PRISON BREAK: Dead Show Walking

It's not a shocker - but PRISON BREAK will be wrapping it up this spring.

The show with a concept no one thought could last more than one year will officially come to a conclusion at the end of this, its fourth, season.

This season has been so over the top convoluted - but it's so hard to stop watching.

Creators and the network have agreed that everyone involved is out of juice and there are no more stories to tell.

There are four episodes remaining in this season's order, although FOX is considering adding one more episode to allow the creators a chance to wrap everything up.

PRISON BREAK is currently on mid-season hiatus and will finish out its run on Friday nights after SARAH CONNOR completes its run.

Emmy & the New Season

OK.

It's been a while. A long while since I have posted. For that, I apologize.

It's not that I haven't been consuming pop culture, goodness knows it isn't that. It's just that time has been so difficult to come by over the last few months.

Things are settling down, the new TV season is upon us - and there's snarkiness to be shared!

Where to start?

How about the Emmys? There's something there that sums up the last season for me completely.

Five hosts, from five 'reality' shows found it extremely difficult to fill the opening five minutes of the presentation. You see, they were winging it. Nothing was written down for them. And it stunk to high heaven.

Apparently writers ARE important - even to 'reality' shows. Perhaps, expecially to 'reality' shows. Without someone driving the storyline in a particular direction, guess what - TV becomes way too real (read 'boring').

Kudos to Tom Bergeron and Ryan Seacrest for barely participating in the 'winging' - they looked embarrassed to be on the stage, and seemed to sense the true nature of the train wreck that was about to unfold before their eyes.

Meanwhile, the ratings for the snoozefest were down to record lows. Could it be that viewers didn't give much of a rip since the last episode of most of their favorite broadcast shows were aired in January?

And what to make of the dominance of cable? JOHN ADAMS, MAD MEN and BREAKING BAD scored major wins following a season of malaise.

NBC and FOX have both debuted clunker shows that shouldn't have seen the light of day outside of the summer season. All the nets have shows on their schedules that were purchased without a true pilot.

The after shocks of the writers' strike have not ended. This season doesn't look like it's going to have any breakout, water-cooler type pop culture icons. Where is this year's HEROES, 24, or AMERICAN IDOL?

I'll tell you - it didn't get made. I mean, where would we put it? That slot is taken by KNIGHT RIDER, HOLE IN THE WALL or DO NOT DISTURB.

It's gonna be a long season.

Idol Down, But Fox Still Wins

Much was made in the industry trades this spring that AMERICAN IDOL's ratings were down this season. While the finale's numbers were on par with last year, the ratings for the run up to the final showdown were, indeed down.

But somehow all the gleeful naysayers managed to miss something rather important in TV land.

FOX as a whole was UP for the season - and not just because it aired the Super Bowl. Scripted fare like BONES and HOUSE mixed with smartly programmed stuff like MOMENT OF TRUTH and ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A 5TH GRADER more than made up for IDOL's slippage.

For the first time EVER, FOX finished a season #1 in total viewers. Now, there were plenty of factors in the victory, not the least being the writers' strike. But - FOX had to deal with it just like every other network. And they did a better job by going to their bench and developing imaginative game shows.

While CBS relied heavily on reruns of their scripted dramas, FOX threw in new shows like NEW AMSTERDAM and THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES.

And they won - without airing a single episode of 24.

Congrats to everyone at FOX. It took 20 years, but the revolution has finally arrived.

The tough news for the other nets for 2008-2009? Jack Bauer returns in November with a 2 hour TV movie, followed by 24 all-new hours starting January.

And word is, he's pissed.

Spring Comes Early for FOX

The numbers say it's spring, but there's eight inches of snow in my front yard....

Last year it didn't happen until mid-March.

We all knew it was going to happen again this year, but I doubt anyone thought it would happen before Super Bowl Sunday.

