I don't quite know what to make of all the emails I get asking when Sons of Anarchy is returning. There have been almost as many as those about the late, lamented Longmire.
Sons of Anarchy fans have to wait no longer. The seventh and final season motors in at 9 p.m. today on FX with a 90-minute premiere.
Season 6 was a doozy for the leather-clad denizens of Charming, Calif. Last season Jax Teller (Charlie Hunnam) finally solidified his leadership of the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Original (SAMCRO) by executing his stepfather, Clay Morrow (Ron Perlman), for all his past sins.
Season 6 ended with Jax's fierce mother, Gemma (Katey Sagal), brutally murdering Jax's wife, Dr. Tara Knowles-Teller (Maggie Siff), with a barbecue fork. Gemma did it believing that she was protecting the club.
Then Juice Ortiz (Theo Rossi) gunned down Lt. Eli Roosevelt (Rockmond Dunbar) to protect Gemma.
Season 7 begins 10 days later with Jax in jail on a parole violation. He's still trying to deal with the death of his wife, and with SAMCRO's support, he sets in motion the machinery that will lead to swift and merciless retribution.
But what will happen when he discovers it was his mother who killed Tara? Oh, the drama. If the preseason trailers are any indication, there will be buckets of blood while Jax goes on a killing spree.
Look for new cast members this season. Glee star Lea Michelle (a big fan of the show) has a cameo as a frumpy single mother truck stop waitress.
Also making appearances will be Marilyn Manson, Courtney Love, Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Annabeth Gish. In a stretch, Love will play Jax's son's preschool teacher.
Bonus: Following the first episode and the final episode, FX will present a live aftershow called Anarchy Afterword for fans to further indulge.
• More Hell. Instead of blood and guts and motorcycle clubs, if you prefer the blood and guts of Chef Gordon Ramsay's kitchen, then wait no longer.
The two-hour premiere of Season 13 of Hell's Kitchen arrives at 7 p.m. today as "Chef Ramsay extends star treatment to the newest batch of contestants when they arrive in Hollywood for a silver screen experience."
The conviviality, of course, doesn't last long into the first hour as Ramsay divides everybody into two teams -- men (Blue) vs. women (Red). He then asks them to present their signature dishes in front of a live audience.
Later, the chefs sweat it out trying to work together during their first dinner service, and one team's performance is so disappointing, so disgusting, so cringe-worthy that a screaming Ramsay forces them to leave the kitchen amid much derision and humiliation.
C'mon. It's why you watch.
In the second hour, the two teams go head to head and dig geoduck clams out of intricate sand sculptures. The goal is to re-create Ramsay's geoduck sashimi.
The team that creates 15 perfect dishes wins a little cruise on a luxury yacht with Ramsay, while the losing team has to clean up the mess and prepare the geoduck nigiri and chowder for dinner.
At the end of the dinner service, one more chef will be sent packing.
• Luck runs out. Here's a sad item. The Los Angeles Times has reported that Bryce Dion, a veteran crew member for the TV show Cops, was accidentally shot and killed recently by police while they were responding to an armed robbery in Omaha, Neb.
Dion was wearing a bulletproof vest, but was hit in an unprotected area as police fired at suspect Cortez Washington, who was armed with an Airsoft replica pistol. I certainly can't blame the officers for not waiting to see whether the pistol was real or not.
With all the years that Cops has been on TV (1989-2013 on Fox, currently on Spike), it's a wonder this sort of thing hasn't happened before.
• More Cedric. TV Land has renewed The Soul Man for a fourth season in 2015. The sitcom, starring Cedric The Entertainer and Niecy Nash, co-stars Wesley Jonathan. Season 4 will have 12 episodes.
The Soul Man follows the adventures of former R&B star Reverend Boyce "The Voice" Ballentine (Cedric) after he moves from Las Vegas to St. Louis with his wife, Lolli (Nash), and brother, Stamps (Jonathan).
• Rock on. I can't wait for this one. A TV version of School of Rock is heading to Nickelodeon. If you saw the Jack Black 2003 movie, then you remember little Miranda Cosgrove as Summer Hathaway, one of his pupils. Cosgrove, now 21, went on to Nick's Drake & Josh and iCarly and the rest is child star history.
Nick has ordered 13 episodes of School of Rock. It's set to follow the misadventures of rocker-turned-substitute-teacher Dewey Finn at a prestigious prep school. Look for the series next spring.
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:
mstorey@arkansasonline.com
Style on 09/09/2014