We will find out which of our favorite shows have been picked up for another season, and also hear about new series’ that may or may not be given the green light.

Here is a tentative preview, followed by news about existing shows.  Keep in mind that at any moment, the cast and plot of any given show below might change before debuting in the fall.  

NEW SHOWS

Babylon Fields
CBS
Joan of Arcadia’s Amber Tamblyn plays a woman that went to heaven and came back from the dead. Pilot directed by Michael Cuesta (Dexter, Six Feet Under).  

Back to You
FOX
Kelsey Grammer (Frasier) and Patricia Heaton (Everybody Loves Raymond) play news anchors that have a love/hate relationship. Was called Action News until recently. Pilot written by Christopher Lloyd (not the actor, the Frasier scribe) and Steven Levitan (Just Shoot Me), and directed by James Burrows (Will & Grace).

Big Shots
If the women of Sex and the City were top male execs, this would be that show.  With Michael Vartan (Vaughn from Alias) and Dylan McDermott. Was called Perfect Gentleman until recently. Pilot written by Jon Harmon Feldman (Reunion) and directed by Charles McDougall (The Office).

Bionic Woman
NBC
British actress Michelle Ryan stars an athlete with super strength. With Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica). UPDATE: Click here to watch a preview on YouTube.

Cashmere Mafia
ABC
Does this sound familiar – four friends, set in NYC, created by Darren Star?  It is Sex and the City, but this time the four women are executives.  Lucy Liu, Miranda Otto (The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King), Bonnie Somerville (Kitchen Confidential ) and Frances O’Connor (AI).  Pilot written by movie scribe Kevin Wade (Maid in Manhattan, Working Girl) and directed by movie director Peyton Reed (The Break-Up).

Chuck
NBC
Computer geek with spy secrets implanted in his brain becomes a government agent. From the writer and director of The O.C.  UPDATE: Click here to watch a preview on YouTube.

Dirty Sexy Money
ABC
This is the one, mark my words. From the mind of Craig Wright, the man who wrote for Six Feet Under AND Lost. Stars Six Feet Under’s Peter Krause stars as the lawyer to a rich, scandal-prone family. Pilot directed by Peter Horton (Brothers & Sisters ). With Samaire Armstrong (Entourage, The O.C.), Donald Sutherland, Jill Clayburgh, William Baldwin and Brooke Smith (a.k.a. the girl in the well in Silence of the Lambs).

Eli Stone  
ABC
From Everwood creator/Brothers & Sisters producer Greg Berlanti, who describes it as follows: “a Field of Dreams-type drama set in a law firm where a 30-something attorney begins having larger-than-life visions that compel him to do out-of-the-ordinary things.” With Jonny Lee Miller (a.k.a. the ex Mr. Angelina Jolie), Loretta Devine (the chief’s wife on Grey’s Anatomy) and Victor Garber (Alias).

Journeyman
NBC
A reporter time-travels to help people in trouble. UPDATE: Click here to watch a preview on YouTube.

Life
NBC
Detective serves prison term for crime he didn’t commit and is given a second chance on the force after being released. UPDATE: Click here to watch a preview on YouTube.

Lipstick Jungle
NBC
A show about 3 of New York’s 50 Most Powerful Women. From the writer and producer of Sex and the City. Brooke Shields, Kim Raver (24, The Nine) and Lindsay Price (Pepper Dennis).

Los Duques
CBS
Being billed as the Latin version of Brothers & Sisters. With Jimmy Smits, Nester Carbonell (a.k.a. Richard Alpert on Lost), Hector Elizondo, and Rita Moreno. UPDATE: This show has been officially named Cane.

The IT Crowd
NBC
Adaptation of a British comedy about geeks in the IT department of a large corporation. Stars Joel McHale (who hosts The Soup on E!) and Rocky Carroll (Chicago Hope). Pilot written by Just Shoot Me alum David Guarascio and Joe Port.  

Miss/Guided
ABC
Comedy about woman who returns to work at her high school as a guidance counselor. It’s about time that Judy Greer (Arrested Development) got her own show! An Ashton Kutcher production. Pilot directed by Todd Holland (Malcolm in the Middle, Wonderfalls).

