A blog about television by TIME’s TV critic James Poniewozik.

Among the year-end business I'm working on right now is a list of the top TV shows of the last decade. In some ways it's actually easier than my year-end top-ten list, because it's really the creme de la creme—if a show doesn't immediately come to mind, it probably shouldn't be on the list.

But there's one big dilemma: what to do with "border shows," series that aired episodes in both the 1990s and the 2000s—Freaks and Geeks, The Sopranos, Sex and the City, The West Wing, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Daily Show, and so on.

Here are a few possible rules for dealing with these shows. Tell me which you prefer, or suggest your own:

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Should Lou Dobbs Run for President?

Well, "should" rarely enters into the decision, I realize. But among the theories propounded by Dobbs' resignation from CNN—and prompted by his vague reference to seeking "options" in the public sphere—is that he's considering running for office. Salon's Joe Conason thinks he may be thinking of running for The Big One.

So when I say "should" here, I mean not whether you'd vote for him, but could he make a credible candidate?

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The great Sarah Palin Rollout has arrived. The former V.P. candidate's book Going Rogue comes out on Tuesday, she appears on the Oprah Winfrey show on Monday, and CBS News is teasing the interview with a clip that just happens to implicitly flatter its own anchor:

Reports from an advance leak of Going Rogue say that Palin contends she agreed to the Couric interview because she "felt sorry" for the anchor. Not sure if she didn't repeat that in the Oprah interview, or if CBS News just preferred not to publicize it. The full sitdown airs on Monday's Oprah. Get your popcorn ready!

          

The Morning After: Flash News

Acting on the advice of a commenter here a while ago, I am committing to the practice of saving myself time and simply watching the last five minutes of any given FlashForward, at least until and if the series shows some improvement. Thus it's not really fair for me to review the show per se, but I did—looking on the bright side—at least like last week's suggestion that the flashforwards do not have to play out.

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NBC Sitcoms Watch: Four on the Floor

As much as we all like to beat on NBC lately, its Thursday comedy lineup is—whatever weekly ups and downs it has—the most consistently solid sitcom block it's had in years, if not ever, without a single Stark Raving Mad-like filler show in the bunch. That leaves a so-much-to-cover-so-little-time problem, though, so this week, I'm trying an experiment: NBC's Thursday night, gallery style! Click on the pix for my impressions, and we'll see whether this turns out to be a horrible mistake. [Update: Tell me what you think of the format, by the way—not that you weren't going to tell me anyway]:

          

Dead Tree Alert: The Prisoner

 

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AMC

In this week's print TIME, I review The Prisoner, which I found pretty to look at, but pretentious and incoherent. Which, since you're probably going to ask, is not how I would describe the 1967 original, for all its surreality. Some of the problems with the new version stem from the way it tries to conceptually update the original's Cold War, totalitarianism-vs.-individuality themes for today; but it's the sort of problem that, by its nature, I can't describe in much detail without getting into spoilers. I doubt I'll do individual-night reviews, but I may post after it finishes airing to spell out some of my issues in more detail, and we can compare notes then.

 

          

HBO Prepares Pacific Invasion

When I want to take a break and drive myself crazy, I look over my year-end best-TV-list candidates and try to whittle them down to 10. I didn't realize until this year—with a surfeit of shows that could arguably land in a top 10—what a blessing the writers' strike of 2008 was.

And next year could be even tougher. I haven't seen any new series debuting for 2010 yet, but FX's Lawman looks impressive; AMC Rubicon is at least a promising premise; and HBO has a whole train of new shows barreling down the track, including David Simon's Treme and  Martin Scorsese's Boardwalk Empire. (In case Game of Thrones fans are wondering, I'd be surprised, should the series get picked up, if it lands on air before 2011.) And oh yeah, here's a trailer for a little Band of Brothers sequel called The Pacific:

Could be a long year.

          

Cable-News News: King Moves Up, Hannity Owns Up

That was quick: Less than 24 hours after Lou Dobbs abruptly left the air, CNN has announced he'll be replaced by magic-wall-wrangler John King, hosting a daily political program. King's show begins early next year. Thereby ensuring that the network's 7 p.m. hour will not have to deal with future Dobbs-like controversies, or, most likely, anything else at all interesting.

The charitable view is that CNN, now in the basement in primetime news ratings, is not trying to copy the competition but sticking to its brand of straight news (though, face it—there's plenty of filler on The Situation Room). And King does bring his sidekick, the magic wall with him. (As if that wall's ego wasn't big enough already. Mark my words—that flat-screen is going to be a terror when it comes time to renegotiate its contract.

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Glee Watch: Four Wheels Good

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FOX

 

Spoilers for last night's Glee coming up after the jump:

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Lou Dobbs Gets Off of CNN's Lawn

In an odd moment in a career that has not exactly lacked for said moments, crotchety CNN host Lou Dobbs abruptly announced on-air today that he is leaving the network where he has worked most of three decades (and hence, most of its existence). Leaving as in today. From his statement:

Over the past six months, it's become increasingly clear that strong winds of change have begun buffeting this country and affecting all of us. And some leaders in media, politics and business have been urging me to go beyond my role here at CNN and to engage in constructive problem-solving, as well as to contribute positively to a better understanding of the great issues of our day. And to continue to do so in the most honest and direct language possible.

Not a few critics have said, in not as complimentary terms, that Dobbs could in fact better contribute to positive understanding of issues—by no longer hosting a CNN show. But what did Dobbs mean by it?

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