(S01E11) Well, we finally found out what (other than banging Madeleine, of course) Casey is good for. Kidnap-bait. Casey gets kidnapped by an international arms merchant. Stark and the rest of the gang channel Jack Bauer and CTU for an episode. Sort of. There are government agency turf wars, planes that can' t be allowed to leave Los Angeles, international arms deals galore, and that's all before ...

(S03E12) Months of hard work and focused training at last comes down to this: a live finale packed to the walls with stunning transformations. Because the health improvements are so huge, the $250,000 and other prizes seem almost secondary. Right off the bat , Caroline Rhea leads with the information that one of the final four will not be "making it to the final scale." That's a first for the ...

(S04E13) An opening scene of Sgt. Landsman comically griping through his morning almost turns tragic, but Bubbles will survive to struggle through another day. A little of the "new day" thinking rubs off on Sgt Landsman, who stops putting the stats first. This whole extended opening was one of the most powerful and moving segments of the year, which is saying a lot. Landsman's very thick veneer ...

(S01E10) Instead of a friend or former associate of Stark's, it's a friend of Jessica's that is involved in a crime this time. The "mother" of title is played by Jamie Gertz who does a good job, playing a mother with more than her share of secrets. The crime has Stark a bit miffed at first, as he doesn't feel it has enough of a high profile angle for his elite prosecutorial unit. On the home ...

(S03E11) The first forty-five minutes is a documentary about the trainers and (season two winner) Matt Hoover visiting high schools to raise awareness about good nutrition. Not part of the game, but a worthwhile goal, and it's much better than a full hour of recapping, though even the fifteen minutes of recapping was too much filler for me. Still, I hope it doesn't start a trend among other ...

(S01E11) Promos for this "fall finale" promised a stunning climax and that "a hero will die." Show creators can't be held accountable for, shall we say, the exuberance of the network publicity machine, but we do get a great episode this time that lives up to the hype. Bear with me, I kind of went overboard this week, with what I'll have to call an overly-extended review, but hey, it's the last ...

While gearing up for The Wire's fourth season finale this Sunday, I checked out Slate's long interview with David Simon. He's the Baltimore resident and former journalist who created the HBO series. Lots of good nuggets about the show, which Simon compares to a "66 hour movie." That's good news, as the show has done 50 episodes over its first four seasons, so evidently the fifth and final season ...

(S04E12) "That all there is to it?" -- Bubbles. The episode opens with Michael being trained for his new profession. Things go downhill from there. Over the last couple weeks we've seen Michael smile at his mother when he knows her boyfriend is, thanks to Chris, gone for good, and we've seen him spitting blood out of his mouth with glee after the fight defending Randy. This week we watch the ...

(S04E10) Without any really likable personalities, and no Jillian, I haven't enjoyed this season nearly as much as previous ones. But the players are looking healthier and trimmer entering the final stretch, that's the important thing. It's been a bad season for Bob. When he finds out that Erik voted off the only other remaining blue team payer, Bob feels really angry and betrayed. Erik stands ...

(S01E10) Like Hiro, we're headed six months into the past. We see some characters showing up in unexpected locations. We get answers. We get lots of answers, in fact, proving once again a show doesn't need to keeps its audience wholly in the dark to sustain interest. Hurray for Tim Kring. Even though Eden making portly Officer Parkman eat donuts wasn't very nice, it's interesting to see how she ...