'Damages': The departed Uncle Pete speaks

Big revelations on tonight’s episode of “Damages”: Seems like the bearded man is large and in charge now. Frobisher has put Ellen back in his crosshairs. Ellen’s having hallucinations of dead fiancé David.

And then there’s Uncle Pete. Poor, dead Uncle Pete. Turns out Patty’s Uncle Pete was really her uncle. Turns out he loved Patty, even more than he loved himself.

But did Patty really love Uncle Pete? Do you think she was behind his death? How heartless can she really be? Either way, it seams like she may be in for some comeuppance: In the final scene, there was Mrs. Uncle Pete, finding that box of evidence against Patty. And there she was handing it over to Ellen. And wham! We finally find out that it is in fact Patty Ellen’s been waving that gun at since the first episode of this season.

What does it all mean? (After all, there will definitely be another season of “Damages” on the way.) We turn to the departed Uncle Pete himself, actor Tom Aldredge, who most of you will recognize as Carmella’s dad on "The Sopranos," for his take and a final goodbye:

Spoiler alert: Do not read further if you want to go into tonight's episode of "Damages" completely in the dark. (Just come back and read afterward!)

Of course, we all saw this coming.

"Damages" tycoon Arthur Frobisher isn't long for his born-again, staff-holding ways. Without blowing exactly what happens, Ted Danson chats about Frobisher's change of heart in tonight's episode, finding the humor in Patty's nemesis and getting lost in the maze that is "Damages."

Well, that didn't take long. Frobisher's going to kick the religion and go back to his old ways, isn't he?
It's kind of perfect that way though, isn't it? I do love that he found religion this year, he went all Eastern, but it's also the narcisist finding religion. It's like the addict who has all of a sudden found God but really hasn't done the work.

I love that he cries a lot this year, too. He's a crier.

Was crying in the script?
No, actually. I thought it was appropriate. I talked to people who had major heart surgery or who had come back from the brink and they said their emotions were just on their sleeve, they couldn't control it. I thought to myself, "Well, that'd be fun for this guy."

Last season he was all intensity. This time, he does provide a little comic relief.
All my career, I've kind of gravitated toward, been amused by, and empathized with those kind of wounded people who don't really see themselves fully. I find it kind of sad, tragic, but also kind of funny. I think Sam Malone obviously was very funny, but there was also a sadness to him. Frobisher is definitely sad, but there's something also very funny about him. He's the narcisist who thinks he's got the world by the tail but doesn't realize there's this 100-ton monster standing behind him in the form of Patty. He's so over his head, but he doesn't get it because he's such a narcisist. I think it's hilarious. And I love playing that kind of stuff. It's sad, it's human and there's still something dark and funny about it. 

In tonight's episode-ending shocker, we find out that Wes is in cahoots with the Frobisher-employed corrupt cop who killed Ellen's fiance. That doesn't yet make sense to me -- like so much else in this season -- because it doesn't jive with Wes' Frobisher hate shrine/gun storage closet. (Is it a hate shrine? Those newspaper clippings weren't positive.) Maybe Wes is just duping the corrupt cop into thinking he's duping Ellen so he can get closer to Frobisher. Why? Not sure yet.

In the final scene, a bullet is fired in a car, leaving a shattered and bloody back windshield. Then, Wes gets out of the car. Could Ted Danson be inside?

Was I this turned around last season? Probably. But it really feels like everyone this season is living a double -- nay, a triple -- life, from Claire Maddox to Patty's own husband. Next thing you know, those two feds Ellen has been dealing with will show up for a secret rendezvous with Uncle Pete, too. (Because even he's got secrets he's keeping from Patty.)

At least the bad guys are still just bad. In the first season, Frobisher was a pretty straightforward bad man. He'd done a bad thing, tried to cover it up, and sent out his heavies to silence and/or murder the people who made him sweat. This year, that's UNR and this Kendrick fellow who dresses like a woman for his buds but can't take a joke.

There are two things I'm now clear on ... I think.

If you're trying to keep track of alliances on "Damages," don't. Not yet. Ties are still being revealed. Everyone is double-crossing everyone. Triple-crossing in some cases.

Take Daniel Purcell. You think he's all crushed over poor Christine, but nooooooo. He was cheating on his wife. He had physically assaulted her. He does have a rotten temper. And he is lying to Patty Hewes.

Is Patty really not holding any of the strings this time? That can't be right. Or can it?

One thing at a time, much was revealed about dear Daniel tonight. What is his deal? His real deal? Help me (in vain) piece it together, gentlereader. Here's the little we know so far:

• Daniel and Patty used to be a thing. And it must have been hot because 10 years ago during Patty's first big case, he threw his testimony so she'd win. Soon after, Patty rewarded him with the news that they shared a son -- we knew it! -- and he was not happy about it.


• Daniel had physically assaulted his wife, an incident that had been sealed in family court until the investigating detective somehow managed to unseal it. The revalation caused Daniel's temper to flare.

My, how the tables have turned. Last season, Patty masterminded a most-twisted plan to win her case against Arthur Frobisher. She hired Ellen, rigged witnesses, even killed a pet puppy, and nearly the entire time, she was on top. This season, Patty's world has gone topsy-turvy.

Starting from the beginning: It's going down in room 1910. Whatever Ellen's up to with her whiskey and her pistol, it's happening in room 1910.

The song that's playing is Ray Charles' "Just For A Thrill." The lyrics might be telling? A sample: Just for a thrill / You were my pride and joy / But to you, I was merely a toy / A plaything, that you could toss around at will / Just for a thrill / You made my life one sad song / Just for a thrill / You just led me, led me along

Six months earlier ... Patty is crying, again, in the bathroom of Daniel Purcell's house. Is she coming undone? What exactly is her connection to him? Is he the father of her stillborn child? Moving on. Patty had only just met his now-dead wife, so those tears aren't for her. Daniel tells the cops that he saw the man who did it, a Nordic type apparently. Remember "The Firm"? Those Nordics will get you every time. The ominous company man who tried to give Daniel a way out in the first episode -- character's name is Middleman (Brett Collins) -- pulls up in a car outside the house. He's up to no good.

We find out Daniel is diabetic. Write that down. He's dazed, he's confused, he puts up a fight with the cop, wanting to go after his wife's killer, not realizing he's pretty much the primary suspect in her murder. This reminds me of "The Fugitive," in a good way.

Back at the office, Ellen asks Patty if maybe Daniel could have murdered his wife. Patty says anything is possible, which is too true on "Damages," right? Ellen pushes the infant-mortality case some more. The FBI thinks that maybe Tom should take the case, that way they can use him to help hang Patty. Ellen says to go for it. (Tate Donovan says, "Yay! Material!")

Ellen reads in the newspaper that Arthur Frobisher is out of the hospital and confesses to Wes that she is kicking herself for not plugging the bearded one when she had the chance. Wes reveals that he knows exactly who she is and what her MO is. So is she now in the market for a gun? Nope. Just a roll in zee hay! Me? I still think he's cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.

Talk about anxiety. The first season of “Damages” gave us such whiplash (albeit the kind we were grateful for) that it was hard to imagine the next season could include as many time-jumping twists and turns in a way that didn't seem contrived.

Could the show still surprise us? This time around, Ellen’s agenda is clear -- Take down Patty Hewes! -- and watching Patty with anything less than an upper-hand might not satisfy fans of Patty as puppet master. Giving us a weaker, less diabolical attorney? It's practically blasphemous.

Happily, the premiere overdelivered, and I second the review of Mary McNamara, who said the second season "promises to be even better than the first." If like me you were worried about a softened Patty, have no fear. She might be a little shaken by the ghost of Ray Fiske, but she still had the nerve to tell Ellen, whom she tried to have bumped off, that she was like the daughter Patty never had. Ho ho ho, so evil.

That said, it’s never too early to start talking theories, and there’s already much to discuss. Here's the season’s first round of Burning Questions. (They will pop up during those weeks in which I’m truly confounded by the show's tangled web of intrigues.)

Can the second season of FX's delicious 'Damages' possibly surpass the first? Yes.

Clear your evening schedule, put the cellphone on silent and get those kids to bed early; “Damages” is back, so focus, people, focus. Exhibit A in the struggling sub-genre of Shut-That-Laptop-and-Pay-Attention television, FX's fledgling drama premiered last season with a plot so convoluted you needed a crib sheet and relationship with time based, apparently, on someone's favorite acid trip.

It was terrific, of course, with Glenn Close as the seductive and duplicitous ace lawyer Patty Hewes stalking debauched CEO Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson), who bilked his employees of their jobs and pensions while drawing doe-eyed neophyte Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne) into a web of lies that left Ellen's fiancé dead and Ellen running, half-naked and covered in blood, through the streets of New York.

Close and Danson guaranteed critical attention and "Damages" delivered; it opened big and played like a top-notch psycho-thriller feature film, only it was better because it lasted for months instead of hours. Emmy nominations all around, with Zeljko Ivanek winning best supporting actor in a drama for his portrayal of Ray Fiske, Patty's poor doomed opponent in the Frobisher case.

So how on Earth do you top, or even follow, that? By bringing back everyone involved (including, marvelously, the dead characters) and a bunch of their powerhouse friends to answer that age-old question: What do you do when you believe your boss has tried to kill you?

Ooh la la! FX's sexy, crazy, intricate, crazy, complicated, crazy, funny (did we say crazy?) plastic surgeon drama, "Nip/Tuck," will return Jan. 6 to complete its fifth season. But wait, that's not all: FX also announced today the return of "Damages," the sexy, intricate, complicated and, yes, a little crazy, legal thriller, "Damages." That series, which earned Glenn Close and Zeljko Ivanek Emmys this fall, returns Jan. 7 for its second season.

In the remaining part of "Nip/Tuck's" fifth season, Sean McNamara (Dylan Walsh) tries to rebuild his life — AGAIN — after being brutally attacked — AGAIN. Sean and Christian's (Julian McMahon) medical practice undergoes a crisis AGAIN and Christian vows to settle down with one woman. Really?

