TVSquad

It's great to be J.J. Abrams. His newest spec script about a married spy couple is currently undergoing a bidding war that it looks like NBC is winning. On top of that, he's got a new comedy on Fox and he's behind one of the best revitalizations of a franchise in the history of the medium. The script is co-written by Josh Reims, who worked on shows such as ABC's Brothers & Sisters and Dirty Sexy Money.

As others have noted, this new spec script could play as a sequel to his hit show Alias. That show did end with Sydney and Michael married with two kids being asked to return to service. Sadly, I think Jennifer Garner would consider that a backwards step in her career no matter how much she owes Abrams. Perhaps she could make a cameo?

It's interesting that the television spinoff of Mr. & Mrs. Smith didn't last long and had the very same premise. But then, Abrams wasn't behind that one.

The Jay Leno Show has only been on for a week, but it's already starting to fall into a familiar pattern, and that's a good thing for late night. Familiarity creates a steady audience by making it more comforting, and helps weed out what doesn't work and focus on what does.

Unfortunately, the thing that makes the late night format work is breaking Jay's show.

Just about the only thing that works with Jay's show is his monologue. The rest make him feel more out of his element than Donnie from The Big Lebowski.

Jennifer Garner is returning to TV, but not in any sort of on-camera capacity. Her Vandalia Films shingle has gotten a first-look deal with ABC, the same network that hosted the series that made her a star, Alias. Apparently they want to produce fare that is friendly to females such as Grey's Anatomy.

Admittedly, while she has been getting movie roles, I haven't seen any of them recently (Ghosts of Girlfriends Past wasn't my cup of tea). The Elektra franchise never took off. It's probably a good idea to branch herself out like this. I did enjoy the first two seasons of Alias, but I attribute that more to J.J. Abrams than Jennifer Garner.

How does she find the time to do all this yet still be a mother of two? Thankfully she has Ben Affleck to pick up the slack. Maybe he can even make a cameo in whatever television projects her company creates.

The folks at our sister site Cinematical are working hard to give you news and reviews of the best -- and worst -- the silver screen has to offer. Here are some of their musings on the latest blockbusters, indies, and everything in between:

• It's super commercial night! There may be some sort of game on in between, but this is the day of sweet new ads. A few have popped up online already: check out the trailers for the Transformers sequel and Star Trek.
• ...And here are the trailers for Land of the Lost, starring Will Ferrell and Pushing Daisies' Anna Friel, Year One, Up, and more.
• "So you're just gonna make SPITE NOISE until the movie ends, huh? Just because I had the ignorance to ask you to stop talking during a movie. And you, the parents, condoning it. Brilliant." --Cinematical's Scott Weinberg did not have a good experience watching The Uninvited.
• I love Jennifer Garner and think she should be in movies all the time (that is, if she doesn't want to make me really happy by returning to television), so it makes me sad that she's doing movies like Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. It... doesn't look good.
• So I'm trying to find someone who would be interested in watching my baby for about 12 hours or so, so I can go to an AMC theater and watch all five Best Picture Oscar nominees. Any takers?

New mom Jennifer Garner is hoping to return to television, this time as an executive producer. She and Lauren Sanchez-Whitesell, former host of So You Think You Can Dance?, are pitching a show by moms and for moms to an unnamed network next week. Sanchez-Whitesell tells People that she will host and Garner will executive produce and make occasional appearances.

She compares it to The View, but for mommies. Topics will include everything from advice on getting kids to eat and sleep and behave, and also talk about the strains put on a marriage when kids come into the picture. (It sounds like ParentDish for television!)

Sanchez-Whitesell has a one-year old son with husband Patrick Whitesell, who just happens to be Ben Affleck's agent. Affleck and Garner had a daughter, Violet, in December of 2005.

A spinach recall is fair reason to do jokes about tossing salads. "Call some friends over, have some drinks, and toss each other's salads!" It's a matter of safety, people.

"Papa Don't Preach": Jon did some nice coverage about the Pope's comments (and apology) regarding Islam. I'm going to have to try "I was just quoting a Byzantine emperor!" excuse some time in the near future. Senior Vatican City and San Marino Correspondent John Oliver elaborated on the situation. I thought the comparison of the popes to all the various James Bonds was fantastic.

