Welcome Back, BSG

Some thoughts I had while watching the season premiere:

Kara's adventures in time-traveling: Moore & Eick and Cuse & Lindelof must be friends. First there was "Heroes" and the discussions of space and time, then there was the magical island where time moves differently, and now there's Kara Thrace's wormhole experience. It actually reminded me a lot of the movie Contact, where Jodi Foster meets the aliens for 16 hours but it was really only a few seconds. I really like that Kara has no clue, but I wonder if she remembers the part Leoben played.

Also, that revelation in "Razor" ("Kara Thrace will lead the human race to its downfall") is looking a lot more important right about now. What happens if they follow her? I still think the series ends with them showing up in present-day Earth's atmosphere, and Bush orders up some nuclear missiles and kills them all. Side note: the question of what time period they'll find Earth in is fascinating to me. Do they arrive before us? Or do they find the remains of our civilization and start over?

Tigh "shooting" Adama: I totally bought it at first. And I loved the way it was shot, with the kind of slow, dream-like quality.

More thoughts later, but I'm off to the Carrier Dome for a full day of lacrosse. Go Cuse!

Tonight, Tonight

"Even if you're skeptical of science fiction, "Battlestar Galactica" will make a true believer out of you. " -- Heather Havrilesky, Slate.com

We are currently six hours away from the final season premiere of Battlestar Galactica. This show is -- now that "The Wire" is no more-- the greatest thing on television, and the first of twenty episodes of its fourth season will start tonight. To celebrate this glorious day, I've been re-watching my favorite episodes from Season 3. The only thing tampering my excitement: there are only ten episodes scheduled as of right now. Due to the strike, Sci Fi is holding the final ten for some unknown airdate. Which sucks, because I do NOT think I can wait another 13 MONTHS for the final ten to air.

If you have not yet seen Battlestar Galactica, don't tune in tonight and expect to understand what's going on. Here is my special three-step process for understanding BSG:

1) Read this. It's the best argument I've ever seen for watching the show, and it's mostly in picture form.

2) Watch the mini-series that preceeded the showIf you're not hooked after that (which is almost impossible), watch '33,' the first episode of season one, and one of the greatest episodes in the entire run of the show.

3) Get to Netflix or your nearest Best Buy, so that you can catch up on the 60 epsisodes that have already aired.

OR: you could read this primer from Slate, which sums up all you need to know before watching the premiere tonight. (5 hours and 45 minutes from now!!!)

Here's a whole bunch of links to read before tonight's premiere:

The LA Times loves Battlestar. And thinks you should watch.

A great interview with Maureen Ryan with BSG co-creator Ron Moore. If you might be tempted by spoilers, avoid this one.

Here's an interview with Apollo himself, Jamie Bamber. (No spoilers)

My favorite TV critic, Tim Goodman of the San Francisco Chronicle, raves about the fourth season, although he gets a lot of the facts about the show's backstory wrong. (Major spoilers, if you have not seen season 3)

Alan Sepinwall gives another rave. Here's another. And another. And yet another.

This doesn't have anything to do with BSG, but two other shows that we watch here at TCB: Hereoes and Chuck will air 13 straight new episodes starting in the fall.

Make sure you're watching: Battlestar Galactica, Season 4, Episode One, "He That Believeth In Me." Tonight at 10p.m. EST on the Sci Fi Channel.

American Idol Results: Nine to Eight

This. is. American. Idol.

Your Top 9 sing Dolly Parton's "9 to 5," and generally do a pretty miserable job of it. Michael Johns is wearing a black shirt with Dolly's face on it. Hee. In other wardrobe news, I kind of noticed this last night, and again tonight: David Archuleta dresses really well. I don't know if he's picking out the outfits, or if his crazy stage-dad is, but he always looks really, really good. And he's 17! Why can't college boys dress that well? Someone forgot to tell my generation that you can actually wear something besides a disgusting baseball hat, a ratty t-shirt, and sweat pants to class. 

After a pointless recap, Michael is summoned to center stage. He's safe. Archuleta is safe. (The shrieking! My ears!) Carly is safe. Good start.

They answer questions from viewers again, which seem a bit more intelligent this week, honestly I'm not really paying attention at this point. We do learn that Jason, Michael, and David Cook are roommates. Does that mean David Archuleta was rooming with Chikezie and David H., and now has a room to himself? That's cool for him. I wonder if the Idols root for their roommates to get voted off so they can have more room to themselves?

Something called the Clark Brothers is performing a country/hoedown version of "This Little Light of Mine." Isn't this a lullaby? Or a church song or something? It's really, really odd.

More results! (That is why we're here, after all.) David Cook is safe. Ramiele is FINALLY in the bottom three. Kristy joins her 10 seconds later. (Side note: I'm happy that Kristy's in the B3, because she's the worst singer left, but really, it just makes me angrier about last week. Did singing "God Bless the U.S.A." REALLY buy her that many votes?? I mean, last week is the only week she escaped the bottom three. It makes me very depressed that so many people were inspired to vote for her, solely due to that insipid song.)

And who doesn't want to see what the Idol has-beens are up to? Let's check in with Bucky (S5), Phil (S6), and Bo (S4). They're all having varying degrees of success in and around Nashville, and they all have albums to promote. Bucky says, "Idol was the smartest thing I've ever did." I bet it was.

Results! Syesha sang Whitney badly, but she's safe. Jason and Brooke are left, and it's SO Brooke in the B3; there's no way Jason's psycho fans didn't vote like crazy after last week's scare. And...it's Brooke.

Dolly comes out to sing about Jesus, and at the end she says "Hallelujah, Simon!" Aw, then she says to Ryan, "I've got Jesus, and you have Simon." And he's all Ryan needs, Dolly. Can she come back every week?

