the same. Some people, like Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice boss Shonda Rhimes, even dole out lesser spoilers to avoid talking about the twists that really matter. But try as writers and producers might, information will always leak out. No production is an island… not even those that take place on an island.

I understand the appeal. I understand the addiction. But I have learned to stop ferreting and love the suspense. To go with the flow. To watch the show as it was meant to be watched. And I feel good about it. There will always be spoilers, and spoiler hounds, but consider me a newly-minted spoilerphobe.

Grant me the serenity to accept the spoilers I cannot un-know,
the courage to go with the unspoiled flow, and
the wisdom to know to do so!

• In today’s biggest news, ABC has announced that this season would be Ugly Betty’s last. This is truly a loss. Ugly Betty was not only savvy and sharp, not only funny and endearing, but also insightful and surprisingly ponderous. Plus, it featured Latinos in lead roles and won both GLAAD and Peabody Awards. Luckily, the producers will have a chance to give the show closure: the current season will run for 20 episodes.
• So as not to be too bummed, enjoy this clip I just saw today: a woman guessing a spectacularly-wrong guess on Wheel of Fortune. Interestingly, The New York Times website ran pieces on both her and her fellow contestant. The woman is philosophical about it, and rightly so. Flubs happen to the best of us.
• ABC wants to keep the Lost franchise going after the landmark series bows out in May, Variety reports. I’m very skeptical about this notion. Let the end be the end. And if it absolutely has to happen, let it happen 30 years from now. (After all, rebooting a franchise 30 years later seems to be all the rage right now.)
• Joss Whedon is in meetings with FX president John Landgraf. I think cable is where he belongs, a place where his high-concept shows have a place to flourish instead of being unceremoniously dumped.
• Researchers in Australia have concluded that those who watch four or more hours of television each day run a 46% higher chance of dying from “all causes.” Gulp!
• One of the central couples of Brothers & Sisters [spoiler alert!] will be exiting stage right. Rob Lowe has already decided to leave the program citing marginalization, and Calista Flockhart will only appear in some of next season’s episodes.
• Forest Whitaker (of The Last King of Scotland fame) will headline the Criminal Minds spin-off.  I hope this means that more laudable movie stars are transitioning to the small screen and not that Whitaker feels like he has to slum it.
• The Hollywood Reporter has a preview for Matt LeBlanc’s new Showtime series Episodes, a comedy in which he plays himself appearing in a show about a producing couple who adapt a hit British show for the American screens. That’s right: it’s a show-within-a-show-within-a-show.
• If you’re sweating about keeping up to speed on Lost for Tuesday’s premiere, you have a few options.  You can either watch every episode on Hulu (about 25 episodes per day!), watch the recap which will air before the premiere, or watch this YouTube clip which endeavors to recap the past five seasons in 8 minutes and 15 seconds.
• TV Squad has unearthed a preview for a failed pilot from 1990 that looks patently awful.  In Poochinski, a cop dies and is resurrected as a crime-fighting dog.  Oh, but the announcer calls it touching, poignant, and unforgettable—therefore, it must be so.

1. Breaking Bad
2. Mad Men
3. Lost
4. Battlestar Galactica
5. 30 Rock
6. True Blood
7. Modern Family
8. Fringe
9. Glee
10. Dollhouse

Aloha, dear TV junkies.  I may be on vacation, but thanks to some coffeshop wi-fi, I’m still able to update this here blog with cinnamon-bun-sticky fingers.  Surely you didn’t think I’d forgotten about honoring the best small-screen moments of 2009!  Listed below are my favorite episodes across the airwaves from all of last year.  Is the list comprehensive?  Maybe not.  Does the order tend to be arbitrary?  Perhaps.  But still, I believe this to be a pretty good representation of 2009’s highlights.  Writers and directors of the below episodes, I raise my iced-coffee cup to you.