"Damages" will pick up with Patty Hewes' (Glenn Close) pondering her next move after her unprecedented victory over Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson). But little does she know that a man from her past, Daniel Purcell (William Hurt), will catapult her into a new legal challenge as Ellen (Rose Byrne) continues to assist the FBI with its criminal investigation of Patty and her firm.

Midseason is shaping up to be a TV fanatic free-for-all. We are already getting worried about the capacity of our DVRs.

— Maria Elena Fernandez

(Photo courtesy FX)

Oh, “Damages” fans, where do we begin?

There were so many tantalizing tidbits from today’s panel with the producers and cast of the critically acclaimed FX series, which returns for its second season in January 2009.

In no particular order of importance:

• Arthur Frobisher is back –- and alive? There were conflicting reports on his status. FX President John Landgraf said Ted Danson’s character –- who was shot in last season’s finale -- will return for several more episodes.

“He’s not terribly healthy at the moment, but as you now know, he did survive,” Landgraf said.

But Todd A. Kessler, one of the show's three creators, said Danson’s return “doesn’t necessarily mean that Arthur Frobisher has survived.”

Hmmm…

• Marcia Gay Harden is coming aboard as a high-profile attorney for a company that appears mixed up in some kind of wrongdoing

• William Hurt plays a mysterious character who has a past with Patty Hewes and turns to her for help with a legal problem.

• Rose Byrne’s character, Ellen Parsons, is working as an informant for the feds, helping them with an investigation into Patty. She’s also in grief counseling, where she meets another shadowy character played by Timothy Olyphant, and bonds with him over being a victim of trauma.

“We all wanted to approach Ellen in a different way to make her more of a warrior,” Byrne said. “This season she’s made of steel a little bit more, which is really interesting to play.”

As for Patty, she’s “suffering through post-traumatic stress syndrome” herself after ordering a hit on Ellen, Glenn Close said.

Close called working on the show “a great creative adventure.”

“I think we are pioneering a true art form,” she added. “Personally, it’s like living a novel.”

Hurt said that when he was contemplating joining the cast, he sat down to watch last season’s episodes and “couldn’t turn them off.”

“I watched until 5 o’clock in the morning,” he said.

While he was wary of the relentless pace of making television, Hurt said Close’s performance convinced him that it would be worth it.

“I could see she had made really strong, powerful, thematic choices as a character,” he said. “So I thought, ‘OK, maybe the format has been busted.’”

Executive producer Daniel Zelman said that they aim to make the program’s signature flash-forward scenes “slightly less complex,” but will still utilize time-jumping in the storytelling.

“The flash forward is more like a genre element to us,” Zelman said, adding that it “creates a thriller element to the show.”

Production on the season premiere is complete and the cast has started shooting the second episode, but the writers have not yet finished all 13 scripts for the season.

Spinning out the narrative while the show is in production “creates a great energy for us and a strain at times in our lives,” Kessler said.

-- Matea Gold

(Photo courtesy FX)

Hi there, fans of "Damages" --

On Thursday, I'm moderating a panel discussion of this twisty FX show for the Envelope Emmy Screening Series 2008. On the panel will be Glenn Close and Ted Danson, as well as the show's creators, Todd A. Kessler, Glenn Kessler and Daniel Zelman.

And I'd love your help!

Do you have any questions about the series that you would want answered? I can't guarantee that the creators or the actors will reveal any mysteries, but we can try. In rewatching the show's first season, for instance, I wondered again why Patty Hewes (Close) hates Arthur Frobisher (Danson) so much. And what's the story of Julia Hewes, the gravestone Patty visits during her darkest hour? Is Patty's son Michael just a teen-aged creep, or is there something more sinister there?

Submit a question here in the comments area, or e-mail me at Kate.Aurthur@latimes.com.

P.S. Find Patty Hewes!

P.P.S. Trust no one.

-- Kate Aurthur

Here's the schedule for upcoming Envelope Emmy Screening Series panels.

'Damages' preview: Ted Danson reveals Frobisher is about to turn

Spoiler alert: Do not read further if you want to go into tonight's episode of "Damages" completely in the dark. (Just come back and read afterward!)

Of course, we all saw this coming.

"Damages" tycoon Arthur Frobisher isn't long for his born-again, staff-holding ways. Without blowing exactly what happens, Ted Danson chats about Frobisher's change of heart in tonight's episode, finding the humor in Patty's nemesis and getting lost in the maze that is "Damages."

Well, that didn't take long. Frobisher's going to kick the religion and go back to his old ways, isn't he?
It's kind of perfect that way though, isn't it? I do love that he found religion this year, he went all Eastern, but it's also the narcisist finding religion. It's like the addict who has all of a sudden found God but really hasn't done the work.

I love that he cries a lot this year, too. He's a crier.

Was crying in the script?
No, actually. I thought it was appropriate. I talked to people who had major heart surgery or who had come back from the brink and they said their emotions were just on their sleeve, they couldn't control it. I thought to myself, "Well, that'd be fun for this guy."

Last season he was all intensity. This time, he does provide a little comic relief.
All my career, I've kind of gravitated toward, been amused by, and empathized with those kind of wounded people who don't really see themselves fully. I find it kind of sad, tragic, but also kind of funny. I think Sam Malone obviously was very funny, but there was also a sadness to him. Frobisher is definitely sad, but there's something also very funny about him. He's the narcisist who thinks he's got the world by the tail but doesn't realize there's this 100-ton monster standing behind him in the form of Patty. He's so over his head, but he doesn't get it because he's such a narcisist. I think it's hilarious. And I love playing that kind of stuff. It's sad, it's human and there's still something dark and funny about it. 

In tonight's episode-ending shocker, we find out that Wes is in cahoots with the Frobisher-employed corrupt cop who killed Ellen's fiance. That doesn't yet make sense to me -- like so much else in this season -- because it doesn't jive with Wes' Frobisher hate shrine/gun storage closet. (Is it a hate shrine? Those newspaper clippings weren't positive.) Maybe Wes is just duping the corrupt cop into thinking he's duping Ellen so he can get closer to Frobisher. Why? Not sure yet.

In the final scene, a bullet is fired in a car, leaving a shattered and bloody back windshield. Then, Wes gets out of the car. Could Ted Danson be inside?

Was I this turned around last season? Probably. But it really feels like everyone this season is living a double -- nay, a triple -- life, from Claire Maddox to Patty's own husband. Next thing you know, those two feds Ellen has been dealing with will show up for a secret rendezvous with Uncle Pete, too. (Because even he's got secrets he's keeping from Patty.)

At least the bad guys are still just bad. In the first season, Frobisher was a pretty straightforward bad man. He'd done a bad thing, tried to cover it up, and sent out his heavies to silence and/or murder the people who made him sweat. This year, that's UNR and this Kendrick fellow who dresses like a woman for his buds but can't take a joke.

There are two things I'm now clear on ... I think.

If you're trying to keep track of alliances on "Damages," don't. Not yet. Ties are still being revealed. Everyone is double-crossing everyone. Triple-crossing in some cases.

Take Daniel Purcell. You think he's all crushed over poor Christine, but nooooooo. He was cheating on his wife. He had physically assaulted her. He does have a rotten temper. And he is lying to Patty Hewes.

Is Patty really not holding any of the strings this time? That can't be right. Or can it?

One thing at a time, much was revealed about dear Daniel tonight. What is his deal? His real deal? Help me (in vain) piece it together, gentlereader. Here's the little we know so far:

• Daniel and Patty used to be a thing. And it must have been hot because 10 years ago during Patty's first big case, he threw his testimony so she'd win. Soon after, Patty rewarded him with the news that they shared a son -- we knew it! -- and he was not happy about it.


• Daniel had physically assaulted his wife, an incident that had been sealed in family court until the investigating detective somehow managed to unseal it. The revalation caused Daniel's temper to flare.

My, how the tables have turned. Last season, Patty masterminded a most-twisted plan to win her case against Arthur Frobisher. She hired Ellen, rigged witnesses, even killed a pet puppy, and nearly the entire time, she was on top. This season, Patty's world has gone topsy-turvy.

Starting from the beginning: It's going down in room 1910. Whatever Ellen's up to with her whiskey and her pistol, it's happening in room 1910.

The song that's playing is Ray Charles' "Just For A Thrill." The lyrics might be telling? A sample: Just for a thrill / You were my pride and joy / But to you, I was merely a toy / A plaything, that you could toss around at will / Just for a thrill / You made my life one sad song / Just for a thrill / You just led me, led me along

Six months earlier ... Patty is crying, again, in the bathroom of Daniel Purcell's house. Is she coming undone? What exactly is her connection to him? Is he the father of her stillborn child? Moving on. Patty had only just met his now-dead wife, so those tears aren't for her. Daniel tells the cops that he saw the man who did it, a Nordic type apparently. Remember "The Firm"? Those Nordics will get you every time. The ominous company man who tried to give Daniel a way out in the first episode -- character's name is Middleman (Brett Collins) -- pulls up in a car outside the house. He's up to no good.

We find out Daniel is diabetic. Write that down. He's dazed, he's confused, he puts up a fight with the cop, wanting to go after his wife's killer, not realizing he's pretty much the primary suspect in her murder. This reminds me of "The Fugitive," in a good way.

Back at the office, Ellen asks Patty if maybe Daniel could have murdered his wife. Patty says anything is possible, which is too true on "Damages," right? Ellen pushes the infant-mortality case some more. The FBI thinks that maybe Tom should take the case, that way they can use him to help hang Patty. Ellen says to go for it. (Tate Donovan says, "Yay! Material!")

Ellen reads in the newspaper that Arthur Frobisher is out of the hospital and confesses to Wes that she is kicking herself for not plugging the bearded one when she had the chance. Wes reveals that he knows exactly who she is and what her MO is. So is she now in the market for a gun? Nope. Just a roll in zee hay! Me? I still think he's cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.

