BuzzFeed: "This Breaking Bad Alternate Ending Must Be Seen To Be Believed"

Was it all just a terrible nightmare? Malcolm in the Middle’s Hal may have eaten too many fried Twinkies before bed, according to a new DVD extra. [UPDATED]

At BuzzFeed, you can check out my latest post, "This Breaking Bad Alternate Ending Must Be Seen To Be Believed," in which I take a look at an alternate ending for AMC's Breaking Bad, one that invokes Newhart and, well, Malcolm in the Middle.

Fans of AMC’s Breaking Bad continue to mourn the death of the antihero drama in their own unique ways, but thanks to this DVD extra — from the Breaking Bad: The Complete Series DVD box set, out November 26 — fans of the science-wielding antihero have yet another chance to imagine a different fate for Bryan Cranston’s Walter White.

In this case, an alternate ending to the show itself, which — heavily borrowing from the iconic ending of Newhart (which referenced the earlier The Bob Newhart Show) — imagines that the entire narrative of Breaking Bad was a dream experienced by Cranston’s pater familias Hal from the 2000-2006 Fox comedy Malcolm in the Middle, substituting fried Twinkies for Bob’s Japanese food. Waking up terrified from his nightmare, Cranston’s Hal remarks that he was “this meth dealer,” before being comforted by his wife, Lois (Jane Kaczmarek), who reminds him that he can’t cook anything, let alone meth, and that he’s definitely not married to a “tall, beautiful blonde” woman.

Continue reading at BuzzFeed...

The Daily Beast: "Secrets of Lost Revealed on New DVD" (a.k.a. My Thoughts on "The New Man in Charge")

Today, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released both Lost: The Complete Collection and Lost: The Complete Sixth and Final Season on DVD and Blu-ray.

The box sets contain the latest--and possibly last--in-canon adventures of the Lost cast via the twelve-minute epilogue entitled "The New Man in Charge," which stars Michael Emerson, Jorge Garcia, and... Well, that would be telling.

Over at The Daily Beast, I discuss "Lost: The New Man in Charge" as well as my thoughts about the strength or weakness of the epilogue as a narrative outgrowth of the series in a piece entitled "Secrets of Lost Revealed on New DVD."

Plus, I check in with fellow television critics and writers Maureen Ryan (now of AOL Television), Entertainment Weekly's Jeff "Doc" Jensen, Time's James Poniewozik, and New York Magazine's Emily Nussbaum to see their reactions to the Lost epilogue, how it fits in with the contentious ending of the series itself, and its effects on the legacy of the series.

Head to the comments section to discuss your take on the epilogue and whether it gels with your need for answers or whether you feel that the creative team should have left well enough alone.

Lost: The Complete Sixth and Final Season DVD retails for $59.99 (or get it on Amazon for $37.99), while Lost: The Complete Collection has a suggested retail price of $229.99 (or $148.99 on Amazon).

TV on DVD: "Mad Men: Season Three"

"Change isn't good or bad. It just is." - Don Draper

In its third season, AMC's gorgeous and provocative period drama Mad Men offered a year of turmoil, both political and social, that was infused with the very essence of change as series creator Matthew Weiner and his writing staff forever altered the foundations of the series. While some so-called game-changers do little more than rearrange the furniture, Weiner and Co. used the third season to lead up to several powerful shifts in the dynamic of this intelligent and gripping series.

Tomorrrow, Lionsgate will release the third season of Mad Men on DVD. If you have seen Season Three of Mad Men, then you know that it's a slow burn that culminates in a series of gasp-inducing moments as the action draws in the Kennedy assassination, the real-life figure of Conrad Hilton, and major changes on the domestic and business fronts for the cast of characters that inhabit this meticulously recreated 1960s snow globe. (You can also find out more about Season Three from my exclusive interviews with Weiner for The Daily Beast from late last year, which can be read here and here.)

If you haven't seen it, then you are missing out on one of the most intelligent, thought-provoking, and emotionally resonant series ever to air on the small screen as it addresses social, political, and gender issues with a deft hand and a skilled flair for deep metaphor.

I've written extensively about the plot of Mad Men's third season so don't want to recap it here because it won't do it justice; it's far better enjoyed at a languid pace that emphasizes the graduate character growth and sharp turns that Weiner's writing staff employs in the third season, a year that finds each of the characters grappling with monumental change in their professional and personal lives. Familiar faces come and go, old relationships are ripped asunder, and new alliances made, all while the characters deliver dialogue of such stinging beauty that's it's only right that they indulge in some other vices. And indulge they do as they smoke their cigarettes, drink their alcohol, and indulge in some extracurricular relationships.

At times, you don't know whether to wince or empathize with them... and that's perhaps the charm of Mad Men. These characters aren't placed on a pedestal of perfection but are instead allowed to make mistakes and appear alternately vulnerable or cruel. In other words: they're truly three-dimensional adults with all of their flaws.

The four-disc box set contains all thirteen episodes from Mad Men's third season, as well as a slew of bonus features, including commentaries from Weiner, the cast, and the crew of Mad Men on each episode and several featurettes. The latter includes: a documentary exploring the life of murdered civil rights activist Medgar Evers; a look at the history of the cigarette industry and its relationship to the advertising industry; a pictorial gallery of the historic March on Washington, set to Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech; and "Mad Men Illustrated," which features the artist behind those winsome Mad Men-inspire illustrations.

All in all, Mad Men: Season Three is a must-have for devotees of the AMC drama series, period drama, or quality drama in general. Its intoxicating spell is one that will remain with you long after the closing credits have rolled at the end of the third season... and which will make you long for the days to fly by until Season Four of Mad Men can begin this summer.

Mad Men: Season Three is available for purchase beginning tomorrow for a suggested retail price of $49.98. Or you can pick up a copy in the Televisionary store for just $28.99.

TV on DVD: "The Ruth Rendell Mysteries Collection"

Half the fun of watching the newly released eleven-disc The Ruth Rendell Mysteries Collection is seeing some familiar faces--such as Colin Firth, James Callis, James D'Arcy, Amanda Redman, and many others--when they were significantly younger and, in some cases, were just embarking on their theatrical careers.

The other half is, of course, falling under the spell of the master mystery writer Ruth Rendell (who also publishes novels under the pseudonym of Barbara Vine). As a longtime Rendell fanatic, I was thrilled to learn that Acorn Media was releasing seventeen televised feature-length adaptations of Rendell's work--which aired in the UK on ITV between 1987 and 2000 (and on some PBS stations)--in a single, hefty box set.

Arriving under the title The Ruth Rendell Mysteries Collection, the box set collects such adaptations as Master of the Moor, Vanity Dies Hard, Going Wrong, The Secret House of Death, and The Fallen Curtain, to name but a few, as well as three Inspector Wexford adaptations--Simisola, Road Rage, and Harm Done--which star George Baker as the titular detective.

While Wexford is the only character to appear in more than one installment, each of the mysteries presented here shows off Rendell's skill as a master plotter, a vivid storyteller, and a precise hand at psychological terror in many cases, layering a sense of dread and fear throughout these stories. She's especially gifted at staging elaborate and unexpected twists on which the stories spin, giving each adaptation a sense of unpredictability and danger, both for the characters and the viewer.