On the strength of a better than normal fall performance, decent but not Earth-shattering numbers for the BCS, an explosive debut for TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES, the return of AMERICAN IDOL and stellar numbers for the NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME (dude - a 40 share in A18-49!) which drew almost 50 MILLION viewers, FOX has taken over the #1 slot in A18-49.

With 36 hours of IDOL still to come, the debut of a scandalous game show, THE MOMENT OF TRUTH coming tomorrow, oh - and that SUPER BOWL thing next Sunday, the other nets can only wave in FOX's rear view mirror.

See ya!

Hasta la Vista, NBC

It's that time of year again.

The mid-season blues are hitting most of the broadcast networks - magnified by the continuing writers' strike - and the FOX freight train is a comin'.

Last week, NBC struck gold with the debut of AMERICAN GLADIATORS. This retread of a crappy syndicated pile of poo from the '80s actually managed to score the largest audience of any new series of the season.

Until Sunday.

The debut of TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES cranked out the best FOX series premiere numbers since the debut of MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE in 2000.

It's the biggest new show debut on network TV of the season. And thank God - it's scripted.

It's only going to get worse for the competition.

IDOL returns tomorrow.

Say goodnight, Mr. Zucker.

Back to You - Ouch!

No, the pain is not from having sat through another craptacular sitcom. No, this pain is from seeing a sitcom set at a TV station - featuring folks who had a former relationship as the central characters.

BACK TO YOU makes JOINED IN PROGRESS seem rather derivative.

But hey - this is TV - where suits have no original ideas - so maybe I've got a chance now!

BACK TO YOU (Wednesdays at 8/7 c on FOX) stars Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton - and the pilot was damn fine.

JOINED IN PROGRESS hasn't been cast, seen or read by anyone who can help bring it to life.

But I recommend you check them both out.

Random Thoughts 070907

It's been a while since I've posted anything - been a bit busy with the new real-life gig and a loooong drive south for the 4th.

My last post blasted the marketing department for giving away the ending of EVAN ALMIGHTY. It turns out, maybe they did us all a favor.

Ken Levine, writer of M*A*SH, CHEERS and lotsa other TV, reports that EVAN was assembled from two completely separate scripts - each written by a two person team. Those scripts were mashed together by a fifth writer, selected by the film's director. This movie never had a chance.

When one of the teams challenged their lack of a screenplay credit, they also lost their story credit.

I sincerely apologize to the marketing team that chased me away from the steaming pile of celluloid.

Thank you.

Meanwhile two interesting happenings struck me this weekend.

One is a bit political, so it's here.

The other may ultimately be much more important in the scheme of broadcasting. Peter Liguori has been bumped up at FOX. His replacement is Kevin Reilly, formerly of NBC. More formerly of FX.

The two guys who built FX into an attention getting cable channel are now picking the shows at FOX.

NBC fired Reilly one week after the fall schedule was announced. They've really got their stuff together over there, huh?

Meanwhile, THE PRICE IS RIGHT is searching for a new host. There was a brief flirtation with the idea of Rosie O'Donnell getting the gig, but I must point out that Bob Barker was quoted as saying he didn't have a problem with a lady getting the job.

That automatically ruled out Rosie. She may be many things, but a lady, she's not.

Now there's buzz that ESPN's Dan Patrick may be getting the job. He announced his August resignation today on his radio show.

Before it goes any further, I have a suggestion. I know a fellow who's making his career as the host of a popular music show and L.A. DJ. He's modeling his career on that of his own idol, Dick Clark (who hosted THE $20,000 PYRAMID for decades), the little old ladies love him.

Ryan Seacrest.

Those big girls from Fiji would crush him.

What say you?

Don't forget to head over the Jelly Beanz for more on LIVE EARTH.

FOX '07-'08

OK, it's FOX's turn at the upfronts. This season FOX locked up the win in Adults 18-49 sooner months before the season wrapped. Next season, they've got a prime time Super Bowl in their pocket.