Onto the serious business. Brooke, Kristy, and Ramiele: they're roommates, too. Brooke is very emotional, but she's safe, and we're left with a dream bottom two: Kristy and Ramiele. I win no matter what. Ramiele goes home. Stop crying, you've still got the tour.

Next week: The Top 8 and Idol Gives Back. I know I'm a horrible human being for saying this, but I'm really not all that impressed with IGB. They raised$ 76 million last year, but that seems piddly, especially for a multi-gazillion dollar company. I'm going to try and do some math, so bear with me here: Last I heard, FOX charges $400,000 for a 30-second commercial during Idol. Say the show is 44 minutes long, which leaves 16 minutes for commercials, which equals 32 30-second commercials. 32 times $400,000 is $12.8 million. And they air what, 45 episodes of Idol a year? That's $576 million from just commerical revenue alone.

This is a long way of saying I probably will give the mute button a real workout next week. Maybe it will be Kristy Lee's time. One can only hope.

American Idol, Top 9

Best thing about this week's American Idol: TWO new Mac commercials!

This week is Dolly Parton week, and Dolly herself is there to "help out" the remaining nine contestants. The whole episode is completely rushed for time, which is amusing, considering that every other year they've managed to fit the Top Ten into one hour.

Brooke is up first, and sings with her guitar this week. The song starts out pretty rough, gets better, and finishes awesome. I just love Brooke, I think. Randy thinks she had pitch problems, Simon says it lacked emotion, and the crowd boos. Seriously: shut up, crowd.

I decided this week that since the pre-ordained front-runner hardly ever wins, it's going to be the other David who takes the crown this year. Plus, I think that "America" realizes that it effed up big-time in Season 5 when Daughtry got booted before the finals, and now it's trying to right its wrong with David C. Anyway, tonight, C. gives another solid performance -- with his own arrangement this time. He also got a haircut and grew a beard, which makes him look less doughy and mildly cute. Randy uses the word "false" when he means "falsetto." The judges like the performance.

Ramiele: What does this girl have to do to get kicked off?? Her voice is so thin, and she gets out-sung by the background singers again. I miss Chikezie. Simon deems it "forgettable." Word.

You all know I can't stand Jason Castro, right? Tonight, he sings my favorite Dolly song, "Travelin' Thru." And I LOVE it. The whole stoner vibe just works with this. I mean, I think I'll have to listen again, but that may be one of my favorite performances of the year. Randy thinks it was pretty good; Simon hated it.

Carly sings a very pretty ballad, and she sings it well. I don't know if it was captivating, but it was nice enough. Paula babbles incoherently, and Simon's like, 'God, shut up.' Simon tells Carly to start dressing like a star. Hee.

David Archuleta starts singing, and I get chills within seconds. He is just so good. Paula says he was "glorious." Simon agrees. The crowd agrees. I agree. You can't even hear his numbers over the shrieking.

Kristy Lee is going to do well this week, isn't she? And then we'll have to listen to her for another week after this. Poo. She sings; it's whatever. If she didn't leave after "Eight Days a Week," she's not leaving now. After the judges go 'meh,' Ryan compliments her on her French pedicure. Oh, Ryan. I'm so glad you know these things.

Syesha sings a Dolly/Whitney hybrid of "I Will Always Love You." I have no idea why people sing this song. It is never, ever going to be as good as Whitney. Syesha cheats her way through, and sings Dolly's version for a while, and then she goes for the *bass drum beat* *cymbal crash* "AND IIIIIIIIIIII will ALLLLWAYYYYS LOOOOOOVE YOOOOOUUUUU," and it all falls to pieces. Simon tells her she's not as good as Whitney. Duh.

Michael "I STILL need a haircut" Johns finishes out the night, and I got a phone call, so I didn't hear the whole performance, but Simon liked it a whole lot.

My tastes have been completely at odds with the voting public's so far this year, but here's what I've got:

Top three: David A., David C., Jason

Bottom three: Ramiele, Kristy Lee, Syesha

Going home: Ramiele (Please?)

Photo from rickey.org.

"War on the Floor" Week 3

I can't take credit for that snappy headline, that belongs to Samantha Harris, the dull host. This week, the stars will be performing either a jive or a tango.

The judging seemed very...funny to me this week. Clearly, I'm not enjoying the same performances as the judges, and it's really obvious this week. More on this later.

Marlee is up first with the jive. Her shoulders and feet are a little weird, but the choreography by Fabian is great and almost covers up all of her timing issues. I just enjoy watching her dance. And with Fabian, they just make a great team. The judges aren't as impressed, however, and give her a 21.

Steve does a tango with Anna, but Anna was sick all week, so he practiced with Anna's husband, Jonathan. As Steve says, "he's a little hairier than Anna." On th dance floor, I think Steve gets a bit stompy and flubs the ending. Then he puts a bowl on his head to face the judges. Is this a Police Academy thing? The judges loved him, and somehow give him the same score as Marlee. He was definitely not that good.

I really only need one word to sum up Cristian and Cheryl's jive: manic. Sometimes that's a good thing, like when he controls his footsteps and gets the fast-paced footwork under control. Sometimes it's very, very bad: like the scary smile that's pasted on his face until he starts thinking about the steps, and at the end, when he almost completely loses track of Cheryl. It tread a fine line, and I didn't think he stayed on the good side of the line. Judges go slightly bananas for it, and give him a 25. I'm not feeling it, dawg. (/Wrong reality show.)