While some of the action might seem slightly dated (the lack of mobile telephones in a few is a real tip-off), there's also something timeless and universal about the way in which Rendell handles crime and fear: depicting mortal anxiety, guilt, venality, shame, passion, jealousy, and rage in equal measure. In many cases, Rendell gets inside the heads of both victims and criminals alike, exploring just what it is inside some people that makes them snap and take another's life or why some people survive. Or don't.

Ultimately, this collection shows off Rendell's top-flight mystery skills and skillfully adapts her novels and short stories to perfection. With seventeen episodes, The Ruth Rendell Mystery Collection offers the perfect way to wind down an evening... or just the thing to keep you awake all night.

The eleven-disc The Ruth Rendell Mysteries Collection box set will be available for sale on Tuesday, March 16th for a suggested retail price of $99.99. Or pick one up in the Televisionary Store for just $89.99.

TV on DVD: "Doctor Who: The Complete Specials"

Prepare to say goodbye all over again.

I've only finally just gotten used to the idea that there won't be any more Doctor Who episodes starring David Tennant. Tennant departed the British sci-fi series after a handful of seasonal specials between December 2008 and January 2010 that depicted the Tenth Doctor locked in his final battle. A battle that resulted in the death of the Tenth Doctor and his regeneration.

Doctor Who has always been a series that not only endures after the departure of its lead actor but seems to revel in the new possibilities that an incoming actor can bring to the role of the Time Lord. Still, Tennant has carved out a sizable place in the ongoing mythos of Doctor Who for his portrayal of the lonely traveler and he'll be much missed.

BBC Video today releases Doctor Who: The Complete Specials, featuring David Tennant's final episodes as the Tenth Doctor. This five-disc set features all five of Tennant's Doctor Who specials, as well as a host of bonus material.

Each of the final five Tennant specials gets their own disk here, from December 2008's Doctor Who: The Next Doctor through the two-part swan song Doctor Who: The End of Time (Parts One and Two). It's actually quite nice to see each of the specials get some breathing space and warrant their own individual disks. Each of the specials really does function as its own mini-feature film, so there's something quite pleasant about them being treated as such rather than just shoehorned onto two discs.

Each of the specials is unique in plot and tone. Doctor Who: The Next Doctor finds the Tenth Doctor battling a steampunk robot in Victorian London and meeting a man who might just be his future incarnation; it's an adventure story about the price of vengeance and the power of loss. Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead is a caper story crossed with a tale of survival as the Doctor and jewel thief Lady Christina de Souza (Michelle Ryan) find themselves stranded on a strange planet with a busload of strangers with no way of getting home. Doctor Who: The Waters of Mars is a dark thriller as an alien presence invades Bowie Base One on Mars and the Doctor makes a decision that will haunt him. And the final two-parter Doctor Who: The End of Time (Parts One and Two) finds the Doctor fighting for his life as he is locked in battle once more with his greatest adversary, The Master (John Simm).

But the real treat here is the more than seven hours worth of bonus material that has been crammed into this release. Not only are there audio commentaries, deleted scenes, and episodes of Doctor Who Confidential, but there's also the Doctor Who at the Proms concert, David Tennant's video diaries from his final days on the set, and the entire Doctor Who Comic-Con panel from July 2009.

All in all, this is a must-own item for any fan of Doctor Who or David Tennant himself. With the fifth season of Doctor Who--starring Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor--set to launch this spring on BBC One and BBC America, there's no better time to say your final goodbyes to the Tenth Doctor with this incredible box set. Allons-y!

Doctor Who: The Complete Specials is available for purchase today for a suggested retail price of $49.98. Or pick up a copy today in the Televisionary store for just $36.99.

TV on DVD: "Chuck: The Complete Second Season"

With only a few days to go before the triumphant return of Chuck to the airwaves, Warner Home Video has today released the fantastic Chuck: The Complete Second Season on DVD and Blu-ray.

While its first season was sadly truncated to the writers strike, Season Two of Chuck found its footing amid a glorious mix of genre-busting action, intrigue, romance, and workplace comedy. While the series' first season nicely set up the universe of Chuck, introducing its core troika of spies and the soul-crushing monotony of retail work, the second season expanded upon those ideas, taking the series to dizzying new heights while remaining grounded and relatable. (Who among us wouldn't jump at the chance to escape the drudgery of minimum wage and spend time with super-spies?)

Broadening out the world created by Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak, Season Two of Chuck pushed hapless asset Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi) and handler Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strahovski) closer together while also throwing a number of obstacles in their way, not least of which was the cross-purposes of their own wish-fulfillment fantasies.

But Chuck's strength is that it doesn't mine just one genre, instead gleefully bounding from action to comedy over the course of a single-episode. Season Two deepened the supporting characters at the Buy More, giving us the mind-blowing rock stylings of band Jeffster (Vic Sahay and Scott Krinsky), the often tart romance between Morgan (Joshua Gomez) and Anna (Julia Ling), and a great workplace enemy in the form of new assistant manager Emmett Milbarge (the great Tony Hale).

If that wasn't enough for poor Chuck to handle, he also must contend with a complicated romantic love triangle involving suave spy Bryce Larkin (Matthew Bomer), the return of the ex-girlfriend that broke his heart (Jordana Brewster), and a deadly CIA splinter group (Fulcrum) determined to uncover the secrets of the Intersect and create an army of super-spies.

And, oh, learn the mysteries of how and why he became the Intersect. It's a journey that has Chuck not only delving into his secret backstory but also learning the truth about his situation and why his father (Scott Bakula) abandoned his family all those years ago. Really, it's a hero's quest in which Chuck becomes an adult and assumes the mantle of superhero, set over the course of 22 outstanding episodes.

The six-disc DVD box set of Chuck: The Complete Second Season contains not only all of those aforementioned installments (including the 3-D madcapery of "Chuck Versus the Third Dimension"), but also a slew of bonus features, including a gag reel, deleted scenes, two fantastic features ("Truth, Spies, and Regular Guys: Exploring the Mythology of Chuck" and "Dude in Distress," about the season's best action sequences), webisodes, the tongue-in-cheek advice featurette series "Captain Awesome's Tips for Being Awesome," and the comic instructional video "John Casey Presents: So You Want to Be a Deadly Spy?"

All in all, it's a must-own for any fans of the winsome NBC action-comedy and the perfect present for those in your life who for whatever reason have yet to fall for Chuck's killer charms.



Chuck: The Complete Second Season is available for purchase starting today for a suggested retail price of $59.98. Or pick up a copy today in the Televisionary store for just $36.99.

TV on DVD: "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: A Very Sunny Christmas"

Looking to do a spit-take with your eggnog this holiday season?

FX's raucous and hysterical series It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia continues to push the envelope in terms of good taste (and always manages to make this jaded critic roar with laughter in the process) via its new direct-to-DVD Christmas special ("A Very Sunny Christmas") that captures the absurd energy of the television series and then some.