1. Battlestar Galactica “Daybreak, Part 2″  No matter if you loved the end or hated it, the final two hours of this show boldly went where no show has gone before. A catastrophic first hour was followed by a contemplative second. The epic space saga went out with a bang and then a whisper.
2. Mad Men “Shut the Door, Have a Seat”  After an intense season of smoldering interpersonal drama, this episode was one of the most light-hearted and cathartic. In the vaguest terms I can use, Don closed some doors and opened others. He reinvented himself, and the show was reborn anew.
3. Breaking Bad “Phoenix”  Often the penultimate episode of a season is just as climactic as the finale, as proven by Breaking Bad. Without spoiling anything, it was Walter White’s inaction during a gut-wrenching dilemma that made this episode so powerful.
4. Glee “Sectionals”  Between Mercedes’s powerful “And I Am Telling You” rendition, Rachel’s “Don’t Rain on My Parade” showstopper, and the club’s “My Life Would Suck Without You” dedication, the musical numbers in this fall finale were brilliant enough to tide us over until the show’s return in spring.
5. 30 Rock “Apollo, Apollo”  It’s hard to top Jack Donaghy’s excitement-puking and Kenneth’s Muppet-vision, but what made this episode the best of its season was the Polish singles’ line commercial that a young Liz Lemon debased herself by appearing in. Remember, just call 1-800-OKFACE.
6. Dollhouse “Omega”  After the startling return of rogue-doll Alpha at the end of the preceding episode, this episode shows the making (read: programming) of a maniac. The Dollhouse made its bed, and now it might have to die in it!
7. Breaking Bad “Negro y Azul”  Any episode that starts with a mariachi band and ends with an exploding turtle surely deserves a spot high on this list.
8. Lost “Dead is Dead”  It’s Judgment Day for the conniving Benjamin Linus as “the Island” takes him on a painful trip down memory lane. By the end, his relinquishing of power leaves him impotent… and dangerously desperate.
9. Glee “Pilot”  FOX was so excited about this episode, the network aired it four months before the series even started. With the well-crafted song-and-dance numbers, the satirical commentary on the high school food chain, and the hilarious immaturity of the show’s adult characters, I could not stop believing that Glee would be a hit.
10. Grey’s Anatomy “Here’s to Future Days/Now or Never”  This show may be showing its age, but watching the end of this fifth-season finale was tantamount to mainlining adrenaline when the identity of the heroic (and doomed) John Doe was realized.
11. Californication “The Apartment”  A day of reckoning comes for Hank Moody when all the major players in his life coincidentally convene under one roof. In true farce-like fashion, he scrambles to accommodate his girlfriend, his mistresses, his mistress’s husband, his daughter, his best friend, a few random prostitutes, and Rick Springfield, all the while trying to keep his indiscretions under wraps.
12. Modern Family “Pilot”  The premise is simplistic—the daily travails of three families that are “nuclear” for the new millennium—but the writing and acting is refined. Oh, and the show happens to be hilarious. With this episode alone, this show skyrocketed to the elite of half-hour comedies.
13. So You Think You Can Dance “Top 20 Showcase”  This was an episode without missteps—just the top twenty competitors dancing in their own genres, resulting in routines that were almost unmatched by the rest of the season. (Almost.) What was otherwise a filler episode turned into the best hour of the season.
14. Fringe “There’s More Than One of Everything”  John Noble’s most impressive acting came when his character revisited the memories of a beach house with his son. And the alternate-reality story thread tangles as Olivia finds herself in the most improbable of locations in the ballsy cliffhanger.
15. Lost “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham”  At last, we discover how He Who Shall Be Named Jeremy Bentham died. Frustrated by his failure to get the gang back together and feeling spurned by destiny, he decides to take his own life. But his real cause of death, which we find out minutes later, is even darker.
16. Parks and Recreation “Beauty Pageant”  One of the first episodes of the season, this installment solidified Parks and Recreation’s status as suddenly brilliant. Example Leslie Knope line: “This [mural] depicts a famous fight between Reverend Bradley and Anna Beth Stevenson, widowed mother of seven. The original title of this was ‘A Lively Fisting.’ But, you know, they had to change it… for obvious reasons.”
17. Damages “Trust Me”  Flash-forwards as a narrative technique are a hot ticket right now, but Damages uses them in a brilliantly manipulative way, revealing a little more of certain scenes in each episode. And in “Trust Me,” all the cards are laid out in this punch-out ending to a gripping season.
18. True Blood “I Will Rise Up”  It started with an act of terrorism perpetrated by humans and ended with an act of tenderness by a human—Sookie Stackhouse—surprising the millennia-old Godric, who had seen the worst of our race’s behavior in his lifetime. Plus, this episode featured another dialogue gem from Lafayette: “I don’t know what you is, but I’m feelin’ you, and you a soulless bitch.”
19. Top Chef “Finale, Part 1″  No matter what you thought of this season’s winner (or even the order of the runners-up), all Top Chef viewers could agree that Keven, Jennifer, and the Voltaggios were the four best contenstants. And to see them duke it out in Napa Valley (aboard a moving train, no less) was a treat.
20. Lie to Me “The Core of It”  Like Parks and Recreation, this procedural drama also came back from its hiatus creatively reinvigorated. In this episode, Cal Lightman and his group have to contend with a murder witness with multiple personalities. Not only do they have to figure out which of her multiple personalities saw the crime, but they also have to find a way to trigger that personality. Guest star Erika Christiansen is scary-good as Sophie/Trisha/Jessie/RJ.

