Winter Is Coming April 17th: HBO Announces Start Date for Game of Thrones

The date we've been waiting for is finally here.

HBO today announced a launch date for Game of Thrones, its adaptation of George R.R. Martin's novels.

That date? April 17th at 9 pm ET/PT.

(The pay cable network also announced the start date for its upcoming Kate Winslet-led miniseries Mildred Pierce, which will air its first installment on March 27th. The sizzle reel they showed made the mini look insanely amazing.)

As for Game of Thrones, I watched the 15-minute clip reel that HBO assembled and think that it looks extraordinary. Entire scenes have been reshot since the original pilot I saw last summer and several roles (in addition to the two major ones) have been recast. I also sat down with George R.R. Martin and David Benioff and Dan Weiss earlier today as a few of us joined the author and the series' executive producers for a series of roundtable discussions. More on that to come!

Stay tuned.

Press Release: AMC Announces Launch Date for The Killing

AMC ANNOUNCES NEXT ORIGINAL SERIES, “THE KILLING”
TO PREMIERE SUNDAY, APRIL 3rd AT 10PM/ET

From Writer and Executive Producer Veena Sud

Starring Mireille Enos, Billy Campbell, Joel Kinnaman,
Michelle Forbes and Brent Sexton

Pasadena, CA – January 7, 2010 – AMC announced today, from the Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena, California, the premiere of AMC’s next original series, “The Killing,” on Sunday, April 3rd at 10pm ET/PT. From writer, executive producer and series’ showrunner Veena Sud (“Cold Case”), “The Killing” is based on the wildly successful Danish television series “Forbrydelsen.” It tells the story of the murder of a young girl in Seattle and the subsequent police investigation. Season one consists of thirteen, one-hour episodes.

“The Killing” ties together three distinct stories around a single murder including the detectives assigned to the case, the victim’s grieving family and the suspects. Set in Seattle, the story also explores local politics as it follows politicians connected to the case. As the series unfolds, it becomes clear that there are no accidents; everyone has a secret, and while the characters think they’ve moved on, their past isn’t done with them.

Online at AMCtv.com, fans can access the series' trailer, an exclusive behind-the-scenes video, first-look photos, and read the latest news and information about the series through an updated blog. Users can also participate in a community talk forum. Then, throughout the month of April, “The Killing’s” site expands to include games, downloads, and cast and character profiles. Following the premiere, each week AMCtv.com will feature new episodic and behind-the-scenes videos, exclusive Q&As with the cast and crew, trivia games, and more. The site also introduces a customized feature entitled, “Rosie’s Room,” which is an exclusive interactive experience that allows users to enter and explore the bedroom of the teenage murder victim Rosie Larsen to learn more about her life and uncover clues about what may have led to her untimely death.

“The Killing” stars Mireille Enos (“Big Love”) as Sarah Linden, the lead homicide detective that investigates the death of Rosie Larsen; Billy Campbell (“Once and Again”) as Darren Richmond, Seattle’s City Council President, running for Mayor; Joel Kinnaman (Snabba Cash) as Stephen Holder, an ex-narc cop who joins the homicide division in the investigation to find Rosie’s killer; Michelle Forbes (“True Blood”) as Rosie’s mother, Mitch Larsen; and Brent Sexton (W., In the Valley of Elah) as Rosie’s father, Stan Larsen.

Filmed in Vancouver, “The Killing” is produced by Fox Television Studios and executive produced by Mikkel Bondesen (“Burn Notice”) for Fuse Entertainment. Fuse’s Kristen Campo co-produces. AMC’s Joel Stillerman, senior vice president of original programming, production and digital content, Susie Fitzgerald, senior vice president of scripted development and current programming and Jason Fisher, senior vice president of production oversee production of the series for the network.

British Invasion: Brief Reviews of Showtime's Shameless and Episodes

The irony of airing a series based on a hit British series (Shameless) back-to-back with a comedy that satirizes that very process (Episodes) isn't lost on Showtime's president of entertainment David Nevins.

But that juxtaposition is part of the charm of seeing these two series launch on Sunday evening. While tonally dissimilar, there's an anarchistic quality to both Shameless and Episodes.

While both are enjoyable series in their own right, it's Shameless that is the true breakout hit for the network, a remarkable translation of Paul Abbott's hit C4 drama, which deposits the rough-scrabble Gallagher family to the mean street of Chicago.

Overseen by ER's John Wells, Shameless is gripping and absorbing television that's instantly ranks as the best of 2011. At turns hilarious, gut-wrenching, heartbreaking, and sexy, Shameless upholds the high quality of the British original (along with borrowing some plot points in the first few episodes as well). The plot revolves around the resourceful Gallagher kids--led by grimly determined eldest daughter Fiona (Emmy Rossum)--as they grapple with making ends meet after their mother walks out on them and their father Frank (William H. Macy) lurches about in a neverending series of drunken staggering.

Rossum is incandescent.

She manages to steal the show from right out under Macy. Which isn't to say that Macy is bad as Frank Gallagher, but his character is perhaps the least interesting element of the series. Perpetually drunk and ill-mannered, it's hard to find Frank sympathetic or interesting, which makes the second episode, "Frank the Plank," which focuses on the immature oldest Gallagher, the least interesting of the three episodes screened for press.

Rossum's Fiona, meanwhile, is the beating heart of the series, a woman determined to get "her kids" to adulthood any way she can, sacrificing everything to provide whatever she can for her siblings. But despite for the care she gives to her siblings, she's a woman who is closed off from the possibility of love. Which makes it all the more difficult when love finds her in the form of Justin Chatwin's Steve, a rich kid who is far more than he initially appears.

To be blunt: sparks fly when these two cross paths and the love scene that they embark on in the pilot episode manages to be both messy and sexy, which sums up the show in a nutshell. But Rossum's Fiona isn't the only character who manages to break out of the noisy menagerie: Cameron Monaghan's Ian and Jeremy Allen White's Lip manage to be engaging and compelling characters in their own rights.

The series, which offers a breakneck switch between dark comedy and drama, tackles a number of "serious" issues within the context of its rough-edged story, casting a sharp eye on alcoholism, homosexuality, drug addiction, theft, and welfare fraud, and proves that blood is thicker than water. The the third episode ("Aunt Ginger") is heartbreaking television, equally emotionally stirring and painfully funny, walking a thin line between hard-biting drama and bleak comedy. The result is utterly intoxicating.

***

While Shameless stands on its own, I'm of the belief that Episodes works best when viewed in marathon form, the serialized episodes flowing nicely into one another with a great sense of momentum. On a weekly basis, however, the episodes (heh) seem somewhat stunted when viewed within the vacuum of episodic television.

Which isn't to say that Episodes is unfunny, because it isn't. Matt LeBlanc plays a brutally arrogant version of himself, clearly willing to skewer his own post-Friends image. And, as married English writers, Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig, are top-notch, relishing the opportunity to appear on-screen together again as they explore the highs and lows of both marital relations and the snake pit that is Hollywood, particularly within the television industry.

I still maintain that Showtime should have aired the first two episodes back-to-back as LeBlanc barely appears in the first episode, but, alas, I don't have the clout to make that happen. What I will say is that Episodes is very nearly a deft evisceration of the shallow-mindedness of Hollywood and the culture clash that inevitably happens when you bring a British mentality and reverence for writing into the Hollywood system.

I just wish that creators David Crane and Jeffrey Klarik had pushed themselves a little more, either into deeper satire or into more broad comedy. What happens in the end is that the two sides of Episodes' comedic structure counteract each other a little bit.