Alias star Jennifer Garner has allegedly turned down the role of Pam Ewing in the upcoming feature film version of the popular 1980s primetime soap opera Dallas. Using the "quote from someone close to her, but not the person herself"  approach of most gossip rags, the story floating around right now is that Garner felt uncomfortable about being in the movie with Jennifer Lopez, who is the former flame of Garner's husband, Ben Affleck, and who will be playing Sue Ellen in the movie. Apparently the two had a bit of a feud before, and Garner didn't want to revisit it. I suppose that makes sense, though I think a better explanation she could have given was that the movie, like pretty much all cinematic remakes of TV shows, probably won't be very good.

ABC has been playing with the schedule lately, so it's sometimes hard to find out when our favorite shows are going to have their finales. The Grey's Anatomy season finale aired on a Monday, and that Oprah special got switched around because of the President's speech. And now, since Lost is having a two hour finale this Wednesday, Alias has to switch nights for its two hour series finale. (Lost gets first dibs over Alias on the ABC schedule, of course.)

The finale airs tonight at 9, and promises to answer all the important questions: what is the ultimate Rambaldi plan? Who will live and die? Will Sloane turn good again at the last second? What caused the crash of Flight 815?

Oh, wait, that's the other show.

Some of you long time readers of TV Squad -- in particular those who are Alias fans -- know that I've had a love-hate relationship with the show. I've been an avid viewer since its first season, and although I will say it's had its ups and downs, there's no denying that the show has retained one simple yet important characteristic: it's fun.

Unfortunately for some, the show comes to an end next week, having completed a solid five season run. Though I feel some may not find it so unfortunate, as the show gets to wrap up the way it should, giving it the proper send off it throughly deserves.

Speaking of fortunate, I was just that for having the opportunity to talk to Carl Lumbly last week. Carl's been playing Marcus Dixon on Alias since day one, starting out as Sydney Bristow's partner in what they both thought was the CIA. He's also supplied the voice of Martian Manhunter from the Justice League cartoon series. We talked about his work on Alias, Justice League, his new 'do and a little bit of golf.

We're continuing to celebrate TV Turn-Off Week here at TV Squad, and by "celebrate" I mean ignoring it completely. We believe that everyone should watch TV, TV is good for you, and that there's no way we're going to shut off the tube for 7 straight days.  We'd miss too much.

Case in point: not only is Alias in its last season, but tonight is also the 100th episode of the ABC series. J.J. Abrams said in an interview recently that the past couple of seasons, ABC told him to get away from the Rambaldi/mythology storyline, and he complied. But now that the show is ending - and Abrams and company actually knew it was ending, it wasn't some season-ending "oh, by the way, you're not getting renewed" - they can really focus on Rambaldi all they want and end the show the way that they want to end it.

The ratings for the return episode of Alias last Wednesday were actually up 20% from the previous episode back in December. But it still wasn't enough to make an impact that night, as American Idol, The Amazing Race, Unanimous and Bones did better. The first hour tied for 9th on the night, while the second hour was 8th.

But who cares? The show is ending anyway! Ha!

So, we all know that Alias fans have strong opinions about the show, the characters, the Rambaldi prophecy. Even the clothes that Jennifer Garner wears. But do you care enough to make a video expressing your thoughts on the show that will make you part of the season five DVD set?

ABC and Buena Vista wants to know why you're a fan of Alias. Why Sydney Bristow is such a great character. What your favorite storylines, scenes, and villains are. And many more topics. Check out the link above, plus all the other details at ABC. Deadline is May 8.

Warning: many spoilers follow!

(S05E10/S05E11) So there's a mole inside the CIA that's helping Prophet 5 with their mysterious plans for Sydney and her baby. Who is it? And how will the APO gang find the mole in time to save Sydney?

If you watched another show earlier this week, the mole will come as no surprise to you...

As part of the run-up to the series finale of Alias, seasons four and five of the show are now available on iTunes. You can buy one episode for the usual $1.99 or you can buy all of season four for $34.99. And, for the rest of the season, new episodes will be available the morning after they air.

Alias returns tonight for a two-hour episode from 8 pm to 10:01 pm (thus, no Lost).

So, the show is over, the theater is being cleaned, and Tara Reid is just waking up somewhere in Hollywood. Let's do a little post-game, shall we? Use the comments section below to give your impression of the show. Which shows/people were you happy to see win, and which shows/people do you think got ripped off?

For the record, I was happy to see The Daily Show and Lost win, while I think Arrested Development got ripped off in the Comedy category. Every other actress in the running should have gotten the Lead Actress Drama Emmy before Patricia Arquette. And no award for Ian McShane?