Seems like everybody talks about TV at the office, even people who (unlike me and my co-workers) don't get paid to do so. A new survey specifies who's talking about which programs. No surprise, American Idol is the most talked-about show, popular among both men and women, and especially among workers 65 or older (ah, now we know who voted scary tattooed rocker Carly off the show). Besides AI, women like to talk about Dancing With the Stars (pictured), while men like to pretend they can make sense of talk about Lost.
Which shows are popular topics around your office watercooler? And do you think talking about TV helps or hurts your workplace productivity?
The announcement that NBC is abruptly moving the great 30 Rock to 9:30 p.m. on Thursdays, after The Office, with Scrubs moving to the 8:30 slot, is satisfying for a few reasons. 30 Rock can only be helped by being placed in a hammock (note use of TV-bizzer lingo) between ratings success The Office and people-actually-still-watch-it ER. For the rest of us, it means two hours of solid TV watching: The Office, 30 Rock, then switching to ABC for Lost in its new time period at 10. And the minimally-laugh-injected Scrubs is better paired with the 8 p.m. lead-in My Name Is Earl, which (and I speak as a fan of Earl) has never quite recovered from Earl’s time spent in jail. In short, for once, a network has made a smart time-period change. Agree?
This week's episode of Idolatry, of course! When you're done watching, please weigh in with the appropriate sentence for Ryan Seacrest's unusually cruel treatment of Michael Johns during Thursday's Idol results show. I was gonna suggest 30 days in the clink, where Ryan would have to watch his E! colleague Giuliana DePandi fill in on Idol hosting duties, but why should all of us have to pay the price for his crime?
To anyone who does not possess Doc Jensen's vast command of Lost plot twists and mythology-knowledge, there's now a YouTube video for us all.
Without spoiling the effect of seeing this ingenious montage for the first time, I'll say that when it comes to emoting a single quizzical word, I'll assert that Matthew Fox is either the least expressive actor in the cast or the most genuinely puzzled guy when he receives every new script, and that Michael Emerson, as Ben, can make even one syllable carry the weight of more dread and menace than anyone in all of television.
If you can't tell by our feature story this week (as well as this, this, this, this, and this), we at EW are pretty psyched for the April 4 return of Battlestar Galactica. (And if you're not psyched, here's a photo of Tricia Helfer, a.k.a. Number Six, for you.) So, of course, I had to watch Sci Fi's recap video "What the Frak Is Going On?" and while I did, I found both the narrator's voice and the curt, snarky style very familiar. ("Then she shoots Adama... Bad Boomer.") Turns out it's the same woman — and production company — that did the "Lost in 8:15" recap video earlier this year, and that voice belongs to Mary O'Brien, senior writer/producer at Met|Hodder in Minneapolis, not a voice actor. O'Brien was the interim voice on the rough cut that the company sent to ABC. "We tried a real voice talent. We hired a guy, a real proper union dude, and placed him in and showed it to ABC again and they were like, we want to go with Mary's snarky feel," says O'Brien.
O'Brien co-wrote the summary with a video editor; the prose style comes from O'Brien's personal log while watching the episodes. "You know, 'Main dude tells drunk guy to cut the crap.' Or like, 'Apollo and Starbuck almost do it. And then they don't. Bummer,' that kind of thing because we're watching hours and hours and hours of the shows and you kind of get that shorthand." Battlestar's co-exec producer Ron Moore was apparently a fan of the Lost video and asked Met|Hodder for something like it. "And I was like, actually, um, that was us. And that's me!" she remembers.
So what's next for O'Brien? Well, she has enjoyed her oddly anonymous notoriety: "Someone on YouTube said that I sounded like I was from a mental institution," she laughs. "But people have been pretty complimentary, 'Oh, she sounds hot.' And I'm like, Okay. Awesome!" And while she's not quitting her day job to run off to Hollywood any time soon (Met|Hodder is actually working on a new recap for Lost's April 24 return), she does now have an agent and will be doing more voiceover work for Sci Fi promos. And she does have an idea of how to capitalize on this notoriety.
"What I really want to do is have my own booth at Comic-Con. And I can record people's voicemail messages for them or something. And I'll be like, 'Where the frak is whoever?' I think that would be funny." So do I. Get in line behind me, PopWatchers. I call dibs on her first.
Like many Lost fanatics, I miss seeing Charlie on the show pretty much constantly. Is there any chance he's alive? If so, what's he doing? At least we can find out what Dominic Monhaghan's up to. The actor's an accomplished amateur photographer, and I was very intrigued this week to see a few dozen of his photos for sale via a West Hollywood gallery, Hamilton-Selway Fine Art, with 20 percent of the proceeds benefiting the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation. It wasn't easy for me to pick a favorite, but I just love how Hurley, I mean Jorge Garcia, looks in "Banyan Garcia Banyan." If, after checking out Monaghan's work, you notice his evident fascination with bugs, keep this in mind.
And this:
What's your reaction to Monaghan's photographs, PopWatch people? And if you were to hang one in your home or office, which would you pick?
Here's a potentially relationship-saving tip for any PopWatchers out there who've been caught by surprise on this 14th of February. If your paramour is passionate about certain ABC primetime shows, send an instant e-valentine,via abc.com, featuring your favorite Lost, Ugly Betty, or Grey's Anatomy character. There are 12 options for each show, and while these obviously double as mini-ads reminding fans to tune in, they're a way to confirm for a loved one that you totally get how much they adore John Locke or Justin Suarez or Dr. Izzy Stevens.
I've been with the same wonderful valentine for many years, and maybe we're over it, but tonight we're eschewing the old five-course candlelight dinner on the town for Lost (pictured). Intellectual seduction, it's powerful stuff! (Let it be known, however, that an e-card featuring Ben Linus surrounded by hearts is no substitute for buying me chocolate. I have cash if you need some.) Take a moment and tell us, PopWatchers: What are you doing on the allegedly-most-romantic night of the year? Extra "rebel" points if your plans are not at all romantic.
With an end to the WGA strike imminent, TV fans who've spent the past few months away from the tube, interacting with friends and family (yeah, right — e-mail/IM at best) are scrambling to find out when their beloved scripted shows will return. But since networks don't have much time to make decisions on existing shows before the May announcement of the fall lineup, many of the series will only air four to eight new episodes — and most of them not until April or May. Many shows won't return this spring at all. EW.com is now keeping a regularly updated list. What does it all mean? One thing for sure: Jericho (pictured), which returns tonight with a seven-episode run, has a great shot at catching on this time around. Check out our Jericho sesaon 2 cheat sheet to feel somewhat informed before tuning in.
