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Tonight's TV: The Closer and Saving Grace Return

Saving Grace: Erik Heinila; The Closer: Ben Kaller

It may have been The Closer (airs Mondays at 9 p.m. on TNT) that started the performance-over-plot trend we see a lot of in summer TV, but it should be said it goes about it relatively better than most shows do, and that's primarily because Kyra Sedgwick is so ay-dorable as Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson, whose tics and mannerisms are coated extra sugary by her Southern drawl. But all that's actually scaled backed a bit as the fourth season opener takes on a pyromaniac and friendly stalker of Brenda's (Jason O'Mara), who may or may not have set a forest ablaze. The cases have never, ever been challenging, but it works because they're really beside the point. It's all about Brenda as Columbo with breasts.

And after The Closer is the second season premiere of Saving Grace, where a voracious and electrifying Holly Hunter plays Oklahoma City Det. Grace Hanadarko, who can chase one of the FBI's most wanted and nurse a cold one while holding a man hostage in her house all in the same hour. I'll admit I was too hard on Saving Grace before -- it's always going to be about Hunter giving a bold performance whether I like it or not, and I think the show's realized it too. Sure, the overarching story line (Grace is continually visited by the angel Earl, played by Leon Rippey, whose constantly on her to get into heaven) can get a bit muddled, but now that it's all Hunter, all the time, we get those deep, emotional moments it couldn't quite achieve before.

Tonight's TV: Burn Notice Returns

Burn Notice: USA Networks

Last season on Burn Notice (airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. on USA), spy Michael Westen (a snappy, glib Jeffrey Donovan) was "burned," or inexplicably blacklisted by the CIA, and was left to fend for himself in sunny, pretty Miami, where he took up off-brand private eye jobs while hunting for his maker. And it looks like season 2 will be running along the same lines: the first couple of episodes has Michael working crime-busting-ish jobs for the very people who burned him -- namely Carla (Battlestar Galactica's Tricia Helfer), whose assumed the role of Michael's handler. It's not quite in the same rhythm of breezy plots with extra-snazzy dialogue, but it remains a fairly enjoyable (if unexceptional) summer trip. Grade: B

Tube News: Shannen Doherty in Talks to Return to 90210, Cast Cowers in Fear

-- Looks like Jennie Garth and Tori Spelling aren't the only ones looking to relocate back to their home zip code: former nemesis Shannen Doherty is looking to reprise her role as  Brenda Walsh on C-Dub's Beverly Hills, 90210 remake, now sans the Beverly Hills. (Apparently the zip code's powers have been underestimated.) But wait! Donna might have already semi-flown the coop. (EW)

-- Ex-Sopranos star Michael Imperioli has nabbed a role on ABC's remake of Life on Mars, which has been under revamps as of late, including location and cast changes. He'll play a cop without an understanding of political-correctness (read: brute) with Jason O'Mara's lead character Sam Tyler, who finds himself in 1970s while on the hunt for a serial killer. (Variety).

-- The number of complaints made to the FCC about indeceny have dramatically plunged from four-digit numbers to three. If 20 million or more people can watch The Moment of Truth without fleeing to their keyboards to tap out an indeceny notice, than we have a serious cultural problem. (Broadcasting & Cable)

Tube News, Emmy Edition: Sarah Silverman In, Teri Hatcher Out in Best Comedy Actress Race

*My inbox practically lit up from the flurry of updates from the usually brilliant, but possibly sadistic Tom O'Neil at Gold Derby, whose been doling out the top 10 lists for the acting categories like Steve Jobs at an Apple event, so I though it'd be a good idea to give you the downlow on what we might see come Emmy night in today's edition of Tube News. So read, then discuss!

-- The Best Comedy Actress top 10 list seemed pretty predictable from the outset (a Marcia Cross here, a Tina Fey there, a little Christina Applegate in the corner), then it got a little crazy: Sarah Silverman, mostly notably of the "I'm F----ing Matt Damon" fame, is on the shortlist for a possible Emmy nomination for her work on Comedy Central's The Sarah Silverman Program! And not Teri Hatcher, whose walked into too many walls and fallen over too many bushes while naked on Desperate Housewives to qualify as both funny and human.