Without the cable network censors (lax, though they are) to hold them back, the creators/stars of Sunny push their unique brand of comedy even further with this outrageous Christmas special, which finds the gang attempting to get even with Frank for his tradition of giving himself the gifts that Dennis and Dee want each year and taking a stroll down memory lane as Mac and Charlie come to terms with some unpleasant truths about their own families', er, Christmas traditions.

While I found the Christmas special utterly hilarious, it's definitely not for everyone. The gang at Paddy's Pub isn't exactly known for their holiday cheer, which makes the holiday special all the more, well, special as they continue to engage in their egocentric and mind-shatteringly selfish antics with the offputting glee of a demented Santa's helper.

The faint of heart might want to look away when a naked Danny DeVito is birthed through a leather couch (seriously, I'm not kidding) and those who have a particular obsessive fondness for classic claymation Christmas specials like Rudolph and Frosty the Snowman might end up running out of the room in tears when the Sunny guys dramatically subvert the form.

Standout sequences in the Christmas special include the aforementioned couch-birthing scene (I can't do it justice by describing it), the claymation massacre (oh, yes, really), and anything involving Young Charlie and Young Mac, seen in flashbacks here. The single-disc release also features deleted scenes, a behind-the-scenes featurette, and the It's Always Sunny Sing-A-Long.

Yes, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's "A Very Sunny Christmas" has it all: carols, vintage robots, revenge, and elf genitalia. Get yourself a copy today and prepare to slip into an alternate universe... as you pick up your jaw from the floor.



It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: A Very Sunny Christmas is available for purchase for a suggested retail price of $26.98.

TV on DVD: "Better Off Ted: Season One"

Every now and then a comedy series comes along that's so wickedly inspired and so incisive that it's a shame that so few viewers are actually tuning in.

This past season, that series was ABC's little gem of a single-camera comedy, Better Off Ted. Created by Victor Fresco (who also gave birth to the way undervalued comedy Andy Richter Controls the Universe), Better Off Ted is an wittily acidic workplace comedy revolving around shady multinational corporation Veridian Dynamics and its employees.

Specifically, we're taken inside the head of the company's self-appointed moral compass Ted Crisp (Jay Harrington), a single dad who is the head of Veridian's R&D department and who (sometimes) draws the line at creating products that are outright designed to make people's lives worse. Sometimes, anyway. Ted has a crush on his researcher Linda (Andrea Anders) but he used up his "office affair" on their terrifyingly icy boss Veronica (Portia de Rossi). Ted oversees a team of crack scientists including Phil (Jonathan Slavin) and Lem (Lem Hewitt), who are the best of the best.

But it's not all weaponized pumpkins. Better Off Ted is at its heart an exploration of workplace mores. Particularly, how the employees manage to keep their sanity and humanity while working at a company that produces seemingly everything under the sun. The series deftly satirizes Veridian's slew of products via integrated (and hysterical) commercials with a revolving door of punny taglines.

Fox Home Entertainment today releases the first season of Better Off Ted on DVD. The two-disc release contains all thirteen hilarious installments from Ted's first season but, unfortunately, little else. There are no extras, no featurettes. For a series as smart, innovative, and unique as Better Off Ted, I had hoped that the studio would have offered something more than a bare-bones DVD release.

I would have loved to have gone behind the scenes of Ted and gotten some information about the genesis of the idea from Fresco or seen de Rossi slipping out of character on a gag reel. Alas, we'll have to make do with the episodes themselves, which are slick and acerbic, just the way I like my comedy.

Ultimately, Better Off Ted is a sharp parody of corporate culture and of consumerism. It's the perfect addition to your DVD library... and just in time for the launch of Season Two next week on ABC.

Better Off Ted: Season One is available today for purchase on DVD for a suggested retail price of $29.98.

The Daily Beast: "DVD Rentals for Thanksgiving Cranks"

Hate your houseguests?

Over at The Daily Beast, I offer my suggestions for TV-on-DVD viewing during to alleviate stress during the Thanksgiving holiday in a piece entitled "DVD Rentals for Thanksgiving Cranks."

Organizing the weekend into specific time-based sections, I offer some TV-on-DVD suggestions to entertain and divert everyone's attention from squabbling relatives and burnt Brussels sprouts.

Of course, you needn't hate your houseguests this holiday season to enjoy the bounty of TV collections on DVD, either...

TV on DVD: "Life on Mars: Series 2"

Time to go down the yellow brick road again.

Yes, Stateside Life on Mars fans, that day has finally arrived as Acorn Media today releases the complete second season of the original UK drama series Life on Mars on DVD.

Forget about the lackluster (and mercifully short-lived) American version and travel back to the 1970s with the original UK Life on Mars, which has only deepened and grown more mysterious and provocative after its abrupt conclusion in 2007.

Not up to speed on the franchise? Created by Matthew Graham, Tony Jordan, and Ashley Pharoah, Life on Mars is an alternately trippy and gritty crime drama series that follows the adventures of Detective Inspector Sam Tyler (John Simm), a grimly determined investigator in present-day Manchester who is seemingly thrown backwards in time. While in pursuit of the serial killer that abducted his girlfriend, Sam is struck by a car and finds himself mysteriously in 1973 Manchester, where he comes face to face with a personal mystery from his childhood and the best fictional copper on television, the swaggering misanthrope Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister). Can Sam get home and save his girlfriend? Has he traveled back in time? Or is he losing his mind completely?

Season Two deepens the mystery and the drama even as Sam moves closer both to understanding the nature of the place he's in (is he deep within his subconscious? is he in a coma in a hospital someplace) and to a full-blown romance with female copper Annie (Liz White), who might just be one of the most perfectly realized love interests ever to grace the small screen. He's also forced to make a number of life-altering choices throughout the second season. Can be betray his boss, Gene Hunt? Can he leave his police colleagues in jeopardy if an escape route back to his normal life materializes? What price do these decisions have on his very being?

The second season brilliant answers these questions and more, offering a metaphysical mystery that unfolds over eight gripping installments that juxtapose Sam's struggle to regain his life with a vintage procedural police series that's both a parody of such 1970s cop television fixtures as The Sweeney and a gripping tour de force in its own right. (Hell, Glenister's Gene Hunt has proven so popular and so iconic that he's a major element of the sequel series Ashes to Ashes.)

The four-disc release of Life on Mars: Series 2 includes a slew of bonus material including a 45-minute documentary entitled "The Return of Life on Mars," behind-the-scenes footage of select episodes, a tour of the series' set, and a 28-minute featurette entitled "The End of Life on Mars." (Which, if I'm being honest, makes me teary-eyed every time I watch it.)

Ultimately, Life on Mars is one series that is virtually impossible to pigeonhole into a genre and that's a very good thing at the end of the day. Is it sci-fi? A police procedural? Who cares, it’s bloody good television that proves impossible to look away from.

Life on Mars: Series 2 is available today on DVD for the suggested retail price of $59.99. Or pick it up in the Televisionary store for just $39.49 today.

TV on DVD: "Black Adder Remastered: The Ultimate Edition" and "Fawlty Towers: The Complete Collection Remastered"

Just a few quick words on two Britcom TV on DVD releases today that brought a smile to this jaded writer's face.

