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| June 2007 »
Sad but true: "Battlestar Galactica" will end its run next year after its fourth and final season.
After weeks of speculation, the end is in fact near. According to a high level source at Sci Fi Channel parent company NBC Universal, the show will dock after its next 22-episode season, slated to kick off in early 2008.
Sources say the decision came down from executive producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick, who are said to feel creatively like this upcoming arc will be its last.
Rumors began circulating this month when two "Battlestar Galactica" stars, Edward James Olmos and Katee Sackhoff, referred to the next season as the show's swan song while attending the annual Saturn Awards.
“It’s the final season, so it’s definitely going to be the most vicious,” Olmos told reporters. “As far as we know, in respects of the way we have this show constructed, this is the final season.”
Sci Fi Channel is expected to announce the news as soon as this afternoon.
UPDATE: Minutes after this was posted, Sci Fi Channel sent us the press release confirming the show is ending. See what Eick and Moore have to say after the jump...
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Who said the next TV season’s lineups were set in stone? The CW has picked up “Eight Days a Week,” a single-camera comedy, scheduled to begin midseason. The show, created by newbie comedy writer Meredith Lavender and produced by Sean Hayes (“Will & Grace”) centers on four twentysomethings who work as assistants to VIPs and have no life, so they learn to rely on each other.
The show’s stars are Mario Lopez (“Dancing With the Stars”) and Christina Milian, who has guest-starred in “Clueless” and “Charmed.” The cast also includes Rosa Blasi of “Strong Medicine”; Johnny Lewis of “Quintuplets”; Jerrika Hinton, who has guest-starred on “Everybody Hates Chris” and “Gilmore Girls”; Anna Chlumsky, who has guest-starred on “30 Rock”; and Robert Ri’chard who guest-starred on “Veronica Mars.”
--Maria Elena Fernandez
(Photo: Charley Gallay / Getty Images)
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All right, fellow "Hidden Palms" viewers - let's get the rules straight up front. We know that this show is trash. We accept this. We embrace it. Because, deep down, we understand that there's nothing wrong with that. In the season opener, half of the actors from "The O.C.," and, oddly, "NYPD Blue," meet up in Palm Springs. In an homage to "Beverly Hills: 90210" -- they all work/hang out at a snooty country club and knife each other in the back. (Perhaps literally, it is hinted.) Supporting all this goofiness is pretty great soundtrack, and a little too much talky talky talky cringe-inducing dialogue.
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It’s early in the season, so all this potential goodwill has lots of room to be spoiled, but “So You Think You Can Dance” seems to insult its audience’s intelligence much less than the average reality TV show. While there are times where the viewers at home are being overly played to (did we really need two contestants who managed to power through with false limbs?), in large part the show seems to treat its fans and participants with a healthy amount of respect. Maybe they have a small budget or something.
A few reasons why “So You Think You Can Dance” isn’t as guilty a pleasure as it might first seem:
1) The judges. Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy and whoever is sitting in the third seat (it’s been rotating these last two episodes) have no catchphrases, no eye-rolling, no slurring. They tell the dancers when they’re good but moreso, tell the dancers when they’ve been entertaining. They don’t sugarcoat the bad news but at the same time don’t make a point of sticking the dagger as far as it can go just for entertainment’s sake (we’re looking at you, Simon Cowell). A good example was the overweight young man who tried out in L.A. in the first hour: while Nigel chided him for his build and astutely pointed out the audience was being patronizing when they cheered for him, the judge admitted that he actually had potential and to keep going. The result? An out of breath, yet dry-eyed contestant who promised he’d try again.
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One thing is clear as “The Shield” nears the end of its sixth season: this show is for dedicated viewers only. And rightly so.
That’s always been the case, but with this week’s episode dropping casual insider references to Terry Crowley, the Armenian money train and Antwon Mitchell, anyone who wasn’t already well-versed in the show’s elaborate narrative must have been completely lost. Their loss.
“Shield” devotees were rewarded with another densely packed hour that turned the delicate art of manipulation into a bloodsport. There were so many glorious power plays and acts of one-upsmanship you’d need a scorecard to sort it all out.