And while the opposition may refer to AMERICAN IDOL as "the Death Star" - keep in mind that the last few weeks of IDOL have actually been down versus last year. In fact, this past week HOUSE outperformed AMERICAN IDOL for the first time ever. If IDOL is the Death Star, what does that make Dr. House? He walks with a stick, but he's not green so no Yoda reference. He's tall, but not particularly hairy - sorry, I digress.

The lineup:

MON - PRISON BREAK and K-VILLE (an over the top 'escapist' show and a new drama about the police force in post-Katrina New Orleans)

TUE - NEW AMSTERDAM and HOUSE (a new drama about an immortal detective who's been working in NYC since it was Dutch and the medical drama that's bigger than the Death Star)

WED - BACK TO YOU, TIL DEATH and BONES (a new sitcom starring Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton about a life at a TV station, Heaton's former RAYMOND co-star Brad Garrett's growing sitcom about married life and a forensics mystery that's started to dominate its time slot as well)

THUR - ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A 5TH GRADER and KITCHEN NIGHTMARES - (a simple game show with a well executed premise and a new reality show from GORDON RAMSEY in which he will step in and try to save a failing restaurant over the course of one week)

FRI - THE SEARCH FOR THE NEXT GREAT AMERICAN BAND and NASHVILLE (an IDOL style competition featuring bands instead of singers and and faux-reality soap set in the music industry from the producers of LAGUNA BEACH)

SAT - COPS and AMERICA'S MOST WANTED - (two old standbys that are starting to show their age)

SUN - THE SIMPSONS, KING OF THE HILL, FAMILY GUY and AMERICAN DAD (four animated comedies for grown ups that are facing more competition and a smaller audience year by year)

In January:

MON - K-VILLE and 24 (PRISON BREAK will return in March)

TUE - IDOL and HOUSE

WED - BACK TO YOU, TIL DEATH and IDOL

THUR - 5TH GRADER and CANTERBURY'S LAW (Julianna Margulies as a defense attorney)

FRI - BONES and NEW AMSTERDAM

SUN - KING, DAD, SIMPSONS, GUY and THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES (TV sequel to TERMINATOR 2)

CANTERBURY - yawn. I don't care if I ever see another lawyer show right now.

AMSTERDAM - an interesting concept, although it may suffer in comparison to CBS's MOONLIGHT.

K-VILLE - the concept doesn't do much for me, but I'll wait to see some trailers.

KITCHEN NIGHTMARES and NASHVILLE both strike me as shows better left to cable.

Moving BONES and AMSTERDAM to Fridays is a huge risk - and note that FOX planned to move BONES to Fridays this spring, but too many new shows failed.

I'm not entirely sold on the SARAH CONNOR show - but I'm very excited to see FOX bringing a drama back to Sunday night.

BACK TO YOU is being produced by FRASIER's Christopher Lloyd - this could be a giant new comedy that will put a stake in the heart of a project very dear to me (JOINED IN PROGRESS).

The CW remains....

BONES - What To Do?

Sometimes the real world gets in the way of our TV watching fun.

FOX once had to re-edit the season finale of MELROSE PLACE because the explosion at the apartment complex came too close on the heels of the Oklahoma City bombing.

On the heels of 9/11, the series premiere of 24 had to be trimmed a bit to snip out a couple of shots of a crashing airliner.

And now, yet another tragedy has impacted yet another FOX show.

The episode of BONES originally scheduled for April 18th followed a murder investigation on a college campus. While the episode didn't deal with a mass shooting, it was rightly deemed inappropriate to air so soon following the recent events at Virginia Tech.

Unfortunately, it's looking like the episode may not air at all.

You see, there are elements of BONES that are part of a season long arc. I recently raked FOX over the coals for failing to air episodes in their correct order - and now it looks like they're expecting us to simply catch up, while having completely missed an episode that included some rather major plot developments for a couple of characters.

