TVSquad

(S02E01) "If you sit by the river bank long enough you'll see the bodies of your enemies float by." - Patrick Jane

Where will the second season of The Mentalist go? Will we focus on Red John the whole time or will we get cases of the week until we have a Red John episode? It looks like it's going to be more of the latter (though there's a big plot development concerning the Red John case in this season opener), and that's just fine.

I do wish the cases were more Columbo or Murder, She Wrote-ish, though.

Everyone has an opinion about how Heroes has been the last couple of seasons. Even NBC. In the new promo for the show (two-hour season premiere on September 21), it seems that even the network knows it could be better. The clip is titled "Back At Their Best," Noah says the lines "you have to remember who you were" and "maybe we're looking for redemption," Tracey says "I'm back," the words NEW BEGINNING appear on a wall, and the song that plays in the background is "Second Chance."

Heroes fans who think the show has gone downhill would probably say this is the third or fourth chance, but we get the point, we get the point.

[via Topless Robot]

I've read a few things online about this promo poster for the new season of Heroes (larger version here) and people seem to like it. Me? I find it kinda boring, unless they're changing the show completely and making it a new version of The Mod Squad.

It really says nothing about the new direction of the show, but the video after the jump is fun.

Looks like NBC is really trying to relaunch Heroes. They have a whole new plot and series of characters (a weird carnival), and these videos seem to want us to get involved with the show again, and get to know the characters we love.

The Sylar and Claire videos give a good background/recap of the characters, but the "Heroes in Love" one doesn't really make sense (some characters aren't even on the show anymore, and the Matt/Daphne thing didn't really happen), but they're good promos. (Here's the trailer for season four.)

Like a lot of Heroes fans, there's a lot I've liked about the show and a lot that has frustrated me. But damn if they don't have me coming back season after season.

Jason already told you about what's coming up in season 4 ("Redemption"), and now here's a trailer. Looks like a whole new group of people with powers will be introduced (a carnival, I believe), Claire is in college, Mrs. Petrelli is still being mysterious, Sylar looks like Nathan (except when others see him as Sylar), and (sigh) it still looks like Hiro is time-traveling. But they have me curious again.

"They want me back in Washington, they can come and get me." - Jack

It's been a year and a half since we last saw Jack Bauer, staring out into the ocean and contemplating who knows what after saying good-bye to a comatose Audrey (Kim Raver). The time has gone by much faster for Jack though. In an attempt to find himself and figure out his true calling, Bauer has been wandering the world for three years. Wayne Palmer never re-gained the presidency following his memory lapse in season six and Noah Daniels (Powers Booth) finished out Palmer's first term only to lose a re-election bid to Allison Taylor (Cherry Jones). 24: Redemption (airs this Sunday, 11/23, on FOX at 8PM ET) finds Bauer in the fictional African country of Sangala on the day of Taylor's inauguration with everything to lose and nothing to gain.

Over the last months, we've been updating you on 24: Redemption, the two-hour Season 7 prequel movie FOX will air on November 23. It's time for another update! So if your aim is to stay spoiler-free about Jack Bauer's trip to the fictional African country of Sangala, then it's time to click elsewhere on TV Squad's site as you are about to enter a spoiler zone!

Spoilers coming up!

Ice Cube is producing a new reality series pilot for A&E called Good in the Hood. The plan is for each episode to be introduced by Ice Cube and then focus on a former gang member, drug dealer or robber as they try to help somebody in a similar situation turn their life around.

I've expressed my distaste for reality programming in the past, but this is a good example of how many sub-genres existed within the reality show genre, and not all of them are that bad. I really like the idea of people who once took from society do what they can to give something back, and to understand that it is possible to change. It's a great idea, and if done well, I think A&E may have another hit on its hands.

Yup. That's right.

The psalm that the assassination- and nerve gas-plotting former president was reciting aloud last night when he was alone in his bathroom, Psalm 40, is called "a Psalm of David," according to Bartleby.com.

Coincidence? Is it mere chance that former President Charles Logan -- who conspired to have David Palmer killed -- was quoting from a psalm that includes the name David, just before he left for the Russian consulate to supposedly gather intel about the whereabouts of three suitcase nukes? At the same time David's brother's assassination plot was being carried out?

Holly Hunter will be starring in a new pilot for TNT titled Grace. Hunter will play an Oklahoma City detective who is visited by an angel (played by Deadwood's Leon Rippy) who tries to help her redeem her life. Laura San Giacomo of Just Shoot Me will play Hunter's best friend, and Bokeem Woodbine will play a convict who can also see the angel. I don't know about the rest of you, but I can't recall any television series with an angel as one of the main characters that I actually enjoyed. I know that both Highway to Heaven and Touched by an Angel were about as interesting to me as watching an ice cube melt. Nevertheless, we all enjoy different things, so what do the rest of you think? Does this show sound interesting? I will admit that I've always really liked Holly Hunter as an actress, and still harbor a slight school boy crush on Laura San Giacomo, but other than that there's not much pulling me towards this show.

(Webisode 2) I just watched the second BSG webisode. As one commenter (Hi, JScott!) noted on my post on the first webisode just a few minutes ago, this one was shorter. But I think there was a lot going on. Remember back to Freshman College English where we found out that you can tell what characters are like from what they say/do and what other characters say about them.

In the middle of his sermon, Reverend Daniel Webster (Aidan Quinn) poses this question to the congregation:

"If there were no temptation, how can there be redemption?"

The Book of Daniel made its much anticipated debut Friday night on NBC with a two-hour episode. If you saw it, you know there were so many subplots that trying to recap them here will make your (and my) head spin.

In a nutshell, Daniel's life is a complicated one, to say the least. This Episcopalian man of the cloth has to deal with his teenage daughter (Grace) being arrested for dealing pot, to having a gay son (Peter) that causes confusion for him, to having an adopted son from China (Adam) who pokes fun at his Asian features and heritage, to having a neurotic wife taken to having martinis as soon as noon passes, to having a female bishop critiquing his Sunday sermons, to finding out his brother-in-law has embezzled $3.2 million from the church, to dealing with a stiff and wooden father who happens to be a bishop, to his mother suffering from Alzheimer's, to interacting with a Mafia-connected Catholic priest. (I could go further but I think you get the general idea.)