BBC Video today releases new editions of British comedy classics Blackadder and Fawlty Towers, both in deluxe remastered versions that not only include all episodes produced but a healthy dose of extras and bonus features. (Just don't mention the war.)

It's a testament to the creative forces behind both Black Adder and Fawlty Towers that both series have stood up extremely well, even after all of these years; both series remain as sharp, incisive, and hilarious as they were when they aired.

The sumptuous six-disc Black Adder Remastered: The Ultimate Edition contains all four seasons of BBC's Black Adder as well as Blackadder's Christmas Carol, Blackadder's The Cavalier Years, Blackadder: Back and Forth, new commentaries, documentaries (including the 25th anniversary doc "Blackadder Rides Again"), behind-the-scenes featurettes, video diaries, and much more. It's a treasure trove of Blackadder-related goodies that not only celebrates the original comedy series but its enduring legacy.

Likewise, there's a hell of a lot of love put into Fawlty Towers: The Complete Collection Remastered, which contains all twelve episodes of the entire series run (all masterful gems, each and every one), new commentary from John Cleese, extended 2009 interviews (and an exclusive interview with Connie Booth), interviews, commentary, outtakes, and a documentary about Torquay. It's the perfect 30th anniversary present for Fawlty Towers and just looking at the box set artwork (which features the cast) makes me wistfully nostalgic...

Fawlty Towers


Blackadder


Black Adder Remastered: The Ultimate Edition retails for $79.98. Fawlty Towers: The Complete Collection Remastered is available at a suggested retail price of $49.98.

Saboteurs and Lovers: An Advance Review of "Battlestar Galactica: The Plan"

There are many copies. And they have a plan.

I feel a bit conflicted about Battlestar Galactica: The Plan, the nearly two-hour-long direct-to-DVD movie that's set roughly around the first two seasons of Syfy's groundbreaking drama series Battlestar Galatica.

On the one hand, I was excited to return to the dystopian world of human survivors and Cylon skinjobs, ahead of Syfy's planned prequel series Caprica (which launches in January), but on the other I can't help asking myself if this was a story that cried out to be told.

Battlestar Galatica: The Plan, written by Jane Espenson and directed by Edward James Olmos, doesn't really tred any new territory, per se. What it does offer is a different perspective on the events of the first two seasons of Battlestar Galactica, from the POV of the Cylon attackers. It's through their eyes--both the Cylon skinjobs and the mythical Final Five--that we see the chain of events unfold, from the attack on the Colonies to the reunion between Sam Anders (Michael Trucco) and Kara Thrace (Katee Sackhoff) on Caprica. Between those two narrative bookends, we see Cylon model Number One (Dean Stockwell) manipulate the other Cylons into carrying out various acts of sabotage and self-destruction while hidden among the ragtag human fleet.

It's Stockwell's One, operating under the guise of Brother Cavil both on Caprica and aboard Galactica, that provides the throughline for the plot, which is made up of pre-existing footage from the series along with original material. Even as two versions of his nihilistic line plot and scheme, each attempts to come to terms with the decisions they've made, watching the members of the Final Five for signs that they've learned from the cycle of destruction.

In addition to providing a glimpse behind the curtain into the Cylon perspective, the plot also focuses on what happened to each of the Final Five immediately after the nuclear holocaust that wiped out the Twelve Colonies: we see Ellen Tigh (Kate Vernon) gravely injured on Picon, Sam assume a leadership role of his group of resistance fighters, Chief Tyrol (Aaron Douglas) deal with his impossible relationship with Cylon sleeper agent Sharon Valerii (Grace Park) even as he later must come to terms with the possibility that he too is not who he believes himself to be. Saul Tigh (Michael Hogan) and Tory Foster (Rekha Sharma) also appear briefly but the plot doesn't quite manage to ensnare their characters in quite the same way.

There's also the inclusion of a minor character from the original BSG mini-series, Gianna (played by Olmos' real-life wife Lymari Nadal), a widowed Caprican who becomes a member of the knuckle-draggers on Galactica and crosses paths several times with Chief. She also unwittingly enters into a relationship with a Cylon Number Four (Rick Worthy), calling himself Simon, and their romance provides one of the more tragic elements of the film. We're also given a deeper portrait of Simon himself, following the dual paths of two versions of his model, one embedded within Sam's pyramid team and the aforementioned one within the fleet, who is forced to choose between his duty and his heart. (Six and Leoben also get some moments to shine as well as we're given a look at some events from their specific points of view.)

In other words, there's a lot going on here. Which should be a good thing but part of the problem is that, unless you've very recently rewatched the first two seasons, it's virtually impossible to keep track of all of the various events which we're seeing from different perspectives this time around. The film seeks to provide some minor answers to some very minor moments, such as just how Six appeared to vanish off of Galactica after outing Baltar (James Callis) or how the Cylons managed to pass along information to Boomer when she was still a Cylon sleeper agent (hint: it involves a ceramic elephant) and unaware of her true nature.

The overall effect feels like quite too much has been shoehorned into a film whose running time is an hour and fifty minutes and which juggles numerous timeframes, characters, and events in order to compress roughly two seasons of storylines into a single film. There are some interesting thematic elements at work here, such as the series' underlying question about what it means to truly be human, and some insightful moral and philosophical debates about complicity, genocide, and penance. But, as faithful viewers of Battlestar Galactica know, much of this has been dealt head-on within the series itself, with entire episodes devoted to deciphering the Cylon mentality and mores.

Even as a die-hard Battlestar Galactica fan, I wondered if we hadn't already known about much of the Cylons' vaunted "plan" ahead of time and whether there weren't more intriguing untold stories amid the plot of Battlestar Galactica that would serve to further deepen the mythology and world of the series. We've seen Cylons debate the merits of genocide and whether they were right to spite their makers, we've seen them squabble and fall in love with humans, and we've seen them take moral stands that prove that there is individuality even among a line of mass-produced copies.

Unfortunately, it's those same elements that the film seeks to dramatize again, often with a sense of deja vu. Battlestar Galactica: The Plan isn't bad--there are some gorgeously shot sequences and some pretty thought-provoking moments--but it's also not nearly as revealing as it ought to be.



Battlestar Galactica: The Plan is available for purchase beginning tomorrow for a suggested retail price of $26.98. Or you can pick up a copy in the Televisionary store for $16.99.

TV on DVD: "Fringe: The Complete First Season"

Despite my gentle (and constant) criticism of FOX's procedural sci-fi drama Fringe, I have to say that it does make for some fun marathon viewing on DVD.

Warner Home Video today releases Fringe: The Complete First Season, a seven-disc box set that contains all twenty episodes of Fringe's first season and over six hours of bonus material that will keep any fan of the series occupied for quite some time.

Throughout its first season, Fringe--created by J.J. Abrams, Roberto Orci, and Alex Kurtzman--struggled to find its pacing and storytelling hook, with many (myself included) somewhat frustrated by the lack of momentum in the earlier episodes, the constant re-explanation of the series' plot and characters on a weekly basis, and its episodic nature.