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It’s so hard for a medical drama to construct the cliff-hanger that has become the season finale standard. You can’t just leave some poor patient hovering between life and death for the entire summer -- so the writers must turn to the personal lives of their characters to leave viewers in the necessary suspense. On “House,” however, personal lives are in short supply, so somehow staffing issues must be made fascinating.
On Tuesday night’s season finale, the strange and tentative romance between Drs. Cameron and Chase was dutifully given the possibility of a last-minute reprieve but mostly the show concentrated on the state of the team.
Oh sure, there was a medical case—a woman and her husband braved the stormy seas from Cuba to seek House’s expertise, which he eventually provided—but many more people were obsessed with Foreman. Would he really go? Could House get him to stay? Would House admit he cared either way?
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 So you think you can write off “So You Think You Can Dance” as being a lesser “Dancing with the Stars”, or an even lesser “American Idol”? So you might be right, but it’s still fine summertime fare, as the show is just different enough to make it entertaining.
Here’s how the show is like “American Idol:” It was made by the same people. Three judges, one a woman, one British tour the country as amateurs try out in front of them to make it to Hollywood—no wait, Las Vegas—and go through additional winnowing processes until they are presented on a call-in vote-off show. The unattractive/overweight are at a disadvantage.
Here’s how the show is like “Dancing with the Stars:” The contestants are dancers instead of singers. Sometimes there is ballroom or Latin dancing like on “DWTS,” but we also see jazz, tap, breakdancing, hip hop, ballet, what looks like gymnastics and a hundred other things.
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I'm sure most viewers saw the twist behind Jack's bloated flash-forward coming half an hour into the episode, but it did shed light on one key bit of information: Life off the island ain't grand. At least not for Jack.
And that's only important because it makes me that much more interested in Ben (who I still mistakenly call Henry every now and then because I preferred the mystique back when that was his name.) Sure, he's a murderous, lying tyrant. But maybe the guy has a point. Maybe leaving the island isn't the way to go.
Other than that, Tuesday's finale kept deflating the suspense as soon as it had built some up. And, of course, we're left with more questions than we got answers. This time, however, that was OK.
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 It was the friendliest of fights for these gladiators of song, all the way to the finish.
After a season-long climb out of obscurity, 17-year-old Jordin Sparks was crowned Season 6 champion of "American Idol" Wednesday night in front of a raucous crowd of 4,000 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood and tens of millions viewing on television. The Glendale, Ariz., native won out over Blake Lewis, the good-natured beat-boxing specialist from Seattle, who seemed as happy over Jordin's victory as he would have been for his own. More than 74 million votes were recorded, an "Idol" record.
Jordin's rise to the championship came after perhaps the most unpredictable season in "Idol" history. Early handicapping put the high school student and former model deep in the second tier of contestants, behind two early favorites, shy-backup-singer-coming-out-of-her-shell Melinda Doolittle and soulful-single-mother LaKisha Jones. Jordin and Blake landed in the final two after demonstrating that most potent and elusive of "Idol" virtues -- growth, rising to the foreground with a consistent string of showstopping performances.
Since the season's early days, Jordin and Blake became heavy favorites of the sign-wielding children attending the live tapings. But Jordin's victory demonstrates a return to classic championship form for the series. After a detour last year with the victory of Taylor Hicks, an oddball salt-and-pepper-haired singer of R&B classics, Jordin is the sort of youthful pop star, with a girl-next-door demeanor hiding formidable vocal powers, that the contest was designed to discover.
She was crowned in a finale show that lacked the drama of previous seasons but was nonetheless studded with numbers by big-name acts such as Tony Bennett, Gladys Knight, Smokey Robinson and -- by remote -- Gwen Stefani and Green Day. Also present were all past "Idol" winners minus Fantasia Barrino, now a Broadway star. The show also showcased the big stories of the season, giving cult icon Sanjaya Malakar a solo backed by Aerosmith's Joe Perry as well as allowing former backup singer Melinda to enjoy a moment in the sun along with the act she once supported, BeBe and CeCe Winans.
Accepting her title, among a shower of confetti and her adoring former co-contestants, Jordin was at a loss for words before launching into a fireworks-studded reprise of her soon-to-be single, and a grammatically jarring new catchphrase for a nation, "This is my now."
