Nathan Fillion of “Serenity” and now “Desperate Housewives” fame, stars in ABC’s newest midseason replacement, “Castle”. Yes, it’s another cop procedural. Yes, it’s a story of opposites attract. And if you ask me, it totally ripped it’s premise from the pages of Basic Instinct: mystery novelist’s books scarily similar to actual murder cases. Lucky for us, it’s a comedy drama, so it has a lighter tone and considerably better acting!

Check the television pilot trailer:

Source: Pop Candy

If you saw the Emmys a couple of weeks ago, I hope you and your cats enjoyed it, because you were the only ones watching. However, you and the cats also bore witness to Bryan Cranston winning for Best Actor in a Dramatic Series for his role in a really cool show, “Breaking Bad.”

Indeed, the dad from “Malcolm in the Middle” beat out Don Draper at the lowest rated ever Emmys, television’s highest honor, wherein television people celebrate themselves for like seven hours. On television. My feelings are torn, since I like both “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad,” but I figure Jon Hamm will get ‘em next time.

Anyway, AMC has been rerunning the first season of “Breaking Bad” after the “encore” airings of “Mad Men” every Sunday, and you can even pre-order the first season DVD if it turns out you love it, so check it out. The show is about a high school chemistry teacher (Cranston), who turns to cooking meth for extra cash, after he learns he is dying of cancer. He’s got a pregnant wife and a “special needs” son, so I can’t say I blame him. Desperate times, and all that.

Meth lab hijinks and drug dealings provide a nice chaser to the rampant alcoholism and womanizing of “Mad Men,” so kudos to AMC on nailing their first two forays into original programming. I, for one, can’t wait to see more.

Sunday nights are fast becoming my busiest TV night of the week. My DVR’s red “recording” light was already winking at me for a good chunk of the evening before, thanks to my old love “Mad Men,” my new love “True Blood,” plus all the old standbys like “60 Minutes” and “American Dad.” But as of last week, “Dexter” has returned to Showtime with new episodes. Consider the ante upped.

I’ve been a fan of this show since its beginning two seasons ago. It doesn’t spare on the high concept premises and story lines, but is still written elegantly enough to avoid becoming a joke. Michael C. Hall has proven his acting mettle beyond my expectations in his portrayal of Dexter Morgan, considering how hard it is to believe that this is the same man who played David Fisher all those years not so long ago.

Tune in to Showtime Sunday nights at 9pm to check out “Dexter.” I like the show so much it’s actually inspired me to read the book on which this series is based, called “Darkly Dreaming Dexter,” by Jeff Lindsay. I know right? I’m going to read an actual book! With pages and everything!

I fear I may have blasphemed by daring to mention the “B” word– book– on the interweb, and on a blog about teevee, at that. As an act of contrition, I’ll subject myself to a new reality show, get drunk and rant about it on here, later.

Oh, dear. “Paris Hilton Is My New BFF” started this week. Sounds like a fresh batch of hate stew a-brewin’.

The gang over at TV Squad brings good news today: Fox has given “Fringe” a full season order! After last week’s episode (The Ghost Network), I can say I’m officially hooked. The show blends elements of the procedural, horror and science fiction into an entertaining show. I don’t love it, but I definitely make sure to watch each week’s episode on my DVR by Sunday.

Don’t have the luxury of TiVo and must watch something else during “Fringe’s” timeslot? No worries, Hulu’s got you covered. Find the entire third episode below for your convenience.

After finishing up the second episode of “Heroes” last night, I decided that this season may be worth the dvr space after all. It seems that Tim Kring & Co. are weaving an intriguing season.  This season seems to be focusing on the idea of giving powers to ordinary people and the subsequent fallout. And they’re bringing back old characters and putting them in the lion’s den with people that hate them (i.e. Sylar and HRG, Claire’s biological mom and adoptive mom, Linderman and Nathan). The show is posing this main question: Can one still be a hero, if you have to make a deal with the devil to win? Or do you become a villain?

Things I liked so far on this season of “Heroes”:

1. The African future painter guy and Parkman’s spirit walk storyline. Their story is a good compliment to future Peter’s actions to change the future.

2. Sylar and HRG being paired up. Talk about opposites attract! I can’t wait for them to stop playing nice.

3.  Angela Petrilli (Peter and Nathan’s mom) running the show at the Primatech Paper (aka The Company). That lady has ambition and will kill anyone who stands in her way.

Things that still annoy me on “Heroes”:

1. Bringing back Ali Larter’s as a new character without explanation. Yeah, it blows my mind that she was made by Dr. Zimmerman, but did she really have to bond with Micah before getting to the bottoms of things?

2. I wish Linderman would go away, along with the God and politics metaphors. I love Mr. McDowell but his character as the devil on Nathan’s shoulders was played out last season.

3. Rebellious Claire Bennet (Hayden Panettiere). I suppose they do need to lay the foundations for evil future Claire (the one that shoots at her own uncle, future Peter). But could they find some original and non-predictable dialogue and situations to tell that story? We get it, she’s a teenager who can’t die and can do whatever she wants. Sheesh already.

