The tv gods were relatively kind this year.

CHUCK (never underestimate the power of a $5 footlong!) lives to kung-fu fight another year, albeit with a stingy 13-episode order and orders to cut costs and limit supporting cast… Still, I’ll take what I can get!

My current obsession, LIE TO ME has been renewed for a second 13-episode season (again, what’s with the stingy orders? The way things are going, I’m concerned we might end up with “British” seasons that only last a handful of episodes per season).

CASTLE lives to write another day. FRINGE will continue to amaze, horrify and astound. BETTER OFF TED will continue its hilarious ways, at least for a while. BONES has been picked up for two additional seasons. In other “duh, of course it was renewed, it was never in danger” news, HOUSE, THE MENTALIST, GREY’S ANATOMY, LOST, NCIS (with an OSP spinoff to boot!), CSI (all 3), LAW & ORDER (presume all 3), 30 ROCK, HEROES, SOUTHLAND, COLD CASE and a whack of others I care so little for I won’t bother to mention were renewed.

Probably most shocking, DOLLHOUSE has been allowed to stick around to play a little longer (seriously, where was this FOX “second chance” compassion when FIREFLY was on the block? And why choose DOLL over TSCC?!?!).

Still on the bubble? WITHOUT A TRACE.

But the TV gods did not leave us unscathed, choosing a future without TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES (so much for fate being what we make – I think I’ll feel this loss the greatest), deciding we were no longer worthy of *sob!* LIFE (or even LIFE ON MARS), that bellybuttons were no longer an option – KYLE XY – but a requirement in primetime, that THE UNUSUALS’ quirks would not be tolerated, and that PUSHING DAISIES would bloom no more. The reworked god of love, CUPID, failed to enamor anyone.

RIP to the shows that were allowed to finish arcs and bow out gracefully: BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, BOSTON LEGAL, ER, THE L WORD, and PRISON BREAK.

What’d you think? Which shows will you miss, which were deservedly cancelled, and which are you surprised have been given a stay of execution?

Rampant plot-holes and sort’a boring sums up tonight’s LIE TO ME, but does anybody care? If you’re like me, the appeal of “Undercover” (and the show) can be summed up in the last 3 minutes.

Now, I’m as good at deciphering feelings and emotions of people on tv as I am those in real life – which is to say not at all (I’m crap!), so I won’t try to interpret the connection or the guts of the exchange (warm and engaged quickly followed by a realization which results in Foster’s subtle-yet-abrupt big step back, firmly drawing “the line” and closing herself off to Cal), but I will say this: it left my UST-lovin’ Lightman-Foster shippin’ self all warm and tingly.

Come to think of it, UST is a bit of a misnomer (at least for what I’m projecting onto them): I think if they ever did hook up romantically onscreen, my reaction to the passionate display would be as eloquent as that of a 5yo: “Eeeew.” It’s more like UET (Unresolved Emotional Tension): They’re both wounded, insightful people who recognize a kindred spirit in the other: they trust one another, protect and support one another, love one another… but it’s complicated, they’re complicated – and I do love me some complications! (on tv that is – elsewhere they’re a pain in the ass)

“Something like that, yeah.”

THE GOOD (including the above):

Kelli Williams was frakin’ awesome, and can I say again how much I love the DP/Art Direction on this show? Beautiful lighting… though I have no idea who to thank, as I can’t read the miniscule credits squished up in the corner that roll by as my local station pimps out other shows. Either way, all of the episodes have impressed visually, so kudos to Joseph E. Gallagher, Alan Caso and Florian Ballhaus for their incredible work.

LOL “Shotgun!” moment: In the underground garage, G-men in bad suits and ugly ties appear with an invitation to the ball and insist they all carpool in their gas-guzzling pumpkin (or something like that). Choosing to forego any need for “compelling” Lightman agrees to a ride in their pumpkin, but ignores the backdoor being held open for him and gets into the front passenger seat of the Fed SUV. Hee!

To mis-quote Dorothy (Wizard of Oz): “G-men, spooks and terrorist-threats! Oh, my.” and to quote Lightman: “You’ve got your head up your ass.”

