Watching Sitcoms

I just watched a video clip. It was from the pilot episode of a potential new sitcom called Teachers. The pilot seems to revolve around the life of a young, fresh-faced teacher named Tim Donnely, who is heading off for the first day of his new career.

I couldn’t tell you who all the actors were, because I didn’t really recognize them, but I did see one face I knew. Apparently, Constantine Maroulis, who finished in sixth place on American Idol Season 4, is a bad tempered music teacher, who considers himself a musical genius. But also, he appears to be playing himself, which is a little scary. Watch the clip and you’ll see what I mean. Here’s the clip:

I did a little research to see if I could find anything else out about this show, but so far it doesn’t even appear as a blip on anyone’s radar. It turns out there was another sitcom in 2006, also named “Teachers,” also with a fairly unknown cast (although I did recognize Kali Rocha from Buffy the Vampire Slayer), and that one only lasted 7 episodes. I don’t know if it was exactly the same premise cause there wasn’t too much info on that one either. I did see that that show was a copy of a show from the UK, so maybe it was different.

As for the Constantine version, I’d like to see it get picked up, just to see what he can really do. But honestly, after watching that clip, I doubt it. It didn’t seem too funny to me, but then Cavemen got picked up last year, so I guess anything is possible.

Talking about Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman got me to thinking about the other evening soap opera sitcom of that same time, Soap. The DVDs are available for all four seasons of Soap. Personally, I’m a little excited about that. When Soap first came out in 1977, I was still in middle school and the entire show was pretty risque. I imagine that after all this time it probably comes across as more tame. Unlike Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, Soap was shown during prime time, but it still dealt with issues that most other shows of the time didn’t discuss. It also had what I believe was the first openly gay character on TV. The story lines revolved around two sisters and their crazy family, dysfuntional families, and dealt with issues like infidelity, racism, religion, mental illness and impotence.

The cast included Katherine Helmond, Richard Mulligan, Cathryn Damon, Billy Crystal, Ted Wass, Robert Guillaume, and Diana Canova.

Most of them have gone on to do lots of other shows. Katherine Helmond was recently Debra’s mother on Everybody Loves Raymond, another great sitcom, and she was a voice in that movie, Cars, too. Robert Guillaume had a spin off to his own show, Benson, which was more mainstream and also really, really funny. Of course, we all know that comedian Billy Crystal turned out to be a major star. Soap wasn’t his first bit of acting, but it was before his stint on Saturday Night Live. Plus, Billy was one of the voices in Cars, as well.

Not only did the show have lots of great stars, there were also lots of guest stars worth watching, like Robert Urich, Howard Hesseman, Jack Gilford, Doris Roberts, Sorrell Booke, and Robert Englund.

If you’ve never seen Soap, you should check it out.

My husband and I were watching some random movie the other day. Don’t even ask me what it was, cause honestly, I don’t remember. Anyway, the mother of one of the character’s was familiar. My husband couldn’t name her, but right away, I recognized Louise Lasser.

I have fond memories from my youth of Louise Lasser as Mary Hartman in Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. I’m sure I was probably too young to watch it at the time, as it was considered quite racy because of the topics it dealt with and, even though it was a sitcom, it didn’t air until 11:30 pm. It was more like a soap opera than a sitcom, but that was the point. It was supposed to be a parody of soap operas, hence the double name . . . people always said things twice in soaps, or so Norman Lear felt. The show also aired every day, five days a week, with no repeats, and it had no live audience or laugh track.

Along with Lasser, MH2 (as it was sometimes known) also starred Greg Mullavey, Dody Goodman, Mary Kay Place, Graham Jarvis, Debralee Scott, Martin Mull, Dabney Coleman, Marian Mercer and Doris Roberts. Some of those names should also be familiar.

MH2 was only on the air from January of 1976 until May of 1977, but because it aired five episodes a week, there were hundreds of eps. You can order some of them here from Amazon or Deepdiscount.

Also, just so you can see the kind of strange, funny, weirdness that was Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, here’s a video of Mary and the Librarian:

Apparently, turkeys can fly. Well, at least wild turkeys can fly. We have some wild turkeys around this area, and I’ve never seen them flying, but I guess they do. I read a story from Canada (Niagara-on-the-Lake, actually, which is, by the way, a very nice little town to visit, and only about 45 minutes from where I live ) where a wild turkey flew into a school bus. Fortunately, no one was hurt (well, they were all a bit shocked, and one girl was taken to the hospital after being hit with some flying glass, but nothing too bad), and the turkey just walked away.

