Cancellations continued this week as NBC's "Outlaw" became the third new series to get the ax this season. The legal drama, starring Jimmy Smits as a playboy Supreme Court Justice−turned−justice−seeking defense attorney, was lambasted by critics for its ridiculous premise, and after three low−rated episodes, the network placed the series on production hiatus. An even poorer showing for the fourth episode sealed the deal, and NBC moved the remaining episodes to the Saturday night burn−off slot.
It was not all bad news this week, though. "Raising Hope" became the first new series of the fall to receive a full−season pick−up. The Fox comedy, which the Daily's Joseph Stile gave a three−star review commending its mixture of humor and humanity, has not received stellar ratings, but it has been a relative bright spot on the network's schedule and is certainly outperforming fellow freshman comedy "Running Wilde."
On the creative side of things, "Glee" finally had a great episode on Tuesday night and provided proof that the show can still be good when the right elements are in place. Last week's "Grilled Cheesus" episode was an improvement over the erratic stunt−episode "Britney/Brittany," but this week's "Duets" was the first episode this season that represented the kind of show "Glee" can and should be. There was no overarching theme being drilled into our heads, the musical numbers were integrated organically into the plot, nearly all the main characters got meaningful screen time, and those who didn't appear weren't really missed. If only Ryan Murphy would keep his hands off the show more often.
And last Thursday, "Fringe" continued its strong streak of season three episodes. The two−universe story arc has injected a sense of urgency into every plot, and playing two versions of Olivia is bringing out strong performances from Anna Torv. Although "The Plateau" wasn't revolutionary in its storytelling, it was a solid entry and another great look at Earth 2.0. Tune in tonight, when the action shifts back to Peter, Walter and Faux−livia in our universe.
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