The current summer season continues to heat up on basic cable with the July 11 addition of new A&E crime drama The Glades.

The original series stars Australian actor Matt Passmore (McLeod’s Daughters) as “cheeky” Chicago police officer Jim Longworth. When Jim is suspected of bedding his boss’ wife — a big no-no, if you didn’t know — he finds himself exiled from the Windy City to the hot and humid fictional community of Palm Glade, Florida. I would not be pleased about that.

Tonight’s 10pm ET pilot premiere introduces Jim as he begins working with his new colleagues on the state police force during his first Florida case: a murder involving a beheaded woman found in/up (take your pick) a creek. Ouch!

Check out what The Glades is all about in the following series preview. As usual these days, basic cable’s latest looks pretty darn good. Who needs expensive premium cable?

The based-on-fact drama The Cleaner made A&E history during its first season. Starring Law & Order‘s Benjamin Bratt, Battlestar Galactica‘s Grace Park, Level 9‘s Esteban Powell, and 24‘s Amy Price-Francis, the original series averaged 4.2 million viewers overall and comparably high numbers in key demographics, making it the basic-cable network’s top-rated show ever. The Cleaner returns tonight (June 23) at 10pm ET to repeat that success during its second season.

The premiere episode “Hello America” features Oscar-winning guest star Whoopi Goldberg (The View, Ghost) as extreme interventionist William Banks’ (Bratt) former sponsor, Pauline Kmec, who now sponsors a well-known television news anchor and supposedly recovered addict named Davis (Gary Cole; The West Wing, American Gothic). When his wife Michelle’s (Jayne Brook; Private Practice, John Doe) battle with cancer becomes too stressful, Davis falls back into his old habits, motivating Michelle to contact William and his team members Akani Cuesta (Park) and Arnie Swenton (Powell) for one of their familiar life-saving interventions.

If you’ve watched The Cleaner just once, you already know the drill: person asks for help with a difficult and rapidly declining addict, Team William analyzes the situation to determine the necessity and then the best strategy for abducting the fallen addict, complications ensue, lapsed addict eventually sees the error of his or her ways most of the time, and William has regular conversations with God throughout.

What makes The Cleaner resonate with viewers isn’t that routine, however, but rather the actual people involved in the process and their individual stories. The second-season premiere has some scenes with interesting camera work, a few very funny segments (just wait for the beach incident, for instance), good acting all around, and an especially nice yet heartwrenching twist that builds up to one of the most touching final scenes ever on the show, and there have been a few.

On the personal front, William and his estranged wife Melissa (Price-Francis) remain typically torn about the status of their relationship, despite their obvious love for one another. Those persistent feelings are one reason why William agrees to help put up a shiny happy front for her sake when her parents (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit‘s Mariette Hartley and The O.C.‘s Barry Newman) arrive for a visit. The older couple are a challenge in their own right, but the masquerade isn’t all for nothing, as viewers see eventually.

All in all, “Hello America” is exactly what fans have come to expect from The Cleaner, so they won’t be disappointed. Those who haven’t sampled the series yet but are curious shouldn’t have any problems following the action, either, because each new episode introduces a different addict with a relatively unique set of issues to overcome.

Benjamin Bratt‘s (Law & Order, pictured at right above with co-stars Esteban Powell and Grace Park) intriguing A&E drama The Cleaner returns to the tube tomorrow, June 23, at 10pm ET. If you watched the first season, you already know what the series is all about. If not, gain some insight in the video after jump, which includes brief comments from the show’s cast and crew.

Noteworthy guest stars on tap for the second go-round include The View‘s Whoopi Goldberg in the season opener “Hello America,” as well as — take a deep breath — Jonathan Adams (Bones), Alice Amter (The Big Bang Theory), Joe Don Baker (Strange Wilderness), Raymond J. Barry (Cold Case), Michael Beach (Stargate Atlantis), Noah Bean (Damages), Sterling Beaumon (Lost), Rachel Boston (The Ex List), Tom Bower (Appaloosa), Jeanette Brox (Heroes)…

…Madeline Carroll (Swing Vote), Kate del Castillo (Julia), Gary Cole (The West Wing), Charles Esten (Big Love), Nasser Faris (24), Janina Gavankar (The L Word), Rebecca Gayheart (Vanished), Taylor Handley (Southland), Shirley Jones (The Patridge Family), Mia Kirshner (The L Word), Maxim Knight (Our First Christmas)…

…Christine Lahti (Obsessed), Steve Landesberg (Head Case), Jamie McShane (Sons of Anarchy), Joel McKinnon Miller (Big Love), Lori Petty (House M.D.), Ingrid Rogers (All My Children), Diana Scarwid (Pushing Daisies), Paul Schulze (The Sopranos), Samantha Shelton (Monarch Cove), Jon Sklaroff (The Beast), Brian Van Holt (John From Cincinnati), and Tyler James Williams (Everybody Hates Chris). Woot!

