(S04E04) "You wanted to play nice dolly with the nancy boy, but he's collaborating with your enemy. What a fool you've been." - Roman's ghost to Alby on discovering that Dale is working with Bill

This week's episode was full of moments that made my spine want to worm its way up my neck and straight out the back of my head like sp,e bizarre alien larvae working its way through my innards for a chance at breathing some clean air.

Sure, the tension was thick and coated the show in a gooey texture from the opening to closing credits, but this week also added an extra layer of pure visceral emotion that broke through the screen and made you feel the unspoken tension in places you didn't know had nerve endings.

(S04E02) "It's clear that Bill has a calling, I'm sure of it. Just maybe the wires got a little crossed. Maybe you're meant to be the next prophet of Juniper Creek." - Nicolette on the revelations that he should run for the State Senate

Just when I thought I had a handle on everything surrounding the swirling complex vortex that is Big Love, Bill decides the best way to protect his already complicated family from slipping even further out of each other's grasp is to run for public office. Politics, it truly is nature's weed whacker. It aims to clean up messes, even if it destroys everything surrounding it in the process.

Now that Roman is dead and almost buried, talk of a new prophet is rising. In the red corner stands Alby, a frail, shadowy, smarmy little man with plenty to hide and expectations to live up to that everyone knows he can't possibly meet. And in the blue corner stands Bill, a rock of a man with just as much to hide but an ambition and willingness to stand and protect his beliefs, even in the face of unfathomable scrutiny and ridicule. Who does it sound like would come out on top in this sparring match?

HBO has decided not to air a new Lily Tomlin comedy series, even though six episodes are in the can. 12 Miles of Bad Road, created by Designing Women writer Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, is a one-hour comedy about the Shakespeare family, a millionaire Texas clan whose real estate fortune is mixed up with their eccentric antics. Sounds vaguely like Dallas meets Arrested Development, but whatever the recipe, HBO has given it the thumbs down.

HBO continues to prepare for a post Sopranos world. There has been a lot of talk about their upcoming shows lately, including adapting George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire, David Milch's John From Cincinnati, and the untitled Kanye West project. We can now add two more to that list.

The network has picked up a one-hour comedy from producer Linda Bloodworth-Thomason (Designing Women) called 12 Miles Of Bad Road. The show will star Lily Tomlin as the matriarch of a rich Texas family. Add in the family real estate business and a collection of relatives and hilarity will ensue, hopefully. The idea almost sounds like a Dallas spoof. With Tomlin on board, it will certainly be worth a look. Look for Gary Cole, Mary Kay Place, and Leslie Jordan to also appear.

I remember when this show premiered like it was yesterday. My mom was really interested in watching it, but I thought it looked just looked like a dumb soap opera (this was before I began my two decade long obsession with Guiding Light). I watched a handful of the episodes, and I didn't like it at all. It was too weird for me. But I'm curious to watch it again, as I'll probably have a different take on it since I'm no longer, you know, 10 years old.

Vol. 1 of the series - a 3 disc set - will be released by Sony on March 27. This set will be 25 episodes, which sounds like a lot until you realize that over its two seasons, the show had 325 episodes. Yikes, I had no idea it had that many shows.

The show starred Louise Lasser as Mary, along with Greg Mullavey, Mary Kay Place, Dody Goodman, Debralee Scott, Philip Bruns, Claudia Lamb, and Dabney Coleman.