1. Sue Sylvester (Glee) When Sue swaggers onscreen in one of her splashy tracksuits, you know that she’s say something both wildly inappropriate and gut-bustingly funny. The malicious comments she deploys in her jihad against McKinley High’s glee club almost makes you root for her. Played by Jane Lynch.
2. Ron Swanson (Parks and Recreation) The reluctant supervisor of Pawnee’s parks department had a breakout season that had him facing off with his domineering ex, presiding over the breakfast buffet at a strip club, enjoying a shoe-shining a bit too much, and having his scalp leaded with buckshot. Played by Nick Offerman.
3. Walter Bishop (Fringe) Last season, we saw the charming kookiness behind Walter’s mad-scientist-ness.  Now we’re seeing the vulnerability behind that charming kookiness. What layer will be unearthed next? Played by John Noble.
4. Starbuck (Battlestar Galactica) Love her or hate her, you have to acknowledge that Starbuck’s so-called destiny directly influenced the fate of humankind… in a way that’s very open to interpretation. Played by Katee Sackhoff.
5. Manny Delgado (Modern Family) One of the youngest and yet most mature members of the Pritchett clan, Manny is wise beyond his years—and quite the fencer, too. Played by Rico Rodriguez.
6. Benjamin Linus (Lost) In a show that specializes in shades of gray, it’s no surprise that Ben isn’t relentlessly villainous. We’ve seen glimpses of his humanity. But just before we start to like him, he does something like staging a character’s suicide—and we’re reminded of how much we hate him (and love to hate him). Played by Michael Emerson.
7. Arizona Robbins (Grey’s Anatomy) She’s often viewed as the happy-go-lucky pediatrics doc, but between her anguish over little Wallace and her blurting out “I love you” to Callie in the episode “Invest in Love,” she won me over. Played by Jessica Capshaw.
8. Troy/Abed (Community) Some of the funniest moments of Community came in the final minute of each episode when the credits were rolling—an end tag that became the Troy and Abed Show after the hilarious Spanish 101 rap (a.k.a. “La Biblioteca”). Community has been uneven so far, but Troy and Abed represent reliable comedy. Comedy you can believe in! Played by Danny Pudi and Donald Glover, respectively.
9. Saul Tigh (Battlestar Galactica) For reasons too spoilery to reveal here, ole One Eye Tigh had some of the most tumultuous internal conflict in Battlestar’s final season. Let’s just say that he found himself intimately associated with those who were once his enemies. Played by Michael Hogan.
10. Jenna Maroney (30 Rock) Ditzy fame-whore Jenna is everything that Liz Lemon isn’t, but just as much of a dysfunctional human. Her constant oversharing gives us mere glimpses into her bizarre life. (For example: “The reason I speak with a slight English inflection in my voice is because I lost my virginity to the My Fair Lady soundtrack.”) Played by Jane Krakowski.
11. Lester Patel (Chuck) Lester went from neurotic tech nerd to neurotic tech nerd and rock star with the debut of cover band Jeffster, performing awesomely bad versions of 80s classics like “Africa” and “Mr. Roboto.” True, Lester is only one half of Jeffster, but his bandmate Jeff is just too out-there for this list! Played by Vik Sahay.
12. Victor (Dollhouse) Besides a few face slashes here or there, Victor is the doll with the most fun: his “imprints” involve bedding boss Adelle DeWitt, acting like an exact clone of tech-whiz Topher, or channeling his inner sorority girl. And hey, those cuts healed remarkably fast, didn’t they? Played by Enver Gjokaj.
13. Hoyt Fortenberry (True Blood) As one of the only truly good residents of Bon Temps, Hoyt became more than just a background player this season when he fell in love with newly-vampirized Jessica, much to the dismay of his oppressively devout mother. His evolution from (momma’s) boy to man was great to see. Played by Jim Parrack.
14. Walter White, Jr. (Breaking Bad) His relationship with his emotionally-elusive dad is tenuous, but Junior still went to incredible (and touching) lengths last season to raise money for Senior’s cancer care. Played by R.J. Mitte.
15. Anna (V) Leader of the Visitors, Anna is alternately calculating, eloquent, manipulative, and alluring. A wolf in sheep’s (well-tailored) clothing. Played by Morena Baccarin.

Note: The following post first appeared as an article by the same name in The Climax, Hampshire College’s newspaper. Also, some of these micro-reviews may exceed 140 characters—my bad!

I am a student of television. Writing television scripts is my Division III [a senior project, in Hampshire speak]. So I have no shame in the fact that I watch all of the shows below religiously. I study the craft, folks. That’s a lie—I am ashamed of some of them, but I’m feeling forthright in my fourth-year-ness. Anyway, I only assumed that I couldn’t review all my shows for The Climax before I graduate. And then it occurred to me: I could review each in 140 characters or less. (Arbitrary number, I swear.)