Since January, the show has taken us through an audition tour that tested America's tolerance for cruelty toward the untalented (along with introducing us to new heights of delusion). Then came the first unpolished and unaccompanied glimpses of the singers who would ultimately emerge from the masses. We moved onward to the tears and catfights of Hollywood week (the momma's boy, Sanjaya's sister, etc., etc.) and the tension of the Green Mile episode, during which the contestants, one by one, learned whether they were on the path to fame or a lifetime of obscurity. Then there was the Antonella Barba porn kerfuffle, the crash and burn of Sundance Head, Sanjaya, Howard Stern, votefortheworst.com, the ponyhawk, the crying girl, the "Idol Gives Back" show, Gwen Stefani, J.Lo, Bon Jovi, the Melinda-versus-LaKisha battle fading as two new faces slowly rose from the pack and supplanted both, to the final cliffhanger battle and coronation.
What other show in a four-month season gives its viewers so many story lines to feed on? What other show sees so many twists and so much controversy, uproar and hoopla even in a season roundly criticized as representing a drop in quality?
The show's producers say that without the audition weeks, "Idol" would not work, that if viewers had just met Jordin and Blake on the Idoldom stage, they would not have been invested in their journey. We traveled an epic road with our finalists. And with the battle done and the armies pausing to gather their dead, we can look back and know that what history will record is not just who won this day but the valor of those who fought.
And for them -- as Season 6 fades into history -- the rest is not silence, it is "Idols on Tour," Summer Camp, Season 7 Idol talk shows, records, movie deals, Broadway, "Today" show visits....
The real battle begins today.
(Photo courtesy Fox)
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And so The CW burns off the last two episodes of Veronica Mars in one night - against the final performance evening of that singing competition thing on another channel. And they wonder why not enough people watched this show. It's grating that Veronica Mars didn't even get a proper send-off; the two episodes shown Tuesday were adequate, but didn't have any sense of occasion to them.
In hour one, Veronica busts some rich kids who framed
janitor/occasionally-recovered gang member Weevil for making fake
student debit cards. It's nice to see the class conflict element of the
show brought up again - it's what made the first season more than a
quippy teen melodrama. In hour two, Wallace gets caught up to rush a
secret society at Hearst College - a secret society that apparently
inserts cameras into their initiates' rooms to keep an eye on them. The
camera wound up catching Veronica and Piz in a very compromising
position, and promptly lands on the Internet.
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 Ladies and gentleman, America has a new champion dancing star: Olympic speedskater Apolo Anton Ohno. Whoever predicted that he should win must be a genius! If you enjoyed crushing on him when he was a champion speedskater, now you have a whole new reason to set pictures of him as your wallpaper on your computer. Just because that information could easily be relayed in two words ("Ohno wins") didn't mean that "Dancing with the Stars" was going to refrain from airing a gaseously bloated results show.
Two hours! Was that really necessary? A "history" of a television show that's a few years old? Countless 'behind the scenes' interviews and trotting out the professionals and also-rans? Wasn't really necessary. With the crowning of the champion though came the most obvious weakness of the show: it's pure fluff, sheer entertainment. Which is not a fatal flaw, but the show lacks a little heart when compared to its Tuesday night competitor, "American Idol." Apolo Anton Ohno will, like the rest of the cast, return to a life of appearances and agents and autographs, but on "American Idol," a bunch of kids who weren't famous last year are famous as hell this year. With the end of "American Idol,' we get to look forward to hearing gossip from the tour, hearing about who got a breast enlargement and who is actually forming quite the little career. With the stars, well, they're still stars.
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Human history is studded by moments, turning points, when but for a nail the empire might have been saved; a bit more exertion on one side, a glance the wrong way on the other and nations crumble. Tonight at the Kodak theater was one of those moments. In all of competitive singing, no night had held more uncertainty than this one. And the eyes of a nation, weary from a season of twists and turns beyond our experience, turned to the Kodak stage in search of a sign.
If the Boy From Bothell is crowned tomorrow night, Idol will take a step into a new world from which it will be difficult to retreat – a world of Maroon Five covers, emo and faux-hawks. A world of cool ironic detachment from the spectacle itself.
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So at last we have come to this – tonight on the Kodak stage the eyes of a nation will be on two young singers as they meet in a final gladiatorial death match. Resting on their performances tonight – whether Jordin Sparks or Blake Lewis will join Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, Fantasia Barrino, Carrie Underwood and Taylor Hicks on the opening credits elevator ride to stardom.
