It occurred to me this week that I no longer know why I still watch Lost. I still find some entertainment in it, but the excitement that accompanied the first two seasons is long gone. You know that every episode is going to ask more questions than it answers, and the few answers that it does offer up are to questions that I hadn’t been asking! This season has made an attempt at trying to tie up some of the loose ends of seasons past, but the writer’s strike put a serious damper on it, and probably reduced the amount of material the writers could tie up significantly. I am tempted to wait till the whole bloody thing is out on DVD and watch all of the seasons back to back from the beginning. If I did it that way I would at least be able to avoid the weekly exercise in futility. *sigh*

If you were not convinced that the American news media has its priorities wrong, this one incident should be evidence enough. Larry King rescheduled Michael Moore’s hour long interview about his new movie SiCKO to interview Paris Hilton the day after her release from prison. Rather than showing some journalistic integrity and allowing Michael Moore to discuss his movie and the state of health care in America, King pandered to the unwashed masses and interviewed the vapid heiress for an entire hour.

I expect this kind of behavior from a talk show host, or from a major network that’s trying to win ratings. I did not, however, expect this to happen on CNN, which much of the country trusts for its news. The fact that Moore was going to be discussing his movie, which highlights the shortcomings of the health care and insurance industry in this country, makes it that much worse. Americans need to hear the truth about how some of the major health care insurance providers have denied payments for life saving treatments to their customers. Moore’s movie is a vital instrument in the campaign to create a national health care system which could save hundreds of lives each year. Instead viewers got to see Paris Hilton’s drawings from when she was in prison, and hear her read the poems she wrote while locked up. Somehow that doesn’t seem like a fair trade.

Antonella Barba, a Top 20 American Idol contestant was the most recent subject of a scandal. Nude and semi-nude pictures of her were recently published and have circulated around the internet. These pictures were leaked by people who knew Antonella and most likely done to make a quick buck rather than out of sheer malice. The American Idol producers allowed her to continue in the competition even though the pictures most likely tainted her reputation and had an effect on how the public voted.

A former stripper, Nikki McKibbin, was also allowed to compete on American Idol. Nikki chose to strip, so her unseemly career choices were just that, choices. The brass at Idol felt that it was ok to turn the other way even though the show is supposed to appeal to people of all ages.

A few years ago an enormously talented singer by the name of Frenchie Davis blew the American Idol judges away. She was later disqualified because she had done some nude modeling in the past. I remember seeing her audition when it aired live and when she sang it gave me goosebumps on my arms. She’s got a voice that is both powerful and controlled, and it moved all of the judges.

American Idol and various other reality shows have chosen to look the other way when the seedy pasts of various contestants has been called into question. I do not understand why the same kind of grace wasn’t extended to Frenchie Davis. Was it the fact that she was black? Was it the fact that she was full-figured? I don’t think so because we’ve already seen people of all shapes and sizes compete and be quite successful in the competition. Kimberly Locke made it quite far in the competiton while representing Lane Bryant, a plus-sized women’s clothing store. Ruben Studdard went on to win and he is bigger than the average bear.

Since it’s safe to assume that size and color were not an issue, what was the real reason why Frenchie Davis was not allowed to compete? The only conclusion that I can come to is that in addition to her color and figure, she had a very real chance of winning. She has a powerful voice and has been well trained as a singer. She has poise and is a born performer. Had she won and her past come under real public scrutiny, would some nude modeling have handicapped her career or kept her from selling albums from her to Mars? I think not.

How many huge stars do we know of who have made it through scandals rooted in sex and nude modeling? Off the top of my head I can think of Rob Lowe, Madonna, and a half dozen 80’s hair metal rockers. When I sit down to watch Rob Lowe Sunday nights on ABC’s Brothers and Sisters I don’t think about the scandals of his past. I think of how brilliant an actor he is and how he steals every scene he’s in. Frenchie’s voice to me is like Rob Lowe on screen — a scene stealer. I feel as though she has been robbed of a chance at a very healthy and lucrative career because of a TV executive with no grasp on reality. American Idol is the number one show on TV, period. It’s doubtful that Frenchie’s past would’ve even made the ratings dip. This is why I cannot and will not take this show seriously. It also makes me question what other mystery cuts and manipulations are happening behind the scenes.

What do you think of Idol’s double standard?

It disappoints me to see a good actor like Isaiah Washington in a groundbreaking drama shoot himself in the foot. There are so few black men playing characters that can be considered role models on TV. Furthermore, there are so few talented black actors surrounded by an amazing cast like that on Grey’s Anatomy. There is something for everyone on that show which is why it is a monster hit. When you are in the public eye with as much exposure as any member of the Grey’s Anatomy cast is, common sense should tell you to keep cool and keep your mouth shut if you don’t have anything good to say. I wish someone told Isaiah that.

Not only did Isaiah almost come to blows with Patrick Dempsey on set, but he called T.R. Knight a faggot. This forced T.R. Knight to come out publicly. As if that wasn’t bad enough and didn’t cause enough of a media storm, Isaiah denied that the incident happened to the press after the cast’s Golden Globes win. This irritated members of the cast including Katherine Heigl and of course T.R. Knight who voiced their opinions on Access Hollywood and the Ellen DeGeneres Show respectively.