• 24 Some seasons fire on all cylinders, and some make you want to shoot yourself in the kneecap. But I’m still a fan of the Bauer Power Hour.
• 30 Rock Is Tina Fey God? Even if not, this show is in my pantheon. 22 Emmy nominations this year alone. What the what?
• The Amazing Race A competition show and a geography lesson all in one. Plus the race just looks like such a globetrotting thrill.
• Breaking Bad Brilliance you’ve likely never seen. Bryan Cranston (as a reluctant meth dealer) and Aaron Paul (as his witless lackey) are a wondrous team.
• Brothers & Sisters Created by playwright Jon Robin Baitz, powerful character drama pervades this series about the virtues and frustrations of family life.
• Burn Notice Ex-spy Michael Westen is a MacGyver for the new century. Plus he narrates his creative process! Plus Bruce Campbell plays the sidekick!
• Californication Man-child Hank Moody is David Duchovny’s (comedic) role of a lifetime. And the show featured Hampshire band Bubonic Souls last week.
• Chuck Put a self-described nerd in a world of government conspiracies and sexy secret agents, and hilarity ensues. Such a lovable show.
• Community A comedy about a community college study group that’s not quite up to snuff but getting better each week.
• Curb Your Enthusiasm Schadenfreude at a fever pitch. Larry David is such an incorrigible ass, but you can’t help siding with him in all of his curmudgeonliness.
• Damages Vicious legal thriller with Glenn Close and Rose Byrne. Season 2’s powerhouse cast included William Hurt, Marcia Gay Harden, and Ted Danson.
• Desperate Housewives What do I have in common with middle-aged, lovelorn women? Uh, not much. But this show is still a fun look at the seediness of the suburbs.
• Dollhouse Engineered personalities, ethical perversions, and intense action make this (cancelled) show radically different. Well done, Joss Whedon.
• Entourage Not the sharpest tool in the shed, but still a comical insight into the biz and a testament to lifelong friendship. (“Lloyd!”)
• FlashForward An ambitious fate-vs.-free-will drama with a laudable cast. But can its premise sustain it for more than this season?
• Flashpoint This Canadian import, about a hostage negotiation team in Toronto, is edge-of-your-seat tense. Plus Veronica Mars’s dad is the lead!
• Fringe Like The X-Files, only with a more mind-warping mythology and the addition of one raving-mad, madly-funny scientist. Freaky good times had by all.
• Glee This high-school satire is so much fun, thanks to a stellar cast, its show-stopping covers of pop songs, and the incomparable Jane Lynch.
• The Good Wife What makes this legal drama intriguing is that the protagonist—played by Julianna Margulies—is the jilted wife of an adulterous politician.
• Gossip Girl Used to be a salacious indulgence. But they had to match everyone up in an endless cycle of hook-ups and break-ups. What a mess.
• Greek If Gossip Girl had a sharper, wittier, more accessible, yet less popular twin sister, her name would be Greek.
• Grey’s Anatomy Melodramatic, yes, but the relationship drama is sophisticated and smartly executed. But its hard to watch if you’re single, dammit!
• Heroes Holy Hiro, what the hell happened to this show? This once-great serial has suffered bloated storylines and botched mythology. Shut it down.
• Lost The most revolutionary show on this list, nay, of the decade. Season 5 was a creative resurgence that was so awesomely challenging to watch.
• Lie to Me An unconventional procedural drama that’s proven to be surprisingly un-formulaic. And Tim Roth doesn’t even have to use an American accent!
• Mad Men If you’re not in love with this elegant, introspective, and smoldering drama, you just haven’t seen enough of it.
• Men of a Certain Age Three old friends have midlife revelations. This show just started, but I like what I’ve seen. It’s like Garden State—plus twenty years.
• Modern Family Funniest new show of the season. Believe it.
• Nip/Tuck Not as deeply cutting as it was in its youth, but now it’s superficially fun and bat-shit crazy. Can’t complain too much.
• The Office Just when I think it has lost its mojo, it pulls a “Koi Pond” episode or “Subtle Sexuality” webisode to remind us all of its wit.
• Parks and Recreation Started off as an Office clone but came back roaring in its second season. Now it rivals its predecessor for laughs.
• Private Practice A spectacular cast and interesting storylines, but I still wish Addison would go back to Seattle Grace. Maybe everyone can go along!
• Project Runway I’m probably not the right demographic for this catty show, but who cares. I just hope Tim Gunn would approve of my wardrobe.
• Smallville Never “super” but never terrible, Smallville is reliable entertainment even after eight years. One of the only good things the CW can offer.
• So You Think You Can Dance The most legit and diverse dance competition. The talent gets more absurd each season. YouTube “Ellenore & Jakob – Contemporary” for proof.
• Top Chef In a world of hamburger reality shows, Top Chef is a filet mignon with escargot, grilled ramps, chanterelle mushrooms and yuzu—i.e. refined.
• Top Chef Masters The nation’s top chefs compete. Of course it’s good.
• True Blood I reviewed this show already this semester! Suffice it to say, it’s addictive.
• Ugly Betty In this refreshing comedic drama, Betty maintains a beautiful can-do spirit as she navigates the (hilariously) bitchy world of fashion.
• V This series about tensions between humans and alien “Visitors” is off to a promising start, but lamely, we only get four episodes this year.
• Warehouse 13 Undecided about this show. I dig the whole “America’s attic” notion and the leads’ chemistry, but some of the episodes have been, uh, hokey.

Last week, Entertainment Weekly sent me a preview of TNT’s new comedic drama Men of a Certain Age. (I know—it’s kind of legitimate-TV-blogger of a thing to happen!) It premieres tonight at 10/9c, so I thought I should watch the preview and get my thoughts up here post haste. The show centers on three men (played by Ray Romano, Andre Braugher, and Scott Bakula) who became friends in college and stayed close throughout their somewhat-successful adult lives. But now that they’re hitting the half-century mark, they’re realizing that their dreams didn’t quite make it to fruition. They’re not have midlife crises, per se, but midlife assessments.

Having just checked it out, I found the show to be nice and pleasant. That sounds like I’m damning it with faint praise, but I mean it in the best sense. Nothing climactic or explosive happened, nor did anything like that need to happen. Men of a Certain Age is quieter and more introspective (and funnier) than TNT’s other cops-and-lawyers fare. I equate it to Garden State in content and tone, if the Zach Braff character was over-the-hill. All three of the stars give reputable performances, especially Romano, who co-created the show. I’m going to give this show a shot. I may not be of that “certain age,” but I’m a fan of any show that encourages taking a breather and pausing to take stock.