Talk about anxiety. The first season of “Damages” gave us such whiplash (albeit the kind we were grateful for) that it was hard to imagine the next season could include as many time-jumping twists and turns in a way that didn't seem contrived.

Could the show still surprise us? This time around, Ellen’s agenda is clear -- Take down Patty Hewes! -- and watching Patty with anything less than an upper-hand might not satisfy fans of Patty as puppet master. Giving us a weaker, less diabolical attorney? It's practically blasphemous.

Happily, the premiere overdelivered, and I second the review of Mary McNamara, who said the second season "promises to be even better than the first." If like me you were worried about a softened Patty, have no fear. She might be a little shaken by the ghost of Ray Fiske, but she still had the nerve to tell Ellen, whom she tried to have bumped off, that she was like the daughter Patty never had. Ho ho ho, so evil.

That said, it’s never too early to start talking theories, and there’s already much to discuss. Here's the season’s first round of Burning Questions. (They will pop up during those weeks in which I’m truly confounded by the show's tangled web of intrigues.)

Can the second season of FX's delicious 'Damages' possibly surpass the first? Yes.

Clear your evening schedule, put the cellphone on silent and get those kids to bed early; “Damages” is back, so focus, people, focus. Exhibit A in the struggling sub-genre of Shut-That-Laptop-and-Pay-Attention television, FX's fledgling drama premiered last season with a plot so convoluted you needed a crib sheet and relationship with time based, apparently, on someone's favorite acid trip.

It was terrific, of course, with Glenn Close as the seductive and duplicitous ace lawyer Patty Hewes stalking debauched CEO Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson), who bilked his employees of their jobs and pensions while drawing doe-eyed neophyte Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne) into a web of lies that left Ellen's fiancé dead and Ellen running, half-naked and covered in blood, through the streets of New York.

Close and Danson guaranteed critical attention and "Damages" delivered; it opened big and played like a top-notch psycho-thriller feature film, only it was better because it lasted for months instead of hours. Emmy nominations all around, with Zeljko Ivanek winning best supporting actor in a drama for his portrayal of Ray Fiske, Patty's poor doomed opponent in the Frobisher case.

So how on Earth do you top, or even follow, that? By bringing back everyone involved (including, marvelously, the dead characters) and a bunch of their powerhouse friends to answer that age-old question: What do you do when you believe your boss has tried to kill you?

Ooh la la! FX's sexy, crazy, intricate, crazy, complicated, crazy, funny (did we say crazy?) plastic surgeon drama, "Nip/Tuck," will return Jan. 6 to complete its fifth season. But wait, that's not all: FX also announced today the return of "Damages," the sexy, intricate, complicated and, yes, a little crazy, legal thriller, "Damages." That series, which earned Glenn Close and Zeljko Ivanek Emmys this fall, returns Jan. 7 for its second season.

In the remaining part of "Nip/Tuck's" fifth season, Sean McNamara (Dylan Walsh) tries to rebuild his life — AGAIN — after being brutally attacked — AGAIN. Sean and Christian's (Julian McMahon) medical practice undergoes a crisis AGAIN and Christian vows to settle down with one woman. Really?

"Damages" will pick up with Patty Hewes' (Glenn Close) pondering her next move after her unprecedented victory over Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson). But little does she know that a man from her past, Daniel Purcell (William Hurt), will catapult her into a new legal challenge as Ellen (Rose Byrne) continues to assist the FBI with its criminal investigation of Patty and her firm.

Midseason is shaping up to be a TV fanatic free-for-all. We are already getting worried about the capacity of our DVRs.

— Maria Elena Fernandez

(Photo courtesy FX)

Oh, “Damages” fans, where do we begin?

There were so many tantalizing tidbits from today’s panel with the producers and cast of the critically acclaimed FX series, which returns for its second season in January 2009.

In no particular order of importance:

• Arthur Frobisher is back –- and alive? There were conflicting reports on his status. FX President John Landgraf said Ted Danson’s character –- who was shot in last season’s finale -- will return for several more episodes.

“He’s not terribly healthy at the moment, but as you now know, he did survive,” Landgraf said.

But Todd A. Kessler, one of the show's three creators, said Danson’s return “doesn’t necessarily mean that Arthur Frobisher has survived.”

Hmmm…

• Marcia Gay Harden is coming aboard as a high-profile attorney for a company that appears mixed up in some kind of wrongdoing

• William Hurt plays a mysterious character who has a past with Patty Hewes and turns to her for help with a legal problem.

• Rose Byrne’s character, Ellen Parsons, is working as an informant for the feds, helping them with an investigation into Patty. She’s also in grief counseling, where she meets another shadowy character played by Timothy Olyphant, and bonds with him over being a victim of trauma.

“We all wanted to approach Ellen in a different way to make her more of a warrior,” Byrne said. “This season she’s made of steel a little bit more, which is really interesting to play.”

As for Patty, she’s “suffering through post-traumatic stress syndrome” herself after ordering a hit on Ellen, Glenn Close said.

Close called working on the show “a great creative adventure.”

“I think we are pioneering a true art form,” she added. “Personally, it’s like living a novel.”

Hurt said that when he was contemplating joining the cast, he sat down to watch last season’s episodes and “couldn’t turn them off.”

“I watched until 5 o’clock in the morning,” he said.

While he was wary of the relentless pace of making television, Hurt said Close’s performance convinced him that it would be worth it.

“I could see she had made really strong, powerful, thematic choices as a character,” he said. “So I thought, ‘OK, maybe the format has been busted.’”

Executive producer Daniel Zelman said that they aim to make the program’s signature flash-forward scenes “slightly less complex,” but will still utilize time-jumping in the storytelling.

“The flash forward is more like a genre element to us,” Zelman said, adding that it “creates a thriller element to the show.”

Production on the season premiere is complete and the cast has started shooting the second episode, but the writers have not yet finished all 13 scripts for the season.

Spinning out the narrative while the show is in production “creates a great energy for us and a strain at times in our lives,” Kessler said.

-- Matea Gold

(Photo courtesy FX)

Hi there, fans of "Damages" --

On Thursday, I'm moderating a panel discussion of this twisty FX show for the Envelope Emmy Screening Series 2008. On the panel will be Glenn Close and Ted Danson, as well as the show's creators, Todd A. Kessler, Glenn Kessler and Daniel Zelman.

And I'd love your help!

Do you have any questions about the series that you would want answered? I can't guarantee that the creators or the actors will reveal any mysteries, but we can try. In rewatching the show's first season, for instance, I wondered again why Patty Hewes (Close) hates Arthur Frobisher (Danson) so much. And what's the story of Julia Hewes, the gravestone Patty visits during her darkest hour? Is Patty's son Michael just a teen-aged creep, or is there something more sinister there?

Submit a question here in the comments area, or e-mail me at Kate.Aurthur@latimes.com.

P.S. Find Patty Hewes!

P.P.S. Trust no one.

-- Kate Aurthur

Here's the schedule for upcoming Envelope Emmy Screening Series panels.

'Damages': Is this picture getting clearer?

In tonight's episode-ending shocker, we find out that Wes is in cahoots with the Frobisher-employed corrupt cop who killed Ellen's fiance. That doesn't yet make sense to me -- like so much else in this season -- because it doesn't jive with Wes' Frobisher hate shrine/gun storage closet. (Is it a hate shrine? Those newspaper clippings weren't positive.) Maybe Wes is just duping the corrupt cop into thinking he's duping Ellen so he can get closer to Frobisher. Why? Not sure yet.

In the final scene, a bullet is fired in a car, leaving a shattered and bloody back windshield. Then, Wes gets out of the car. Could Ted Danson be inside?

Was I this turned around last season? Probably. But it really feels like everyone this season is living a double -- nay, a triple -- life, from Claire Maddox to Patty's own husband. Next thing you know, those two feds Ellen has been dealing with will show up for a secret rendezvous with Uncle Pete, too. (Because even he's got secrets he's keeping from Patty.)

At least the bad guys are still just bad. In the first season, Frobisher was a pretty straightforward bad man. He'd done a bad thing, tried to cover it up, and sent out his heavies to silence and/or murder the people who made him sweat. This year, that's UNR and this Kendrick fellow who dresses like a woman for his buds but can't take a joke.

There are two things I'm now clear on ... I think.

If you're trying to keep track of alliances on "Damages," don't. Not yet. Ties are still being revealed. Everyone is double-crossing everyone. Triple-crossing in some cases.

Take Daniel Purcell. You think he's all crushed over poor Christine, but nooooooo. He was cheating on his wife. He had physically assaulted her. He does have a rotten temper. And he is lying to Patty Hewes.

Is Patty really not holding any of the strings this time? That can't be right. Or can it?

One thing at a time, much was revealed about dear Daniel tonight. What is his deal? His real deal? Help me (in vain) piece it together, gentlereader. Here's the little we know so far:

• Daniel and Patty used to be a thing. And it must have been hot because 10 years ago during Patty's first big case, he threw his testimony so she'd win. Soon after, Patty rewarded him with the news that they shared a son -- we knew it! -- and he was not happy about it.


• Daniel had physically assaulted his wife, an incident that had been sealed in family court until the investigating detective somehow managed to unseal it. The revalation caused Daniel's temper to flare.

My, how the tables have turned. Last season, Patty masterminded a most-twisted plan to win her case against Arthur Frobisher. She hired Ellen, rigged witnesses, even killed a pet puppy, and nearly the entire time, she was on top. This season, Patty's world has gone topsy-turvy.

Starting from the beginning: It's going down in room 1910. Whatever Ellen's up to with her whiskey and her pistol, it's happening in room 1910.

