TVSquad

Let me put one thing to rest before I begin this review in full. For those of you who think Psych is going to get all dramatic and ruin the show with the introduction of Shawn's mom during the season three premiere (Friday, July 18th, at 10:00 p.m.) I want you take a deep breath and relax. There are definitely some serious moments between Shawn Spencer and the rest of his family, particularly towards the end of the episode. For the most part, though, it is the same Psych that fans have come to enjoy over the last two seasons.

(S04E01) Man, I'm having a hard time finding an opening for this review. I want to say that the season premiere of Atlantis was so much better than any episode of SG-1 that aired in its final season. However, that will probably piss off the SG-1 fans who say that Atlantis doesn't hold a candle to the original series. I want to say that, despite the standard science-fiction storyline that was the plot of this episode, the writers and producers did a great job of making it different, interesting, and a bit suspenseful. Yet, fans of science-fiction might get angry and say its all been done before and better.

If you are a fan of both The Office and 30 Rock then you may be delighted or upset with the following information. The season three DVD box set of NBC's The Office is being released on September 4th, the same date that 30 Rock is being released. If money is no object, than this is good news. However, if you budgeted for only one DVD release then you may have an issue.

Maybe listing the bonus features will help you decide between the two box sets. The Office DVDs feature 3 hours of deleted scenes, 16 minutes of bloopers and commentaries made by eight of the cast members (not listed in the press release we were sent). Also featured are the Lazy Scranton and "Make your own promo contest" videos as well as a music video from Dwight Schrute himself.

Still not convinced? Well, take a look at Michael's expression on the DVD box art. He's so sad. It's like he's begging you to buy the DVD set. Now, how can you turn down a face like that?

Reno's finest return to Comedy Central April 1 at 10:30 to finish off the fourth season of Reno 911!, the improvised comedy series created by and starring The State alumni Tom Lennon, Robert Ben Garrant and Kerri Kenney-Silver (along with Niecy Nash, Cedric Yarbrough, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Mary Birdsong and Carlos Alazraqui).

Faithful TV Squad reader Gordon Werner has a question, so everyone listen up:

"Will Discovery Channel be airing another season of Deadliest Catch this year?"

The answer, dear Mr. Werner, is "yes." In fact, the third season is currently being filmed and will kick off on April 3, 2007. Make sure you tattoo that information on your body like that guy in Memento, it's a great way to remember things. That's why I have "buy eggs and milk" inked on my inner thigh right now.

Deadliest Catch is a documentary series that began in 2005. It follows six fishing vessels as they fish for crab in the Bering Sea and face serious injury or death due to the rough conditions. The crew not only consists of fisherman who have been on several expeditions, but also "greenhorns" who are experiencing the job for the first time.

(S03E08) A friend and I were talking about a third woman, one who's involved with a volunteer organization. "I want my donation to be therapy for her!" said the friend. This week's episode of The 4400 opens that delicious possibility: the ability to force therapy onto someone. Oh, were it only true! I totally would have stolen that lady's herbs, too.

As it turns out, the therapy isn't always beneficent. Three people commit suicide at the opening of the show, haunted too cruelly by figures from their past. This sends Tom and Diana into a quest to find the source of the hallucinations -- a brand-new street drug called "Blink" -- and quash their own demons, personified by Tom's dead father and Diana's old fiancé.

Speaking of fiancés. The plot took its most delicious turn yet.

(S03E07) After Dennis Ryland's several near-death experiences in the third season premiere, and the peaks we see into Isabelle's cooperation with him in this episode, I'll admit I was beginning to feel hopeless. Ryland seemed all-powerful, able to fend off any manner of 4400 attacks and unstoppably diabolical. The perfect enemy and doppelganger archfiend for Tom.

That feeling kept cropping up throughout the episode, sometimes dully thudding as an undercurrent, sometimes spiking into a painful crescendo. Tom and Alanna were spinning out of control. First she was accused of being a Nova Group member, then we learned she had betrayed Tom's trust (but we all knew she was doing good the whole time, right?). Then it seemed she was headed for several years behind bars ... and Tom and Diana, how would they live with themselves if they gave up Gary Navarro to Mr. Perfect Evil himself?

(S03E06) Last week there were arguments. I said the wrapup was too neat. Some of you said no, I just didn't get it -- there was complexity. Things might not be as they seemed. And I'm happy to ring the bell of correct-ness. Ding ding ding! az1324 called it: Matthew was sent back from the future to work for the "other side." Whatever the other side, is.

Indeed, much to my delight we're given ever more conundrums in The 4400. It does seem as if Isabelle has redressed her "angel of death" moniker, although she is causing quite a bit of murder and mayhem as she turns the gifts of the Nova Group members against them. Perhaps we should replace the "of death" in her title, in fact, with "avenging."

Add Alana -- who through her work with students in the 4400 school, finds the man who killed her first husband and son -- to the list of AA members. And when we're talking 4400, AA stands for Avenging Angel.

(S03E05) As if the writers were pumping promicin themselves and reading the viewers' minds, Maia is neither gone nor forgotten in the second part of "Gone." And she comes back with explosive force, erupting into Tom and Alanna's fantasy worlds, radiating through Diana's frantic subconscious. I'm rapt as I watch Diana making a frightening collage of little girls' faces, as I see her sink into desperation when she learns that Maia has been sent back to the 1800s -- and died, at 25, only having left diaries behind as she expired on the Oregon Trail.

While I'm rapt by Tom and Diana emerging from the distinct wooden quality of the past several episodes, I'm thrown by the seemingly random details skittering about the edges of the plot. The 4400 we meet this week, an investment banker, can smell pheremones. It's a cool party trick and, you'd think, useful in the plot of a drama starring Alicia Silverstone. But it's a sideshow, just like the valiant efforts made (and subsequently erased) in the far past by the other children: synthetic fuel, colonies on the moon. Lovely, but ... why do these very interesting details feel as if they were picked out of a science fiction grab bag?

(S03E04) 'Gone' is an appropriate title for last night's episode. Gone is Lily, dead at the feet of her gorgeous and precocious (in sex, and in everything) daughter. Gone is Jordan Collier (even though he is tantalizingly alive according to last season's finale). Gone -- from the storyine line this season so far -- are Kyle and any number of tantalizing minor characters. Gone are Shawn's confidence, Matthew Ross' wisdom and principles, Diana's interestingness, Tom's keen relevance to the plot, all Diana's good dialogue.

And, at the end of the episode, gone is Maia, at least in the incarnation we know. Certainly, she'll be back, but not as Diana's daughter.Her absence creates a huge hole, most notably in Diana's deep connection to the 4400 through their close relationship.