THE BAD:

Okay, not bad, but stick with me on these few okay-but-not great bits, none of which had anything to do with the “big” case: Nice to see Torres exists outside the walls of the office. I liked that the lawsuit was a ruse, and that Torres passed the loyalty test (as if the super-protégé could fail!), though I’m still upset with Loker, even if he did get kicked around a bit this ep – there was no attempt to explain his reason/rationale behind the “betrayal” (he’s no dumb bunny, he must have realized how his actions would put him, his job and others in jeopardy, even if at the time he didn’t care), seems they’re content to leave his character rather one-dimensional at this stage.

THE UGLY:

What reason would hubby’s (revealed-to-be) sponsor have had to come see Foster at work (other than to titillate the audience/Lightman), especially since everyone was on the DL about Alec’s addiction?

Dupree bringing b-ball tix for Torres to the office (wasn’t he going with her?) and leaving them with Loker – such a clunky excuse to create the “Ria’s gonna be the one to lose” confrontation.

Plot holes big enough to drive trucks through:

Scene: Red-backpacked kid runs from cops, ditches backpack, shoots at cops on staircase, then nonchalantly saunters across rooftop with hands in pockets, pulls his cellphone-holding hand out of his pocket (seriously, people should know better than to reveal a shiny object when faced with cops with drawn guns on a darkened rooftop or otherwise). Cellphone-toting kid is then shot twice and takes a long tumble off a short roof… was there a second kid? If not, why did Andre run from the cops in the first place? Who was shooting at the cops? Are we to assume that the shots fired were just the construct of the cops’ fertile imaginations? Did Andre just desperately need a smoke, explaining his hurry to get to the roof?

And what of the expertly-photoshopped photo? Wouldn’t that have required some paperwork at the FBI (who claimed ignorance)? Are we to believe the EMS sleeper agents were closet ‘shop pros?

…But if we ignore all that and focus on those delicious final minutes, all is right in the world.

So what’d you think? What was your interpretation of the Lightman/Foster interaction that closed the ep? What did Gillian’s big sigh say to you? (Relief or sadness?) What of Cal’s pause in the hallway (taking a moment to absorb the rejection, or wondering where he’d put his keys?)

ASIDE:

Just realized I haven’t posted anything (work’s been busy) about last week’s episode “Better Half” with the first appearance of Jennifer Beals as Lightman’s ex: Was fun, felt like the “Cal and Zoe quip-off hour.” I enjoyed the banter, but was sad that the rest of the cast was so marginalized as a result.

Only 2 eps to go in the season and from the loglines, they’re set to be explosive (seriously, what’s with the short season order? and still no official word on pickup for next season!). I’d like to say I’ll try to savour them, but truth is, I’ll gobble them down like a kid with a twinkie at fat camp – and I’ll still be hungry for more.

FRINGE is 2-for-2 with great episodes since its return. Furthering the mythos of the ZFT and Olivia’s seeming crucial part in it, “Bad Dreams” was incredible.

I enjoy the monsters/science-gone-awry mysteries of the week, but the true brilliance of the show is revealed when it effects the characters personally… and you can’t get much closer than *being* the case, not merely investigating and looking in from the outside.

“These things… these things that we see every day. These things that we investigate – they’re happening to me.”

She’s a friend, we trust her. Her intelligence, kindness and moral character has been proven, but now we can’t help but regard her as a bit of a ticking timebomb: Olivia’s X-MEN-esque “power” has yet to be revealed, but she’s clearly setting up to be a key player in a war we – and she – does not understand.

Walter, on the other hand, seems to understand better than he’s letting on. He is often presented and comes across as amiable and exuberantly-childlike. He’s a walking-talking fountain of helpful information (and glorious one-liners)… but in the dim light of a tv playing an old VHS tape we’re reminded that he comes by this knowledge “honestly” as his nefarious past (and the fact that he appears to have aided in the experimentation on Olivia/Olive as a child) rears its ugly head, leaving us all uneasy and unsettled.

“If you can dream a better world, you can make a better world.” Who knew such a hopeful phrase could be interpreted so darkly?

CASTLE’s 7th episode “Home Is Where The Heart Stops” was good fun last night — lots more Beckett/Castle interaction and one-liners/ribbing. I roared with laughter during the entire gun range scene (“You know, we could always just cuddle, Castle.” bwahaha!), and loved the goofiness of Castle “playing cop” to his own soundtrack in the last 6 minutes or so. Wasn’t all fluff — also had a bit of heart with Kate connecting with the victim’s daughter. Quickly ranks as a top ep.

