The horses of "Luck."

Credit: HBO

Though there are a few moments in tonight's "Luck" suggesting creator David Milch had a premonition that the series would be abruptly canceled due to the third horse death during production, Milch told me in an interview on Friday that he never had it in his mind that this would be a series finale. (You can read my finale review here.) In fact, if the ultimate decision-making power on this fell in Milch's hands, the show would have continued, though he says he understands and supports what HBO chose to do.

"Archer" edged out "Louie" last week; can it beat "Modern Family" in this round?

Credit: FX

I've been working on the road the last couple of days (which is also why I'm skipping "30 Rock" reviews this week; I haven't seen the episodes), and a few things get lost in the shuffle when you're on the move. One of those is my weekly check-in on Hulu's Best in Show contest, which I continue to serve as guest judge for, and which has just moved into the third round.

Among last week's notable results: "Archer"(*) edged out "Louie," "Community" solidly beat "Parks and Recreation," and "The Walking Dead" beat "Fringe." 

(*) Which I am many weeks behind on, and will catch up on eventually when I am in need of several hours of concentrated, explosive laughter.

Thus far, "Archer" is beating "Modern Family," when "MF" has to this point done very well against various cult-y competition, "Community" is thumping "New Girl," "Game of Thrones" is losing by a good margin to "Sons of Anarchy" and "Breaking Bad" is neck-and-neck with "The Walking Dead" 

If you are displeased with any or all of those results, now is the time to go vote, and we'll be back next week (and hopefully on Thursday morning again) to discuss the final four.

Vincent Kartheiser as Pete Campbell in "Mad Men."

Credit: AMC

I published my spoiler-free review of the "Mad Men" season premiere yesterday. Earlier this week, I got a chance to interview creator Matthew Weiner and co-star John Slattery about the events of the premiere, and those interviews should run sometime Monday morning. But I decided that, given the appetite for "Mad Men" info after 17 long months between episodes, I should conduct at least one interview in a way that it could be safely published before the premiere. And our lucky winner was Vincent Kartheiser, aka Pete Campbell (of the Dyckman-Campbells).

After the jump, Kartheiser and I talk about Pete's evolution from corporate weasel to unsung hero of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, about how Pete feels these days about Peggy, and also about how the rest of the cast hung him out to dry when Jon Hamm directed an episode this season. Enjoy, and I'll see you all here on Sunday night to discuss the premiere.

Rex (Dylan Minnette) gets into a fight on "Awake."

Credit: NBC

A review of tonight's "Awake" coming up just as soon as I make you a paper airplane...

David Mazouz and Kiefer Sutherland in "Touch."

Credit: FOX

Since FOX is treating tonight's episode of "Touch" as the show's official premiere, we might as well continue my tradition of doing talkback posts for new shows. I posted my review of the new episodes — including tonight's, which I found to be pretty dire — yesterday. Now it's your turn. For those who liked the pilot, did this feel like a step down? For those who didn't see the first episode, could you make heads or tails of this? Was anyone glad to see the giggly Japanese girls recur? Were the "24" fans sated by the Jack Bauer/Mike Novick reunion? And how many people intend to tune in next week?

Have at it.

Joel McHale has a little something for the ladies (and Dean Pelton) on "Community."

Credit: NBC

A review of tonight's "Community" — and some thoughts on last week's surprisingly high ratings — coming up just as soon as you make me feel hatred of Renee Zellweger...

Adam Scott and Jennifer Westfeldt in "Friends with Kids."

I don't see movies in the theater much anymore, but ever since I heard about "Friends with Kids" — the directorial debut of "Kissing Jessica Stein" writer/star Jennifer Westfeldt, also starring Adam Scott from "Parks and Recreation" and a good chunk of the "Bridesmaids" cast (Maya Rudolph, Kristen Wiig, Chris O'Dowd and some guy named Jon Hamm who apparently has a TV show returning this weekend) — I made a mental note to get a sitter and take my wife to see it. We had some childcare mishaps over the weekend, which felt appropriate to the movie's subject, but finally got to slip out to see it last night, and I really enjoyed it.

The short version, for those who haven't seen it yet — and then, after the jump, some thoughts on specific things in the film for those who have — is that Westfeldt and Scott play best friends who've never been interested in each other romantically, and who start to feel their other friends slipping away and turning into different people when they marry off and have children. Interested in having kids, but terrified of what they see as the toxic effect it has on marriages, they decide to game the system by having a baby together as platonic friends, splitting the childcare responsibilities 50/50 while still having plenty of time to date other people and (more importantly) sleep. It's raunchy at times (though not nearly as much as "Bridesmaids"), dramatic at others, and ultimately a traditional romantic comedy that's just well-executed with a lot of indie moviemaking values. Scott is particularly excellent in it, but everyone's good (Westfeldt even gets a human performance out of Megan Fox in a supporting role as one of Scott's girlfriends), and it was well worth the babysitter for me.

And now onto some specifics about the film (including the ending) so those of us who've seen it can discuss, coming up just as soon as I play the kid card and the Brooklyn card...

Max (Adam Pally) gets his "Goonies" on in "Happy Endings."

Credit: ABC

A quick review of last night's "Happy Endings" coming up just as soon as my bottom half is selling fuzzy burritos in the parking lot outside of a Widespread Panic concert...

David Walton, Amanda Peet and Margo Harshman in "Bent."

Credit: NBC

I posted my review of NBC's "Bent" yesterday. Now it's your turn. What did everybody who watched think? Did you stay for both episodes? Did you like the chemistry between David Walton and Amanda Peet? Did you enjoy the crew? (I, personally, would listen to J.B. Smoove say "smitten" for quite a while.) Were you distracted to see Landry in scenes with a very different guy named Riggins? And does the weird scheduling — and what it suggests about NBC's faith in the show — make you more or less likely to watch future episodes? 

Have at it. I enjoyed the show enough that I'll have posts (length TBD) the next two weeks for the remaining episodes.