Remember that ep from WKRP in Cincinnati? I loved that ep, Turkeys Away, which orginally aired on October 30, 1978. Mr. Carlson (Gordon Jump) had this idea for a Thanksgiving turkey giveaway. Les Nessman (Richard Sanders), the news guy, was reporting live from the grocery store parking lot while turkeys were thrown out of a helicopter, with a banner attached to it saying “Happy Thanksgiving From WKRP”. Now that would have been crazy enough if these had been dead turkeys, what with something that heavy falling from the sky into a parking lot full of cars and people. But they threw live turkeys out of the helicopter, not realizing that turkeys can’t fly. It was funny and scary and gross, all at the same time. It was great ep and even better, you can watch it here at hulu.

It got me to thinking about how we remember the craziest things. I mean, that episode was back in the 70’s and yet, not only did I immediately think of it when I read the article, the person writing the article mentioned it as well. Clearly, sitcoms

Last night, I finally saw Hairspray. Call me cheap if you want, and it’s true, but I just don’t see the need to pay money to go see a movie in a theater, when I can just as easily wait a little while and see it for free on my big screen TV with surround sound, comfortably in my jammies. Beyond that, I am already paying for cable, and HBO, and Starz, and HBO on Demand, and Starz on Demand, and . . . you get the picture. So I just keep track of what’s coming to On Demand when and then I watch it. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is coming on June 23 and I’m very excited.

Anyway, back to Hairspray. I really liked it. My husband left about halfway through cause he couldn’t take any more singing. The wimp. But I’m a big fan of musicals. As a matter of fact, just last week we saw Grease (or at least I saw it; my husband does actually like Grease, but there was still too much singing) and The King and I (which my husband avoided at all costs). In any case, watching Grease and Hairspray, reminded me yet again why I like John Travolta so much. Not too long ago, I saw the first DVD of the first season of Welcome Back, Kotter. (You can buy them here from Amazon.) It was great. I keep meaning to get back to the library and get the rest of the eps. In any case, back then I was talking about John Travolta and how great he is at everything he does:

I’m always amazed at how many different genres in which he has performed and excelled. He’s been in comedies, dramas and musicals. He has sung and danced, delivered jokes and acted as the evil bad man, and he’s been believable. Plus, he’s been successful in both small and big screens . . . not many actors are versatile enough to do well on both TV and in movies.

. . . and now he’s proven that he makes a pretty good woman, too!

Am I the only person in the world who remembers that they just did an Incredible Hulk movie like 3 years ago? Seriously. The new Incredible Hulk movie is coming out on Friday, and I just can’t help wondering why someone thought it was a good idea, since the other movie was such a big hit. OK, for any slow students out there, that was sarcasm.

I didn’t actually hate the other movie, unlike so many other people, but then I’m a big comic book geek. Also, I loved Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno in the series, which was pretty lame in retrospect. (By the way, if you are interested, you can get the DVDs for that series here.) But still, what is the reasoning behind making another movie? The same movie. I mean, I’m sure the movie will be different, but you’re starting with the same premise and working with all the same characters, right?

When I first saw the promos, I thought it was going to be sequel and I wondered why. Then I saw it was going to actually be another movie and I really wondered why.

So if there’s anyone out there who has a clue, please tell me. I mean it. I’ve read a little about it and its almost like no one is even acknowledging the previous movie. Like it never existed. This confuses me. I would expect people to at least comment on the first movie. To say why they think there’s another movie being made, or to explain it all away for someone like me. Cause I have an enquiring mind.

Since my last couple of posts have been about food, and since I have to keep thinking of stuff to write about, I started thinking about this movie I like, Christmas in Connecticut. I know its only June, but Christmas will come eventually. It does every year.

If you’ve never seen it, you should check it out this year. Its one of those movies I try to watch each year around the holidays. I’m talking about the 1945 version, by the way. And what, you ask, does that have to do with me and food? Well, the story is about a journalist, Elizabeth Lane (played by Barbara Stanwyck), who writes a famous home making column, where she talks all about her farmhouse home, her husband and baby, and what wonderful meals she has made. The thing is, Elizabeth doesn’t have any of those things, she’s single, she lives in an New York apartment, and she can’t cook.

