TVSquad

(S02E09) - "I know the greater devil when I see it." - Deputy Chief Hale to Clay

The great thing about a show like Sons of Anarchy is you never exactly know when you're watching its true boiling point. You might think the situation you're watching is the apex of the conflict, particularly the beef between Clay and Jax, but it always finds an interesting and surprising way of making it worse and makes you forget that it still has more episodes to go.

That's the true sign of a good series. It sucks you in and erases any and all concept of time. Unlike other TV shows that you can just have in the background to break the silence of your lonely place, SOA demands your attention and gets it every time, at least for this season. You can't just leave it on and not not watch it (screw good grammar, if you can think of a better and more entertaining way to say it, be my guest). Anything that can stop and slow time, whether it's a TV show, a flying DeLorean or a hot tub deserves special merit in my book.

(S05E08) Yes! Finally. The moment we've all been waiting for. Ever since the season five promos first aired, I have been eagerly anticipating some sort of context for Charlie's uncontrollable eyebrows and the ridiculous Kitten Mittens (or Kitten Mittons, as it were). Seeing the ad in full certainly didn't disappoint, though I wish we could have seen more Kitten Mittons throughout the episode. Admittedly, thirty-some minutes of cats struggling in booties probably doesn't sound like a hot idea, but, hey, animal humor has sustained many a clip show.

Plus, I heart over-enthusiastic Charlie.

I'm all for more Westerns on television. It's a genre that lends itself well to the ongoing storytelling format that a regular TV series allows. So when I saw an article that FX was gearing up Reconstruction, a series set in the post-Civil War era of American history, I was pretty excited.

Creators Joshua Brand and Peter Horton thought it would make a good allegory for today's world, dealing with the economic crisis and even the ongoing war. "How does one heal after (a war)? How do you find your humanity again?" asked Horton. These are things the show hopes to deal with.

It centers around Jason, an East Coaster who comes back from the war changed. He finds refuge in a small town in Missour, where the saga will unfold. All of this was great, until I got to one line in the Reuters story: "Brand, the co-creator of St. Elsewhere, is writing the script for the project, which will include magical elements, with thirtysomething actor-turned-director Horton attached to take the helm." Magical elements? What?! Why?

(S06E04) "Yes! She punched me in the face with her breasts!" - Christian

This is really starting to shape up into one of Nip/Tuck's best seasons in quite some time. Not only did "Jenny Juggs" put an excellent twist on the season's main plot (Teddy's plan), but it also added life to a plot that has, up until now, been pretty stupid (Matt, the bandit mime). Add in the laughs from Christian and Jenny and you've got some vintage McNamara/Troy action. Remember that? Nip/Tuck always used to be this good.

(S05E07) This episode brought back many things that fans of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia have already come to know and love: nearly aggressive patriotism, needless shirtnessness, songs sung in falsetto and, of course, Rickety Cricket. I would like to also submit that the Birds of War get-up (pictured above) would be perfect for this Halloween, especially if you're desperate for few high-fives or silent nods of approval. It covers a wide range, as it appeals to both Always Sunny fans and people who like America and/or chickens. I mean, eagles.

(S06E03) "I don't know... she must've thought I was someone else." - Teddy

Season six of Nip/Tuck, congratulations -- you have arrived. After two enjoyable, but largely disposable episodes to start the season, the focus has finally returned to the one dangling plot from season five -- Rose McGowan's Dr. Teddy Rowe. While it took some guesswork to recall everything the two-faced (three-faced?) anesthesiologist has done (the "previously on" sequence lacked anything to jog your memory since the season five Teddy was played by Katee Sackhoff), "Briggitte Reinholt" did a pretty decent job of explaining her past sins.

Fantasy football is a tricky thing. You either love it or you hate it and that largely depends on whether you're good or bad at it. For the most part, the same can be said about FX's newest comedy The League. When it's good, it is good, but when it's bad... well, you get the picture.

The show, which premieres tomorrow night, Thursday 10/29, at 10:30 p.m. after It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, is FX's first solid attempt to produce a lasting companion piece to Sunny and, given some of its predecessors (like Starved or Testees), it'd be easy to write The League off. But, like a two-minute drill that gradually picks up steam, The League might actually go... all... the... way.

OK -- no more football metaphors.