For the two singers, the challenge will be greater than anything they have yet experienced. Having proven they could captivate the crowd in the 300 seat Idoldome, they must now attempt to fill the 4,000 plus Kodak Theatre with their still fresh voices.
Going in, the odds on online gambling sites and amongst Idol pundits heavily favor the 17 year old Glendale Arizona native Sparks.
However, a close reading of tonight’s schedule suggests that this – the most unpredictable of seasons – may have yet another surprise in store. Blake Lewis remains a serious contender in these final hours.
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Who could have predicted, with "Lost's" myriad mysteries still unexplained and "Heroes" just beginning to uncover the extent of its mythology, that the series with the most head-scratching moments this season would end up being "24"?
But that's how it ended up playing out, right up to the final ambiguous seconds of Monday night's two-hour season finale, with Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) standing alone on a Malibu cliff and staring off into the surf, possibly considering suicide, but considering Fox has renewed the series for two more years, probably not willing to act on it.
There's an argument to be made that Jack's closing stance was the perfect embodiment of the mental state of the writers at the end of "Day Six" -- lost, confused, unable to turn back yet unsure of how to proceed. Coming off the show's most uneven and critically condemned season yet, it's understandable they'd be a little shaken. This was the year that all the old tricks stopped working, when the show's reliance on torture came under attack from the media and co-creator Joel Surnow's conservative credentials were scrutinized. It's also the first season the series' basic 24-hour structure seemed to fail, when the writers decided to end the main storyline with six episodes to go, and grabbed at a few unresolved story threads from last year to fill the hours.
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Heroes has the opposite problem from most shows in its genre - I'll call it literate sci-fi, at the risk of getting irate e-mails. The "X-Files," "Alias" and "Lost" were and are hammered for being too oblique, having no clear sense of plot direction and giving off a definite eau d'making-it-up-as-they-went-along. Heroes, since returning for the second half of the season, has clearly telegraphed each twist and turn and hasn't made for the most compelling viewing these past few weeks. (This is the risk when one of the characters is a prophetic artist who paints scenes from upcoming episodes, I guess.)
With the finale, however, the show had something of a clean slate - viewers didn't know if, or when, or how New York would go kablooie.
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When the top three dancers hit the floor last night, it seemed like it was going to be tough to pick a winner in the finals of this season’s “Dancing with the Stars,” but pitting top contenders Laila Ali, Apolo Anton Ohno and Joey Fatone against each other actually highlighted what each contestant genuinely has and lacks. Certainly, all are good athletes, good sports, good personalities, good partners and are relatively easy on the eyes, but after last night, one clearly is the top spot.
That person is Apolo Anton Ohno. With his spirited freestyle performance, he demonstrated something that he thus far had lacked a little bit: cultural specificity. Ohno’s been such a gimlet-eyed pro that it’s sometimes been tough to establish just how old he actually is, what he likes to do in his free time, what he’s like when he’s not on-camera.
But the
charming breakdance and skater-inspired performance he did with partner
Julianne Hough clearly showed not only his athletic and dancing prowess,
but also that he understands what generation he appeals to. For once he reminded us that he’s 25
(actually, today! Happy Birthday Apolo, wherever you are) and a pro, and not
just a youthful looking athlete.
The weaknesses in the other contestants are minor but they
were obvious in comparison to Apolo. Laila simply lacks Apolo and
Joey’s unselfconsciousness, and doesn’t quite make the dancing look as
easy as
Apolo does. She does rock very hard
however in general, with her mix of toughness and sensuality, ambition
and charm. Mothers across the country should turn their daughters’
chins away from pictures of Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears and turn
it to
Laila’s.
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 A.J. Soprano’s suicide attempt was very A.J.: He tied a plastic bag over his head and attached a concrete block to his foot before dropping himself into the family pool.
Depression has long been A.J.’s curse, but ineffectualness is a close second; the plastic bag wasn’t tied properly and he appeared to over-estimate the length of rope for the block. A cry for help that was, finally, sweet, like the time A.J. brought a sword into the psychiatric hospital to get revenge on Uncle Junior for shooting his father.
“On some level he may have known that the rope was too long to keep him submerged,” Dr. Melfi tells Tony. “Or he could just be...[an idiot],” says the father. “Historically that’s been the case.”
