(S03E10) "People get hurt and things get complicated no matter what you do." - Fiona

Welcome back, Burn Notice. We've missed you. The story picked up a day or two after the resolution of the Strickler thing, with Fiona still on the mend and Michael more than a little miffed by the missed opportunity to get back in the spy game. And if sore feelings and healing wounds weren't painful enough, there's a new threat for Michael.

Have you received all your Christmas gifts? Would you like one more? Okay, here it is, when Burn Notice returns for the winter season on January 21, the first episode will include guest star Tyne Daly. That's right, Tyne will be reuniting with her Cagney & Lacey co-star Sharon Gless. This is will be the first of seven new Burn Notices till next summer.

There's another Cagney & Lacey story in the news. CSI creator Anthony Zuiker wants to revive the show for CBS. For those who don't recall, Cagney & Lacey was the top female cop drama of the 1980's -- actually of all time. It was a serious police drama, unlike something jiggly like Charlie's Angels or safe and pedestrian like Police Woman.

Based on the previews showing Strickler asking Michael to turn on Fiona, the summer season finale of Burn Notice promises to be a bang-up episode. Especially after Fiona walked out on Michael last week because of his obsession with getting back in the intelligence community, i.e. getting the burn notice lifted. However, amid all those hijinks will be a reunion that many, many fans will be tuning in to see -- Cagney and Lacey. That's right, Tyne Daly is guesting on Burn Notice with her former partner Sharon Gless, a.k.a. Michael's mom.

It's taken more than a year for the powers that be to swing this casting coup, and not surprisingly, they've saved it for the season finale. I'm just hoping that they've found a way to weave it into the main story and not make it just a silly subplot, because Daly and Gless deserve a showcase.

It may have been the Me Decade.

But in TV land, the sisters were doin' it for themselves and finally getting respect as cops, war nurses and working moms; iconic shows like 'Hill Street Blues,' 'St. Elsewhere' and 'L.A. Law' would forever change (for the better) cop, medical and legal dramas; and no idea was too high concept to fill a primetime spot (time-travelling physicist? check; housewife-turned-CIA op? check; New York City beauty in love with a subterranean monster? check).

The bottom line: They all add up to 10 years of fine channel surfing -- and our awesome list of the 40 best series of the 1980s.

It's not easy winnowing more than 50 years of small-screen gems into a list of 50.

But AOL TV's picks of the top TV dramas include the most brilliant doctors and lawyers, the angst-iest teens, sci-fi series that transcend their genre molds, family dramas that both warm and break your heart, terrorist- and mobster-fighting heroes ... and a show that combined the best of family and gangster drama into one unforgettable series.

Click through to see all 50 of the best TV dramas of all time.

I've been a fan of Tyne Daly going back to her Cagney & Lacey days. I loved that show! It kind of made me want to be a cop - for about three minutes anyway.

So I was ultra excited when I heard she would be playing McDreamy's mom on Grey's Anatomy. Isabelle posted a spoiler about it last week. Apparently, Tyne will be playing Derek's mom, Carolyn, who travels to Seattle to meet Meredith for the first time. You know, I can really see her as Derek's mom. That's good casting.

I've got a little clip below from Access Hollywood, but first, let me sing Tyne's praises for a minute. Here's a woman who never really fit into the Hollywood "mold" (i.e. blonde and/or thin and/or a party animal), and that's probably why she's been working steadily in the entertainment industry for some 50 years. Yes, on her IMDB page, her first credit was "girl" in a TV show called Foreign Intrigue in 1954. She went on to do bit parts in dozens of TV shows until landing the role of Detective Mary Beth Lacey in Cagney & Lacey from 1982 to 1988.

I was really excited about the prospect of Life on Mars coming to ABC television. I speak in the past tense because everything that has happened since that initial announcement has me doubting that ABC's Americanized Life on Mars will ever make it out of the first season. It may not even air six episodes.

There have been production changes, the first pilot was trashed, they've inserted new characters, they've remade the mythology of the show (with the approval of the British creators), and now more news. The character of Annie Norris on Life on Mars will be played by Gretchen Mol. Yes, the beautiful, sexy and very blond Gretchen Mol. (Okay, she can dye her hair.)

I have the ultimate respect for Ms. Mol. She was excellent in 3:10 to Yuma (a really amazing Western that should have gotten some Oscar consideration). I just think she's the wrong choice for the role of Annie.

Before you get a copy of this DVD you have to do two things: Watch the TV movie with Loretta Swit as Chris Cagney, and completely forget that Meg Foster ever played the part at all.

The DVD collection of the first season of Cagney & Lacey contains no episodes featuring Meg Foster. This comes as little surprise considering all the drama that accompanied getting C&L on the air in the first place.

As with most DVD collections, this one is really only for original fans of the show. The picture quality has been improved very little, if at all, and the episodes are dripping with '80s cop drama earmarks, but still you can't ignore the groundbreaking plot lines. Aside from the daily struggle Christine & Mary Beth face as female detectives, there are also episodes about drug abuse, date rape and struggles with alcoholism that, for the time, were incredibly ground breaking.

Film, stage, and television actress Herta Ware passed away Monday at the age of 88. While perhaps not widely recognized, she left behind a wide body of work, including guest spots on shows such as The Golden Girls, E.R., Cagney and Lacey, Knots Landing, and Star Trek: The Next Generation. She was the wife of the late Will Geer, who played "Grandpa" on The Waltons, and was one of the founders of the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum in Southern California.