Sheesh I hope this show survives the season into next, I’d really miss it.

Okay people, say it with me now: tonight’s *season* finale (*season* finale) of TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CHRONICLES rocked. Hard. As one who’s watched (and enjoyed) faithfully since day one, I’m still at a loss for why this show isn’t a big hit.

Sarah Connor: “There’s always something to lose.”

There’s been a ton of loss leading up to “Born To Run”: Riley, an innocent pawn who died fighting for her right to exist; Jesse (though I think the jury’s still out on that one) the victim of her own doing, bound by hate; dear Charlie, who died saving not “John Connor, saviour of all mankind” but John, a boy he loved as his own; Derek’s unceremonious death, dispatched without any poetry, glory or a drawn-out goodbye was perhaps the most shocking, and real. We are even threatened with the loss of our heroine, to cancer.

With the overlapping timelines, no one is ever really gone… but even if they do reappear, those we’ve grown to know and love may no longer be who we’ve grown to know and love.

For a show about “killer robots from the future,” TSCC has tackled profound and complex subjects: what it means to be human, technology and religion, the bonds of love and the heartache of loss. Cameron’s declaration about her hardware and software being designed to kill man: “What was there is still there, and will always be there.” highlights the fact that down deep, the truth is that machines can never fully be trusted. Nature versus nurture – man or machine we are all programmed, either by life-experience or born-circumstance but we still have and make choices.

“Your John may save the world, but he can’t do it without mine.” Two incredibly strong female characters, now revealed to be fighting on the same side, despite their disparate methods and reasons. Sarah Connor is all emotion, heart and suffering. Catherine “Sure.” Weaver is the antithesis: devoid of sentiment (to the point it’s oft unbearably funny –Weaver’s delivery of “I liked that gate.” and “I’d watch who’s calling who a bitch.” were hi-larious, much needed moments of levity in an otherwise heavy 43minutes.) and she’s proved herself all balls (of steel/coltan if you pardon the pun).

John’s simple “I love you” echoed by Sarah in the dark, separated by time and space is at once heart-wrenching and hopeful. The world of today, and future of tomorrow as we know it is on its ear. Upended. But we are left emboldened, as all is not lost… and we can only hope for episodes to come. “Will you join us?” (Click to vote on E! Online’s SAVE ONE SHOW)

T:SCC official site: fox.com/terminator

Both TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES and LIFE had powerful, culmination-and-conclusionary season (season!!!) finales this week (and strangely, both featured Garret Dillahunt aka Roman Nevikov or Chromartie/John Henry). I hope both FOX and NBC give these much-deserving shows another season.

Driven to get his partner back, to get answers as to why he was drawn into the conspiracy, “One” offered up moments of reflection and brutal violence. “What we learnt as children, that 1+1=2, we know to be false. 1+1=1. We even have a word for when one plus another equals one. That word is love.” (Seriously, where can I get these “art of zen” tapes?) Great for those who ship Dani/Charlie, but I didn’t necessarily take it as romantic love. They love one another, they trust and know one another – they are partners in the truest sense.

Despite the exposition, I won’t claim to have a clear handle on the conspiracy, and why Crews is “the chosen one” but I still felt some sense of closure, and I sincerely hope this is not the last time I see my favourite fruit-eating cop.

Click to vote for LIFE on E! Online’s SAVE ONE SHOW

NBC official site: www.nbc.com/Life

Struck me again tonight as I watched: LIE TO ME has the best opening credit sequence on tv – beautiful, informative and interesting.

Casting news: Heard Jennifer Beals (FLASHDANCE, THE L WORD) has been tapped to play Lightman’s ex-wife/mother of his delightful daughter. Cool news, she rocks something fierce… though I do wonder if Tim Roth will be doing his scenes with her whilst standing on a box.

Tonight’s episode was supposed to air as a second or third ep (a tiny “how’d you know… don’t do that.” moment between Lightman and Foster belies the order of the episodes, as he’s warned Torres multiple times to keep her nose out of Foster’s seeming wayward husband bid’ness.)…  and strangely kept getting pushed along in the schedule (which makes me assume it’s a standalone), so I’m not expecting any furtherance of the threads left open last week.

At this stage, despite his boyish good looks and occasional infusion of humour, I could happily do without Loker. Radical honesty my ass, you imperious lying rat-bastard! It’ll be interesting to watch the fallout from his spilling the beans and lying to Foster (and confiding in Torres) though, and how the writers ultimately redeem him.

