TVSquad

Let's face it, science fiction on television is always a challenge, and more often than not, these series fail to find a big enough audience to stick around. That's why the year after Lost hit it big on just minor sci-fi elements, we had three ratings flops at once with Invasion, Threshold and Surface. And all three were good, for different reasons. So my question is why did none of them make Sci Fi Wire's list of the top 10 sci fi shows canceled too soon? Because Sci-Fi Wire liked Eerie, Indiana better!

Seriously though, while there were some good elements in their list, and I absolutely agree with their number one choice, there were some real problems and omissions as well. Wonderfalls ranked way too high and Homeboys in Outer Space didn't even make the list? Outrageous! So I've taken it upon myself to make my own list of The Top 10 Sci Fi Short-Lived Sci-Fi Shows That Weren't Pulitzer Worthy But Went Great With Popcorn. And I intentionally didn't include any of the shows on their list, because I'm acting like a spoiled brat and I don't want to play with their toys.

Thanks to the success of the Sex and the City movie -- and talk of more to come -- the rumor mill has been bubbling with other TV shows making the leap to the big screen. In the case of Arrested Development, it sure sounds like the truth.

However, the Friends feature is a rumor that has no legs. Warners owns the property and on July 4th, even though all U.S. offices were closed for the holiday, denied the rumors via the London office.

Jayne Trotman, Warner's director of publicity, said of the Friends movie, "(There's) no truth in the story."

Just to be sure, Matthew Perry's press rep also denied the rumor. She told the BBC that nothing is happening and the rumor is just that, a shred of news with no value attached to it.

(S02E07) "Death. I get it. It's guaranteed. I understand that. But why does it seem that everybody is so oblivious to the fact that they're swimming in deep water until they drown?" - Lucy

That's a really unfortunate quote. And to be dropped in the middle of the season (and potential series) finale? Ouch. Dirt really could be so much better and unfortunately, it just isn't. The problem is, I'm not so sure the writers, producers, and execs at FX realize it. Think about it. This was supposed to a normal 13 episode season. In my opinion, only one out of the seven episodes that got made was worth my time. At that rate, the second half of the season wouldn't have been much better. But no one stepped in and nothing changed. You would think, that after the mediocrity of the first couple of episodes, things would have started to look up. They never did.

(S02E06) "Exhaustion? Isn't that "Hollywood" for shit-faced?" - Willa

I remember when I spoke with Courteney Cox a few months ago about the upcoming season of Dirt, she said something about every episode being self-contained. Well, I beg to differ. If you missed last week's installment, then you were almost completely in the dark last night. This was a direct continuation of the previous hour and while I loved it last week, Dirt did was it does best and took another nosedive.

There have just been so many opportunities to really make this show more than it is and every time something with potential makes a splash, it gets killed. Literally this time.

(S02E05) "Does Dr. Seuss know you're plagiarizing him?" - Farber

I know I ragged on Dirt last week for the direction it was taking this season, and while most of that complaining is still deserved, I have to admit -- this episode deserves a certain level of respect.

Britney Spears is everywhere. Every tabloid, every TV news magazine, and every gossip blog. The writers and producers behind Dirt were pretty much obligated to tackle her story in some way, shape, or form. It would have been awkward if a show like this didn't include it. That being said, they really could have screwed it up and made it painful to watch. But... I don't think they did.

(S02E04) "What? We got two great stories and Holt's Dad is a Nazi. What could be better?" - Lucy

Alright, it's official. I'm jumping on the bandwagon. Let's be honest -- this episode was not good. I was first in line to defend the creative changes that Dirt went through in-between seasons, but it's reached a point where issues that absolutely need to be addressed are being pushed aside for irrelevant new characters and pointless scenes. I can accept the fact that the serial format of the show has been ditched. As someone who watches a boatload of TV, I actually appreciate the fact that Dirt is now a show which no longer requires absolute attention for fear of missing something important. Self-contained episodes aren't necessarily a bad thing. But you can't just forget about the past.

(S02E03) "Alright, I'll ice up a nipple and start chatting." - Willa

Well that episode was out there. It brought back some old faces, introduced a few new ones, and split off into two wildly different tangents. On one side we saw a new side of Lucy as she aimed to bring down a past Dirt Now target while at the same time we saw Don placed in a situation that would have bee much more amusing had he stopped taking his medication.

