This definitely does not suck: Mike Judge's back on TV

Even though I don't go out of my way to watch it any more, Mike Judge's "King of the Hill" has been kind of like an old sweater you find hidden in the back of a dresser drawer: No matter when you find it, it's always immediately comforting.

And "King of the Hill," of course, has been a rather amazing survivor, lasting for more than 10 years now (and I think still going) despite being abused by Fox for years with the inevitably wiped-out 7 p.m. after Sunday NFL football slot.

And now Mr. Judge is set to have another animated series, this time on ABC and presumably by the fall. "The Goode Family," which has received a 13-episode order, centers on a do-gooder family that tries to do the right thing in all facets of life. Sounds just right for Mr. Judge, but how in the world is this possible with the WGA strike still going on? Well, Media Rights Capital, the folks behind this project, got an interim deal with the WGA to get back to work.

And speaking of the strike, definitely keep your eyes on Saturday, when the east and west branches of the WGA will meet seperately to discuss the latest contract proposal. I doubt a final resolution will come then, but as always, keep hope alive.

Whither "Friday Night Lights"?

In bittersweet TV news at best, the last new, pre-strike episode of easily network TV's best drama, "Friday Night Lights," comes tonight. But what will happen to this great show after that?

I obviously can't say for sure, but given how quickly the networks have acted to spoonfeed us tons of reality crap (which people apparently seem to wolf down very willingly), I'm not sure how much appetite there will be to re-pick up shows like this or ABC's sublime "Pushing Daisies."

Which, for "Friday Night Lights," at least, would be real shame, because the show is doing extremely well in the coveted 18-34 demographic and, just as importantly, is at least as strong storywise in Season 2 as it was during its rookie year.

Anyways, here's the plot summary for tonight's episode, which unfortunately seems to wrap some things up (and therefore could be, against my fervent wishes, some kind of finale):

"A DAY OF SURPRISES"
Brian "Smash" Williams (Gaius Charles) is determined to get a football scholarship to college despite the recent events that have transpired, and he is very shocked when the most unlikely place offers him what may be the opportunity of his life. Tami Taylor (Connie Britton) runs into her ex-boyfriend from high school, a big real estate mogul, and he decides to stay in Dillon for a few days, which proves to be too long as Coach Taylor (Kyle Chandler) begins to feel a bit jealous. Elsewhere, Jason Street (Scott Porter) hears the biggest news of his life since his accident and must decide if he's ready for a dramatic change. Meanwhile, Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch) continues his pursuit of Lyla (Minka Kelly) by getting his own radio show at the Christian radio station.

The Riggins stuff in particular lately has been extremely funny, so please, please, please let this not be the last episode ever of "Friday Night Lights"!

Mira Nair's new movie

Buried under the rather meh headline "Hilary Swank to Play Amelia Earhart" was this nugget: This biopic will be the next flick from the great Indian director Mira Nair, easily one of my favorites.

Nair was supposed to make "Shantaram," which would have starred Johnny Depp (heard of him?) as an Australian prisoner who escapes and pretends to be a doctor in India's slums. With that nasty strike intervening, however, Johnny got a better offer in the form of Michael Mann's "Public Enemies," so I can only assume "Shantaram" is on potentially permanent hiatus.

In the meantime, the great Ms. Nair will make the Earhart flick from a script by Ron Bass. Swank will play Earhart in the formative stages of her career. George Putnam, a publisher and publicist, was engaged by society denizen Amy Guest to set up a daring nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean. When Guest was talked out of trying to become the first woman to make the trip, she dispatched Putnam to find a female pilot, and to turn the flight into a media event.

Sounds like it could be fun, and by the way, if you haven't seen Mira Nair's "The Namesake," please rent it right away. The film, featuring outstanding performances from Kal Penn (yes, that Kal Penn), Irfan Khan and Tabu, is as viaually stunning as it is just tremendously entertaining.

A little strike lightness

With hopes that real progress will come from Saturday's WGA talks, here's a rather funny bit of propaganda I found on YouTube. Some writers use clips from "The Jerk" and other flicks to make their point about what a world without them might look like. Enjoy "The Phone Book: The Movie," and have a perfectly pleasant weekend. Peace out.

