Megalyn Echikunwoke

The new season of CSI Miami begins September 22nd on CBS.

James Chamberlin

I was really shocked when USA canceled both The Dead Zone and The 4400. Although The Dead Zone had seen better days and I would agree it would have been on my chopping block if I were heading up the network, I never saw The 4400 getting axed. This was a pretty big shakeup for me because during the summer, I always turn to USA for the terrific programming there.

There are a few decent shows on now… In Plain Sight, Fear Itself, Dirty Jobs, The Mole, but the good stuff isn’t here yet. I’m still waiting for PSYCH, Monk, and Burn Notice (all USA shows) to air this July. Burn Notice was a lot of fun to watch last year. I can’t wait to see it this year now that USA has an HD channel in the U.S.

I’ll probably catch up on some of my fall TV viewing. I’m still behind on several shows. I didn’t seem to have enough time to catch everything this past season. Other than In Plain Sight, the only new series I expect to be watching is ABC’s Wipeout. It looks like some of the Japanese gameshows I’ve enjoyed watching on cable TV.

Eric Lizotte

With summer comes several tasty TV treats. One of which is the most excellent Burn Notice, which is coming back for its second season this July. There’s nothing quite like quasi-realistic spy action–oh, not to forget ex-girlfriends that know to… handle themselves–to lift ones spirits. So, it’ll definitely be worth tuning into to see what Michael Weston and company get up to this time round, especially since he’s off to meet the man who burned him, or is he?

Another sweet morsel to check out this summer–particularly if you’re a history buff or like fun, useless knowledge–is PBS’s History Detectives. The researchers on this show are all top notch and are always able, through their findings, it seems, no matter how obscure the topic or item in question, to bring history to life.

Charles White

I don’t feel like there’s really anything special coming out this summer. Unfortunately due to the writer’s strike, a lot of the shows that I see are reality shows ripped off of other reality shows I’ve seen. There are a couple of shows though out there that might hold us over ’til summer.

In Plain Sight is interesting; it’s not nearly as good or as fun to watch as Burn Notice, but it has potential. Mary is an interesting character and even though she’s female, she very much has a male mindset. The show has started off decent, but it needs something more. The concept of the show is that she works in the witness protection, but in my opinion the interesting part is watching Mary control her personal life. There should be more personal life problems in this show and more of a focus on how much trouble she has balancing her personal and work life.

Weeds is probably my most anticipated show that I’m waiting for. Last season Nancy was forced to move out of Agrestic. The cast will be changed or downgraded quite a bit this season, so it should be interesting to see if Weeds has jumped the shark or if this could be the best thing for the show.

I’m also watching So You Think You Can Dance, which to me is better then American Idol. With the contestants and judges, it feels like this show really wants to help the contestants and you can see the passion that the dancers have.

I’d also like to start watching Burn Notice, I didn’t watch much of the first season, due to lack of time, but it was a very fun show to watch. This summer seems a little dry, but along with the shows I’ve mentioned, there will probably be some hidden gems that pop up along the way this summer.

With the end of the series on its way, it does appear that the mythology of the show will come to a conclusion. The mythology, of course, is what happened to Trudy. Who killed her and why.

Thankfully, we’ll have other shows to watch alongside Monk. PSYCH and Burn Notice were both renewed. USA Network programming is some of my favorite, but it’s too bad The Dead Zone and The 4400 were canceled.

And now we finally have word that the last season will be coming out on DVD this May (6th). That news wasn’t surprising, but the box cover the studio released to the media was surprising. Is it just me or is it rather dark and gloomy?

I realize the fourth season was filled with dark moments, but I don’t think this is going to really help sell DVDs, do you? It’s very black-and-white. And it frankly doesn’t encourage me to buy it. Product packaging is important, so I’m betting (or at least hoping) they will change it by May.

Well, back to work…

Shawn’s brother, Danny, who took a shot of promicin, has had to rush his mother to the hospital after she began coughing up blood. Once inside, paramedics, nurses, doctors, and patients begin experiencing the same health problems Danny’s mother did. It becomes apparent that Danny is contagious in some manner and is spreading promicin to everyone near him.

With all of this going on, the city is quarantined by the government. They don’t want promicin being spread any further. The promicin is killing a large number of people. Everyone who became sick is dead now, including Shawn and Danny’s mother.

When Danny contacts Shawn, he tells him about their mother’s death. Although Shawn is very sad about what has happened, he focuses on helping Danny and keeping everyone else as safe as possible. He brings Danny into the 4400 Center and asks Kevin Burkoff to examine him. Dr. Burkoff confirms what we had already known: Danny’s ability seems to be to spread promicin to the masses. Because of the inherent risk to the general public, Danny is put on the inhibitor.

Now that Tom is his old self, he knows that he must get back to the marked and act like a member of the marked again. He needs to get Jordan Collier out of their custody and free him before it’s too late. He is able to get to Jordan, but isn’t able to leave because of the National Security Director, who noticed Tom’s odd reaction when she told him about how Kyle Baldwin is next on their list to kill.

Isabelle drops by Promise City and tries to kill Kyle, but isn’t able to stomach the idea. Instead, Isabelle says “goodbye” and heads back to the house where Tom and Jordan are being held. She and the National Security Director battle it out. Both women end up dying, but Isabelle is able to free Jordan and Tom.

The inhibitor that Danny was given has had a side effect on Danny. The inhibitor may prevent Danny from using his ability, but it’s letting the promicin build up in Danny’s body and it’s slowly killing him. Desperate, Danny begs his brother, Shawn, to end the pain once and for all.