For those who haven't tuned in, here's a precis of the action: FBI Agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) is assigned to the mysterious and shadowy Fringe Division following a bizarre and shocking incident involving her partner and secret lover John Scott (Mark Valley). Teaming up with a mad scientist named Walter Bishop (John Noble), sprung from a mental hospital with the help of his maverick son Peter (Joshua Jackson), the trio soon investigate all manner of unexplained phenomena: teleportation, mind control, invisibility, astral projection, mutation, reanimation. The widespread nature of these man-made occurrences--nicknamed the Pattern--is the result of a rogue group of scientists using the planet as their own personal laboratory. And these scientists may or may not be tied up with a multi-national corporation called Massive Dynamic, whose enigmatic founder William Bell, just happened to be the former lab partner of Walter Bishop himself.

Still with me? In watching the twenty episodes of Fringe's first season in a short time, their strengths and weaknesses both become more clear. The suspense and terror that the series conjures up are palpable and I have to tip my hat to Fringe's writers that they accomplish such fantastic openers in nearly every episode. But the main flaw of the series--something more or less addressed as the season wore on--was that the characters themselves were often backdrops to the action itself, with many of them (Astrid, Broyles, Charlie) remaining painfully one-dimensional and unexplored. While the three core characters--Olivia Dunham, Peter Bishop, and Walter Bishop--often treaded water in terms of character development as well.

Over the course of the first season of Fringe, this does change as we move towards the latter episodes and it soon becomes clear that the overarching mythology isn't quite as tenuous as it seems, even if it's not as apparent as that of, say, The X-Files. The later episodes, while still being episodic in nature, manage to better balance the demands of the characters and the mythology with the need to wrap up most of the storylines at the end of the hour. And, thanks to some eerie subplots, the characters of Olivia, Peter, and Walter do deepen as we begin to catch glimpses of their life before Fringe Division, the choices they made, and the cost of their line of work.

But to succeed, Fringe will need to break out of its own pattern. I understand the need for the network to include new viewers each week but for those who have stuck with the series since the beginning (or those who are marathoning through the entire season) the constant repetition of characters, mission, and overall purpose rankles. There needs to be a clearer throughline and progression of plot, something that Abrams' own Alias wasn't afraid or unwilling to do.

Still, there's a crisp energy to Fringe's slightly uneven first season and, despite its flaws, it's still a fun and lively series that offers more than a few heartpounding scares along the way. The last few episodes in particular are the season's best as the mythology overtakes the episodic in a remarkable and organic way, setting up new directions for the series and paying off some of the series' most enduring mysteries in intriguing and personal ways.

Fringe's fantastic actors should be commended: Torv makes a sympathetic and engaging lead; Noble is pitch-perfect as the addled but brilliant Walter; Jackson is roguishly charming. As mentioned before, the supporting actors (all of them wonderful performers) need something more to do than act as exposition dumps or props. The supremely talented Lance Reddick (The Wire) is mostly wasted in his role as Broyles, whose job consists mainly of telling Olivia that the latest phenomenon they're investigating is similar to one they looked at years ago. Likewise, Jasika Nicole needs more to do as Astrid than run errands for Walter and look askew when he forgets her name.

Bonus materials on the seven-disc set, which features a hologram cover, run the gamut from gag reels, docupods, making of videos, audio commentary, and deleted scenes to production diaries from writer/executive producer Roberto Orci, episodic sidebars, and featurettes on the series' genesis, casting, visual effects, and science. And a montage featuring Fringe's unsung hero, Gene the Cow.

Ultimately, Fringe: The Complete First Season is a must-have DVD for fans of the FOX drama series, which kicks off its second season later this month (an advance review of the season opener can be read here), fans of spooky sci-fi, or those looking to explore the things that go bump in the night.



Fringe: The Complete First Season is available today for a suggested retail price of $59.98. Or buy it today in the Televisionary store for just $38.99.

TV on DVD: "Torchwood: Children of Earth"

Just four days after the end of Torchwood: Children of Earth here in the US, BBC Video is releasing the two-disc set for the epic mini-series from writers Russell T. Davies, John Fay, and James Moran.

While I've not only reviewed the mini-series in full (my advance review of the five-night event can be found here), I also wrote up each installment of the series' limited run (Day One, Day Two, Day Three, Day Four, and Day Five) and offered up a two-part interview with executive producer Julie Gardner (which can be found here and here).

Over the course of the five taut installments, Davies and Co. manage to break the alien fighting team in half, push the series' characters well beyond their breaking points, and bring us piece of a politically and socially-minded action-adventure-sci-fi television making that is absolutely extraordinary in its scope.

Make no mistake: this is an alien contact story unlike any other but the writers wisely craft a series that tells parallel plots: bringing the viewer both a street-level view of the crisis (via the families of our main characters) and inside Whitehall and Thames House. The result is an acute portrait of a world where morality is a nebulous term that is easily compromised and blood sacrifice demanded.

The two-disc box set for Torchwood: Children of Earth, available for purchase today, contains unedited versions of all five episodes of Children of Earth, along with a DVD-exclusive featurette entitled "Torchwood: Declassified," featuring interviews with the cast and crew of Torchwood.

All in all, viewers who enjoyed Torchwood: Children of Earth would be wise to pick up the box set. Despite its grim tone, the mini-series remains spellbinding, utterly original, and fantastically gripping, even on repeat viewing.

Torchwood: Children of Earth is available for purchase on DVD for a suggested retail price of $29.98. Or you can pick one up in the Televisionary store for just $14.49.

TV on DVD: "The Mighty Boosh: Seasons One to Three"

"Come with us now on a journey through time and space... to the world of the Mighty Boosh."

Thus begins each episode of the gleefully surreal British comedy series The Mighty Boosh, which is finally available Stateside on DVD beginning today after brief runs of the series' three seasons to date on both BBC America and Adult Swim over the past few years. Available as three separate two-disc sets, The Mighty Boosh: Seasons One, Two, and Three offer up a delightful look inside the deliciously twisted minds of creators and stars Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding.

Despite their relative anonymity in the States, The Mighty Boosh has long been a watchword for comedians and comedy fans in the know. Each episode of the series, which began as a stand-up act and then a radio series before making the leap to the small screen, follows the unlikely duo of Howard Moon (Julian Barratt) and Vince Noir (Noel Fielding) as they get themselves into a series of acid-trip misadventures.

The three seasons of The Mighty Boosh are positively overflowing with musical riffs, crimping (yes!), animation, image projection, philosophizing moons, talking gorillas, and druggie shamans. There's no real sense of continuity or cohesion; characters murdered on-screen in one episode return in the next no worse for the wear. Everything has a feeling of a waking dream about it. Or in some cases ("Eels" or "The Legend of Old Gregg") an outright nightmare.

Which is what I love so bloody much about The Mighty Boosh: you never know just what you're going to get episode to episode. Season One finds the duo working as zookeepers, Season Two as housemates in a Dalton flat, and Season Three as shopkeepers at Nabootique, a second-hand shop owned by shaman Naboo the Enigma (Michael Fielding) and his familiar gorilla Bollo (Dave Brown). But the setting never matters; it's always a jumping off point for some supremely weird journeys into the psychedelic.