Samantha Tapping (”Stargate SG-1″) has a new gig on “Sanctuary”, a sci-fi web series that SciFi Channel has picked up for this fall tv season.

The show is about Dr. Helen Magnus (Samantha Tapping), a brilliant scientist who discovers a group of unusual beings have been living among humans for ages. Thus, she tries to track them down with her team and offer them sanctuary. Get it? Oh, and by some miracle of science she’s 157 years old!

Her daughter, Ashley (Emilie Ullerup), is also part of the team. She’s in it for the action of the chase. In the pilot episode, they recruit a forensic psychiatrist named Dr. Will Zimmerman (Robin Dunne) who isn’t as good as Ashley in the field. He seems to have a few problems adjusting to the idea of a world where monsters and supernatural beings exist. Ryan Robbins plays the requisite tech guy, Henry, and Christopher Heyerdahl plays Helen’s arch enemy, John Druitt.

“Sanctuary” was created by Damian Kindler and is produced by Tapping herself (along with a few of the “Stargate” producers like Martin Wood and N. John Smith). The show depends almost exclusively on green screen technology, which I feel can be great for science fiction, but I’m not sure if every building needs to be a cgi creation. I’ll guess I’ll just have to wait for the October 3rd (9/8c) premiere before making up my mind.

Watch the video preview on SciFi.com

“Samantha Who” stars Christina Applegate as the titular character amnesiac who has no memory of her previously mean-spirited ways.

Recent Emmy winner, Jean Smart plays her unforgiving mother and Jennifer Esposito plays her best friend, Andrea. They all help Samantha in her quest to reconcile the person she was with the one she is now. Season one was surprisingly very funny and Applegate was perfectly cast since she excels at playing both the nice and mean version of Samantha.

Buy season one on dvd today so you can catch up before the season two premiere on October 13th on ABC.

Samantha Who - Season 1 DVD

In an uncharacteristic bout of good judgement, I’ve decided to continue avoiding the wasteland of bad television this weekend, taking refuge in some old favorites from the “TV– No Wait, DVD” genre.  Last weekend, I got my cartoon fix with some “Clerks” The Animated Series,” but today is going to be all about “Freaks and Geeks.”

The most cursory internet search of “Freaks and Geeks” will undoubtedly provide a bounty of blogs praising this show– and likely some pornography too, so make sure you have “Safe Search” turned on, kiddies.

Where was I? Oh, yes. “Freaks and Geeks” is about high school kids in Michigan during the 80s, centering around a sister and brother who fall respectively into the social castes of– you guessed it– freaks and geeks. They laugh, they live, they love. This series was on NBC in 1999, and like so many other great shows, simply didn’t catch on quickly enough for the network suits. So, they yanked it. Good job, guys.

“F&G” was one of Judd Apatow’s greatest creations though, so it herewith gets the official Television Revival thumbs up. Plus, it’s got Seth Rogen, James Franco AND Jason Segel, so if you liked Pineapple Express and/or Forgetting Sarah Marshall, you’re going to lurve this. So rent it, or buy it, or do whatever it is you do to watch new stuff that is actually old stuff that is good. End of dispatch. I’m off to buy another box of wine.

[Picture source: NBC]

I can’t believe I just found out about Eric Schaeffer’s reality tv show on Showtime! It is a documentary about the book tour he went on to promote his autobiographical book, I Can’t Believe I’m Still Single, and the subsequent dates he gets set up on by friends, fans, and acquaintances. Thus, his new series is called “I Can’t Believe I’m Still Single”.

Check the promo:

I’m probably one of the only people who has seen the complete Schaeffer oeuvre. And it was just by accident, I swear. Most of his movies I saw by chance on Cinemax or IFC, usually the ones where he was director and star. I would find myself strangely engrossed in the relationships he depicted, as if I was hypnotized. He has a wonderful knack for portraying relationships: like a torrid affair with a model in Fall, or a strange relationship with his best bud (played by Sarah Jessica Parker btw) in If Lucy Fell, or his struggle with sex and drug addiction in Wirey Spindell.

And with the FX television show, “Starved”, it just happened to premiere along with “It’s Always Sunny”, so I watched it and liked it.

So when I was channel surfing on Sunday and came across Eric talking to his assistant about how hot women were in Denver, I obviously was intrigued instantly. The show is honest, funny, and enjoyable for anyone, since it’s all about love and relationships. It’s really about looking for fulfillment in one’s life and coming terms with the idea that it could be a long and windy path to you finding Mr. or Ms. Right. I need to get his book ASAP, from the readings he did during the episode, I’m dying to know his further musings on “America’s Next Top Model”, women, yoga, and so much more.

Related links:
Eric Schaeffer’s Blog
Eric Schaeffer’s Myspace page
Buy his book!

Block out your 10 o’clock hour tonight because season four of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” premieres!

“Day Man…fighter of the Night Man” kills me every time!

The gang is back and ready to push the envelope once again with their self-deprecating, absurdist humor. Don’t know of the wonders to which I speak? You could do two things: check out my hyperbole filled post praising this television show or just rent the “Always Sunny” dvds to find out for yourself.