Jason Clarke
It doesn't matter how many phony shoot-outs you do as an actor. Nothing prepares you for the real deal. "There's smoke in the air and I can see it and taste it," Jason Clarke says with reverence in his voice. He's recalling one of the many ride-alongs he was on with Chicago law enforcement in preparation to play a detective on The Chicago Code, Fox's new cop drama from The Shield creator Shawn Ryan. "Our car pulls up and there's a guy on the ground. He's been shot. It's nighttime. We're outside a church. My heart is pounding and my mind is going, 'What the hell am I doing here?'"
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Hugh Laurie and Lisa Edelstein
With a bum leg and a skulking aversion to just about everything, House (Hugh Laurie) doesn't seem a likely candidate to trip the light fantastic with girlfriend Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein). Thank the ghosts of Fred and Ginger for dream sequences. In tonight's "Bombshells" episode, Cuddy's anxiety about her relationship with House plays out in a series of fantasies — including a Hollywood Western scene — capped by the Huddsters hitting the floor to an updated version of "Come On Get Happy."
The job of turning doctors into dancers was a snap — or at least half the job was. "For Lisa, this was a dream come true," says exec producer Greg Yaitanes. "She has experience as a dancer and singer and was willing and wonderful." Laurie? "Let's just say he had to surrender to the idea," Yaitanes says, laughing.
Fortunately, they had an inspiring coach. Mia Michaels, Emmy-winning choreographer extraordinaire of Fox's So You Think You Can Dance, worked for days ...
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The Closer
The Yuletide episodes of The Closer are true standouts every season, and this one's got it all: holiday hilarity, family dysfunction and, of course, murder. The two-parter opens tonight at 9/8c on TNT with a death on Christmas Eve in a case that threatens to dash everybody's holiday plans. "Brenda [Kyra Sedgwick] and Raydor [Mary McDonnell] always fight to gain control of cases, but they're fighting to give this one away," says exec producer James Duff.
Things get even screwier after Brenda's parents (Frances Sternhagen and Barry Corbin) show up...
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Dexter
Girls are being raped, tortured and stuffed into barrels. A self-help guru named Jordan (Jonny Lee Miller) is definitely up to no good. And somehow, Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) and his new partner-in-crime, Lumen (Julia Stiles), are finding time for a little nookie.
It's been a bloody good run this season on Dexter, and the finale is shaping up to be a jab-and-stabber of epic proportions. "Usually, Dexter is alone in seeking vengeance, but now he's got Lumen at his side so it's double the trouble," says executive producer Sara Colleton.
Last year's shocking finale ...
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Kyra Sedgwick
Kyra Sedgwick lets out a big "Ha!" when asked how Brenda Leigh Johnson, the Georgia peach—turned—Los Angeles police babe she plays on The Closer, has changed after six seasons on TNT. "That's the wonderful and fun thing about Brenda," she says. "The woman really hasn't evolved."
On one level, Sedgwick is right. The Closer returns tonight for five episodes ending with ...
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Julia Stiles
Life has been twisted, dark and miserable lately for Lumen Pierce (Julia Stiles), which makes her an absolutely perfect fit for Dexter this season. She's been raped, exploited and whipped so badly even Stiles felt the pain. As the actress known for her work in the Bourne movies says, "I forgot to take off my prosthetic slash marks one night and I suddenly went, 'Wait. What happened to me?'"
The bigger question is what's happening to Lumen?...
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Mad Men
It was the question every Mad Men fan was asking during the Season Four finale, and smirking Roger Sterling summed it up perfectly: "Megan, out there?" Don Draper's impulsive decision to pop the question to his secretary Megan was certainly the whopping shocker of the night, but it wasn't the only one. Turns out Joan didn't have her abortion after all (how's that smirk doing now, Roger?), while Peggy is practically inventing the women's movement, albeit in Topaz pantyhose. Shortly before the finale, TV Guide Magazine spoke to Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner to get his thoughts on a mad, mad, mad, Mad Men season....
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John Slattery
"Who is Don Draper?" was the opening line of Mad Men this season. As it concludes, will dapper Don (Jon Hamm) be any closer to the answer? "Absolutely, conclusively," insists John Slattery, who plays fellow adman Roger Sterling. "Don came through his divorce, started the new business and survived his own personal cauldron. He ends the year transformed."
Beyond that...
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Dexter
It's hard to imagine the father from My Three Sons in a mess like this. TV's newest widowed dad, Dexter Morgan, has left his kids at home to get the goods on a suspect he thinks may be a murderer. If that's true, Dex will probably have to kill the guy, just as he's offed 60-odd other psychos since the Showtime series began in 2006. Of course, Dexter himself might be the next casualty if he keeps the kids and their new nanny waiting much longer.
"It's definitely not easy balancing single fatherhood with the sort of affliction Dexter has," Michael C. Hall says with wry amusement on the set in Los Angeles, where Season 5 finds his character dealing with the aftermath of his wife Rita's death. In case you missed the most jaw-dropping twist in Dexter history, here's what went down in last season's finale...
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