Chikezie Eze was voted off "American Idol" last night, "taking with him 50 percent of this year's Idolette Top-10 personality pool," Lisa de Morales sniped in her Washington Post TV column. For the second week in a row, Chikezie chose to sing a ballad -- “If Only For One Night” by Luther Vandross -- after judges warned him last week that song choice is of the upmost importance at this stage in the contest. Last......

A Word or 52(approx): Gouge away if you wish, but Lost was excellent last night. I need some comic relief tonight so it's My Name Is Earl in Smellovision (go get your TV Guide now with the Smell Card) and the Office for me - I can't commit to more than that, I have a couple bottles of beer waiting for me. Tonight - Thursday - May 3, 2007 Angels @ Royals (FoxSports, 7:00......

Luna crooners Dean Wareham & Britta Phillips add another cooing entry to their pillowy canon of waking lullabies with the release of a second, pseudo-side project album, Back Numbers (Rounder). Soothing, cinematic, and effortless, they are both the sleepwalkers and the hypnotizers. Expect Britta’s belting on the Lee Hazlewood/Ann Margret classic, “You Turned My Head Around” to make you wonder where she’s been hiding that big ol’ voice (to use the Randy Jackson parlance......

A Word Or approx. 60: Goodbye O.C., a shame that the show is better now than it has been for the last couple seasons. Hey, who is the amazing Thai girl that was in Lost last night? Lots of new shows tonight, am going to have to order that second Tivo. Tonight - Thursday - February 22nd, 2007 Ben Hur (TCM, 5:00 p.m.) Saddle up for the long haul with this epic classic, cast......

A Word or 14: Supposedly the Daily Show and Stephen Colbert have the week off - how dare they?! I may have to resort to watching PBS, or, godhelpus, the local news. Today - Monday - February 19th, 2007 The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (TCM, 5:00 p.m.) John Ford's '62 classic with James Stewart, John Wayne, Lee Marvin, Edmond O'Brien, Lee Van Cleef, John Carradine and practically everyone else who was alive at......

A Word or 11: Crap - I have no time to get snarky with you today. Tonight - Tuesday - February 6th, 2007 American Idol (Fox, 8:00 p.m.) It's off to San Antonio where they play both kinds of music, Country _and_ Western. NCIS/The Unit/The Unit (CBS, 8-11:00 p.m.) All new and 2x the Unit. Dateline NBC/Late & Order: Criminal Intent/Law & Order: SVU (NBC, 8-11:00 p.m.) All new. Gilmore Girls/Veronica Mars (the CW,......

NYC did not disappoint us in last night’s American Idol. The cup runneth over with the number of contestants to fly their freak flags high, which made for an entertaining two hours. While the other audition cities had their share of weirdos, the Big Apple had plenty of FWAs – freaks with attitude – East Coast style. The show opened with Ryan Adams’ “New York, New York” being used under Ryan Seacrest’s opening travelogue......

Greetings from Drip City! -- The land where Jimi tread, Pearl Jam spread, and Kurt got dead. Watching last night’s Seattle auditions was like watching nine thousand Nells emerge from the forest only to be greeted by a cold and critical society. These hopefuls were awkward and fascinating and odd. You wanted to laugh, but it was more painful than funny. One could speculate that the bizarro-fest of talent was the toxic byproduct of......

Everyone’s favorite game of public humiliation is back! American Idol kicked off a new season from Minnesota last night, with thousands cheering, millions watching, and an odd use of Teenage Wasteland in the opening montage. As expected, Season 6 began with a self-congratulatory flashback/recap/where-are-they-now session for the previous winners and also-rans, as well as a self-masturbatory highlight reel of the A-List talent that has giddily participated in this bizarre hazing ritual of fame seekers.......

Quick -- what happens when you want to put on an American Idol-esque show during the summer TV doldrums, and Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul, Simon Cowell and Ryan Seacrest are busy spending the bizillions they earned during the regular TV season? You get David Hasselhoff in the role of Randy; Brandy playing Paula, some Brit “journalist” named Piers Morgan playing Simon; and an aging Regis Philbin taking over Seacrest’s role in a two-hour waste......

What a relief to watch the E! red carpet coverage. It feels so clean...so professional. Oh, for a little while, at least. Ryan Seacrest to Randy Jackson's wife, "There's something I've always wanted to ask you," [about her husband]: "He's so smooth...is he a great lover?" Um, creepy. Giuliana DePandi spends a long time asking the men of Jars of Clay about being chased by groupies. Even after they tell her they're married. Married......