Then her boss, Alexander Yardley (Sydney Greenstreet), invites himself and a returning war hero to spend Christmas with her family on their farm. In order to save her job, she has to think fast, and hilarity ensues. Elizabeth agrees to marry John Sloan (Reginald Gardiner), a long time suitor she has consistently rejected. As it turns out, he owns a farm in Connecticut, and it seems like the perfect solution. The housekeeper there even watches babies for mothers working at a local factory. Elizabeth’s good friend, Felix (S.K. Sakall), a chef agrees to come and cook, as well.

Then Elizabeth meets Jefferson Jones (Dennis Morgan), the war hero, and things get really out of hand.

The difference is, I really can cook.

I need money, cause I’ve been off work so long. Well, maybe “need” is a strong word, but I want it. Then my sister tells me that she has direct deposit with the IRS, so she got her tax rebate check like two weeks ago. Apparently, if you trust the government with your bank account information, they reward you. I don’t trust the government, so I had to do some investigating to see when we’ll get ours. As it turns out, not soon enough.

The IRS site advises that the “economic stimulus payments” will be issued according to the last two-digits of the main filer’s Social Security number. For joint filers, the payments will go out based on the person listed first on the return. Payments will be made by either direct deposit or paper check, consistent with how people filed their 2007 tax return.

So here’s the schedule for DIRECT DEPOSIT:
Last two SSN digits: Payments will be transmitted
no later than (and received by
the end of the day of):
00 through 20 May 2
21 through 75 May 9
76 through 99 May 16

Which means, of course, that all those trusting people have already received and, possibly, spent their check. If you are like me, though, you are still waiting. Paper checks will also go out according to the last two-digits of the main filer’s Social Security number. But they didn’t even start to go out until all the direct deposit people had money. Why not, I wonder?

Anyway, here is the schedule for the PAPER CHECKS:

Last two SSN digits: Payments will be mailed
no later than (and received
a few days after):
00 through 09 May 16
10 through 18 May 23
19 through 25 May 30
26 through 38 June 6
39 through 51 June 13
52 through 63 June 20
64 through 75 June 27
76 through 87 July 4
88 through 99 July 11

You then need to allow some extra time for actual mail delivery, they say 3 to 5 days, but with our mail, it could be two weeks.

There was also some other info about people who didn’t file their 2007 taxes on time, and other reasons why you might not get your check according to the schedule. If you’re interested, you find it all at IRS.gov.

All I know is, I gotta wait at least another month to get my money. *sigh*

I know this isn’t a recipe blog, but I figured I’d share the Cherry-Apricot Cobbler recipe, too, since it was so good. Someone might care, right?

Anyway, its really simple. I use a baking mix, like Bisquick, about 2 cups (it depends on your pan size, really, but the ratios will be the same no matter what size the pan is) and a cup of sugar, some cinnamon, about a cup to a cup and half of milk and a teaspoon of vanilla. Mix that all together and put it in your buttered pan. A metal or foil pan works better and makes a crispier cobbler. If you want it more cake-like, a glass baking dish will work.

Next, I had a can of apricots halves in syrup, which I cut into quarters and scattered them over the top of the baking mix. Then a can of cherry pie filling, just scattering it around, and then poured the juice from the apricots over the top. Finally, I melted a stick of butter and poured it over everything. You bake it at 350 degrees for about an hour. Keep an eye on it, and once the top gets all browned and bubbly, it’s done. You can really use any kind of canned fruit with this, its awesome with peaches, too. Then I serve it warm with heavy cream poured over it, or with ice cream.

I’m just still not feeling well, and when that happens, I want lots and lots of comfort food. For those of you that read about my being sick, believe it or not, I’m now on my third antibiotic, plus some weird ointment and some other meds. It’s crazy. But I have faith that I’ll feel better some day. Meanwhile, I’ll be in the kitchen eating.

Food is my life. That’s gonna be the name of my cooking show, if I ever get a cooking show of my own. Which is doubtful. But if I did, I’d just cook all sorts of different stuff, both good for you and not so good for you. But all good. I just told my husband today, I’m too good of a cook to always cook healthy food. I made a cherry-apricot cobbler for dessert the other night and, on our diet, none of the ingredients would be legal. We are all always on a diet at my house, because we’re all overweight. But then, these days, who isn’t? I mean, am I right?