It is bad enough that Isaiah made a homophobic statement and let his temper get the best of him on set, but his actions forced another cast member to reveal more to the public than he was ready to. Furthermore, denying the incident happened after publicly apologizing for it is puerile and speaks to his lack of integrity as an actor and as a person. Mr. Washington should take some time to look around the landscape of prime time television and realize how few men of color have been given the type of opportunity he has. Maybe he would think twice about his actions and humble himself on set. If not, I don’t see any reason why his character needs to remain on Grey’s Anatomy at all. Just make his character fail to recover from the second neurological surgery and have him lurk off into the Seattle gloom with his trumpet to play jazz. Let’s see how well his career does after he leaves (or is asked to leave) Grey’s Anatomy. He can be the next Eriq LaSalle. Anyone remember seeing him in anything after leaving ER aside from One Hour Photo? Me either.

I love Grey’s Anatomy. It entered the scene at a time when I was losing hope in television altogether from the exes all the way down. I have always been a big fan of ER but since Noah Wyle left the regular cast, I feel like there was no one there for him to pass the torch to. At any rate, no one expected a little mid-season replacement with a cast as fresh as Grey’s to take off like it did, but here we are two season’s later and the world practically stops when the show airs.

I recently watched the entire second season again as ABC was kind enough to replay it leading up to the premiere. It is obvious that this cast gels together like very few that we have seen in recent years. Furthermore, the characters aren’t segregated into little cliques so it is truly an ensemble. Miranda Bailey’s interns started out as a little clique, but their interpersonal relationships have developed immensely with other characters very quickly. They also force characters to interact who would not necessarily do so willingly or regularly, like Preston Burke and Derek Shepherd who start out the show in contempt of each other but have cultivated a grudging respect and admiration for each other. All of this points to brilliant writing and the writer’s ability to get into the human psyche.

Somewhere along the way while re-watching the second season of Grey’s I got that warm fuzzy feeling that I haven’t had since Buffy ended. If you’re a BtVS fan you know what I’m talking about. It’s a mix of nostalgia for the crew you ran with in High School mixed with grown-up teen angst and a dab of super-hero worship. Somewhere along the way I came to the realization that the leading characters in Grey’s Anatomy were the Scooby Gang with scalpels. Let me break it down:

Lauren Graham who plays Lorelai on the Gilmore Girls just rocked house on Bravo’s Celebrity Poker. Not only did she win but she played really aggressively and it was good to see a woman who knows how to play poker take out an experienced player like Matthew Perry.

J.Lo got married yet again. This time the lucky guy is Marc Anthony. I give this one 18 months max. The sad part is the media madness surrounding her has taken a nap since she broke it off with Affleck. I think the media adored him and tolerated her for the most part. I don’t doubt that she’ll eventually decide that Marc is not right for her and start chasing someone else. Apparently no one ever explained the difference between dating and marriage to her.

Some part of me is thinking that tonight’s ER had a bit of a political undercurrent. Gallant is going to Iraq even though he lets Lewis and County’s Lawyer (who might I add played the second Sunnydale High principle on Buffy the Vampire Slayer) believe he has been called up by the Army. He’s really going overseas to protect Carter and Neela in the event there was a lawsuit over the dead patient who’s chart he falsified on the previous episode. Wow that was a mouthful. Anyway, in this same episode Carrie Weaver’s wife Sandy, a firefighter, dies from injuries in a building collapse. Sandy’s family takes their son Henry away and refuses to let Carrie see him. So deployment to Iraq and Gay Rights in one episode. Anyone else think it’s a coincidence that this script made it to air in an election year? I don’t. I’m sad that Sandy’s dead but I think this is going to bring out a new side of Carrie as she fights for her son.

If you haven’t heard by now, Leo Laporte is no longer part of the TechTV family. He walked because of some dispute over shares owed him by the company. You’d think after 9 years of loyal service they would have more respect for him. Leo is not just the host of Call for Help but he’s practically the franchise. At one point or another he’s hosted almost every show on TechTV. I am really disgusted by how he was treated and I can’t wait for Comcast to move in and take the reins away from the current ownership. Hopefully they will have the common sense to bring Leo back even if he’s not on the air all the time. Now here comes the real bad news… Pirillo has been hinting that he might go back to Call for Help now that Leo is no longer in the house. Pirillo is what made me avoid CFH. I didn’t go back to watching it until he got dropped from TTV around this time last year when Leo took the show over again. If Pirillo comes back it’s gonna make me kill CFH on my PVR. He’s puerile, irritating, and has bad diction. He’s too Windows oriented for any tech show. People complain that Leo is too Mac oriented. In my opinion the fact that he actually acts like there’s more than one platform out there is amazing. The current Screensavers crew is too Wincentric for my tastes. Without Patrick there it would be Win-a-palooza with the occasional nod to a new Linux distro release and Knoppix. Very sad. At any rate, Pirillo should be hosting a children’s show on public television somewhere in Utah. It’s keep him off my TV.

Kiefer Sutherland is creepy, man. He freaked me out in Lost Boys, he freaked me out in Eye for an Eye, and most recently he freaked me out in Phone Booth. In Phone Booth he was just a voice but he still freaked me out.

I guess Phone Booth was supposed to be a psychological suspense thriller. I think it failed miserably. If it wasn’t for Kiefer being creepy it would’ve been a complete dud as far as I’m concerned. I didn’t feel connected to any of the characters. I find Colin Farell’s performances hollow. His accent was about as authentic as Lasagna at a Chinese restaurant. I was really disappointed that Katie Holmes wasn’t used more throughout the film. I think they just used her for her star power, but she only had about 5 lines in the film. Forest Whitaker was awesome as always, but it didn’t make up for how pathetic this film really was.