Nurses
FOX
Grey’s Anatomy, but with a focus on nurses rather than interns. Starring Sara Rue (Less Than Perfect) and Eliza Dushku (Tru Calling), with Carlos Bernard (24) and Lynn Redgrave. Pilot written by Return to Me screenwriters Samantha Goodman and Andrew Stern.

Private Practice
ABC
This is the Grey’s Anatomy spin-off, following Addison (Kate Walsh) to LA. Written by series creator Shonda Rimes and Buffy scribe Marti Noxon.

Pushing Daisies
ABC
Everyday guy has the power to bring people back to life. From Heroes/Dead Like Me/Wonderfalls writer and producer Bryan Fuller.  Pilot directed by Barry Sonnenfeld (Men in Black).

Sam I Am
ABC
A psychiatrist coming out of a coma doesn’t remember that she wasn’t a nice person. Starring Christina Applegate, with Jean Smart (24) and Jennifer Esposito (Related ).

The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Follows the life of Sarah and John Connor after Terminator 2.  Starring Lena Headey (300) and Thomas Dekker (a.k.a. Claire’s not-gay friend Zach on Heroes). Pilot written by film scribe Josh Friedman (War of the Worlds) and directed by David Nutter (The X-Files).

Swingtown
CBS
Swinging couples in the 70’s [and I don’t mean dancing]. With Molly Parker (Deadwood), Grant Show (Melrose Place) and Jack Davenport (a.k.a. Norrington from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies). Pilot written by Mike Kelley (The O.C.) and directed by Alan Poul (Six Feet Under).

Them
FOX
Aliens who fall in love with humans (only on FOX). But at least the pilot was directed by Jonathan Mostow (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines) and co-written by David Eick (Battlestar Galactica).

Viva Laughlin
British import is about a family that runs a casino. Stars Hugh Jackman! With Melanie Griffith. Pilot directed by Gabriele Muccino (The Pursuit of Happyness).

CURRENT SHOWS

Friday Night Lights
NBC
Has been renewed (sweet!), and will air next season on…Friday nights. UPDATE: Unfortunately, the show will air at 10pm on Friday nights. WTF?? Why renew it if just to bury it in a dead zone of viewership?!

Heroes
NBC
In addition to the show being renewed, there will be a spin-off called Heroes: Origins. We will meet a new set of characters that discover their special abilities. The difference is that we will get to choose our favorite new hero (a la American Idol), and the winner will then join the cast of Heroes during the 2008-09 season.

The Office
NBC
Has been renewed, and there will 5 hour-long episodes next season. UPDATE: NBC is killing me. They’ve moved The Office to 9pm on Thursdays…opposite Grey’s Anatomy.

Scrubs
NBC
Has been renewed.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
NBC
Has not been renewed. Such a damn shame.

Hello, my name is Jo, and this is my life.

Sigh.

I’d like to give credit to my friend Sara B, who pointed out yet another Wizard of Oz reference. Both Locke and Ben had mothers named Emily…as in Auntie Em (which was short for Emily). Nice catch!

I believe that Locke will survive. The man donated a kidney, was thrown out of an 8-story window, survived a plane crash and was spared by the Black Smoke Monster. What’s a little gun shot to the gut, especially when you have the island on your side?

Back in Season One, Locke was captured by the Black Smoke Monster, but it didn’t kill him. He said he had wanted to face the Black Smoke because he felt like it was testing him…just like Ben and/or Jacob are.   

Since Alex knew to give Locke a gun before his journey with Ben, does that mean that she’ll be the one to find/rescue him? Or will it be her LLM (Long Lost Mommy), Rousseau?

When Ben’s mom appeared to him in the jungle, was that yet another manifestation of the Black Smoke Monster?

Does Juliet know about Ben’s past, about what he did to his people?

If Jacob really is in charge, and Ben reported to him, how were his orders communicated? Did Ben hike up to his cabin every week? Does Jacob manifest himself into a familiar form to contact him?

Just what was Ben doing for 10 years in between meeting Richard and killing off the Dharma folks?

Are the whispers those of the deceased Dharma inhabitants, trying to communicate with/warn the living?

Why couldn’t Ben hear what Jacob said to Locke if he was just having a conversation with the man? I think Ben was only pretending to talk to Jacob, was surprised and pissed that Jacob spoke to Locke, and thus panicked and shot him.

