Question: Not only do I think Damages was the best new show to air this summer, I now have to say it is the best show on television! I usually can't stand it when shows do flashbacks, then revert to real time and go back and forward again. But Damages does it so well, and that device makes its stories all the more compelling. Here's my question, though: Will Damages be back for a second season? I ask because they have killed off so many of their major players; will enough cast members be left to do a second season, and if so, what storyline could they possibly come up with next? Glenn Close's performance is out-of-the-park superb. Most times Patty is cold, calculating, vindictive, cruel (remember the doggie?) and downright nasty. (Didn't we all love it when Ellen told her off and even again last week when she declined to come back to the firm?) That makes it all the more compelling when we see even the slightest humanity or compassion from her. She is riveting. Also, I've been a fan of ...
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Jerry "Prolific Producer" Bruckheimer, he of CSI, Cold Case, Without a Trace and Amazing Race fame (and that's just TV), has secured a pilot order from longtime landing pad CBS for an untitled drama revolving around freelance treasure hunters, the Reporter reports. Ethan Reiff, who is penning the series with his Sleeper Cell cocreator Cyrus Voris, pegs it as an "A-class network version of an archaeology adventure show," and one grounded in (arti)facts by expert consultants. "It's not Indiana Jones for television," he says. "It's more grounded, more contemporary."
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Question: I feel like Christmas came early this year, courtesy of Showtime and the season finales of their magnificent series Dexter and Sleeper Cell. While I fully expected the Dexter finale to feature edge-of-your-seat plot twists and the show's signature dark humor, I was unprepared for the emotional tour de force it delivered. Michael C. Hall and everyone involved with Dexter deserve major praise for making such a complex and damaged character absolutely compelling. As for Sleeper Cell: American Terror, I couldn't help feeling that the dramatic impact of the inevitable Darwyn-Farik confrontation was somewhat diluted by delaying it until the very end of this season, but I like that they left the outcome unresolved. Please tell me that there will be at least one more season of both series? Thank you!
Answer: Figured I'd start off on a positive note, in keeping with my "Happy New Year" mood this week. Where Showtime is concerned, a second season of Dexter is a slam dunk. It's the
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Question: You were right about The O.C. Ryan and Taylor are my new addiction. Tell me they're not doomed!
Answer: I don't know about doomed, but things certainly will get more complicated when Taylor's French hubby Henri Michel (Sleeper Cell's Henri Lubatti) shows up to reclaim his wife and makes a startling revelation that could drive Ryan away for good.
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If you think that Islamic extremist Faris Al-Farik, whose terror network's scheme to wreak explosive havoc on Los Angeles was foiled during the first season of Showtime's acclaimed Sleeper Cell, is down for the count, think again. Premiering Sunday at 9 pm/ET, and airing for eight consecutive nights, Sleeper Cell: American Terror finds Farik in U.S. captivity, but no less a force to be reckoned with. All the while, FBI agent Darwyn Al-Sayeed gets sucked into going undercover with another deadly cell. TVGuide.com asked Farik's portrayer, the compelling Oded Fehr, for a preview.
TVGuide.com: Were you concerned at all about the fate of Farik at the end of last season?Oded Fehr: Really, I didn't know where we were going. I didn't even know whether we'd have a second season.
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