So I just checked out "Sawyer's Nickname Generator" on the Lost website at ABC.com (thanks, TV Tattle, for the heads up), and apparently, the island's resident con arist/wiseguy has dubbed me... Mondrian?
Given up on Lost? Regretting it, now that the writers' strike is on, and now that the season 4 premiere on Jan. 31 is just around the corner? Missing Sawyer (Josh Holloway, pictured)? Then head over to abc.com and click "Catch up on Lost" to watch a video that recaps the entire series (à la the seven-minute Sopranos) in eight minutes and 15 seconds. (Get it? 8:15?) I haven't watched the show in... a while, and I found the narration easy to follow and surprisingly entertaining. Sample: "They see Jack play football with Mr. Friendly. Mr. Friendly throws like a girl."
Two questions: Do you think someone who's never seen the show would be able to keep up? (If such a person is reading this, try it and report back.) And do you Doc Jensen-types endorse the recap, or has a vital piece of info gone missing?
The full, two-minute trailer for season 4 of Lost seems to confirm Doc Jensen's speculations based on the 30-second teaser released last week. There's Jeremy Davies, as one of the new characters from the freighter, telling the Lost-ies that rescuing them wasn't exactly his first priority. There's Locke and Ben and the drowning Charlie, repeating their warnings from last season's finale about the newcomers. And there's the title cards, telling us that some of our heroes aren't going to leave the island. (Does that mean some will choose to stay behind, or be abandoned, or die? Or does that refer to Jack, who we know will leave but who will remain mentally and emotionally trapped there?) Say, was that a glimpse of Naomi, the parachutist apparently slain by Locke, still alive? Lots of tantalizing questions; really can't wait to see how they play out, can you?
On a lighter note, the trailer for Leatherheads, George Clooney's period comedy about the transformation of the 1920s-era National Football League from a barnstorming group of anarchic roughnecks into a professional but much less fun organization, leaves me with mixed feelings. With John Krasinski along for the ride as the strong-but-naive rookie mentored by Clooney's sly veteran, and Renee Zellweger (pictured, with Clooney) as the skeptical reporter who comes between them, it's clear that the movie wants to be another Bull Durham, with a little Seabiscuit/Cinderella Man historical interest thrown in. But it all looks so rote and by-the-playbook. (Also, Office-boy Krasinski seems overmatched by his glamorous old-pro co-stars.) The actual movie is going to have to try a little harder than the familiar tactics suggested by the trailer in order not to fumble at the box office this spring.
Leave it to the Lost boys to craft a trailer for the fourth season (now set to debut Jan. 31) that's as cryptic as the show itself.
While I've got my own thoughts — is that the skull of a cyclopean vampire? — I figured I'd go straight to the source for all Lost commentary, Doc Jensen, who peeked up from a dusty tome, shifted his calabash pipe, fixed his monocle and, in his trademark Scottish burr, gave me this:
"The most intriguing images in this trailer to me are the stack of stones on the beach (Charlie's grave?), these fleeting images of military-looking dudes storming the island (remember what Desmond told us about what would happen after Charlie's death, per his flashes of the future: that a chopper would land on the island and take Claire and baby Aaron to safety — Charlie's whole motivation for sacrificing his life), and the glimpse of an ominous new character, who looks to be Jeremy Davies. Clearly, the trailer is setting up a major concern of the season: Can the castaways trust the folks on the freighter? Let us also wonder this: If Ben is correct — that the freighter people are wicked — are we being set up for a classic reversal: the bad guy (in this case, Ben) becoming a good guy? But the trailer doesn't address what will obviously be another major concern of season four: the future. What happened to Jack, Kate, and... whoever else made it off the Island? That's what I want to know. Can't wait for the show to tell me."
The Golden Globe nominations are in, and while we await expert analysis from EW's Ken Tucker and Dave Karger (keep an eye on our Golden Globes hub), tell us: Which snub hit you the hardest? There's a lot to choose from. For starters:
• Keri Russell (pictured) for Waitress: Would it have been too much to include her alongside Juno's Ellen Page? No room for two quirky indie pregnancy comedies at the HFPA inn?
• Into the Wild: The only love the film got was for Original Score and Song. Sorry, Emile Hirsch and Sean Penn.
• Ugly Betty: Only America Ferrera got a nod. Somewhere, a vacationing Michael Slezak is weeping for Vanessa Williams.
• The Sopranos: Edie Falco was the sole nominee. At least the network dramas — Lost, Heroes, Desperate Housewives,24 — weren't the only ones missing from the top TV category. Which leads us to another question:
Which snubs were actually warranted?
Last week, Yahoo announced that Britney Spears topped the portal's 2007 list of its users' top 10 search queries. Other individuals in the top 10: Paris Hilton (No. 3), Beyoncé (No. 5), Lindsay Lohan (No. 6), Fergie (No. 9), and Jessica Alba (No. 10). Which made me wonder: what would the list look like for EW.com's search engine this year? According to our internal tracking, these were the 10 most popular searches this year on EW.com:
1.Lost (pictured) 2.
Heroes 3.
The Office
4. Stephen King 5.
Sopranos
6. "Doc Jensen" 7.
24
8. Harry Potter 9.
American Idol 10.
The Hills
Britney doesn't appear until No. 49.
What does this mean? First, that you guys really, really like Lost. (No. 6, of course, refers to EW.com essayist Jeff Jensen's Lost-centric "Doc Jensen" columns.) Second, you really like TV, more than movies (only Harry Potter — and maybe, Stephen King — count in that direction) and more than music (only Idol qualifies there). Third, you're much more interested in projects than in celebrities; the only real-life individuals in the top 10 are both EW columnists. Finally, you're not much interested in gossip.
Tell us, who or what have you searched for this year on EW.com? What pop culture searches do you find yourself conducting most often, here or elsewhere?
8:00 p.m. Slow clap: L-Yeah! L-Yeah! Oh wait, sorry, gonna try to be neutral here for at least five minutes. Em-my! Em-my! Em-my!
8:01 p.m. Seeing that this Family Guy medley isn't actually live, you think they could've come up with funnier stuff than a Charlie Sheen pedophilia joke and a bit about the age of the Desperate Housewives ladies. That said, rhyming Zach Braff with "doesn't have to make you laugh" made me chuckle. A little.