Because the promicin was spread throughout the city, even the NTAC agents were infected. Meghan, for instance, now has an ability. Unfortunately, over nine thousand Seattle citizens have died because of Danny’s ability. The promicin positives have taken over the city with Jordan Collier as their leader.

Holy cow! This was a great season finale. The cast list after this season shrunk a little. I wasn’t surprised that Tom made it. I think killing off Tom would have been a huge mistake.

I’m very interested in seeing what the writers have in mind for the city now that the promicin positives are in control of the city. We also got a glimpse of some of the abilities of the NTAC agents.

My favorite scene in “The Great Leap Forward” was the death scene with Shawn and Danny. I felt terrible for both men. Danny had had enough and Shawn didn’t want to let go. It was absolutely heart-wrenching.

The 4400 – The Great Leap Forward
Original Air Date: September 16, 2007

Rating: 9.1

Curious about getting the “thing” out of Tom, Diana and Meghan travel to Canada and meet with Curtis Peck, the 4400 who first alerted people about the marked. Although he was hesitant about telling them anything about the marked, Curtis did give them a some information in regards to how they are created. His “tiny machines” reference in regards to what is placed into the spinal fluid gave Marco the impression that the “tiny machines” Peck referred to are nannites. They don’t really exist in today’s world, but obviously do in the future.

It took some time before Marco was able to research nannites and learned from an old friend that if such a thing did exist, the only way to kill the nannite infection would be to subject the infected person to high amounts of radiation. Unfortunately for Tom, the radiation is so high he would likely die.

Isabelle’s task of bringing Jordan Collier to Tom was a success. Tom has plans to turn him into a member of the marked and Collier would therefor turn on the 4400s, using his ability to take away everyone else’s abilities.

I was rather surprised by the inclusion of the Kevin Burkoff/Tess subplot. They have been featured in a few episodes this year, but their relationship hasn’t been mentioned much at all. I was pleased to see them discuss their problems. I’d like to see these two in more episodes in the future.

Tom really pushed his luck this week by giving Maia a shot of the inhibitor. It has made her sick and obviously unable to have any of her visions. There was a major confrontation with Diana, Meghan, and Tom at a hotel and a large store. The show ended with a good cliffhanger.

While the episode was full of action, I couldn’t help but think about the season finale. “Tiny Machines” served well as a set-up episode. I’m very excited to see the next episode. I’d like to see what ability Danny develops thanks to his shot of promicin.

The 4400 – Tiny Machines
Original Air Date: September 09, 2007

Rating: 7.3

Recently, we learned Kevin Burkoff had been working on a test to determine one’s survivability should he or she take a promicin shot. Well, Kyle, acting on the advice from Cassie, has kidnapped Kevin and is keeping him at Promise City so that he won’t be able to continue his research. When Shawn learns of Kevin’s whereabouts, he makes the decision to seek the help of Tess in order to get Kevin back.

Last week, Tom informed Isabelle that she would have to take promicin again to get her abilities. In “Ghost in the Machine,” Isabelle takes the shot and returns to Promise City. Tom wants her to deliver Jordan Collier.

With the bizarre behavior Tom has been showing, Diana and Meghan come to the realization Tom really isn’t Tom anymore. While they don’t have any great plan, they do decide to act like nothing has changed so that he doesn’t get wind of their suspicion.

Although “Ghost in the Machine” did have a little action in it, this episode seemed to be more of a set-up episode, preparing us for the season finale. Tom’s conversation with someone on the phone at the end of the episode was particularly intriguing. He told the mystery person that Drew Imroth has committed suicide so that a new host may be found for that agent of the future. Who will be the new host? Jordan Collier.

The 4400 – Ghost in the Machine
Original Air Date: August 26, 2007

Rating: 7.1

Tom, who noticed his mole returned last week, has been officially taken over. He, along with Rebecca Parish, the Director of National Intelligence, are both part of the marked. Although Tom and Rebecca are the only ones who knows this, Diana is suspicious about the two of them. Tom, for instance, is acting a little odd. I figure it’s only a matter of time until she figures it out.

After changing Isabelle back to a child, Richard feels bad about his decision. Lily told him what he did was wrong, and he admits he knew it immediately. In an attempt to undo what he has done, Richard seeks the help of Cora Tomkins again and asks her to turn Isabelle back to an adult. Although upset by Richard’s actions, Cora agrees to help.

With Kevin Burkhoff still in Seattle (for the time being), he tells Shawn about the research he has been doing. It seems Kevin is a few months away from developing a simple test to figure out which people will die when they take a shot of promicin. Shawn is very happy about this news, as it means they can save thousands of lives if people would take the test to see how they would fare. Jordan, on the other hand, is not in favor of the test.

“One of Us” continues a great storyline, which may result in Shawn, Kevin, and Jordan being hurt. I am also looking forward to watching Tom Baldwin as he tries to be “himself” and do his work as a member of the marked.

The 4400 – One of Us
Original Air Date: August 19, 2007

Rating: 8.4

Meanwhile, Richard, who we haven’t seen in a while, has come back to Promise City. Without telling anyone of his plans in advance, Richard kidnaps Isabelle and takes her to a home he has in Oregon. His plan is to use the ability of another 4400, Cara, to revert Isabelle back to just a child so he can help her grow up properly and forget the terrible things she has seen and done.

The relationship between Tom and Meghan took a giant step forward this week. They had been getting more and more comfortable with one another, but that relationship has changed drastically and they’re having sex now.

Tonight’s episode had several little twists in it. Certainly Richard’s return and his plans stole the show for me. I’m looking forward to seeing the story progress here.

The 4400 – Daddy’s Little Girl
Original Air Date: August 12, 2007

Rating: 6.6