FOX's summary for this week's episode includes this passage: "Meanwhile, thwarted in his previous attempt to propose to Angela, Hodgins tries a more traditional, romantic approach to winning her heart."

With the cancellation of DRIVE, I think FOX could have aired the skipped episode of BONES this Monday night, instead of airing a HOUSE rerun, while giving folks a chance to keep up. Or they could at least make it available online.

Again, this episode doesn't contain any plot points similar to Virginia Tech, other than it takes place on a college campus and someone dies. No gunshots, no loner student, no chained doors.

I think we could handle it.

DRIVE gets a "DNF"

As in Did Not Finish.

That's what they give the NASCAR boys who end up in the garage instead of crossing the finish line.

While I enjoyed the two hour premiere of DRIVE, its seams were showing. This looks like it has to be an expensive show to produce - and the producers are slicing expenses wherever they can.

Cars continually race down the same generic stretch of interstate highway. Office complexes double for Cape Canaveral (along with a preposterously bad CGI countdown clock on the side of a building). And I KNOW I've seen the motel the contestants were all departing from in more than one movie or TV show.

There's lots of CGI and green screen in this show - sort of a poor man's version of the incredible shooting techniques pioneered in CHILDREN OF MEN. Cameras swoop in, crossing through windshields while cars roar down the highway, then spin and fly out the side window. It could be impressive - if it were done a little better.

But, if I can overlook the cardboard walls of Kirk's Enterprise, I can overlook the budget limitations on a TV show's special effects.

The story has LOTS of potential. FIREFLY's Captain Tightpants - Nathan Fillion - is back - as Alex Tully, a very familiar role. Fillion can clench his jaw and smoulder like no other actor on TV.

ANGEL's Amy Acker plays Tully's missing wife, who is being held hostage so Tully will compete in a race that makes the Cannonball Run look like a party thrown by Dean martin (which it probably was!)

Melanie Lynskey plays a mom who seems to have had her newborn son taken from her. Hers may be the most intriguing characters so far. She's soft and quiet, and easily taken to be weak - but she's able to do what it takes to protect her child - something we learned very well, very quickly.

Lynskey was featured in an early promo for the show and her voice is so petite, I originally mistook her for Amy Acker. Mrs. Kimosabe and I were pretty puzzled as to how Acker had put on so many pounds - oops to us.

All in all, I'm in the for long haul on DRIVE. My season pass is programmed in and I'm hoping this race runs a long time.

But I have my doubts.

After announcing the show's premiere date, FOX quickly followed up with another announcement that they would be airing just 6 of the 13 episodes ordered before giving the show a break for the summer. That doesn't sound like a vote of confidence.

After seeing the Sunday night numbers, the suits may have been right on this one. DRIVE scored a 6 share.

I don't know what it is about folks from the House of Whedon, but it seems like everyone who learned how to make TV while studying at the feet of creator of BUFFY hits a glass ceiling in the 6 to 7 share range.

While a 6 share was considered a success for The Old WB, it's not enough for FOX. WONDERFALLS, FIREFLY, STANDOFF, TRU CALLING and now DRIVE - they're all quirky little shows created by folks who wrote for BUFFY or ANGEL - and none of them ever scored a double digit share of the audience.

Let's wait to see what Monday's numbers bring....

[Edit: Monday's numbers are in and - TA DA! - a 6 share. A rerun of HOUSE scored a 9 share last week. This does not bode well....)

Random Thoughts: 041207

Some random TV thoughts....

It took 17 hours for Jack Bauer to shake off whatever it was the Chinese did to him. I was feeling a bit disappointed with this season of 24 - until Jack killed this season's bad guy with his bare hands. 24 has 'unjumped' the shark and The Jack Bauer Power Hour is back

Starting to get pumped up about DRIVE. Captain Tightpants (Nathan Fillion from FIREFLY) and ANGEL's Fred (Amy Acker) headline a pretty good looking cast in another Tim Minear project - that FOX will probably toss on the ash heap before its time. I hope not.

