Maureen Ryan

"Crusoe" 7 p.m., WMAQ-Ch. 5 Crusoe learns that the mutineers' ship has been repaired and that they plan to set sail soon. "Dancing With Dogs" 8 p.m., Animal Planet Follow...

Katee Sackhoff, who is best known for playing Kara "Starbuck" Thrace on "Battlestar Galactica," appears in this week's installment of "Law & Order" (9 p.m. Wednesday, WMAQ-Ch. 5) as Dianne...

'Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town' 7 p.m., WLS-Ch. 7 A mailman (voice of Fred Astaire) explains where Santa Claus came from in this animated special from 1970. In this...

8 p.m., WGN-Ch. 9 Laurel (Anne Archer, above) makes a trip to Santa Barbara to see an old flame, Miles (guest star Michael Nouri), and is surprised when he shows...

"Fringe" 8:01 p.m., WFLD-Ch. 32 While investigating a string of bank robberies, Olivia, Walter and Peter find one of the suspects trapped inside a vault, as if the wall had...

Now that the fall season is well under way, it's time to see where things stand. Here's Maureen Ryan's progress report on what has been great and not-so-great on new...

Every generation reinvents the vampire, bending the rules and regulations that govern these sexy bloodsuckers. Below, a primer on vamp mythology and how it has changed, from 1897 to last...

Plunder wasn't just something that happened during World War II. As the excellent documentary "The Rape of Europa" (9 p.m. Monday, WTTW-Ch. 11 ****) makes clear, plunder was the point....

A story on The Daily Beast Web site claims "Saturday Night Live" is auditioning performers who would be able to play President-elect Barack Obama on the show. In her story...

What a relief. I don't dislike television. You can imagine what a problem that would be, considering my job title has the word "television" in it. But I must confess...