Lately I’ve really gotten into The Amazing Race. Add it to the elite list of reality shows I find respectable. I have to say, I’m seduced by the globe-hopping adventure aspect. (Maybe it speaks to my love for Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?) I mean, who wouldn’t want an all-expenses-paid whirlwind tour around the globe? Sure, participants don’t exactly get a chance to sight-see. But what is sacrificed in the quality of their tour stops is compensated by the quantity. Already this season, participants have been to Tokyo, Ho Chi Minh City, Phnom Penh, Dubai, Amsterdam, Stockholm, and Prague. And at each stop, the participants—and we, the viewers—learn a bit about the region’s culture, history, and geography. (Hey, sounds a bit like Carmen Sandiego!) What else is fulfilling about The Amazing Race is that the competition (usually) a bonding experience for the teams—by the end, at least. During the race, yelling, arguing, bickering are par for the course. But by the end, the couples or friends or relatives are usually much tighter than they were before crossing the starting line. So, with exotic locales, enjoyable challenges, and tearjerking moments, what’s not to love? I’m only sorry I’m getting onboard now, during the 15th season. But if the show remains as enlightening as it is entertaining, here’s to another 15 races.

Here are the latest news items from the idiot-box world:

• Lost finally has a return date—the final season will premiere with a two-hour installment on Tuesday, February 2, at 9/8c on ABC.
• Chuck’s return date was also announced today. The action-comedy will return with two episodes on Sunday, January 10, and then another one the following night as it settles into its normal timeslot of Mondays at 8/7c. The show was on the brink of cancellation this past spring until fans rallied to show their support. NBC gave the show another vote of confidence a few weeks ago when it upped its order from 13 episodes to 19.
• ABC has released some neat-o promo images for V showing the Visitors’ motherships hovering above the world’s metropolitan centers. One is shown above, and you can view the rest at io9.
• Just as I was wondering where Smallville actor Sam Jones, III has been all this time, here comes the news that the guy has been arrested and charged with conspiring to sell 10,000 Oxycodone pills. Bad for him, but good for my web traffic. Thanks, Sam!
• Cop drama Southland, a show NBC cancelled before its second season had premiered, has been resurrected by TNT. The new season will premiere on Tuesday, January 12, at 10/9c.
• Oprah Winfrey will announce tomorrow that The Oprah Winfrey Show will end after its 2010-2011 season. She currently has a deal in place with Discovery Communications to turn Discovery Health Channel into OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network.
• Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, seen sharing the screen last season on 30 Rock, will co-host next year’s Academy Awards ceremony. Other celebs considered for the emcee gig include Tina Fey, Ben Stiller, and Robert Downey, Jr.
• In other hosting news, Ricky Gervais will finally get his moment in the award-show spotlight when he hosts next year’s Golden Globes. Gervais, the creator and star of the UK version of The Office, has been a mainstay at the recent Oscar and Emmy ceremonies and always has the crowd in stitches.
• Bravo has announced another season of Top Chef Masters along with another spinoff Top Chef: Just Desserts (which I’m a little skeptical of). And Top Chef Junior is apparently still in development.
• Since my last news brief, Trauma, Eastwick, Hank have all been cancelled. But the most tragic axing of them all was Dollhouse. (Expect a write-up soon.)
• For whatever reason, The Weather Channel has decided to air movies on Friday nights. The selections range from the understandable (The Perfect Storm) to the unexplainable (Deep Blue Sea). I know; I don’t get it either.

“Firefly is about nine people looking into the blackness of space and seeing nine different things.”

That’s apparently how Joss Whedon—creator of Buffy, Angel, and Dollhouse—pitched the show to Fox back at the beginning of the decade. Now, as we approach the end of the decade, I’ve finally watched it on DVD. And while I didn’t love it as arduously as others, I do understand the appeal.

That pitch above is apt, because the main characters—the crew and passengers of the Firefly-class spaceship Serenity—and specifically the differences between them are make the show. Granted, the concept is cool: the show is a hybrid of two genres, sci-fi and western. Aside from the aesthetic appeal of the mash-up, it also united our past and a (possible) future to comment upon our present.

The show is set in the future, after the two remaining superpowers on “the Earth that was” tried to unite all of mankind under one government called the Alliance. Captain Malcolm “Mal” Reynolds (Nathan Fillon) was a war hero of the failed resistance and now commands Serenity. Zoe Washburne (Gina Torres) served alongside him in the war, and the two share a camaraderie that not even Zoe’s husband Hoban Washburne (Alan Tudyk), pilot of the ship, can compete with. Also on the crew are mechanic Kaylee Frye (Jewel Staite) and the duplicitous Jayne Cobb (Adam Baldwin). Inara Serra (Morena Baccarin) rents one of the ship’s shuttles for her business as a “Companion”—i.e. a classy prostitute. And the ship’s passengers include Shepherd Derrial Book (Ron Glass), quite literally a man of the book; Simon Tam (Sean Maher), a young doctor; and River Tam, Simon’s tortured younger sister. The gang runs smuggling operations on the Serenity—often philanthropic, usually greedy—and try to stay one step ahead of the Alliance.