I’ll be back tomorrow with an advance review of the new season’s first episode, so enjoy the theatrical preview below in the meantime.

Now it’s official. Basic-cable network A&E announced on Monday, June 15, that the end of Patrick Swayze‘s gritty FBI crime drama The Beast has arrived.

According to the basic-cable network’s president Bob DeBitetto, although the show was “a labor of love for everyone,” A&E “reluctantly” opted to cancel it “after careful deliberation.” The decision-making process surely took into account lead actor Swayze’s current struggle with pancreatic cancer, which he was diagnosed with in March 2008 and battled while filming the series.

The Beast was shot in Chicago, and it includes 13 episodes that aired from January 15 to April 23 this year. The Hollywood Reporter also notes DeBitetto’s description of Swayze’s performance as “an inspiration to us all,” an observation I gladly second.

I know, I know. I can’t believe I’m going to watch A&E’s new MC Hammer reality series Hammertime when it premieres tonight, either. But, I’ve seen a few promos and the viral YouTube video Hammer Pants Dance, and I simply can’t resist the good vibes those super shiny parachute pants always manage to inspire.

In support of the series, A&E has rolled out all kinds of interactive tech goodies and extras to help fans get into the action. The online and mobile features for the latest gig of so-called “digital media evangelist” MC Hammer include Hammertime‘s official network website, as well as:

• Twittertime, MC Hammer’s Twitter updates
• Hammer It Home Game, a board-game style online game featuring Hammer’s experiences
• Short-form Hammertime Videos, including sneak peaks at upcoming episodes and interviews with family members
• Hammertime Widget and other opportunities for fans, such as online contests and discussion forums

Hammertime follows 1990s star rapper Stanley “MC Hammer” Burrell, his wife of 23 years named Stephanie, and their six children: A’Keiba (21), Jamaris (18), Sarah (15), Stanley Jr. (13), Jeremiah (11), and Samuel (4). The family is based in sunny Oakland, California.

In case anyone needs a reason why a network might have given Hammer his own TV show, I can offer two: he not only has sold more than 50 million albums around the world — definitely not a number to snicker at — but he also has three Grammy awards to his name. Heck, I’d be happy with just one nomination.

Catch the new half-hour A&E series on Sundays at 10pm ET, starting tonight, June 14, with the first two of ten Season One episodes, “Shaping Up!” and “Moving Forward.” The Hammer Pants Dance video follows to get you in the proper mood.

Watch what happens when dozens of shiny pants-wearing strangers of all ages storm a “trendy” clothing store and proceed to get down. Cute, and I think the stunned customer reactions are really unscripted. Wish I could have been there for that.

I’ve been waiting patiently since news spread last week, via entertainment industry news outlet Variety, that basic-cable network A&E has canceled its latest original crime drama The Beast due to low ratings and also its lead cast member’s poor health. The FBI show stars film actor and current pancreatic cancer fighter Patrick Swayze, of course, who bravely continued with the series despite his medical condition.

Variety‘s revelation reportedly came from some of those ever elusive “sources,” and other entertainment websites and blogs quickly picked up the claim and ran with it straight to their headlines. However, not long after the rampant rumors of cancellation hit the Internet, website Zap2it posted a clarification directly from the horse’s, er, network’s rep.

The spokesperson stated that while A&E hasn’t awarded The Beast with a second season yet, it hasn’t canceled the series as of now either. According to Zap2it, the A&E publicist’s precise confirmation was:

At this point no decision has been made. Any reports to the contrary are false.

It doesn’t get any clearer than that, and so you have it — The Beast is neither canceled nor renewed, and fans will just have to wait longer, until the limbo sorts itself out. I hope that happens soon and the decision is ideal for ailing Swayze. Best wishes to him.

