Until the last few minutes of “Toad’s Wild Ride,” I was having a rather nice go of things.  Sons of Anarchy threw some weirdness at us this year, and a lot (and I do mean a metric crap ton) of violence, but in “Toad’s Wild Ride” there were some really interesting moments about loyalty and betrayal, especially bringing Juice’s story to the forefront.  Alliances change often on the show, but Bobby, Chibs and even Tig are firmly in Jax’s corner right now.  Clay is delusional if he thinks he could get back at the head of the table and past all of them.  I sincerely doubt, too, that Juice would ever fully back Clay in a coup, especially if Chibs was on the other side.  Still, seeing Clay carefully play Unser and Juice and the Nomads was fun to watch, especially the trick he pulled at Unser’s Airstream.  Clay is just as dangerous as ever, and now Jax knows that giving him a second chance was a mistake.  Of course, most of us would have thought the first time after someone tried to kill everyone we love but, you know, things are different in Charming.  For more on the wild ride and what Joel McHale has to do with it all, hit the jump.

It’s been a rough week for TV characters across the board, and I was desperately hoping that Sons of Anarchy would be just as weirdly funny as it was last week.  Alas.  Despite Jax telling Tara that it was a quiet day, nothing could have been further from the truth.  Everyone had something difficult to deal with and, in a surprisingly high number of cases, people died.  Murder, suicide, more murder … there weren’t any laughs in Charming for the Sons or anyone else.  “Senseless,” Tara says to Gemma, thinking back on her afternoon seeing Otto.  “It’s been that kind of day,” Gemma replies, not knowing the half of it.  But let’s pause and consider how truly senselessly violent and insane “Small World” was.  Hit the jump for my picking apart the deaths this week and how much we did (or didn’t) need them.

The outrageous comedy Frankie Go Boom, from writer/director Jordan Roberts, tells the story of Frank Bartlett (Charlie Hunnam), who tells himself that he’s holed up in the desert to write, but in reality is just hiding from his family, namely his brother Bruce (Chris O’Dowd).  A reckless but charming addict, Bruce has always enjoyed secretly filming Frank in all sorts of compromising positions and sobriety isn’t making their relationship any better.  And as much as Frankie tries to move on with his life, family just keeps sucking him back in.

At the press day, actor Ron Perlman – who plays the movie’s humor, heart and voice of reason, Phyllis – spoke to Collider for this exclusive interview about how he ended up playing a woman in the film, his first impression of the script when he read it, discovering Phyllis’ look, how quick of a shoot this was for him, and how he thinks his Sons of Anarchy fans might react when they see him in character.  He also talked about what it’s like to be a part of such a successful TV show, how surprised he’s been by the direction of Season 5, and how bittersweet it is that they’re closer to the end now, with only two seasons left, as well as his longtime collaboration with filmmaker Guillermo del Toro.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.

FX’s intense biker drama Sons of Anarchy has had a number of guest stars already this season (including former Disney star Ashley Tisdale, Community‘s Joel McHale, and a surprise appearance byJustified‘s Walton Goggins), but here’s another one you might not have expected: Dave Navarro of Jane’s Addiction will be making an appearance in the final two episodes this year.

In related FX news, Jason Mantzoukas (known to many as Ruxin’s batshit crazy brother-in-law Rafi from the FX fantasy football comedy The League) will be joining the cast of Modern Family this season as Hayley’s (Sarah Hyland) boyfriend, who is also her co-worker and a jeans designer.  If Mantzoukas brings one-tenth of the ridiculousness of Rafi to this new character, I can’t wait.  But does that mean goodbye to Dylan (Reid Ewing)?  In the meantime, hit the jump for more specifics on each of these new characters’ roles.

The outrageous comedy Frankie Go Boom, from writer/director Jordan Roberts, tells the story of Frank Bartlett (Charlie Hunnam), who tells himself that he’s holed up in the desert to write, but in reality is just hiding from his family, namely his brother Bruce (Chris O’Dowd).  A reckless but charming addict, Bruce has always enjoyed secretly filming Frank in all sorts of compromising positions and sobriety isn’t making their relationship any better.  And as much as Frankie tries to move on with his life, family just keeps sucking him back in.

At the film’s press day, actor Charlie Hunnam spoke to Collider for this exclusive interview about why he didn’t think he was right for this role, what finally convinced him to sign on, what made Ron Perlman the perfect actor for Phyllis, how it was to work with Lizzy Caplan, and giving CPR to a pig.  He also talked about what it’s been like to be a part of Sons of Anarchy and how bittersweet it is that they’re closer to the end of the show now than the beginning, and his desire to direct a film that he’s written for Tommy Flanagan (who plays Chibs on SOA) to star in.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.