The show lasted for 11 episodes on Fox before getting the boot, and to say it got a raw deal from the beginning would be an understatement. Not only was the pilot episode, with all of its character introductions and backstories and other useful information, not shown until near the end of the run, but the rest of the episodes were switched around so much that it’s a wonder anyone followed the storyline. Nevertheless, the fan reaction was so avid that feature film Serenity and two comic-book series were released to fill the void. And all 14 episodes are available on DVD and Blu-ray.

I haven’t seen Serenity yet, so I don’t know the complete story, but I can comment on what aired on television. I’m interested to read that fans disputed its branding as an action-comedy instead of a character study. I am more of the mind that it straddled the line. Yes, it had weighty, emotional moments and interesting internal conflicts; but I remember it more for the rollicking adventures and clever schemes and general badass-ness. I haven’t seen a lot of Whedon’s work, so maybe I missed his emphasis on the human condition. But with Dollhouse, the character-driven storylines came into play later in the first season, so maybe the same would have happened with Firefly. Maybe it was just gearing up to really plumb the depths of these characters’ psyches.

I think Whedon was successful in his mission to show nine very different people and their different outlooks on life. I have nothing but love for The West Wing, but I had to admit that my screenwriting professor is right in her assessment of that show: everyone is playing the same character. This isn’t the case with Firefly. They’re not one big, happy family. They work together and fight the same fight, but they all have their issues, with each other and with themselves. And this is exacerbated by the fact that they can’t escape from each other, lest they jettison themselves out into space. I have to say, too, that I think the cast owned their roles. The casting is spot-on. At the time this aired, they were all still flying under the radar but now they’re finding success on other shows. (In fact, we just saw Baccarin and Tudyk last week on V.)

And Whedon sure knows how to sustain a suspenseful, twisting story. From the work of his that I’ve seen, I think he has mastered the “WTF” moment. When you watch as much television as I do, it’s easy to spot a lot of twists coming. But with these episodes, I was pleasantly surprised that I was being surprised again and again!

The series was smart, inventive, well-acted, and a lot of fun. So why don’t I love, love, love it as so many others do? Good question. My only guess is what I’ve deemed Dark Knight Syndrome: it’s been so hyped up by friends of mine that it could never have lived up to my expectations. I was doomed to only like it from the start. Alas.

So I will not overhype it for you. Watch it. You may enjoy it. Heck, you may even love it. If not, at least you’ll at least know what good (and underrated) television looks like.

First off, forgive me for not updating sooner.  My laptop computer apparently aired its series finale, so to speak, and my internet access has been limited. But TV shows go on, blog or no blog, so this show must go on!

In a little over an hour, the final show to make a fall premiere will make its debut: V on ABC. Just another example in the everything-old-is-new-again trend, V is a reimagined version of a miniseries-turned-sequel-miniseries-turned-series that NBC aired 25 years ago. In those productions, the “Visitors” were reptilian aliens who made camp above the world’s major cities and attempted a hostile takeover. And, by all reports, the shows were campy fun with an emphasis on the campy. (I hear the aliens ate guinea pigs…?)

The remake seems pretty similar, if perhaps a bit more serious. The motherships swoop in and play videos on huge jumbotrons in which a pleasant spokesperson (Firefly’s Morena Baccarin) tells humanity, “Do not be afraid,” and, “We are of peace.” Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliet from Lost) plays an FBI agent who, with the help of a rogue Visitor agent (Morris Chestnut, Boyz N the Hood), discovers that the aliens have been here for quite some time, priming the pump for a takeover. But her son is one of scores of people swayed to the “dark side” by the seemingly-benevolent beings. (That dupe!) So a debate arises between the people impressed by pretty faces and cool technology and the small faction of people who know better.

I wonder how this story will fare riding, as it does, on the coattails of this summer’s District 9, which explored similar themes. I don’t think that will make or break the show, though: V seems different enough. My hope is that it goes the Battlestar route: using science fiction as a way to discuss political and social issues facing society today. And if a few guinea pigs lose their lives in the process, so be it.

V airs tonight at 8/7c on ABC and will be available on Hulu.

What if Lost were presented like 24, replete with a ticking timecode and split-screen? YouTube user pyram1dhead gives us the answer, and it is done incredibly adeptly—so much so that you almost wish you could watch the whole series this way. Culling footage from (by my count) six episodes and one webisode, this video represents a comprehensive timeline of the crash of Oceanic 815 and what happens on the island before, during, and after.

(Spoiler warning! Read no further if you’re interested in watching the first three seasons.)

We see Juliet burning her muffins, talking to Amelia about Ben’s nefarious activities, hosting her book club, and being interrupted mid-sentence by the earth shaking. We see Desmond confront Kelvin, inadvertently kill him, and rush back to the Swan to reset the 108-minute countdown. We see Jack flirt with the flight attendant and comfort row-mate Rose when things get bumpy. We see the marshal irritating another flight attendant and taunting Kate. We see Kate showing her humanity by giving her captor his oxygen mask. We see Charlie suffering through detox before barricading himself in the bathroom for another hit. We see the crash, as seen from various vantage points. We see Jack waking up in the bamboo and Ana Lucia the other “Tailies” emerging from the water. We see the freshly-resurrected Christian exerting his creepy influence over the Vincent the dog. And we see Ben pulling his puppet strings mere seconds after witnessing a plane falling from the sky.