'TIL DEATH has had its season finale. It's still not a great show, but it's getting better. My guess is that it will be back next year.

Last Friday the History Channel aired PLANET OF THE APES. Huh? It worked. I watched the whole thing - plus the special about Giganticus/Sasquatch that followed.

There a marathon of Eddie Izzard's THE RICHES on FX this weekend. Check it out.

I'm going to wait one more episode to comment on THE SOPRANOS.

Next week - Sanjaya WILL be in the bottom three. But he won't go home until we're down to the Top 5.

I've started pulling for Blake.

It's been a long haul over the past month - no new episodes of GILMORE GIRLS, SMALLVILLE or HEROES. If it weren't for the new subscription to HBO - and all the movies I don't have time to watch - my TiVo would be very bored.

What's going on on your set? What are you watching? What are you NOT watching?

Bells Silenced, Heaven Closed

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised....

After a complete lack of faith in linear storytelling (see previous post) FOX has cancelled THE WEDDING BELLS.

With just 6 of the 13 episode order in the can, FOX has shut the show down.

Also today, ABC canned SIX DEGREES (one week after returning from hiatus), THE CW announced the end of 7TH HEAVEN and NBC is dropping THE BLACK DONNELLYS in favor of another piece of crap reality show.

The Wedding Bells Toll

FOX has done it again.

While Rupert's network may be #1 in prime time, it has a long history of screwy scheduling that it just can't seem to shake.

For some ungodly reason no one has ever attempted to explain, FOX continually schedules episodes of serial shows out of order. They did it regularly to SLIDERS back in the day. They did it to JOHN DOE. They did it to FIREFLY. Recently, they've done it to THE WAR AT HOME.

ATTENTION NETWORK SUITS! You can't expect folks to follow a continuing storyline if you don't show the story IN ORDER!

The freshest example is THE WEDDING BELLS. This silly, yet fun distraction from the mind of David E. Kelly has started off wackier than ALLY MCBEAL finished, but, still there was a lot of potential. Not IMPORTANT TELEVISION by a long shot, but goofy enough for Mrs. Kimosabe and I to commit to a TiVo season pass.

The second episode was just as wacky, although it felt a bit disjointed - and now we understand why. It wasn't the second episode. It was THE THIRD. The second episode aired this past week (the third episode to be aired).

We finally got around to watching it tonight, and immediately realized we've been disrespected. Some high paid idiot in L.A. thinks we wouldn't notice that 50% of the character development we've observed was literally undone at the start of this episode.

This wasn't a matter of shooting episodes out of order for production needs - I completely understand that's something that happens from time to time. This is a case of a network airing episodes 101, 103, 102 and 104 - in that order.

It's a bit jarring when characters who carried on intimate conversations last week meet for the very first time the following week.

In the past, back when I had access to the FOX hotline, the explanation was always that the episode that aired was creatively stronger than the delayed episode.

Well, my answer to that is today's audience is smarter than the suits think.

I don't care if THE WEDDING BELLS is a good show or not. I don't care if it has a legitimate shot at being renewed. I don't care if FOX is burning off episodes on the cemetery row they call Friday night.

Ding, dong, my season pass is gone.

FOX Takes the Lead

Last year FOX passed ABC for the full season victory in Adults 18-49 with about three days left in the season.

That's akin to a NASCAR driver taking the lead for the first time with 2 laps left in the Daytona 500.

It's like Joe Montana driving the 49ers down the field with 30 seconds left in the game to score the game winning touchdown.

The point is, it was a last second lead change and it was a bit dramatic. The entirety of the broadcast industry could see it coming, the momentum was palatable.

This year, things are very different. After an early strong start, ABC has stumbled badly since the turn of the calendar year. CBS scored well with the Super Bowl, but couldn't even turn that powerhouse event into a February sweeps win. NBC hasn't been a contender all year long.

