sprague grayden

(S07E10) "...but this ain't over yet." - Tony

Just like in the middle of season three, the game has changed. One threat down, and one(?) to go. Last night's episode of 24 did a great job of wrapping up the first half of the season without leaving too many unresolved issues. For the most part, it's a clean break and things seem ready to reboot with next week's back-to-back episodes.

(S01E01) "Just pretend it's carve-your-own steak night at Sizzler." - Jax

FX is taking a fairly big gamble with Sons of Anarchy. With their trademark drama The Shield ending its seven season run this fall and their other two big hits (Damages and Rescue Me) pushed to 2009 because of the WGA Strike, the network is in dire need of some fresh buzz. The one thing they have going for them? Even FX's previous flops (Dirt, Starved, Over There, Thief) were better than a lot of other things on TV and Sons of Anarchy certainly fits that mold. Once the fall season is in full swing, the only network competition will be CSI: NY, as I don't see Lipstick Jungle or Dirty Sexy Money getting in the way. Sons has the potential to do well. It'll just rest on creator Kurt Sutter and how he plans to make the show appealing beyond this pilot episode.

If by some miracle Jericho does indeed come back, it will be without one cast member.

Sprague Grayden, who played Heather on the CBS show, has joined the cast of FOX's 24 prequel. She'll play the First Daughter, the daughter of the President of the United States.

This news comes on the heels of more casting news announced last week. It's an interesting cast: Grayden joins Cherry Jones, Janeane Garofalo, Robert Carlyle, Tony Todd, Gil Bellows, and Eric Lively (oh, and Kiefer Sutherland). The new season of 24 starts in January, but this prequel will air this fall.

Of course, maybe she could come back to Jericho too When she was on that CBS show, she had a role on Weeds as well. And while she's on 24 she's also going to be on FX's Sons of Anarchy. Now that's job security. She also had regular gigs on John Doe, Joan of Arcadia, Over There, and Six Feet Under.

(S02E04) Well now things are just getting ridiculous. There must be a way that the residents of Jericho can take a stand against the occupation in their town. Are we to believe that Jake, Eric, Dale and a few others are the only people who have a problem with the new government? Considering how well they were doing on their own, I find it hard to believe they would stand around and be bullied by Ravenwood.

As for Stanley, he talks like he won't come around until the government literally comes and takes everything he holds dear, including Mimi. With that in mind, I have to say that this review was difficult for me to write considering the way it ended.

Jericho fans, it might be time to grab your nuts again.

Last weekend, Jericho fans got a special treat at the Los Angeles Comic Book and Science Fiction Convention: a stage filled with the cast and creators of the CBS drama. The only problem? Not many fans showed up at all.

The Showtracker blog at The Los Angeles Times says that this might be because the show is neither sci-fi nor comic book-ish, but I don't know if that's a good enough excuse. It has a certain mystery/action element to it, and the first season was certainly enigmatic in a sci-fi sort of way. And plus we're talking about Los Angeles here, not a small town in Ohio, so I would think a lot more people would have showed up than did. Executive Producer Jon Turteltaub joked about the 80 fans in attendance making the ratings jump, but I don't know if that was a funny estimate by him or an accurate number.

(S02E01) As the show began, I couldn't help but feel like I was seeing an old friend. You know, that friend who went away for a semester and you missed because he was always entertaining. I know I wasn't the only one grinning like an idiot as the the new season of Jericho began.

Esai Morales sure has come a long way since he played Ritchie Valens' big brother. Seeing him in another leader role reminds me how good he was on NYPD Blue. Taming Sipowicz is going to look like a piece of cake compared to this job.

The short-lived series John Doe is airing on the SciFi Channel beginning next week. John Doe premiered on FOX around the same time as Firefly, and suffered a similar fate (John Doe got a full 21 episodes). John Doe is (obviously) a science fiction series about a guy who wakes up on an isolated island, knowing pretty much everything about the world except who he is. Doe, played by Dominic Purcell, helps Seattle detectives solve crimes as he searches for his own identity. It premieres on SciFi on January 20 at 9pm EST.

I never saw this series when it first aired, did you? Is it good?