Well, it had to happen eventually and TNT made it official on Tuesday, November 16. Two-season-old undercover-cop procedural Dark Blue is no more.

The basic-cable network has decided not to renew the Dylan McDermott original series for a third season, despite the addition of Battlestar Galactica fan favorite Tricia Helfer as a regular character during the sophomore season.

I can’t say I’m surprised since it wasn’t a given that the show would even make it to a second season. If it makes fans feel better, they can blame the axing on the usual culprit, meaning poor ratings. Dark Blue was TNT’s lowest-rated series over the summer, managing to attract an average of only slightly more than 2 million viewers for each of the second season’s 10 episodes.

So long. At least Dark Blue was gritty while it lasted.

TNT undercover-cop series Dark Blue closes its second season tonight, September 15, with the double-episode finale “Dead Flowers” and “Personal Effects,” which premieres at 9pm ET.

The two episodes are continuous, meaning they both involve the same central plot and characters. Things are initially going just swell for Team Carter as the members work to take down two shady brothers suspected of using a flower company as a front for drug smuggling. But then meddling Homeland Security shows up out of nowhere intent on allowing the brothers to continue business as usual in order to catch a probable terrorist.

Meanwhile, on the personal side, Dean tries to hook up with Jaimie properly, Ty second guesses his decision to divorce his wife, Alex contemplates taking that high-profile job in Miami, and Carter deals with some potentially life-changing stuff.

The finale has several very nice guest stars lined up, including Castle regular Seamus Dever, former Killer Instinct lead Johnny Messner, and Michelle Borth of the upcoming Hawaii Five-0 reboot on CBS.

Sneak a peek at “Dead Flowers” in the preview video below. It looks like Dark Blue plans to end the summer on a roll.

TNT crime drama Dark Blue is wrapping up its current second season with two double-episode broadcasts, starting with the fresh back-to-back September 8 episodes “Home Sweet Home” and “Shell Game.”

During the 9pm ET installment “Home Sweet Home,” Team Carter attempts to bust a crew of home invaders, but their plan hits a major snag when the crew learns what’s up before the take down goes down. Former Raising the Bar cast member Currie Graham guest stars.

On the following 10pm installment “Shell Game,” Ty gets personally involved in a case when he learns that his girlfriend is tied to a man’s murder, which may have something to do with a prominent and possibly shady community representative. Charles S. Dutton (Roc) guest stars.

Sneak a lengthy peek at “Home Sweet Home” in the video below.

Breaking Bad regular Dean Norris — who had a breakout season as broken-down DEA Agent Hank Schrader on the Emmy-winning AMC series earlier this year — guest stars on the first September episode of TNT crime drama Dark Blue, which is called “Jane Wayne.

While Dean and Ty babysit an irritating informant who’s a wannabe cop, Carter frets over undercover Jaimie’s enthusiasm to help bust a group of crooks who love posing as DEA agents so they can steal from drug dealers more easily. Slick dudes.

A sneak peek at “Jane Wayne” follows.

Coming up on TNT crime drama Dark Blue is the fresh August 25 episode “Brother’s Keeper,” which premieres at 9pm ET.

Ever-crafty Team Carter helps break a criminal out of jail so that he will (hopefully) lead them to his notorious older brother, a militia leader planning to murder a federal judge. Lovely.

Elsewhere, Alex prepares her report on the state of Team Carter, just as Ty decides to let his personal life get in the way of his professional duties. Nice timing, dude, as usual — first you lose your wife and now you endanger your job.

Preview a few scenes from “Brother’s Keeper” in the following sneak peek.

Carter Shaw’s ace group of undercover artists tackle the world of high-stakes gambling during the new August 18 episode of TNT crime drama Dark Blue.

True to the title “High Rollers,” Team Carter must worm its way into a local casino after a law school student who loved some gambling disappears. While Ty gets all into his gambler persona, Jaimie gets way up close and extremely personal with a tough loan shark. Rick Hoffman (Samantha Who?, The Bernie Mac Show) and Max Martini (The Unit, Level 9) add guest-star juice.

Sneak a two-minute peek at “High Rollers” in the preview clip below. It looks like Carter and Tricia Helfer‘s FBI Agent Alex Rice are becoming quite cozy. Good for them.

Who knew today would turn out so good for Reaper alum? Not only did ABC just announce that the devil dramedy’s former star Bret Harrison has snagged a recurring gig on sophomore sci-fi series V 2.0, but his old costar Rick Gonzalez also has a substantial guest-star role on tonight’s (August 11) new “Shelter of the Beast” episode of TNT crime drama Dark Blue.

“Shelter of the Beast” is the conclusion of the two-parter that began with “Liar’s Poker,” the final episode of last week’s two-hour Season Two premiere. Jordana Brewster is back as art gallery owner Maria, whom Dean continues to hang out with while trying to discover information that can lead to her drug-dealer father’s associate.

Easier said than done, of course, especially when the associate is the leader of an infamous drug cartel based in Mexico. Gonzalez’s character enters the picture when Carter needs an in with Maria’s father Edwin (Peter Lewis, Boston Legal) from another angle, and luckily for us viewers, Gonzalez actually has significant — and predictably funny — screen time.

While Carter pretends to be a career pornographer (and dresses the part) in order to convince Edwin that he wants to branch out into the drug trade, Dean grows increasingly troubled about the entire situation. Decisions must be made and true to Dean’s signature maverick attitude, he eventually ends up doing what he thinks is best. The episode doesn’t end the way I originally thought it would, but it’s a fitting wrap-up.

