» Shows to Know

What happened on this week's 'Dexter' season 4 episode 9, 'Hungry Man' -- in 100 words or less.

Dexter shares a tense Thanksgiving with the Mitchells. Jonah cracks and calls his dad a killer. Dexter nearly strangles Arthur, but the family stops him. He fumes on the way home, with Harry riding psychic shotgun.

Meanwhile, Batista and Maria say "I love you." At home, the shed has been breached, thanks to Cody falling through the skylight, but nothing is amiss.

What happened on this week's 'Vampire Diaries' season 1 episode 10, 'The Turning Point' -- in 100 words or less.

Logan's a vampire! We'll find out whether he's still alive after getting staked by Alaric Saltzman. Mayor Lockwood tries to goad Tyler and Jeremy into fighting after they butt heads over Vicki. The mayor is acting weird.

Stefan and Damon save Caroline from becoming Logan's dinner. And those vampires in the church? "There's another way to break the spell," says Logan.

ABC has 'Grey's Anatomy,' NBC introduced 'Mercy' this season, and now the CW will join the scalpel bandwagon with 'HMS,' an hour-long drama centering around a group of Harvard medical students.

Twenty-year-old Hayden Panettiere, best known for playing Claire Bennet on NBC's 'Heroes,' will expand her resume to include something other than playing the pretty blonde cheerleader (okay, we shamefully admit that we've seen her in 'Bring it On: All or Nothing'). She'll try her hand at producing for the first time and, along with the show's writer, Amy Holden Jones of 'Mystic Pizza' fame, Hayden will be credited as co-producer.

In this extended clip from 'V,' the upcoming reimagining of the 1983 sci-fi miniseries, the world braces itself as a race of aliens known only as "The Visitors" arrives on the scene. As any fan of the original series knows, The Visitors are not entirely what they seem. Expect alien subterfuge and imperiled pets when the hotly anticipated remake begins November 3.

Check out the first 9:30 of the pilot after the jump.

Watch 'V' full episodes at SlashControl.

A 'Star Wars' variety show, starring characters named "Itchy" and "Lumpy?" An inexplicable musical number by none other than the late Bea Arthur? And since when did the 'Star Wars' universe expand to encompass Harvey Korman and Art Carney? One wouldn't be too far off the mark to accuse the creators of 'The Star Wars Holiday Special' of having been drunk on Jawa Juice when they made this legendarily bad (aka, awesome) slice of holiday entertainment.

Starring the entire "Star Wars" cast with the exception of Alec Guinness, the 1978 special was produced with the intent of capitalizing on 'Star Wars' mania. Instead, it set a low-water mark for bizarre television. The plot, such as it is, involves Chewbacca rushing home to his home planet of Kashyyyk to celebrate "Life Day," the Wookie equivalent of Christmas.

In what Jeff Probst called the "scariest moment on 19 seasons" of 'Survivor,' contestant Russell Swan collapsed twice and appeared to be on the brink of death. He was the second 'Survivor: Samoa' player after Mike Borassi to be medically evacuated.

After the Galu tribe leader blacked out, Probst declared, "This challenge is over, neither tribe wins reward" -- making it the first time in 'Survivor' history that a challenge was unfinished. And though both teams were sent to tribal council to vote someone off, Probst informed them that everybody would be safe -- this week.

Watch Russell's injury moment from TV's Top 5! after the jump ...

Attention, Gleeks! There's a veritable choir-gasm of news today about 'Glee,' which is featured on this week's cover of Entertainment Weekly. Let's start with the happy announcement that Fox is jumping the gun and releasing a 'Glee' DVD even before the first season is finished. The first 13 episodes will be available on disc by December 29.

Variety reports that 'Glee Season One: Road to Sectionals' will feature the director's cut of the pilot episode, behind-the-scenes features, videos of cast auditions and, of course, musical numbers from the show. A full-season DVD will be released after the rest of the season airs in 2010; purchasers of the 'Road to Sectionals' DVD will get a discount voucher so that they don't have to pay for the same episodes twice.

More 'Glee' news, featuring Madonna, Adam Lambert and Barack Obama, after the jump ...

Why is everyone in the geekosphere floating on clouds of bliss today? Because last night was the season 4 premiere of 'The Venture Brothers' on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim.

Aside from the consensus on Twitter and elsewhere that the adventure/comic book parody series (think 'Jonny Quest' on acid) is up to its usual standards of inventive ridiculousness and nerd-culture savvy, there's also a tangle of new plot and character complications to keep fans buzzing until next Sunday's episode. Here's a crib sheet to help you catch up ...

ABC may have given 'FlashForward' a vote of confidence this week by ordering an ample 25-episode first season, but many viewers and critics are less than enchanted by the show touted as the next 'Lost.'

After months of high expectations before the sci-fi drama even premiered, some would-be fans are so disappointed with the show's perceived shortcomings -- characters that are hard to empathize with, plots that hardly advance from week to week, and a brilliant premise betrayed by poor execution -- that they're comparing it to 'Heroes' instead of 'Lost.' But it's not too late! Perhaps 'FlashForward' can be fixed if the writers and producers follow these six suggestions ...

Let's face it: Kitty's cancer on 'Brothers & Sisters' has been a downer, but the mood's about to get a lot lighter. Gilles Marini, of 'Dancing With the Stars' and 'Sex and the City' movie fame, starts a five-episode arc Sun., Oct. 18 as French artist Luc Laurent, a love interest for Rachel Griffiths' Sarah.

"Luc's a painter, who lives in a barn," Marini recently told AOL TV. "It's really love at first sight [with Sarah]. There will be cooking, dancing, drama and excitement. Luc's a Renaissance Man. You're going to see a real romance."