8:02 p.m. Oh Fox, so classy with that closeup of T.R. Knight during the Isaiah Washington Joke.
8:05 p.m. Uh-oh. Ryan's trying to be funny. And the audience is trying to be nice and pretending to laugh. But seriously, my dream of a shtick-free Emmys -- where every acting nominee gets a 30-second pre-awards highlight clip is about six minutes away from flatlining.
8:07 p.m. Tell me I did not just hear a Hayden Panettiere age-of-consent joke in the first 10 minutes of the telecast.
8:10 p.m. Maybe Ray Romano said something funny during that technical glitch where they cut to the ceiling? 'Cause I'm not really laughing at any of this mess.
8:11 p.m. Okay, that bit about Romano's sexual encounters ending the
same way as The Sopranos' final episode…that was kinda priceless.
8:13 p.m. I liked Jeremy Piven better when he was on Cupid. And I'm not just saying that because he beat Rainn Wilson.
If you missed EW's scoop late yesterday, Jeff Fahey (The Lawnmower Man, Grindhouse) will be joining the cast of Lost next season. The producers wouldn't comment on his character, but said Fahey (pictured) was the first and only choice for the role. "He has the most intense eyes of any guy out there, and I say that as a non-gay man," said Carlton Cuse. (I wonder what kind of things he says as a gay man!) So I've been sitting here daydreaming about what sorts of important tasks a pair of really intense peepers could accomplish on the Island. First and foremost: They can replace Ben's as the eyes that get the most arguably undeserved closeup action. They could also act as conjure-uppers of more Dharma peanut butter. Or, magnetically corrupt the atmosphere whenever the dull and over-acting Sayid wanders by. Even hypnotize Baby Aaron for the hell of it.
Let's just assume for now that these eyes contain All The Answers in their watery blue depths, and move on. Or not. Speculate on Fahey's character — or tell me to shut the eff up and wait — below.
On Thursday, Paramount stole the day — and possibly the entire four-day Comic-Con show — with their drool-worthy, standing-room-only, two-hour presentations. Here's what we learned...
The fans like them some Iron Man. And Paramount like them some Black Sabbath, based on the three or so times they cued the band's song "Iron Man" (if only Beavis & Butthead figured in somehow). Superskinny director Jon Favreau — who told EW he's lost 80 pounds ("I just ate less") — introduced his trailer, which featured Robert Downey Jr. effortlessly nailing the role of Tony Stark, the cocky billionaire who dons a metallic suit after a near-mortal injury. Biggest nerdgasm: Watching I-Man fly the sky in his Mark III suit with jet propulsion capabilities... in his freakin' hands!
Steven Spielberg led a taped on-set message from the Indiana Jones cast on-set and in costume: Harrison Ford, Ray Winstone, and Shia LaBeouf inexplicably, though perhaps tellingly, wearing biker gear. The big announcement: Karen Allen (pictured, with Spielberg, on the Indy IV set) will reprise her role of the whiskey-swilling Marion Ravenwood from 1981's Raiders of the Lost Ark. This almost makes up for the absence of Temple of Doom's Short Round. Almost.
Paramount cruelly dangled a carrot in front of us — the logo for Sweeney Todd — only to pull a bait and switch by showing us this poster (but, to be fair, a cool poster).
Okay, we take back what we said about Tight Lips Abrams. He did confirm the long-standing rumor that in his upcoming Star Trek, Heroes' Sylar, Zachary Quinto, will play Spock. As will Leonard Nimoy. That's right, people: Two Spocks for the price of one movie. Quinto stars as the Vulcan in his younger years, Nimoy as the elder Spock. When asked why he'd revisit the pointy-eared smarty-pants of his past, Nimoy said: "The answer is, it was logical."
Don't know about you, PopWatchers, but today's big news about Harold Perrineau's return to Lost has me as befuddled as the show's mesmerizing season finale. Seriously, I just can't figure out whether I'm glad about this. On the one hand, Perrineau was always one of my favorite actors on Lost (specifically, I'd say he ranks behind only Terry O'Quinn and Josh Holloway), and his sudden departure two seasons ago left me feeling empty inside. On the other hand, the series has been so peaceful and quiet without Perrineau's Michael screaming "Walt!" at every turn. I'm really torn.
Then again, either way, this bit of news raises an even more important conundrum: What's going to happen on Lost now that Michael's back? Will he and Walt return to the island? What will they be up to? How is the show's brain trust going to handle the fact that Malcolm David Kelley will have aged even more noticeably since the last time he appeared as Walt? And what's Michael gonna be shrieking about this time?
If you're going through summertime Lost withdrawal, this clip will probably quench your cravings, though maybe not in a good way. It's a pre-fame Jorge Garcia in a commercial for Hardee's, perhaps presaging Hurley's ill-fated career in the fast-food industry. (Hat tip to PopWatch reader Jeff Watzman for sending this our way.) Like I said, I'm not sure if this will whet your appetite or kill it... although it is almost lunchtime... and you know what would go good on that roast beef sandwich? Some creamy Dharma salad dressing...
As Lost fans know, J.J. Abrams' production house Bad Robot creates mysterious, pseudo-viral marketing campaigns that are nearly as entertaining as the actual products they sell. So it is with Abrams' hush-hush new movie project, the trailer for which you probably saw before your screening of Transformers last week. The clip (pictured), which showed Blair Witch-style camcorder footage of an apparent monster or alien attack on New York City, ended with a release date (Jan. 18, 2008) but no film title. Now, however, details about the mysterious movie are starting to emerge — along with some possible false leads.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the film is called Cloverfield, though that could be just a working title or a red herring (um, it takes place in Manhattan, yes? Where's the clover? Where's the field?). Paramount apparently greenlit the modestly-budgeted ($30 million) film back in February when it handed Abrams the keys to the Star Trek franchise. Project was so secret that the actors signed on without being shown the script (written by Lost and Alias scribe Drew Goddard). Helping keep the budget down: they're all virtual unknowns; biggest name in the cast is probably Lizzy Caplan, late of CBS' short-lived 2006-07 sitcom The Class. Filming began last month on location, with Matt Reeves (who co-created Felicity with Abrams) directing.