Preview select scenes from “Shelter of the Beast” in the following sneak peek before the episode’s 9pm ET premiere.

TNT crime drama Dark Blue kicks off its ten-episode sophomore season tonight, August 4, at 9pm ET with a special treat for fans. The premiere features two episodes — “Urban Garden” and “Liar’s Poker” — which means viewers will get a double dose of action before the series settles into its regular hourlong format and 9pm–10pm time slot.

So, what’s new for the new season? First and foremost, the series has added another cast member, namely Battlestar Galactica fan favorite Tricia Helfer. The former model and current actress plays an FBI agent named Alex Rice. She meets Carter Shaw’s (Dylan McDermott) team of brave, competent undercover police officers during “Urban Garden” while working undercover herself to target the same dangerous criminal as them, but from a very different angle.

When it becomes obvious that Rice and Shaw’s teams share a common goal, they reluctantly join forces to achieve it. That doesn’t mean everything is hunky dory or goes swell, however, especially when one of Carter’s few close friends ends up paying a high price.

Of course, the situation makes Carter even more determined to take down the criminal, painfully, if possible. Yet, Rice is along for the ride now, and she has her own way of looking at things. Can you say “dramatic tension”? Unfortunately, there’s not as much between the two boss characters as I had hoped, but stuff has a way of happening, so what can you do?

Agent Rice and all of Team Carter’s members seem completely comfortable in their new LAPD/FBI task force roles during the second episode of Season Two premiere night, “Liar’s Poker.” Even better, while Omari Hardwick‘s buff Ty Curtis is a barely seen peripheral presence during the first episode, he moves up front and center during the second. That’s always a good thing because the character gives the series an extra shot of street cred, which is a necessity when plots revolve around assuming fake criminal identities and associating with assorted crooks and thugs.

Ty’s assignment is to get in good with a local drug dealer who has ties to a powerful drug cartel based in Mexico. While he does his thing just as convincingly as could be around the ‘hood, Logan Marshall-Green‘s shifty Dean Bendis works another angle of the same case.

Dean manages to get his own “in” by establishing a relationship with an attractive art gallery owner and suspect named Maria, played by guest star Jordana Brewster (Chuck, The Fast and the Furious) on multiple episodes. How fun it must be for Dean’s colleague and lover Jaimie Allen (Nicki Aycox) to watch him hook up with such a pretty gal. It’s hard to tell if she actually enjoys it or just puts up a good front hiding her true feelings; could go either way.

Although the episode concludes with a little resolution on Ty’s end, there’s enough unsettled business left for Brewster’s Maria to return during the August 11 episode “Shelter of the Beast.” Helfer will be back, too, since the special task force is just getting started. The actress makes a nice addition to the show, and she’ll eventually have a significant impact on brooding Carter’s life, too. How that will end, and whether the results will be good or bad, we’ll just have to wait and see.

Sneak a peek at the first hour of Dark Blue‘s double-episode second-season premiere below.

If you enjoyed the first season of gloomy TNT crime drama Dark Blue, then you might be as happy as I am that the show’s second season begins in exactly one week … with a two-hour, double-episode premiere, to boot.

The first episodes of the Summer 2010 run are the back-to-back installments “Urban Garden” and “Liar’s Poker,” which debut next Wednesday, August 4, from 9pm–11pm ET. The procedural will then air single hourlong episodes in the show’s regular time slot of 9pm–10pm. I’ll have a review of the August 4 premiere episodes before they bow.

Those who have never watched Dark Blue but like gritty crime dramas will probably appreciate the show. The regular cast includes Nicki Aycox (Cold Case), Logan Marshall Greene (The O.C.), Omari Hardwick (TNT’s Saved), and Dylan McDermott (The Practice) as undercover police officers — all with intriguing pasts — in the Los Angeles Police Department’s dangerous undercover division.

This summer, Battlestar Galactica veteran Tricia Helfer also joins the lineup as an FBI agent named Alex Rice, who will become bossman Carter Shaw’s (McDermott) boss. I’m sure he’s going to enjoy that change of command[/sarcasm].

TNT hasn’t uploaded a sneak peek for the second-season premiere yet, but you can review what happened during the action-packed first season in the following Season One Rapid Recap. More on the series to come.

Since The Practice vet Dylan McDermott‘s last TV-series venture — the quickly canceled, man-centric ABC dramedy Big Shots — didn’t fare too well, there’s no doubt the actor is hoping for better results with his latest show. That would be the upcoming TNT crime drama Dark Blue, which premieres on Wednesday, July 15, at 10pm ET, right after the sophomore hit Leverage.

McDermott stars as lead character Carter Shaw, the head of a covert team of police officers who go so deep undercover that many of their colleagues don’t even realize who they are. Since Shaw has lost his wife and the life he once knew, thanks to his devotion to his job, he’s also a troubled individual.

Helping Shaw carry out complex take-down investigations are his team members:

Ty Curtis (Omari Hardwick, Saved), a newlywed who has a difficult time coping with his undercover identities.

Dean Bendis (Logan Marshall-Green, The O.C.) a reckless cop whose irresponsible behavior makes his colleagues question whether he’s still on the right side of the law.

And Jaimie Allen (Nicki Aycox, Supernatural), a rookie patrol officer admitted to the team because of her shady backround and ability to lie with the best.

Take an advance look at TNT’s newest original drama in the sneak peek below, a segment from the beginning of the pilot, which I’ve already seen. I’ll follow up with an early review of the first episode and an interview with star McDermott before the big premiere. I think I’m gonna like watching Dark Blue.