*  (110m | PG-13) Who are these half-wit Hollywood clowns that keep hiring cleavage-candy actresses with no measurable talent to play laughably bespectacled scientists in action movies? This bumbling, big-budget but Z-movie-bad adaptation of Marvel comics' "Fantastic Four" is a train wreck, exemplified by the casting of ring-a-dingy Jessica Alba -- hitherto known for playing dancers and strippers -- as Sue Storm, a 23-year-old "director of genetic research.

By Chuck Barney Will he suffer a bloody death? Will he land in prison? Will he get off scot-free? The same tantalizing questions we were asking about Tony Soprano just over a year ago now apply to another great television antihero: Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis) of "The Shield." As this ground- breaking crime drama prepares to launch its seventh and final season tonight, loyal devotees are antsy to see how it will turn out for the rogue cop.

By FRAZIER MOORE of The Associated Press "The Shield" jump the shark? Not in its first six seasons! This FX cop drama has always been too smart, fast-paced and full of surprises for any shark to make the scene.

By CHUCK BARNEY By Chuck Barney Contra Costa Times WILL HE suffer a bloody death? Will he land in prison? Will he get off scot-free? The same tantalizing questions we were asking about Tony Soprano a year ago now apply to another great television antihero: Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis) of "The Shield." As this groundbreaking crime drama prepares to launch its seventh and final season Tuesday night, devotees are antsy to see how it will all turn out for the rogue cop.

By Scott D. Pierce Deseret News BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- At the dawn of the new millennium, programmers at a little cable network were looking for a way to do something that had never been done before. They wanted to go into hourlong scripted drama business -- successfully.