Howard and Vince couldn't be more different: Howard's a jazz freak with a penchant for organizing stationery and worshiping vintage vinyl records of obscure musicians; Vince is the anthropomorphized embodiment of au courant fashion and music, a cutting-edge bohemian who is several steps ahead of the public in every sense. Together, they comprise a winning mix of yin and yang, id and ego, and twisted self-indulgence. There's no scrape that these two don't wind up in, whether it's summoning an evil elderly woman demon named Nana and inadvertently unleashing Nanaggedon, searching for the fountain of youth on a distant planet, battling a flatulent syringe-fingered crack-addicted urban fox, tangling with a green, murderous Cockney alien called The Hitcher, or creating coconut people after getting stranded on a deserted island.

Barratt and Fielding play a host of other characters in addition to Howard and Vince, creating some memorable (and at times terrifying) personalities in the process. In addition to The Hitcher, the half-man, half-fish transsexual Old Gregg (with a downstairs mix-up and a love of Bailey's), the dim-witted Man in the Moon, and the aforementioned Crack Fox remain some of the most stunning and twisted creations ever created for television. (And that's to say nothing of Rich Fulcher's Bob Fossil or the slew of characters he contributes to the mix.)

But words really fail when it comes to the unique magic of The Mighty Boosh, which has to be seen to be enjoyed and understood. There's no way to explain the magic carpet stag party, stationery village, Old Gregg's Bailey's sketches, Tony Harrison's tentacled head, or gun-slinging transvestite Eleanor without actually seeing them for yourself.

The three box sets each feature extended episodes (compared, that is, to those that aired on Adult Swim) along with hours and hours of bonus material on each set, including publicity featurettes, making of documentaries, outtakes, commentary, picture galleries, musical numbers, deleted scenes, promos, trailers, and the original Boosh pilot, just to name a few.

Ultimately, these releases will change the way you look at comedy (and possibly the world around you) and I completely predict that you'll be won over by The Mighty Boosh's winning blend of surreal comedy, out-there musical numbers, and bizarro characters. So why not open the doors of perception, take a magical journey through time and space, and pick up the three volumes of The Mighty Boosh today? After experiencing the loopy charms of one of the most original and unique television series ever, your brain will thank me in the morning.

Pick up copies of The Mighty Boosh: Seasons One to Three for a suggested retail price of $29.98 apiece. (N.B.: each season box set is sold separately.) Or pick up copies today in the Televisionary store for $19.99-$24.99.

TV on DVD: "Pushing Daisies: The Complete Second Season"

I'm hopeful that in the years to come Bryan Fuller's gorgeously technicolored and bittersweet drama series Pushing Daisies will be remembered for not only its wacky and memorable characters but also for being one of the most original, compelling, and groundbreaking series to arrive on the small screen in quite a long time.

Pushing Daisies was, rather sadly, also one of the most mistreated series in recent memory as well, having its first critically-acclaimed season cut short by the writers strike (only nine episodes were shot) and then its sophomore season even more cruelly cut short by ABC, which held on to the final three episodes of its run for several months and then unceremoniously dumped them on Saturday nights.

Today, however, fans of Pushing Daisies have something to celebrate as Warner Home Video releases a four-disc box set of the series' sensational second season, complete with a plethora of bonus features, all in a honey-themed jewel case that deliciously appropriates the honeycomb sweetness of Charlotte "Chuck" Charles and, well, the terror of the Bee-Man from second season premiere "Bzzzzzzzzz!"

The sophomore season of Pushing Daisies was a thing of beauty as creator Bryan Fuller and his talented writing team dove even deeper into the backstories of our main characters, Ned the Pie Maker (Lee Pace), a man gifted (or cursed?) with the ability to bring the dead back to life with a single touch; Chuck (Anna Friel), the alive-again avenger and Ned's childhood sweetheart/current girlfriend whose return to life came with a caveat: she could never again touch Ned; Emerson Cod (Chi McBride), a gruff-talking gumshoe with a penchant for pop-up books on the hunt for his missing daughter; Olive Snook (Kristin Chenoweth), a pint-sized bucket of sass with a serious case of unrequited love; and Lily and Vivian Charles (Swoosie Kurtz and Ellen Greene), Chuck's reclusive aunts (ahem!) and former synchronized swimmer darlings who hadn't recovered from their niece's death.

The second season jangles some skeletons in the closet, most notably those of Ned's errant father (George Hamilton), the truth about Chuck's parentage (double ahem!), Olive's past as a kidnap victim and her true feelings towards Ned (which lead her, surprisingly, to the cloistered confines of a nunnery), and Emerson's search for his daughter Penny, which leads him right to the double-crossing arms of his grifter wife Lila (Gina Torres).

It also deepens the relationships between the characters even as week-to-week they attempt to solve all manner of bizarro crimes, from elaborate murder tableaux in department store windows to falling nuns and everything in between. Early publicity materials for Pushing Daisies likened it to a "forensic fairy tale" and I have to agree with this. Aided by the dulcet tones of narrator Jim Dale, Pushing Daisies does take on the manner of a fairy tale or at least one in which the protagonists also solve crimes between their star-crossed courtship.

The four-disc set includes all thirteen installments from Pushing Daisies' second season, as well as an extra heaping of bonus features including The Master Pie Maker: Inside the Mind of Creator Bryan Fuller, From Oven to Table: Crafting a Script into Reality; Secret Sweet Ingredients: Spotlight on Composer Jim Dooley's Work, and Add a Little Magic: Executing Some Giant-Sized Visual Effects. (If they had included recipes for Ned's truly awe-inspiring pies, I would never leave the house.)

All in all, Pushing Daisies: The Complete Second Season is a must-have for fans of the short-lived (but much missed) ABC series. It's a reminder of the power television has to enchant and enthrall and that certain well-crafted characters can live on forever, even if their series don't.

Pushing Daisies: The Complete Second Season is available today on DVD for a suggested retail price of $39.98. Or pick up a copy today in the Televisionary store for just $22.99.

Playing with Matches: An Advance Review of the "Epitaph One" Episode of "Dollhouse"

"If the whole human race lay in one grave, the epitaph on its headstone might well be: 'It seemed a good idea at the time.'" - Rebecca West

One of the more intriguing mysteries of this past season was the vaunted missing thirteenth episode of FOX's Dollhouse, entitled "Epitaph One," shot by studio 20th Century Fox Television outside of their license fee agreement with FOX.

Written by Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen, "Epitaph One" takes place outside the continuity established by the first season of Dollhouse and is set in the distant future of 2019 Los Angeles. It has remained cloaked in mystery, though the episode will air internationally, will be offered on the Dollhouse: Season One DVD, and will also be screened later this week for fans at San Diego Comic-Con 2009.

I managed to get my hands on a copy of "Epitaph One" this weekend and watched the enigmatic episode with a sense of wonder and terror as Whedon and Tancharoen painted a terrifying portrait of technology run amok, of unfettered greed and shocking hubris, and of wild anarchy in the streets of the City of Angels.

I don't want to spoil any of the delicious plot twists that lurk within the forty-odd minutes of "Epitaph One," but I will say that there were some terrifically shocking surprises within the episode, which ramps up the tension and stakes while also creating an enduring mystery that fills in the blanks as the installment goes on.

