"Spartacus: Gods of the Arena" - different gladiator, same sex and violence. Starz' deliciously decadent"”salacious, violent, often flat-out brutal"”"Spartacus: Blood and Sand" recently went on extended hiatus, leaving its legions of loyal fans "jonesing" for their weekly doses of decapitation and bare breasts. The Spartacus team satisfied fans' craving with "Spartacus: Gods of the Arena," a six-episode prequel to the continuing saga of Batiatus and Associates. Starting with a flashback montage of "Blood and Sand's" greatest hits, more precisely Batiatus's life flashing before his eyes in the moment before his death, "Spartacus: Gods of the Arena" shows Batiatus's rise to prominence and power with the assistance and support of his all-pro gladiator Gannicus. Because these stories represent "a more ruthless time"¦where honor was just finding its way into the arena," the writers and producers feel free to elaborate and experiment with their already-established characters, and they feel similar artistic license with super-slow-motion gore and fun-fantasy sex. They clearly are perfecting their craft. One particularly insightful viewer concluded his review of "Spartacus: Gods of the Arena" with a sage observation: "I think that's one of the smart decisions putting it on a Friday night since it's an ideal end of the work week thing to watch."

"Lost" is one of the world most popular TV series. The show is the winner of Emmy and Golden Globe. At the heart of the story - the accident happened with the passengers of Oceanic Flight 815 Oceanic Airlines, flying from Sydney, Australia to Los Angeles, USA, crashed and caught on the tropical island full of mysteries and secrets, somewhere in the Pacific. Each episode contains a storyline on the island, and the secondary, which tells about the key characters in a series of other time of life (in the first three seasons - the past, in the fourth - of the past and future). The fifth season of the series also contains two storylines, the first one is developing on the island immediately after the events of the fourth season, and the second - after three years in the U.S.. The series was created by JJ Abrams, Damon Lindelof and Jeffrey Lieber, and is filmed primarily in the island of Oahu, Hawaii. The pilot episode was shown on ABC on Sept. 22, 2004 and collected at screens for nearly 19 million people. Since then it has been shown for six seasons. Currently, the series executive producers are Abrams, Lindelof, Carlton Cuse, Bryan Burk, Jack Bender and others. Music composer is Michael Giacchino. Due to the large ensemble cast and the cost of filming in Hawaii "Lost" TV show is one of the most expensive in television history. Successful and among the critics and the public, "Lost" collected an average audience of 16 million people during the show the first season in the U.S.. He has won numerous awards including an Emmy for best drama series in 2005, the prize for best American TV series of the British Academy Television Awards in 2005, a Golden Globe for best drama in 2006 and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Ensemble in a Drama Series.

Another reality television show that actually has merit is School Pride. The show is based on an actual restoration on Carver Elementary, a school in Compton, California seven years ago. The schools chosen on this program will receive around two million dollars worth of upgrades and repairs that were sorely needed plus plenty of exposure via the television program. Additionally the student participation helped with School Pride as they were a part of renovations and it is their family, volunteers, and neighbors that help organize the production. The premise is that schools in need of costly repairs can receive help when they showcase how much need there is for improvements and students participate by showing how much pride they have for their school. Somewhat based on the television program "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" the cameras follow students, teachers, and community members performing the renovations badly needed by a particular school. In seven days it's amazing how much can be done and camera crews will return a few months later to see just how much improvement has been made and how it affects the surrounding community.

One of two intense medical dramas NBC introduced in the fall of 2009, "Mercy" had all the advantages its one-named rival "Trauma" did not. First, it had talent behind the scenes. Liz Heldens from "Friday Night Lights" created the show and led the writers, proving once again that the best way to dramatize the real world is to show it realistically"”ugliness and all. Second, it had attitude and guts to stay true to its revolutionary premise, the well-informed notion "that nurses remain [not only] more generous caregivers, but that they are more intuitively apt, smarter, more committed and as technically able as their [physician] superiors, with none of the accompanying arrogance." In a winner-take-all ER smackdown, you always would go all-in with the Mercy Hospital nurses. The main character, nurse Veronica Flanagan Callahan, has just returned from a tour in Iraq, where she clearly learned more in each day than the pompous, presumptuous doctors learned in all five years of medical school. Of course, Veronica gets neither the respect nor the reward she deserves, but "Mercy" dangles the possibility of true love as just recompense for Veronica's skill and compassion. Taylor Schilling plays Veronica with exactly the right balance of toughness and vulnerability, skillfully juxtaposing her consummate skill as a nurse with her intrepid ingenuousness in matters of the heart. If only "Mercy" had survived into a second season, all the tangled threads in the story might have come to their proper denouement. If only.

Imagine! Once upon a time, Dr. McDreamy, star of "Grey's Anatomy" and a million women's fantasies, was uncomfortably married to Dr. Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh). Then, Dr. Montgomery proved complicated, compelling, and cute enough to warrant her own TV show"”"Private Practice." For a very little while, "Private Practice" TV series depended on viewers' basic understanding of "Grey's Anatomy," because it showed Dr. Montgomery, probably much better known simply as Addison, leaving Seattle Grace Hospital and joining the staff at Oceanside Wellness, a practice owned and operated by all of her old medical school buddies. A few of the early episodes depended on the good doctor's broken heart and separation anxiety for their drama and poignancy; after all, withdrawal from McDreamy takes its toll on a girl. But as "Private Practice" gained momentum and popularity, plots focused more and more on cases that challenge the doctors' ethics and skills. Despite her genius and surgical prowess, Dr. Montgomery suffers fierce bouts of self-doubt, making her accessible and an object of empathy for the show's predominantly female audience.

Filling an empty niche of modern TV, Chicago Fire colorfully depicts working days of Chicago Fire Department consisting of Truck 81, Squad 3, Ambulance 61 and 25th Battalion. The TV show was developed by Dick Wolf, a man standing behind Law & Order and Community TV shows, who definitely knows how to produce a successful television products and turn them into the series of spin-offs. So, we may easily expect NY Fire, LA Fire and San Francisco Fire in the nearest future. The show features dramatic storyline, the action begins just after the loss of the man during the recent fire accident, and everyone in the crew rebuke others for this loss. Nevertheless, the life continues, as every working day challenges them and their leader, a veteran to gather all the will and strength to perform their duty better the rivals, a Rescue Squad. Chicago Fire concept looks to be very easy replicated and in case of success, the TV show will turn its cast to well known actors (as it happened to Law and Order Cast). So the bright future is almost here for Jesse Spencer (Dr. Robert Chase - "House M.D."), Taylor Kinney (Mason Lockwood - "The Vampire Diaries") and Monica Raymund (Dana Lodge "“ "The Good Wife").