Mario. Mmm, tight pants...I've talked about my shallowness before, right? Anyway, this guy commands the dance floor, totally owns it. I thought it was a strong and powerful tango, the judges rip it apart. Len chides him for his posture and his missteps. (Which, what? They were waaaay less noticable than Steve and Cristian's mistakes.) Len gives him a 6, which is lower than the score he's going to give ADAM in a little while, but Mario gets a 21 overall.

Derek and Shannon are doing the jive. Her costume is a wardrobe malfunction waiting to happen, and her hands can get better, but she is really, really growing on me. She's improving every week and working hard. She has to sit down to receieve her critique because she's so winded. The judges mostly love it, and she gets a 24.

Adam does the tango. And obviously, Julianne's choreography is awesome and actually makes him look like a half-decent dancer. However, he's still bad, and the judges seem to lose themselves and give him a 21. Then Adam tells the gays in the wardrobe department to dress Julianne sluttier. Not in those exact words, but close.

I just don't know what to think of Marissa. I feel like she should have come out and really rocked the jive tonight, because what else is Hairspray but one big jive? However, it was boring and lacked content, again. I don't know if this is all her fault, or maybe some of the blame should go to Tony, or maybe the INSANE heels they have her dancing in, but I agree with Carrie Ann. She should be better, and she's not. Plus, Danny and Anya jived to "Girlfriend" on SYTYCD last year, and it was a million times better. Judges give her a 19.

Priscilla tangoes. She's abnormally stiff, and Louis looks like he's forcing her from place to place around the floor, which I know that's OK in a tango, but it just looks wrong here. I'm just meh on her. The judges aren't. They love her. A 26? Really?

Jason! learns how to jive this week. I love how, in their practice montage, he and Edyta seem to be having so much fun, and that it's always the big football player that collapses of tiredness, while the teeny-tiny dancer is still on her feet demanding to do try again. The song is pretty slow, but he does a great job with the footwork and stays light on his feet. Len grumps a bit, but the other two liked it: 23.

Kristi closes, and even before she starts there are two major WTFs: her hair, which is plastered to her face, and Mark's suit, which is bright red. The music begins, and it gets even weirder. The music is this odd techno nonsense, but thankfully the dancing is just good enough to distract from it. I don't think the their tango was as good as their last two, and the judges actually hand out a bit of criticism, but she still ends up with a 27 for the third week in a row.

Bottom three: Adam, Marissa, Steve
Top three: Kristi, Jason, Shannon
Going home: Marissa

Weekend Top Ten: BSG Moments

Allie and I have been insanely busy, so unfortunately we didn't make the usual Tuesday Top Ten this week. But that's OK, because now we can start preparing for a week of Battlestar Galactica coverage heading into its fourth-season premiere on Friday night. Allie and I are both huge fans, so needless to say, it has been a difficult year without Lee, Starbuck, Laura, and Tigh on our TV screens. Like I did for Lost before its long-awaited return, here are my ten favorite BSG moments of all-time. (With help from a couple of BSG-fan friends, Jeremiah and Julie) One thing we noticed is that unlike Lost, which produces tons of great "moments," BSG produces great episodes. For example, any BSG fan can tell you that '33' is one of, if not the best, episode of the series. But it doesn't have any stand-out "moments," it's just a fantastic all-around episode.

Honorable mentions: Death of Pegasus (Exodus, Pt. II), Six snaps the baby's neck on Caprica (Miniseries), "I miss you." "I miss you too." Kara & Lee have a boxing match (Unfinished Business), Lee (almost!) drops his towel (Final Cut) -- Yeah, I'm shallow, and Jamie Bamber is gorgeous. So what?

10) "As of this moment, we are at war." (Miniseries.) The culmination of everything the audience has seen from the opening shots, and the 45-minute build-up to the declaration of war builds tension slowly and carefully all the way to Adama's speech to his ship.

9) Pegasus appears on the dradis. (Pegasus) Another battlestar! More colonials! Before we found out that Cain was a murdering bitch, the sight of another surviving ship lifted everyone's spirits.

8) Opening the Tomb of Athena. (Home, Pt. II) The moment when Kara realizes that they're all standing on Earth, surrounded by what we know as the Zodiac symbols, made everyone -- including Admiral Adama -- believe that they might actually get to earth one day.

7) The Cylons find New Caprica. (Lay Down Your Burdens, Pt. II) This is a season finale to beat all other season finales. But the sight of the centurions marching through rows of colonialists remains my lasting image of the episode. "Fight 'em 'til we can't," says Kara. So say we all.

6) The Blackbird is named Laura. (Flight of the Phoenix) As my (very manly) friend Jeremiah said, this was the moment that even men would cry at.

5) "I'll see you on the other side." (Maelstrom) Kara says good-bye to Lee. And the entire audience says "NOOOOOO!"

4) "All Along the Watchtower." (Crossroads, Pt. II)

3) Boomer shoots Adama. (Kobol's Last Gleaming, Pt. II) We all knew Boomer's programming would kick in eventually, but did it have to right after the successful destruction of the Cylon basestar? I mean, sending us off into the long wait between seasons one and two was very, very cruel when we knew that approximately half of Commander Adama's blood had already been spilt on the table in CIC. Thank the gods the Old Man recovered before Tigh ran the fleet into the ground.

2) "I've been to earth. I know where it is. And I'm going to take us there." (Crossroads, Pt. II) From a personal standpoint, the shrieking started with the reveal of the four cylons, increased when Starbuck appeared, and then crested with the spiral pull-back to our Earth.

1) Galactica jumps into New Caprica's atmosphere. (Exodus, Pt. II) Could it be anything else? Someone on televisionwithoutpity.com called it Adama's "Psychotic Act of Badassery." I think that sums it up perfectly. It also won the BSG team a visual-effects team an Emmy for this episode.