Here's where the possible disinformation comes in. The trailer began popping up on the Web last week, but Paramount issued cease-and-desist orders to several sites, including ethanhaaswaswrong.com and ethanhaaswasright.com. Now, Abrams, talking to Ain't It Cool News, says those two sites have nothing to do with the film, but take a look at them; they seem awfully suspicious. (Ethan Haas, by the way, was the character played by Caplan's co-star Jason Ritter on The Class.) Abrams says there are other secret websites, but he claims no one's found any of them yet, except for this obvious placeholder.
At any rate, Paramount has put the trailer back online, this time in a high-def version, at Apple. Watch it, tell us what you think (for the record, PopWatch thinks it looks pretty awesome), and let the conspiracy theories begin!
Only 10 days left till this year's Emmy nominations are announced — which means two things: My left kidney will soon be deposited on a shrine dedicated to Vanessa L. Williams' very necessary nod, and the good folks at Gold Derby are getting their leak on. Last week, while I was on vacation, the site reported the rumored list of 10 finalists still in the running in the Best Drama and Best Comedy Series categories, and on Friday, a pair of judges who'd attended screenings of various nominated episodes spilled the beans about which series are most likely to hear their names called when nominations are announced July 19. (Click here to read the full scoop.) According to that duo, Best Drama Series nominees are likely to include The Sopranos, House, Grey's Anatomy (pictured), 24, and Heroes, while the Best Comedy Series race could come down to Two and a Half Men, Entourage, 30 Rock, Ugly Betty, and The Office. If Gold Derby's sources predicted correctly, that would mean snubs for the remaining five drama (Boston Legal, Dexter, Friday Night Lights, Lost, and Rome) and comedy finalists (Desperate Housewives, Extras, My Name Is Earl, Scrubs, and Weeds).
Considering how many Grey's Anatomy and 24 fans feel those respective series are coming off weak seasons, their inclusion among TV's five best drama series seems a little surprising. And if a sci-fi show is destined for Emmy recognition, shouldn't Lost (or Battlestar Galactica, which apparently didn't even crack the top 10) get Heroes' slot? On the flip side, if 30 Rock, The Office, and Ugly Betty score Best Comedy nominations (as predicted), I'll be hard-pressed to feel my usual brand of post-nominations outrage. Unless, of course, L. Yeah doesn't get her due. Then I'll be hellaciously upset.
What do you think of Gold Derby's list of predicted nominees? Should the Emmy judges have read the PopWatch Fantasy Emmy Nominees Gallery before going to work? Holla back!
Yesterday, May 31, marked the cutoff point for eligibility in the 2007 Emmy race, and that means today I can begin ranting about how it's a matter of vital national importance that Ugly Betty's Vanessa (L. Yeah) Williams (pictured) and Battlestar Galactica's Michael Hogan score nominations come July 19.
As you may recall, I was "hellaciously upset" when the Golden Globes snubbed L. Yeah for a supporting actress nod back in December, but with a whole season of Betty underneath her white fur hat, there's no way she can be denied. I mean, all those fusty voters need to do is peruse some of her finest moments on YouTube — the carnivorous foot-soak, the seeing-eye gay, the violent stairwell altercation with Marc — and they'll have to put her name on the ballot. There is not a single woman on the small screen who scores bigger or more consistent laughs than Williams — and her ill-fated mid-season romance with Ted LeBeau (Brett Cullen) proved she can do more than just high camp.
A lot of EW.com readers over at Doc Jensen's Lost TV Watch have been wondering why the fur of the animal that died on Suicide Jack's chin was bright brown — instead of the salt-and-pepper stubble he worked very hard to achieve on the Island. I don't even want to touch that. Only fools are enslaved by time and space. They probably just did not realize using a skunk was an option. Instead, we present to you, via Thighs Wide Shut, a roundup of thicket-like pop-culture beards over the years. As one commenter already noted, Katie Holmes is missing, but you can't win 'em all. Go ahead. This is the only appropriate way to enter the long weekend. Have a good one, by the way. Aren't we festive!? Beards!
This weekend, I finally got caught up with the three most recent episodes of Lost(and some of Doc Jensen's mind-blowing theories, to boot), and I'm still reeling from the awesomeness of it all.
That said, isn't it time somebody punched Jack in the face?
Leave your yays (or nays) in the comments section below.
Much as I (and many other Lost-ies) would like to continue watching Lost for years to come, I'm actually relieved by the announcement that the show will run exactly three more seasons. Similarly, I'm glad the producers are going for quality over quantity by making each season just 16 episodes long. (Lost conspiracy theorists take note: 16 is one of the six cursed numbers, multiplied by three seasons is 48, whose digits are two more of the numbers...)
Variety calls the move a "potentially paradigm-shifting play," which I think would be great. There are a lot of cinematic, serialized dramas that would benefit from having a fixed end date. Not just because it would force discipline on the writers, but also because it might encourage viewers to tune in. I know that sounds like a paradox (get invested in a show you know won't last?), but I bet that one reason 2006-07 shows like Vanished, Kidnapped, and The Nine failed to find audiences is that viewers couldn't imagine how they could work as open-ended shows, so they didn't bother trying to get to know the characters. I still can't figure out how Jericho is going to keep going, and I have the same problem with ABC's new Traveler (which debuts Thursday after sitting on the shelf for a year, after the network watched one serialized drama after another bite the dust this season).
Do you think, PopWatchers, that more shows should come with built-in end dates? Are you more likely to watch Lost if you know there are only a set number of future installments? (I can just imagine ABC's promo announcer saying, "Only 47 more episodes of Lost!") And which current shows do you think would benefit most from having fixed-date finales?
Let's beam down to the planet of Irresponsible Speculation for a short spell, shall we? IGN.com claims to know who's on Paramount's shortlist to play the leads in the forthcoming Star Trek XI, a prequel set during the young Kirk and Spock's days at Starfleet Academy. According to IGN, Matt Damon (as long rumored) is the top choice to step into William Shatner's boots to play Kirk, while the producers would like to see Adrien Brody in Leonard Nimoy's role as the young Spock, and Gary Sinise (pictured, left) as Dr. McCoy, originally played by DeForest Kelley (at right). Also, IGN says, the filmmakers want Lost's Daniel Dae Kim to play Sulu and James McAvoy (The Last King of Scotland) to play Scotty.
Just so you know, EW reporters say Paramount is denying these casting rumors. Still, now that the studio has finally made an official announcement that Lost guru J.J. Abrams will be directing the film as well as writing and producing it, why not weigh in on casting? My two cents: Damon is too old to play a cadet Kirk (in fact, he's older than Shatner was when he started playing the already-seasoned captain in the 1960s TV series). And McAvoy seems too young to play Scotty; if Paramount must have a Scottish actor, why not Ewan McGregor? (Remember, Scotty and McCoy clearly had a few years on Kirk.) I think the rest of the rumored choices, however, are great. How 'bout y'all? Who would you cast in Star Trek: Muppet Babies?