(S05E06) Ooh! Things I learned in high school! This episode of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia was presented as a frame story, just like The Canterbury Tales. Did the gang out-Chaucer Chaucer!? Well, no, but it was a lot funnier than the Wife of Bath, I can promise you that.

There were a lot of excellent moments (read on to find out who won the "Best Retch-Face" award, which is as coveted as it is imaginary) and they made for a solid episode, though not one to immediately jump into my favorites. Admittedly, that's an unreasonable weekly expectation anyway. Oh well. At least we got some Greenman.

(S06E02) "Watching them bleed makes me feel less... alone." - Vivian

Despite being depressing as hell, "Enigma" was still a refreshing episode when compared to last week's light-hearted pseudo-documentary take on Sean and Christian's financial troubles. Nip/Tuck doesn't always focus solely on one of the main characters, but when the show does take that angle, it's often quite good. This episode could have just as easily been called "Sean McNamara II." (The first Sean-centric ep was back in season two.)

This was bound to happen, wasn't it?

In a TV first, a sitcom from a basic cable network has been syndicated on another basic cable network: Comedy Central has nabbed the rights to FX's It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

According to the press release, the gang from Paddy's Pub will make an appearance for the first time on Comedy Central for a limited run next summer with the long-term license window starting after the first of the year in 2011.

(S05E05) This, more than any of the other episodes from the current season, felt the most true to the show. I know, that's kind of weird, since the canon is growing and developing with every installment, but this episode had all the things that we've come to know and love from It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, from Frank's increasingly speedy spiral toward rock-bottom to Charlie and Dee's personal issues with the Waitress (never give her a name, for the love of everything that is terrible and in poor form). The schemes and the chemistry of the gang was extra-perfect in this episode, especially during the rapid-fire conversations surrounding Mac, Dennis and Charlie.

This is one of those episodes I've pocketed away in case I need to subject -- I mean, introduce -- an uninitiated person to the world of Always Sunny.

(S02E06) "It's not your time yet, man. This is Clay's club. You either back down or get in line, before somebody gets hurt." - Opie to Jax

It was really hard to find a good quote for this week's episode. I watched the bastard four times before I found the one I did and I'm not entirely thrilled with it.

That's because this week's show was all action and little talk.

The tension between SAMCRO and the Aryans got turned up to 11 when they planted a car bomb in the shop that almost turned Chibs into a fried fish filet that would need a gallon of malt vinegar to be edible. This not only made for a perfect set-up against the club but also within it, driving an even deeper wedge between Clay, Jax and each of their alliances.

(S06E01) "For Sean McNamara, a man wound tighter than a hummingbird's asshole..." - Narrator

Is it wrong that the sight of a wrinkled and saggy breast being sliced open and having a slimy silicone implant shoved into it no longer makes me flinch in quite same way as it did when Nip/Tuck premiered in 2003? That seems to be the endemic issue with Nip/Tuck, in general - the show as a whole is no longer the "disturbingly perfect drama" that it once was because it's just not shocking anymore. In some ways it feels like we've seen it all.

However, that doesn't necessarily mean plots are being recycled, and as we begin our journey through the series' final 19 episodes (this season has 10), there are certainly still plenty of good stories to tell. I made it clear in yesterday's early preview that if there's one show out there with that sort of potential after five seasons, it's definitely Nip/Tuck.

Over the span of its first five seasons, Nip/Tuck has had some spectacular highs and some even greater lows. Regardless of how you feel about them (personally, I liked season three and The Carver), as viewers we've all watched Dr. Sean McNamara (Dylan Walsh) and Dr. Christian Troy (Julian McMahon) slowly lose the battle to the one thing they're paid to combat - aging.

Entering its penultimate season, Nip/Tuck could use a little nipping and tucking of its own after the mediocre fifth season that saw a lengthy hiatus at the hands of the writers strike. Fortunately, it seems that things might be getting back to "normal" for McNamara/Troy. And by normal, I mean no more serial killers, organ thieves, or weirdo lip-synching musical montages. Beyond that, it's freak show as usual.

When I first heard that FX had greenlit a new series starring Timothy Olyphant as a marshal, I thought that it was going to be a classic western, set in the 1880s and featuring cowboys and saloons and street gunfights. Well, the preview is below, and while Olyphant still plays a marshal, Lawman is a contemporary drama. Looks good, though.