Only six days to go! And The Office is back a week later! I'm so glad my shows are coming back.

Oh, man. HAAAAATE.

There's a lot of hate in me right now. There are four things that I like about American Idol this year: Simon, Chikezie, David A., and Brooke. Trying to figure out if Jason and Paula share drugs is just a bonus.

Tonight, "America" (a.k.a. the "Idol"-voting public) took one of those things away from me. And I am very, very angry at it. But first, let's start from the beginning.

Ryan's getting really into this whole "stool vs. sofa" thing. Chikezie's out first -- Bottom 3. Expected, I guess.

Brooke is safe! Carly talks about her (non)pregnancy, and then Seacrest tells her she's safe. David Archuleta explains last night's stage-bouncing by saying, "I had fun and maybe I got carried away." He is exceedingly adorable and also safe. My ears can't take the high-pitched shrieking.

Ryan heads off any controversy by saying that he spoke to Chris Connell, the artist whose cover of "Billie Jean" David Cook ripped off/performed last night, and Connell loved the performance. Whatever. Anyway, the other David is safe.

Syesha is in the bottom three again. Guess I'm not the only one to find her boring.

Michael Johns is safe.

How does Ramiele keep escaping the bottom three? It boggles the mind. Anyway, she's safe.

Kristy and Jason for the last spot in the B3, and....Kristy is safe. Of course she is. Just...ugh.

Jason is in the B3 for like 5 seconds before Ryan tells him he's safe.

And then...and then, Simon utters the single stupidest line ever said on this television show, and that is saying A LOT. He actually says, "Don't underestimate how smart the people are that watch this show."




Wait for it...




......wait for it......





Excuse me...what? These are the people who elevated Nikki McKibbon into third place in season one over Tamyra Grey. In season two, COREY CLARK was a member of the top 12, thanks to the vote of America. Season three? Your final three: Fantasia Barrino, Diana DeGarmo, and Jasmine Trias. Oh, and John Stevens was in the Top 6. Enough said. Season 4 introduced us to Constantine, the single creepiest man this side of Charles Manson, and Scott Savol made the Top 5. Taylor Hicks won season 5. TAYLOR HICKS. And what did Season 6 contribute to our culture? Oh, you know, just Sanjaya and his ponyhawk.

How exactly do you underestimate the intelligence of the American Idol viewer? Please, enlighten me.

Anyway, Chikezie gets eliminated and it sucks. I hate this show.

Quickie Recap: American Idol Top 10

Trying to get this in right before the elimination show begins...

At work today, one of the women who I always talk about the show with described last night's show as "full of fantastic performances." I was like, "ehhhhh," and she jumped all over me. "What about the rocker?"

"Wellllll...."

"Oh, he was awesome, and Syesha! She was fantastic!"

"Actually, she bores me."

"What?!?!?"

And on it went. I was underwhelmed by AI's Top Ten, and found absolutely nothing worth writing home about, starting with Ramiele. Heart's "Alone?" Are you kidding me? That is Carrie's song, and she's dead before she even begins. She digs her grave deeper by blowing notes, letting the background singers overpower her, and shouting too much.

She was followed by Jason Castro, back with his guitar, and doing the same thing as the two weeks before. John Mayer does this better. Jack Johnson does this better. The annoying guys in my dorm sophomore year did it better. Next!

Syesha does an UNHOLY baby cry during her clip package. Good Lord, that was terrifying. As noted above, I find her deadly broing, even though I think she sang this very well.

Speaking of deadly boring, Chikezie! Lets me down by singing a ballad and totally toning down everything that I love about him. Paula comes out of her drug-induced haze long enough to make an intelligent comment, which is that Chikezie has so many geat textures to his voice. So true, and I just hope he can make it through this week so we can hear more of them.

Brooke returns to her piano for "Every Breath You Take," and puts on a really cool performance. The judges knocked the second half of the song and its arrangement, but I think Brooke has found a niche that she excels in. It's kind of a Vanessa Carlton/Norah Jones-type thing, but I would buy that CD.

Michael Johns (CUT YOUR HAIR) sings a very strange Queen mash-up, and gets all sorts of crazy lighting to go with his ROCK SONG. I put it in caps because he's clearly trying to prove that he can do all sorts of things, and ROCK is one of them. Overall, it's not terrible.

Carly is terrible. She way over-sings "Total Eclipse of the Heart," and I think her trip into the bottom three last week increased her desperation into palpable levels, and it's definitely showing on screen. Yikes.

David Archuleta sings the cheesiest Up-With-People song this side of "We Are the World," and that was a poor choice. He's already cute enough to be a singing stuffed animal, so singing songs about finding your voice and singing out and bopping around while you do so probably don't detract from that image. He sings it well, of course, but still.

Kristy sings "God Bless the U.S.A." Aaaand keeping with the no-profanity rule we have on this blog, that's all I have to say about that.

David Cook sings a rock version of "Billie Jean." I think he does a good job of sticking with his schtick, but how many more weeks until it gets old? I enjoyed it more than most.

Elimination is beginning now. I think Ramiele finally goes, with Kristy and Chikezie joining the bottom three.

Dancing With the Stars, Week 2

The Mambo & The Quickstep

Now that each couple has tackled a Latin dance and a ballroom dance, we're starting to see a real divide between the contenders and the pretenders, with a few couples yet to find a designation.

Pretending: Monica Seles is terrible. She's very nice and all, but she clearly has no natural rhythm and it's painful to watch. The mambo is better than last week's foxtrot, but not by much.