The song that's playing is Ray Charles' "Just For A Thrill." The lyrics might be telling? A sample: Just for a thrill / You were my pride and joy / But to you, I was merely a toy / A plaything, that you could toss around at will / Just for a thrill / You made my life one sad song / Just for a thrill / You just led me, led me along

Six months earlier ... Patty is crying, again, in the bathroom of Daniel Purcell's house. Is she coming undone? What exactly is her connection to him? Is he the father of her stillborn child? Moving on. Patty had only just met his now-dead wife, so those tears aren't for her. Daniel tells the cops that he saw the man who did it, a Nordic type apparently. Remember "The Firm"? Those Nordics will get you every time. The ominous company man who tried to give Daniel a way out in the first episode -- character's name is Middleman (Brett Collins) -- pulls up in a car outside the house. He's up to no good.

We find out Daniel is diabetic. Write that down. He's dazed, he's confused, he puts up a fight with the cop, wanting to go after his wife's killer, not realizing he's pretty much the primary suspect in her murder. This reminds me of "The Fugitive," in a good way.

Back at the office, Ellen asks Patty if maybe Daniel could have murdered his wife. Patty says anything is possible, which is too true on "Damages," right? Ellen pushes the infant-mortality case some more. The FBI thinks that maybe Tom should take the case, that way they can use him to help hang Patty. Ellen says to go for it. (Tate Donovan says, "Yay! Material!")

Ellen reads in the newspaper that Arthur Frobisher is out of the hospital and confesses to Wes that she is kicking herself for not plugging the bearded one when she had the chance. Wes reveals that he knows exactly who she is and what her MO is. So is she now in the market for a gun? Nope. Just a roll in zee hay! Me? I still think he's cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.

Talk about anxiety. The first season of “Damages” gave us such whiplash (albeit the kind we were grateful for) that it was hard to imagine the next season could include as many time-jumping twists and turns in a way that didn't seem contrived.

Could the show still surprise us? This time around, Ellen’s agenda is clear -- Take down Patty Hewes! -- and watching Patty with anything less than an upper-hand might not satisfy fans of Patty as puppet master. Giving us a weaker, less diabolical attorney? It's practically blasphemous.

Happily, the premiere overdelivered, and I second the review of Mary McNamara, who said the second season "promises to be even better than the first." If like me you were worried about a softened Patty, have no fear. She might be a little shaken by the ghost of Ray Fiske, but she still had the nerve to tell Ellen, whom she tried to have bumped off, that she was like the daughter Patty never had. Ho ho ho, so evil.

That said, it’s never too early to start talking theories, and there’s already much to discuss. Here's the season’s first round of Burning Questions. (They will pop up during those weeks in which I’m truly confounded by the show's tangled web of intrigues.)

Can the second season of FX's delicious 'Damages' possibly surpass the first? Yes.

Clear your evening schedule, put the cellphone on silent and get those kids to bed early; “Damages” is back, so focus, people, focus. Exhibit A in the struggling sub-genre of Shut-That-Laptop-and-Pay-Attention television, FX's fledgling drama premiered last season with a plot so convoluted you needed a crib sheet and relationship with time based, apparently, on someone's favorite acid trip.

It was terrific, of course, with Glenn Close as the seductive and duplicitous ace lawyer Patty Hewes stalking debauched CEO Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson), who bilked his employees of their jobs and pensions while drawing doe-eyed neophyte Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne) into a web of lies that left Ellen's fiancé dead and Ellen running, half-naked and covered in blood, through the streets of New York.

Close and Danson guaranteed critical attention and "Damages" delivered; it opened big and played like a top-notch psycho-thriller feature film, only it was better because it lasted for months instead of hours. Emmy nominations all around, with Zeljko Ivanek winning best supporting actor in a drama for his portrayal of Ray Fiske, Patty's poor doomed opponent in the Frobisher case.

So how on Earth do you top, or even follow, that? By bringing back everyone involved (including, marvelously, the dead characters) and a bunch of their powerhouse friends to answer that age-old question: What do you do when you believe your boss has tried to kill you?

Ooh la la! FX's sexy, crazy, intricate, crazy, complicated, crazy, funny (did we say crazy?) plastic surgeon drama, "Nip/Tuck," will return Jan. 6 to complete its fifth season. But wait, that's not all: FX also announced today the return of "Damages," the sexy, intricate, complicated and, yes, a little crazy, legal thriller, "Damages." That series, which earned Glenn Close and Zeljko Ivanek Emmys this fall, returns Jan. 7 for its second season.

In the remaining part of "Nip/Tuck's" fifth season, Sean McNamara (Dylan Walsh) tries to rebuild his life — AGAIN — after being brutally attacked — AGAIN. Sean and Christian's (Julian McMahon) medical practice undergoes a crisis AGAIN and Christian vows to settle down with one woman. Really?

"Damages" will pick up with Patty Hewes' (Glenn Close) pondering her next move after her unprecedented victory over Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson). But little does she know that a man from her past, Daniel Purcell (William Hurt), will catapult her into a new legal challenge as Ellen (Rose Byrne) continues to assist the FBI with its criminal investigation of Patty and her firm.

Midseason is shaping up to be a TV fanatic free-for-all. We are already getting worried about the capacity of our DVRs.

— Maria Elena Fernandez

(Photo courtesy FX)

Oh, “Damages” fans, where do we begin?

There were so many tantalizing tidbits from today’s panel with the producers and cast of the critically acclaimed FX series, which returns for its second season in January 2009.

In no particular order of importance:

• Arthur Frobisher is back –- and alive? There were conflicting reports on his status. FX President John Landgraf said Ted Danson’s character –- who was shot in last season’s finale -- will return for several more episodes.

“He’s not terribly healthy at the moment, but as you now know, he did survive,” Landgraf said.

But Todd A. Kessler, one of the show's three creators, said Danson’s return “doesn’t necessarily mean that Arthur Frobisher has survived.”

Hmmm…

• Marcia Gay Harden is coming aboard as a high-profile attorney for a company that appears mixed up in some kind of wrongdoing

• William Hurt plays a mysterious character who has a past with Patty Hewes and turns to her for help with a legal problem.

• Rose Byrne’s character, Ellen Parsons, is working as an informant for the feds, helping them with an investigation into Patty. She’s also in grief counseling, where she meets another shadowy character played by Timothy Olyphant, and bonds with him over being a victim of trauma.

“We all wanted to approach Ellen in a different way to make her more of a warrior,” Byrne said. “This season she’s made of steel a little bit more, which is really interesting to play.”

As for Patty, she’s “suffering through post-traumatic stress syndrome” herself after ordering a hit on Ellen, Glenn Close said.

Close called working on the show “a great creative adventure.”

“I think we are pioneering a true art form,” she added. “Personally, it’s like living a novel.”

Hurt said that when he was contemplating joining the cast, he sat down to watch last season’s episodes and “couldn’t turn them off.”

“I watched until 5 o’clock in the morning,” he said.

While he was wary of the relentless pace of making television, Hurt said Close’s performance convinced him that it would be worth it.

“I could see she had made really strong, powerful, thematic choices as a character,” he said. “So I thought, ‘OK, maybe the format has been busted.’”

Executive producer Daniel Zelman said that they aim to make the program’s signature flash-forward scenes “slightly less complex,” but will still utilize time-jumping in the storytelling.

“The flash forward is more like a genre element to us,” Zelman said, adding that it “creates a thriller element to the show.”

Production on the season premiere is complete and the cast has started shooting the second episode, but the writers have not yet finished all 13 scripts for the season.

Spinning out the narrative while the show is in production “creates a great energy for us and a strain at times in our lives,” Kessler said.

-- Matea Gold

(Photo courtesy FX)

Hi there, fans of "Damages" --

On Thursday, I'm moderating a panel discussion of this twisty FX show for the Envelope Emmy Screening Series 2008. On the panel will be Glenn Close and Ted Danson, as well as the show's creators, Todd A. Kessler, Glenn Kessler and Daniel Zelman.

And I'd love your help!

Do you have any questions about the series that you would want answered? I can't guarantee that the creators or the actors will reveal any mysteries, but we can try. In rewatching the show's first season, for instance, I wondered again why Patty Hewes (Close) hates Arthur Frobisher (Danson) so much. And what's the story of Julia Hewes, the gravestone Patty visits during her darkest hour? Is Patty's son Michael just a teen-aged creep, or is there something more sinister there?

Submit a question here in the comments area, or e-mail me at Kate.Aurthur@latimes.com.

P.S. Find Patty Hewes!

P.P.S. Trust no one.

-- Kate Aurthur

Here's the schedule for upcoming Envelope Emmy Screening Series panels.

'Damages': Did Daniel Purcell kill his wife?

If you're trying to keep track of alliances on "Damages," don't. Not yet. Ties are still being revealed. Everyone is double-crossing everyone. Triple-crossing in some cases.

Take Daniel Purcell. You think he's all crushed over poor Christine, but nooooooo. He was cheating on his wife. He had physically assaulted her. He does have a rotten temper. And he is lying to Patty Hewes.

Is Patty really not holding any of the strings this time? That can't be right. Or can it?

One thing at a time, much was revealed about dear Daniel tonight. What is his deal? His real deal? Help me (in vain) piece it together, gentlereader. Here's the little we know so far:

• Daniel and Patty used to be a thing. And it must have been hot because 10 years ago during Patty's first big case, he threw his testimony so she'd win. Soon after, Patty rewarded him with the news that they shared a son -- we knew it! -- and he was not happy about it.


• Daniel had physically assaulted his wife, an incident that had been sealed in family court until the investigating detective somehow managed to unseal it. The revalation caused Daniel's temper to flare.

My, how the tables have turned. Last season, Patty masterminded a most-twisted plan to win her case against Arthur Frobisher. She hired Ellen, rigged witnesses, even killed a pet puppy, and nearly the entire time, she was on top. This season, Patty's world has gone topsy-turvy.

Starting from the beginning: It's going down in room 1910. Whatever Ellen's up to with her whiskey and her pistol, it's happening in room 1910.