Anyway, I watch a few different cooking shows, and I never talk about them. One show I love is 30 Minute Meals. OK, Rachael Ray can be a bit much at times, but she’s good and she’s taught me a lot of shortcuts to use that do save time. I generally need more than 30 minutes, but still and all, I do cook faster than I used to, and I think I’ve become an even better cook. I’ve been cooking since I was really young, like 11 or 12 years old, cause it was just me and my mom and she worked really long hours. So I made dinner. At first, it was a lot of macaroni and cheese and stuff like that, but eventually, I learned.

Now, I usually cook with all fresh ingredients (no box mixes for me), and I generally don’t bother following recipes, cause I don’t really need them cramping my style.

Last night, I made this really great pasta dish that we all loved and which was perfectly legal on our eating plan. My husband said it was good enough to entertain with and it was super easy. If you’re interested, I’ll share it, but I warn you, I don’t measure anything.

It was Shrimp and Artichoke Pasta. I chopped and sauteed a small onion and four cloves of garlic in some chicken stock (I make my own, without salt), about a 1/2 cup of white wine, and a couple of tablespoons of lemon juice, and let the onions and garlic get all soft and mellow. I then added some crushed red pepper flake, fresh ground black pepper, parsley (fresh or not), and one can of artichokes (you could probably use frozen, too, but I had a can). I dumped the juice out and rinsed them off, and cut the hearts into quarters, first. Then I cleaned and thickly sliced a small package of white button mushrooms, but any kind would work, and added those. I’m a firm believer in using what I have.

Once all the veggies were looking good, I added some medium sized already cooked shrimp. I get the packages of frozen shrimp from Aldis and keep them in the freezer. Just dump them into a bowl with some cold water and they thaw out within a few minutes. I always de-tail them before adding them to anything I’m cooking, cause I hate having to deal with the tails when I’m eating, but you do what you want. After about 3 minutes, which is all the shrimp really need, I added about 2 or 3 handfuls of grated Parmesan cheese (OK, this is not strictly legal, but its worth it!) to the sauce and it thickened right up.

In the meantime, I had cooked some rice pasta, any kind would work, but we had spaghetti. Then I threw the cooked pasta into the sauce and mixed it all around and we ate. And ate. It was really good and had no salt, wheat or fat.

Best of the West. Did I talk about this show before, or did I just think about it? I do that sometimes, I think the whole thing out, just in my head, and then never get a chance to write it down. Then I forget everything I thought out that was so witty. Or whatever. Then I either forget about it entirely, or just think I already did it. So, I’m not sure about Best of the West and I’m too lazy to go back and check.

Best of the West was a western comedy back in 1981. And look what I found on YouTube:

This is just a few minutes of one of the eps, but it gives you an idea of what the show was like, for those of you, unlike me, who don’t remember it very well. I remember it really well. That Meeno Peluce (he’s related to Punky Brewster, you know) was such a little cutie, and Tracey Walter, who played Frog, was just so hilarious.

One episode I remember particularly well was about the railroad coming into town. The man who determined where the railroad would go was very religious. Since they wanted the railroad, they decided to pretend they were religious, too. They converted the saloon into a church, and draped the dancing girls in sheets, stationing them along the stairway, to be the choir. They start to sing the hymn, Rock of Ages, but no one knows more than just the title, so they keep singing that over and over to the tune of the song, “rock of ages, cleft for me” pause, “rock of ages, cleft for me” and so on. For some reason, that struck my mother and I as very funny and whenever we hear that song, we always sing it that way. Just goes to show you how people remember silly things.

The writer of the show, Earl Pomerantz, has a series of posts in his blog, entitled “Story of a Writer,” where he talks about Best of the West and how it came to be. He mentions another funny bit in one episode where the wife is sweeping the floor and complaining that she can’t get all the dirt up, when the husband points out that it’s a dirt floor. Again, silly, but one of those things you remember, even nearly 30 years later.

I also found this link, to someone who has created a DVD of the show and is selling it. I might just have to get those.

I’ve been sick. For a really, really long time now and it just sucks. Plus, I lost my job. Well, see, it was like this. It’s like I read once somewhere. I think it was Shirley Jackson, or maybe it was Erma Bombeck, one of them anyway, who wrote about how whenever anyone else in her home was sick, like her husband or one of her kids, it was like the end of the world. They got to be as sick as they wanted and she had to take care of them. But when she got sick, she just had to keep going and no one noticed. She said she used to fantasize that the doctor would stop in for some reason, take one look at her and say she was so sick she should be in the hospital and how dare they not take care of her. That kind of thing.