Tonight was the first time Sons of Anarchy made me laugh — and I mean really laugh, hard — in a very long time.  It’s something I’ve been moaning about for ages: yes the show is about a hardcore motorcycle gang, but one of the things that makes it so engaging is its bizarre, dark humor.  But what the scene starring Venus van Damme showed us more than anything was not only that the MC can still have fun despite the truly horrific things that have happened to them recently, but that there are alternatives to Clay’s violent approach to everything.  There are ways to threaten and blackmail that don’t include dressing up Fat Jake (Joe Caniano) from Boardwalk Empire (crossover moment — they’d better watch their backs or Al Capone is gonna get ‘em!) in some kind of S&M scene with a transsexual bouncing on him, sure, but that wouldn’t be as fun.  For more on these shenanigans and some of the darker moments of the week, hit the jump.

On the hit FX drama series Sons of Anarchy, currently in its fifth season, special guest star Drea de Matteo is back as Wendy Case, Jax Teller’s (Charlie Hunnam) ex-wife. Now clean and sober, she is looking to be part of their son Abel’s life, but she will have to get passed his wife, Tara (Maggie Siff), first.

During this recent interview to promote her involvement with the show, actress Drea de Matteo (The Sopranos) talked about how she feels about her character now, whether she has any ulterior motives, the relationship between Wendy and Gemma (Katey Sagal), how much she’s enjoyed returning to the show, that her character was originally supposed to die in the pilot, and how she would be open to returning again, in future seasons. She also talked about the Lifetime movie, Stalkers, that she’ll be shooting in November, with hopes that it will turn into a TV show. Check out what she had to say after the jump.

This week, Sons of Anarchy gave the club — and us viewers — some time to mourn, regroup, and refocus.  Jax wants to move to club away from “the shit that’s killing us” and try and get back into business with girls instead of guns and drugs.  The dealings with Pope have caused the club to reconsider itself, which is certainly a good thing.  The “blood for blood” retaliation that they were focused on under Clay has seen its day, and it was a great little moment when Chibs and Jax put their guns down to prevent a “hood war.”  As Chibs sagely said, “we’ve got to stop killing each other over a bit of gash.”  Speaking (derogatorily) of women, they were at the forefront of “Stolen Huffy” and did not get the good side of anything, but what else is new in Charming?  It’s a dangerous place to be a bit of a gash.  For more on that and why everyone seems to have a Gemma-sized problem right now, hit the jump.

Sons of Anarchy guest star Ashley Tisdale plays Emma Jean, a high-earning escort at Diosa International, owned and overseen by Nero Padilla (Jimmy Smits).  A huge fan of the show, the former Disney star got her wish to be a part of the action when show creator Kurt Sutter offered her the guest arc as a high-priced escort who seemingly has a knack for causing trouble with SAMCRO.

During this recent interview to discuss her experience on the popular FX drama series, Ashley Tisdale talked about how the role came about, what viewers can expect from her character, how much fun she had with the more physical aspects, how she would like to continue to do more challenging and gritty roles, what was most memorable about the entire experience, and how she’d love to reappear on the show, at some point.  Check out what she had to say after the jump.

The Fall 2012 TV season began in earnest this week, with most shows having their series/season premieres.  Here’s a brief glance at the highlights:

• CBS’ Sherlock Holmes update Elementary debuted strong with a 3.1 rating in the 18-49 demo for 13.41 million viewers.
• Also at CBS, The Big Bang Theory scored its highest rated season premiere ever with a 5.0 rating and a solid 15.66 million viewers.
• Things weren’t all rosy at The Eye, however, as Hawaii Five-0 was way down with a 1.8 rating.  That’s a significant drop from last year’s season premiere rating of 3.4 in the coveted 18-49 demo.
• NBC’s J.J. Abrams-produced drama Revolution saw an unsurprising drop in viewers from last week’s season premiere, though the 3.4 rating with 9.21 million viewers shows a healthy hold from last week’s 4.1 rating.
• Unfortunately, ABC’s excellent pilot for Last Resort debuted to a slightly disappointing 2.2 rating with 9.31 million viewers.

Hit the jump for the TV ratings for the week of September 23 – 29, including New Girl, Parks and Recreation, Grimm, Fringe, South Park, Sons of Anarchy, Castle, and much more.