Last night FOX tied CBS for the lead in Adults 18-49. Tonight, on the strength of a two hour episode of AMERICAN IDOL, FOX will pass CBS for first place.

This lead change was every bit as predictable as last year, the momentum has been just as palatable. The difference is this year, it's happening at the end of the 3rd quarter. There are still eleven weeks left in the season and none of FOX's competitors have an answer for FOX's passing game.

By the two minute warning, not only are we going to be looking at a blowout - but it will be painfully clear that the competition has no answer for how to stop FOX next year.

This is the third straight year FOX will have won or tied for first place in Adults 18-49.

In sports terms - that's a dynasty, baby!

The Winner - WHAAMY

THE WINNER debuts tonight on FOX.

OK, to be fair, I haven't seen it. But my BS-ometer is pretty reliable - and it says to stay away from this stinker.

This show screams of what I refer to as a WHAAMY Project (We'll Happily Air Anything Made by You).

These projects are usually very bad ideas, generated by folks fortunate enough to have had lightning strike once before in their life.

FOX gave Mike Scully a WHAAMY deal. Scully is a long time writer/producer of THE SIMPSONS. One would think Anything Made by Him would probably be worth airing. Maybe not. The result was THE PITTS.

Literally.

THE WINNER is from FAMILY GUY and AMERICAN DAD's Seth McFarland and stars THE DAILY SHOW'S Rob Corddry.

Six whole episodes have been produced. Four of them are available online - yep two-thirds of the entire series is already available on the internet - free of charge (FOX TV stations have got to be charged up about THAT).

FOX has displayed their deep confidence in the project by launching it immediately after the February sweeps - when it will do less damage to the ratings of your local FOX TV station (trust me - they ARE charged up about that one).

Further confidence is displayed by the net in the show's schedule. They'll be burning this bad boy of two episodes at a time, reducing the footprint of this embarrassment to a mere three weeks.

I have a suggestion for FOX. They're all about the innovation. Here's their chance to push the envelope again. How about airing THE WINNER split screen? They could put the audio for one episode on the left channel and the audio for the other in the right channel and burn the entire run off in 90 minutes.

My guess is there's a clause in McFarland's contract that requires a financial penalty to be paid by FOX if less than six episodes air. So, the net trots out and does its due diligence, a crappy show gets on the air.

And we all get the WHAAMY.

FOX: The Head of the Class

By my calculations, FOX is about to something that's never been done - again.

Since the Super Bowl has been played during the February sweeps, the network carrying it has always cruised to an easy sweeps win (A18-49). Not this time.

The launch of ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A 5th GRADER (which is by no means 'important television') has been so strong - the strongest series launch for FOX since 1994 - that the net has managed to catch up with CBS.

Sometime about 9PM Central, I think FOX passed them by - not by much, and not until the final day of the sweep, but the math says Rupert wins again.

SMARTER is a whole lot of fluff wrapped around about 5 minutes of entertainment, but unlike DEAL OR NO DEAL, it only runs for 30 minutes. Jeff Foxworthy makes a decent game show host. He knows his show and seems to be having a good time.

The kids are overly precocious child actors and the contestants must have to come in under 80 on an IQ test, but this thing is way more watchable than another round of THE SIMPLE LIFE.

The show's ratings will likely come down to Earth when FOX moves it to Thursdays at 8/7c in April. It will also expand to an hour, making it twice the fluff wrapped around twice the entertainment (10 minutes and hour!)

IDOL - Boys Club

So, I've finally had time to watch last night AMERICAN IDOL. The top 12 guys went at it, Seacrest and Cowell pretended to fight and several guys gave strong evidence that they should not survive to the IDOL Top 12.

SUNDANCE HEAD - Dude is just NOT living up to his original audition. America's not going to cut you much slack. Better get it in gear 'cause Simon can't save you from here on out.