Episodes is still charming and funny, but ultimately I want a bit more savagery from these, well, episodes.

Shameless and Episodes launch this Sunday evening on Showtime.

The Daily Beast: "Showtime's New Mastermind, David Nevins"

Former producer David Nevins stunned many Hollywood insiders when he announced that he was stepping down from his role at Imagine Television and taking the top job at Showtime, recently vacated by Robert Greenblatt.

Now five months into his term at Showtime, I sit down with Nevins over lunch in a new feature at The Daily Beast, entitled "Showtime's New Mastermind, David Nevins," in which he tells me about his “girly taste in television,” and why it’s “fun to be naughty” as a programmer.

We also discuss what's coming up for the network, what's in development (Damian Lewis/Claire Danes psychological drama Homeland, House of Lies, starring Don Cheadle), the challenges and opportunities facing Showtime, which is on a growth trend, and, um, selling Time Life books over the phone.

The Knock at the Door: Connections and Completions on Friday Night Lights

Things fall apart.

That would seem to be the message of this week's powerfully moving episode of Friday Night Lights ("Fracture"), written by Bridget Carpenter and directed by Allison Liddi, but that's not really what's at play here.

A beautifully nuanced episode about fracturing relationships and imploding teams, it was also a portrait of the way in which connections can occur and fractured relationships can knit themselves back together.

Just as the Dillon Lions seem to be at their lowest point, things get even worse for them. A fight breaks out between Vince and Luke as they prepare to take the stage at a pep rally. Coach Taylor is forced to utter a lie about victory even as he sees his team struggling to be a unified front. Julie turns her car around once more.

But it's the little moments that offer some hope: the way that Becky leaves the note for Luke on his windshield, the blossoming of the bond between Tami and Epyck, that final knock at the door.

Things may be falling apart, in way, but they're also falling together for some of the series' characters.

I will say that I wasn't pleased to see Derek Bishop turn up in Dillon, clearly with the intention of winning Julie back, even as he claimed to want to get her back to school. After nearly being assaulted with a tricycle handlebar, Derek persists in stirring things up with the Taylors, going to see Tami at work and begging to speak to Julie in an effort to help her life back on track.

Yes, Derek is now getting divorce. And, yes, Derek has (rightly) quit his job at the college. But that doesn't balance the scales. The fact that he took advantage of Julie and that their (consensual) relationship led to her being terrorized by his wife and leaving school aren't wiped clean by his efforts to repent to Julie and her parents.

And clearly he hasn't learned too much from this entire altercation. When Julie asks whether he came back to get her to go back to school or to win her back, he does tell the truth: it was to get her back. When she turned her car around once more, I screamed at the television set, yelling for Julie to wake up and see Derek for what he was: a road block on her way to a better life.

I needn't have raised my voice. While Julie doesn't return to college (at least not yet), she turns to her past to find the thing that she was so desperate to find at school but unable to form: a real connection with someone. The world of college that Julie experienced was more or less limited to Derek and she fell into a relationship with him because she couldn't find something or someone to hold onto. Their affair happened because of Derek's depravity and Julie's loneliness.

Which brings her to a certain door. As soon as the door opened, I knew that she hadn't gone to Tennessee to see Derek but to reclaim a relationship that had fractured. Whereas Julie tells Epyck to look towards her future, Julie looks towards her past, towards something once thought broken and abandoned. But something that can be mended once more.

While Eric railed at Vince for "knocking on all the wrong doors" in his and Ornette's wrong-headed approach, it seems that Julie Taylor is knocking on the right door for a change. Behind it: Matt Saracen.

I'm not sure what this means for Julie's schooling, but it's clear that she belongs in Chicago with Matt. And that this Dillon girl is better off in the big city, where she can be challenged, and where she can reclaim that lost sense of connection and completion. To me, seeing Julie and Matt standing on that precipice has made the Julie-Derek storyline entirely worth it.

Kudos to for pushing the Tami-Epyck storyline into high gear as well. Tami's struggles as a guidance counselor at East Dillon have resulted in her often hitting her head against a brick wall but she seems to have broken through to Epyck, even though the rebellious girl lies to her about her home life. Things at her foster home aren't nearly as grim as Epyck indicates; she has a loving foster mother, younger kids to look after, and decent food to eat. But the truth of her situation is far worse than the lies she spins to try and win Tami's sympathy: her parents both died from AIDS and Epyck lived on the street for a while. She may have pulled herself up by the bootstraps but she can't accept any real chance at happiness.

I felt a twinge inside when Epyck told Tami that she didn't want her to call child protective services because they would take her away from Tami. But once the truth had come out about Epyck, Tami didn't cringe, didn't leave, didn't run. She sat down beside Epyck and joined her for a bowl of soup and told her the truth: Epyck has a chance at a future just like everyone else. Sometimes the simplest truths are the hardest ones to accept.

Vince, on the other hand, had no trouble lying to Coach Taylor about his trip to Oklahoma Tech, using his mother's past drug addiction as a convenient shield for what was really going on. And Eric bought it at first, waving away Vince's gut-wrenching lies about his mother's lost sobriety, denying Eric any honesty and denying his mother the struggle she's come through.

But lies away catch up to us in the end and the same held true for Vince, as Eric saw a photo of Vince with the recruiter and the football coach at Oklahoma Tech, a convenience snapshot of deception that followed on Vince's new attitude of putting i before team. We've been down this road with Smash before but Vince's 180 degree turn is due to Ornette's influence and the whispers of recruiters in his ears. He's put himself right before the Lions, seeing them not as brothers or teammates but as an opportunity, a springboard to fame and fortune.

Eric sees this. Jess sees this. Even Luke sees this. But Vince is blinded by the promise of easy living and college life, by big payouts and front page glory. He's turned his back on everything that Eric tried to teach him. But it's Eric who issues the biggest lie as he whispers "victory" into the microphone at the pep rally. The Lions are no pride, no team, no single unit. They've descended into squabbling and in-fighting and victory, the word state scrawled on a chalkboard, all seems rather out-of-reach at the moment.

As the Lions fell apart before our eyes, Becky made a step towards reconnecting with Luke once more. I loved seeing Becky with Mindy's stripper friends and much praise is deserved to Stacey Oristano during the scenes at home and the pageant. Her pride and love for Becky are self-evident but the humor that Oristano injects into her scenes are contagious (see the tiara exchange, for example).

We're seeing a Becky here who is bolder and more self-possessed, and who comes clean to the girls about her pregnancy and abortion. It's Becky's words of truth, of clearing the air, that lead to try and make things right with Luke, to grab at a second chance, to reforge that connection.

The small things can make a difference. Her hand-written note to Luke, about being ready to start over, did make me a little misty-eyed. Over the course of two seasons, Becky has matured from a naive girl into a more self-aware woman, ready to begin anew and open herself up to love once more.

Just like Julie Taylor, it would seem. Let's just hope that these connections can heal the wounded hearts of Dillon's residents. I, for one, couldn't help but sniffle through the final minutes of this remarkable episode. Well-crafted, beautifully written, and tenderly acted, "Fracture" ranks as one of the strongest episodes of this season of Friday Night Lights and one of the most heartfelt and emotive installments in a long time. The end, it seems, is closer than we think.

What did you think of this week's episode? Were you surprised to see Saracen? Enraged at Vince? Can the Lions come back together again in time to win state? Head to the comments to discuss.

