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Question: I'm shocked and delighted by Fox's announcement about bringing back 24, but honestly, I think this points to the future of television. It's the same thing with The Following: Give us shorter seasons, TV Gods! Seriously, 22-episode seasons just don't work for so many shows, especially the serialized ones. How much filler was there in any given 24-episode season of real-time 24? A ton, inevitably. And every other heavily serialized show you can point to is eventually going to fall back on filler episodes, or extended (and frustrating) wheel-spinning, etc. It's just inevitable, and the best serialized shows are the ones that best manage this reality: for instance, The Vampire Diaries splits its season into three or four tightly focused mini-arcs that pack as much into each mini-arc as most shows cover in a whole season.
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So You Think You Can Dance returned down from last year on Tuesday.
The Season 10 premiere drew 5 million viewers and a 1.9 in the adults 18-to-49 demographic, down half a point from last year. The season finales ...
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CBS announced its new fall schedule Wednesday, moving drama Hawaii Five-0 to Fridays, Person of Interest to Tuesdays, and introducing a two-hour comedy block on Thursdays.
New comedies We Are Men and Mom, starring Anna Faris and Allison Janney, will follow How I Met Your Mother and 2 Broke Girls, respectively, on Mondays. New drama Hostages will take over Hawaii Five-0's Mondays-at-10 berth in the fall, with Intelligence, starring Josh Holloway, replacing it midseason after Hostages concludes its run. Hawaii Five-0 heads to Fridays at 9/8c.
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Can Kensi and Deeks put the mate in teammate? That's the question on NCIS: Los Angeles, where the long-simmering tension between Daniela Ruah's and Eric Christian Olsen's characters threatens to bubble over in the Season 4 finale.
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Famous last words: "Nothing can go wrong," says Jess on Cece's lavish wedding day ‑ not accounting for the runaway horse, the badger on the loose, and the inappropriate soundtrack that factors into the buds plotting a "sabo" (Schmidt-speak for "sabotage") in a pivotal and blissfully funny second-season finale of Fox's New Girl (Tuesday, 9/8c). Schmidt has brought Elizabeth (Nurse Jackie's delightful Merritt Wever) as a date while having "eye conversations" with the conflicted bride, and with Jess's disapproving dad (Rob Reiner) amplifying the insecurities underlying his daughter's romance with Nick, there's plenty of relationship drama amid the raucous comedy. And while Fox hasn't made a secret of the celebrity cameo amid the wedding crowd, it makes for a fun twist and even better joke, a grace note for an episode that will leave fans happily awaiting next season. ... On the finale of its companion piece The Mindy Project (9:30/8:30c), Mindy plans to accompany Casey to Haiti on a volunteer mission, prompting a farewell party by Danny and his ex-wife. Not to worry; she and the show will be back for a second season in the fall.
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