BLAKE LEWIS - The beat box guy can really sing! I thought he was by far the best singer of the night. He could win this whole thing.

SANJAYA MALAKAR - OK, so how long will he get by on his hair? The girls are gonna eat him up, his looks may get him past this week, but if he doesn't start singing, he's toast.

CHRIS SLIGH - Really like this guy, too. I loved the fact that he and Blake both sang non-traditional IDOL songs. They were too hip for the room, but I think they scored well with the voters.

EVERYONE ELSE - Feh. Not worth writing about.

Let's see what the girls bring tonight.....

IDOL - Up, Up and Away!

It seems we still don't know high "up" is.

The two night premiere of AMERICAN IDOL has redefined 'up' once again, delivering about 15% more eyeballs to sponsor messages than last year.

The numbers are simply gi-normous. 37 million folks. To give you some sort of scale, until this week DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES was the number one show on TV - delivering a mere 20 million viewers a week. IDOL isn't just #1, it's crossing the finish line while the other horses are entering the final turn.

The beastie out drew all the other networks combined.

Pity the poor CW. The FOX audience was 34 times larger than the CW.

One hour of IDOL = 34 hours of VERONICA MARS. That's more episodes than the show makes in a season. Granted, VERONICA was a re-run, but play along.

Following the above formula, if you were an advertiser who purchased a spot in every hour of IDOL for this season, you would have to buy VERONICA MARS once a week for 26 years to cume the same value.

26 years.

FOX Juggernauts Return

It's got to be tough to be a suit at NBC, ABC or CBS this time of year. They all have to know they have but one more week of normalcy to enjoy before their world turns upside down. Again.

(Cue the theme to JAWS)

Yep, it's January and that means it's time for "24" and "AMERICAN IDOL" to return.

The Jack Bauer Power Hour is back following what I felt was one of its most disjointed, yet accessible seasons. Day 5 saw the show tweak its formula a bit, killing off several key characters and devising more payoffs within the 24 episode storyline.

These changes allowed new viewers to better understand the goings on. Complicated backstories were dispatched along with their associated characters. The multiple resolutions within the overall arc also allowed new viewers better access. Ultimately, I believe it was this new-found accessibility that allowed Emmy voters to award the show with its Best Drama trophy.

Day 6 promises Jack's return from Chinese custody and an outbreak of domestic terrorism that has claimed over 1,000 lives. You can see an extended promo for Day 6 here.

And then there's that other beastie, lurking in the distance - "AMERICAN IDOL."

Last year, I had my doubts about the continued growth of the franchise, but was ultimately proven wrong. This year, I'm expecting even higher numbers due to ABC's moving "LOST" out of the way. ABC's sacrificing of "THE KNIGHTS OF PROSPERITY" and "IN CASE OF EMERGENCY" stands as a spineless move by a network that has strayed from a very promising path.

Tons of promotional stuff, including downloads of previous contestants' new releases are available at americanidol.com.

How high is up for FOX? This may be the year we find out.

The Sun Sets on THE O.C.

When FOX moved THE O.C. to Thursday nights, it backed up its decision with a plethora of research that showed the program's audience was made up of THE trendsetters of the future - young teen and pre-teen girls who were already abandoning SURVIVOR in droves.

Well, so much for that strategy.

THE O.C. has been cancelled.

Those young trendsetters seem to be more interested in Dr. McDreamy or UGLY BETTY or something. After season 3's a year long Marissa Downer-Cooper angst-fest, THE O.C. has returned this year with guns blazing. It's brighter, happier and full of promise.

But, such is life on TV. Good shows come and go, the ebb and flow, their quality drops off and they fade away. Not this time. This time, the show has been reborn and it will be going out in style - strong, funny and yes, even innovative.

THE O.C. will return to the schedule January 4th with the first of 8 new episodes. Unfortunately, they'll also be the last of 8 new episodes.

Smoke 'em while you got 'em.