Next week on Friday Night Lights ("Gut Check"), Coach threatens to suspend Vince; Luke faces pressure; Billy learns some surprising news from Mindy; a new running back joins the team; Becky starts a surprising new job.

TCA Winter Press Tour Starts Today

It's that time of year once again: the start of the twice-yearly Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour.

As always, I'll be attending the press tour--held once again in Pasadena--and will be reporting and live-tweeting from the press confab as well as conducting one-on-one interviews for use at a later date.

Among the series and their talent being brought over for the press tour: HBO's hotly anticipated Game of Thrones, AMC's superlative thriller The Killing, Starz's Torchwood and Camelot, Mildred Pierce, Upstairs Downstairs, The Good Wife, Falling Skies, Franklin and Bash, IFC's Portlandia, A&E's Breakout Kings, Off the Map, The Chicago Code, Terra Nova, The Borgias, Shameless, Justified, and dozens more.

But I'm sadly skipping the journey to Pasadena today as I need write two features for The Daily Beast and start on a third. Stay tuned.

The Daily Beast: "Downton Abbey Comes to Masterpiece"

In the U.K.'s smash hit Downton Abbey, coming to PBS Sunday, the period drama is reinvented for a new generation.

After all of the scrapes with The Daily Mail, the praise from yours truly, and huge ratings in the UK, Julian Fellowes' sumptuous costume drama Downton Abbey finally reaches American shores this weekend.

Over at The Daily Beast, I spoke with creator Lord Fellowes and stars Dan Stevens and Hugh Bonneville about Downton Abbey for my latest feature, entitled "Downton Abbey Comes to Masterpiece", in which I also look at the drama series as a condition-of-England piece and its relationship to another British import, the return of Upstairs, Downstairs.

Downton Abbey premieres Sunday evening at 9 pm ET/PT as part of PBS' Masterpiece Classic. Check your local listings for details.

Midseason TV Preview: 16 Shows to Watch This Winter

Winter is coming...

Well, not that winter, not just yet. While we continue the long slog until April when HBO launches its adaptation of Game of Thrones, there's quite a lot of new and returning television series to keep us entertained in the meantime.

Over at The Daily Beast, I offer "16 Shows to Watch This Winter," a round-up that includes such series as Episodes, Shameless, Big Love, Downton Abbey, Parks and Recreation, Portlandia, Off the Map, The Chicago Code, Lights Out, Archer, Justified, The Killing, Body of Proof, and others.

In other words: quite a fair bit coming up.

Which of these new and returning shows are you most excited about? Head to the comments section to discuss.

Soul-Searching: Alien Invasion Drama V Returns for Its Second Season

When we last saw the scaly-skinned aliens and human resistance fighters on ABC's invasion drama V, the Visitors' high commander Anna (Morena Baccarin) had unleashed a swath of red across the planet, offering a cliffhanger ending that placed every character in jeopardy.

Just what was this so-called Red Sky? What did it symbolize? And had Anna's master plan for the human race finally come to fruition?

When we pick up with V, which returns tonight after a lengthy hiatus with the apocalytpic "Red Rain," we're given some of the answers to those questions and a hell of a lot more over the next three episodes, which were provided to press for review.

In fact, answers seem to be the name of the game, as showrunner Scott Rosenbaum has made it his mission to remove the cloak of mystery from around several long-gestating plots. Before these three episodes are over, viewers will learn just what the red sky phenomenon was all about, will get a glimpse at a Visitor sans human skin, and will learn a fair amount not only about Visitor physiology, but also about their leader's familial structure.

Yes, Jane Badler is back.

The former V star returns to the franchise as Diana, the mother of Baccarin's Anna. Rosenbaum seems to be pushing for a Shakespearean dynamic between the troika of women at the heart of the Visitor ship: Diana, Anna, and princess Lisa (Laura Vandervoort). There's a nice glittering edge to the scenes between Diana and Anna and a hint of menace to their exchanges as well as something of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

It seems that rebellion is a natural part of this ruling family's DNA and that those human skins the Visitors wear have some side effects. The series ponders the greater questions of what defines us: our insides or our exteriors. If the Visitors can be "contaminated" by wearing human skin, is that awakening an insidious virus or their true selves? Have they cut themselves off from emotion for so long that they don't recognize it within themselves?

What makes us essentially us and Visitors them? Do they have--for wont of a better word--souls? And just where does this ephemeral aspect of our humanity reside within the human body? Can it be found, measured, destroyed?

Badler's return brings a fair amount of melodrama into the mix, but unlike AOLtv's Maureen Ryan, I actually welcome the Mildred Pierce/Mommy Dearest high drama; it's a nice shift of tone from the direness of the Fifth Column storyline and the persistent back-and-forth tug-of-war between the humans and Visitors for the upper hand.

By introducing Badler's Diana, Rosenbaum injects a hint of instability aboard the aptly named mothership, a place where daughter spars with mother and where each generation repeats the same cycle endlessly. Just as Anna accuses her mother of being contaminated via the human skin she wears, her daughter Lisa extends her own bout of rebellion, working with the Fifth Column secretly even as she prepares for her own life's purpose. The wheel turns anew.

(Aside: I can't help but wonder, unfortunately, about Diana's access to dry cleaning facilities. Watch and you'll see what I mean.)

But, as Rosenbaum told me an interview last spring, V is at its core about two mothers locked in battle for the survival of their respective races and both Anna and Erica Evans (Elizabeth Mitchell) are willing to cross a host of moral lines in pursuit of this goal. After all, what higher goal is there of keeping one's family safe?

Questions about the parentage of Erica's son Tyler (Logan Huffman) also bear fruit here as well. There's an intriguing suggestion that leads to some interesting consequences about just what the Vs want with Tyler and why he's of special interest to Anna and the others. Hmmm...

As for the others, they each have choices to make. Will Father Jack (Joel Getsch) hold to his convictions even as he sees his words twisted and misused? Will Ryan (Morris Chestnut) choose family over freedom? Will Chad (Scott Wolf) follow his ambitions or the truth?

Season Two also sees the introduction of a new member of the Fifth Column, scientist Sidney (Reaper's Bret Harrison), who--like the Diana/Anna dynamic--adds something new to the tonal mix: some much needed levity. While Sidney gets caught up in the V plot very quickly (and winds up in a pretty gruesome environment by Episode Three), there's an air of unpredictability and a rather carefree spirit about Sid that makes him a welcome addition to the series, which has a tendency (given the stakes and the subject matter) to be very focused on the doom and gloom.

Unlike the first few post-pilot episodes of Season One, these second season installments offer a swift pacing, dramatic reveals, and, yes, some answers about the Visitors. There's a nice sense of momentum building over the course of the first three weeks and one of the strongest hours of the series to date in Episode Three, even as Rosenbaum rightly realizes that the most interesting characters on V are the women: icy leader Anna, rebellious Lisa, grimly determined Erica.

These women warriors might just be the very best thing about V and Vandervoort gets a chance to shine this season. Keep your eyes on Lisa as the plots begin to mount this season. There's every chance that she might just be the most pivotal player on the board.

Season Two of V begins tonight at 9 pm ET/PT on ABC.

In Defense of Downton Abbey (Or, Don't Believe Everything You Read)

The proof of the pudding, as they say, is in the eating.

Which means, if I can get on my soapbox for a minute, that in order to judge something, one ought to experience it first hand. One can't know how the pudding has turned out until one actually tastes it.

