ABC has granted the legal dramedy a fifth season, Variety is reporting.

What’s interesting is the way that the renewal came around. Despite having received multiple Emmy’s and critical acclaim, it doesn’t have a huge viewership, and is somewhat on the bubble. Now, ABC is wanting to go ahead with “Life on Mars”, a drama that is being adapted from a BBC version, but David E. Kelley, showrunner of Boston Legal, owns the rights. As part of his agreement give ABC the right to go ahead, Kelley negotiated the return of Legal. At least that’s what I make of it from the article.

Regardless of how it happened, it happened. I’m thrilled to see it back.

It looks like Allison Mack is trying her hand at negotiating a higher paycheck for the 8th season of Smallville. The actress is reportedly contemplating not returning for the next season of the “young Superman” show - and she may be using the loss of “Lana” and “Lex” as leverage.

I have some bad news for her, though. The Superman mythos has survived for a very long time with the trinity of Clark, Lois, and Jimmy - and if that happens next season it just might be the shot in the arm that the show needs to really be good again. The loss of Lex Luthor is, of course, a huge blow to the series, but the departure of Lana Lang is seen by many as a good thing. I am definitely one of those people. If this show wants to continue on, it is going to need a complete overhaul to make it work, and the switch to the classic Lois, Jimmy, and Clark trio is a great way to do just that.

This bid by Allison Mack might actually turn out to be a good thing, and breathe new life into the series. The more I think about it - the more I hope she doesn’t come back.

So there.

The new Knight Rider series may not look very much like the 2-hour telefilm that aired earlier this year. The tv movie received very good ratings, but most reviews were not terribly positive. To bring it to series NBC has hired “The Fast and the Furious” writer, and “Vegas” showrunner, Gary Scott Thompson, on board - and Gary is looking to make some major changes.

In a two part interview with Knight Rider online Mr. Thompson explains how he was disappointed with the pilot, and wasn’t interested in making that into a series. Characters from the pilot will carry over into the series (some of them will, anyway) and Mike will still be Michael Knight’s son, but the show is in for some big changes - and an upping on the tech and “cool” factor.

Mr. Thompson wants to look at where tech is going in the future and get some more futuristic gadgetry into the car. He wants it to be “fast, furious, and fun.”

Most importantly, to me anyway, he wants the show to be suitable for families. Pushing the envelope on what they can do with the cars and the action, while making it great for kids, and great for parents on a whole different level. I sincerely hope he succeeds with this -because that is one thing the pilot was definitely missing. We all knew Michael Knight was a ladies man, but you’d never see him wake up with two bimbos like Mike Tracer did in the pilot.

KITT will have a variety of new features, including some form of a Turbo Boost, but they’re not exactly sure what it will look like just yet. The show should also look a lot faster, with the cars moving at higher speeds than they did in the 2-hour pilot. He also said that the “Attack Mode” is going to be redesigned…and that design is going to be kept a secret for as long as humanly possible.

I’m more excited than ever for this series now. I enjoyed the pilot, but not everyone did - and it soulds like Mr. Thompson has a good idea on just how this show should be - and how it should play to today’s audiences. I’m looking forward to seeing what he comes up with.

Season 4, Episode 11 - Cabin Fever

Destiny, John, is a fickle bitch.

Not a lot of answers in last night’s episode…just more questions.

Apparently the powers that be have been grooming John Locke since his very birth. (Interesting note: the song that Emily Locke was listening to at the beginning - Everyday by Buddy Holly. What happened to Buddy Holly? Died in a plane crash.) Richard Alpert made not one but two trips to visit John over the course of his early life (with all the time travel that we’ve been seeing this season and last, I’m guessing that he travelled back from some point in the future). It seems that the island has many people “in on it”, as it seems that John’s grandmother recognized Alpert, and John’s caregiver when he was young as well as his teacher in high school really seemed to push him in that direction. Then, years later in therapy, Matthew Abbadon shows up to plant the idea of a walkabout in Locke’s head.

On the freighter, we continue with some of the grittiest stuff in Lost’s history. Keamy is ready to kill Michael because of his betrayal, but Mike’s island immunity power kicks in and jacks up Keamy’s gun, so he must resort to a good old-fashioned beat down.

This led to one big question: the second protocol. Keamy and Captain Gault have dual control keys to access a vault that contains…something. In this particular case, it reveals Ben’s new location on the island. Could this be something that was written by someone in the future with some kind of ultimate knowledge of everything that came before? Or is it like the box that Ben has where anything you want will appear?

The death toll rose by two this week, as Captain Gault and the good doctor both fell by Colonel Kurtz’s Keamy’s hand. And, as I’m sure you’ll remember, the doctor’s body has already turned up on the island, so once again we’ve got a time-jumping mindscrew. And so now, the army of mercenaries is again headed to land to wipe out the inhabitants, though this time, our heroes have Sayid on the way to help them.

