As good as its surprising first season was, “Justified” entered rarefied heights in its second season, earning critical acclaim (a well deserved Emmy for Margo Martindale, plus nominations for Timothy Olyphant and Walton Goggins) as well as fanboy huffing here at Warming Glow, where all of the show’s trappings — a shoot-first protagonist, complex characters, femmes fatales, bourbon, snappy one-liners, and noir undertones — appeal equally to our intellectual proclivities and baser instincts. Entering Season 3, my primary concern was whether “Justified” would match Season 2′s quality and join “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad” as a terrific show that grows from year to year, or regress to mere testosterone thrills, as its FX mate “Sons of Anarchy” did after its own stellar second season. After viewing the first four episodes of Season 3, I’m happy to say that the former is very much the case: “Justified” is still one of the best shows on television.

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Elephant in the Room (Comedy Central) — Patrice O’Neal’s stand-up special will air at 8 p.m. and again, uncensored, at midnight. People, do NOT mess with diabetes.

Psych (USA) — William Shatner guest stars. Shatner looks like someone with diabetes, right?

I Hate My Teenage Daughter (Fox) — Series premiere. The buzz for the Jaime Pressly comedy is almost universally negative, and its odd debut date — late in the fall season instead of midseason — suggests that Fox doesn’t have high hopes for it, either.

Hot in Cleveland/The Exes (TV Land) — Season/series debuts. “Hot in Cleveland” has somehow made it to a third season, while Kristen Johnston (“3rd Rock from the Sun”) stars in the new comedy about a divorce attorney who lives across the hall from three divorced guys (Wayne Knight, Donald Faison, and David Alan Basche).

Ricochet (TNT) — A TNT original film starring John Corbett, Gary Cole (Office Space), and Warming Glow favorite Julie Benz. That cast legitimately does not suck.

American Horror Story (FX) — Mena Suvari guest stars as 1940s murder victim “the Black Dahlia,” which has conveniently been co-opted for “AHS’s” salacious purposes. My point is, I would love to grab Mena Suvari’s ass.

The X Factor (Fox) — The seven remaining contestants sing Michael Jackson songs in an attempt to tarnish the King of Pop’s legacy more than his habit of touching children.

Christmas in Rockefeller Center (NBC) — The 79th annual tree-lighting ceremony kicks off the season of infuriating pedestrian gridlock between 5th and 6th Avenues and 46th and 50th Streets.

Thanks for reading, everybody. Come back tomorrow (and the next day/week/month/year) to enjoy your talented new staff of writers. I’ll see you in the comments section.

When HBO released the first footage of “Game of Thrones’s” second season, my passion for the series was stoked to the point that I demanded the show start filming seasons back-to-back, Lord of the Rings-style.

With that in mind, BOOSH and/or KAKOW:

We are now hearing from multiple sources that HBO plans to order both seasons three and four and film them back-to-back (à la Lord of the Rings). It has already been confirmed that A Storm of Swords would be covered in more than one season. From what we have heard, much of the film crew in Northern Ireland has been told of this plan and has been advised to expect nine months of filming next year. [Winter is Coming]

So basically, Seasons 3 and 4 of the TV show will cover third book and carry the televised series into 2014. Most outlets are saying that this won’t become official until Season 2 begins in April, but this is still a step in the right direction. I just wish HBO would stop being coy and greenlight as many seasons as it takes to adapt George Martin’s novels. It’s not like violence and tits are going to go out of fashion in the next five years.

Leslie David Baker is better known as Stanley from “The Office,” a no-nonsense character who for years served as an unsmiling counterbalance to Michael Scott’s juvenile antics. Now Baker has recorded a heavily-autotuned party anthem called “2 Be Simple,” and I cannot for the life of me figure out of it’s ironic or serious. In the music video below, Baker wanders around his mansion in pajamas and a robe, enjoys a harem of sexy white girls, lords over a wild pool party, and shuns the advances of a peeping tom neighbor. It all feels vaguely like an ’80s sex comedy, and I can’t figure out why it exists, except for the likelihood that Baker woke up one day and said, “I’m Stanley from ‘The Office,’ and I wanna make a music video with some sexy white girls.” Well done, sir. Opportunity not missed.

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“The ratings are in! The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show leads among sleazy dudes with no internet connection.” That’s a quote from Rick Muscles’s Twitter feed last night, but it’s actually true: more people watched the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show than any other program last night.