-- Best Supporting Drama Actor is just plain weird: last year's winner, Lost's Terry O'Quinn, was snubbed, ditto for his much-deserved co-star Henry Ian Cusick. And House's undervalued Robert Sean Leonard. And Dirty Sexy Money's Donald Sutherland. But some dude named Bruce Dern did. Wait, him?

-- We might not have to worry about Family Guy winning Best Comedy 'cause The Flintstones couldn't and neither could The Simpsons. If Barney Rubble can't get a trophy then no one can!

-- Best Supporting Drama Actress netted the likes of Jane Alexander (Tell Me You Love Me), Rose Byrne (Damages), Rachel Griffiths (Brothers & Sisters), and a return from ex-Emmy Queen Candace Bergen (Boston Legal). Also: Mad Men's saucy Christina Hendricks, who certainly must have appealed to the predominately male voter base's...sensibilities. And Connie Britton just can't win. Anything. Why?

-- Best Drama Actress was the most standard, with the usual lineup of Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: SVU), Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer), Patricia Arquette (Medium), and the such. Two unconfirmed nominees are the most interesting: Mad Men's Elizabeth Moss and Battlestar Galactica's Mary McDonnell. Also, out of the three leading ladies on Big Love, only Jeanne Tripplehorn made the cut.

The Sarah Silverman Program Photo: Comedy Central

Tube News: Studio's Makes "Final Offer" to SAG

-- As of this post's writing (I write these the night before, so this could all be moot) the AMPTP has submitted their "final offer" to SAG that foots a $250 million bill for the next three years. And then they added this backhanded nugget: they won't lock-out actors from working if this "final offer" is rejected, but they were quick to draw up some numbers of just how much money everyone's going to lose if they do, with the state of California losing $23 million a day. So if they call off the wedding, they'll stay engaged, but they'll hate each other. Good times. (Variety, See also: Deadline Hollywood)

-- J.J. Abrams has proven that he isn't against screwing with our heads to get us to watch his stuff: cryptic ads for his new Fox show Fringe have been airing on the radio. Well, we know that because we're on the internet, but people in their cars don't, because the ads don't mention the title. Just that we need to find something called "The Pattern," and "Fox." I think I know what the former is, but the latter is a mystery to me. (TV Week)

-- Great Bluth! Jeffrey Tambor tattled to EW at the Hellboy II premiere that a film version of the critically-adored-so-totally-ignored Fox series he starred in, Arrested Development, is indeed in the works. Yes! I hope Scott Baio reprises his role as best-named lawyer ever: Bob Loblaw. (EW)

-- Good news just keeps 'a rollin' NBC's Kath & Kim remake's way. After being picked up for six episodes without a pilot, the comedy starring Molly Shannon and Selma Blair got a promising timeslot change from Tuesdays to the lush post-The Office slot on Thursdays, home of NBC's premier comedy lineup. And now the series has been given an order of seven additional episodes, bringing the total order to 13. This comes just after the pilot was shot. Could the old Must See TV lineup be reborn this fall? Not if item one (above) has anything to do with it. (The Hollywood Reporter)

-- Lastly, Jason Schwartzman has landed the lead in HBO's new comedy series, Bored to Death, about a Brooklyn-based writer on the sauce and freshly single, decides to emulate the heroes from Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett novels, and solve cases as a private eye. I don't have anything say about this, except that it actually sounds promising. (THR)

Tube News: Chances of Actor's Strike (Mostly) Unlikely

*This edition of Tube News is going to be shorter (much shorter) than usual because I've got work to do elsewhere, but we will return to your regularly scheduled dose of TV dish tomorrow morning. Promise.

