The new season is just around the corner, but the wheels of development keep turning in the background. There was a lot of news this week about new pilots, mid-season shows, and casting for some of our favorites. Some of that is hit and miss, depending on your preferences. For example, I’m not exactly thrilled with the Party Down casting news. On the other hand, anything that puts more Rachelle Lefevre on our TVs is always okay by me.

• Mad Men continues to toil in relative obscurity, but those few fans it has are very loyal, and they should be happy to learn that AMC has ordered up another season of the show.
• HBO has ordered a pilot from Mike White and Laura Dern called Enlightened. A self destructive woman has a spiritual awakening and becomes determined to live an enlightened life, which creates havoc at home and work. It sounds nothing like The C Word, which sounded nothing like United States Of Tara.
• FOX, on the other hand, is going a little more traditional. They have  ordered 13 episodes of Jack and Dan. It sounds more interesting if I also tell you that the show was created by Matt Nix, creator and executive producer of Burn Notice. It’s a buddy cop show that Nix calls an action comedy.

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Yesterday, I looked at the five new shows that I’m most looking forward to this season. It’s a pretty short list, unfortunately. Heck, I only had one on the “Honorable Mention” list. Thankfully, there’s quite a bit of good stuff returning to the network schedule this season. I could, however, come up with just as long of a list of stuff that I wish was coming back that’s not. I should, as Brett has been known to tell me, “shut up and quit my whining” (my words, not his).

First, a cheat. I know I said that this was about the upcoming TV season, but we cover Web Shows here on the ‘Clack, so I’m taking a (very appropriate) liberty. The third season of The Guild started this week (or last week, if you’re an Xbox Live Gold Member), and I can’t wait. I only found The Guild after Dr. Horrible introduced me to Felicia Day, but I’m glad that I did, as it’s one of the most consistently funny things out there on any medium. The addition of CliqueClack favorite (and my hero as a kid) Wil Wheaton to the cast is only going to ramp things up for the third installment. If you haven’t seen it, head to www.watchtheguild.com right away.

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And just like that, finale season is upon us. Over the next few weeks, all of our favorite shows will be pulling out all the stops and heading off into the summer break, with hopes of returning for another go in the fall. Some of them, no doubt, will be disappointed in that regard. Aside from the marriages, pregnancies, and lives left hanging in the balance, finales are interesting from a ratings perspective because they provide the possibilities of a numbers boost. One last data point to point to as you make the case that this show shouldn’t be canceled. NBC got the ball rolling last week as Chuck and Heroes both fired off their finale salvos. The results were something less than stellar. The news was better for Fringe, the NCIS spinoff, and the CW Thursday. Read the rest of this entry »

Monday nights are the best/worst nights on television. There are so many great shows on (especially in the 8:00 hour), that it can be overwhelming. So it’s no surprise that the majority of our quotes this week come from Monday night shows. Between Chuck’s awesome finale, Barney on HIMYM and Castle and Beckett’s witty repartee, it’s an embarrassment of riches.

These are our favorite quotes from this week. As always, feel free to leave your own favorite quotes in the comments.

Chuck

“Why are you letting Sam Kinison and an Indian lesbian ruin your wedding?” – Dr. Awesome

“Oh… Chuck me.” – Casey

“Guys. I know Kung-fu.” – Chuck

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I sure as hell am, and I am officially proposing the moniker change for next season. It’s certainly appropriate considering what went down at the end of the episode, and it fits in perfectly with the geek sensibility of the show. When the writers promised that everything would change on Chuck by the end of this season, they weren’t kidding.

We still don’t know where a lot of the characters are going and what could possibly be planned next, but the stakes are higher than we imagined and the potential for this series just rose exponentially. It’s a credit to the quality of the writing that halfway into this I felt sure that it was almost over, and again ten minutes later. They packed so much action and drama in such a short amount of time it’s amazing they got it all in. And we did get everything.

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Last week was a bit of an odd one for programming as the networks went a bit experimental. Over at FOX, Bones tried its third night in a week. On ABC, The Unusuals took over for Cupid and someone gave the OK for another Lost clip show.  CBS continued the shuffling of their procedurals by bumping NCIS, The Mentalist, and Criminal Minds back an hour. The results, as you might have suspected, were varied. While a lot of that was strange, the biggest surprise of the week was Thursday, which found just about everything  taking a hit in the ratings. In other news, According To Jim still stinks out loud. Read the rest of this entry »

There was a lot going on in this week’s episode, but with next week’s season (series?) finale looming that’s to be expected. What I didn’t expect was what exactly did, and didn’t, happen. Scott Bakula was back as Chuck’s father, which I expected. Also returning was Chevy Chase as Ted Roark, the software magnate/fulcrum baddie. His role’s gotten a lot better than his first appearance, and I find myself really enjoying him on this show as well.

I’m sure there’s no way Bakula and Chase will be sticking around beyond next week for long (if there is a beyond next week), but it’s been a lot of fun having them around. The creators promised us some serious game changers in the status quo by the season finale and they’ve already started delivering.

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