The song that's playing is Ray Charles' "Just For A Thrill." The lyrics might be telling? A sample: Just for a thrill / You were my pride and joy / But to you, I was merely a toy / A plaything, that you could toss around at will / Just for a thrill / You made my life one sad song / Just for a thrill / You just led me, led me along

Six months earlier ... Patty is crying, again, in the bathroom of Daniel Purcell's house. Is she coming undone? What exactly is her connection to him? Is he the father of her stillborn child? Moving on. Patty had only just met his now-dead wife, so those tears aren't for her. Daniel tells the cops that he saw the man who did it, a Nordic type apparently. Remember "The Firm"? Those Nordics will get you every time. The ominous company man who tried to give Daniel a way out in the first episode -- character's name is Middleman (Brett Collins) -- pulls up in a car outside the house. He's up to no good.

We find out Daniel is diabetic. Write that down. He's dazed, he's confused, he puts up a fight with the cop, wanting to go after his wife's killer, not realizing he's pretty much the primary suspect in her murder. This reminds me of "The Fugitive," in a good way.

Back at the office, Ellen asks Patty if maybe Daniel could have murdered his wife. Patty says anything is possible, which is too true on "Damages," right? Ellen pushes the infant-mortality case some more. The FBI thinks that maybe Tom should take the case, that way they can use him to help hang Patty. Ellen says to go for it. (Tate Donovan says, "Yay! Material!")

Ellen reads in the newspaper that Arthur Frobisher is out of the hospital and confesses to Wes that she is kicking herself for not plugging the bearded one when she had the chance. Wes reveals that he knows exactly who she is and what her MO is. So is she now in the market for a gun? Nope. Just a roll in zee hay! Me? I still think he's cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.

Talk about anxiety. The first season of “Damages” gave us such whiplash (albeit the kind we were grateful for) that it was hard to imagine the next season could include as many time-jumping twists and turns in a way that didn't seem contrived.

Could the show still surprise us? This time around, Ellen’s agenda is clear -- Take down Patty Hewes! -- and watching Patty with anything less than an upper-hand might not satisfy fans of Patty as puppet master. Giving us a weaker, less diabolical attorney? It's practically blasphemous.

Happily, the premiere overdelivered, and I second the review of Mary McNamara, who said the second season "promises to be even better than the first." If like me you were worried about a softened Patty, have no fear. She might be a little shaken by the ghost of Ray Fiske, but she still had the nerve to tell Ellen, whom she tried to have bumped off, that she was like the daughter Patty never had. Ho ho ho, so evil.

That said, it’s never too early to start talking theories, and there’s already much to discuss. Here's the season’s first round of Burning Questions. (They will pop up during those weeks in which I’m truly confounded by the show's tangled web of intrigues.)

Can the second season of FX's delicious 'Damages' possibly surpass the first? Yes.

Clear your evening schedule, put the cellphone on silent and get those kids to bed early; “Damages” is back, so focus, people, focus. Exhibit A in the struggling sub-genre of Shut-That-Laptop-and-Pay-Attention television, FX's fledgling drama premiered last season with a plot so convoluted you needed a crib sheet and relationship with time based, apparently, on someone's favorite acid trip.

It was terrific, of course, with Glenn Close as the seductive and duplicitous ace lawyer Patty Hewes stalking debauched CEO Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson), who bilked his employees of their jobs and pensions while drawing doe-eyed neophyte Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne) into a web of lies that left Ellen's fiancé dead and Ellen running, half-naked and covered in blood, through the streets of New York.

Close and Danson guaranteed critical attention and "Damages" delivered; it opened big and played like a top-notch psycho-thriller feature film, only it was better because it lasted for months instead of hours. Emmy nominations all around, with Zeljko Ivanek winning best supporting actor in a drama for his portrayal of Ray Fiske, Patty's poor doomed opponent in the Frobisher case.

So how on Earth do you top, or even follow, that? By bringing back everyone involved (including, marvelously, the dead characters) and a bunch of their powerhouse friends to answer that age-old question: What do you do when you believe your boss has tried to kill you?

Ooh la la! FX's sexy, crazy, intricate, crazy, complicated, crazy, funny (did we say crazy?) plastic surgeon drama, "Nip/Tuck," will return Jan. 6 to complete its fifth season. But wait, that's not all: FX also announced today the return of "Damages," the sexy, intricate, complicated and, yes, a little crazy, legal thriller, "Damages." That series, which earned Glenn Close and Zeljko Ivanek Emmys this fall, returns Jan. 7 for its second season.

In the remaining part of "Nip/Tuck's" fifth season, Sean McNamara (Dylan Walsh) tries to rebuild his life — AGAIN — after being brutally attacked — AGAIN. Sean and Christian's (Julian McMahon) medical practice undergoes a crisis AGAIN and Christian vows to settle down with one woman. Really?

"Damages" will pick up with Patty Hewes' (Glenn Close) pondering her next move after her unprecedented victory over Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson). But little does she know that a man from her past, Daniel Purcell (William Hurt), will catapult her into a new legal challenge as Ellen (Rose Byrne) continues to assist the FBI with its criminal investigation of Patty and her firm.

Midseason is shaping up to be a TV fanatic free-for-all. We are already getting worried about the capacity of our DVRs.

— Maria Elena Fernandez

(Photo courtesy FX)

Oh, “Damages” fans, where do we begin?

There were so many tantalizing tidbits from today’s panel with the producers and cast of the critically acclaimed FX series, which returns for its second season in January 2009.

In no particular order of importance:

• Arthur Frobisher is back –- and alive? There were conflicting reports on his status. FX President John Landgraf said Ted Danson’s character –- who was shot in last season’s finale -- will return for several more episodes.

“He’s not terribly healthy at the moment, but as you now know, he did survive,” Landgraf said.

But Todd A. Kessler, one of the show's three creators, said Danson’s return “doesn’t necessarily mean that Arthur Frobisher has survived.”

Hmmm…

• Marcia Gay Harden is coming aboard as a high-profile attorney for a company that appears mixed up in some kind of wrongdoing

• William Hurt plays a mysterious character who has a past with Patty Hewes and turns to her for help with a legal problem.

• Rose Byrne’s character, Ellen Parsons, is working as an informant for the feds, helping them with an investigation into Patty. She’s also in grief counseling, where she meets another shadowy character played by Timothy Olyphant, and bonds with him over being a victim of trauma.

“We all wanted to approach Ellen in a different way to make her more of a warrior,” Byrne said. “This season she’s made of steel a little bit more, which is really interesting to play.”

As for Patty, she’s “suffering through post-traumatic stress syndrome” herself after ordering a hit on Ellen, Glenn Close said.

Close called working on the show “a great creative adventure.”

“I think we are pioneering a true art form,” she added. “Personally, it’s like living a novel.”

Hurt said that when he was contemplating joining the cast, he sat down to watch last season’s episodes and “couldn’t turn them off.”

“I watched until 5 o’clock in the morning,” he said.

While he was wary of the relentless pace of making television, Hurt said Close’s performance convinced him that it would be worth it.

“I could see she had made really strong, powerful, thematic choices as a character,” he said. “So I thought, ‘OK, maybe the format has been busted.’”

Executive producer Daniel Zelman said that they aim to make the program’s signature flash-forward scenes “slightly less complex,” but will still utilize time-jumping in the storytelling.

“The flash forward is more like a genre element to us,” Zelman said, adding that it “creates a thriller element to the show.”

Production on the season premiere is complete and the cast has started shooting the second episode, but the writers have not yet finished all 13 scripts for the season.

Spinning out the narrative while the show is in production “creates a great energy for us and a strain at times in our lives,” Kessler said.

-- Matea Gold

(Photo courtesy FX)

Hi there, fans of "Damages" --

On Thursday, I'm moderating a panel discussion of this twisty FX show for the Envelope Emmy Screening Series 2008. On the panel will be Glenn Close and Ted Danson, as well as the show's creators, Todd A. Kessler, Glenn Kessler and Daniel Zelman.

And I'd love your help!

Do you have any questions about the series that you would want answered? I can't guarantee that the creators or the actors will reveal any mysteries, but we can try. In rewatching the show's first season, for instance, I wondered again why Patty Hewes (Close) hates Arthur Frobisher (Danson) so much. And what's the story of Julia Hewes, the gravestone Patty visits during her darkest hour? Is Patty's son Michael just a teen-aged creep, or is there something more sinister there?

Submit a question here in the comments area, or e-mail me at Kate.Aurthur@latimes.com.

P.S. Find Patty Hewes!

P.P.S. Trust no one.

-- Kate Aurthur

Here's the schedule for upcoming Envelope Emmy Screening Series panels.

'Damages': Patty can't catch a break!

My, how the tables have turned. Last season, Patty masterminded a most-twisted plan to win her case against Arthur Frobisher. She hired Ellen, rigged witnesses, even killed a pet puppy, and nearly the entire time, she was on top. This season, Patty's world has gone topsy-turvy.

Starting from the beginning: It's going down in room 1910. Whatever Ellen's up to with her whiskey and her pistol, it's happening in room 1910.

The song that's playing is Ray Charles' "Just For A Thrill." The lyrics might be telling? A sample: Just for a thrill / You were my pride and joy / But to you, I was merely a toy / A plaything, that you could toss around at will / Just for a thrill / You made my life one sad song / Just for a thrill / You just led me, led me along

Six months earlier ... Patty is crying, again, in the bathroom of Daniel Purcell's house. Is she coming undone? What exactly is her connection to him? Is he the father of her stillborn child? Moving on. Patty had only just met his now-dead wife, so those tears aren't for her. Daniel tells the cops that he saw the man who did it, a Nordic type apparently. Remember "The Firm"? Those Nordics will get you every time. The ominous company man who tried to give Daniel a way out in the first episode -- character's name is Middleman (Brett Collins) -- pulls up in a car outside the house. He's up to no good.

We find out Daniel is diabetic. Write that down. He's dazed, he's confused, he puts up a fight with the cop, wanting to go after his wife's killer, not realizing he's pretty much the primary suspect in her murder. This reminds me of "The Fugitive," in a good way.