While the majority of the action is set in a post-apocalyptic Los Angeles in 2019, the spine of the episode is a series of flashbacks which give us a glimpse into just what happened to the main characters of Dollhouse. And there are many a familiar face that turn up in these story segments, from Eliza Dushku's Echo/Caroline and Tahmoh Penikett's Paul Ballard to Adele, Topher, Dominic, Sierra, Victor, Claire Saunders/Whiskey, Boyd, and others. (The episode also repurposes a scene from the original Dollhouse pilot, giving it additional heft and prescience.)

In 2019, a group of freedom fighters--Mag (Felicia Day), Lynn (Janina Gavankar), Griff (Chris William Martin), and Zone (Zack Ward)--inadvertently stumble onto the Dollhouse as they escape a group of "hunters." Tagging along with them for the ride (or survival) is Adair Tishler's Iris, a young girl with a sadness in her eyes that bespeaks volumes about the hell she's seen. (Heroes' Tishler is definitely one to watch: she manages to steal most of her scenes, despite being less than fourteen years old.)

So what do they discover eight stories below the street? That would be telling.

But I will say that Whedon and Tancharoen have effortlessly crafted a standalone episode that is haunting in its precise vision of a certain kind of dystopian future and which manages to beautifully fuse together taut psychological thriller, horror, and metaphysical exploration into one gritty package.

There are some hard moral questions at work here and the consequences of bad decisions, of shifting lines in the sand, of identities fragmented and lost. The portrait of the future that "Epitaph One" paints is increasingly bleak yet it ends with a rare note of hope, laced with poignancy for what's been lost.

Just what it all means and whether the series will meet up with this point in time--or if it will remain tantalizingly out of reach for the FOX drama series (or, hell, even remain in canon)--remains to be seen. But regardless of its long-term impact on the series, "Epitaph One" offers a seductive puzzle for viewers to solve: just how did things get to be so bad and what role did the Los Angeles Dollhouse play in the end of the world? Can this future be prevented? Or are we doomed to watch history repeat itself?

In any event, "Epitaph One" speaks volumes about what Dollhouse might have looked and felt like had the series hewed more closely to Whedon's original vision. It's dark, gritty, and compelling, a vivid nightmare etched in blood that will be hard to shake long after the final credits have rolled.

Dollhouse: Season One is available on DVD next Tuesday for a suggested retail price of $49.98. Or pick one up in the Televisionary store for just $31.99.

TV on DVD: "Mad Men: Season Two"

"It looks good now, but it's going to get messy."

The quote above is from a secretary about Sterling Cooper's new photocopy machine but it could be about the entire second season of Mad Men as a whole.

AMC's sensational period drama Mad Men might not be returning to the small screen for another month or so (Season Three kicks off on August 16th, to be precise) but fans of the groundbreaking and stunning series can get another fix today as Lionsgate releases Mad Men: Season Two on DVD and Blu-ray.

And what a release it is. The four-disc set, packaged in a stylish limited edition shirt box with a see-through window, contains all thirteen stirring episodes of Mad Men's second season along with a slew of fascinating bonus materials that shed light on the series' 1960s setting and its production, including extensive commentaries from the cast and crew on every single installment and several behind-the-scenes documentaries.

Season Two of Mad Men brings the often turbulent relationship between Don Draper (Jon Hamm) and Betty (January Jones) to the fore while peeling away the facade that Don had built up for himself, revealing the truth about his identity and his past while pushing his marriage to Betty past the breaking point. Don's journey to find himself takes him down some very dark paths, namely into the arms of a very married woman, deep into his own past, and off the grid whilst on a business trip to California. Along the way, the complicated Don Draper lays bare his soul and comes to terms with just who he is as Hamm turns in a performance that's darkly charismatic and deeply nuanced.

Meanwhile, Peggy Olson (Elisabeth Moss) strives to make her way among the boys at Sterling Cooper, now that she's been promoted and maintains her own dark secrets, namely the child she secretly birthed and concealed from his father, Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser). Torn between honesty and secrecy, between morality and pragmatism, Peggy discovers that secrets never remain buried for long. That Don and Peggy should be so dissimilar is part of the unspoken connection between the two disparate characters; they're bonded by their repertoire of secrets and lies.

The rest of the vast cast of characters also get a chance to shine in the sophomore season, particularly the sensational Christina Hendricks' Joan Holloway, who transforms from a flirtatious and catty vamp into one of the series' most heartbreaking and tragic figures. That the female cast of Mad Men continues to be overlooked by the Emmy nomination committee is a slap in the face, particularly when you view all thirteen episodes of Mad Men's second season. The troika of female characters--Betty, Peggy, and Joan--each reflect the changing role of women in the 1960s and their performances are empowering, poignant, and moving, often all at once.

If you haven't seen the second season of the award-winning drama, I won't spoil any plot points for you but I will say that the sophomore season of Mad Men offers up one of the most sophisticated and thought-provoking series on any network, meticulously recreating the 1960s in every aspect from set design and costuming to character development. Along the way, it tackles every issue from racism, alcoholism, sexuality, death, childbirth, marriage, and identity with skill and intelligence, delivering a heady mix of weighty themes, spellbinding plots, and memorable characters that will stay with you long after the final credits roll on the season finale.

Mad Men: Season Two's numerous bonus features include audio commentaries from the cast and crew on all thirteen episodes, a time capsule with interactive featurettes that fill in the backstory on political and social events of the 1960s, a fashion-focused featurette entitled "An Era of Style," which explores the sartorial influences of the 1960s on contemporary fashion, and "Birth of an Independent Woman," a two-part featurette that explores the rise of female independence.

All in all, the charmingly packaged four-disc Mad Men: Season Two is a must have addition for lovers of quality drama and insightful, compelling, and complex storytelling. It's quite easy to get caught up in the slow-burn momentum of the second season and be whisked away to another time and another place. Thirteen episodes later, you might have a both a bittersweet nostalgia for an era long past and a newfound appreciation for the personal freedoms of our own time.



Mad Men: Season Two is available today on DVD for a suggested retail price of $49.98 but you can pick up a copy now in the Televisionary store for just $24.49.

Channel Surfing: Christian Slater Gets "Forgotten," Emerson Says No Happy Ending for "Lost," Piper Perabo Engages in "Covert Affairs," and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing.

