The Inside has quickly become one of my weekly favorites and a Tivo must-record every week. I started watching first for theFirefly connection in both Tim Minear and Adam Baldwin. Then, who knew plucky Jay Harrington would be able to shed the train-wreck that Coupling turned out to be and step up to special agent-hood with such aplomb? Then, who am I kidding, Rachel Nichols. Prrrrrr…. We’ve been watching long enough that we’ve been ready for a bona fide story arch for a few weeks now. They had a great set-up this week, wrecking Peter Coyote’s character. I was ready for the pitch, delivering the team versus former leader thread could have paid dividends to a show that will undoubtedly squeeze 15-20 episodes and get dumped without more compelling, long-run drama. Instead, after a swimmingly elegant second act, the ball was unceremoniously dropped. In 43 minutes they managed to twist the entire show in a new direction and let it snap back in the last 6. It stinks of one of two things. One, the writing is on the wall and writers know the show’s on the outs already. Two, they don’t have the balls to commit to more than 52 minutes of story at a time.