Jennifer Hudson
The soundtrack for the last week in TV — and virtually every other medium — was provided by the late and lavishly lamented Whitney Houston. Her sudden, untimely death on the eve of the Grammys helped boost that annual spectacular to its highest ratings since the peak of the Thriller furor (a statistic reminding us of the equally resounding loss of Michael Jackson in 2009). LL Cool J, the Grammys' engaging host, opened the show with a prayer — when's the last time that happened? — as the proceedings took on the feel of a celebration and memorial, when they weren't busy crowning Adele the new Queen of Pop. (And how much fun was she on 60 Minutes?)
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Revenge
[SPOILER ALERT: The following story reveals major plot points from the Feb. 15 episode of Revenge. Read at your own risk!]
Summer finally came to an end on Wednesday's episode of Revenge, but the mysteries are just heating up. After months of anticipation, it was revealed that...
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Revenge
Some thoughts on a few of the shows that got 2012 off to a (mostly) promising start. Which means I've already forgotten that ABC's grotesquely unfunny Work It exists — and if you thought that was bad, wait until you see (or better yet, don't) next week's comedy disasters: CBS' offensively stereotypical Rob and NBC's rancid hangover of a dud Are You There, Chelsea? But for now, let's accentuate the (mostly) positive.
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Hot In Cleveland
Unless you're watching the Orange Bowl on ESPN, tonight's best bets are strictly comedy. (And yes, that includes Revenge. More on that in a few.)
It somehow seems fitting that when TV Land's Hot in Cleveland (10/9c) looks back at how it all began for Melanie, Joy and Victoria, we're thrust into an '80s time warp, because if there was ever a show that felt like an artifact from a simpler, sillier time, it's this one. Betty White gets the set-up: "How did you guys meet, anyway?" Elka asks to kill time outside a stadium restroom. "If there were a TV in view, I wouldn't [care]," she barks, self-reflexively acknowledging what a clichéd storyline this is.
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Emily VanCamp and Gabriel Mann
As the saying goes, revenge is a dish best served cold... but for crazy Tyler (Ashton Holmes), it's best served at a clam bake.
Revenge's seedy and power-driven Tyler will hope to get his due when he holds the Graysons and Emily (Emily VanCamp) at gunpoint at Daniel's birthday party in the midseason return of ABC's new hit drama. Will he succeed in getting what he wants? Find out by watching the first nine minutes of Revenge's return, which includes a sweet reconciliation between Nolan (Gabriel Mann) and Emily. (And the Nolan-Emily 'shippers go wild!)
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Emily VanCamp
ABC's Revenge has certainly lived up to its title.
Hardened Emily Thorne (Emily VanCamp) has already taken down three adversaries who were involved in the wrongful conviction of her father. But as the girl once known as Amanda will soon find out, keeping secrets in the Hamptons is no easy feat.
Fall TV: See the 17 stars to keep your eyes on this year
TVGuide.com chatted with VanCamp on the many layers of revenge in the coming episodes, including the show straying from the revenge-of-the-week story line. Plus: How far will Emily go on her quest for, well, revenge?
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Nikita
Over the course of its first season, Nikita has become a show about loss and difficult choices as much as espionage and violence. It's no surprise then that one of the principal characters meets a Division-related demise on Thursday's finale (9/8c on the CW).
"Yes, someone dies," Lyndsy Fonseca confirms to TVGuide.com. "Everything that happens in the finale is not just for the sake of killing people or for the sake of a good storyline. Stuff has been kind of brewing for a long time, and I think it's going to be really emotional."
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Maggie Q and Shane West
On Thursday's episode of Nikita, Michael interferes with rookie agent Alex's budding romance to teach her an important lesson about working at Division: Love and black ops don't mix.
"Love is part of the past," Shane West tells TVGuide.com. "Michael had a wife, a daughter, a job in the Navy. All of that was taken away from him by someone he thought was his best friend. He joined Division to get revenge and take out bad guys along the way. That's why he's dark, why people ask if Michael could...
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Lie to Me
Lie to Me's Season 3 finale dares to ask the question: What if Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg had killed one of his closest friends and partners?
VIDEO: Jesse Eisenberg and Mark Zuckerberg finally meet on Saturday Night Live
Truthfully, the episode has nothing to do with Facebook, but you can't help but notice the parallels between it and the Oscar-nominated film, The Social Network, which explores the complicated personal and legal entanglements behind the founding of the most popular website on the Internet. In Lie to Me's tale, Nikita's Ashton Holmes plays Zach Morstein, the wunderkind co-creator of a popular dating application who Dr. Lightman (Tim Roth) fingers as the lead suspect in the murder of Zach's best friend and company co-founder.
Executive producers Alexander Cary and David Graziano happily wear their influences...
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Donnie Wahlberg
Lie to Me (Fox, 9/8c, Monday)
Call it the unsocial network, as the "to tell the truth" procedural wraps its third season — let's hope it's not the last — with a strong episode that plays like the murderous flip side of The Social Network. When a murder occurs during the contentious wrangling over profits of a hot social-networking app, Lightman's steely focus falls on the smug creator — or so he says — of the site (played by former Nikita co-star Ashton Holmes in a variation of Jesse Eisenberg's take on Mark Zuckerberg). An hour earlier on NBC (opposite a fresh episode of the much-moved-around Human Target), a pivotal episode of Chuck airs that would have been the season finale if NBC hadn't extended the show's order. It's Chuck vs. psycho villain Volkoff (the very entertaining Timothy Dalton), and that should be great fun...
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