I was asked last week--while I was on vacation with my wife--for an interview by a journalist from The Daily Mail, who got in touch to talk to me about PBS' upcoming launch of ITV's period drama Downton Abbey, which stars Hugh Bonneville, Dame Maggie Smith, Dan Stevens, Elizabeth McGovern, and a host of others. (It launches on Sunday evening as part of PBS' Masterpiece Classic; my advance review of the first season can be read here, while my interview with Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes and stars Dan Stevens and Hugh Bonneville can be read here.)

Normally, I would have refused, just based on the fact that I was traveling and wasn't working, but I love Downton Abbey and am so enchanted with the project and the work done by creator Julian Fellowes and the series' cast and crew that I relented after several email exchanges.

The journalist in question--that would be Chris Hastings--wanted to talk about Downton's journey across the pond and specifically the cuts that had taken place along the way. When ITV aired Downton Abbey, it did so as seven episodes of varying length, while PBS was airing it as four 90-minute episodes. Which brings us to the main point of this post: despite the fact that I spelled out for Hastings that barely any cuts had been made to Downton Abbey, he wrote a now much-publicized piece for The Daily Mail in which he alleges, according to the hyperbolic lede, that "Downton downsized... by two hours because American TV executives fear its intricate plot will baffle U.S. viewers."

To put it bluntly: it's simply not true.

While I would be incensed about the article to begin with--given that Hastings took up my time on vacation, interrupted me incessantly while I was answering his questions, refused to listen to me, clearly had an agenda of his own, and then had the temerity to quote my review without proper attribution--I'm most angry about the fact that I actually did the math for Hastings during the interview, demonstrating in no uncertain terms that there weren't two hours missing from the US broadcast of the series.

The only thing missing here are, in fact, the commercials themselves.

Let's take a closer look. PBS is airing Downton Abbey as four 90-minute episodes, bringing it to a run-time of roughly 6 hours. Removing the ad breaks, ITV's run of Downton Abbey ran for--wait for it--roughly six hours. (Two episodes ran as 60 minute installments, while five ran for 45 minutes excluding the commercials, of course.)

I pointed this out to Hastings, who countered by saying that the two episodes were 90 minutes. Yes, I said, with commercials. And I countered again by saying that ITV received complaints after the first episode that there were too many ad breaks. The numbers that Hastings was using to make his case about widespread cuts failed to take into account the commercials, which don't air on PBS, even though he himself admits this in his piece.

But Hastings clearly already had an agenda and he clearly wanted to make a point about "simple" Americans "in the land of the notoriously short attention span."

Furthermore, comments made by executive producer Rebecca Eaton of WGBH Boston, which co-produced Downton Abbey, were taken out of context and misunderstood.

In reorganizing Downton into four installments, editors altered the episodes' structures in order to accommodate the altered timeslot. When Eaton said that heir Matthew Crawley (Dan Stevens) came into the storyline in the first episode rather than the second, she's speaking truthfully. He does now appear in the longer-running first 90-minute episode, but it's not that the first hour has been excised from the show. Rather, he appears in the last 30 minutes, which does, yes, quicken the pace of the entail/inheritance storyline by dint of his appearance in Episode One.

Small changes were made in order to get Downton to fit precisely into the running time allotted by PBS. Hastings goes so far as to admit this ("Ms Eaton insisted that any changes were minor and did not affect the quality of the programme."), even though it seems to be at odds with his thesis. And the internet comments that he quotes--again, unattributed--were in fact addressed to me over Twitter and I reassured those involved that it wasn't the case.

He even repeated Eaton's comments about having only made small cuts of dialogue to me on the phone.

Hastings went on to discuss the fact that Masterpiece host Laura Linney explains matters of the entail and of the Buccaneers (American heiresses who married into the British aristocracy during the Gilded Age), using it once again to attempt to slap U.S. viewers. Hastings writes, "PBS also believes its audiences will need an American to outline the key themes of the show."

First, Masterpiece's hosts typically do explore the historical and social contexts for the series. This would include the matter of the entail (which Hastings admits was confusing for British audiences as well) and Lady Cora's role as one of those Buccaneers. Nothing new there as Linney is performing the same role that all of Masterpiece's hosts ably step into before each episode of a program. Second, Linney might be American but her fellow hosts--among them, past and present, David Tennant, Alan Cumming, Matthew Goode, etc.--are not. So I'm not sure what to make of the "Americans need Americans to explain things to them" comment, which just comes across as ill-informed and mean-spirited.

But that seems to be the point of Hastings' piece as a whole, really. His insistence that "two hours" have been cut from the runtime run counter to our interview and mathematics as well. His attempts to get both me and Lord Fellowes to come up with a predicted audience number for Downton in the US failed as neither of us would offer him a guess as to how many people would be tuning in.

It's safe to say, however, that Hastings' wrong-headed article could actually cut that number, as readers of the Daily Mail piece have been up in arms about the (false) loss of two hours of material and the perceived brazenness of PBS executives for altering the show. (Again, untrue.)

But Hastings may have wanted to do the maths for himself, confirm his findings, or actually sit down to watch the imported version of Downton Abbey before writing his article.

His messy article is, in some ways, awfully similar to Mrs. Patmore's salty meringue, and just as unappetizing.

Downton Abbey launches Sunday evening at 9 pm ET/PT on PBS' Masterpiece Classic. Check your local listings for details.

Poll: What Are You Most Looking Forward to Watching This Winter?

Happy New Year, everyone!

I'm back after a much needed vacation. I hope your holidays were as lovely as mine, which included playing host to some visiting family, a luxurious trip to Napa with my wife, and more screeners than you can shake a TiVo remote at.

Yes, we watched a host of DVDs for new and returning television series, including Shameless, Big Love, Lights Out, Episodes, Justified, V, The Chicago Code, Breaking In, Harry's Law, The Cape, and much more. With the Television Critics Association's Winter Press Tour just a few days away, there's still a lot more to get through before the beginning of the twice-yearly critics' gathering.

But I'm curious to know what you were all up to and what upcoming television you're most looking forward to over the next few weeks? Can't wait for the return of those scaly aliens on V? Looking to head down the pub with the Gallaghers on Showtime's Shameless? Tip your hat at Timothy Olyphant's Raylan Givens on Justified? (Which, just an aside, is already off to an outstanding second season, thanks to some deliciously gripping plots and fantastic performances from Margo Martindale and Jeremy Davies.)

Head to the comments section to discuss and debate what you're most looking forward to (television-wise, anyway) this winter.

Top 10 Nontraditional Holiday TV Episodes

Happy Festivus, everyone!

To celebrate today (in addition to the feats of strength and airing of grievances), I rounded up the top 10 nontraditional Holiday television episodes over at The Daily Beast, from Community and Seinfeld to Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Doctor Who. (And, yes, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's direct-to-DVD special--which just aired on FX for the first time this month--made the list, naturally.)

An aside, I could have filled the entire list with just British television shows, from The Vicar of Dibley and Doctor Who (which both made the list) to Gavin & Stacey, Blackadder, Catherine Tate, Absolutely Fabulous, and about a zillion others.

But I am curious to know: what is your favorite nontraditional holiday episode/special? Putting aside the traditional Rudolph and Charlie Brown Christmas, what are some of the more out there holiday episodes or specials that add that extra spike to the eggnog?

Or make that Festivus aluminum pole shine a little more, anyway?

Year in TV: The 10 Best (and 5 Worst) TV Shows of 2010

It's that time of year when we bid farewell to the last twelve months and start looking toward the future, but it's also a chance to reflect, to catalogue, and to reminisce as well.