The good geeks at SciFi2U posted this video of last week's brainwashing/sleep deprivation scene.... played backwards. In it, a woman's voice (possibly Ms. Klugh's? I want her back!) repeats "Only fools are enslaved by time and space."
It's freaky and awesome, even though I can't detect a similar voice (though maybe it's at a much lower volume) from the scene as it played normally.
If the recording is for real, here's some more Dharma-initiated foodstuff for thought: The Tail Section determined that Aldo, the guard outside the facility, was reading a chapter of Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time that discusses black holes, time, and space. You can see closeups of the pages at TTS. It's almost like they used that book on purpose or something! Who knew Lost could be tricky?
What does it all mean? Is this just another red herring designed to drive us crazy over the space-time continuum theory, like when Hurley suggested to Sayid that the FM radio transmission was from "another time"? Maybe. I believe the only real conclusion we can derive from this is that Paul is dead.
I'm just gonna come out with it: I hate Valentine's Day. Hated it when I was single. Hate it now that I'm hitched. Especially hate it because it always rears its cherubic little head smack in the middle of February sweeps. Now mind you, I'm a deranged enough TV addict that I once celebrated my (not legally recognized) wedding anniversary by watching The Bachelor over take-out Indian food, but still, I know I'm not the only one with a dilemma tomorrow night. So for those of you harboring reservations that restaurant reservations will force you to miss your favorite shows, I've composed a handy letter you can insert inside your Valentine's Day card. Who knows? Maybe like in "The Piña Colada Song," your mate feels the same way, too. Now wouldn't that be romantic?
Dear insert name here,
Happy Valentine's Day! When I woke up this morning, I thought about how lucky I am to have you in my life. You're like a song that fills my heart with joy. Oh, and speaking of songs, tonight's the night that American Idol reveals this season's final 24. I know you really dug that Tami Gosnell chick's audition -- remember, she's the one with the lip ring? -- so if you wanted to stay home and watch it, instead of going out for dinner, I'd totally understand. Anyway, the last time we went to that steak house, you ordered the filet mignon rare, and they cooked it medium. (No, that's not a subliminal reminder that Medium is on at 10 on NBC, although it looks like it'll be a good one, with Allison's body getting taken over by a spirit. Scary!) The point is, I don't care where we spend Valentine's Day, as long as we spend it together. I'd be lost without you. Okay, yes, that was subliminal. Don't make me DVR the second episode of the second half of Lost's season. I just can't handle any more spoilers. Please, baby, if you let us stay home tonight, I'll buy you a pony. Oh yeah, I'm the one who wants a pony. Whatever. Um, we can rent a romantic DVD this weekend...maybe Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King? Or if that doesn't float your boat, my coworkers put together a massive list with 20 other choices! For tonight, though, I'll order the pizza, you pick up the mango sorbet, and we'll let Paula bring the crazy. It'll be awesome.
Love,
Your name here
So, PopWatchers, you think that'll work? Or will you be stepping out tomorrow night with the one you love while fantasizing about your TV?
Well, man, I had forgotten what a tough, tiring, consuming job it is, being a Lost fan! It's been so long. In fact, I wonder: Has it been too long? I mean, I've forgotten all about it, and I certainly wasn't, let's say, stumbling around my house screaming "Walt!" all the time. I hate to admit it, but I'm not sure how much I missed the show during its hiatus. Also, I've changed a lot during the past several months. I'm a different person now. I have tons more time. These days, I actually do my laundry. These days, I actually spell out the word "rocking." But back when Lost was airing last fall and I was so busy being a fanboy, there were days when I had to wear my socks inside out — and I always shortened it to "rockin'" to save a few seconds. Besides, I had started getting excited about the April 8 return of The Sopranos. It's tough to be pumped about too many returning shows at once, you know.
So am I ready for the show to come back? I mean, really ready? Are you? When I read Cuse say that, "there are a couple Easter eggs embedded" in tonight's episode, part of me gets psyched and part of me groans, like when I head off to the gym at 6:45 in the morning. And as Cuse goes on, saying, "Whether or not you learn more … will depend on how obsessive you
are. If you enjoy recording the program and studying individual frames, you might. But really, is that healthy?" all I can think is: My point exactly, Carlton, my point exactly.
Forget the Others; it seems the real puppet masters who make Lost-ies dance are the techies and tycoons attending this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas. Watch this video the cast made for the conventiongoers, have a chuckle, and if you spot any inadvertent revelations or clues in it, please be sure to let meJeff Jensen know.
Way back when I got my first paid journalism gig at The Leader-Herald in Gloversville, NY, a wise editor told me that nothing makes readers angrier than finding an error on the obituaries page. Well, I'd like to amend his statement to include omitting someone's obituary altogether. It's a lesson I learned the hard way after writing a gallery for EW.com a couple weeks back called "Obit Players," focusing on 10 major TV characters who died in 2006. I chose to write about Denny Duquette (Grey's Anatomy), Louanne 'Kat' Katraine (Battlestar Galactica), Mr. Eko (Lost), Eden McCain (Heroes), William Walker (Brothers & Sisters), Alexandra Borgia (Law & Order), Marissa Cooper (The O.C.), Veronica Donovan (Prison Break), Andrea Moreno (The Ghost Whisperer), and Edgar Stiles (24). In the process, I left out a number of dearly departed series regulars, including Leo of The West Wing, Jack and Irina from Alias, Lemonhead of The Shield, and Bodie from The Wire (pictured).
So, PopWatchers, here's your chance to make things right. Which late, great characters got overlooked in my gallery? Start your eulogizing in the comments section below.
According to a TiVo-conducted poll, Katie Couric's last day on Today was the most unforgettable TV moment of 2006. We'd take this survey more seriously if it was TiVo revealing its most rewound moments of the year, but you know we love a good debate list, so here goes:
1. "Katie Couric's last day on Today" — Which we commemorated with a live-blog and a photo tribute.
2. "Mel Gibson's interview with Diane Sawyer after his DWI arrest" (pictured) — Immortalized with our play-by-play of Day 1 and Day 2. (And by the way, my sister's retriever Riggs is still rolling around in bear poop.)
