Although we are longstanding fans of its original incarnation, we had yet to be truly wrapped up by Showtime's TV adaptation of This American Life before this Monday. But with their second season finale -- an exploration of the lives of seven people alll named John Smith -- Ira Glass and his crew had us laughing and (yes) crying and generally feeling as awestruck as we are at the best installments of the radio show. Maybe it was the double-length of the episode, or the ambition of its enterprise, but whatever the case, this was the first episode that we'd seen to truly weave the foibles and failings of its subjects and into an intimate-yet-epic portrait of this, our American lives. The second season had, generally speaking, been less determinedly quirky than the first had -- kind of a relief -- but "John Smith" was truly a step beyond what had come before. We had been somewhat indifferent about the advent of season two; we eagerly await the arrival season three.