DOCTOR WHO’s 2-Part Finale To Feature Extended Running Times!

The final two episodes of this season of DOCTOR WHO — “Heaven Sent” and “Hell Bent” — will run longer than the standard 45-minute episodes in England, with “Hell Bent” adding a whole 20 minutes! “Heaven Sent” will boast about 10 minutes more than usual.

BBC America has not released any information about the run times of the final two episodes here in America, where stories are typically trimmed to make room for commercials.

“Heaven Sent” will premiere on Nov. 28, and “Hell Bent” wraps up series 9 on Dec. 5.

“Hell Bent” will be the longest episode of DOCTOR WHO since Peter Capaldi’s debut story, “Deep Breath,” which ran 76 minutes.

Matt Smith Introduces ‘The Name of the Doctor’

Let Matt Smith, the Doctor himself, deliver one last tease about tonight’s DOCTOR WHO season seven finale. Welcome back old friends and enemies!

I’m holding out hope that we don’t get the Doctor’s real name; I don’t want that secret uncovered, because the mystery around the central character helps keep him and the show interesting.

What do you hope to see in the season-capper?

Matt and Jenna-Louise Introduce the Finale

We’re now hours away from the seventh-season finale of DOCTOR WHO, and with an intriguing title like “The Name of the Doctor” how can fans help but be more excited than usual?

Even Jenna-Louise Coleman (Clara) and Matt Smith (the Doctor) are totally psyched about it:

Will we learn the Doctor’s name? A large part of me hopes not, but let’s watch and see what happens and how it is handled. Just a few more precious hours to go…

“Name of the Doctor” — Another Tease

Here’s another teaser clip — just in case you weren’t already whipped into a frenzy of anticipation for “The Name of the Doctor.”

Oh, this looks exciting! Cannot wait until tomorrow!

“The Name of the Doctor” — Next Time Trailers

We’re down to one last precious episode in series seven, and by all indications it’s a doozy! “The Name of the Doctor” promises to reveal the Time Lord’s greatest secret. I’m just wondering if we fans are jumping to conclusions when we assume that big secret is his name. Still, I love the way Dr. Simeon (Richard E. Grant) challenges him: “What is your name?”

Anyway, to get you psyched for the big show, let’s look at the episode trailers, beginning with the BBC’s “Next Time” tease…

And, for the home team, the BBC America trail…

Is it Saturday night yet?

Survivor: Philippines

It all came down to the final four tonight on the climax of SURVIVOR: PHILIPPINES, a season that I found interesting enough to follow, but not compelling enough to make it appointment TV.

Still, I did want to know who would win and, alas, it was not my choice — Michael Skupin — but rather Denise Stapley, the one-woman army, who also outlasted Lisa Whelchel, the former star of FACTS OF LIFE, and also-ran Malcolm Freberg.

The final trio was Denise, Skupin and Lisa, and while I was on the fence whether Lisa belonged there, Skupin and Denise earned their way into the final confrontation with the jury. Denise had endured every single tribal council, and kept her record straight. She won handily, earning all but two votes from the jury.

Lisa did, however, manage to pull out the fan vote for the $100,000 Player of the Season award.

ALCATRAZ 1.12 and 1.13: “Garrett Stillman” and “Tommy Madsen”

Well, what’d you expect? That opening the Warden’s Mystery Door would lead to some kind of magical golden cave that would explain the secret of the time jumps? Al Capone’s vault? All the answers your heart desires? Madness?

Madness? This is ALCATRAZ!

Still, this was the season finale, so the audience was given some small answers and teases about whom might be behind everything, but there’s still enough mystery to warrant another season. In fact, a whole slew of new questions will need to be addressed next year. If the show isn’t renewed (and, sadly,  there’s a good chance it won’t get another season), then this was an unsatisfying ending — and not just because Rebecca appeared to die on the operating table in a clearly manipulative ending. I want to know more about the time-travel aspect of the plot.

THE WALKING DEAD 2.13: “Beside the Dying Fire”

There will be blood…

And zombie gore…

And deaths…

Some course corrections…

And revelations… and more revelations. And then another one.

In short, the second season finale of THE WALKING DEAD was its finest hour, totally redeeming any complaints anyone could have about this farm-centered season. It also contained two great moments of fan-service had to have had fanboys coast-to-coast fainting into their Red Bulls: Michonne and the prison.

And we finally got the Night of the Living Dead pastiche we’ve been anticipating since the group set up shop at an old farmhouse.

AMERICAN HORROR STORY 1.12: “Afterbirth”

AMERICAN HORROR STORY wrapped up its inaugural creepy season with a neat bow for the holidays — one that tied off all the plot threads and nearly ended the story of the Harmons in the Los Angeles “Murder House,” capping it with a warm Christmas scene out of a Hallmark movie, with the undead clan trimming their tree.

The final episode served as an epilogue for the season-long story of the Harmons, who moved into the house with “personality” in the premiere, and ended up making sure a new family moved out in the finale. Overall, I have to declare AHS a success. It suffered from “pilotitis” in the beginning a took a couple of episodes to find its feet. But once it stopped paying tribute to horror greats of the past and started charting its own path, AHS worked as a family drama and as horror TV. The tale of the Harmons had a beginning a middle and an end. AHS pushed boundaries with imagination and flair, and generated some genuinely unsettling scenes.

SURVIVOR: SOUTH PACIFIC 23.15 Finale

Wow, talk about a letdown! For the first time in literally years, I felt compelled to watch every single episode of SURVIVOR: SOUTH PACIFIC this season, because it was filled with “what will happen?” tension and some intriguing character conflict. But then came the finale, featuring the absolute worst, most undeserving final trio ever, and the whole series went south for me.