3. "Oprah tells author James Frey he betrayed readers" — And EW's Ken Tucker and Stephen King told us what they thought about it.
4. "Sara and Grissom get together on CSI" — Am I the only one suprised that this relationship is the kind that garners a YouTube video tribute... to Savage Garden's "Truly Madly Deeply"?
5. "Faith Hill's reaction to Carrie Underwood's win at the CMA Awards" — Shockingly, not that exciting once you get a little distance.
The Tail Section has posted the sneak peek of February's Lost that aired last night on ABC. Dr. Jack's power surge(ry) must have gone awry, because dude's stuck in the lushly foliaged jail cell.
To quote Jack... "WHAAAAT?" Was that? I like how Jack and Cindy (pictured) use each other's names, four times. Who talks like that? (Characters in 25-second promos, I guess.) Discussion questions:
-If Jack screamed a teensy bit harder, would his shirt pop off?
-Who's Cindy, really?
-Who's watching?
-What are they watching? (Obviously: Lost.)
-THEN WHY DON'T THEY GO WATCH IT!?
-Were there forces at work other than Desmond's key trick when the plane crashed?
-Does the motley crew of staggered zombies behind Cindy not resemble a poorly thrown together photo shoot for the L.L. Bean catalog? You're on an island! Lose the belted khakis. Though I'll admit, they do convey an eerie "social scientist" vibe...
Playtime! Pick the option that sounds weirdest to you:
A) Rebecca Romijn will join the cast of Ugly Betty as the woman we keep forgetting has been hidden in some sort of attic/tomb all low-voiced and covered in gauze.
B) LaToya Jackson and Erik Estrada have a new reality show in which they team up with Muncie, Indiana police and shoot a lot of guns.
C) Bai Ling will guest-star on three episodes of Lost as a past love interest of Jack's and the artist responsible for Jack's plethora of IN YOUR FACE! tattoos.
When Lost returns in February, the castaways and the Others will experience a new kind of temporal displacement, one that can't be explained by the island's mysterious electromagnetic forces. The Oceanic 815 survivors and their Stephen King-reading tormentors will all travel in time one hour into the future -- because ABC is moving the show from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. (Ah, the fearsome power of the American Idol results show!) The network announced today its new Wednesday comedy block, a slate that includes George Lopez, According to Jim, and two new shows debuting on Jan. 3: The Knights of Prosperity (the series formerly known as Let's Rob Mick Jagger) and the David Arquette-Kelly Hu midlife-crisis comedy In Case of Emergency. After all, what better way to whet your appetite for the drama, riddles, and paranoia of Lost than by watching a pair of doofy dads, some inept thieves, and some fallen-on-hard-times yuppies?
In other Lost news, Matthew Fox (pictured) debunked any speculation that the reason he had enough free time to do Saturday Night Live last week is that Jack has been whacked. "I can’t tell you why,
but I have had a little reprieve from the show," he acknowledged in an interview with The Boston Herald yesterday. "I hear there’s rumors
out there that I’ve been killed off the show. Which I love that. I love
the fact that anytime, they’ll take the tiniest little kernel of,
Matthew Fox shows up in New York and ‘He’s been killed off Lost!’" He assured the Herald he'd be back in Hawaii soon to resume shooting Lost. "It’s going to be a good year," he said. "There’s some really cool stuff coming up." In other words, Lost-ies, if you turn on your TV at 9 p.m. on Feb. 7 expecting Fox and you see Knights star Donal Logue instead, don't freak out.
I may be the only person on the planet who didn't realize that Lost star Matthew Fox was once a serious college-football player, but this new interview with Sports Illustrated -- pegged to the Dec. 22 release of his gridiron flick, We Are Marshall (pictured) -- has some pretty interesting anecdotes about his days catching the pigskin. (I bet regular PopWatch readers never thought they'd live to see the day where I used "gridiron" and "pigskin" in the same sentence.) Anyhow, I can't find a single Lost spoiler in the entire Q&A, but then again, there are entire sentences that make no sense to me. Like, for example, "He's the guy who can do the 17-yard dig route, get clobbered by the middle linebacker and always get up." Huh? Maybe one of you rabid Losties can translate that into Season 3 scoop? Me, I'm just pleased Fox recognizes there's nothing cooler than the Kentucky Derby. And on that same subject, Barbaro's doing awesome; did you hear he finally got his cast off, and is about to get a special shoe? OK, I'm gonna stop talking about sports now. Happy Monday.
Since I'm sure many of you are still going through Lost withdrawal (not me; I've been enjoying my sanity, thanks), my friend Michael referred me to this great list of the Top 50 Lost Loose Ends.
Some of the stuff has been addressed, especially if you are an obsessive reader of Doc Jensen's columns here on EW.com, but to sit down and read all the questions consecutively is to understand exactly what we've gotten ourselves into. (Or, perhaps more accurately, what Damon Lindelof, Carlton Cuse, and J.J. Abrams have gotten themselves into. Where is your Stephen King now, gentlemen?)
My personal faves:
#20 - WTF is up with Claire's antichrist baby?
#6 - WTF is up with the goddamn polar bear?
#2- WTF is up with the goddamn smoke monster?
Quick! First one to find a coherent thread between the following three news items wins my undying love and respect. (Not that I couldn't find a thread myself, because, um, it's clear as Victoria Principal's dewy complexion.)
- Cheech Marin (pictured, right, with Jorge Garcia) has been cast as Hurley's dad on Lost (scroll down), which sounds intriguing enough, as long as he's woven in to the story a little more delicately than, oh, Kiele Sanchez and Rodrigo Santoro. - Ruben Studdard has explained to US magazine why he decided to give up eating meat, and for some reason, I'm overcome with the urge to order a "vegetarian reuben" for lunch. (I just totally cracked myself up. Sorry.) - The progressive folks at All My Children are adding a male-to-female transgendered character this week -- yay! -- and DListed makes the astute observation that Jeffrey Carlson, the actor who's portraying Zarf, looks a little like Sandra Bernhard.
It's a little early on a Monday for what my colleague Scott Brown so winningly refers to as a "geekgasm." Then again, I know a lot of you are (like me) still nursing Battlestar Galactica hangovers, so let's dole out a little hair of the sci-fi dog, shall we? Will a Heroes-Lost cocktail do the trick?
