Minisodes, Mini-Seasons and Mini-Press Tours

Tonight at 10 p.m. ET, the FX series Rescue Me presents the latest self-described minisode, featuring star Denis Leary and company in a short stand-alone segment. How short? The closing credits run at 10:05...

The two minisodes that have run so far have been delightful. The first was a long firehouse dialogue about the joys and travails of fasting, and the second was a dream sequence that had Leary's Tommy Gavin fantasizing about a threesome with Callie Thorne's Sheila and Andrea Roth's Janet -- then devolving into something a lot less enticing to him.

But just like a dream, the Rescue Me minisodes, created to placate fans until new post-strike episodes are produced and televised, are over too soon, leaving behind a tantalizing taste for more. That's what the entire 2007-08 TV season was like -- and, perhaps, what the 2008-09 TV may shape up to become as well.

By tonight, we should know the results of the ratification vote for the proposed AFTRA strike. If there's a vote to strike, or enough dissatisfaction so that the larger SAG guild organizes a strike on its own, then we're in for another truncated, frustrated TV season. A mini-season, with fewer scripted series, fewer episodes, and, overall, fewer reasons to get excited about television.

Meanwhile, starting today, the Television Critics Association press tour gets underway, beginning with four days devoted to offerings from the cable networks. I'm not out there from the start this time -- I'm arriving Monday, the day Fox begins -- but intrepid TV WORTH WATCHING contributor Diane Werts is there, and will send dispatches as time permits and newsworthiness dictates. Next week, I'll do the same, though the tour is a week shorter than usual. It's a mini-tour -- which, this season, seems only fitting.

So read Diane's daily blog -- she's displayed on the main page beneath BEST BETS, and also has her own button on the navigation bar -- and stay tuned. And speaking of staying tuned, I've updated (after a long fallow period) the READ HEAR SEE ME page, which you reach by clicking that button on the navigation bar. It's got my upcoming schedule for Fresh Air appearances, but also collects, and provides links to, all the Broadcasting & Cable columns I've written for that magazine since March.