Season One of The Beast ended on April 23 after all 13 ordered and produced episodes finished airing. The series co-stars Travis Fimmel, Larry Gilliard, Kevin J. O’Connor, and Lindsay Pulsipher.

Tonight, basic-cable network A&E presents a new reality series with a twist for viewers who love body art. Called Tattoo Highway, the show follows tattoo artist Thomas Pendleton and various family members and associates as they travel the United States in a rolling tattoo parlor bus to ink willing clients. The tag line: Some stories don’t make it to the shop, so I bring my shop to them.

Like many people, I think tattoos are really cool, just like piercings and other forms of body art are. Yours truly not only has a pierced nose, but I did the job myself (very steadily and sterilely, I assure you). Still, I’ve never been into the tight-knit culture surrounding such practices, which is probably why I had no idea who Pendleton was or that he’s considered a master in the tattoo industry before checking out the series.

Apparently, that is the case, though, and I imagine fans of his work and tattoos in general will appreciate getting an inside look at his craft and the people who help him practice it, which includes his wife and business partner Monica. The mobile home setting certainly adds enough up-close atmosphere to make you almost feel like you’re on the road with the team.

During the series premiere at 10pm ET called “Vegas Babies,” Thomas gives the first client of the show a phoenix tattoo in the middle of her back, before visiting Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. members at their tattoo shop for another medium-scale inking session. The following half-hour episode, “Breakdown Lane,” features a foot tattoo — which I’ve heard are really painful, even if the customer on the show doesn’t flinch — before taking what some might consider a morbid turn for a client in a sentimental situation.

Throughout all of the artistry and visits to mentors and others, viewers learn quite a bit about how and why Thomas pursues his current profession. If tattooing is your thing and you crave some insider insight, that information will probably make the show worth watching.

The “Nadia” episode of The Beast is all about Roman Petrescu (nicely played by The Invisible Man‘s Vincent Ventresca), a rich Romanian diplomat’s Harvard-educated son running a thriving prostitution and slavery ring in the United States, courtesy of his home country’s poorest villages. The action gets underway when one of his sex-slave victims hangs herself rather than talk when the police bring her in for questioning.

After the Romanian ambassador agrees to waive immunity, Charles Barker (Patrick Swayze) decides the easiest way to get to Roman is through his ever-present goon Slava Dobre, a fat older man who did time in a Romanian prison and now spends his days being Roman’s shadow and collecting strong-arm money from various businesses.

While Ellis Dove (Travis Fimmel) pretends to be a customer and visits one of Roman’s “massage” parlors to establish his own in with one of the girls, Barker drops by Slava’s favorite bar and pretends to be a fellow former Jilava Prison inmate in order to lure him into backing his fake budding prostitution business. Both Feds fail initially, but Nadia (Angela Gots), the “massage” woman Dove meets, slips him a matchbook begging for help during the police raid he arranges later.

Barker is forced to try again with Slava and does an okay job being the crook’s drinking buddy … until he trips up and confuses his Romanian universities. Given the phony Romanian accent and the actual Romanian he’s speaking, that’s understandable. Unfortunately, poor Slava ends up dead of a broken neck when he pulls a gun on Barker after pointing out the mistake.

This gives Barker the opportunity to take his business proposition — money in exchange for hooker slaves — directly to Roman, who laughs and suggests he go back to his farm in Romania. Next thing you know, Roman is braining one of his own men with a lamp after Barker and Dove ambush him and kidnap two of Roman’s fresh-off-the-plane girls.

No worries, though, because Roman gets his own taste of braining after Barker and Dove take out his two hoodlums when they try to kill the Feds during a meeting to swap the sex-slave girls for money. Barker gleefully busts the slick criminal and then let’s Nadia get a little pistol whipping-to-the-face in when Roman claims he doesn’t know where her son Alin is.

Yep, that’s right — Roman has three rings in one: a prostitution ring (girls taken from poor Romanian villages), a slavery ring (girls forced to work as prostitutes until they pay up ridiculous amounts of money), and a baby-smuggling ring (girls’ kids bought and illegally sold for adoption in the United States).