And it’s all synchronized effectively, thanks in part to the writers/directors/editors and in part to pyram1dhead. It gives the events a much stronger documentary-like feel, what with the overlapping dialogue and the multiple camera angles. And you can watch it again and again, discovering new facets of the chronology each time since there’s always so much going on at any given time. This storytelling format was novel of 24 to introduce, and pyram1dhead’s use of same for Lost was both innovative and deftly engineered. View the ten-minute video below:

Here’s this week’s batch of freshly-baked television news:

• Two big names will “sho” up on Showtime: Laura Linney will star in The C Word, a half-hour comedy series about a woman who turns her life around following a cancer diagnosis; and William H. Macy will star in Shameless, a comedic drama about a drink-swilling father of six (based on a BBC hit).
• In a classless move by NBC, the Glee cast is no longer invited to perform at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Jumpsuits will surely be worn at the festivities, but apparently none by Sue Sylvester.
• No sooner did I finish singing the praises of Kater Gordon, the Mad Men writer who went from writing assistant to Emmy winner in no time, than she was let go from the show’s writing staff. As they say in fashion…
• Lest you thought your eyes deceived you, Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane did appear as an FBI agent in the premiere of FlashForward. And apparently, he’ll be back on occasion. I only hope I get to guest-star on shows when I’m a successful TV writer!
• NBC has ordered its upcoming post-apocalyptic show Day One to be converted from a 13-episode season to a two-night, four-hour miniseries. And the prospect of further seasons depends on the ratings. This may sound like bad news, but as i09 points out, that formula worked for Battlestar Galactica. And creator Jesse Alexander (Heroes) is pumped, saying, “Airing four hours over two nights is much more exciting to me than rolling out just one hour per week… I didn’t want to suffer the same fate as many first year shows and be moved to another time slot mid story, or worse, not be able to air the final episodes.”
• Though CBS wasn’t too enthusiastic about the negotiator-drama Flashpoint around the time of the TCA Press Tour, the network has decided to bring the Canadian co-production to American screens for another 13-episode run later this season.
• In more good news, some of the season’s most promising shows, Glee, FlashForward, and Modern Family have all earned full-season pick-ups from their respective networks.
• Lauren Graham (of Gilmore Girls fame) has won the role vacated by Maura Tierney on NBC’s upcoming Parenthood, filling the role that Helen Hunt was considering.
• Linda Holmes of NPR’s Monkey See blog has an insightful post about how NBC’s decision to give up the 10 PM slot for The Jay Leno Show represents the network’s exasperation with all things dramatic.
• Michael Ausiello reports that the third season of Chuck may premiere within a matter of weeks instead of next March. He also says that NBC insiders are calling it the best season yet. (And I’ve just realized that half this post has been about NBC!)
• And finally, a Massachusetts farmer is so enamored with Family Guy, he created a corn maze incorporating Stewie and Brian, pictured here. I hope he does something related to NBC next. Perhaps the letters NBC.

Though it might not reach our screen until late 2010 or 2011, I’m very excited for HBO’s Game of Thrones, a prospective series based on George R. R. Martin’s book series A Song of Dance and Fire. Admittedly, I haven’t read any of the novels, but anything that brings medieval fantasy to television piques my curiosity (excepting Merlin, that is).

Since I am totally ignorant about the plot, here’s what Wikipedia has to offer:

The story of A Song of Ice and Fire takes place in a fictional world, primarily upon a continent called Westeros but also on a large landmass to the east, known as Essos. Most of the characters are human but as the series progresses other races are introduced, such as the cold and menacing Others from the far North and fire-breathing dragons from the East, both races thought to be extinct by the people of the story. There are three principal storylines in the series: the chronicling of a dynastic civil war for control of Westeros between several competing families; the rising threat of the Others who dwell beyond an immense wall of ice that forms Westeros’ northern border; and the journey of Daenerys Targaryen, the exiled daughter of a king who was murdered in another civil war fifteen years previously (War of the Usurper) and now seeks to return to Westeros and claim her rightful throne. As the series progresses, all three storylines become intensely interwoven and dependent on each other.

Another facet of the series of books is that it’s told through the point-of-view of over twenty characters, so I wonder whether the television adaptation will do the same. After all, Martin—who is also a co-producer—did say that the script is very faithful. Reports tout that each season of the show would follow the plot of a novel in the series, and at that rate, there would be enough material for seven seasons of the show. Writer David Benioff jestingly called the show “The Sopranos in Middle Earth,” but it could be just as expansive as that landmark series.

The cast lineup is impressive. Many seem to be no-names (for now) from across the pond, but there are some familiar faces, like those pictured above: Sean Bean (The Lord of the Rings), Jennifer Ehle (BBC’s Pride and Prejudice), Peter Dinklage (The Station Agent), Lena Headey (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles), and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (New Amsterdam). These actors and the rest of the large cast—and the roles they fill—can be seen in this fansite’s handy chart.

As far as I know, HBO has yet to pick up the series, but production for the pilot episode is slated to begin next week in Ireland (and perhaps Scotland and Morocco). Stay tuned for more news at it comes down from the castle.