Regarding everyone's favorite Monday-night adventure, TV Guide is expected to report that Star Trek's George Takei has been cast as Hiro's father. The erstwhile Mr. Sulu will travel to the U.S., intent on abducting Hiro (played by Masi Oka, pictured) and bringing him back to Japan -- a rather challenging task, considering junior's teleportation skillz. (Thanks to TV Tattle for the link.)
The rumor coming off the Lost set is about 140 times more sensitive, though, so for those of you who like to avoid spoilers, let's discuss it after the jump.
Howdy, folks. I'll let you guys continue debating the merits of last night's Lost and the whole I'm-getting-fed-up-with-all-the-darn-stalling! thing over in the TVWatch message boards. But being that I'm crazy with the theories, I couldn't help but want to get this out there -- a big new theory inspired by last night's episode, the last installment for, like, three freakin' months. (Maybe not a great idea, in retrospect.)
Remember all the speculation last season about the possibility that maybe there were two groups of Others? To wit, there was one group out in the jungle still connected to The Dharma Initiative, and another group opposed to Dharma, and both were harrassing (or maybe helping) our castaways. The debate was kinda abandoned at some point during the Henry Gale storyline. But if we return to the idea, Season 3 reveals itself.
(Read Doc Jensen's big new theory after the jump. Spoilers from last night's episode abound.)
(WARNING: If you haven't watched last night's half-season finale of Lost, then why are you reading this? there are some spoilers below.)
These days, the often-surreal mysteries of Lost are having trouble competing with the often-surreal mysteries of reality. (As I write this, Russell Crowe and Martha Stewart are stuffing a turkey. It is among the top-5 most obscene things I have ever seen.) But last night, the Cuse-Lindelof Hour of Power recaptured some of its old mojo. Take this exchange, for example:
"Baby’s definitely got some back!" Russell says, patting the bird. "Wait, that’s the other end." "These wings are disobedient," Martha tuts. "This is a shapely bird and I think it wants to stay shapely."
Russell cracks bird bones in his meaty, merciless hands.
Sorry, sorry -- so distracted. This is bizarre, what I’m watching here.
But is it half as bizarre as, say, Jack actually concocting a decent plan? As Flashback Kate in a wifey wig getting hitched to a straight-arrow police officer (Nathan "Serenity" Fillion)? As a sweaty, Spice Channel resolution to the Kate-Sawyer romantic tension (pictured)?
Like many Lost fans, I've already circled February 7 on my calendar. Because after tonight's new episode (No. 6 in the show's third season), Lost is going to take a page from Madonna's playbook by taking a holiday -- one that will last a good three months. (Whether its cast and crew are gonna have a celebration, all across the world, and in every nation, remains to be seen.)
Anyhow, a related article in today's New York Times questions whether ABC's decision to split Lost's season into two parts -- and, as a result, eliminate dreaded reruns -- will "cause confusion and dismay among Lost fans who do not spend most of their waking hours scouring recorded episodes and online fan sites for clues about the mysteries of the island where the show is set." To which I say, "Feh." As far as I'm concerned, the Times underestimates audience loyalty and savviness; split seasons didn't hurt shows like The Sopranos, Sex and the City, or Battlestar Galactica, and not only that, today's viewing public is more aware of scheduling changes than ever before. I seriously doubt there's a Lost fan in the land who's unaware of its impending hiatus.
More troubling are the lame-o previews for Lost's seat-filler, the Taye Diggs (pictured) vehicle Day Break. As a PopWatch reader named "B" writes in our comments section this morning, "[I] hate the way Taye Diggs says 'I love you' in the preview they broadcast CONSTANTLY. Picky!" Not picky at all, B! For weeks, I've been flinching every time Diggs mumbles his supposed-to-sound-romantic declaration; does the show's Groundhog Day premise mean we'll have to hear him "I love you" his mate again and again? If that's the case, I might have to find out what this Criminal Minds phenomenon is all about. How 'bout you, PopWatchers? Do you think Lost watchers will return to the show come February? And will they tune in to Day Break in the interim?
Forget the buzzhawk. Associate picture editor Katy Caldwell has noticed a new hair trend on fall TV: The Constantine. Named for the American Idol Season 4 finalist (pictured, left) and flaunted by Lost's Henry Ian Cusick (I love you I love you I love you) and Santiago Cabrera from Heroes (you are also attractive), the Constantine is characterized by loose waves, lack of motivation to shave, and supersleek shine with a chance of grease in the early evening. Bonus points may be awarded for embracing layers, standing downwind, being hot.
The Constantine: The time is now! Who else should try it?
Los Lost-fans, I warn you: There is a spoiler ahead. Not for anyone who watched last night -- you all know what’s coming/has come. For the rest of you stragglers, stop reading now. Really. Quit it. I’m totally gonna tell.
The theorizing has begun: Whose cancer-ridden spine was that in the X-rays on last night's Lost? Lost-ologist Ryan McGee is hoping against hope that the preview teaser was a deliberate misdirect -- and that the owner of the afflicted backbone isn't Head-Other-in-Charge Ben but Locke (Terry O'Quinn, pictured), he of the still-mysterious paralysis.
The Ben theory makes more conventional sense, of course. It would explain the sequestering of Jack, it would bind hero and ostensible villain in a morally ambiguous situation, etc. But, as a character, Locke is still adrift (in my opinion), and this twist -- that the Others once had an interest in him, and perhaps still do -- might nudge him back toward's the show's sweet spot.
That's my Halloween wish. I probably won't get it, if my previous wishes are any indication: Now and Again still hasn't returned to air, I am still not married to Linda Cardellini, and the Bloomin' Onion I ate several days ago is still with me, despite prayers and entreaties. But a boy can dream.
The CIA has advertised during Washington Nationals baseball games and on the Discovery Channel. The FBI has recruited on Super Bowl air. Each market makes a certain sort of sense for each agency. (I can only imagine the ATF has scraped together enough beer money to wedge a quick a "Time and Temperature" spot into reruns of Magnum P.I.) So now the codecracking NSA, newly notorious in the (long) wake of the warrantless wiretapping scandal, has entered the recruitment commercial game, taking aim at the audiences of... Lost and CSI.
Now there are many ways to promote your supersecret intelligence agency, the best being brutally unrealistic video games. Gamers are born operatives. But going for the Lost and CSI markets, well, that's another thing entirely.
