TVSquad

Prison Break fans, you better sit down for this, especially if you were a Sara/Michael 'shipper. According to E!'s gossip columnist Kristin Dos Santos and TV Guide's Michael Ausiello, actress Sarah Wayne Callies will be back as a series regular for season 4 of FOX's Prison Break! No need to check your computer monitor, you read right: Dr. Sara Tancredi could very well be alive!

After much speculation and "on the bubble" murmurs, Variety is confirming that FOX has gone ahead and renewed Prison Break, one of the more popular guilty pleasures currently on network television. Prison Break has been picked up for a possible 23 episode fourth season, set to return in the fall.

Is the show that good? Sort of. Do the plots always make sense? Sometimes. Do I love it anyway? Absolutely. After a mediocre second season, the show roared back with a pretty enjoyable third season that got cut short to thirteen episodes by the WGA strike.

The Hollywood Reporter has an article today that both breaks my heart and makes me ecstatic for the next television season. The article, citing lots of anonymous sources, lists shows that are "on the bubble" for next season -- meaning renewal is not certain--and predicts their likelihood of renewal.

Interestingly (and tragically), The CW's Reaper appears to be on the chopping block. Tonight's ratings for Reaper could tip the balance, as a new episode goes up against a new episode of Lost. While many critics think Reaper has lost its way since the pilot, I think it's been pretty much on track. We even got a new story line during the last episode where Sam meets a new love interest, aka the devil's daughter. The dialogue is clever, the lead actor is lovable, and his sidekicks are, well, a kick. Although, if I didn't have a way to record both shows, I would probably choose Lost over Reaper tonight.

A list of "on the bubble" shows and their possible future is after the jump:

Oh, Peter. They're breaking up that old gang of ours! There's a spin-off of Family Guy in the works at Fox. Peter's drinking buddy, Cleveland Brown, might be getting his own show. Oh no, does this mean he may be leaving Quahog? What, no more get-togethers at The Drunken Clam? (Note to self: He's an animated character; he could still be part of Family Guy.)

Cleveland is perhaps the most down to earth of Peter's pals on Family Guy, which could make him the perfect centerpiece of a new cartoon series. Zany new characters could be built around him. If history repeats itself, he could be the George Jefferson to Peter Griffin's Archie Bunker, i.e., The Jeffersons spinning off from All in the Family.

Mysterious. Mesmerizing. Interesting. Dynamic. Compelling. Any and all of these words accurately describe actress Michelle Forbes. She is one of the finest actresses in television, and yet she has maintained a distinct quality that makes her as elusive a performer to come around since Garbo! Intensely private, there's not much known about the Austin, Texas native. (However, I can tell you that she collects clocks -- broken clocks. As she told me, quoting the movie Withnail and I, "Even a stopped clock tells the right time twice a day.")

She's currently making HBO's new drama In Treatment appointment TV, drawing her loyal following to find her latest work as she did in 24, Prison Break, Homicide and Battlestar Galactica. And that doesn't even take into account the millions who first discovered this chameleon when she first burst onto the scene in Guiding Light, and then Star Trek: The Next Generation.

(S03E13) "You know, you're the first person to ever break out of Sona." - Gretchen

This was a great episode. Really solid and enjoyable. However, you can see why it was originally meant to be the mid-season finale and not a season ender. There are just simply too many questions left hanging and, for lack of a better way to put it, it just doesn't feel right. Fans of Prison Break, you know what I mean. As far as finales go, this wasn't satisfying. While it left me yearning for more, I'm equally annoyed. Plenty of other shows are coming back with four or five new episodes starting in about a month, so why not Prison Break? What really worries me? No word on any sort of renewal from FOX. This very well could be the last we'll see of Michael and Lincoln.

