TV

The last season of what FX introduced on Tuesday as "the single most important series in commercial supported cable television" (a long-winded way of saying "the most important cable show other than The Sopranos") is being called The Shield: The Final Act. It will begin in September and the cast and crew gathered on stage at the Beverly Hilton to talk about it, with star Michael Chiklis appearing via satellite, thanks to a movie-shoot obligation.

There was a lot of talk about what made the show great, how it was for the actors and writers and producers and so on. But, of course, the bulk of questions tried to ferret out clues or glimpses of what will happen and, especially, how will it all end for the gang of L.A. cops.

"It feels like a graduation," said creator Shawn Ryan. "The finales I've liked are ones where the shows stayed true to themselves, didn't try to go outside the umbrella. I think our finale feels like the Shield universe."

As to anything more specific -- who lives, who dies -- forget it. But you can be sure that some characters do die since, responding to a question about the possibility of a Shield movie, Mr. Chiklis said one of the problems would be "are there enough characters still alive to do a movie?"

The real question everyone was looking for an answer to or hint about was: Does Vic Mackey, Michael Chiklis' maverick cop, die?

No answer, of course, except for this offered by co-star CCH Pounder, who plays Mackey's tough captain: "This finale is what Vic Mackey deserves."

John Landgraf, president and general manager of FX Networks opened his morning comments with several announcements. They included:

Nip/Tuck: The final eight episodes of the strike-interrupted fifth season have been completed and will air in "early 2009." In addition, the network has ordered an additional 19 episodes, bringing one of cable TV top-rated scripted series to the significant-in-syndication total number of 100.The show, which has been the number-one-rated scripted series on basic cable for five consecutive years, will conclude its run in "early 2011."

Rescue Me: The series will begin its fifth season in Spring 2009 and will include a guest-star run from Michael J. Fox who joins the show for a four-run arc starting with the season-opening episode.

Damages: The series will return for its second season in January. Joining the cast will be Marcia Gay Harden, William Hurt and Timothy Olyphant. Ms. Harden will play an attorney who goes up against Glen Close's character, Patty Hewes. Mr. Hurt plays a man from Patty's past who's in trouble and reaches out to her for help. Mr. Olyphant plays a "mysterious figure," a man that Patty's assistant Ellen meets in grief counselling and becomes her confidante.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: The network announced it will order 39 more episodes of the comedy that has become the number-one downloaded show on the online-TV site, Hulu.com. 13 episodes are currently in production and the fourth season kicks off on Sept. 18.

New Show Announcement: FX will introduce Testees, a new comedy from Kenny Hotz, a writer for South Park and creator of the Comedy Central series, Kenny vs Spenny. The show will center on two buddies who make their livings as medical test subjects.

He was at the FX network's day during the TCA press tour to talk about his new role on the upcoming second season of Damages -- new enough that the listing of it hasn't yet made it onto his profile at IMDB.com. And talk about it he did, but let's get to that in another post.

He's the second Deadwood-alum actor in as many days to appear on a TCA panel (Garrett Dillahunt who played Hearst's psycho-killer scout was part of Monday's Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles panel). And once again, the Deadwood diehards in the audience couldn't let the opportunity to ask some questions, specifically The Question: Will there ever be the once-promised series-concluding movie?

But as an opening segue question, he was asked to compare his experience thus far on Damages with his experience as Sheriff Seth Bullock. The big difference, he said, is "that when those guys talk," pointing to executive producers Daniel Zelman, Todd A. Kessler and Glenn Kessler, "I understand what they're talking about," a reference to Deadwood creator David Milch's tendency to speak in grand, rambling, incantational discourses.

Then he was asked if he always knew there would never be a movie.

"I thought there was a really strong chance it would never happen, but no it's not like it was clear all along that it wouldn't.

"Nothing ever was very clear in that experience."