Back at the office, Ellen asks Patty if maybe Daniel could have murdered his wife. Patty says anything is possible, which is too true on "Damages," right? Ellen pushes the infant-mortality case some more. The FBI thinks that maybe Tom should take the case, that way they can use him to help hang Patty. Ellen says to go for it. (Tate Donovan says, "Yay! Material!")

Ellen reads in the newspaper that Arthur Frobisher is out of the hospital and confesses to Wes that she is kicking herself for not plugging the bearded one when she had the chance. Wes reveals that he knows exactly who she is and what her MO is. So is she now in the market for a gun? Nope. Just a roll in zee hay! Me? I still think he's cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.

Talk about anxiety. The first season of “Damages” gave us such whiplash (albeit the kind we were grateful for) that it was hard to imagine the next season could include as many time-jumping twists and turns in a way that didn't seem contrived.

Could the show still surprise us? This time around, Ellen’s agenda is clear -- Take down Patty Hewes! -- and watching Patty with anything less than an upper-hand might not satisfy fans of Patty as puppet master. Giving us a weaker, less diabolical attorney? It's practically blasphemous.

Happily, the premiere overdelivered, and I second the review of Mary McNamara, who said the second season "promises to be even better than the first." If like me you were worried about a softened Patty, have no fear. She might be a little shaken by the ghost of Ray Fiske, but she still had the nerve to tell Ellen, whom she tried to have bumped off, that she was like the daughter Patty never had. Ho ho ho, so evil.

That said, it’s never too early to start talking theories, and there’s already much to discuss. Here's the season’s first round of Burning Questions. (They will pop up during those weeks in which I’m truly confounded by the show's tangled web of intrigues.)

Can the second season of FX's delicious 'Damages' possibly surpass the first? Yes.

Clear your evening schedule, put the cellphone on silent and get those kids to bed early; “Damages” is back, so focus, people, focus. Exhibit A in the struggling sub-genre of Shut-That-Laptop-and-Pay-Attention television, FX's fledgling drama premiered last season with a plot so convoluted you needed a crib sheet and relationship with time based, apparently, on someone's favorite acid trip.

It was terrific, of course, with Glenn Close as the seductive and duplicitous ace lawyer Patty Hewes stalking debauched CEO Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson), who bilked his employees of their jobs and pensions while drawing doe-eyed neophyte Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne) into a web of lies that left Ellen's fiancé dead and Ellen running, half-naked and covered in blood, through the streets of New York.

Close and Danson guaranteed critical attention and "Damages" delivered; it opened big and played like a top-notch psycho-thriller feature film, only it was better because it lasted for months instead of hours. Emmy nominations all around, with Zeljko Ivanek winning best supporting actor in a drama for his portrayal of Ray Fiske, Patty's poor doomed opponent in the Frobisher case.

So how on Earth do you top, or even follow, that? By bringing back everyone involved (including, marvelously, the dead characters) and a bunch of their powerhouse friends to answer that age-old question: What do you do when you believe your boss has tried to kill you?

Ooh la la! FX's sexy, crazy, intricate, crazy, complicated, crazy, funny (did we say crazy?) plastic surgeon drama, "Nip/Tuck," will return Jan. 6 to complete its fifth season. But wait, that's not all: FX also announced today the return of "Damages," the sexy, intricate, complicated and, yes, a little crazy, legal thriller, "Damages." That series, which earned Glenn Close and Zeljko Ivanek Emmys this fall, returns Jan. 7 for its second season.

In the remaining part of "Nip/Tuck's" fifth season, Sean McNamara (Dylan Walsh) tries to rebuild his life — AGAIN — after being brutally attacked — AGAIN. Sean and Christian's (Julian McMahon) medical practice undergoes a crisis AGAIN and Christian vows to settle down with one woman. Really?

"Damages" will pick up with Patty Hewes' (Glenn Close) pondering her next move after her unprecedented victory over Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson). But little does she know that a man from her past, Daniel Purcell (William Hurt), will catapult her into a new legal challenge as Ellen (Rose Byrne) continues to assist the FBI with its criminal investigation of Patty and her firm.

Midseason is shaping up to be a TV fanatic free-for-all. We are already getting worried about the capacity of our DVRs.

— Maria Elena Fernandez

(Photo courtesy FX)

Oh, “Damages” fans, where do we begin?

There were so many tantalizing tidbits from today’s panel with the producers and cast of the critically acclaimed FX series, which returns for its second season in January 2009.

In no particular order of importance:

• Arthur Frobisher is back –- and alive? There were conflicting reports on his status. FX President John Landgraf said Ted Danson’s character –- who was shot in last season’s finale -- will return for several more episodes.

“He’s not terribly healthy at the moment, but as you now know, he did survive,” Landgraf said.

But Todd A. Kessler, one of the show's three creators, said Danson’s return “doesn’t necessarily mean that Arthur Frobisher has survived.”

Hmmm…

• Marcia Gay Harden is coming aboard as a high-profile attorney for a company that appears mixed up in some kind of wrongdoing

• William Hurt plays a mysterious character who has a past with Patty Hewes and turns to her for help with a legal problem.

• Rose Byrne’s character, Ellen Parsons, is working as an informant for the feds, helping them with an investigation into Patty. She’s also in grief counseling, where she meets another shadowy character played by Timothy Olyphant, and bonds with him over being a victim of trauma.

“We all wanted to approach Ellen in a different way to make her more of a warrior,” Byrne said. “This season she’s made of steel a little bit more, which is really interesting to play.”

As for Patty, she’s “suffering through post-traumatic stress syndrome” herself after ordering a hit on Ellen, Glenn Close said.

Close called working on the show “a great creative adventure.”

“I think we are pioneering a true art form,” she added. “Personally, it’s like living a novel.”

Hurt said that when he was contemplating joining the cast, he sat down to watch last season’s episodes and “couldn’t turn them off.”

“I watched until 5 o’clock in the morning,” he said.

While he was wary of the relentless pace of making television, Hurt said Close’s performance convinced him that it would be worth it.

“I could see she had made really strong, powerful, thematic choices as a character,” he said. “So I thought, ‘OK, maybe the format has been busted.’”

Executive producer Daniel Zelman said that they aim to make the program’s signature flash-forward scenes “slightly less complex,” but will still utilize time-jumping in the storytelling.

“The flash forward is more like a genre element to us,” Zelman said, adding that it “creates a thriller element to the show.”

Production on the season premiere is complete and the cast has started shooting the second episode, but the writers have not yet finished all 13 scripts for the season.

Spinning out the narrative while the show is in production “creates a great energy for us and a strain at times in our lives,” Kessler said.

-- Matea Gold

(Photo courtesy FX)

Hi there, fans of "Damages" --

On Thursday, I'm moderating a panel discussion of this twisty FX show for the Envelope Emmy Screening Series 2008. On the panel will be Glenn Close and Ted Danson, as well as the show's creators, Todd A. Kessler, Glenn Kessler and Daniel Zelman.

And I'd love your help!

Do you have any questions about the series that you would want answered? I can't guarantee that the creators or the actors will reveal any mysteries, but we can try. In rewatching the show's first season, for instance, I wondered again why Patty Hewes (Close) hates Arthur Frobisher (Danson) so much. And what's the story of Julia Hewes, the gravestone Patty visits during her darkest hour? Is Patty's son Michael just a teen-aged creep, or is there something more sinister there?

Submit a question here in the comments area, or e-mail me at Kate.Aurthur@latimes.com.

P.S. Find Patty Hewes!

P.P.S. Trust no one.

-- Kate Aurthur

Here's the schedule for upcoming Envelope Emmy Screening Series panels.

'Damages': Who is Ellen pointing that gun at?

Talk about anxiety. The first season of “Damages” gave us such whiplash (albeit the kind we were grateful for) that it was hard to imagine the next season could include as many time-jumping twists and turns in a way that didn't seem contrived.

Could the show still surprise us? This time around, Ellen’s agenda is clear -- Take down Patty Hewes! -- and watching Patty with anything less than an upper-hand might not satisfy fans of Patty as puppet master. Giving us a weaker, less diabolical attorney? It's practically blasphemous.

Happily, the premiere overdelivered, and I second the review of Mary McNamara, who said the second season "promises to be even better than the first." If like me you were worried about a softened Patty, have no fear. She might be a little shaken by the ghost of Ray Fiske, but she still had the nerve to tell Ellen, whom she tried to have bumped off, that she was like the daughter Patty never had. Ho ho ho, so evil.

That said, it’s never too early to start talking theories, and there’s already much to discuss. Here's the season’s first round of Burning Questions. (They will pop up during those weeks in which I’m truly confounded by the show's tangled web of intrigues.)

Can the second season of FX's delicious 'Damages' possibly surpass the first? Yes.

Clear your evening schedule, put the cellphone on silent and get those kids to bed early; “Damages” is back, so focus, people, focus. Exhibit A in the struggling sub-genre of Shut-That-Laptop-and-Pay-Attention television, FX's fledgling drama premiered last season with a plot so convoluted you needed a crib sheet and relationship with time based, apparently, on someone's favorite acid trip.

It was terrific, of course, with Glenn Close as the seductive and duplicitous ace lawyer Patty Hewes stalking debauched CEO Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson), who bilked his employees of their jobs and pensions while drawing doe-eyed neophyte Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne) into a web of lies that left Ellen's fiancé dead and Ellen running, half-naked and covered in blood, through the streets of New York.

Close and Danson guaranteed critical attention and "Damages" delivered; it opened big and played like a top-notch psycho-thriller feature film, only it was better because it lasted for months instead of hours. Emmy nominations all around, with Zeljko Ivanek winning best supporting actor in a drama for his portrayal of Ray Fiske, Patty's poor doomed opponent in the Frobisher case.

So how on Earth do you top, or even follow, that? By bringing back everyone involved (including, marvelously, the dead characters) and a bunch of their powerhouse friends to answer that age-old question: What do you do when you believe your boss has tried to kill you?

