In January, TNT will begin airing new episodes of Southland.

The cable network has revived this drama, following NBC's surprising decision to cancel it prior to the premiere of season two.

“We’d been hearing whispers for the last couple of weeks,” said casting director John Frank Levey of the switch. “It’s a great place for us to be. I think we’re going to be free to tell the story the way we wanted to.”

But will there actually be a full second season?

The series has shot six episodes so far, but will need to wait for ratings to come in for these installments before it can rely on a lengthy, The Closer-like stay on TNT.

Levey confirmed as much in an interview with TV Guide Magazine:

"As they see how it goes, one hopes they’ll order a second season quickly. We’ll probably know by February, maybe by Valentine’s Day, whether we’d be back in production by August. It would be fantastic.”

1 Night. 2 Experience. 3 Some. OM3.

This is actually the tagline for next week's episode of Gossip Girl, "They Shoot Humphreys, Don't They?" As you might have heard, or guessed, there's a threesome happening!

Amazing, but true, and while we think we know who's involved in the menage-a-trois, the promos are ambiguous. Check out the spicy teaser for Monday's much-hyped episode ...

Follow the jump for two clips from the episode, which sadly don't provide further threesome details but do set the stage for some of the drama coming our way next week.

In the first clip, Chuck tells Blair to make up with Serena and be a mentor at Cotillion. A ball without Blair Waldorf is like a Tour de France without Lance Armstrong. Right?

In the second clip, Blair does go to the ball, but quickly reprises her cat fight with Serena and leaves poor Jenny mentorless and caught in between the feuding frenemies...

Continue Reading...

Before we critique our least favorite 90210 episode of the season, allow us to say something positive about "Women's Intuition."

After The CW hyped Samantha Ronson as a guest star, viewers could have blinked and missed her appearance. That made us happy.

Almost everything else, however, made us feel like the show is taking gigantic steps backward. Read a detailed recap of the episode and let us know if you agree with our review below...

Teddy, Liam and Ivy... Oh My! 90210 has clearly made an effort this season to unite characters in cliques, following the Dylan/Steve/Brandon and Kelly/Donna/Brenda models from the original. That's fine. But it would be nice to actually make these friendships seem developed and realistic.

Teddy, for example, is Mr. Hollywood, raised by a major movie star and more arrogant than anyone else on the show; yet, somehow, he's incredibly tight with Liam, who despises anything having to do with Hollywood. Has the series given us any reason to believe these two would be friends?

Even worse, 90210 introduced Ivy last episode, got her into an instant screaming match with Liam, then had them call a truce, become BFF and make out - all within two weeks. Sometimes, slower is better. Take your time with relationships, 90210. There's more of a payoff in the end when you do.

Fake Pregnancy, Wasted Storyline. Many posters in our 90210 forum guessed that Sasha was faking her pregnancy (props to them!), so this didn't come as a surprise. But, similar to our above complaint, it all played out so quickly. Was the show just looking to give Dixon a storyline? It's okay to keep a character on the backburner for a couple weeks.

Smart Teacher, Moronic Human Being. At West Beverly, Ryan appears to be an ideal teacher. Not only does he know his textbooks, but he clearly understands students and can relate to others well. That's what makes his relationship with Jen even more baffling and frustrating. She's been playing games and manipulating him, that much is obvious. Still, for some reason, he believes any word out of her mouth.

It makes sense that Naomi can be played by Jen because she's her sister and is blinded by both love and the need for a close relationship with at least one family member.

But, similar to our criticism of the Teddy and Liam relationship, it's unclear what Ryan sees in Jen, aside from being hot and, we'd imagine, great in bed. There's nothing (at all!) wrong with those two qualities, but Ryan acts like a manipulated, whipped puppy around her. Man up, dude!

