It might be dangerous for ratings to divide the first season of a serialized drama in half but if Caprica’s part-two season opener, Unvanquished, is anything to go by, it’s even more dangerous to combine virtual technology and religious fundamentalism. While part one established the series’ conflict between science and faith, part two complicates the fight by exploring the far more frightening idea of what happens when technology and faith start to work together.

We rejoin the action with Soldiers of the One (STO) member Sister Clarice (Polly Walker) who designs an explosive plan to bring the masses “apotheosis” through a virtual heaven filled with avatars of the One God martyrs. Her plan to bolster the faith through an artificial afterlife finds a counterpart in Daniel Graystone’s (Eric Stoltz) equally disturbing scheme to conquer grief by creating digital avatars of the deceased with whom the living can interact. Graystone however, cannot implement his plan alone and his Faustian deal with the Tauron criminal underworld suggests that his troubles are only beginning.

By the time Modern Family’s episode, “The Kiss” (broadcast Wednesday, 29 September), made Facebook fans happy, more than 13,160 had “Like”d the idea of “Cam & Mitchell, the adorable gay couple” finally showing a little onscreen PDA (Public Displays of Affection). The producers long insisted that the Facebook site had nothing to do with the already-planned kiss. Whether a concession to ardent fans or a previously planned second-season agenda item, the Kiss hardly lived up to its build-up, but then, what first kiss does?

Other TV series have had more memorable same-gender liplocks, often fraught with the burden of being television “firsts”. Modern Family made the kiss real: low key, sweet, and completely in character with Mitchell and Cam’s relationship. The at-home cuddle was far more intimate, but in an episode of kisses and misses, it’s good to finally see Cam and Mitchell connect.

Pop culture icon-wannabes know they’ve truly made it when they guest on The Simpsons, and many of the best Simpsons episodes revolve around musicians and singers. Over the years almost every music genre has been well represented by a Who’s Who from international entertainment: Sting, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Tony Bennett, Barry White, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bette Midler. Johnny Cash, U2, Dolly Parton, Elton John, Britney Spears, Kid Rock, The Who, Mick Jagger, Tom Petty, Green Day, Dixie Chicks, Plácido Domingo, Ludacris, and 50 Cent, among others. In this episode, broadcast Sunday, 26 September, Flight of the Conchords and Glee provide the soundtrack to Lisa’s life.

The Simpsons has become more than entertainment; it confers elite pop culture status to those included in the series’ documentation of the important people, trends, and touchstones of our times. In years to come, cultural anthropologists could learn much about turn-of-the-21st-century America from the evolving litany of Simpson cultural references and themes. While quintessentially American, The Simpsons reflects a globalism well beyond the grasp of its Springfield-centric characters (with, of course, the exception of exceptional Lisa).

I’m going to part ways with the general consensus that the judges on FOX’s So You Think You Can Dance offer the contestants inane feedback on their performances.  Of course, the judges on FOX’s So You Think You Can Dance do offer the contestants inane feedback on their performances—shrieks about Hot Tamale Trains, endorsements of “buck”ness, general confusion about each dancer’s identity.  However, if the show’s seventh season has proven nothing else, it’s that the judges can offer commentary that is straightforward—and potentially racist, sexist, and homophobic. 

I began writing this entry on the afternoon of 28 July, hours before the next installment of So You Think You Can Dance’s seventh season was set to air, and when I was still reeling from the 21 July episode, during which the judges, once again, sliced into Jose Ruiz for being untrained and, according to Mia Michaels, too human. Lauren Froderman, on the other hand, received credit from Nigel Lythgoe, after Adam Shankman remembered who she was, for giving a “sick” performance; later, she “shot her partner with her butt”.

According to its slogan, TNT knows drama, and in the summer it does viewers a tremendous favor by producing new, original one-hour dramas. TNT’s dramas tend to cover known ground: crime procedurals, medical dramas, and tales of redemption. As an added bonus, these shows star relatively famous people – Kyra Sedgwick, Holly Hunter, Jada Pinkett Smith, Timothy Hutton – as captivating, specially skilled protagonists. Production values are relatively high, the acting is OK, and the stories are average, if generally unremarkable.

The newest addition to this family of dramas is Memphis Beat, a crime procedural that co-stars Jason Lee and the city of Memphis.Results, as they say, are varied.

There is potential here. While it’s certainly odd for anyone raised on Kevin Smith movies or My Name is Earl fans to see Jason Lee play a cop, he really is trying to bring Detective Dwight Hendricks to life. The problem is, neither Lee nor the audience seem to know who Hendricks is. Nor does anyone really seem to know what this show is or what it wants to be. This problem, which runs throughout Memphis Beat and works its way down into its core, is the key factor holding the show back from being good. When viewers don’t know why they should care, they generally don’t.