Victoria’s Secret was seen by 10.3 million viewers and scored a whopping 4.6 rating among adults 18-49 at 10 p.m. That’s the special’s largest audience since 2002 and its biggest demo rating during its nine-year history — leaping 35 percent from last year. [EW]

Am I the only person who doesn’t think this is as sexy as it should be? Don’t get me wrong, the models are gorgeous; I’d happily push my fiancée out of a 12th-story window for a three-way with Adriana Lima and Alessandra Ambrosio. But if I’m going to go through the hassle of murder charges for an epic night of chocolate sauce and orgasms, I’d rather the girls not be wearing giant moth wings, you know? The excess detracts from the beauty. Just put the models in simple, classy lingerie like crotchless panties.

Video from the fashion show below, a wealth of photos here.

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NBC broadcasts the nightly news live every day at 6:30 p.m., but the live flagship new program didn’t stop some genius from conducting a fire alarm eight seconds into Brian Williams’s newscast. Williams handles it like a true pro, but it’s still sad to watch — like Michael Jordan in a Wizards uniform, or a polar bear on a melting iceberg.

C’mon, NBC: set your fire drills during the Hoda/Kathie Lee hour of “Today” — nobody likes hearing them talk, and they’ll turn it into a drinking game.

More video below, via The Daily What and The Set.

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Well well well, if it isn’t our old friend, Patti Stanger. When the “Millionaire Matchmaker” star isn’t making sweeping generalizations about Jews and gays, she stays busy by being a  bitch to the wayward idiots who think she can successfully set them up with wealthy mates. In this virtuoso collection of c*ntery created by Vulture, you can watch Stanger put down dozens of women far more attractive than she is — and some men, too (“I wouldn’t have sex with you, and I wouldn’t give you a blowjob,” she says to a hobbit whose response should be relief). All in all, the video makes me wonder how Patti was only the 11th on my list of TV’s most punchable faces.

Oh, and Patti, here’s a quick evaluation of your assets: you’re a hatchet-faced sea cow that couldn’t be made attractive by all the cosmetics in the world, but your face isn’t half as ugly as your personality.

Sons of Anarchy (FX) — Part 1 of a two-part season finale. I watched tonight’s and next week’s episodes last night, my last-ever Warming Glow screener. It’s good, but there’s nothing mind-blowingly awesome. I was surprised by how neatly certain plot lines got tied up, but other than that all of the notes sound pretty familiar: Gemma schemes, Tara goes crazy, secrets are revealed, and the neutralization of one threat to the club only results in a new threat. Oh, and Lincoln Potter turns out to be a lot cooler than I thought.

The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show (CBS) — D’oh! I already uploaded the “Sons” banner picture, thus ruining a perfectly good excuse to post pictures of supermodels in ridiculously ornate lingerie. Ah well, inset photo it is. Also featuring performances from Kanye West, Maroon 5, and Cee-Lo Green. (hi-res of Miranda Kerr here)

New Girl (Fox) — Jess (Zooey Deschanel) starts a handbell chorus for teenagers, thereby guaranteeing they will never be popular. I’m not sure if Justin Long is still around in tonight’s episode, but I certainly hated him exactly as much as I expected to in the Thanksgiving episode.

Man vs. Wild (Discovery) — Bear Grylls takes you behind the scenes of the series. I’m guessing the revelations DON’T include him showing the nice hotels he stays at. Zing!

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (CBS) / Scrooged (AMC) — Between these tonight and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” last night, we are now only A Christmas Story away from all the truly great Christmas programming. I was legitimately terrified of the Abominable Snowman when I saw “Rudolph” as a kid.

LATE-NIGHT GUESTS: Kathy Bates and Jay Mohr on Leno; Shaquille O’Neal on Kimmel; Margaret Cho on Ferguson; Betty White on “The Daily Show”; Nathan Fillion and Morrissey on Conan; and Jesse Eisenberg and Piper Perabo on Fallon (I desperately want musical guest Neko Case to sing “Can’t Fight the Moonlight”).

UPDATE: Now with high-quality video.

Next week, TLC will air “Virgin Diaries,” a special in which hapless idiots get married before knowing if they’re sexually compatible — before knowing ANYTHING about sex, apparently. That’s what we see in this promo when a couple shares their first kiss on their wedding day. It’s positively glorious, and you must watch it and share it with everyone you know right this instant. That groom is one lucky dude.

[The Set; thanks to Vince at FilmDrunk for the GIF]