Agree with our assessment of this episode? Did you like it more than we did? Leave a comment, let us know and check out a few 90210 quotes from it below:

Liam: I don't want anything serious.
Ivy: Serious? What are you, a girl? | permalink

Silver: Can we talk about something not cancer related?
Teddy: I'm using a new hair product. What do you think? | permalink

Ryan: You introduce me to cool musicians and I'll introduce you to high school students. | permalink

Ryan: Are we fighting or dating?
Jen: It's both, I think. | permalink

James Franco will soon have all possible fan bases covered.

The movie star shocked followers a few weeks ago when he signed on for a multiple-episode arc on General Hospital, which gets underway on November 20.

With the housewife demographic under his belt, the actor is now set on locking in primetime viewers with a sense of humor: he'll also guest star on upcoming 30 Rock episodes.

As first reported by Entertainment Weekly, Franco will appear on the sitcom as himself, as he starts up a fake romance with Jane Krakowski’s Jenna; an arrangement engineered by their respective agents.

In other, quasi 30 Rock news: Alec Baldwin (Jack Donaghy) will co-host the 2010 Academy Awards with Steve Martin. We hope he makes at least one reference to the event's microwave division.

It took longer than it should have, but Dancing with the Stars sent its two least talented contestants home last night.

No offense, Michael Irvin and Mark Dacascos, but you lasted longer on the competition than you deserved to. The former was gracious in defeat, at least, saying:

"Thank you. Last night was a great night, and to see the audience here standing up as a way of saying they appreciate the hard work, it means a great deal to a lot of people right now, with the economy going the way it has."

As for Dacascos, he expressed a new appreciation for professional dancers upon learning of his elimination:

"Certainly much harder than it looks on television - it's a lot easier to watch it than do it."

He'll have the chance to see if that's the case next week, as Kelly, Donny, Aaron, Mya and Joanna Krupa each perform a pair of individual dances. Who do you want to see win?

Paging Heather Locklear: can you get to Melrose Place even earlier than November 17? The show really needs you.

Last night's episode, "Gower," highlighted a few of the show's weaker points and characters. Click on the title of the episode for a recap and read below for our expanded take on the installment...

Just fire them now: Like Grey's Anatomy, Melrose Place now has the problem of real-life events blurring on-camera plot developments. It was difficult enough to take any scene with Colin Egglesfield or Ashlee Simpson seriously before, due to their acting. Now that we know they're leaving the show? Any time spent on Auggie and Violet feels like a waste.

Just break-up already: How long will the show drag out the relationship between Jonah and Riley? The love birds were clearly doomed from the start, but a couple of kisses - followed by guilt-ridden reactions - is not what we signed on for with Melrose Place! Give us sex, give us dark, dirty secrets. Don't give us seemingly realistic problems between two seemingly nice, normal characters.

No more crying for David: Unless writers were hoping viewers would laugh at David's cascade of tears while kneeling over his mother's grave, let's hope Shaun Sipos sticks to brooding in the future.

The bright, hot spot: Katie Cassidy can act. She's believable as Ella, who also happens to be the best character on the show. She's shrewd when she needs to be, but she has a soft spot for her friends when it matters. The discovery of Lauren's big secret was handled well, as is the relationship between these two. Heck, even Stephanie Jacobsen can kind of act.

Did you like the episode? Review a few Melrose Place quotes from it below as you decide...

Riley: I feel like we're on two trains going in totally opposite directions. It's bigger than Auggie or Kendra. | permalink

Lauren: What are you doing?
Ella: I was gonna ask you the same thing, Pretty Woman. | permalink

Ella: No more putting that crap up your nose. Otherwise, your gonna have a powder lunch with River Phoenix. | permalink

Ella: Gossip may be my bread and butter at work. But, off duty, I can actually keep a secret. | permalink

If the rift between Jax and Clay reached a boiling point last week, it became a full-fledged inferno this week.

Or, at least that's the way Jax sees is as the Club's main source of revenue goes up in flames. Will the crew rise from the ashes, and if it does, will Jax still be there with them? Check out a full recap of "Fa Guan" and then our review below...
 