Ooh la la! FX's sexy, crazy, intricate, crazy, complicated, crazy, funny (did we say crazy?) plastic surgeon drama, "Nip/Tuck," will return Jan. 6 to complete its fifth season. But wait, that's not all: FX also announced today the return of "Damages," the sexy, intricate, complicated and, yes, a little crazy, legal thriller, "Damages." That series, which earned Glenn Close and Zeljko Ivanek Emmys this fall, returns Jan. 7 for its second season.

In the remaining part of "Nip/Tuck's" fifth season, Sean McNamara (Dylan Walsh) tries to rebuild his life — AGAIN — after being brutally attacked — AGAIN. Sean and Christian's (Julian McMahon) medical practice undergoes a crisis AGAIN and Christian vows to settle down with one woman. Really?

"Damages" will pick up with Patty Hewes' (Glenn Close) pondering her next move after her unprecedented victory over Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson). But little does she know that a man from her past, Daniel Purcell (William Hurt), will catapult her into a new legal challenge as Ellen (Rose Byrne) continues to assist the FBI with its criminal investigation of Patty and her firm.

Midseason is shaping up to be a TV fanatic free-for-all. We are already getting worried about the capacity of our DVRs.

— Maria Elena Fernandez

(Photo courtesy FX)

Oh, “Damages” fans, where do we begin?

There were so many tantalizing tidbits from today’s panel with the producers and cast of the critically acclaimed FX series, which returns for its second season in January 2009.

In no particular order of importance:

• Arthur Frobisher is back –- and alive? There were conflicting reports on his status. FX President John Landgraf said Ted Danson’s character –- who was shot in last season’s finale -- will return for several more episodes.

“He’s not terribly healthy at the moment, but as you now know, he did survive,” Landgraf said.

But Todd A. Kessler, one of the show's three creators, said Danson’s return “doesn’t necessarily mean that Arthur Frobisher has survived.”

Hmmm…

• Marcia Gay Harden is coming aboard as a high-profile attorney for a company that appears mixed up in some kind of wrongdoing

• William Hurt plays a mysterious character who has a past with Patty Hewes and turns to her for help with a legal problem.

• Rose Byrne’s character, Ellen Parsons, is working as an informant for the feds, helping them with an investigation into Patty. She’s also in grief counseling, where she meets another shadowy character played by Timothy Olyphant, and bonds with him over being a victim of trauma.

“We all wanted to approach Ellen in a different way to make her more of a warrior,” Byrne said. “This season she’s made of steel a little bit more, which is really interesting to play.”

As for Patty, she’s “suffering through post-traumatic stress syndrome” herself after ordering a hit on Ellen, Glenn Close said.

Close called working on the show “a great creative adventure.”

“I think we are pioneering a true art form,” she added. “Personally, it’s like living a novel.”

Hurt said that when he was contemplating joining the cast, he sat down to watch last season’s episodes and “couldn’t turn them off.”

“I watched until 5 o’clock in the morning,” he said.

While he was wary of the relentless pace of making television, Hurt said Close’s performance convinced him that it would be worth it.

“I could see she had made really strong, powerful, thematic choices as a character,” he said. “So I thought, ‘OK, maybe the format has been busted.’”

Executive producer Daniel Zelman said that they aim to make the program’s signature flash-forward scenes “slightly less complex,” but will still utilize time-jumping in the storytelling.

“The flash forward is more like a genre element to us,” Zelman said, adding that it “creates a thriller element to the show.”

Production on the season premiere is complete and the cast has started shooting the second episode, but the writers have not yet finished all 13 scripts for the season.

Spinning out the narrative while the show is in production “creates a great energy for us and a strain at times in our lives,” Kessler said.

-- Matea Gold

(Photo courtesy FX)

Hi there, fans of "Damages" --

On Thursday, I'm moderating a panel discussion of this twisty FX show for the Envelope Emmy Screening Series 2008. On the panel will be Glenn Close and Ted Danson, as well as the show's creators, Todd A. Kessler, Glenn Kessler and Daniel Zelman.

And I'd love your help!

Do you have any questions about the series that you would want answered? I can't guarantee that the creators or the actors will reveal any mysteries, but we can try. In rewatching the show's first season, for instance, I wondered again why Patty Hewes (Close) hates Arthur Frobisher (Danson) so much. And what's the story of Julia Hewes, the gravestone Patty visits during her darkest hour? Is Patty's son Michael just a teen-aged creep, or is there something more sinister there?

Submit a question here in the comments area, or e-mail me at Kate.Aurthur@latimes.com.

P.S. Find Patty Hewes!

P.P.S. Trust no one.

-- Kate Aurthur

Here's the schedule for upcoming Envelope Emmy Screening Series panels.

Review: 'Damages'

Can the second season of FX's delicious 'Damages' possibly surpass the first? Yes.

Clear your evening schedule, put the cellphone on silent and get those kids to bed early; “Damages” is back, so focus, people, focus. Exhibit A in the struggling sub-genre of Shut-That-Laptop-and-Pay-Attention television, FX's fledgling drama premiered last season with a plot so convoluted you needed a crib sheet and relationship with time based, apparently, on someone's favorite acid trip.

It was terrific, of course, with Glenn Close as the seductive and duplicitous ace lawyer Patty Hewes stalking debauched CEO Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson), who bilked his employees of their jobs and pensions while drawing doe-eyed neophyte Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne) into a web of lies that left Ellen's fiancé dead and Ellen running, half-naked and covered in blood, through the streets of New York.

Close and Danson guaranteed critical attention and "Damages" delivered; it opened big and played like a top-notch psycho-thriller feature film, only it was better because it lasted for months instead of hours. Emmy nominations all around, with Zeljko Ivanek winning best supporting actor in a drama for his portrayal of Ray Fiske, Patty's poor doomed opponent in the Frobisher case.

So how on Earth do you top, or even follow, that? By bringing back everyone involved (including, marvelously, the dead characters) and a bunch of their powerhouse friends to answer that age-old question: What do you do when you believe your boss has tried to kill you?

Ooh la la! FX's sexy, crazy, intricate, crazy, complicated, crazy, funny (did we say crazy?) plastic surgeon drama, "Nip/Tuck," will return Jan. 6 to complete its fifth season. But wait, that's not all: FX also announced today the return of "Damages," the sexy, intricate, complicated and, yes, a little crazy, legal thriller, "Damages." That series, which earned Glenn Close and Zeljko Ivanek Emmys this fall, returns Jan. 7 for its second season.

In the remaining part of "Nip/Tuck's" fifth season, Sean McNamara (Dylan Walsh) tries to rebuild his life — AGAIN — after being brutally attacked — AGAIN. Sean and Christian's (Julian McMahon) medical practice undergoes a crisis AGAIN and Christian vows to settle down with one woman. Really?

"Damages" will pick up with Patty Hewes' (Glenn Close) pondering her next move after her unprecedented victory over Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson). But little does she know that a man from her past, Daniel Purcell (William Hurt), will catapult her into a new legal challenge as Ellen (Rose Byrne) continues to assist the FBI with its criminal investigation of Patty and her firm.

Midseason is shaping up to be a TV fanatic free-for-all. We are already getting worried about the capacity of our DVRs.

— Maria Elena Fernandez

(Photo courtesy FX)

Oh, “Damages” fans, where do we begin?

There were so many tantalizing tidbits from today’s panel with the producers and cast of the critically acclaimed FX series, which returns for its second season in January 2009.

In no particular order of importance:

• Arthur Frobisher is back –- and alive? There were conflicting reports on his status. FX President John Landgraf said Ted Danson’s character –- who was shot in last season’s finale -- will return for several more episodes.

“He’s not terribly healthy at the moment, but as you now know, he did survive,” Landgraf said.

But Todd A. Kessler, one of the show's three creators, said Danson’s return “doesn’t necessarily mean that Arthur Frobisher has survived.”

Hmmm…

• Marcia Gay Harden is coming aboard as a high-profile attorney for a company that appears mixed up in some kind of wrongdoing

• William Hurt plays a mysterious character who has a past with Patty Hewes and turns to her for help with a legal problem.

• Rose Byrne’s character, Ellen Parsons, is working as an informant for the feds, helping them with an investigation into Patty. She’s also in grief counseling, where she meets another shadowy character played by Timothy Olyphant, and bonds with him over being a victim of trauma.

“We all wanted to approach Ellen in a different way to make her more of a warrior,” Byrne said. “This season she’s made of steel a little bit more, which is really interesting to play.”

As for Patty, she’s “suffering through post-traumatic stress syndrome” herself after ordering a hit on Ellen, Glenn Close said.

Close called working on the show “a great creative adventure.”

“I think we are pioneering a true art form,” she added. “Personally, it’s like living a novel.”

Hurt said that when he was contemplating joining the cast, he sat down to watch last season’s episodes and “couldn’t turn them off.”

“I watched until 5 o’clock in the morning,” he said.

While he was wary of the relentless pace of making television, Hurt said Close’s performance convinced him that it would be worth it.

“I could see she had made really strong, powerful, thematic choices as a character,” he said. “So I thought, ‘OK, maybe the format has been busted.’”

Executive producer Daniel Zelman said that they aim to make the program’s signature flash-forward scenes “slightly less complex,” but will still utilize time-jumping in the storytelling.

“The flash forward is more like a genre element to us,” Zelman said, adding that it “creates a thriller element to the show.”

Production on the season premiere is complete and the cast has started shooting the second episode, but the writers have not yet finished all 13 scripts for the season.

Spinning out the narrative while the show is in production “creates a great energy for us and a strain at times in our lives,” Kessler said.

-- Matea Gold

(Photo courtesy FX)

Hi there, fans of "Damages" --

On Thursday, I'm moderating a panel discussion of this twisty FX show for the Envelope Emmy Screening Series 2008. On the panel will be Glenn Close and Ted Danson, as well as the show's creators, Todd A. Kessler, Glenn Kessler and Daniel Zelman.