A.J. had his imagery right — the mob’s “cement shoes,” not to mention that pool. The pool is where it all began on “The Sopranos” — Tony with his ducks and his depression. In the throes of his child’s desperate act, it was not difficult to discern whom Tony thought was affected the most.
“Why me, huh?” he says to Melfi. “Doesn’t every parent make mistakes? … I’m a good guy. Basically.”
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I guess I should have known that I'd need a box of them for an episode called "East Side Story."
Happiness is always short-lived on primetime soaps, but Thursday's finale of "Ugly Betty" kept the wallops coming one after another.
Henry has been trapped in the clutches of his evil ex after Betty confessed her love. Alexis and Daniel get into a car wreck after finally mending their relationship. And, most tragically, Santos was killed before he and Hilda could say "I do."
The show's final moments, ending with Betty telling Hilda the news to the sound of Hilda's Justin singing "Somewhere" from "West Side Story," was especially poignant.
Unlike deaths on other series that are meant to shock -- Sorry, Milo, "24" can chug along without you -- when tragedy hits the characters on "Betty," it hurts. Underneath colorful, larger-than-life trappings, each struggles to be better than they are, making their despair all the more heartbreaking.
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 So are they firing Isaiah Washington or what? No doubt, the final scene of the season finale of “Grey’s Anatomy” left many viewers wondering if the tears Cristina was crying after being ditched at the altar were of heartbreak or relief, but some of us were more curious if her anguished “He’s gone” referred to Burke, her former fiance, or the man who plays him.
Washington, of course, was the center of a scandal earlier this year after he referred to cast member T.R. Knight, not once but twice, by a homophobic epithet. Since then, rumors have flown over whether he would be allowed to remain on a show that prides itself on love and tolerance and diversity.
Thursday night’s season finale certainly left that, and a few other things, pretty much hanging. Or not hanging, as the case may be.
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Perhaps it's that time, time for "ER" to close its doors, and not just temporarily for a paint job.
 Last night's episode was somewhat engaging, but only in the way that the same plot we've seen in other incarnations was being lobbed back at us. We began with foreshadowing on Luka (Goran Visnjic) and Abby's (Maura Tierney) relationship as Luka was suddenly called away to Croatia, by himself. Most of us know that this is Visnjicâ's last season on "ER" and clumsy allusions to terrorism early in the episode created a "wonder how they'll make this happen" feeling of non-tension.
As happens at least once a season, a promising new doctor has been introduced (Stanley Tucci) who, despite his acting chops and threats to force the ER to straighten up and fly right, will not be able to stir the pot enough to freshen the show after so many years.
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 Now that was a season finale. Maybe too much of a season finale! “The Office" packed so much story in one hour it was hard to remember if the show was a comedy or a drama.
"The Office" seems to do well when it shakes itself out if its typical element, when combinations of characters are formed that aren’t usually and things are filmed off-site. With an episode that involved Jim (John Krasinski), Karen (Rashida Jones) and Michael (Steve Carell) all heading to New York for a job interview that would mean one of them was moving away from Scranton, permanently, the mere getting out of the office -- and in that combination – promised an interesting setup.
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Well, for starters -- and I'm just guessing here -- I don't think Jesus would go on "The Real World."
In the season finale, both Davis and Stephen had crises of faith: Davis has a drunken hookup with a guy he met in a bar; Stephen's flirting with Jenn turned into some heavy petting. All well and good and typical "Real World" behavior, except that the two have significant others outside of the house and after their flings, they were overwhelmed with guilt.
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This year, Fox's upfront presentation was an all-business, snappy rundown of the network's new shows and its schedule. At the beginning, we were told, "24"-style, that the following would take place between 4 and 5 p.m. And it did, despite the fact that Fox had a slew of new shows to run through.
In other words, it was very different from last year's, which felt like one of those end-of-the-world events that destroy lives. (Among several other misfires at the presentation, Brad Garrett, star of the then-new show "'Til Death," did a stand-up act in which he trashed Fox stars Paula Abdul and Ryan Seacrest. But the biggest problem was the venue, the Armory on Park Avenue, which was like a giant, sweaty bat cave.)