Barker and Dove eventually track down Alin, but Nadia decides to let him stay with his new parents to keep him safe. The State Department’s immunity waiver for Roman is rescinded, however, so the government can enjoy increased cooperation with Romania. No worries there, either, because Barker just calls somebody, says a few things in Romanian, and voilà, the news is reporting Roman was murdered in his Bucharest hotel.

Despite his earlier claim to Ray Beaumont (Larry Gilliard Jr.) that he has no intention of ever betraying Barker, Roman’s death inspires Dove to load a virtual lockbox program on his computer that contains a photo of a cute little blond girl and a heavily redacted document about Barker being the agent in charge during a 1991 operation in Yugoslavia. The end.

Although the pilot had me convinced The Beast possesses enough potential to make it must-see TV, that opinion is starting to weaken after just three episodes. For starters, the cases we’ve seen up to now are way too cut-and-dried and standard crime-TV stuff to be interesting. They get wrapped up by the end of each episode and in a manner so simplistic you can see the resolution coming a mile away. Silly me, I thought the show was going to be more of a serial antihero drama.

My main peeve, however, is the disappearing subplot about Barker’s potential corruption. Larry Gilliard Jr.’s Internal Affairs Fed Ray is the most intense character on the show — sorry, Patrick — and now he’s barely making an appearance. Really good things start to happen whenever he’s on-screen, so it’s hard to imagine maintaining interest in The Beast if his role is diminished.

Let’s hope there’ll be more Internal Affairs action — and less Travis Fimmel/Ellis Dove smirking, underacting, and reciting lame jokes about snails crossing the street — on future episodes. Otherwise, I’m going to have to demote The Beast from my must-see list.

NEXT UP: On February 5th’s “Infected,” Barker and Dove investigate a boy deliberately infected with a deadly virus in order to blackmail his mother. Nasty stuff.

“Nadia” Original Air Date: January 29, 2009

Tonight at 10pm EST, A&E’s new Patrick Swayze original series The Beast enters the increasingly crowded gritty drama market on basic cable. Whether or not the show succeeds will depend partially on how many viewers are willing to sample and stick with yet another crime show.

While previewing the first two episodes, I was surprised at how little screen time star Swayze seems to have compared to his Australian costar Travis Fimmel (The WB’s Tarzan). He plays veteran FBI agent Charles Barker, a results-oriented and effective undercover specialist who just might be walking on — or teetering very close to — the wrong side of the law.

An essential component of Barker’s mystique is consequently the true motivations that underlie his actions: is the man simply willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done and stop the bad guys, or is he actually no less a criminal than the criminals he pursues? That’s an issue the first season will presumably explore at leisure as its thirteen ordered episodes unfold.

Enter Fimmel’s rookie FBI agent Ellis Dove, who’s partnered with Barker and immediately begins to get some tough lessons on what life is like in his chosen profession. Besides the dangers of working undercover with crooks and possibly corrupt colleagues, there’s the problem of trying to have a personal life at the same time. The constant clash between the demands of his difficult job and the object of his romantic aspirations, pretty law-student neighbor Rose Lawrence (Lindsay Pulsipher), is a major theme of the character’s development.

Although much of the action during the first two episodes of The Beast is fairly standard crime-entertainment material, what makes the newcomer a must-see for me right now is the potential the series has to go beyond the typical. The acting is consistently engaging, the supporting characters add depth and intrigue, and — most importantly to me — Fimmel gradually manages to make you look past his pretty-boy exterior to the frustrating complexity of Dove’s situation.

I don’t expect another Training Day or The Shield, but the inevitable comparisons, along with the strength of the earlier episodes, is enough to make me look forward to watching how The Beast progresses as it ages.

First on the series tonight is the pilot episode: Barker and Dove partner up, but the potentially instructive relationship for the new agent is quickly threatened when (1) he begins to realize the toll it will take on his personal life and (2) Internal Affairs tries to recruit him as a double agent to help them take down his allegedly corrupt mentor. Who ever said being an FBI agent was easy?

Series Creators: Vincent Angell (Stand by Love) and William Rotko (Breach)
Series Regulars: Swayze, Fimmel, Pulsipher, Larry Gilliard Jr. as FBI agent Ray, Kevin J. O’Connor as FBI agent Conrad

…commenter Audrey.

She thinks Criss Angel rocks because his illusions leave her breathless. Congratulations, and thanks to the many other Criss fans who participated in the giveaway. It was all made possible by A&E Network and Electric Artists.