And I'd love your help!

Do you have any questions about the series that you would want answered? I can't guarantee that the creators or the actors will reveal any mysteries, but we can try. In rewatching the show's first season, for instance, I wondered again why Patty Hewes (Close) hates Arthur Frobisher (Danson) so much. And what's the story of Julia Hewes, the gravestone Patty visits during her darkest hour? Is Patty's son Michael just a teen-aged creep, or is there something more sinister there?

Submit a question here in the comments area, or e-mail me at Kate.Aurthur@latimes.com.

P.S. Find Patty Hewes!

P.P.S. Trust no one.

-- Kate Aurthur

Here's the schedule for upcoming Envelope Emmy Screening Series panels.

FX announces return of 'Nip/Tuck' and 'Damages'

Ooh la la! FX's sexy, crazy, intricate, crazy, complicated, crazy, funny (did we say crazy?) plastic surgeon drama, "Nip/Tuck," will return Jan. 6 to complete its fifth season. But wait, that's not all: FX also announced today the return of "Damages," the sexy, intricate, complicated and, yes, a little crazy, legal thriller, "Damages." That series, which earned Glenn Close and Zeljko Ivanek Emmys this fall, returns Jan. 7 for its second season.

In the remaining part of "Nip/Tuck's" fifth season, Sean McNamara (Dylan Walsh) tries to rebuild his life — AGAIN — after being brutally attacked — AGAIN. Sean and Christian's (Julian McMahon) medical practice undergoes a crisis AGAIN and Christian vows to settle down with one woman. Really?

"Damages" will pick up with Patty Hewes' (Glenn Close) pondering her next move after her unprecedented victory over Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson). But little does she know that a man from her past, Daniel Purcell (William Hurt), will catapult her into a new legal challenge as Ellen (Rose Byrne) continues to assist the FBI with its criminal investigation of Patty and her firm.

Midseason is shaping up to be a TV fanatic free-for-all. We are already getting worried about the capacity of our DVRs.

— Maria Elena Fernandez

(Photo courtesy FX)

Oh, “Damages” fans, where do we begin?

There were so many tantalizing tidbits from today’s panel with the producers and cast of the critically acclaimed FX series, which returns for its second season in January 2009.

In no particular order of importance:

• Arthur Frobisher is back –- and alive? There were conflicting reports on his status. FX President John Landgraf said Ted Danson’s character –- who was shot in last season’s finale -- will return for several more episodes.

“He’s not terribly healthy at the moment, but as you now know, he did survive,” Landgraf said.

But Todd A. Kessler, one of the show's three creators, said Danson’s return “doesn’t necessarily mean that Arthur Frobisher has survived.”

Hmmm…

• Marcia Gay Harden is coming aboard as a high-profile attorney for a company that appears mixed up in some kind of wrongdoing

• William Hurt plays a mysterious character who has a past with Patty Hewes and turns to her for help with a legal problem.

• Rose Byrne’s character, Ellen Parsons, is working as an informant for the feds, helping them with an investigation into Patty. She’s also in grief counseling, where she meets another shadowy character played by Timothy Olyphant, and bonds with him over being a victim of trauma.

“We all wanted to approach Ellen in a different way to make her more of a warrior,” Byrne said. “This season she’s made of steel a little bit more, which is really interesting to play.”

As for Patty, she’s “suffering through post-traumatic stress syndrome” herself after ordering a hit on Ellen, Glenn Close said.

Close called working on the show “a great creative adventure.”

“I think we are pioneering a true art form,” she added. “Personally, it’s like living a novel.”

Hurt said that when he was contemplating joining the cast, he sat down to watch last season’s episodes and “couldn’t turn them off.”

“I watched until 5 o’clock in the morning,” he said.

While he was wary of the relentless pace of making television, Hurt said Close’s performance convinced him that it would be worth it.

“I could see she had made really strong, powerful, thematic choices as a character,” he said. “So I thought, ‘OK, maybe the format has been busted.’”

Executive producer Daniel Zelman said that they aim to make the program’s signature flash-forward scenes “slightly less complex,” but will still utilize time-jumping in the storytelling.

“The flash forward is more like a genre element to us,” Zelman said, adding that it “creates a thriller element to the show.”

Production on the season premiere is complete and the cast has started shooting the second episode, but the writers have not yet finished all 13 scripts for the season.

Spinning out the narrative while the show is in production “creates a great energy for us and a strain at times in our lives,” Kessler said.

-- Matea Gold

(Photo courtesy FX)

Hi there, fans of "Damages" --

On Thursday, I'm moderating a panel discussion of this twisty FX show for the Envelope Emmy Screening Series 2008. On the panel will be Glenn Close and Ted Danson, as well as the show's creators, Todd A. Kessler, Glenn Kessler and Daniel Zelman.

And I'd love your help!

Do you have any questions about the series that you would want answered? I can't guarantee that the creators or the actors will reveal any mysteries, but we can try. In rewatching the show's first season, for instance, I wondered again why Patty Hewes (Close) hates Arthur Frobisher (Danson) so much. And what's the story of Julia Hewes, the gravestone Patty visits during her darkest hour? Is Patty's son Michael just a teen-aged creep, or is there something more sinister there?

Submit a question here in the comments area, or e-mail me at Kate.Aurthur@latimes.com.

P.S. Find Patty Hewes!

P.P.S. Trust no one.

-- Kate Aurthur

Here's the schedule for upcoming Envelope Emmy Screening Series panels.

TCA: New mysteries abound in FX's 'Damages'

Oh, “Damages” fans, where do we begin?

There were so many tantalizing tidbits from today’s panel with the producers and cast of the critically acclaimed FX series, which returns for its second season in January 2009.

In no particular order of importance:

• Arthur Frobisher is back –- and alive? There were conflicting reports on his status. FX President John Landgraf said Ted Danson’s character –- who was shot in last season’s finale -- will return for several more episodes.

“He’s not terribly healthy at the moment, but as you now know, he did survive,” Landgraf said.

But Todd A. Kessler, one of the show's three creators, said Danson’s return “doesn’t necessarily mean that Arthur Frobisher has survived.”

Hmmm…

• Marcia Gay Harden is coming aboard as a high-profile attorney for a company that appears mixed up in some kind of wrongdoing

• William Hurt plays a mysterious character who has a past with Patty Hewes and turns to her for help with a legal problem.

• Rose Byrne’s character, Ellen Parsons, is working as an informant for the feds, helping them with an investigation into Patty. She’s also in grief counseling, where she meets another shadowy character played by Timothy Olyphant, and bonds with him over being a victim of trauma.

“We all wanted to approach Ellen in a different way to make her more of a warrior,” Byrne said. “This season she’s made of steel a little bit more, which is really interesting to play.”

As for Patty, she’s “suffering through post-traumatic stress syndrome” herself after ordering a hit on Ellen, Glenn Close said.

Close called working on the show “a great creative adventure.”

“I think we are pioneering a true art form,” she added. “Personally, it’s like living a novel.”

Hurt said that when he was contemplating joining the cast, he sat down to watch last season’s episodes and “couldn’t turn them off.”

“I watched until 5 o’clock in the morning,” he said.

While he was wary of the relentless pace of making television, Hurt said Close’s performance convinced him that it would be worth it.

“I could see she had made really strong, powerful, thematic choices as a character,” he said. “So I thought, ‘OK, maybe the format has been busted.’”

Executive producer Daniel Zelman said that they aim to make the program’s signature flash-forward scenes “slightly less complex,” but will still utilize time-jumping in the storytelling.

“The flash forward is more like a genre element to us,” Zelman said, adding that it “creates a thriller element to the show.”

Production on the season premiere is complete and the cast has started shooting the second episode, but the writers have not yet finished all 13 scripts for the season.

Spinning out the narrative while the show is in production “creates a great energy for us and a strain at times in our lives,” Kessler said.

-- Matea Gold

(Photo courtesy FX)

Hi there, fans of "Damages" --

On Thursday, I'm moderating a panel discussion of this twisty FX show for the Envelope Emmy Screening Series 2008. On the panel will be Glenn Close and Ted Danson, as well as the show's creators, Todd A. Kessler, Glenn Kessler and Daniel Zelman.

And I'd love your help!

Do you have any questions about the series that you would want answered? I can't guarantee that the creators or the actors will reveal any mysteries, but we can try. In rewatching the show's first season, for instance, I wondered again why Patty Hewes (Close) hates Arthur Frobisher (Danson) so much. And what's the story of Julia Hewes, the gravestone Patty visits during her darkest hour? Is Patty's son Michael just a teen-aged creep, or is there something more sinister there?

Submit a question here in the comments area, or e-mail me at Kate.Aurthur@latimes.com.

P.S. Find Patty Hewes!

P.P.S. Trust no one.

-- Kate Aurthur

Here's the schedule for upcoming Envelope Emmy Screening Series panels.

Submit a question for the Envelope Screening Series 'Damages' panel

Hi there, fans of "Damages" --

On Thursday, I'm moderating a panel discussion of this twisty FX show for the Envelope Emmy Screening Series 2008. On the panel will be Glenn Close and Ted Danson, as well as the show's creators, Todd A. Kessler, Glenn Kessler and Daniel Zelman.

And I'd love your help!

Do you have any questions about the series that you would want answered? I can't guarantee that the creators or the actors will reveal any mysteries, but we can try. In rewatching the show's first season, for instance, I wondered again why Patty Hewes (Close) hates Arthur Frobisher (Danson) so much. And what's the story of Julia Hewes, the gravestone Patty visits during her darkest hour? Is Patty's son Michael just a teen-aged creep, or is there something more sinister there?

Submit a question here in the comments area, or e-mail me at Kate.Aurthur@latimes.com.

P.S. Find Patty Hewes!

P.P.S. Trust no one.

-- Kate Aurthur

Here's the schedule for upcoming Envelope Emmy Screening Series panels.