It’s Make or Break Time for JERICHO

Jericho helmer Carol Barbee has denied rumors that CBS has already pulled the plug on the post-apocalyptic drama. But, she suggests, the fate of the show could hinge on tonight’s ratings.

“Our numbers have been OK, [but] not great,” she told SCI FI Wire. “Our [demographic] has been very good; they’ve been very happy with that. But we’ll see. … If we trend up this week, I think we’ll look pretty good. If we don’t trend up, or if we stay the same, I think we’ll have to wait and see what they want to do with us. I mean, they’re going to air all seven; it’s just a matter of how they feel about producing more.”

Just in case the worst does happen, Barbee said she’s already begun looking for a new home Jericho on cable television. “There were other people who were interested in us to begin with, and now, I think, with the whole nuts [fan] campaign, and also with the amazing reviews that we’ve gotten for these seven episodes, I feel like we have made this franchise more valuable to a cable network who would want to take us on as a niche market.”

The series already has a relationship with the SCI FI Channel, which began airing reruns of Jericho earlier this month. The series might also be a good fit for SCI FI sister channel USA Network.

Shift into TOP GEAR

Here is what I know about cars: Some of them have thingies that stick up on the back and some don’t. Some have automatic transmission and some have standard, which I’ll have to practice on again if I ever go on The Amazing Race. Almost all of them have wheels. I’m…not very into cars.

Which is why I’m shocked at how excited I am that the new season of BBC export Top Gear premieres tonight on BBC America. It’s ostensibly a show that reviews the latest cars (with gorgeous cinematography, to boot), but what it really is is a Sorkinesque exploration of guys doing something they love while taking the piss out of each other as a way of expressing affection. Co-hosts Jeremy Clarkson (The Tall One), James May (The Floppy One), and Richard Hammond (The Hamster) like cars, but one gets the feeling they like laughing and each other more. And I like them an awful lot, too, especially when they are engaged in general wackiness:

—replicating the space shuttle with a Reliant Robin

–holding competitions to see who can choose the best tractor (task: plow furrows for the Top Gear biofuel field) or build the longest limousine (task: slalom!)

—building an amphibious vehicle and trying to cross the English Channel

—purchasing $1000 cars in Miami and driving to New Orleans (their conclusion, after a task that required letting the other guys paint phrases on their cars and being chased by rural residents who didn’t take kindly to such legends as “Manlove Rules OK”, was succinct: “Don’t go to America!”)

All of this plus a show dog (Top Gear Dog!), a tame race car driver known only as The Stig, and Star in a Reasonably Priced Car, a celebrity interview segment capped with said celebrity taking a timed lap in a cheap car (the times being posted for all posterity). Tonight’s star? Helen Mirren. Let me impress this upon you: tune in to Top Gear, and you’ll get to see Dame Helen Mirren–in a helmet–racing around a track in the equivalent of a Ford Focus trying to beat out competition like Ewan MacGregor and Hugh Grant. And that won’t even be the funniest part of the show.

Season premiere tonight on BBC America at 8pm EST with a replay later that night at 11.

THE WIRE: Nooooooooooo!

Auuuuuuuuggggggghhhh! No! Son of a motherless…damn it!

In short, big, huge things happened on The Wire last night, and David Simon and crew have apparently signed up for the Jossian philosophy of giving viewers not what they want, but what they need. I don’t want to spoil the way this final season is winding down for those of you discovering the series on DVD, but this is one show that doesn’t allow for any easy outs. Legends are brought down in mundane fashion. Power brokers get their flour by grinding the bones of the poor and displaced. The little guy doesn’t fix the world.

And here’s how you know: only on The Wire would a noble, ethical newspaper editor cap an episode in which he has finally taken a bold stand for journalistic standards by dismissing as just another crime an act that will shake the city’s underground to its core. Because, noble and ethical though he may be, our ink-stained hero just doesn’t know how the other half lives. You could, though–really, start from the beginning, and start now. You might be howling in dismay with two episodes left to go, but it will be because you care.

MOONLIGHT Sucks Another Showrunner’s Blood

With Chip Johannessen’s exit, Moonlight is looking for its fourth–you read that right, fourth–showrunner to finish up the last four episodes. It doesn’t seem like this can be good news  for a show struggling to make next fall’s schedule, but we’ll keep our fingers crossed for all the vamp lovers out there (besides, what would CBS replace it with? CSI: Boise?)

Squee! It’s…

Squee! It’s John Hawkes on a rerun of Without a Trace tonight! Hawkes is one of those delightful stories of a great character actor who you know you’ve seen before (in this case, in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The X Files, ER, The Practice, 24, Monk, Profit…) getting a couple of big breaks at the same time. There was never enough Sol and Trixie on Deadwood, and I could have watched 10 more hours of Me and You and Everyone We Know, but I guess we’ll have to settle for a Hawkes fix from Without a Trace.