On Thursday afternoon, Fox Entertainment President Peter Liguori paid oblique homage to last year's mess when he said that he was pleased to be back within the "friendly confines" of the City Center on 55th Street. And though Garrett was among the Fox stars paraded quickly in front of the audience, blessedly neither he nor any other actor was asked to give one of those awkward speeches that barely ever work at these things. Garrett, also mindful of last year, pantomimed to the audience by waving his hands that he would not be speaking this year -- it was funny.
Also of note: Liguori, who renewed only "'Til Death" out of the scripted programs he had developed for this past season and canceled a bunch of poorly reviewed others, admitted that last year he and the network didn't go with the shows they really loved, and picked badly.
Honesty. Weird.
So ended the week of the five English-language network upfronts. Except for ABC -- which featured a participatory game of bingo and Mark Indelicato of "Ugly Betty" singing "One" from "A Chorus Line" -- the networks were more low-key than in previous years.
Was it the uncertainty about the effect of the digital world on network television? The slightly terrifying drop-off in viewership in recent months? The dark clouds gathering on the labor front, as the Writers Guild's contract expires at the end of October?
We'll let you know!
--Kate Aurthur
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The last network has announced its new line-up in Manhattan and we can’t help but notice that vertical integration is alive and well in the television industry.
The five broadcast networks went the conservative route this development season, ordering only 33 new scripted shows for the next TV season (including mid-season). Of those new shows, only nine —nine!!!! — are comedies, which is kind of sad but we digress.
For the most part, the networks stuck with their own production companies in picking up their new products, oops, we mean projects. ABC Studios and Warner Bros. Television have 15 of those shows between them. Check it out:
---CBS has four new dramas and one comedy. Three are produced by CBS Paramount and two by Warner Bros., its studio partner in sister network The CW.
---ABC has seven dramas and four comedies. Six are produced by ABC Studios, one by 20th Century Television and another one is jointly produced by both ABC and 20th Century. Of the three remaining shows, two belong to Warner Bros. Television and one to Sony Television.
---NBC Universal has five dramas and one comedy. Four are produced by NBC Universal Studios, one each by 20th Century Fox Television and Warner Bros. Television.
---FOX has four dramas and three comedies. Three are produced by 20th Century Fox Television, two by Regency Television and one each by Warner Bros. Television and Sony Television.
---The CW, the CBS and Warner Bros. hybrid, has three dramas and one comedy. CBS Paramount produces two of them, Warner Bros. Television and ABC Studios each has one.
--Maria Elena Fernandez
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Fox, the No. 1 television network, is trying to bring some balance to the force.
As the final network to unveil its fall schedule this week for advertisers, Fox executives realize their lofty success is lopsided -- coming from a handful of powerhouses like its quirky medical drama “House,” and the cultural phenomenon that is “American Idol.” (In its 6th Season, “American Idol” almost single-handedly resurrected the network from a dismal fourth place at the beginning of this year to first place by Spring, which explains why other networks refer to it as the “Death Star.”)
On Thursday, Fox officially announced its Fall prime-time lineup which features four new dramas, three new comedies and three reality-bases series in hopes of bolstering its rank-and-file programming.
Slated for a fall release are:
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You knew it was coming, The CW has canceled "Veronica Mars." On the renewal front, "One Tree Hill" is returning -- but it will be held until midseason and the show will fast-forward four years through college. Also returning in midseason -- "Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll."
Here's the full CW lineup:
Monday
8 p.m. "Everybody Hates Chris"
8:30 p.m. "Aliens in America" (new)
9 p.m. "Girlfriends"
9:30 p.m. "The Game"
Tuesday
8 p.m. "Beauty and the Geek"
9 p.m. "Reaper" (new)
Wednesday
8 p.m. "America's Next Top Model"
9 p.m. "Gossip Girl" (new)
Thursday
8 p.m. "Smallville"
9 p.m. "Supernatural"
Friday
8 p.m. "Friday Night Smackdown"
Saturday
Nothin'
Sunday
7 p.m. "CW Now"
7:30 p.m. "Online Nation"
8 p.m. "Life Is Wild" (new)
9 p.m. "America's Next Top Model" repeat
--Kate Aurthur
Television Editor, Los Angeles Times
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 In the end, the cha-cha carried the day, and Jaslene was named "America's Next Top Model" after Natasha was deemed not quite fluent enough in English, and Renee, all 20 years of her, was pushed aside as being too OLD, OLD, OLD.