(S02E02) "Let's just figure out how her Daddy's gonna use his money to get his little girl off... did I just say that? Huh, oddly aroused." - Lucy

At first glance, Dirt may not look all that original to a new viewer. Granted we're only two episodes into the new season, but bear with me for a second. In the most noticeable departure from last season, these first two installments have relied heavily on recent tabloid headlines. It was something we saw in season one (such as Rick Fox's portrayal of a basketball star based loosely on his former teammate Kobe Bryant), but not as much. The fun this season comes from seeing where the tabloid headlines end and the creativity of Dirt's writers begins.

(S02E01) "No honey, I love the pudding. You can have the applesauce." - Lucy

Lucy Spiller is back! Hold your breath though because those stab wounds she received from Julia Mallory in last season's Dirt finale must've taken away some of her trademark bitchiness. Lucy, while still 100% dedicated and obsessed with her job as editor of Dirt Now magazine, is a lot nicer than I remember her to be. Is that a bad thing though?

With the season two premiere of FX's Dirt just around the corner (this coming Sunday, March 2nd, at 10:00PM), you may have noticed that the ad campaign is in full effect. The image to the right has been adorning everything from billboards in Times Square to magazine pages.

For those that weren't familiar with season one, you might have thought that this was an entirely new show altogether. If you recall the ad campaign for season one, at first glance the show looked much more darker, and it was. The ads depicted Courtney Cox (as ruthless tabloid editor Lucy Spiller) pale faced, in a blood red dress, overlooking Hollywood -- the breeding ground for her next headline. Not the case this season as you can see by the much more jovial, comic book feel of the new ads. As much as I loved the first season, it was nothing that I expected it to be. Trust me when I say that season two very quickly makes up for that deception.

I've now had the chance to screen the first two episodes and even got the opportunity to sit in on a conference call with Cox last week. Read on for my thoughts on season two, some quotes from the mouth of the woman who plays Lucy Spiller, and a sneak peek of the premiere episode. Be warned though -- this does contain spoilers.

Ever since we heard that the writers' strike is close to being settled, we started wondering whether networks were going to restart production on all the shows that stopped or if they were going to call it a season and wait until next year. In the case of FX, at least, we know the answer: they're going to call it a season.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, FX's spring series Dirt and The Riches will both have shortened second seasons, airing only the seven episodes each series made before running out of scripts. The network is citing economic realities in the decision; I'd imagine rebuilding sets and getting new permits, etc. is a pretty expensive thing to do, especially for a cable network.

What can I say about Friends that hasn't already been said? You either like the show or you don't. I think a lot of people look at the show as "just another sitcom" about friends who hang out somewhere, one that was overhyped and one where the stars where overpaid. The hype I can't argue with and the pay, well, more power to them if they could get it. But I also happen to think that for a while there, several seasons in the middle of the show's 10 year run, it was one of the best sitcoms of all-time. It was remarkably well-written, clever, and at the same time had at its core a really big heart that all the copycats that followed couldn't recreate.

But what about this DVD set? Should you go out and buy the complete set?

Since the last episode of the hit series Friends aired in May 2004, rumors have been flying around as to if and when a reunion would happen. Over the years, there have been reports that some of the actors didn't want to be part of a reunion, at least, not for a while. None of these reports were properly confirmed. However, this week comes the confirmation that David Schwimmer, who played the character of Ross, will not take part in a Friends reunion if there ever is one.

It's amazing to me how different the standards of success are for cable and broadcast TV, even within the same company. Take FOX, for example: they just decided to cancel Drive, after what they saw as dismal ratings on their broadcast network. But on their cable network, FX, two shows that have gotten so-so ratings and very little critical buzz -- The Riches and Dirt -- are likely to be renewed, according to MediaWeek.

Speaking before a screening for their new Glen Close series, Damages, network president John Landgraf told the trade paper, "We're really happy with the performance of Dirt and The Riches, and I expect them to return." Apparently, the cumulative ratings garnered by multiple airings of each show's episodes put it on the same audience levels as the network's more established shows. Huh. Go figure.

(S01E13) That was... interesting. The writers definitely kicked it up a notch with this episode as things certainly felt more dramatic than they have throughout most of the freshman season of Dirt. A lot of that feel was do in part to simple things that were used very effectively. Numerous times in the episode, the power of silence coupled with the rhythmic sounds of a beating heart helped to cut together some very cool scenes unlike anything this show has tried before.

Add to that a rather off-beat cameo from Jennifer Aniston as well as the proper outcome for some of the show's minor characters, and we had ourselves a pretty decent finale. Savor it though, because unless FX is feeling brave (Starved and Over*There tells me they aren't), then I don't think we'll find out what happens next. Dirt may very well be the latest FX one-hit wonder.