My selections for the Ten Best (and, cough, five worst) TV shows of 2010 have now gone live over at The Daily Beast.

The series selected represent the very best that television had to offer the past twelve months and include such shows as Mad Men, Community, Terriers, Parks and Recreation, The Good Wife, Fringe, Justified, Boardwalk Empire, Friday Night Lights, and Modern Family.

It wasn't easy to whittle down the competition to just ten shows as, despite the overall drain in creativity this calendar year, there were quite a lot of fantastic series. (In fact, one of the very best of the year didn't even air on American television at all: Season Three of BBC One's Ashes to Ashes--including its breathtaking and gut-wrenching series finale--would have made this list if it had been open to overseas programming that hadn't aired within the US during 2010. Additionally, Downton Abbey would have made the list but it's set to air in January on PBS, so will be held until the 2011 list.)

As for other runners-up, that category would include (but wouldn't be limited to) such series as Damages, Party Down, Nurse Jackie, Sherlock, Bored to Death, Better Off Ted, Doctor Who, True Blood, Treme, Big Love, Archer, The Choir, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The IT Crowd, The Life and Times of Tim, Luther, and 30 Rock (for the current season, at least).

But now that the list is (finally) live, I'm curious to hear what you had to say:

What's your take on the best of 2010? Do you agree with my picks for the best of the year and the worst? Head to the comments section to discuss, debate, and analyze, as well as share your own best-of list for 2010.

Blinded by Anger: The Loss of Grace on Friday Night Lights

What defines a man and a player? Is it grace in victory as well as defeat?

That's always been the view of Eric Taylor, a coach whose love of the game has often meant that he has allowed his team's opponents the ability to score a few points so they don't walk off the field at zero. Or who tells his team, after a particularly brutal victory, to "take a knee" rather than unnecessarily run them into the ground. There's no gain to be had from kicking a man when he's down.

Unfortunately, the Lions--or at the very least, Vince, under the guidance of his crafty father Ornette--doesn't see things quite that way. His decision to make a 65-yard throw and win the team another touchdown, acting against the instructions of Coach Taylor, was an opportunity to not score another goal or even conquer the Panthers, but rather to put the spotlight squarely on himself. While there might not be an "i" in team, Vince is trying his hardest these days to squeeze one in there.

I'm not to proud to admit that I teared up at the very start of this week's episode of Friday Night Lights ("Perfect Record"), which saw the return of Jason Street (Scott Porter) to Dillon. For too long, I've wondered just what Street had been up to and his sudden and unexpected return took me by surprise.

But for all of the changes in Street's life, he is most definitely Coach's protege, a man who was formed by Eric in his own image, with his own innate sense of sportsmanship, honor, and courage. The difference between Street and Vince became all the more clear this week.

First, I'm happy to see that Street has made a place for himself in the world, one that allows him to work within the sports world that he knows and loves. And that Street did in fact marry the mother of his child. There's a nice sense of closure there, of knowing that despite everything that befell Jason over the course of the series, that he's out there living his life and that things have fallen into place for the former Dillon Panthers quarterback.

I've missed the dynamic between Jason Street and Eric Taylor, something that blended both the mentor/protege dynamic as well as that of father and son. Eric's pride at Jason's achievements and his hurt that he didn't know that he was married were palpably felt in this episode, as the two caught up over a meal. Jason's life may not have gone according to plan, but he's still the man that he ought to have been, a man who was molded in the heat of battle by Eric.

It's been clear throughout the nearly five-season run of Friday Night Lights that Eric cares deeply for these kids, that he takes his role as coach seriously and dutifully, that he's there as much to push the kids towards a better life of promise and potential as he is to improve their game.

Eric plucked Vince off the street and gave his life purpose and direction. It's interesting to look back at Vince at the beginning of Season Four and to see how far he's grown and changed since then. While he was always mature--he did, after all, have to care for his junkie mother and keep their lives chugging along--he was headed towards criminality, jail, or death. In pushing Vince towards the Lions, Eric saved his life.

Which is why it's all the more upsetting that Vince is being swayed by Ornette, by a father who just a few weeks ago Vince couldn't stand to look at. Ornette may have Vince's "best interests" at heart, but they're short-term best interests rather than long-term ones, goals motivated by dollar signs rather than what's right for Vince.

Eric's feelings on the matter are echoed by Jason, who urges Ornette to find a college that's a "right fit" for Vince rather than chase after the biggest pile of money. I do believe that Ornette does care for Vince but it's a father's love that's twinned with the need to cash in on his son's arm and his future. Eric's utter dismay at Ornette stepping between him and the recruiters was one of shock and anger; he's always had these kids' "best interests" at heart and he was looking to do right by Vince. While he's aware that Ornette is (as Street put it) a "problem," the breadth of that issue becomes all the more clear as the episode goes on.

I don't want to wish any ill-will on Vince but I do want him to wake up and see that the Lions aren't just a platform for him and his skill, that Ornette might not want what's best for him overall, and that he gets knocked down a few pegs. After all, we saw what all the glory and guts got poor Smash; it was only through perseverance and the help of Coach Taylor that he was able to play again and get his life back on track.

I can't help but wonder whether a similarly eye-opening experience is in the cards for Vince. After all, it wasn't just Vince who shown on the field in the game against the Panthers: Luke Cafferty was also a star in that game and I can't help but wonder if there isn't an ironic twist in the works in which Luke sneaks ahead once more of Vince.

As for Luke, he should know better than to ever take the advice of Billy Riggins. I loved the workout sequence between the two as Billy looks to Luke as Tim 2.0, training him in the same way that he trained his brother (lifting fenders and propane tanks). But by ignoring Becky and giving her the cold shoulder, Luke risked alienating her altogether. However, I was pleased that the two finally had some words after the game and Luke came clean about his "plan" to win her over and how he was surprised that she liked when he was nice to her. (Oh, Luke, you've got a lot to learn about women.)

And the two--FINALLY!--shared a kiss. It's been an interesting rollercoaster between the two of them, a the start of a real relationship between Luke and Becky after last season's pregnancy and abortion and the thawing of the iciness between them. Plus, the two of them are just adorable together.

Elsewhere, Julie Taylor continued her shame spiral, as she still refuses to return to school, or really to even leave the house. I'm glad to see that last week's drag-out fight between the Taylors didn't permanently damage Eric and Tami's relationship, as they both seem to be on the same page about their daughter now. Julie needs some tough love but she also needs support. If she's unable to go back to school right now, she'll at least complete her coursework and finish the semester. Tami believes in forcing Julie to take on responsibilities at home (dropping off and picking up her sister, cleaning up, and running errands) and Tami herself drives to Julie's college to get her books and work, where she runs into Derek himself.

I was stunned to see just how cool Derek played his scene with Tami, inquiring about Julie but never once apologizing or expressing any guilt in her decision not to return to school after the encounter with his wife. No real emotion, at all. And I was glad to see that Tami kept things business-like and civil, though her true venomous feelings towards Derek were written all over her face. No smiles, no friendliness, no questions.

Meanwhile, Eric and Tami are fine, thankfully. I loved the scene where she climbed into bed with him and he asked if she wanted to fool around... only to have her fall asleep on him within seconds. Ah, married life.

