Alias

After Bob reported that ABC hadn't placed the final episodes of Alias into the midseason line-up, I think most people (myself included), were how do you say it? Oh right, "pissed off."

However, it now seems that ABC has gone ahead and decided to air the last hours of one of the greatest shows on TV. That's right - Sydney, Jack, Sloane, and the rest of the Alias gang return in April (according to our friends at SpoilerFix.com, April 19 to be exact) for a two-hour midseason special. According to the report, which started with Kristin at E! Online, the two-hour return will be followed by four more hour-long episodes and the series will come to an end with another two-hour explosion sometime in May.

Now on paper, this sounds great, right? Alias is coming back! Wait! Except, that if these numbers are right... then we're getting an extremely shortened season. Normally Alias, like most other hour-long dramas, runs for a 22 episode season. If we're getting only 8 more new hours between now and the series finale, that means this season clocks in at only 17 hours. Can't say that I'm too pleased about that. We've had only nine season five episodes so far (I double checked here), so eight more makes 17. Well... at least it's coming back right? Maybe this will all change and we'll get more?

[Thanks to Susan for bringing this to our attention.]

So, you're all set to watch the last episodes of Alias starting in March, leading up to the exciting series finale in May? This news might tick you off a little bit.

ABC this week announced their plans for the midseason and beyond, and oddly, Alias is hardly mentioned at all. It was supposed to come back in March with new episodes. But now this article says it's a "schedule orphan," and there's a chance that it won't come back til summer. Gah. Ugh. $%^&*#$!

Of course, this isn't set in stone, so maybe everything will be okey-dokey come March. But right now it looks like Simon Cowell's new show American Inventor is going to be on Thursday nights, surrounded by Extreme Makeover and Primetime, which means no room for Sydney and friends. Unless they move it to another night. But what night?  

So we know that Alias is coming to an end this season (new episodes come back in March). And word comes that Amy Acker, who we last saw with a giant needle sticking out of her chest thanks to Sydney, will be a series regular for the rest of the season.

In other news, Ron Rifkin has a new job: he's staying with ABC in the pilot Brothers and Sisters, a drama about a family. Rifkin will play the uncle of the title characters.

This comes on the heels of other Alias news, that Bradley Cooper (Will) will be coming back to Alias for the 100th episode, and that Nadia will finally be coming out of her coma, and she won't be too happy with daddy Sloane.  

The Good Stuff

5. Lost: I really don't think this needs an explanation. Fantastic ensemble, great writing, interesting backstory... okay, so I gave an explanation.

4. Rescue Me: I would have never pegged Denis Leary as someone who could piece together a hit drama, but he's done it and season two was outstanding.

3. Entourage: This show gave me more one-liners to endlessly repeat from its second season than some shows give you in their entire run.

2. Nip/Tuck: If you don't watch this show then you're missing out. Seriously.

1. 24: I can't get enough of this show. I fall asleep with the DVDs on. Season 5, just a few more weeks. Deep breaths.

And now you won't. The Alias star, and actress formerly known as Jennifer Garner, has officially taken her husband's last name. Garner and Ben Affleck, or I suppose I should say Affleck and Affleck, married six months ago in June. She gave birth to their first daughter, Violet Ann, earlier this month. Now this is something that you don't usually hear about. It seems rare these days for a Hollywood marriage to last long enough for the wife to even have a chance to change her last name. But Jen and Ben do seem pretty happy and it is a nice gesture for her to share the same surname as her child. However, this does seem like a question for our female readers... duh. So what do you ladies think? Did Garner make the right choice or is she breaking some weird code being a professional woman and all? Comment away and if you don't mind, tell us how you handled it in the following poll (after the jump).
 

Not sure if you've heard who shows up on tonight's show, so why don't we immediately go to the second page and start the review, shall we?

[MAJOR SPOILERS FOLLOW]

...four killed-off characters.

• Shannon, Lost  Shannon was the biggest bitch on the island until Ana Lucia came along and shot her. We will all miss Shannon and her sunbathing, her sneer, her clear, make-up free complexion, and her hallucinations. Shannon was preceded in death by her father and her step-brother, Boone, with whom she had a one-night stand before getting in a plane crash. She leaves behind a wicked stepmother and a really hot Iraqi.
• Nick Stokes, CSI  One can only hope...
  
• Michael Vaughn, Alias  He was hot. Really, really hot. And sexy. There was more to Vaughn than meets the eye. Just as everything was looking happy for him and Syd, he revealed that he was a double agent and his name was not Michael Vaughn. Then he got T-Boned in a car crash. And shot. He leaves behind a shocked fiance and the fruit of his loins.
  
• Caleb Nichol, The O.C. Who will everyone love to hate now? Sure, his widow is a manipulative bitch, but she has some redeeming qualities, like the way she booted Jeri Ryan out of The O.C. before that storyline got even dumber. We will miss Caleb for the way that he drove his daughters to drugs and alcohol and his knack for ruining every family get-together. Caleb leaves behind a wife, two daughters, one of whom will no doubt be back soon since FOX cancelled her other show, and a goofball of a grandson.
  
• Everyone, Six Feet Under  I fudged this one. Nate was the only one we saw die. The poor fella had only recently returned home, when his father died, to help his brother, David, manage the family funeral home. Over six years, he and his family managed to make a royal mess of their lives. The series ended with Nate dying of a brain hemorrhage. We also learned the fate of the rest of the family who die in the following order: Ruth, Keith, David, Rico, Brenda and Claire.

First off, let me say that whoever came up with the title for this episode is a genius. Seriously. There's an elegance about it, but at the same time it's really manly, strong and confident. It's quite possibly one of the best TV episode titles I've seen in years.

Alias fans are getting together and trying to save the show. The plan not only involves a letter writing campaign, but also sending brown paper bags to ABC.

I think this is a bad idea. Alias is one of my all-time favorite shows, but I think it's time for it to end. This season hasn't been bad, but you can see the show kind of unraveling and repeating itself. I think we should just let the show end in May and have Abrams and the team plan a really great, satisfying conclusion to the series.

Besides, if it ends in May, it's probably easier to get Vartan back for one last appearance than to have to sign him for an entire season or two. And Vaughn being back...isn't that what we all really want?

US Magazine is reporting that Jennifer Garner has given birth to a baby girl. The labor was induced early this morning at an undisclosed L.A. hospital. Husband Ben Affleck was present throughout the entire birth, and the couple has supposedly decided to name the girl Violet Ann. Garner, the star of ABC's Alias, found out last week that this will be the fifth and final season of the show. No news on how the new mother is doing, but we here at TV Squad wish nothing but the best to the now larger Affleck clan.

[Thanks Evadne for the tip.]