Say you're recruiting Lost fans for their their powerful observation skills, their pattern-detection faculty and their ability to decrypt coded meanings during commercial breaks. Excellent plan, but what if your drift net pulls in the wrong kind of Lost fan? The kind who'll use the vast computing power of the NSA mainframe to calculate Hurley's estimated weight against various scramblings of the letters in "Lindelof," in the hopes that it will reveal the identity of Jack's ex-wife's new lover? Or the kind of fan who'll crash the server with Sawyer-Kate YouTube videos? Or the kind who'll advise an invasion of Syria on the strong evidence that they're responsible for the continuing lameness of Locke's storyline?
As for CSI: Is the NSA chartered to solve murders in Vegas using zoomy CGI? Not that it matters, ever since the Constitution was cancelled for not being "18-49" enough.
Thursday's night faceoff between CSI and Grey's Anatomy isn't the only ''What do I watch?'' quandary anymore. This Wednesday, Lost finished first in its 9 p.m. slot, but edged out seco
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Seems like everybody talks about TV at the office, even people who (unlike me and my co-workers) don't get paid to do so. A new survey specifies who's talking about which programs. No surprise, American Idol is the most talked-about show, popular among both men and women, and especially among workers 65 or older (ah, now we know who voted scary tattooed rocker Carly off the show). Besides AI, women like to talk about Dancing With the Stars (pictured), while men like to 
The announcement that NBC is abruptly moving the great 30 Rock to 9:30 p.m. on Thursdays, after The Office, with Scrubs moving to the 8:30 slot, is satisfying for a few reasons. 30 Rock can only be helped by being placed in a hammock (note use of TV-bizzer lingo) between ratings success The Office and people-actually-still-watch-it ER. For the rest of us, it means two hours of solid TV watching: The Office, 30 Rock, then switching to ABC for Lost in its new time period at 10. And the minimally-laugh-injected Scrubs is better paired with the 8 p.m. lead-in My Name Is Earl, which (and I speak as a fan of Earl) has never quite recovered from Earl’s time spent in jail. In short, for once, a network has made a smart time-period change. Agree?
If you can't tell by our 
Here's a potentially relationship-saving tip for any PopWatchers out there who've been caught by surprise on this 14th of February. If your paramour is passionate about certain ABC primetime shows, send an instant 
With an end to the WGA strike imminent, TV fans who've spent the past few months away from the tube, interacting with friends and family (yeah, right — e-mail/IM at best) are scrambling to find out when their beloved scripted shows will return. But since networks don't have much time to make decisions on existing shows before the May announcement of the fall lineup, many of the series will only air four to eight new episodes — and most of them not until April or May. Many shows won't return this spring at all. EW.com is now keeping a regularly 
So I just checked out "
Given up on Lost? Regretting it, now that the writers' strike is on, and now that the season 4 premiere on Jan. 31 is just around the corner? Missing Sawyer (Josh Holloway, pictured)? Then head over to 
The 
The 
Last week, 
8:00 p.m. Slow clap: L-Yeah! L-Yeah! Oh wait, sorry, gonna try to be neutral here for at least five minutes. Em-my! Em-my! Em-my!
If you missed 
On Thursday, Paramount stole the day — and possibly the entire four-day Comic-Con show — with their drool-worthy, standing-room-only, two-hour presentations. Here's what we learned...
Don't know about you, PopWatchers, but today's big news about 
As Lost fans know, J.J. Abrams' production house Bad Robot creates mysterious, pseudo-viral marketing campaigns that are nearly as entertaining as the actual products they sell. So it is with Abrams' hush-hush new movie project, the trailer for which you probably saw before your screening of Transformers last week. The clip (pictured), which showed Blair Witch-style camcorder footage of an apparent monster or alien attack on New York City, ended with a release date (Jan. 18, 2008) but no film title. Now, however, details about the mysterious movie are starting to emerge — along with some possible false leads.
Yesterday, May 31, marked the cutoff point for eligibility in the 2007 Emmy race, and that means today I can begin ranting about how it's a matter of vital national importance that Ugly Betty's Vanessa (L. Yeah) Williams (pictured) and Battlestar Galactica's Michael Hogan score nominations come July 19.
A lot of EW.com readers over at 
Much as I (and many other Lost-ies) would like to continue watching Lost for years to come, I'm actually relieved by the 
Let's beam down to the planet of Irresponsible Speculation for a short spell, shall we? 
I'm just gonna come out with it: I hate Valentine's Day. Hated it when I was single. Hate it now that I'm hitched. Especially hate it because it always rears its cherubic little head smack in the middle of February sweeps. Now mind you, I'm a deranged enough TV addict that I once celebrated my (not legally recognized) wedding anniversary by watching The Bachelor over take-out Indian food, but still, I know I'm not the only one with a dilemma tomorrow night. So for those of you harboring reservations that restaurant reservations will force you to miss your favorite shows, I've composed a handy letter you can insert inside your Valentine's Day card. Who knows? Maybe like in "
Way back when I got my first paid journalism gig at 
According to a TiVo-conducted poll, Katie Couric's last day on Today was 
Playtime! Pick the option that sounds weirdest to you:
When Lost returns in February, the castaways and the Others will experience a new kind of temporal displacement, one that can't be explained by the island's mysterious electromagnetic forces. The Oceanic 815 survivors and their Stephen King-reading tormentors will all travel in time one hour into the future -- because ABC is moving the show from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. (Ah, the fearsome power of the American Idol results show!) The network announced today its new Wednesday comedy block, a slate that includes George Lopez, According to Jim, and two new shows debuting on Jan. 3: The Knights of Prosperity (the series formerly known as Let's Rob Mick Jagger) and the David Arquette-Kelly Hu midlife-crisis comedy In Case of Emergency. After all, what better way to whet your appetite for the drama, riddles, and paranoia of Lost than by watching a pair of doofy dads, some inept thieves, and some fallen-on-hard-times yuppies?
I may be the only person on the planet who didn't realize that Lost star Matthew Fox was once a serious college-football player, but this 
Quick! First one to find a coherent thread between the following three news items wins my undying love and respect. (Not that I couldn't find a thread myself, because, um, it's clear as 
It's a little early on a Monday for what my colleague Scott Brown so winningly refers to as a "geekgasm." Then again, I know a lot of you are (like me) still nursing 
(WARNING: If you haven't watched last night's half-season finale of Lost, then 
Like many 
The theorizing has begun: Whose cancer-ridden spine was that in the X-rays on 
Thursday's night faceoff between CSI and Grey's Anatomy isn't the only ''What do I watch?'' quandary anymore. This Wednesday, Lost finished first in its 9 p.m. slot, but edged out seco