-- Saying that "we learn from our mistakes" is beside that fact now that the SAG negotiations with the AMPTP nearly mirror that of the WGA's -- nothing has been accomplished, besides the perpetuation of negativity. But SAG assures us there won't be a strike. But if AFTRA doesn't back down there might be. Just tell me how many episodes of 30 Rock we're going to get this season, alright? (Variety)

-- The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences held screenings over the weekend with panelists that ranked the series vying for the Best Drama and Best Comedy nominations, and with the usual excellent work of Tom O'Neil and his cadre of moles, we have a good idea of what we might see come Emmy night. There's lots to go over, so I'll pick a few that stuck out to me: Family Guy not only has a fantastic chance at getting nominated for Best Comedy, but also for winning (Huh?), HBO may have finally lost its hold, and The Wire was ignored...again. (Gold Derby)

-- Now for some good news: Amy Ryan, her of the Academy Award-nominee and all-around awesomenes fame, has signed on to reprise the role she played in the fourth season finale of NBC's The Office. She'll continue being Dunder Mifflin's human resources rep for at least five episodes -- or at least until Clint Eastwood gets her that Oscar. (Variety)

The Emmy Nominations Shortist: Who Should and Will Be the Final Five

The top 10 series vying for Best Comedy and Drama categories have been revealed quite a bit ahead of time by the none other than the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences itself. It looks like the Academy is taking a proactive approach this season, probably because they finally realized that we'll find out anyways whether they tell us or not. Below are the series on the shortlist for the final five (Battlestar Galactica reference intended!) nomination slots (to be announced July 17), including the five I think will be nomination and should be nomination.

BEST DRAMA SERIES:
Boston Legal
Damages
Dexter
Friday Night Lights
Grey's Anatomy
House
Lost
Mad Men
The Tudors
The Wire

Who (I Think) Will Be Nominated:
Boston Legal
Damages/The Tudors (Dark horse)
Grey's Anatomy
House
Mad Men

Who Should Be Nominated:
Friday Night Lights
House
Lost
Mad Men
The Wire

BEST COMEDY SERIES:
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Entourage
Family Guy
Flight of the Conchords
The Office
Pushing Daisies
30 Rock
Two and a Half Men
Ugly Betty
Weeds

Who (I Think) Will Be Nominated:
Entourage/Family Guy (Dark horse)
The Office
30 Rock
Two and a Half Men
Ugly Betty

Who Should Be Nominated:
Flight of the Conchords
The Office
Pushing Daisies
30 Rock
Weeds

Tube News: 24 Seventh Season Still 24 Episodes Long -- Got it?

-- Just to the clear the air: 24 will be airing a two-hour TV movie this fall and a full, 24-episode season next year, contrary to the interview with 24 movie cast member Robert Carlyle, who told Premiere that the movie would make up the seventh season's first two hours, thus reducing the episode count to 22. Now that we've got that clear, teaser trailer please! (TV Guide)

CASTING BITS

-- Battlestar Galactica's Tricia Helfer (a.k.a. best-dressed Cylon Six), as part of her talent holding deal with Fox, has landed a co-starring role in Fox's Inseparable, tagged as a modern-day Jekyll and Hyde story with Llyod Owen (Viva Laughlin) as a partially paralyzed forensic psychiatrist whose second personality is that of a criminal. Helfer will play a psychiatrist who works with suspects for the police. No confirmation if her other copies are inked for the part as well. (The Hollywood Reporter)

-- After adding William Hurt last week, FX's legal drama Damages now adds Timothy Olyphant (Deadwood) to the cast for season two, slotted to air early next year. He'll play "a man who becomes entangled in the life of Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne)," or as I interpreted it, a love interest. (THR)

-- Nicole Richie (yes, that one) will guest star on an episode of NBC's Chuck next season. She'll be playing a rival of Sarah's (Yvonne Strahovski) from high school that Chuck (Zachary Levi) meets at Sarah's 10-year high school reunion. I would put the quote from series creator Josh Schwartz here, but they involve Richie, the word "comedic," and "skills." And I try not put lies in these posts. (THR)