But it was Tami's sadness and her line ("You need to study") to Julie upon returning that stuck with me long after the episode ended. It's a Tami that we haven't seen much of lately, a nearly defeated one, a mother trying to do best by her daughter, trying to push her towards fulfilling her potential. Just as Eric's own sadness, the loss of grace in their victory over the Panthers, as he watched Ornette and Vince chatting up those recruiters in the parking lot, revealed just how disappointed he is in someone he cared for as well.

Our pasts might not matter (those released criminal records), but what does is what we do next, how we roll from adversity, how we carry ourselves when we lose and when we win. And that lesson was, most depressingly, lost on Vince and on the Lions.

New episodes of Friday Night Lights will return on Wednesday, January 5th at 9 pm ET/PT on DirecTV's The 101 Network. On the next episode ("Fracture"), Coach fears he's beginning to lose his grip on the team; Tami worries that one of her students is being neglected; Vince alienates his teammates; Becky enters a beauty pageant.

VIDEO: Friday Night Re-animation with Fringe

Looks like FOX is being more than a little tongue-in-cheek with this new video, touting the move to the traditional Friday night death-slot for Fringe:



Fringe moves to Fridays beginning January 21st at 9 pm ET/PT on FOX.

Press Release: The Paley Center for Media Announces PaleyFest2011 (True Blood, Freaks and Geeks, The Walking Dead, American Idol!)

THE PALEY CENTER FOR MEDIA ANNOUNCES PALEYFEST2011
THE TWENTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL WILLIAM S. PALEY TELEVISION FESTIVAL

March 4–18, 2011, at Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills, CA

Evenings Honoring True Blood, The Walking Dead, 10 seasons of American Idol and a reunion of the casts of Judd Apatow’s Freaks & Geeks and Undeclared are the first four honorees revealed from PaleyFest2011’s 12-Event Lineup

Los Angeles, CA—The Paley Center for Media will present the twenty-eighth annual PaleyFest: The William S. Paley Television Festival (PaleyFest2011) from March 4 to 18, 2011, returning to the historic Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills, California. The Festival is also revealing four of its 2011 honorees: HBO’s True Blood, AMC’s The Walking Dead, FOX’s American Idol, which will be honored for its ten seasons on the air, and the seminal cult classics Freaks & Geeks and Undeclared, which will be jointly honored on one special evening.

PaleyFest is an extraordinary interactive pop culture event, connecting fans with the casts and creators of their favorite series as well as the icons who have changed or are changing the face of media. Named for William S. Paley, founder of both the Paley Center and CBS, annual Festival celebrates television’s rich and diverse programming and the creative process behind the medium. During each evening, the audience views episodes or highlights of the featured work and has the opportunity to ask questions of the cast and creative team or the individual involved in its production.

The complete schedule for PaleyFest2011 will be announced on Wednesday, January 19, 2011, first on the Paley Center twitter feed (twitter.com/paleycenter) and available on paleycenter.org with additional details. Starting today, the all-inclusive Festival Pass is available for purchase at ticketweb.com—just in time to give the perfect holiday gift to the ultimate TV fan. The Festival Pass includes one guaranteed ticket for premium seating each night, access to Festival events, free parking, concession stand vouchers, a one-year Paley Center general Membership, and other benefits. Starting January 19, several PaleyFest2011 Ticket Packages will be announced and available, also at ticketweb.com. Individual tickets will go on sale to Paley Center Members on Friday, January 21, and to the general public beginning the following Sunday, January 23, 2011.

Since the first Festival in 1984, the Paley Center has honored more than three hundred programs, including 24, Alias, American Idol, Battlestar Galactica, The Big Bang Theory, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Cheers, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Damages, Desperate Housewives, Dexter, Entourage, Family Guy, Friends, Friday Night Lights, Glee, Grey’s Anatomy, The Golden Girls, Gunsmoke, House, The Honeymooners, Laugh-In, Lost, Mad Men, M*A*S*H, Modern Family, My Name Is Earl, The O.C., The Office, Roots, Route 66, Sábado Gigante, Seinfeld, The Simpsons, Six Feet Under, South Park, thirtysomething, True Blood, Ugly Betty, The Untouchables, The West Wing, and The X-Files, along with such personalities as Judd Apatow, Lucille Ball, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Sally Field, Jane Fonda, John Frankenheimer, Jim Henson, Bob Hope, Angela Lansbury, Jack Lemmon, George Lucas, Mary Martin, Carl Reiner, Garry Shandling, Flip Wilson, Jonathan Winters, and many others. PaleyFest panels are recorded and are available for viewing at the Paley Center in New York and Los Angeles.

PaleyFest2011 is made possible in part by a grant from the William S. Paley Foundation.

Paying the Piper (Perabo): Golden Globes Nominations Announced

Oh, Hollywood Foreign Press Association, you do love to make me laugh.

The HFPA this morning announced their nominations for the 68th Annual Golden Globes, which will be telecast on Sunday, January 16th. Among the recipients, such worthy nominees as Mad Men, The Good Wife, Modern Family, Boardwalk Empire, and others.

But as always, the voting board--which tends to be relentlessly populist and/or follows certain Emmy trends--went off-track completely in some categories, such as the nomination of Piper Perabo.

Yes, Piper Perabo.

The star of USA's espionage drama Covert Affairs was nominated for Best Actress in a Drama Series, where she will be competing against the likes of The Good Wife's Julianna Margulies, Mad Men's Elisabeth Moss, Sons of Anarchy's Katey Sagal, and The Closer's Kyra Sedgwick. It's really a case of which one of these things just doesn't belong?

It's not a slam against Perabo or her USA series, but it's also indicative of the fact that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association often determines their nomination process in a method that would confound most of us.

Surely, there were other dramatic performances this year that stood out over that of Perabo? Where was the nomination for, say, Connie Britton? For January Jones? For Anna Torv? For Anna Paquin? Glenn Close? Rose Byrne? The sister-wives of Big Love?

(Then again, this same voting body also gave three nominations to the cinematic trainwreck that is The Tourist, so all logic has sort of flown out of the window by now.)

The musical or comedy category contained not a risk at all. No mention made of Community, Parks and Recreation, or Party Down.

I don't want to appear ungrateful because there were some pleasant nominations to be had. I'm extremely chuffed that Elisabeth Moss received recognition for her amazing performance this season on Mad Men ("The Suitcase" alone should have locked this), that Luther's Idris Elba landed a nom, that some love was given to HBO's Temple Grandin and Return to Cranford, and that The Good Wife also received some love as well. (I'm a little amused that The Walking Dead managed to crack the best drama series after its ratings success, but that they opted not to recognize, say, Lost's final season as a result.)

And then there are the categories in which the same names come up time and time again: Best Actor, I'm looking at you. I'm pleased that Steve Buscemi cracked the category for his turn as Nucky Thompson on HBO's Boardwalk Empire, but it does get repetitive to have largely the same names crop up year after year. (I love Buscemi, but my support goes again to Jon Hamm.)

And the categories that smush together a panoply of supporting actors from various genres to compete against each other: Eric Stonestreet competing against Chris Noth and David Strathairn? Only at the Golden Globes, really, where head-scratching is just part of the package...

The full list of television-related nominees can be found below.

