Ask Matt

Matt Roush: You certainly have a point when it comes to Nip/Tuck being creatively exhausted. I initially thought the going-to-Hollywood reboot had worked, but last season quickly fell apart into the same nonsensical and gratuitously incoherent mayhem that infected the last few Miami seasons. But let me correct your math. In announcing the show's end date, FX entertainment head John Landgraf put into play a 19-episode final season following the just-completed eight episodes remaining in the current one (which will pick up in early 2009). Not 41 new episodes; 73 already have aired, believe it or not. FX apparently intends to play out the final season over 2010 and part of 2011. Personally, I can wait. But Landgraf took a wider view when asked by a critic (who must have been joking) why FX would pull the cord on Nip/Tuck if it was still performing in 2011. Addressing the challenge of programming so many intricately serialized shows, he said, "I believe they can't go on forever. I believe they have a diminishing return. I believe they wear out their welcome when they stay longer. I think if you tried to do 150 episodes of The Sopranos or The Shield, you would have diminished the caliber and the quality of those shows.... If you want to go after that brass ring, I think we have to bear the challenges of limited shelf life." He says he doubts any FX drama is likely to go beyond 100 episodes. What was left unaddressed was the wisdom of letting Nip/Tuck go on even that long. But who knows, maybe the show will get its act together again in the back half of this season. That's the kind of shock I'd be happy to see.

Matt Roush: Sounds to me like in sharing your rant, you've already worked it out in your head and are somewhat at peace when it comes to getting back into the FX zone in the fall and beyond. The strike wrecked a lot of scheduling plans for this summer, especially on FX and HBO (whose execs recently said the strike pushed everything on their schedule back four months). I've said before that I thought FX probably erred in letting the Olympics (which only occupy two weeks of broadcast time) keep The Shield off the summer radar, but the network's strategy now is to use the final season of the show to help launch Sons of Anarchy, which will air the following night after first-run Shield episodes and no doubt be promoted heavily during The Shield's run. (Whether fans of a dark cop drama can be lured into the grim world of a motorcycle club remains to be seen.) Rescue Me and the others simply weren't going to be ready for a summer run, and the best thing we can do in this circumstance is be patient, be grownups about it, and look at the bright side, hoping that the strike may have given all these writers time to sharpen their act for the season ahead.

Matt Roush: Here's how Siff herself put it when asked during a Sons of Anarchy panel at the TCA press tour this week: "Well, the character in Mad Men isn't dead, so she'll probably be in and out a little bit." As you may be aware, Mad Men is famously tight-lipped about plot developments, so there's no word on when or how often we might see Rachel in the second season. Both Mad Men and Sons of Anarchy are produced in the Los Angeles area, so it wouldn't be that tough for her to arrange her schedule should Mad Men need her, I'd think. But she's a regular on Anarchy, so figure she may not be as prominent in her '60s persona this year. Having screened the first two Mad Men episodes for my recent Review, I can tell you she has yet to be seen, but there are signs that she may still be very much on Don Draper's mind.

Matt Roush: It wasn't so much the writers' strike but a regime change at HBO that crippled 12 Miles of Bad Road, which completed six episodes before HBO decided this very broad Southern comedy from Linda Bloodworth-Thomason (Designing Women) wasn't the right fit. I was disappointed in this call, too. What would it have hurt to give the show some exposure, even on one of HBO's comedy-skewed offshoots? Going "off brand" might not be such a bad idea for this network once in a while. At the moment, the episodes are still in limbo, awaiting a buyer, but not for want of trying, I understand.

Matt Roush: Look for Raising the Bar to show up on TNT on Labor Day. I've seen a few episodes and was personally underwhelmed by what seemed to be pretty ordinary storylines involving public defenders and prosecutors and a mercurial judge (Jane Kaczmarek) who continually locks horns with the rumpled young hero, played by Bochco repertory vet Mark-Paul Gosselaar. I'll give it another look closer to the premiere date, and at the very least, I think that even if it isn't another blockbuster like The Closer, it's the kind of show that might feel right at home nestled among old repeats of Law & Order. But is it the next NYPD Blue? Not by a long shot.

Matt Roush: I haven't seen "Eater" yet because I've been swamped with the TCA press tour this month, but I did see the episode that followed "Family Man," about the bride who got a note telling her that she was marrying a serial killer (the twist in that one being so obvious it wasn't funny, or scary). With any anthology, there is going to be unevenness, and I will try to remember to check out "Eater" when my schedule gets back to normal. I like the idea of the format, too, but with the exception of the very clever "Family Man" episode (despite its downbeat conclusion), I would still have to say that the batting average for Fear Itself isn't all that great.

Matt Roush: I think you're confusing SVU with Criminal Intent, which was dropped by NBC a year ago and moved to USA Network, where it continues to make new episodes. SVU is still a hit for NBC and isn't going anywhere. And I like Burn Notice quite a lot. Its mix of humor, action, suspense and unforced sex appeal really grew on me, and I hope the second season keeps it up. It certainly seems to have found its audience.

Matt Roush: Sigh. I'm not suggesting the fans shouldn't keep loving this show. Neither, I would venture, was Charles, who's decidedly a non-fan. Part of the reason this column exists is to take readers inside the critical process, whether or not they agree with me or whoever writes in. And the point I was making was that while NCIS clearly has entertainment value, as most popular procedurals do (and I admire its light touch as well), there are reasons it doesn't command as much media buzz as shows with much lower ratings. Has nothing to do with whether people enjoy it, which I felt I said was a given.

Matt Roush: Deep sigh. And way to endear me to your cause — though I suspect a tongue planted firmly in cheek. Or not. But point taken. I was focusing more on the fact that the CW was lacking a show in the spirit of Gilmore Girls. Since a show like Buffy was also put in the equation, you (and the other fans who wrote in with the same gripe, and gee thanks) are correct to point out that the closest thing the CW has to that kind of "horror with a heart" vibe is Supernatural.

Matt Roush: I've heard nothing about an expanded series. But given that this is a continuation of a limited-run docu-series that ABC News aired several years ago, I'd think it's more likely that we'll see it return in miniseries format a while down the line. That would give each installment more of an "event" status.