The final episode had the ladies shooting a Cover Girl commercial, and Natasha stumbled through the improv portion. It was endearing to see her make a mess of it -- but it was in no way professional. Renee hit the spot with her enthusiasm -- but as has been telegraphed for a couple of episodes now, her traditionally pretty features, sleek blond hair and blue eyes just weren't ringing the judge's chimes.
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Charlie needs to die already.
I'm not the biggest fan of his character, yes. But after alluding to this outcome since, oh, Season 1, I'd say it's time. All he wants to do is love and protect Claire right? Well, now he can by getting them rescued right?
Sigh. If Charlie doesn't die -- and I'm guessing he won't, again -- then this recent trip down memory lane is sort of moot, dontcha think? Also, his death would come with an added bonus. It would free Desmond of this singular mopey mission to save Charlie. Desmond used to be the guy gone stir crazy in the hatch and now he's about as useful to the show as Hurley.
But -- and this is a BIG but -- as far as penultimate set-up-to-the-big-finale episodes go, "Greatest Hits" was above par in more than one way.
So let's concentrate on the good:
Can we please keep Jack? Maybe it's those background drums of the first scene. Maybe it's the way he wants to get all violent on The Others. Maybe he's taking lessons in from Rousseau. Whatever it is, Jack finally returned from Mt. Boring. Sure, he's not entirely out of his stupid pills -- "No Charlie, don't try and get us rescued when I'm about to decorate the beach with Others confetti!" -- but he recovers nicely at the end.
Speaking of... Drums! That's the ticket! Lost should use drums more often. They pack such a punch. Or at least I think so.
So much to do, so little time! We now have the possibility of restoring that radio signal thing that will rescue everyone. It won't happen -- the show's been renewed for forty-some new episodes, so they're not leaving the island any time soon -- but I'm jonesing to learn how exactly they're going to keep everyone at bay. We also have Battle Royale with the Others. As Carl squealed: "They're coming. They're coming right now!" Then there is the return of Locke. Yessir, the two-hour finale is shaping up to be one deliciously jam-packed affair.
Naomi, the Spy? Two weeks ago, she delivered one of the show's most intriguing ideas: That the survivors are actually all dead. This is probably not true, so what is her deal? Where did she come from? Is she actually one of The Others? Is she not freaked out that she sees dead people?
I'm hoping Rose and Bernard stick around. If they brought these two back -- yay! -- just to kill them, it will be anti-climactic. It will rank right up there with the introduction of Nikki and Paulo. Hey, producer people: We like Rose and Bernard. You can do more with them. Do not kill them. There are several characters in line in front of them whose time should be about up.
What did everyone else think?
(Photo courtesy ABC)
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As the sun rises over North America Thursday, the continent will awaken to find itself in a terrifying new entertainment landscape –- a world without Melinda Doolittle.
By mid-morning Thursday, every TV morning show and radio call-in program will be ablaze with incendiary debates on what this means for the show, for entertainment, and for the nation. Some will call it the death of the franchise; others will say its business as usual. Many more will point out that winning isn’t even the point any more (see Chris Daughtry vs. Taylor Hicks).
The show which inspires more obsessive-compulsive dissection (see my previous 47 or so columns this season) than any the history of television has just thrown blood into its followers’ shark tank.
But behind the curtain, the woman at the helm of this circus feels your pain, and understands exactly how the show plays into your most obsessive tendencies. It all begins during the auditions, says Cecile Frot-Coutaz, "Idol"’s Executive Producer and CEO of FremantleMedia North America which along with Simon Fuller’s 19 Productions oversees the "Idol" industrial complex.
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 There's no lingering doubt; We have now officially crossed the threshold into the most topsy-turvy "American Idol" season in history.
In January, not an "Idol" pundit in the land would have predicted that we would be here -– looking at a Blake Lewis/Jordin Sparks finale in the eye. But the most suspenseful results show of the season produced perhaps the most shocking of all possible outcomes, setting the stage for a wide-open finale that only fools would dare predict.
It was a dark night in the Idoldome Wednesday as the great Melinda Doolittle, early favorite to win, Simon Cowell’s Miss Consistency and perhaps in raw talent the strongest singer ever to appear on "American Idol" –- was brought low.
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