Penn Jillette is terrible and annoying, which might be worse. His quickstep was more clomping than dancing and then he wouldn't shut up when the judges tried to critique him.

Adam Carolla seems to try a bit harder this week, but though I love Julianne's mambo choreography, he's still bad. And then Bruno gives him an 8? Wha?!?!

Contending: Shannon moves into a contender position this week on the strength of her quickstep. Derek is doing a great job with her, and I think she's gaining confidence.

Jason Taylor is fantastic. His mambo is incredible, he's charismatic, and, oh yeah, he's sexy as all get out. The judges go (rightly) nuts for it and he's rewarded with a 27.

Marlee does it again this week, this time with a quickstep. The judges rightly compliment her musicality. She's definitely hanging around for awhile.

Kristi and Mario keep their front-runner statuses, Kristi on the strength of her mambo and Mario with his quickstep. This competition is still Kristi's to lose, in my opinion.

Still deciding: I know Steve Guttenberg isn't the greatest dancer, and his mambo wasn't anything to write home about, but he's so gosh-darn endearing that you almost don't care...almost. He's certainly willing to give his all for every dance and looks like he's having fun doing it, but he's not good.

Cristian and Cheryl's quickstep seemed a bit off, and though he's towards the upper end of the talent pool here, something's missing, and I don't know if he's totally connecting with the audience. I feel very 'wait and see' about him, and I think he's still headed for a middle-round exit.

I know Priscilla did a good job last week, and was pretty good again this week, but seriously, I just cannot get past the whole face thing. When she did that stupid tiger crawl on the floor, I almost peed myself in fright.

Marissa...starts crying when she talks about last week?? And then comes out and does an okay quickstep, but I'm with Carrie Ann, I was hoping for more from her. Also, I was really distrcted by her perma-smile -- maybe relax it every once in a while?

Elimination info will be up shortly: I've still got to sit through American Idol. Blech.

Go "Greek"

The ABC Family original series “Greek” returned tonight, and although I have absolutely no interest in my own college’s Greek system, I am hooked on the dating, drinking, and drama going on at Cyprus-Rhodes University.

It’s a fresh semester at CRU, but each “Greek” is haunted by the events of last semester. Sorority sweetheart, Casey, and her adorably dorky brother, Rusty, both struggle get over their exes. Rusty wallows over an electronic shrine to Jen K., but finally decides to move on after learning she made a very quick move to a new guy. Casey has the world’s most awkward conversation with her ex, Evan, but uncomfortable small talk is the least of her problems.

Casey and the sisters of ZBZ are saddled with an overly perky, hug-friendly sorority liaison, who will report their every move to the national chapter. In an attempt to redeem ZBZ from their public shame and pariah status – Jen K. wrote an article about them last semester that was not flattering – Casey throws a Greek charity carnival and hosts a ZBZ kissing both. But no one is puckering up, and it’s not just because of the Amish-frump outfits the liaison mandated. The ZBZs have been officially shunned.

Cappie, the Kappa Tau president and Casey’s ex, saves the day by rallying his brothers to visit the ZBZ kissing booth. But his knight-in-shining-armor act may not be for Casey – Cappie is currently hooking up with Casey’s nemesis Rebecca Logan. It’s Casey that he smooches at the booth, though, which leads her ex Evan to publicly humiliate her by stripping her of her Queen Bee title.

Sound confusing? It’s tough to keep up with all the hook-ups and break-ups of college Greek life, but this show makes it fun. “Greek” doesn’t take itself too seriously, which makes it a great guilty pleasure show. I have also become invested in the characters. I’m rooting for Casey and Cappie to reunite – their chemistry is undeniable – and Rusty is so endearing that I love watching everything he does. I am looking forward to how this season unfolds.

Photo: TVguide.com

MADNESS!

That's right, the most wonderful time of the year is finally here -- and it has nothing to do with Christmas. Instead, the present that we get is hours upon hours of college basketball. And Gus Johnson, the best play-by-play guy in sports. Yes, it's sad that our beloved Orange aren't in the field of 65, but that won't stop me from skipping class to plop down on my sofa and watching basketball from noon to midnight.

For those, like my fellow blogger, who could care less about Xavier averting an upset this afternoon, there is Lost Madness, which is run by the Washington Post. Their bracket is made up of Lost characters, and they're down to their Final Four. Go here to cast your vote.

In case you missed it, the cast of Battlestar Galactice appeared on Letterman last night to read the Top 10 list. Clearly, the audience didn't have a clue what the hell the show was, but any fan will get a kick out of it:



Back to basketball. Lost recap tomorrow!

Dancing with the Stars Week 1:Women

I forgot to mention this in the other post, but the pro dance to begin the season yesterday deserves to be mentioned. It was awesome. If you can find it on YouTube, I highly recommend it.

So, to the ladies:

Shannon Elizabeth: her legs are crazy long. She's paired with Derek, who I thought really helped Jennie along last year, and Shannon definitely looks like she has potential. Her arms aren't terrible, and she has nice extension sometimes. Like Len (I think it was Len) pointed out, with legs like those, you better what sure your toes are pointed and extended fully. I think the score of 21 out of 30 was fair.

Monica Seles: Aaand maybe Adam Carolla will stick around for more than one week, because Monica was terrible. There were so many things wrong with that performance, I don't know where to begin. I feel bad for Jonathan. The 15 should have been lower.