Jane Austen's got the cure for your TV blues

I have to confess it's been years since I've tuned in regularly for PBS' Masterpiece Theater, but given the ongoing writers' strike and the show's revamped formula, I think I'll definitely be returning starting this Sunday.

What's new? Well, first of all, the programs will be hosted by "X-Files" and Masterpiece Theater ("Bleak House") alum Gillian Anderson, which I have to say is at least a slight improvement from previous host Russell Baker (and a definite improvement from the past few years, which, if I'm not mistaken, had no host at all.)

Secondly, for the first series of shows beginning Sunday, it will be all about Jane Austen, which is just fine by me. It's a bit hard to tell, but I believe the order goes like this: Emma, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion (still my favorite Austen work), Pride and Prejudice and finally Sense and Sensibility. These aren't the Hollywood versions, but instead four new adaptations and two previously aired works (the only one I've seen is Pride and Prejudice, and though I know the ladies are rather devoted to Mr. Firth's Mr. Darcy, I just prefer Joe Wright's movie version instead.)

Check your local listings, of course, but in Georgia at least it airs at 9 p.m. Sundays (finally, a workout for my DVR, since I'll be watching "The Wire" whilst taping both that and Masterpiece.) Tune in for a definite alternative to the reality TV onslaught that's already started and will soon turn into a deluge.

Download Fox Searchlight scripts

I usually spend my brief lunch half-hour-or-so reading Chris Cillizza's fantastic The Fix political blog, but today I just might have another option.

Fox Searchlight has put the scripts for six (which may be all) of its 2007 releases up for download here, and it shows just how strong a year the studio had. Available for your perusal are the scripts for three movies that made my top 10 ("The Savages," "Once" and "Waitress"), two that just missed the cut ("Juno" and Mira Nair's charming "The Namesake"), and one I'd have to unfortunately call a failure, Wes Anderson's "Darjeeling Limited."

Speaking of "Juno," a quick visit to Variety, which somehow tracks daily box-office numbers, shows that Jason Reitman's little flick was actually at No. 1 for Tuesday, taking in $1,445,349 to National Treasure's $1,314,178. It has netted more than $54 million so far, and should approach the magical $100M with a few more weeks of wide release. Congrats! I think I'll be devouring Diablo Cody's script along with my soup this midday.

And kudos to Amy Ryan too

It was great to see Amy Ryan return on "The Wire" Sunday, even if it looks like her man McNulty may implode any day now.

If you haven't seen her performance in "Gone Baby Gone," do so as soon as you can. You can believe all the hype: If there is indeed an Oscars ceremony this year, there's no way in the world she shouldn't be taking home a Best Supporting Actress Oscar (unless it's main instead of supporting - I have trouble telling how they judge these things.)

And now she's joining the cast of Paul Greengrass' Iraq war thriller, which begins shooting today in Spain and is inspired by Rajiv Chandrasekaran's book "Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone".

Greengrass and Brian Helgeland turned that nonfiction work into a fictional thriller set in the "Green Zone," a walled and fortified area where U.S. troops stay during the Iraq occupation. Matt Damon plays an officer who teams with a senior CIA officer to search for evidence of weapons of mass destruction, Ryan will play a New York Times foreign correspondent sent to Iraq to investigate the U.S. government's WMD claims, and Greg Kinnear plays another CIA officer.

It seems like stars of "The Wire" are popping up everywhere on the big screen, which I don't see how I'll ever consider to be anything but a great development.

"Sweet Land" in Macon this Sunday

Given the mostly pathetic wide-release lineup this week (with Juan Antonio Bayona's "The Orphanage" a clear exception - go see that one if you like stylish and smart horror), the Macon Film Guild has a definitely welcome other option on the slate this weekend.

Director Ali Selim's "Sweet Land," based on a Will Weaver short story, tells the tale of a German mail-order bride who travels to Minnesota to marry a Norwegian man during World War I. Her nationality, naturally, is an issue for the assembled locals, but I'm sure everyone eventually learns to get along. Sounds a little sappy for my tastes, but both of my parents soundly endorse this one, and that's good enough for me.

It's showing this Sunday at 2, 4:30 and 7:30 p.m. at the Douglass Theatre in downtown Macon, and if you turn out for the 2 p.m. show I'll definitely see you there. Peace out.