Though it doesn't officially premiere until Jan. 29, the pilot for 'Luck,' David Milch's new drama, debuted Sunday on HBO, and if you caught it, I'm betting it made you want to go to the racetrack. Twice in the course of 'Luck's' first hour, we got heart-stopping glimpses of what it's like to be inside a horse race; director Michael Mann gave us a jockey's view of pounding hooves, straining ...

Mike Kelley truly understood that his show was a hit when people began arguing about it at a Los Angeles hair salon. All Kelley wanted was a trim, but when he mentioned that he created 'Revenge,' his stylist began raving about how he loved the high-end fashion on the show, which was his favorite new soap opera. Another customer corrected the stylist and said that the show was really a murder ...

There's lots of TV to discuss before the cable and broadcast networks begin their holiday-season hibernation periods, and Ryan McGee and I tried to get to as much of it as we could in this week's Talking TV with Ryan and Ryan podcasts. First up, we devote more than 30 minutes to the 'Sons of Anarchy' Season 4 finale, which I also wrote about here. In the second podcast, we briefly discussed ...

['Sons of Anarchy' - 'To Be, Act 2'] I've been saying for weeks now that the Season 4 finale of 'Sons of Anarchy' would be a pivotal episode of the show. It was clear that the way that the current series of events resolved would influence the show for some time to come, and give us a big clue as to what creative directions the show would follow and what kind of risks it would be willing to ...

['Supernatural' - 'Death's Door'] Hello 'Supernatural' fans! Long time no see. There's obviously been some recent news about Castiel's upcoming return (and you can read Misha Collins' reaction to that here), but today's piece was in the works before that development came to light. I wanted to offer a few thoughts on the Dec. 2 episode of the CW show, which was a terrific showcase for Jim ...

'Supernatural' fans, Castiel is coming back to the show for at least three episodes in 2012. A spokesperson for Warner Bros., which makes the CW show, said that Misha Collins, who plays the fan-favorite character Castiel, will return in the current season's episode 17. Depending on how many breaks the show takes before it airs the seventeenth episode of season 7, Castiel could be back on our ...

It didn't take long for 'New Girl' to establish itself as the fall's most solid (and charming) hit, and Zooey Deschanel's lead character, Jess, also wasted no time in finding herself an equally dorky love interest. In Tuesday's episode of the Fox comedy, Jess has decided to sleep with her new boyfriend, Paul (Justin Long), but she's worried that, having just emerged from a long relationship, ...

'Appropriate Adult,' a British film airing Dec. 10 on Sundance Channel, is a fascinating and tremendously well-acted look into the heart of darkness. It features Dominic West and Emily Watson doing some of the best work of their careers, and it was well received when it aired in the U.K. earlier this year (the Guardian called it "mesmerizing"). But for a number of understandable reasons, West, ...

It's mostly zombies, dinosaurs and bikers in the latest edition of the Talking TV with Ryan and Ryan podcast. Ryan McGee and I kicked things off by mentioning a few shows that premiere this week ('The Take,' 'Trek Nation' and 'Weed Wars'). By the way, you can find plenty of other notable December specials and such in this post. We also talked a little about 'I Hate My Teenage Daughter,' but ...

If you wanted to give your DVR a break during the holiday season, it'll have to wait. The first few weeks of December are jam-packed with finales, specials and mid-season cliffhangers, and there's even a bow-tie clad treat on Christmas Day. In an effort to help you keep track of what's to come and shine a light on some hidden gems, I've come up with a list of notable December TV events. So ...