3rd season

NBC's loss is turning out to be TNT's gain.

According to a network press release, TNT has renewed the critically acclaimed drama 'Southland' for a 10-episode third season.

"'Southland' is a challenging, visceral show that engages viewers with its immersive style, provocative storylines and complex characters," said Michael Wright, executive vice president, head of programming, for TNT, TBS and Turner Classic Movies (TCM) in the statement. "These qualities have made 'Southland' a favorite among critics and appointment viewing for an extremely loyal audience."

'Southland,' which stars Benjamin McKenzie, Michael Cudlitz and Regina King as members of a Los Angeles police unit, was unceremoniously canceled by NBC shortly before its second season was to begin airing on television.

Good news for everyone who's ever been screwed by someone in power. Not so good news for everyone in power. TNT just picked up Leverage for a third season, and I couldn't be happier. In the first season, Leverage worked because of the cleverness of the heists the gang got up to. I found myself trying to figure out all the angles they were working, but by the end they still managed to trick me a couple of times.

The second season saw them lose their stately headquarters and tackle these jobs in a much more street level fashion, and in several ways the show got better. At the same time, rather than the heist always taking center stage, at times it was our five characters that shone brightest.

By that I'm referring to the quirks of their individual personalities, because we haven't gotten a great deal of character development this season. The banter and camaraderie within the crew gives us some great lines and moments each week, though. Now that a third season is secured, I'd like to see the character arcs for those great personalities pick up again.

(S03E08) A friend and I were talking about a third woman, one who's involved with a volunteer organization. "I want my donation to be therapy for her!" said the friend. This week's episode of The 4400 opens that delicious possibility: the ability to force therapy onto someone. Oh, were it only true! I totally would have stolen that lady's herbs, too.

As it turns out, the therapy isn't always beneficent. Three people commit suicide at the opening of the show, haunted too cruelly by figures from their past. This sends Tom and Diana into a quest to find the source of the hallucinations -- a brand-new street drug called "Blink" -- and quash their own demons, personified by Tom's dead father and Diana's old fiancé.

Speaking of fiancés. The plot took its most delicious turn yet.

(S03E01/S03E02) I had so many questions in the weeks leading up to last night's third season premiere of The 4400. Two, however, were keenest: Jordan Collier is alive!?! And, Isabelle went from baby to young woman in the space of a minute? (and, did she do it on purpose? and, is she really evil?)

Surprisingly, we saw absolutely nothing of Jordan Collier (not even a hint, really). Instead, the episode was largely centered on Isabelle's instant aging which was, literally, sapping the lifeblood of her mother, and on the rise of a dark subset of the 4400 who were using their powers for a bloody fight against evil: evil, that is, as personified by the NTAC elite whose fear of those very powers led to so much illness and death at the end of season two.

Chief among their targets is E-vil himself, Dennis Ryland. When he proves to be indestructible (just how many times can one man escape death, anyway? Does he have special powers we don't know about yet?), the Nova Group announces their plans to show the world their true power, on October 19.