Update: The folks behind the Westeros fansite tweeted a link to a blog post with two photos of the Kingdom of Heaven set in Morocco that will be revamped for Game of Thrones.  They also mentioned that Doune Castle in Scotland (used in Monty Python and the Holy Grail) will be another filming location.

Rarely do shows get to end on the creators’ own terms, especially those that are cancelled. And even though Bryan Fuller surely would have preferred a more robust ending to his much-beloved fantasy noir Pushing Daisies, the show didn’t exit on a cliffhanger or, worse, with the whimper of a total non-ending, as some do.

No, he was able to whip together an epilogue to tack on to the cliffhanger ending of “Kerplunk,” the last episode to air. But, as he says in an interview with TheTorchOnline.com, he couldn’t even shoot new footage. So he instead devised this CGI tour of the town of Coeur d’Coeurs and its environs—and of many of the settings used for the show, including the windmills, the convent, the Aquacade, the cemetery, the lighthouse, and, of course, the Pie Hole itself. This impressive work of digital wizardry would have cost him in the neighborhood of $90,000, Fuller says, but the visual effect houses liked the show so much, they only paid $8,000 for the shot. And, best of all, the whole sequence ends with a sweet moment between Ned and Chuck and a shot of Digby running happily through a field of daisies. It may not be the ending that Fuller envisioned, but it’s an ending. And in the television world, that’s no small blessing.

The video is included below, and I’m happy to say that it’s spoiler-free, thanks to some crafty editing and dubbing.

Note: The following review first appeared as an article entitled “True Blood: HBO’s newest (and most misunderstood) hit” in The Climax, Hampshire College’s newspaper.

Enough vampires, you say. And you’re entitled: pop culture is oversaturated with blood-sucking stories these days. True Blood might have been white noise amongst other fang-bearing works. But Twilight it ain’t. Part pulpy horror flick, part gothic love story, and with pervasive social commentary, HBO’s first post-Sopranos hit series defies categorization. And—forgive me for this—it’s bloody good.

Based on the book series The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris, True Blood revolves around the character of Sookie Stackhouse, a telepathic waitress at a watering hole in the sleepy town of Bon Temps, Louisiana. In the first episode, she falls in love with Bill Compton, a 150-year-old vampire, whose blood heals her after she is viciously beaten. Even though Sookie and Bill are presumably the central characters of the show, any fan will tell you that the supporting characters are the fan favorites: Tara, Sookie’s quick-tempered but loyal best friend; Lafayette, Tara’s sassy cousin with swagger to spare; Sam, the bar owner with a murky past; Eric, an imposing, centuries-old Scandinavian vampire and Bill’s maker; Jason, Sookie’s promiscuous, simple-minded brother; and a whole bevy of other colorful characters.

When we first join the story, a synthetic blood beverage called “Tru Blood” is making it safe for vampires to come out of the coffin. Some humans welcome the vampires into mainstream society, most are leery, and some are downright hostile. The central conflict of the first season is a murder mystery: a serial killer is on the prowl in Bon Temps, and women—specifically women associated with Jason Stackhouse—are dying left and right. The slayings coupled with Bill’s arrival (as Bon Temp’s first resident vampire) have the whole town on edge. No sooner is the mystery is resolved at the end of the season than an alluring woman arrives with what seem like bizarre voodoo powers, causing the town to devolve into lawlessness and rampant orgies. To make matters worse, the vampires of the area have to fend off the attacks of an extremist Christian cult called The Fellowship of the Sun. Thus wars are waged on multiple fronts, and the body count soars. But even amidst this chaos, a solid dose of humor and romance gives us a chance to exhale.

True Blood has a rabid and vocal fan base, and everyone bows at the altar of Alan Ball, the creator of the show. With this series and his previous one, Six Feet Under, Alan Ball has vaulted into the pantheon of television masterminds—the likes of which include J.J. Abrams, Joss Whedon, and Bryan Fuller—whose visions are so unique (and so niche) that the creators receive almost as much fanfare as the on-screen talent. And that’s high praise, because Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Rutina Wesley, Nelsan Ellis, Sam Trammell, Alexander Skarsgård, Ryan Kwanten, and the rest of the cast act the hell out their roles (and look good doing it, to boot).

Despite the hype and the marketing surrounding the show, vampirism is only one facet of the story. Indeed, only three of the series regulars play vampires. The rest portray the humans (and other supernatural beings) of Bon Temps. More than the things that go bump—or, in some cases, hump—in the night, the show is about the townsfolk’s reaction to these “supers,” which is often horribly bigoted and ugly. To call True Blood a metaphor would be an understatement, and in fact, Charlaine Harris and Alan Ball seem to make the parallels between that world and ours all but explicit. True Blood is an entertaining show, but Ball also makes it a compelling allegory of intolerance. For in the town of Bon Temps, it’s often the humans who are the real monsters.

A year ago in this publication, I picked True Blood as one of six new shows to watch, but I never foresaw how fiendishly watchable it would be. It’s lurid, it’s graphic, the plot moves a mile a minute, and it’s compelling as hell. Plus it sports a rollicking honky-tonk soundtrack and a killer title sequence. With all these winning elements, it’s no wonder the Television Critics Association named it Outstanding New Program of the Year. Find it on DVD or on iTunes, pour yourself a tall glass of tomato juice, and find love at first bite.