Stephen Spielberg and Tom Hanks already had saved Private Ryan and had shown the relatively tame exploits of a brotherly band in the Pacific Theater when they bravely took-on the challenge of recreating the bitter, brutal battles that made Pacific Islands household names in the darkest hours of World War II. Most Americans can trace the broad outlines of the Allies' liberation of Europe, but few can recall the highlights of American Marines' fierce struggles over "tiny specks of earth that we have never heard of." HBO's ten-part mini-series, "The Pacific," retrieves the war against Japan from the threshold of obscurity. Based on survivors' accounts of the battles, and rendered as vividly as the small screen will allow, "The Pacific" tracks three Marines' odysseys from Guadalcanal through Cape Gloucester to Peleliu and ultimately to the epic battle for Iwo Jima. Testifying to "The Pacific's" intense realism, the mini-series collected Emmy Awards for Art Direction, visual and sound effects. More amply testifying to "The Pacific's" overwhelming genius and power, however, the Television Academy awarded it the 2010 Emmy for Outstanding Mini-Series.

Typical of the hugely popular TV series Survivor, we see men pitted against the women to see who can perform tasks better. But with Survivor: One World there is a new twist according to Jeff Probst, the shows host. While the competition will be men against women they will be allowed to cohabitate for the very first time. In other words, they can play together until the games begin, then it's every man "“ and women for themselves! Should prove to be interesting. The contestants can build a single camp, two camps, or not even have a designated camp, it's up to them to decide. And there will be even more reward challenges than before plus no Redemption Island. Some "Do it yourself challenges" as well as no judges and no Probst to interfere, they just need to figure things out for themselves. A new host steps up and proves to be equally as annoying as Jeff Probst ever was! Part of the challenges involves what to do with some of the props. Fun time in the jungle once again!

How can the blind lead a neophyte? Covert Affairs TV Show, this year's new spy offering, shows us how it's done. It traces an odd pair of spies"”Annie Walker (played by Piper Perabo) is a recently-promoted CIA agent sent out into field work and her mentor, Auggie Anderson (Christopher Gorham in real life), is an experienced special-ops officer. Covert Affairs TV Show spy duo is entangled in a web of mystery and intrigue. She's under strict orders to bring to capture his old flame, Eion Bailey. He, on the other hand, has to help her accomplish this mission"”blind spots and all. The show started its second season last August.

As a sequel to the popular Spartacus: Blood and Sand, we find Spartacus: Vengeance is more about how and why he became a gladiator. Determined to free the slaves owned by the Roman Republic, the Romans need to stop Spartacus before he does them more damage. And now Spartacus, himself a former Thracian slave, has a huge decision to make which is whether to help free the slaves or seek vengeance on those who condemned his own wife into slavery then death. Starring as Spartacus is Liam McIntyre from Neighbours and The Pacific, Peter Mensah (Avatar, Tears of the Sun) is trusted friend and former trainer of gladiators Oenomaus, Lucy Lawless (Xena: Warrior Princess, Battlestar Galactica) is Lucretia Batiatus, widow of Quintus Batiatus who now hold a gift known as prophecy, and Dan Feuerriegel (Australian TV's McLeod's Daughters, Stupid Stupid Man) playing the part of Agron, German gladiator who was the first to join up with Spartacus and his revolt. Others in the cast include Manu Bennett as Crixus, Viva Bianca as Ilithyia, and as Gaius Claudius Glaber, Craig Parker. It's rousing and entertaining while not especially true to history.

While on an excursion deep into the Amazon forests Dr Emmet Cole traveled along the Amazon River in search of magic held in the dark recesses of the Amazon. He turned up missing six months ago and now his locating beacon has turned up, giving off signals to help locate it. But when his wife Tess gathers together a crew to seek out the beacon and hopefully, her missing husband, they find their labors useless. Their son Lincoln has his own agenda and is ready to cross his father off as permanently gone. The crew, comprised of new acquaintances and old friends come to realize there is magic in this place and it comes alive when a ghost is unleashed, killing Jed and terrorizing the boat's crew. Starring Bruce Greenwood (Hollywood Homicide, Capote) is Dr. Emmet Cole, his wife Tess is played by Leslie Hope (Teri Bauer wife of Jack Bauer on 24), their son Lincoln is portrayed by Joseph Anderson (The Crazies, Love Happens), and Eloise Mumford previously seen on TV's Lone Star and Crash. Entertaining and filled with lush unfamiliar scenery.

Because "No Ordinary Family" has far more in common with "Swiss Family Robinson" than NBC's Chuck or its flash-in-the-pan "Heroes," it comes as little surprise that this family drama with superpowers comes to life on Disney-property ABC. Culled, of course, from the world of graphic novels, "No Ordinary Family" introduces us to Dad, Mom, and two teenagers beset with the normal collection of post-modern developmental and relational complaints, the youngest boasting the added difficulty of a learning disability. After surviving a light-plane crash in the Amazon, the family returns home to discover their ordeal has invested them with super-powers which seem to compensate precisely for their previous inadequacies. Still in its infancy, "No Ordinary Family" faces an unusual challenge: Can it continue developing the lives and times of a typical Southern California family even as it sets the fearsome foursome in hot pursuit of villains culled from the most frightening pages of graphic novels? If it succeeds, "No Ordinary Family" will have added a twenty-first century dimension to Walt Disney's concept of "the plausible impossible."