It can’t be a coincidence that Jacob had a painting of a dog and Vincent is the only dog that we’ve seen on the island. After all, his owner, Walt, is ‘special.’

Did the Others know that Locke was going to be shot and/or killed? When Locke told them that Ben was taking him to see Jacob, they all seemed to freeze in fear. Perhaps others have tried to meet or speak to Jacob and never returned. But then why did they always refer to the infamous HIM as a ‘great man?’

The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that it was a line of gunpowder up near Jacob’s cabin. And Rousseau had just retrieved a fresh batch of dynamite from the Black Rock…

Then again, if it was dynamite gunpowder, Ben didn’t seem surprised to see it there…which would indicate that he is working with Rousseau…who could have informed him that someone other than Locke killed his father in the Black Rock…which could be why Ben shot Locke. The problem with this theory is that Rousseau would know about Alex if she was working with Ben. And I don’t believe they’ve interacted…yet.

I didn’t even notice this when I wrote it last night…Peter Pan’s LOST Boys are immortal. Those producers are quite well-read and clever.  

THE HOSTILES

How did the Hostiles get through the sonic barrier when they attacked the Dharma village during that school day?? Ben wasn’t working with them at that point, so either someone else from Dharma provided the daily code or they went up and over it.

Where did Ben and the Hostiles get the teargas and masks? Obviously Dharma stocked them in bulk. But why? Did they use it to fight the Hostiles and the Black Smoke Monster?

Was Jacob the de facto leader of the island in the pre-Dharma days? Is he a Hostile? Why is it that Richard and the Others have never seen him?

If Richard was an original island Hostile, why is it that he’s Ben go-to guy for traveling back and forth to the real world? He would have to have some serious training in the ways of the world and technology. If Ben was the only leftover Dharma person, did he really train Hostiles to operate a submarine and communications station, among other things?

At what point did Ben and Richard create Mittelos Bioscience? That was the front that they used to recruit Juliet. Is that how they rebuilt the new team that is currently known as the Others?

Not all of the Hostiles became Others under Ben’s regime. Eko and Jin spied the dirty feet of a few of them, including the kid dragging the teddy bear behind him. How is it that they avoid assimilation into Ben’s new world and now roam freely and separately from the Others?

Did Ben sarcastically say to Richard, “You do remember birthdays, don’t you?” because he knows that birthdays are irrelevant to the immortal Hostiles?

I just read that after Season 3 of Lost ends in a few weeks, there will be three more seasons! While it is unusual for a popular television show to have a set date in the near future for the series to end, I applaud the decision to do so in this case.

The final three seasons will consist of only 16 episodes each…but at least they will air all 16 in a row without repeats!

With that in mind, be prepared for a long summer and fall; Season 4 of Lost will probably not begin until January of next year.

The series finale of Lost will more than likely air in 2010.

I’d like to give a shout out of appreciation to my new LOST friends: Glenn, Porter and Tony. If you also enjoy reading my weekly Lost blogs, please join my Lost Distribution List by sending an email to jo@jopinionated.com. You will be notified immediately when Lost-specific entries are posted!

For some reason I had difficulty finding screen captures online from last night’s show, so there aren’t many photos accompanying this entry.

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And now, on with the show.

Ben lies. A few episodes ago, he summoned ‘the man from Tallahassee.’ Obviously that was Locke’s dad, Cooper. Last night we learned that Cooper’s last memory before arriving on the island was driving down a freeway…in Tallahassee.

Then again…Ben told Locke that he was the one who brought his dad to the island, and that the magic box was a metaphor. Could it be that the infamous Black Smoke Monster manifested itself again and took the form of someone from a Lostie’s past (see: Eko’s brother Yemi)? How do we really know that it was Cooper?

Do the Others assume that Desmond is a Lostie? They shouldn’t, because Ben and Juliet could have observed him in the Swan Hatch (via the screens in the Pearl Hatch) way before Flight 815 landed on the island. If they were aware of him, they probably had his chart/info too. Which means that they know who Penny is. And so they wouldn’t be surprised to know that she is looking for him and has the resources to find the island…

BUT, if Naomi is lying and really works for the Others and/or Dharma, was she sent there as a reinforcement? Did she parachute in because Locke really did destroy the Others’ sub?