Marissa Janet Winokour: Well, she certainly has lots of energy. I was really disappointed in the routine, though. I think she has the natural talent, so why would Tony choreograph a routine that didn't show it off? They stayed glued to the same section of the dance floor, possibly because her heels looked about 4 inches tall. She's short, deal with it! And while everyone enjoys a nice pair of sparkly pants from time to time, Tony's may have crossed into the realm of too distracting. The 18 was fair, but hopefully it'll get better

Priscilla: Can't. look. at. face. I'm afraid it'll turn me to stone. From what I saw through my half-closed eyes, she did a pretty good job. The choreography was tough and she dealt wth it very well. I don't know if I would have gone as high as a 24, but not bad. I wonder how well she'll do with some of the quicker numbers.

Kristi: I think we have a winner. Wow. I mean, Mark is a great partner to have, but Kristi just blew everyone else out of the water. Her 27 is the highest first-week total ever. Well-deserved.

Marlee: I actually watched the intro for once because I was so curious as to how she would, you know, hear the music and keep the beat. I really liked the "Fabian is my music" answer -- that makes so much sense when you think about it. And she was good! It even got to my cold, hard heart: I admit I was touched and even a bit inspired by her. Her arms are kind of wild, but of course she'll improve. Her score was a 22.

After the first week of competition, I think Mario and Kristi established themselves as the ones to beat. Next week, they all dance on Monday and the elimination is on Tuesday.

American Idol Season 7: Top 11

Here's how I watch American Idol without wanting to kill myself: I don't watch until the Top 12. I tape the show and then fast-forward through all of the parts that don't involve singing or judging. This way: no recaps, no minimal Seacrest, and no faux-drama in the contestants' clip packages. I like to think this makes it easier to judge on just performances and not on any personality quirks or sympathy twinges.

So here we go with the Top 11.

Amanda Overmeyer is singing "Back in the U.S.S.R." She asks us if we're ready. I think so, or else I wouldn't be watching you. She's really shouty and loud and it's just not working. This is bad, right? After some waffling from Randy and Paula, Simon agress with me, calling it a "mess" and tells her she's getting repetitive.

Kristy Lee Cook should have been forbidden from ever singing again after what she did to "Eight Days a Week" last week. Instead, she narrowly avoided elimination and is back to serenade us with "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away." Sample lyric: "I can see them laugh at me." No kidding. She's bad on the high notes, misses all of the low notes, and boring as heck. Even Paula can only summon up a half-hearted, "Well, at least you look nice!" comment. Simon compares her to "musical wallpaper." I love you, Simon. Shut up, crowd.

David Archuleta has apparently recovered from his memory lapse of last week and is performing "A Long and Winding Road." Ooooh, this was beautiful. His voice is incredible. And he's adorable. Randy says he brought the hotness back. If you say so. Simon tells him he was amazing, and CLAPS. Whoa. David is adorable some more. He's like a boy Polly Pocket!

Aussie Michael Johns sings "Day in the Life." He still hasn't done anything about his weird hair. His performance isn't great, but it's not terrible either. Judges? They were underwhelmed. Simon uses the "mess" designation for the second time tonight.

Brooke White gave my favorite performance from last week, and she's singing "Here Comes the Sun" tonight, dressed in bright yellow. She "woos" in the beginning. And it didn't get better from there. She looked really, really awkward without the piano. The judges kind of rip into her, and she looks really sad. Awww...sympathy votes!

David Cook is singing "Day Tripper" and playing guitar. Let me say this: I think David is a very, very poor man's Chris Daughtry. So it's entirely strange that I loved this performance, even with the Frampton-esque voicebox and the faux-hardcore! poses at the end. I really, really enjoyed that. After waffling from the first two, Simon doesn't think it was all that great. The crowd boos him. Shut up, crowd. Shut up, Paula.

Carly Smithson is singing "Blackbird." This was beautiful. I think it was perfect for her voice. Randy pronouces it"cooliosis." Uh...if you say so, dude. I liked the whole thing...right up until she started talking back to Simon, who didn't like the song. When will the contestants learn?

Jason Castro a.k.a. "The Dirty Hippie," is singing "Michelle." His whole stoner vibe is a take-it-or-leave-it type thing, and I choose to leave it. I don't think his voice is all that strong, he looks frighteningly like a female friend of mine, and he has negligible stage presence. The screaming women in the audience disagree. Simon kind of agrees with me (and that's all that matters), and he tells Jason that the only reason he'll last another week is because some people think he's pretty.

I don't remember Syesha from last week, but now she's singing "Yesterday," accompanied only by one guitarist. It's good, I guess, but it's nothing that's going to make me remember her for next week. Judges are lukewarm-to-positive, with Simon saying he thinks that performance saved her for another week.

Chikezie is singing my favorite Beatles song, "I've Just Seen a Face." I just saw "Across the Universe," and I love Jim Sturgess's version, too. Chikezie, meanwhile, slowed down the whole first part of the song and then midway through kicked it up to a kind of barn-stomping hoedown. Even with the arrangement, I love it. I like his voice, and it's rough and growly and kind of perfect for this song. After waffling from the first two judges, Simon says he didn't like it.

Ramiele (who?) is singing "I Should Have Known Better." Eh. You can hear how thin her voice is, and the wiggling she's substituting for "dancing" is distracting. Simon sums it up nicely, calling it "amateurish."

Top 3: David A., Carly, David C.
Close behind: Chikezie

Bottom 3: Amanda, Kristy Lee, either Jason or Ramiele.

