"Scandal"

Credit: ABC

I'll admit that "Scandal" often loses me when it becomes a love letter to screwing around with a married man (I know there are many impassioned supporters of Fitzlivia, but just because he's POTUS doesn't make it okay). When they are "on" in their on-again-off-again Olivia and Fitz share many tortured, passionate moments, and the dialogue, while earnestly delivered, starts to sound like it's been ripped from a bad romance novel. But sometimes, I don't mind so much.

 "The Vampire Diaries"

Credit: The CW

Before the episode began, I was wondering if we'd be seeing much of Silas, or if his nasty theatrics would be stuck on a back burner until we're a little closer to the season finale on May 16. The good news is that this week, we had a little less of Silas, so that's a relief. The bad news? We had just enough of him to do some damage. Between him and Bad Elena, it was a pretty stressful week for the good people (and vampires) of Mystic Falls. And, you know, us. 

 "Today"

Credit: NBC

We're back! Melinda and I had a lot to discuss this week, since we got a chance to see "Iron Man 3" a while ago and, now that the embargo is lifted, we can actually talk about it. We also have some strong opinions about Miley Cyrus' new photo spread and "Today." Here's a rundown:

 "Orphan Black"

Credit: BBC America

It looks like "Orphan Black" is getting cloned for a second season. BBC America has renewed the series to return as part of Supernatural Saturday in 2014. The conspiracy clone thriller starring Tatiana Maslany has been re-commissioned with a 10-episode order from Temple Street Productions, ahead of its season one finale on Saturday, June 1.

 "Nashville"

Credit: ABC

Although I guess it could be said (or at least the promos could infer, which they most certainly did) that tonight's "Nashville" was a night of high drama and big surprises, it was more like a very long episode of "told-ya-so." A few characters revealed themselves to be exactly what we thought they were, while others did exactly what we were pretty sure they'd been wanting to do for a while anyway. In some cases, this was satisfying albeit predictable; in others, it was just predictable.

 Michael Raymond-James in "Once Upon A Time"

Credit: ABC

As Neal Cassady on "Once Upon A Time," Michael Raymond-James is a charming ne'er-do-well turned caring dad who seems to be right on the verge of rekindling the flame with Emma (Jennifer Morrison), the mother of his son -- that is, until the evil Tamara makes her presence known in Storybrooke. However, romance is the least of anyone's worries for the next few weeks.

With the season finale looming on May 12, Neal (or at least his youthful self, better known by his given name of Baelfire) can expect some excitement; next week the storyline takes Bae from fairytale land to Victorian London, where he meets the Darlings (whom you might remember from a little story about Peter Pan).  I spoke briefly to Raymond-James about what's coming up in the coming weeks, whether his character's name suggests a future Kerouac crossover and whether he's seen the Tumblr site that's all about him.  [Also, fans of the show who'd like to see an extended preview of the next episode can find it here] 

 Gary Carr

Back in March we first had word that "Downton Abbey" was looking for an actor to play the show's first black character, a "charming and charismatic" jazz singer named Jack Ross. Now comes word from Deadline.com about who got the role. 

 "Inside Amy Schumer"

Credit: Comedy Central

The latest trend in comedy has been focused on women behaving (or talking about behaving) badly. They pooped in the sink in "Bridesmaids" (don't tell me that's a spoiler at this point), they have awkward sex on "Girls," they curse and get drunk and high and screw around. Somethings the cursing and drinking and screwing around is supposed to pass as fascinating insight into the female psyche. Sometimes it's supposed to be funny. But piggishness in either men or women isn't inherently funny.

While pundits argue about whether lowbrow distaff humor delivers a bad message to young women (who are probably too busy plopping drunk photos of themselves on Instagram for future would-be employers to find) or shows that women are breaking into previously unattainable arenas by acting like dirty old men, the argument at the heart of it all is very simple: are they funny?

Thank God Amy Schumer is funny. Really funny.

 "The Real Housewives of Orange County"

Credit: Bravo

In theory, everyone attended Tamra's dinner party to celebrate the opening of her gym and watch a psychic clear the place of bad spirits. But man alive, the only really bad spirits in the place were the girls themselves, who could only stop screaming at one another long enough to misinterpret what everyone else was saying.