TVSquad

This has nothing to do with the quality of the show. I like it. But I'm wondering why I keep watching it week after week when NBC has already canceled it.

It's not the first time that I've watched a TV show that has been canceled. And I think that fans should keep watching the remaining episodes of a TV show that has been canceled, out of loyalty if nothing else. But it takes real loyalty to watch a canceled show that has a continuing mystery at its core, which My Own Worst Enemy has.

(S03E09) Another great episode of The Closer! The writers of this show are really knocking it out of the park this season. Did anybody notice in the opening credits that Kevin Bacon directed this episode? I giggled when we saw Brenda nude in the shower (through the frosted glass) because that seemed like a Bacon touch there... show off his hot wife.

Once again, the writers were able to magically mix humor with emotion. And the emotions in this episode were very highly charged, yet the humor fit right in. I am continuously impressed by the show- by the way the story lines and subplots are balanced so perfectly. The writers have become experts at knowing when humor is appropriate and when it isn't.

*Spoilers ahead.*

So it came as a surprise that Jack Bauer's father Phillip on 24 has a soft spot. Over the past few hours, Phillip has mercilessly killed his son Graem, blamed Jack for the death, kidnapped his grandson and planted explosives to kill Jack. But in the latest episode, he spared Jack's life.

A blogger from Blogs4Bauer must've already sensed the softer side of Phillip when he monkeyed around with the lyrics to Harry Chapin's song "Cat's in the Cradle," and made them applicable to Papa Bauer and his hero son Jack.

The first lines: "My child arrived just the other day, Jack came to the world in the usual way. But there were planes to bomb, and nukes astray. He shot smack while I was away."

(S06E10) *Warning, spoilers ahead*

A President's Day gift awaited viewers at the end of the tenth hour of 24.

In fact the extremely brief scene involving a famously evil 24 president -- who is now sporting a beard that rivals Jack Bauer's when he was released from Chinese custody some 10 hours ago -- was my favorite part of the latest episode of 24.

That, and the scene where the chief of staff was lying on the dingy floor of another, non-descript boiler room with duct tape over his mouth. Those two scenes made up for the others, like Milo bein' a hero, Morris spitting out the drink and inappropriate flirting in a stairwell.

(SO6E08/S06E09) *Warning, spoilers follow*

Unfounded familial guilt.

Musings about a potential coup.

Mystery men in blue suits.

And a guy who says things like, "Not bloody likely mate," gets drilled.

Maybe I've just been terribly spoiled by the first, super-charged four hours of 24, but this hyped, two-hour installment felt flat-footed to me. I even longed to have the Bluetooth guy back.

(S06E07) *Warning: Spoilers ahead*

I'm starting to miss the "good" and the "bad" terrorist story lines. This whole Bauer family drama -- with its cryptic references and long, anguished looks accompanied by soft music meant to indicate deep feelings of one kind or another -- are getting tiresome.

The last few episodes of 24, starting with the appearance of Jack Bauer's brother Graem, have been filled with unexplained familial angst, clipped utterances and baffling actions. There are times when I do enjoy the suspense of trying to figure out people's motives, playing the parlor game of discerning who's bad and who's good, but there's such a thing as too much melodramatic build up with insufficient action, particularly for an action-heavy show.

(S06E06)*Warning: Spoilers ahead*

At times, I felt as though I'd accidentally clicked over to an old episode of The Sopranos, what with all the references to stick by "the family" and the importance of family loyalty . . . all references made mere minutes after one family member had tried to suffocate another, after members of the same family drew weapons on one another and one member demanded the execution of both his brother and father.

There was even some good, old fashioned, familial taunting. Insults were hurled like calling one brother "simple minded" and later harassing him for his failure to adequately protect his wife from a terrorist.

Look, I know that his years on NYPD Blue redeemed him from a crash course with the child star curse of reality shows and cultural irrelevance, but he'll always be Ricky Schroeder to me. Ricky Schroeder - Silver Spoons star, friend to "Tap Dance Kid" Alfonso Riberio and owner of the racing car bed. Fortunately for Ricky, he overcame the 80s with the aforementioned three seasons on NYPD Blue, a comedic turn as Nurse Paul Flowers on Scrubs and his latest outing as Dr. Dylan West on Lifetime's Strong Medicine.

Ricky has made another great career move - further distancing himself from that plucky young lad in The Champ. He'll be joining the cast of 24 as CTU operative Mike Doyle. Expect to see Schroder team up with Kiefer Sutherland's Jack Bauer in executing "key field ops." 24 is really pulling out all the stops with its latest casting decisions. Schroder is just one of a list of fancy new cast members including Chad Lowe, Regina King, Powers Boothe, Peter MacNicol, James Cromwell, Kal Penn and David Hunt. That's right - Deadwood's Cy Tolliver meets Babe's Father Hoggett meets The Boondocks' Huey Freeman meets Kumar. Who doesn't want to see that?

Chad Lowe is the latest newcomer to sign on to season six of mega-hit 24. He'll play "savvy politico" Reed Pollock... and that's all FOX is saying about his character. It's great to see Lowe back on television. That really is the medium where he shines. Not only was his role as 'Jesse' on Life Goes On a classic, he also played one of the freakiest criminals ever on Law & Order: SVU.

Other notable actors joining the cast this season include Peter MacNicol, Regina King, and James Cromwell. Steamy Eric Balfour will also return this season. FOX is going to post a first look at season six online later this month, we'll let you know when that happens.

Bravo has the exclusive rights to air all 63 episodes of the HBO hit series, Six Feet Under. Bravo says it'll start airing the entire series sometime this year, possibly this fall, although the announcement doesn't give an exact date. HBO refuses to say exactly how much the syndication deal is worth but this report puts it at $15 million, or $250,000 an episode. HBO originally pimped out Six Feet Under for $450,000 but that was a little too rich for other networks' blood. As with Sex and the City, HBO has given Bravo the go-ahead to clean up the language and video.