Jack and Juliet didn’t look too surprised to hear that there was a strange woman on the beach who crash landed on the island, probably because Juliet knew more Others would be arriving and told Jack.

Either way, Naomi is a liar pants. We know that in last week’s episode, she told Mikhail (in Portuguese, mind you), that ‘we are not alone.’ That satellite phone had a signal; is it a tracking device? How is it that the communications hatch was blown up, which affected all island technology, but her phone works?

Locke is the Liar King. A few episodes ago, when he went to say goodbye to Kate in the pool room before abandoning the village with the Others, he told her he tried to convince them to let her go. We didn’t see that last night. He read her personal chart and decided on his own to leave her behind based on his judgment of her past. Tsk, tsk. 

How creepy is it that the Cult of Camping Others would encourage murder in front of children?? There were Tail Section kids among those watching Ben produce and manipulate the Locke-Cooper Freak Show.

According to Ben, Locke had to kill his dad in order to finally move on with his new life on the island (thus purging himself of his life before the crash). Is the same true for Island Sawyer, now that he killed the real Sawyer?

Ben told Locke that they were going to take the ‘pregnant women’ from the beach. Plural! Do they already know/assume that Kate is pregnant?

Cooper’s assertion that they found Locke’s plane at the bottom of the ocean fits right in with Naomi’s news. HOWEVER, Naomi said it was found off the coast of Bali, and Cooper said it was in the Pacific Ocean. Interesting how two new arrivals from the outside world arrived on the island with the same news but with conflicting locations…

Way back in Season 1, Kate told Sun that she was actually trying to get to…Bali. But as we know, the Marshall caught up with her in Australia and she was arrested. The fact that Naomi said that’s where the plane crashed can’t be mere coincidence at this point.

Ben said to Locke, “don’t’ tell me what I can’t do.” Locke has said that very thing on many occasions on the show.

Did they purposefully point out how Sawyer was barefoot as a wink-wink, nudge-nudge reference to the story of Tom SAWYER?

The column that Cooper was tied up to looked quite old, and is probably from the same era as the 4-toed statue. It could have been part of some ancient temple. Perhaps that is why Ben had Cooper tied up to it as a sacrificial lamb.

The file on Island Sawyer’s that Richard Alpert handed Locke was in French. Do we finally have a Rousseau (aka Crazy French Lady) connection??

FAMILY TIES

QUESTIONS

Will the island and/or Locke’s healing powers revive Cooper like they did Mikhail?

Did Ben begin to heal because of his proximity to Locke or because he left his village?

Why is it that the Others are so self-righteous about who is ‘good’ and ‘bad,’ and yet they didn’t hesitate to offer Locke the opportunity to kill his own father for show?

Why don’t the Losties question Naomi’s statement that Flight 815 was found near Bali? Out of curiosity, I looked up the location and distance between Sydney and Bali. They are almost three thousand miles apart! That’s a lot further than Flight 815’s pilot’s estimation that they were 1,000 miles off course.

Where the heck is Sheriff Isabel? She wasn’t camping with the Others and we haven’t seen her since she put Juliet on trial.

What the hell is Rousseau going to blow up, and why? Another hatch? The abandoned Other Village?

Where is Alex? You’d think that Ben would insist that his ‘daughter’ accompany him from place to place. Is she with her boyfriend Karl, who we haven’t seen since Sawyer let him go?

If Naomi had a ship, why use a helicopter to reach the island?

The Others took Walt because he was ‘special’ but then released him because they made a deal with Michael. They had high expectations of Locke because he was ‘special’ and his injuries were healed by the island. Why is it that they’re not interested in Rose, who is miraculously cancer-free since crashing on the island?

Now that Island Sawyer has exercised his demons (aka killing the real Sawyer), will he be known as James Ford again?

Richard Alpert, who gave Locke the file on Island Sawyer, mentioned that the Others were conducting other research besides fertility. Such as?

What was Sayid burying or digging up when Hurley found him in the jungle?

If Locke has these healing powers, are they selective? Why is it that his buddy Boone died and yet Mikhail lived?

CRAZY THEORY OF THE WEEK