What Worked: Bobby's Banana Bread
Is there anything this guy can't do? He's suave with the ladies, he's kept a cool head during the tension between Clay and Jax, he found leverage to use against the judge and now he not only makes banana bread, but serves it while it's still warm!

What Didn't: Jax's Pudding
If the proof is in the pudding, then Jax's pudding must be lacking consistency. Normally the most thoughtful SAMCRO member, Jax spent the entire episode seeing Clay's hand in everything, from the porn star bust to the fire at Kara Kara.

What Really Worked: New Couple Alert: Opie and Lyla
This budding romance was christened with the sweetest kisses in the history of porn (even if their kids were none too thrilled). The romance has been built up nicely and hopefully it will help bring Opie back from the dark place he's inhabited since Donna's murder.

What Really Didn't: New Couple Alert: Gemma and Unser
Look, perhaps Gemma can't tell anyone except Unser about the inner turmoil she's gone through since her rape at the hands of AJ Weston, but c'mon. Get a support group or something, Gemma. Gemma needs to get back to being the strong, independent Head Old Lady of SAMCRO and Unser isn't going to get her there.

What Really, Really Worked: Lines
Two dynamite lines in tonight's episode. The first, from Jax, came as a retort to Clay's attempts to lay the blame of Luanne's death at his feet: "You are really gonna stand there and lay the guilt of a dead wife on me?" It marked the second time in as many episodes that Jax has come thisclose to publicly outing Clay for his role in Donna's murder. Only this time, Bobby picked up on it. He can't be too far off from putting the pieces together.

Deputy Hale also got in a good one, telling Clay "I know the greater devil when I see it." Hale is smart - he knows exactly who he's dealing with when it comes to both Zobelle and Clay. He's not going to let Zobelle use him to run Clay out of town, but he is smart enough to help SAMCRO against Zobelle.

What Really, Really Didn't: Cracks
This episode set the land speed record for most gratuitous male ass shots. Look, Sons of Anarchy - I'm going to go out on a limb and say that most of your viewers are men. We have male asses. We can see them anytime we want. So if you are going to note that there will be nudity in the episode, let's make it of the fairer sex, okay? Jeez - two prostitution stings and the last hurrah of Kara Kara and the final score was Full Male Ass 3, G-String Females 2. That's a loss in my book.

Samantha Ronson was a surprising guest star, but was she an effective one?

Adrianna made another plea for Navid's affection, but this seems to be the end of the line for the couple.

A lot went down on this week's episode. We encourage fans to discuss "Women's Intuition" in our 90210 forum and to share their take on it below.

As always, we'll post a detailed recap/review of the hour early tomorrow. We hope you return to comment on it then.

For now, give this week's installment a grade...

Fringe viewers won't just learn more about The Observer as season two moves ahead; they'll meet multiple Observers!

What else can fans expect in this department?

John Noble (Walter) spoke to Fancast about the storyline during a recent set visit.

“Somehow along the line, because of Walter’s experiences, because of things he’s done, he’s been able to make communications with The Observer, whatever The Observer is – I’ll leave that for you to think about.

"That will continue, and that will become far more dense as the season goes on, as to what the role of The Observers are, and also Walter’s relationship with them. In terms of the teaser as to why Walter’s photo is in [The Observer's briefcase]: my feeling is because he’s their only live contact. The rest - they should not and cannot make contact with other people. And if they do – at their peril, which will also be revealed.”

Assuming (and hoping!) the Yankees defeat the Phillies in Game Six of the World Series tomorrow night, Fringe will air a new episode on Thursday.

We still can't believe it, but James Franco really is coming aboard General Hospital for a series of episodes.

While little is known about the actor's role, we can confirm he'll premiere on Friday, November 20.

There are rumors that his character will (aptly) be named Franco and that he'll have a connection to the mob.

For now, we can just post the first shot of Franco on the daytime drama, courtesy of Soapnet: