TVSquad

Rescue Me fans have been waiting far too long for this news. It was announced yesterday that the FX trademark drama will finally begin airing its 22-episode fifth season on Tuesday, April 7th at 10PM ET. And yes, the season will air uninterrupted, with the finale scheduled to air on September 8th.

Season four, which finished back in September 2007, received some of the drama's poorest critical reviews of the series to date. Season five, which has been delayed by over a year because of the WGA Strike, promises to be much better.

FX President John Landgraf said that, "...the quality of episodes...are some of the best they've ever produced," and when I spoke with Denis Leary by phone last June, he said the opening six episodes of the new season was some of the best stuff they'd written yet.

Excited? I sure as hell am. Keep reading though because the news gets even better.

In just a little over a month (Wednesday, January 21st can't come soon enough), season five of Lost begins on ABC. After a shortened fourth season (because of the writer's strike), fans have been salivating for answers after the absolutely insane three-hour finale.

Where did the island go? How did Locke die? And why the heck do the Oceanic Six need to go back?

Well... keep holding your breath for those answers. Fortunately, the Lost season four DVD will provide some respite in the meantime. While it won't be released until next Tuesday, 12/9, many of the DVD featurette extras have been made available online and we got our hands on a couple.

So if you feel like knowing what happens behind the scenes down in Hawaii, then you're going to want to see these clips. Plus, if you feel like being spoiled a tiny bit, I've also included a sneak peek from the upcoming season five premiere, "Because You Left."

It's been over a year since the last new episode of Rescue Me - a full episode. As enjoyable as those 10 minisodes were, let's be honest - they just didn't cut it. Once again, the writer's strike screwed everything up. Season four ended, we found out that season five got a 22 episode order... and we've been waiting ever since.

After a fairly brief hiatus (only 4 months) Stargate Atlantis returns to the SciFi channel with all new episodes starting on July 11th. Now entering its fifth season, the show is reaching a turning point thanks to a number of off-season cast changes. First and foremost in is the replacement of Amanda Tapping's Colonel Samantha Carter as administrator of Atlantis with Robert Picardo's Richard Woolsey. This is one year after Tapping replaced Tori Higginson on the show. It's an interesting turn of events since Woolsey has not been the most popular of characters in the entire Stargate franchise. And, as the character has never been a people person, there is bound to be some conflict between members of the Atlantis team and himself.

During last night's season premiere of Rescue Me, FX ran its first new preview for the second half of season five of The Shield. It's not supposed to return until January 2007 I think, but the promo still said "Coming Soon." They love to tease us. For those who missed it, here's how it played out.

After the obligatory "Viewer Discretion Advised," solid black screens flash with the following slugs:

• Detective Curtis Lemansky
• Born July 14, 1963
• Died March 21, 2006
• Cause of Death

Then it flashes through a quick montage of all the characters. It ends on Shane. Whew, still sends chills down my spine. It wraps with what I'm assuming is the tagline for the rest of the season: "No One Rests in Peace." Neither will I until 2007 rolls around. I can't wait.