(S03E12) "Screw you Mahone." - Lincoln

Is it just me, or was it relatively easy to break out of Sona? When compared to Fox River, it was cake! No tattoos required -- just dig a hole and run. And before you say, "but what about all those guards with guns," look at it this way: they're what made it easy! And Michael used it to his advantage. He gave them something to occupy their time (allowing Lechero, T-Bag, and Bellick to go first and get caught) and then he, Whistler, Mahone, and McGrady pretty much just walked through the hole in the fence. So, with that in mind... remind me again why The Company had to use Michael to get to Whistler?

(S03E11) "Welcome to the coal mine, canary." - T-Bag

And the escape is on! I honestly can't say why I like this season of Prison Break so much. It's far from being the edgy show that it was during its first season and at the same time it's miles ahead of last season's manhunt mess. Maybe it's simply due to the fact that there literally isn't much else on TV right now and as a result, it's good by default. But after tonight's episode, I'm leaning more towards the unpredictability factor.

(S03E10) "If he doesn't take you, I will." - Lincoln

Well isn't that special. Lincoln's got a crush on Sofia. Not like we didn't see that coming. All that's missing now is the clichéd scene where something stressful happens, they lock eyes, and start sucking face amidst all the chaos of planning an inmate bust. You know it's coming. Here's the real question though: what are the chances of finding a gift shop that sells Eiffel Tower keyrings in Panama City?!?

(S03E09) "Let's see if he has the tattoo to get out of that one." - T-Bag

Prison Break may not be the best thing on TV at this point, but hey - at least it's new. It's been over two months since the mid-season finale and I was a little sketchy on what had happened previously, but this was never a show that required much thinking. Once the action started, it was easy to figure out what everyone was up to. You know... breaking out of prison.

(S03E08) "Take them all out." - Gretchen

The writer's strike hits again. We were supposed to get five more episodes before this season's fall finale. Instead we got a plain ol' ending comparable to any regular episode of Prison Break. Certainly not what I would have expected based on this show's history. It's not a bad thing, just disappointing. I understand the need to stockpile and space out the dwindling supply of new episodes, but it's unfortunate that it results in segmenting seasons in such sloppy fashion. Enough with the complaining though. The writer's strike is happening and we knew what to expect. If you can look beyond that, this episode really was quite good. It left us with plenty of questions to ponder as we wait for Prison Break to return in January.

(S03E06/S03E07) A two-hour Prison Break? Now what did I do to deserve this? Well, it was really just two back-to-back episodes of Prison Break instead of a two-hour special. But still, the only thing better than one Prison Break episode is two Prison Break episodes.

And they were pretty good episodes to boot. While we didn't get to see the much-hyped escape from Sona, we did get some interesting new developments in the plot.

Now that the fall season is hitting the two-month-old mark it's probably safe enough to start grading how some of the new and returning shows are doing. Our friends over at AOL Television have done such a thing and are giving you a chance to grade the TV shows as well.

Thirty shows were chosen for their fall TV scorecard and range from long-running shows such as CSI and ER to fresh out of the box programs like Pushing Daisies and Private Practice. The highest marks go out to House, which has reinvented itself this season with a set of new doctors for Greg House to abuse; Pushing Daises, which AOL TV describes as the best new show of the season; Ugly Betty, a show that has yet to enter a sophomore slump; Reaper, one of the brighter spots for the slumping CW network; Desperate Housewives, 30 Rock and Friday Night Lights.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Fox is looking to create a spin-off for Prison Break in the form of the same show but in a women's prison. The speculative name of this show would be Prison Break: Cherry Hill.

I realize that there have been television shows about women in prison before. The most popular one is the Australian series called The Prisoner of Cell Block H. The article also mentions a previous Fox short-lived sitcom called Women In Prison.

(S03E05) "If we're going to get around these guys, we gotta get to know them." - Michael

Well, I suppose we were due to get an episode like this one. Slow, annoying, and for the most part, filler. Just a way to hash out a story that isn't fully conceived and doesn't depend on guaranteed accuracies. If we've learned one thing from Prison Break, it's that its not meant to be taken seriously. However, and this is just my opinion, that sub-conscious effort to disregard how foolish this show gets sometimes actually makes the bad stuff stick out even more for me.