Going home (and not on tour): Kristy Lee

Picture from: http://rickey.org/

The Slacker's Top 5

So, it's about two hours past Top 10 Tuesday and I'm lagging way behind Jenn with my half of this week's Top 10. It's been a crazy day. So crazy that there was no time for TV, which is extremely sad. Also sad is my puny Top 5 list, but without further whining, here are my top 5 reality contenstants:

5) Caridee English, American's Next Top Model, Season 7
4) Harold Dieterle, Top Chef, Season 1
3) Kara Saun, Project Runway, Season 1
2) Kelly Clarkson, American Idol, Season 1
1) Christian Siriano, Project Runway, Season 4 (I know I gave him a tough time on this blog, but I have come to love him)

Dancing with the Stars, Week 1: Men

First of all, damn you ABC for not putting the full episodes of DwtS on your website. I had set my VCR to record, not realizing that the time was still off from "springing ahead" last week, and missed the whole show. And tonight, I'll be at the SU game at the same time American Idol and DwtS are on. What is a blogger to do?

Turn to YouTube, of course. I wasn't very surprised by any of the performances tonight. Adam and Penn were terrible, Steve and Cristian were middling, and Jason and especially Mario seem like they're the guys to beat.

I realize Kym has a lot of experience with dancing around her partner (see: Springer, Jerry and Cuban, Marc) and she showed off that particular talent again last night with Penn, who stomped around the dance floor while Kym tried her best to draw attention away from him. He's justly punished with a score of 16 out of 30.

Jason seemed pretty nervous, but like the judges pointed out, he had great posture in his foxtrot and will probably only get better as the season goes on. Once he loosens up a bit and gets used to the steps, he'll be great. His score of 22 is well-earned.

Cristian and Cheryl were up next, and while his footwork was pretty good, his hunched posture was really distracting. Cristian's also the least well-known contestant, so hopefully he'll hang aound a couple weeks, because it seems like he'll only get better with time. Score: 21.

The producers must be getting back at Julianne for winning twice in a row, because clearly she will not be extending the streak this year with Adam Carolla. He was awful, and his score of 15 reflected that.

Mario was amazing. He clearly has natural rhythm and dance ability, and pretty much established himself as a front-runner. He's rewarded with the highest score of the night, a 24.

Steve Guttenberg is so clearly happy to be here that you kind of ignore the fact that he's not a great dancer. His foxtrot wasn't the greatest, but you know he'll do whatever he can to get better for next week. Score: 18.

Bring on the women! Bring on Mark Ballas and Johnathan Roberts! Recap of the second night will be tomorrow, once I find everything on YouTube again. Also, American Idol Top 11 tonight: will Archuleta recover from his disastrous first week? Will Seacrest annoy the poop out of me? Will I ever learn how to spell Chikezie's name without looking it up first? (Answers: Probably, definitely, and no.) Stay tuned.

Tuesday Top Ten: Reality Contestants

With the massive amounts of reality TV coverage coming to TCB over the next few weeks, we thought we should embrace it and celebrate it with a Top 10 list of our favorite reality contestants. Admittedly, the lists are pretty limited, because Allie and I don't watch too many reality competitions, but here's my half of the list.

5) Danny Tidwell (So You Think You Can Dance, Season 3) I loved almost all of the men of season 3 (Jesus, Hok, Cedric, Dom, Pasha, Neil), but in terms of sheer breathtaking talent, Danny leaped above the rest (literally). Incredibly, he landed in the bottom three couples several times, but he always saved himself with his solos, and made it all the way to the finals, where his solo to "We Are the Champions" was my favorite solo dance ever.

4) Clay Aiken (American Idol, Season 2) If this list had been complied, say, four years ago, Clay would have been #1. I was as big a Claymate as there was - his finale performance of "Bridge Over Troubled Water" gave me chills for years after. I maintain to this day that something went wrong with the phone lines and/or Fox fixed the outcome, and he's the true winner of Season 2.

3) Benji Schwimmer (So You Think You Can Dance, Season 2) During his run to the Season 2 crown, Benji took adorkable-ness to a new level. He was a geek and was seriously proud of it. He had a magnetic personality and I looked forward to watching him dance every week.

2) Elliott Yamin (American Idol, Season 5) While Taylor Hicks was twitching and stomping his way to the S5 crown, Elliott was tearing it up week after week, starting in the early semifinal rounds. His performance of "Trouble" during Top 4 week was my favorite of many great performances that year. When Hicks and the talent-less Katherine McPhee made it past him into the finals, I lost all faith in American Idol, and gave it up for good.

1) Apolo Anton Ohno (Dancing With the Stars, Season 4) Partially due to the cuteness of his pairing with Julianne Hough, but Apolo (who I already loved from the Olympics) won me over by being funny, charming, and a great dancer.

Dancing with the Stars Preview

I know the first episode is airing now (I'm taping it so I can fast-forward through the annoying parts), but I wanted to put up a quick preview before my first recap tomorrow. The way I see it, the 12 teams fall into 4 distinct categories:

The "Tucker Carlson" Division: Adam Carolla & Julianne Hough, Priscilla Presley & Louis van Amstel, and Penn Jillette & Kym Johnson. These guys will be competing only for the right to stay longer than the first couple weeks. Two-time defending champ Julianne will have her hands full with Carolla, who seems about as graceful as a coffee table. Viewers watching in HD will be so terrified of Priscilla's face that they may be scarred forever, and though Kym dragged Marc Cuban into the middle rounds last year, I doubt she can do it again this year with Jillette.

The "Mario Lopez/Joey Fatone" Division: Mario & Karina Smirnoff, Kristi Yamaguchi & Mark Ballas, Marissa Janet Winokur & tony Dovolani. These are your frontrunners. The ones who, on paper, look like they've got all of the advantages. If Kristi's that graceful on ice, she's got to be even better on solid ground, right? Plus, she's paired with Ballas, who, except for some freak voting last year, would have won with Sabrina Bryan. Mario has the R&B rhythm thing going for him, and Winokur spent years as Tracy Turnblad on Broadway. However, it's worth noting that neither Lopez nor Fatone actually won their respective years. The winner may come from...