Christian Slater (My Own Worst Enemy) is in talks to topline ABC drama series The Forgotten, from Warner Bros. Television and executive producer Jerry Bruckheimer. If the deal closes, Slater would replace Rupert Penry-Jones, who appeared in the original pilot episode as a former cop whose daughter was kidnapped and went missing. Another role--that played in the pilot by Reiko Aylesworth--is also being recast. The series is set to launch Tuesday, September 22nd at 10 pm. (Hollywood Reporter)

Don't look for the series finale of Lost to feature a happy ending, according to series regular Michael Emerson. "I don't think Lost will have a happy ending," Emerson told Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello. "It's the end and I think we are going to start seeing more casualties. I would put money on major characters being killed. I believe it will be a sad ending to the show -- or at least bittersweet. I think it will definitely be a series finale for grownups." And Emerson is still trying to make sense of this season's finale. "I killed Jacob... maybe... probably," mused Emerson. "It isn't like we haven't seen plenty of other people be killed and somehow come back. And what does it mean if I did kill him? I Who the hell was he anyway? Obviously, Ben wanted a father. So much of our show is about bad fathers. It is one of our biggest themes. And Jacob disappointed in those final moments. And maybe Jacob made it easy for him. Maybe that was all meant to happen. Is it all ordained? Maybe. And for that matter, can Jacob even be killed? Stay tuned is my response." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Piper Perabo (Law & Order: Criminal Intent) has been cast as the lead in USA's espionage drama pilot Covert Affairs, which has yet to receive a firm greenlight from the cabler (though a pilot order is expected in the next few weeks). Perabo will play Annie Walker, a CIA trainee who joins the agency while still recovering from a relationship with an ex-boyfriend who is of special interest to her spymasters. The search is on to cast male lead Auggie Anderson, a blind tech expert. Project, written by Matt Corman and Chris Ord, comes from Universal Cable Prods. Perabo last year starred in ABC drama pilot The Prince of Motor City. (Hollywood Reporter)

The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan raves about BBC America's upcoming Torchwood: Children of Earth and talks with series creator Russell T. Davies about what viewers should expect from the five-episode third season "event" and promises more to come in the next few days. (Chicago Tribune's The Watcher)

Hilary Duff is joining the cast of CW's Gossip Girl next season in a multiple-episode story arc, where she will play Olivia, an incognito movie star who enrolls at NYU in order to live a simpler life and becomes Vanessa's roommate... and gets romantically entangled with Dan Humphrey. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin, Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother) is said to be in talks with CBS and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences to host the 61st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards in September. (Variety)

The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan is reporting that there will be not one but two Farscape panels at San Diego Comic-Con later this month. The first, scheduled for Friday, July 24th at 10:15 am, will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the series and will feature creator Rockne O'Bannon, executive producer Brian Henson, and stars Ben Browder and Claudia Black. The second will focus on the Farscape series of comic books. (Chicago Tribune's The Watcher)

Meanwhile, A&E Home Entertainment yesterday announced that they are releasing the entire series of Farscape as a repackaged "series megaset" featuring all four seasons of the series in November. (via press release)

ABC is developing reality competition series The Fast and the Funniest, which follows stand-up comedians as they travel around the country completing various tasks and performing at stops along the way. Series is described as a cross between "Last Comic Standing and The Amazing Race." Casting is underway on the series, which hails from Keep Calm Prods. and executive producers Page Hurwitz and Javier Winnik. (Variety)

Four pilots--ABC's Solving Charlie, This Little Piggy, and Romantically Challenged and CBS' House Rules--remain in contention for midseason slots on their respective schedules after cast options were extended on the pilots. Options on Alyssa Milano, Kyle Bornheimer, and Kelly Stables on Romantically Challenged have been extended; on Solving Charlie, Jimmy Wolk, Dakota Goyo, Brad Henke, and Dania Ramirez have stayed on; on This Little Piggy, only options on Andrea Parker and Rebecca Creskoff have been extended; and on House Rules, most of cast will remain on board, including Zoe McLellan, Eion Bailey, Kristin Bauer, Tawny Cypress, Anna Chlumsky, and Denzel Whitaker. (Hollywood Reporter)

Rocky Carroll will appear in both NCIS and upcoming spin-off NCIS: Los Angeles next season as NCIS director Leon Vance. Carroll is set to appear in at least six episodes of NCIS: Los Angeles' initial thirteen-episode commitment and remains a series regular on NCIS. (TVGuide.com)

NBC will air its two-episode docuseries The Wanted, which centers on "an elite team with intelligence, unconventional warfare and investigative journalism backgrounds as they hunt suspects such as Mullah Krekar, the founder of terrorist organization Ansar Al Islam," on Monday, July 20th and Monday, June 27th at 10 pm ET/PT. (Variety)

Seminal 1990s dramedy Ally McBeal is finally coming to DVD, according to Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch, who writes that both the first season and the entire series are available for pre-order at Amazon. (Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch)

Discovery Channel has given out a series order to unscripted series The Colony, in which ten strangers will spend two months inside an abandoned warehouse complex without electricity, running water, or contact with the outside world and must build a functioning society following a fictional major catastrophe. Series, from Thom Beers Original Productions, is set to launch Tuesday, July 21st at 10 pm. (Broadcasting & Cable)

Stay tuned.

TV on DVD: "Secret Diary of a Call Girl Season Two"

Fans of Showtime's imported British drama series Secret Diary of a Call Girl might want to check out the second season on DVD, which is being released today.

After all, Season Two of Secret Diary of a Call Girl finds Hannah, a.k.a. high class call girl Belle (Doctor Who's Billie Piper), branching out onto her own while juggling all matter of problems, not least of which is her confused relationship with best friend Ben (Iddo Goldberg), a flighty protege named Bambi (The Beautiful Life's Ashley Madekwe), and the prospect of genuine happiness with boyfriend Alex (Dead Like Me's Callum Blue).

The only problem is that Hannah hasn't quite gotten around to telling Alex, a dashing doctor recently relocated to London, what she does for a living. (Or who she does, really.) Season Two of the witty and provocative series finds Hannah living a double-life once again, lying to Alex even as she falls for him and trying to work up the courage to reveal to him who she really is.

While Season One established Hannah/Belle and the nighttime world she inhabits, Season Two of the Lucy Prebble-created drama delves deeper into Hannah's psyche, exploring whether this educated and ambitious young woman can hold down a so-called "normal job" or if her alter ego "Belle" and her prostitution really do not only define her but satisfy her. The season also features one of the most horrifically intense and gut-wrenching scenes on the series to date--I won't reveal what it is--which packs an emotional wallop and threatens to derail Hannah and Alex's relationship altogether.

Despite being deep into pregnancy, Piper once again shines as Hannah/Belle, offering a performances that's equal parts sly candor and sleek, seductive charm. Despite her shortcomings, you really do root for Hannah to find happiness, security, and love even as she makes a number of mistakes in personal and professional life. Adding the pressure this season is the aforementioned Bambi, who wants to emulate Hannah's success as a high-end call girl even as she can't quite wipe away the Cockney accent or brashness that define her. Madewke is absolutely fantastic as the well-intentioned but oblivious Bambi and the duo slip into a comfortable love-hate relationship that eventually resembles something akin to friendship.

The two-disc DVD box set includes all eight episodes from Season Two of Secret Diary of a Call Girl, which aired Stateside earlier this year, as well as some special features including a "Billie on Belle" interview with Billie Piper and webisodes.

All in all, Season Two of Secret Diary of a Call Girl is a must have for fans of dark comedy, sly relationship drama, and British humor. Despite some oddly sagging installments in the middle of the eight-episode season, Piper's winning performance alone makes it the worth the price of admission.

Secret Diary of a Call Girl: Season Two is available today on DVD with a suggested retail price of $29.98. Or pick it up in the Televisionary store for just $19.49.