BEST TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA

a. BOARDWALK EMPIRE (HBO)
Leverage, Closest to the Hole Productions, Sikelia Productions and Cold Front Productions, HBO Entertainment
b. DEXTER (SHOWTIME)
Showtime, John Goldwyn Productions, The Colleton Company
c. THE GOOD WIFE (CBS)
CBS Television Studios
d. MAD MEN (AMC)
Lionsgate Television
e. THE WALKING DEAD (AMC)
AMC

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA

a. JULIANNA MARGULIES - THE GOOD WIFE
b. ELISABETH MOSS - MAD MEN
c. PIPER PERABO - COVERT AFFAIRS
d. KATEY SAGAL - SONS OF ANARCHY
e. KYRA SEDGWICK - THE CLOSER

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA

a. STEVE BUSCEMI - BOARDWALK EMPIRE
b. BRYAN CRANSTON - BREAKING BAD
c. MICHAEL C. HALL - DEXTER
d. JON HAMM - MAD MEN
e. HUGH LAURIE - HOUSE

BEST TELEVISION SERIES – COMEDY OR MUSICAL

a. 30 ROCK (NBC)
Universal Media Studios in association with Broadway Video and Little
Stranger Inc.
b. THE BIG BANG THEORY (CBS)
Warner Bros. Television
c. THE BIG C (SHOWTIME)
Showtime, Sony Pictures Television, Perkins Street Productions, Farm Kid, Original Film
d. GLEE (FOX)
Ryan Murphy Television, Twentieth Century Fox Television
e. MODERN FAMILY (ABC)
Twentieth Century Fox Television
f. NURSE JACKIE (SHOWTIME)
Showtime, Lionsgate Television, Jackson Group Entertainment, Madison Grain Elevator, Inc. & Delong Lumber, Caryn Mandabach Productions

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES –COMEDY OR MUSICAL

a. TONI COLLETTE - UNITED STATES OF TARA
b. EDIE FALCO - NURSE JACKIE
c. TINA FEY - 30 ROCK
d. LAURA LINNEY - THE BIG C
e. LEA MICHELE - GLEE

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES – COMEDY OR MUSICAL

a. ALEC BALDWIN - 30 ROCK
b. STEVE CARELL - THE OFFICE
c. THOMAS JANE - HUNG
d. MATTHEW MORRISON - GLEE
e. JIM PARSONS - THE BIG BANG THEORY

BEST MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

a. CARLOS (SUNDANCE CHANNEL)
Sundance Channel
b. THE PACIFIC (HBO)
Playtone and DreamWorks in association with HBO Films
c. PILLARS OF THE EARTH (STARZ)
Starz, Tandem Communications, Muse Entertainment Scott Free Films
d. TEMPLE GRANDIN (HBO)
A Ruby Films, Gerson Saines Production, HBO Films
e. YOU DON’T KNOW JACK (HBO)
Bee Holder, Cine Mosaic and Levinson/Fontana Productions, HBO Films

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

a. HAYLEY ATWELL - PILLARS OF THE EARTH
b. CLAIRE DANES - TEMPLE GRANDIN
c. JUDI DENCH - RETURN TO CRANFORD
d. ROMOLA GARAI - EMMA
e. JENNIFER LOVE HEWITT - THE CLIENT LIST

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

a. IDRIS ELBA - LUTHER
b. IAN MCSHANE - PILLARS OF THE EARTH
c. AL PACINO - YOU DON’T KNOW JACK
d. DENNIS QUAID - THE SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP
e. EDGAR RAMIREZ - CARLOS

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

a. HOPE DAVIS - THE SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP
b. JANE LYNCH - GLEE
c. KELLY MACDONALD - BOARDWALK EMPIRE
d. JULIA STILES - DEXTER
e. SOFIA VERGARA - MODERN FAMILY

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

a. SCOTT CAAN - HAWAII FIVE-O
b. CHRIS COLFER - GLEE
c. CHRIS NOTH - THE GOOD WIFE
d. ERIC STONESTREET - MODERN FAMILY
e. DAVID STRATHAIRN - TEMPLE GRANDIN

What's your take on the Golden Globe nominations? Which category surprised you the most? Who deserves to win? And who should go home empty-handed? Head to the comments section to discuss.

Heartless: Danse Macabre on Fringe

"I don't want to be with you."

In a series where there is more than one of everything, where a shadow separates two similar worlds, what defines us as individuals? If we are identical on a cellular level with our twin from an alternate reality, are we the same or different? Do the little differences--being more quick to smile, still being married--separate us or are we still inherently the same underneath the surface?

This week's sensational and eerie episode of Fringe ("Marionette"), written by Monica Owusu-Breen and Alison Schapker and directed by Joe Chappelle, examined the fallout from Olivia's return to her universe and the emotional destruction left in the wake of her alternate reality counterpart. But it was the way in which this week's heartbreaking installment dealt with matters of animus, of soul, of life force, that left me asking those questions.

Peter didn't notice that the woman he was romantically involved with was someone else. Yes, they were identical and, yes, Alt-Olivia had done her homework exceptionally well. But the truth is that when Peter looked into her eyes, he saw his Olivia reflected back at him rather than her doppelganger, a woman who lived a different life, a life that wasn't based in the hardships that our Olivia has had to face. The differences in their personalities was explained away by what "Olivia" saw over there, embarking on a new outlook on life, a happier and more relaxed attitude.

Peter saw what he wanted to see, really.

He saw a happy, well-adjusted Olivia who was quicker to smile, who laughed and shrugged off the stuff that got under the other Olivia's skin because he believed that he was responsible for this change in her. That together, he had given her the same happiness that she gave to him.

But that's not the case. Olivia, trapped in a world not her own, clung to her memories of Peter, using her love as a means to get home, to return to the man she loved, to the world she left behind. She came back to a world that had gone on without her, to someone else having lived in her life.

Olivia is a ghost in her own life, returning to a story that someone else had picked up. Her clothes, her apartment, her life, all props in someone else's story. The heartbreak that she experiences is that she was forgotten, her friends all fooled by someone who wore her face but didn't share her soul.

Kudos to Anna Torv for the remarkable scene in which the weight of what has happened to her comes crashing down on her, after learning that Peter engaged in a relationship with her doppelganger. Standing in front of her closet--containing all blacks and greys--she begins to rip down her clothes, tear off her sheets, and discovers that in her washing machine is a reminder of the domesticity that Peter and Alt-Olivia shared, a faded MIT t-shirt that belonged to Peter mixed up in the laundry.

The entire sequence plays out without a single line of dialogue, as Olivia eradicates the visible signs that someone else has been playing house in her life. It's a more emotional Olivia than we've seen to date on the series, a woman wounded by the realization that's she's perhaps lost more than she's gained by returning home and that her life was so easily stolen from her. She's marked by the experience, emotionally as well as physically; that neck tattoo a visible indicator of the swap.

I am glad that Peter came clean and told Olivia about what had happened, the way that he was duped by Alt-Olivia, but it's never just as simple as a confession, no matter how heartfelt and mature. The scene that plays out in the back garden between the two reveals the full extent of the damage done. Olivia doesn't want to be with Peter; whatever trust or love existed between them has been shattered because Peter didn't hold onto Olivia. He didn't see her reflected back at him.

It's the realization that the organ thief makes as well, crafting a Frankenstein's monster out of poor Amanda, returning her donated organ to her corpse and resurrecting her. But what he discovers is that he was able to reanimate her body but not bring back what made Amanda Amanda: her soul. When he looks into her eyes, it's not Amanda who looks back at him, not the dancer, but an empty husk. Without her soul, she's just a walking cadaver, a marionette on strings that can be jerked around to make dance. (Which, just as an aside, was a terrifying and beautiful scene.) But it's not the girl. It's not anything.