Warren: “…Not a couple of freakshow shrinks pointing fingers!”
Lightman [referring to Foster]: “She’s the shrink, I’m the freakshow… I’m sorry, we normally wear labels.”

Tonight’s ep highlight’s Cal’s brashness… he doesn’t play well with others. He’s almost gleeful when going after a suspect/interviewing a “subject”, but when it comes to his personal demons and what drives him (revealed to  be the loss of his mother to suicide, and the guilt that he feels at not having seen the agony she’d been hiding) he’s chilly and distant. He’s awkward and unable to fully connect when offering to support to individuals he clearly cares for (points for trying, but seriously, how twitchy was that pat on the back brought to bear on Foster at the end of “Do No Harm”? I loved it all the more for the realism… we can’t all be touchy-feely!). Of course, this character outline isn’t a rarity on tv, we seem to prefer our heroes flawed and solitary (I certainly do), add wounded and gifted to the mix and you’ve got a winner.

A week on, I find myself still thinking about the near-closing scene at the end of “Depraved Heart” between Lightman and Torres. There was a strange intimacy to the silent, drawn-out confrontation. I think I held my breath for the duration. He impulsively opens the door to her questions, desperate to know if “the natural” had seen signs his untrained eye had missed long ago. She engages, totally non-threatening but curious as she presses for answers from a man she obviously considers a puzzle… he’s powerless to block her jedi-mind(er, face)-reading skills. Afraid of what secrets his expression may betray, Lightman places his fingers gently on her sternum before applying pressure to force Torres back, both physically and emotionally (apparently he can dish it but can’t take it! A decided turn from “Unchained” when he was all up in Torres’ business (exposing her history of abuse at her father’s hand) and in “Moral Waiver” invading her personal space with pen-pointing.). I can’t be the only one that blinked a little, shocked at how the subtle shove was a bit of an unexpected turn-on. Ahem, if it was just me… er, not sure what that says about my twisted nature?

And is it wrong that I giggled when Foster faux-slapped Cal in tonight’s episode?

LIE TO ME official site: fox.com/lietome

Nice to see FRINGE back on after what felt like forever. I really enjoyed “Inner Child.” It could have been the long hiatus, but it felt like the strongest episode to date, despite the marginalization of most of the cast – reminded me why I like the show so much, and the boy (Spencer List) was incredible. Despite some frustration over always feeling in the dark as to the bigger plan/conspiracy (much like the characters), I love when they use Dunham’s softer, protective side to full effect and allow her to connect… there’s a warmth and approachability to Anna Torv, and it’s always nice to see Olivia taking charge instead of chasing her tail in the dark.

Visually they clearly take advantage (and make great use of the incredibly beautiful yet quirky and ethereal looks) of Anna Torv, with her luminescent skin and clear green eyes – she says more with an expression than pages of dialogue. I like the primary cast, but Torv is clearly the heart of the show.

Speaking of heart, this week’s CASTLE fleshed out Detective Kate Beckett a little more, giving us some backstory into the till-now pretty one-dimensional tough, dedicated cop (and it also allowed Castle to show that he does have a sensitive side). Feels brave that they’ve answered one of the main questions (what makes Beckett tick) early on, but will no doubt add drama with Castle’s interest, as he reopens old wounds and brings fresh insight to her mother’s murder. I may be in the minority, but I’ll take a crappy-overall episode with a boring “murder of the week” plot if it’ll serve up some character development… so despite being bored with “freezer mom” I did appreciate what insight her case brought to light.

On the subject of light and beautiful people being captured on film: I get a little frustrated with many of the shots (particularly in interrogation) in CASTLE that leave eyes dark, making it hard to connect to the character. I do wish their DP would take a page from FRINGE or better yet, LAW & ORDER:UK – they have stunningly lit interrogation room scenes. Bright yet moody, crisp yet flattering. I knew Jamie Bamber was handsome, but hoo-boy, off GALACTICA he cleans up nice!

Speaking of sexy men: Looking forward to PRISON BREAK’s imminent return!

FRINGE official site: fox.com/fringe
CASTLE official site: abc.go.com/primetime/castle
PRISON BREAK official site: fox.com/fringe
LAW & ORDER: UK official site: itv.com