Meanwhile, in his trek through the jungle, Locke has a vision of Ben’s old buddy Horace Goodspeed building a house for him and his wife. Horace seems to be stuck in some kind of time loop of his own, as he repeats himself several times. He does manage to plant the idea with John to return to the communal pit where the bodies of the DHARMA Initiative are buried, where John finds a map disclosing the location of the cabin.

In the midst of this journey, we get to the crux of the episode. This installment was about being chosen, and all that it entails. John has wanted for all his life to be special, but seems to fall short every time. Ben, on the other hand, feels that he has been chosen, but is rethinking what that means.

Once there, John is the only one willing to enter the cabin. Lo and behold, Christian Shephard is there waiting. I don’t think anyone who follows the show closely would have been really surprised by this…but I was surprised to see Claire there (though I shouldn’t have been…the last time we saw her, she was with Christian. What was surprising, though, was her coolness about the whole thing. Her baby, the one thing that has driven her character since the beginning of the show, is miles away, she knows that there are mercenaries coming to annihilate everyone on the island, and she’s the calmest and most laid back that we’ve ever seen her. Did she get a glimpse of the future and see that all will turn out well? Or, as is being widely speculated, is she dead and Jacob has taken over her earthly coil?

John only has time for one question, and he chose “How can I save the island?” Christian seemed to approve of this question, and in the final moment, we got our answer…he has to move the island.

This brings up ALL KINDS of questions. First, why? My guess is that the island is in some kind of time bending bubble. The comic book shown to young John early in the episode pictured a bubbled island floating in clouds…and way back in the first season, the comic that Walt was reading depicted a similar thing. Second, how? Hook up some cables to the freighter and drag it? Doubtful. Maybe the island has some kind of propulsion system itself. Or maybe it’s something deeper that we just can’t grasp yet. I’ll go with that.

All in all…decent episode. Nothing spectacular, but no real filler. Just an on par Lost episode.

Season 3, Episode 21

100 Word Review: Earl continues to be a show filled with people and characters that I love - that, for some reason, I just don’t care about. In this episode Earl discovered that marriage, no matter how hot the chick, has problems when you don’t know the other person very well before getting hitched. He and the wife disagreed on who the list should be handled. She thought returning what she stole was enough. Earl didn’t. So earl helped the guest star John Hedder win a bagging competition while she finished up her entire list in a week or so. Season Finale’s next week.

Season 2, Episode 15 - Season Finale

100 Word Review: SO - that was the season finale, huh? That Writer’s Strike was a real pain, wasn’t it? I mean, for this to be season finale…huh. I just don’t know quite what to say. Liz has a pregnancy scare, Jack has trouble getting fired from the Bush Administration. Matthew Broderick guest stars. Tracey continues to try to make his porn video game, and Kennith feuds with a rival page for a spot paging the Olympics. It’s filled with a bunch of absurd stuff and everything goes back to the way it was before by the end of the episode. Big whoop.

Season 4 Episode 13

100 Word Review: You know, sometimes and episode is just…”eh”. This episode of The Office seemed to serve a purpose…showing Jim’s commitment to doing his job for Pam, while Pam showed us that she still dreams of something more than Dunder-Mifflin. Michael is still a moron, and there is just might be some chemistry left between Angela and Dwight. Still, nothing particularly ground breaking or really interesting happened. Michael, Oscar, Daryl, and Pam went to Pam’s old school for a job fair. Jim, Kevin, and Andy played golf in the hopes of closing a client. Season Finale is next week.

Season 7, Episode 11 - My Princess

100 Word Review: This review doesn’t need 100 words…just three letters: W.T.F.

Not only was this episode the worst in the history of Scrubs (it takes that prize easily), this could be the worst 30 minutes of television I’ve ever experienced.

There was not one single amusing moment during the entire show. I’m aware that it was decided that this episode would be the finale after it was already in the can, but that doesn’t change the fact that this episode was unbelievably terrible.

It’s a tired cliche, but I have genuinely never wanted 30 minutes of my life back more than after watching this episode.

Grade: D-

Tonight marks the final episode before the three hour (spread over three weeks) finale of the fourth (and best yet) season of Lost. Here’s what ABC has to say about the episode.

Cabin Fever
Locke discovers the location of Jacob’s cabin, and life aboard the freighter becomes increasingly perilous.

Locke-centric episodes are always great ones, so I’m very excited. Nestor Campbell, who plays the apparently ageless Richard Alpert is listed in the guest stars, as well as Christian Shephard and Matthew Abbadon.

Check back tomorrow for our review!

100 Word Review: The Writer’s Strike cut many seasons for shows short, including “Family Guy” which aired its season finale on Sunday. There was nothing particularly “season finale-like” about the episode - which focused primarily on Chris’ pursuit of a girl named Anna who works at Brian’s Vet’s office. Peter manages to kidnap a parrot and become a pirate for a little while, which was…um…hmm…there, I guess. He also spent a good minute or so trying to pick a dead frog up with a shoebox lid - making me wonder just why in the hell I was watching this. You know?