If this mad scientist can see this, why couldn't Peter? Why did he not recognize what he saw before him? An imposter who looks like Olivia, sounds like Olivia, who wears her clothes and her hair just so? Because the heart wants what it wants.

And that might be the most terrible thing of all.

Fringe returns with new episodes and a new night on Friday, January 21st.

AOL Television's Skype Second Opinion: Community's "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas"

What did you think of last night's episode of Community?

This week marked another go on AOL Television's Skype Second Opinions, where I connected via Skype to ramble on for a few minutes about this week's episode of Community ("Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas"), which included stop-motion animation, sad quick Christmas songs, actual humbugs, a gorgeous (seasonal) theme song, a trip to Planet Abed (where the atmosphere is 7 percent cinnamon), Christmas pterodactyls, the best Lost gag anywhere, and so much more.

(You can read my advance review of "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas" from earlier this week over here.)

You can watch the video in full over here at AOL Television or right below.



Community returns with new episodes in January.

All-Night at the Museum: Child-Size Dishes and Childish Attitudes on Top Chef: All-Stars

If you saw last night's episode of Top Chef: All-Stars, you saw just how competitive and cutthroat this competition has gotten, just in the second week alone.

There's more on the line for these returning chefs than there was the first time that they were on the reality competition series. The cash prize is bigger than ever, there are cash prizes sprinkled throughout the challenges, but most importantly, there's an aspect of honor for the winners and a sense of embarrassment for those packing their knives early.

No one ever wants to go home early, especially in the first few weeks. In any other season of Top Chef, these first few episodes are dedicated to sending home the sacrificial lambs, the culinary cannon fodder whose presence in the competition seems more of a fluke than anything else. But that's not the case here with Top Chef: All Stars, where the chefs competing are of a naturally high caliber. But that doesn't make defeat any easier to swallow. In fact, it's even more of a bitter pill.

Which brings us to last night's episode ("Night at the Museum"), in which the chefs were put through the ringer, forced to help someone else win a Quickfire Challenge, forced to work on little or no sleep, and forced to throw together a breakfast buffet with limited resources at their disposal.

In other words: Pressure + heat + lack of sleep = explosion.

Which is exactly what happened here. What I would never have expected is which chef was the one doing the exploding.

I was upfront about the fact that I was pulling this season for Richard Blais and Jennifer Carroll to go far and make it all the way to the end. Hell, Richard even singled Jennifer out as his chief competition in the first episode of the season. So I was surprised when she seemed to crack under pressure and aggressively confronted the judging panel at the end of this week's episode.

First, it's inherently clear to anyone watching that Jennifer is a culinary force to be reckoned with, a creative chef with strong conceptual and execution abilities. She's a natural leader, fearless, and strong. But while she can cope with pressure in her own kitchen, where she has control over the ingredients, her sous chefs, the mise-en-place, and the timing, she's out of her element on Top Chef, as proven from the last two times she was eliminated.

Because, let's be honest, Top Chef is really a test of one's adaptability under extreme circumstances at the end of the day. When Jennifer had control of the situation, her dishes sang. When she lost control and could adapt to what the producers were throwing at her, she crumbled.

I'm glad when a chef stands behind their dish and doesn't throw a teammate under the bus. Hell, Jennifer even acknowledged that Jamie's disappearance--the result of a trip to the hospital for two (TWO!) stitches--made no difference on the outcome. She was proud of her dish and she stood behind it and the seasoning. If she was going to be the one sent packing, she wasn't going home without a fight.

Which is where that heretofore unseen side of Jennifer Carroll emerged. That sort of anger and aggression, that rigid posturing and defiant attitude smack of defense mechanisms, deflections to conceal the true hurt and embarrassment bubbling under the surface. Throughout the episode, from her repeating of her father's haunting words about losing to her arrogance towards the judges, Jennifer put on a brave face in order to distract the cameras from what was really going on: she was coming apart at the seams.

Deprive anyone of sleep and they're liable to be cranky. As we saw from this episode, several chefs descended into childish behavior after getting 0-45 minutes of sleep in the North American Mammals section of the Natural History Museum, their demeanor changing from polished chefs to whiny brats over the course of the challenge, moaning to the judges about the unfairness of the situation, the advantage the other team had, blah, blah, blah. Nerves were frayed and tempers simmering before the losing team even stepped foot into the judging room.

Jennifer and Jamie had wanted to do a Scotch egg, a sausage and breadcrumbs-wrapped hard-boiled egg which is deep fried. Lack of sausage and a lack of flour from their side of the kitchen scuppered those plans. Jamie, as already mentioned, bowed out after cutting her finger and needing medical attention, further adding complication.

And then there was the dish itself. Forced to stick solely within the realm of meat, eggs, and dairy (I do think that Quickfire winner Tiffani made the wrong call there), Jennifer decided to offer a play on bacon and eggs with what she deemed "braised bacon and hard-boiled eggs."

A few things: calling something "bacon" brings to mind some very specific connotations, including crispiness and saltiness, neither of which this dish had. Instead, it was closer to a pork belly that was braised and then served with its own braising liquid on the plate, rendering an already wet dish even more soggy. The egg condiment was--according to Tom and vehemently denied by Jennifer--underseasoned. As soon as she mentioned that she was doing egg mimosa, I had a feeling this dish would crash and burn and when I saw the meat in the liquid, I had a feeling that she would not be able to nail the texture, even though she argued--passionately--that it was precisely how she had envisioned the dish.

Which might be the problem, as the dish was conceptually flawed from the start. The blandness of the egg was only half of the problem but the other half was the entire dish, start to finish, that liquidity and that textural issue with soft plus soft, with steaming liquid on top.

It might not have been a good dish (it did seem more edible than Casey and Tre's salmon with shrimp and apple-smoked bacon sauce, which was over-reduced and over-salted) but it wasn't going to kill anyone, unlike, say, Antonia and Tiffany's trio of frittatas, many of which were undercooked and even RUNNY. Serving that to anyone with compromised immune systems could have resulted in some widespread illness if the eggs carried salmonella. A real problem, considering there were kids eating the food. Yet this seemed to be less of an issue for the judges than Jennifer's bland dish.

Also, I did agree with the team's assessment that several of their competitors' dishes were inappropriate for breakfast. Say what you want about the quality of the dishes, but I didn't think that gnocchi or gazpacho were ideal breakfast offerings, particularly for kids and their parents. I love gnocchi but there's no way I'm going to eat that for breakfast. Sorry!

As for the winners, I do have to say that Richard, Marcel, and Angelo's dish, the banana parfait with seasonal fruit and tandoori maple, was not only appropriate but looked delicious and absolutely gorgeous. Easily the most well-plated and beautiful of the dishes offered (even after Angelo cut the plums in half, against Marcel's wishes), this dish looked the most befitting a Top Chef: All-Stars challenge.

As for returning judge Katie Lee? She didn't add anything to the proceedings. But then again, she didn't the first time she was on the series...

But I'm curious to know what you thought of this week's episode. Was Jennifer's outburst--and the off-camera breakdown--justified? Should she have been sent home? Did Jamie skate by too easily for adding nothing to the challenge? Did the judges make the right call? Head to the comments to discuss and debate.

Next week on Top Chef: All-Stars ("New Yorkb's Finest"), the chefs pull knives for four teams which will cook in four of the city's best restaurants, but first their knives will be put to use in a Quickfire relay race.

Top Chef: All-Stars Preview: Speed Kills



Top Chef: All-Stars Preview: Starting to Sweat