With only two more seasons left, following this current one, to tell the show’s story, things are getting very, very real on the hit FX drama series Sons of Anarchy.  Never one to shy away from going there when the story calls for it, show creator Kurt Sutter did just that, in the game-changing episode “Laying Pipe,” opening up emotional ramifications for the rest of the season.

During this recent interview to discuss the events of that episode, executive producer Kurt Sutter talked about when he knew the character’s fate and how the actor found out, the motivations for the character’s actions, the mood on set while shooting that scene, how it will affect Jax’s (Charlie Hunnam) leadership and the emotional relationships of the club going forward, what’s to come for Juice (Theo Rossi), whether audiences will ever soften to Damon Pope (Harold Perrineau), whether a confrontation between Jax and Clay (Ron Perlman) is inevitable, and why seven seasons is the right amount of time to tell this story.  Check out what he had to say after the jump, and be aware that there are spoilers.

Since I have to save the heavy, spoilery shit until after the jump I’ll start off by taking a moment to comment on some of Sons of Anarchy‘s lighter fare, which amidst everything else actually got a little screentime in this episode.  Something that has been sorely missing from the series in its last few seasons is the trademark humor that made it so uniquely engaging to begin with.  We got hints of it tonight, with Juice “graduating” and Gemma beating the crap out of Ashley Tisdale from Disney’s High School Musical (file that under dark humor, and how many women has Gemma assaulted at this point?)  Sons continues to get darker and darker, and with it, much of the weird fun has been snuffed out.  Remember when Bobby was really Bobby Elvis?  And Tig was afraid of dolls? (one of my favorite recurring plot points) and Gemma took Half Sack’s girl out with a skateboard?  Those were the days.  Maybe they weren’t as big a part of things as I seem to think, but they made such an impact I remember almost every one.  For other unforgettable moments that you’ll wish you didn’t see, hit the jump.

Things certainly quieted down this week in Charming (if by quiet one means car chases, fights with police and visits to porn sets, and I do).  SAMCRO is still struggling with some of the remnants of last season with Tig’s inadvertent murder of Veronica Pope and the wrath of the Niners, as well as the club’s involvement with the Galindo cartel, the Irish and the CIA.  Then of course there are the new threats of the break-ins and the RICO case that Otto brought upon them (plus whatever Clay has up his sleeve, and you know it’s something).  SAMCRO really can’t catch a break, but just as too many chefs spoil a broth, too many open-ended threats to the club make the show more about running from place to place then about the relationships among the characters we’ve become so invested in.  For more on that and why nothing says true love like capital murder, hit the jump. If you missed our review of season five of Sons of Anarchy, get caught up here. 

Well that certainly opened with a bang. There were many of us in the SAMCRO fandom who feared the series was beginning to lose some of its luster during its meandering third season spent partially in Ireland. But not all who wander are lost — enter Season Four, which had the best cold open of any to date for SOA, and brought things (mostly) local again, focusing on club politics and betrayals (some of them quite severe). The end of the fourth season was compelling (Jax taking the clubs’s reins with a totally badassed-up Tara in support, a direct callback to Gemma and JT), but what made it even better was all that it set up for Season Five. Clay, The King, is not dead, the club is not rid of outside influences (in this case, the CIA via the Galindo cartel); they’re still running guns and drugs, and the members themselves, and their families, are in constant danger. Though there was no time jump from the end of last year’s run to the start of this one, things are already incredibly busy and incredibly dark. For a reminder of where things left off last year and a look at how things kicked off with the new season, hit the jump.

Having seen the first two episodes of the new season of Sons of Anarchy, I can say that I will never look at actor Harold Perrineau the same again. As ex-drug lord gone legit businessman Damon Pope, his restrained performance is equal parts menacing and chilling, and gives every indication that he will be one of the most terrifying antagonists SAMCRO has ever seen. The show stars Charlie Hunnam, Ron Perlman, Katey Sagal, Maggie Siff, Kim Coates, Mark Boone Junior, Tommy Flanagan, Ryan Hurst, Theo Rossi and Dayton Callie, among others.

During this recent exclusive interview with Collider, to promote Season 5 of the hit FX drama series, Harold Perrineau (Lost, Oz) talked about how he came to be playing this brutal new role, how he was able to understand who Damon Pope is, that the tight-knit cast has been very welcoming, how it takes a little bit of time to shake such an intense character when they’re done shooting, and who he’d love to see Damon Pope have a confrontation with. Check out what he had to say after the jump, and be aware that there are some spoilers.