(S01E01) "The beast eats away at you, and if you're not careful, the beast will eat it all and you have nothing. And you are nothing." -- Charles Barker

The beast that Patrick Swayze's Barker is referring to is the undercover work that he and his new partner Ellis Dove do for the FBI. But there may be more to the show title than just this simple explanation. Barker may be as much the beast as the job. In the spirit of Vic Mackey and The Shield, A&E's new original series is taking us back to a very dark place in law enforcement. But this time, we're not inside the head of the main player in the series. And therefore, we don't know his true motivations or even what he's up to all the time.

That leads us to the reveal at the end of the episode, which may not be a spoiler in that it's been dropped all over the Internet before the episode even aired. Still, I liked the way the episode progressed and how we got to that point. Barker is hard-core and his treatment of Dove throughout the episode is that of a "tough love" mentor. In the end, it seems to be working. Then Dove has the rug pulled out.

This summer, filmmaking brothers Tony and Ridley Scott will begin production on a miniseries version of Michael Crichton's novel The Andromeda Strain for A&E. The brothers will executive produce the miniseries, which is being directed by Mikael Solomon (whose TV credits include Rome and Nightmares and Dreamscapes) and written by Robert Schenkkan (The Quiet American).

Crichton's novel was also made into a motion picture in 1971.

The miniseries could run as long as six hours. In addition, A&E has plans for more original series to air in 2008, including The Cleaner, about an addict who helps others kick their habit; Homestead, a cop drama; The Beast, an FBI drama; Takedown, a drama about U.S. Marshals; and Under, about a mob informant turned NY City cop.

The Brit series Beast, which aired for two season son BBC1, is being adapted for American television with the new title The Beast. That "The" makes all the difference in the world, I believe. Now those who tune into the series will know it's not about a beast. That's important, because in this day and age, I think we all need to underst-- sorry, I'm rambling. Anyway, FOX has ordered a pilot of the new series about a man who inherits his dead father's veterinarian practice, despite hating animals. Tucker Cawley, a writer and producer for Everybody Loves Raymond, will also write and executive produce for the new series. A vet who hates animals? Isn't that basically like House, but with animals instead of people?