The "Jerry Rice/Apolo Anton Ohno" Division: Cristian de la Fuente & Cheryl Burke, Jason Taylor & Edyta Sliwinska, Shannon Elizabeth & Derek Hough. The dark horses. Cristian has Cheryl, who has won twice and gotten a third partner to the semi-finals. Football players have done well before, so the question is whether or not Jason can live up to the standard set by Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith. And Shannon has Derek, who did so well with Jennie Garth last season. Who knows, maybe one of these three will be the surprise of the season.

The "Heather Mills/Marie Osmond" Division: Steve Guttenberg & Anna Trebunskya, Marlee Matlin & Fabian Sanchez, Monica Seles & Jonathan Roberts. The unknowns. They could be really, really great and make a deep run a la Marie in Season 4, or they could fizzle out somewhere in the middle.

My prediction: I think Kristi takes this one, proving that a woman can indeed win the competition. Dark horse: I think Jason Taylor will live up to the standards of the football-playing alumni, and make a real race of it. Thing I'm most looking forward to: Tom Bergeron, who puts Seacrest to shame with his all-around awesomeness.

TCB Returns

Aaaaand we're back! Allie and I have returned from our respective spring breaks, a little tanner, much poorer, and ready to get back to watching lots and lots of television. We've both seen "The Wire" series finale, and I think we're both still letting it sink in. I was pleased at how it wrapped up -- for good or for evil. I was happy that the stories all had some kind of resolution and we're not sitting here today analyzing ten seconds of black screen.

Anyway, thanks again to Reed for stepping up and recapping the finale in our absence. Coming up this week on the blog: LOTS of reality coverage while we wait for real television to return next month. Dancing with the Stars starts tonight, so I'm all over that. I'm giving in and watching the American Idol final rounds, even though that show has twice ruined my life because I get so drawn into it. It's like an addictive drug for me, but I'll try to remain professionally distanced from it this year. I watched last week's Top 12 so that I would be prepped and ready to go. Thankfully, I don't think there's anyone I'll get unreasonably attached to and then cry when they get voted off. (Yes, it's happened to me before. CoughClayAikenElliottYamincough)

Allie, having finished Project Runway, will be watching Top Chef starting Wednesday. I'm so desperate for decent television that I may watch it, too. Thursday is the last new Lost episode before it goes on a five-week hiatus, and it looks to be a doozy. Of course, my attention will be split between the NCAA Tournament and regular TV over the next two weeks, but something tells me Allie won't have that problem. 

Guest Blogging The Wire Series Finale

"-30-"

This was written by Reed Buterbaugh, who found a hotel with HBO and then kindly wrote this up for us. Enjoy.

Here in the Bahamas, I was told that my hotel would have HBO. Iwouldn't have gone if I knew I was going to have trouble watching this epic event of the series finale. But when I got here they said they didn't have it. I got a discount on the room, but what was that worth; I needed to see the show. I treked through the Nassau area, finally finding a hotel lobby that would have the show available. I proceeded to spend the entire day there. When In Treatment came on I was pumped: the countdown had begun.

The finale had its moments. First of all, I felt the entire season was rushed. The problem with season five was that they didn't develop the newspaper angle enough and made the characters one-dimensional. Gus is good, Scott is bad, and the bosses, well, Simon echoed McNulty's thoughts on the bosses. The finale gave us everything we could have really asked for. It echoed the theme of the entire season: just how far you can go on a lie. Carcetti is governor now because of a lie. Everyone got promoted. For now I'd like to just share a collection of thoughts on the finale since my Internet time is about to expire.

I felt the first half of the episode was really strong because it had that traditional conflict that the show is so well known for. Afterwards they just put a bow on everything for us. I think that ending a show may be the most challenging thing out there. How many times does a show's finale disappoint? Marlo showed his true colors when he asked Levy, "So I get to keep the crown?" He's all about power. It was funny seeing him in that suit. A great moment when he smacked that kid in the face.

The best momentof the season and possibly the series was when Slim Charles shot Cheese, and said that was for Joe. I've always loved Slim Charles, and seeing him do what was right was great. Also, I would pay anything to hear the meetings between him and the Greek.

The entire week I was worried about Michael. I wanted more Michael in this episode, but seeing that he's the new Omar will make things interesting. The McNulty fake wake was interesting, I saw it coming. It was like Simon knew that his cult following would expect a McNulty suicide so he teased us with it.

It's unfortunate that it ended but it had to. Simon has said that he had nothing more to say and I think that's about right. Michael is Omar, we've seen that. Dukie is Bubbles: we've been there. Daniels is a lawyer, we know how they work. And Sydnor is the new McNulty, everything is back where it started. Can't wait to rewatch it when I get back.

[Jenn's note: I just spent four hours struggling through a crappy Internet connection and poor resolution to watch the finale online. I'll have my thoughts soon. Thank you, Reed!]

The Cable Box goes on spring break

Allie and I will be on spring break this week, so The Cable Box will be (almost) silent for the next seven days while we travel to our respective tropical locations. We've already talked about how upset we are about missing the series finale of "The Wire," so we've found a guest blogger to cover the sixtieth and final episode of our beloved show. Reed Buterbaugh, who is the world's biggest Wire fan (there's no arguing, this guy wants to be a BPD dectective or a math teacher in inner-city Baltimore), will be writing the finale recap in our place. Allie and I will of course offer our own thoughts on the series' end after we get back, but I'm sure Reed will more than suffice until then.

<--- The greatest so-bad-you-just-have-to-see-it spring beak teen movie of all time. Watch it with alcohol, and it gets better.