24 Photo: Kelsey S. McNeal

Tonight's TV: The Baby Barrowers

The Baby Barrowers: NBC

I get the same feeling with The Baby Barrowers (airs tonight at 9 p.m. on NBC) that I got from Kid Nation: this could be really interesting and enlightening, or it could be a big, exploitative mess. Or the teen contestants could be really whiny and I'll just hate the whole thing. But it does at least have a decent interest factor: the couples participating in this "fast-tracked adulthood" won't just be taking care of infants -- but toddlers, preteens, teenagers, and seniors as well. And they have to get jobs and maintain a household on a cul-de-sac. Fun, right? Maybe. I'm checking it out either way (because that's how dedicated I am) -- with a big cup of skepticism.

Tube News: Showtime Greenlights Pilot From George Clooney

-- HBO's pay cable rival Showtime is on a role with greenlighting projects with big names attached: first it ordered the Steven Speilberg/Diablo Cody series starring Toni Collette (tilted The United States of Tara) about a woman with dissociative identity disorder to series, then it gave a go-ahead to Matthew Perry's pilot The End of Steve, and has now given a pilot order to The Fall of Bob, a series from George Clooney's production company Smokehouse. The series is based around the title character's past, and will be told through flashback as his life flashes before his eyes while jumping off a building. Pretty soon we're going to hear about The Disappearence of Celestia starring Anne Heche. Just kidding (sort of). (Variety)

-- Castings galore!: Michaela McManus, a recurring star on The CW's One Tree Hill, has landed the role vacated by Diane Neal as the assistant district attorney on Law & Order: SVU, Laurie Metcalf (of Roseanne fame) has been cast on The CW's new fall series Easy Money as the matriarch of a family of loan sharks, Mary-Kate Olsen is guest-starring on an episode of Samantha Who? next season, and ex-New Amsterdam star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau will now lead Ron Moore's (Battlestar Galactica) sci-fi series for Fox, called Virtuality. Whew. (Via The Hollywood Reporter and E! Online)

-- Finally, in I-toljya-so news, the Camp Rock sequel has been slotted for spring of next year. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Tonight's TV: Rescue Me Minisodes

Rescue Me: FX

We won't be getting any new full-length episodes of Rescue Me until next year -- so FX figures that five-minutes minisodes should be efficient enough to hold us over until wintertime. They might, but methinks the firemen dramedy should have taken a cue from Battlestar Galactica and put together a TV movie for the fall. But I haven't seen them yet, so I could be wrong. They start airing tonight in its regular 10 p.m. timeslot, so check them out if you're a Rescue Me frequenter, and together we'll determine if this is subterfuge or not.

Tube News: Moonlight Officially Dead-er

-- Sorry Moonlight fanboys, the vampire drama that aired on CBS this past season has crossed the point of no return in its crushing (to the fans, I didn't like it much myself) cancellation in May: its sets are being dismantled in order to make way for Simon Baker-fronted new series The Mentalist. So its a stake through the heart, decapitation and sunbath for its small, but loyal fanbase that shopped it around three different networks (The CW, TNT, and DirecTV all passed). May I suggest Angel? (The Hollywood Reporter)

-- It's here: the obligatory complete series set of HBO's seminal original series The Sopranos, complete with everything ever associated with Tony and co.: the DVDs (of course), three soundtrack CDs, an interview conducted by Alec Baldwin with creator David Chase, interviews with the writers and stars, a collection of spoofs from SNL to The Simpsons and footage from the Paley Center for Media that featured "whacked" cast members discussing their collective demise. All this for a cool 400 bucks. Now that's a crime. (USA Today)

-- Turning Broadcasting struck gold by touting its increasingly popular original programs (it houses networks like TNT, TBS, and Cartoon Network) at is upfront, acquiring advertising sales that rival those of its broadcast network brethren. Why it take advertisers so long to realize that we eat Holly Hunter wrestling with a smoking angel up? (TV Week)

Moonlight Photo: Robert Voets/CBS