Send questions and comments to askmatt@tvguidemagazine.com and follow me on Twitter!
Question: I was wondering whether your affection for Last Resort had waned since the pilot. I've seen comments that the show has been uneven, but I've been absolutely hooked. I'm not trying to play the comparison game with some of Shawn Ryan's other excellent series (The Shield, Terriers) because maybe it isn't quite up to that incredible level, but I still think it's the best new show of the season
read more
The characters of ABC's Last Resort have constantly had to ask themselves how far they will go to defend their actions and prove their innocence. But have they reached their limit?
Fall TV Popularity Contest: And the winner is...
In Thursday's episode (8/7c, ABC), Capt. Chaplin (Andre Braugher) and executive officer Sam Kendal (Scott Speedman) may find out, as they fend off an attack unlike anything they've faced before...
read more
Last Resort co-creator Shawn Ryan knows he could stand to gain more viewers. Thus far, the show has averaged just 7.8 million viewers and a 1.9 in the demo. Fortunately, he thinks Thursday's episode (8/7c, ABC) is an engaging hour, both for fans who have already sampled the show and newcomers who are curious about diving in.
Last Resort Creators promise more than bombs and submarines
"I think it's a perfect time for people who haven't seen the show to come and check it out. It's a great entry point," Ryan tells TVGuide.com...
read more
ABC's Last Resort is undoubtedly one of this TV season's boldest shows. But that also makes it one of the riskiest.
Fall Preview: Get scoop on all the must-watch new shows
Co-created by The Shield's Shawn Ryan and screenwriter Karl Gajdusek, Last Resort tells the story of Marcus Chaplin (Andre Braugher), the captain of the nuclear submarine the USS Colorado. When Chaplin and his executive officer Sam Kendal (Scott Speedman) question an order to fire warheads into Pakistan, their sub is fired upon by another American vessel, forcing them to take up residence on the French Polynesian island of Sainte Marina until they can piece together what happened and prove that they aren't traitors.
But can the show sustain its high-action, serialized premise on a female-skewing network like ABC? The creators certainly think so....
read more
On a night that's hardly starved for appealing programming, two of the season's most enjoyable and intriguing pilots make their bow.
First, the underdog: ABC's Last Resort (8/7c), an electrifying military-gone-amok thriller that bridges the macho hardware of Tom Clancy with the suspense of paranoid Cold War classics from the '60s like Fail Safe and Seven Days in May. (Look them up if you've never seen them.) This series is like nothing else on network TV, which is why one's first impulse is to pray for its survival. It's also airing in what has become one of ABC's more treacherous time periods, and beyond the fact that there are very attractive people in the cast (starting with Felicity alum Scott Speedman) and the story is heavily serialized, it has nearly nothing in common tonally with the night's sudsy anchor, Grey's Anatomy.
read more