Appointment Viewing: "Breaking Bad" Misbehaves Again, Saying Goodbye to "infoMania" and another "DegrassI" summer

It's Friday and I've got a week's worth of Appointment Viewing for you to peruse. This week delivers a mix of debuts and goodbyes. That includes the return of television's most cheerful drama, Breaking Bad. (Wait, that might be the wrong word.) We've also got the beginning of another Degrassi summer and Adult Swim's new high-octane action show NTSF:SD:SUV.

Friday brings the end of two great shows, including Current's weekly look at the media, infoMania. There used to be a lot of week-in-review shows and infoMania reliably delivered the most insightful and the funniest commentary about the state of media. Sadly, with Best Week Ever, The Dish and now infoMania gone, that leaves the genre to The Soup, which is too willing to go with the obvious fat or gay joke.

infoMania is wrapping things up with a farewell episode that will include closing chapters for the various segments, including final editions of "Modern Lady" and "Viral Video Film School," as well as a look at how the many fans of infoMania are taking the loss of their favorite show. As you might expect, the segment includes infoMania's self-effacing style.

Among the segments included was "That's Gay" which gave us a gay man criticizing how gay people are depicted in the media, something you don't really see on TV. Sure, you can see gay men Dan Savage or Michael Musto make appearances on cable news shows, but "That's Gay" was fully Bryan Safi's segment, leaving him free to dissect the ways TV characters come out, the cliche of the gayngel, and the "hilarity" when straight male characters pretend to be gay.

Yes, you can find people interested in gay representation discuss these topics on the internet, but "That's Gay" and infoMania brought those topics to a general audience and presented them in a way that was easy to understand and consistently hilarious.

When Countdown with Keith Olbermann moved from MSNBC to Current, I hoped we might see more of infoMania, because when cable news networks look at pop culture, it's rarely done with the progressive point of view that it delivered every week. I'm enjoying Current's new schedule, but in infoMania, it had a show that could have challenged how we look at something that has a huge influence on how we view the world.

We've been following "That's Gay" ever since it first appeared, and we've tried to keep you up-to-date. We hear that tonight's final show includes a shout-out to AfterElton. I hope I won't have to wait long before discussing Safi again.

Friday's other goodbye comes when NBC airs the final episode of Friday Night Lights. I'll admit I'm not a fan of the drama but I see why it gets so much love from critics and loyalty from its viewers. It's got a richly drawn setting and complicated characters. If the list of current shows I follow, shows I'm catching up through DVD, and the shows I'm trying to introduce to my partner were a lot shorter, I'd probably give this show another chance sooner.

Friday isn't just about goodbyes. We also get a new show when Syfy begins the second season of Haven. Last season, we were introduced to a small town that seemed to have as many residents with some kind of supernatural quality as Eureka has geniuses, along with the FBI agent who discovered she had a mysterious doppelganger who lived in town. Things are going to get even more complicated for Audrey this season, as another twin arrives and a series of Biblical plagues occur.

Friday also brings new episodes of Torchwood, Platinum Hit and Rhett & Link: Commercial Kings. Finally, HBO has a new Real Time with Bill Maher with Dan Savage, Mark Cuban and Chrystia Freeland at the roundtable, while Marc Maron is Maher's interview guest.