It's whack-a-mole time on a terrifically taut episode of FX's The Americans (10/9), as the uneasily married Philip and Elizabeth learn just how treacherous these spy games can get, while Agent Stan of the FBI concocts a gem of a plan to try to take the focus off the real mole, the lovely but understandably terrified Nina. Even a subplot involving the Jennings' kids Paige and Henry, stranded miles away from home when the parents are suddenly otherwise occupied, isn't as annoying as these things tend to be (think Kim Bauer or Homeland's Dana Brody). For what it's worth (to me, a lot), Keri Russell has her finest did-she-just-do-that badass moment yet when she realizes the level of mistrust she's dealing with at work and at home.
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Question: Zero Hour canceled. OK. I get it. The ratings were too low in that time slot. But then I don't get it. This was, what, a planned 10-episode season? Three down, seven to go. It was always planned to be a mid-season short-run program. Aren't all the episodes already filmed and ready for broadcast? So the ratings are so low that they are willing to call it a complete loss? And execs think that reruns will generate more revenue in that same slot against the same competition? If you are losing the time slot ratings already, how does airing reruns change that result? And why not move shows like this to Saturday? They have already given up on Saturday programming as it is. At least let seasons like this run their course. — Joe
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Every week, editors Adam Bryant and Natalie Abrams satisfy your need for TV scoop. Please send all questions to mega_scoop@tvguide.com or tweet them to @adam_bryant or @NatalieAbrams.
I need Once Upon a Time scoop, STAT! — Mallory
NATALIE: Let's see if I can turn this into a fairy tale: Once upon a time, a noble and moral character made a drastic decision that would forever mar his or her future, something so dastardly and irreversible that you would think that this character was actually evil rather than pure of heart. Any guess as to who will make the biggest mistake of his or her life?
I'm crushed that the CSI writers broke up Sara and Grissom! What are they thinking? — Lisa
ADAM: Hopefully, this news will console you...
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FX is signing up The Americans for another tour of duty. The '80s-set espionage drama has been renewed for a 13-episode second season, FX announced Thursday.
The Americans stars Golden Globe winner Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys as Russian KGB spies assigned to...
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Drama, comedy, reality: This is one of those nights where TV is firing on all cylinders.
Let's start with the heavy lifting. One of TV's most encouraging survival stories returns with the fifth-season premiere of TNT's uncommonly gritty police drama Southland (10/9c), a network reject (from NBC's darkest period) that thrives on cable, with a sharper focus and a determined avoidance of procedural cliché.
Each episode is like a graphic tour of duty on the streets of Los Angeles, and in the opener, it's not always immediately clear if the patrol cops and detectives in the line of fire are witnessing a real crime or make believe or some other sort of scam. (One vignette involving a brawl between naked men in a sauna looks like an outtake from Spartacus.) "Treat it like a circus," seasoned training office John Cooper (Michael Cudlitz) advises his latest ride-along, an Afghan War vet with too much attitude. The media circus threatens to consume Cooper's former partner Ben Sherman (Ben McKenzie), newly decorated and enjoying the attention a bit too much. Grounding these characters in the mundane distractions of unblemished real life, Detective Lydia Adams (Regina King) is adjusting to single motherhood with...
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