Ooh, There’s the Long Arm of the Law on SUPERNATURAL

Well, strike-induced reruns are good for one thing–we can see all the stuff our poor, overscheduled TiVos couldn’t handle previously. You can catch #3 on our 2007 Ten Best Musical Moments on Television list tonight when Supernatural reruns “Night Shifter,” an episode that finds our intrepid demon hunters trying to explain robbers who have been dead for a few days when they get to thieving–and ends with RAWK! It’s a Ben Edlund-penned script, which means it’s not to be missed. It’s in the first hour of CW programming (8 Eastern and Pacific; 7 Central and Mountain), followed by the last original episode of the current run.

NBC Throws FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS a Lifeline

NBC Universal execs are apparently working to bring Friday Night Lights back for a third season by sharing it with rivals. The network is reportedly having serious conversations with the CW, Comcast Entertainment Networks (E!/G4), TNT, and DirecTV about a plan to carve out multiple broadcast windows for the show.

The plan may be something similar to the arrangement NBC worked out for Law & Order: Criminal Intent, which premiered on the USA Network before airing a few months later on NBC. It remains to be seen how a deal would work with a network NBC doesn’t own, however. Variety reports that some people familiar with the talks have complained that Peacock’s asking price for Friday Night Lights is too high.

Still, any indication that NBC is actively working to revive the critically-acclaimed but ratings-challenged series is a good thing, in this FNL fan’s opinion.

LOST Leads Saturn Noms

The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films has announced the nominations for the 34th annual Saturn Awards, with ABC’s Lost garnering seven nods in the television categories. Showtime’s Dexter scored five noms and NBC’s Heroes received four.

The Academy, founded in 1972 by film historian Donald A. Reed, is a nonprofit organization devoted to honoring, recognizing and promoting genre entertainment. The Saturn Awards will be handed out on June 24 in Universal City, Calif. A full list of nominees can be found behind the cut…

Squee! It’s…

Squee! It’s…well, maybe it’s the flu medication talking, because I’m about to squee over Law and Order: Honey Mustard Flavor (er, Criminal Intent). In fact, I’m about to double squee over it, because tonight’s rerun includes not only Amy Acker but Jim Gaffigan, both squee-evoking. Acker doubled up on Angel, first as timid physicist Fred and then as otherworldly Illyria (blue!). You may also recall her from stints as Nathan Fillion’s wife on Drive (oh, the extended Whedon family) and Alias.

You’d think it might be hard to watch Jim Gaffigan in a serious crime story without thinking of manatees or Pale Force, but he’s an accomplished actor, as well. In addition to appearances on That ’70s Show, Ed, and racking up the L&O trifecta, you should definitely catch him as Amber Tamblyn’s concerned father in Stephanie Daley. Double squee on L&O: D’Onofrio tonight!

Guild Awards are Popping Up All Over

The Oscars are just around the corner and that can only mean one thing… guild awards. Lots and lots of guild awards.

First up this weekend were the ACE EDDIE Awards, handed out for excellence in motion picture and television editing…

BEST EDITED MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE FOR NON-COMMERCIAL TELEVISION:
PU-239
Tatiana S. Riegel A.C.E. and Leo Trombetta, A.C.E.

BEST EDITED ONE-HOUR SERIES FOR COMMERCIAL TELEVISION:
Chuck: “Pilot”
Norman Buckley, A.C.E.

BEST EDITED ONE-HOUR SERIES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL TELEVISION:
The Sopranos: “Made in America”
Sidney Wolinsky, A.C.E.

BEST EDITED HALF-HOUR SERIES FOR TELEVISION:
Curb Your Enthusiam: “The Bat Mitzvah”
Steven Rasch, A.C.E.

BEST EDITED MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE FOR COMMERCIAL TELEVISION:
The Company: Night 2
Scott Vickrey, A.C.E. and Robert Ferretti, A.C.E.

BEST EDITED NON-SCRIPTED/REALITY SERIES
Cops: “Country Love”
Chuck Montgomery, A.C.E. & Michael Glickman

Then came the Art Directors Guild Awards, recognizing excellence in production design…

SINGLE CAMERA TELEVISION SERIES
Mad Men: “Shoot”
Dan Bishop

MULTI-CAMERA TELEVISION SERIES
MadTV: Episode 1221
John Sabato

TELEVISION MOVIE OR MINI-SERIES
PU-239
Tom Meyer

AWARDS SHOW, VARIETY, MUSIC, OR NON- FICTION PROGRAM
Hell’s Kitchen: Episode 301
John R. Janavs

And finally the Costume Designers Guild Awards for–well, I think that one’s pretty self-explanatory…

OUTSTANDING MADE FOR TELEVISION MOVIE OR MINI SERIES
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
Mario Davignon

OUTSTANDING CONTEMPORARY TELEVISION SERIES
Ugly Betty
Eduardo Castro

OUTSTANDING PERIOD/FANTASY TELEVISION SERIES
Pushing Daisies
Robert Blackman