Oz, the grittiest show on television, has lost its edge. The HBO Show has always been sensationalistic and never shied away from the farfetched plot line (anyone remember the aging drug they were testing on the prisoners?) but the story involving Luke Perry's Rev. Cloutier is just plain dumb.

To catch you up, the end of last season saw the fallen television evangelist imprisoned in the kitchen wall by his rivals in the prison soul savers battle. Unfortunately for the man formally known as Dylan, he was trapped when the Oswald Correctional Facility sprung a gas leak and blew up. (Another suspect plot device used to justify a set change from Manhattan to a soundstage in Jersey. The old set is now the gourmet food court Chelsea Market. I am sure yuppie housewives pick over different wheat pastas in a spot where Adebisi raped that little Italian dude.)

This season we find the Rev with third degree burns over 95% of his body. Up to this point I was OK with this story even if we all knew it was an excuse to get Luke Perry's cock on television (it's the only segment of Oz my girlfriend is upset she missed). This year; however, it has been dragged from the world of the mundane into the realm of the ridiculous. It seems as though Cloutier is a spiritual dream walker and is somehow manipulating people to do his bidding. At first I thought that the ghostly Christ-like Perry who appeared to a prisoner in "the hole" was a hallucination, but then quickly the scene cut to a smiling, satisfied Cloutier in his hospital bed. WHAT?! I know revenge is the law of the land in Emerald City, but does God now sanction it?

After the first two sub-par episodes, three had to knock me out or I was going to be upset. Not only with this Luke Perry business but with other frustrating story developments. How about Ryan O'Reily's 60's radical mom now giving singing lessons to prisoners? We don't want people's Moms on Oz OK! Maybe the occasional visit but as a plot point? The only way I will be satisfied with the outcome of this is with her lying dead on her piano, strangled by the E minor wire. Hey it's Oz not The Education of Max Bickford!

Well it floored me. Yes O'Reily's moms was there and we'll get to the conclusion(?) of Mr. Perry's story arc, but first lets get to the positives and the case for Oz maybe not "Jumping the Shark" just yet. Two of Oz's key characters, Kareem Said and Vern Schillinger, have really meaty stories to follow. How intense is Said? He scares me even on this side of the fourth wall! This season he is continuing to struggle with the aftermath of killing Adebisi and is now possessed by rage. Instead of the pious spiritual man he is now some kind of vigilante angel. The always lovable white supremist (and voice of the Green M&M on commercials) Schillinger is also again knee deep in the shit with his continued struggle against the Blacks and now his new fight with the Italians and their thug life leader Pancamo (played by the real life beast and former NYC Hell's Angel president Chuck Zito who once kicked Jean-Claude Van Damme's ass). But it's his constant struggle with his latent humanity that makes him interesting to watch.

This week's Oz was heavy on the sick, twisted violence that fans of the show have come to love and appreciate. As much as I have maligned the Luke Perry story it did provide one special moment where (in the spirit dream, of course) The Reverend orders the singer from Biohazard to kill his rival soul saver. He chooses to accomplish this act by snapping off a cross in the prison chapel and stabbing the little red headed man-boy in the chest. Righteous! The end of the episode had Reverend Cloutier somehow disappearing from his room; evidently God's plan was done for him. We can only hope.

Hey I am a sensitive guy and buggery and shanking are not the only entertaining acts on Television as the show Sex in the City proves on a regular basis. Sure the show never strays very far from the shallow end of the pool, but it makes for a fun sitcom.

I love to be shocked by a storyline. I take pride in knowing how the stories will go and to quote my father, the king of all TV watchers, "I could write this Shit." That's why HBO shows are so good (and popular, proving we're not all idiots out here) because they don't always follow the predictable TV rules, especially with Sitcoms - the most formulaic of all TV genres. Well, the break up of Carrie and Aidan stunned me. I was caught jaw dropped and eyes bulged. I was the first to tell you their engagement wouldn't last and was bad for the show (It's about single women, duh) but never would I have thought it would happen in the middle of the bonus season and certainly not on this episode.

It was obvious that they weren't right for each other and they made Aidan so likable that Carrie looked bitchy and mean comparatively. That's not a good way to portray the lead character and I think the writers knew he had to get the heave hoe. The 6 million dollar question is: did the writers know this wouldn't last when they ended last season with the engagement or did they just write themselves into a corner and need to scrap it and start fresh. Now we wait and see if she takes Mr. Big back for the umpteenth time.

I like Hank Azaria ok. He is good on The Simpsons, he had Helen Hunt as a beard, but this story is just too funny to let slide. Think there is pressure in network Television? Hank's new show on NBC, Imagine That, was cancelled after only two weeks on the air. Blip and its gone. Two weeks? Is that a record? I think Emeril and The Michael Richards Show lasted longer. Its second and final episode was the lowest rated prime time show on the three major networks. Just imagine the dreck that finished above it.

I never saw the show, it looked pretty dumb but you have to feel sorry for the guy. Failing on network TV is now called pulling an Azaria - like bashing your opponent in the knee is called a Tonya Harding or blowing your boss is a Lewinsky. Interesting to note another television show that debuted last on network TV, Seinfeld. Well Hank, we'll never know will we?

Notice in the above rant I mentioned the Major networks but didn't include FOX. But Chris Larry you say, FOX is now a major player, they beat out ABC on a consistent basis and field some of the funniest and most innovative shows on free television. And I would agree with you. All my most loved current sitcoms are on Fox: That 70's Show, Grounded for Life, Undeclared, The Bernie Mac Show, etc. yet the network makes absolutely no sense.

FOX's schedule is so convoluted it confuses even my TIVO. Ok, Ok I don't have a TIVO I just thought it was a good joke, but I want one really, really badly. It seems like every time I sit down to relax with one of my shows it's not on or it's a repeat. They are constantly shuffling their schedule! They use their popular shows as lead-ins all across their programming grid, giving nothing continuity.

I also am maddened by how they screw with the schedule so much that you're always being tricked into reruns. Undeclared, one of the best teen sitcoms in forever, seems to run the same four shows on a loop. This isn't Comedy Central people. You have the money to produce more shows. And with all the reruns they broadcast of this show I still have only seen the Will Ferrell as speed freak episode once! But it's genius. I could watch Will Ferrell read the Wall Street Journal and I would think it was a hoot.

The other major drag about Undeclared is that it is opposite maybe the best show on television, The Gilmore Girls. I know I am a recent convert to this show but it is brilliant. Seeing women on television like this makes you wish Felicity would just crawl into her self-loathing mouse hole and die already. I don't know if I have seen a show this smart on TV in many a moon. It's funny, real and doesn't insult you every five minutes. It's like ED, only good.

A few quick hitters and then I am outta here to catch the late rebroadcast of The Howard Stern Show (when will they release The Best of Stern on E! Uncensored!!!!)

- The newest edition to the granddaddy and still best reality show The Real World has gotten off to a raunchy and watch-worthy beginning. First of all, it's the best house yet, with huge walk in closets, lots of space and a double-headed shower. The last move being a stroke of genius by the producers. It was already used on episode one twice and I foresee many shenanigans taking place in there. The kids get younger as I get older but it's still fun and this cast doesn't have the duds that New York Mach 2 had. I will keep watching…

- Also we must say goodbye to the venerable Pat Summerall who is finally stepping down from his role of play by play man for Fox Football broadcasts with longtime partner John Madden. Although I have called for his head many times, he was the best and hasn't been the same since he quit drinking.

Ok see ya next time I gotta get back to the TV!