That’s what its been like for me. I knew I hadn’t been feeling well for a long time, months. Maybe longer. My neck was killing me and I’d lost my voice. Even before my mom had surgery and I’d spent the entire month of October being a nursemaid, while trying to do all the other stuff I needed to do, which included my very full-time job and teach our choir’s sopranos to sing a dozen Christmas songs, I wasn’t well. Going into November, I was exhausted. I kept trying to get a day off to rest, but it wasn’t happening. I asked to take off the week of Thanksgiving, just to have “me” day, but it was a no. I had, I think, something like 17 people here for dinner on Thanksgiving, so I asked if I could take off just Tuesday and Wednesday to get ready. Tuesday was a no. So I took off just Wednesday and spent the entire day running at full-tilt to get everything ready. It was actually on that Tuesday, November 20, that I started to lose my voice. But I just kept going. All though the crazy holidays.

But when I finally gave in and went to see the doctor in late January, it turns out I was actually sick. Apparently, parts of my neck are fused together. Also, that little nagging laryngitis issue I had had for over 10 weeks? Turns out I had a hemorrhage on my left vocal cord. So I had to go through voice therapy and the doctor put me on disability cause he didn’t think it was a good thing for me to talk too much. My job is all talking. I actually had to stop talking for like five full days at first. Completely. It was very hard.

I loved my job. But, honestly, I don’t think my boss believed I had to be off work, cause she knows how much I wanted to take off and she wouldn’t let me, for months, and she probably felt guilty and mad all at the same time. So when the doctor finally released me to go back to work in April, my boss was real strange about it, like she didn’t know what I was going to do. I found out later, that she had already given my desk away to someone else. She had locked me out of my email a while before that, and I started to worry then, but I still thought I’d have a job when I got better.

Well, I found another position, but only part-time, which was what the doctor recommended for the first little while. I was supposed to start this week.

Guess what? I’m sick again. This time I have a bacterial infection of some sort, all over my face. At first I thought it was shingles, and I had to go to the Emergency Clinic cause my doctor’s office was closed. They told me it was a sinus infection and a staph infection, and put me on an antibiotic. I was on it for about five days when I could get in to see my own doctor. My doctor said it was some sort of bacterial infection, but wasn’t sure what exactly. He sent me for some blood work and put me on another antibiotic. Now, I’m completely nauseous all the time, as well as being all itchy and red and swollen in the face. I’m absolutely miserable. And I’ve been sitting around off work for nearly 4 months now.

You’d think with all this free time I’d have been able to watch more sitcoms. But it just hasn’t happened.

The first thing I did this morning when I woke up was check dialidol. Really. It’s an illness, I can admit that now, when its almost over and I don’t have to think about it again until I go to the concert in July. Anyway, I wanted to see what dialidol had to say about who was gonna win American Idol. It says David Cook. And dialidol has never been wrong. At least it has never been wrong for this week, for the final winner. My mother won’t even discuss it. She has already decided that David Archuleta is the winner and she won’t hear anything else. If he does win, she’s gonna be unbelievably obnoxious. My mother is a bad loser and a bad winner.

So as I get ready to watch AI tonight, I’m ready for anything.

Ryan says we had 97 1/2 million votes. That’s 23 million votes more than the most before. Does he mean ever or just this year? So the votes weren’t even that close, 56% to 44%.

Mikayla Gordon is in Kansas City for David Cook. Matt Rogers is in Salt Lake City, Utah for David Archuleta. I love Matt Rogers. I was so sad when he didn’t make the concert in his year.

I think this was the least awkward group performance all season. Which isn’t saying much, but still. It was almost exciting to see all those people I had mostly forgotten about, like David Hernandez. Did anyone else notice someone in the back start to walk off and then go back and get in position? Was that Jason??

I never care much about the audience, but this is a big night. I heard Danny Noriega is upset because he wasn’t invited. Anyway, so far I’ve noticed Marilu Henner and Janice Dickinson. That doesn’t mean anything, it’s just who I noticed.

When they come back from the commercial it seemed like they weren’t actually ready for that. So the start of the David/David song was a little weak. But they did a good job, they sounded good together. I’m almost starting to look forward to the concert now.

The Love Guru skit was actually funny. Who knew? I love the way Fox fills up time by promoting their movies and shows, “Mariska Hargitay.” That’s fun. I’m gonna start staying that.

Next Syesha sings “Wait For You” with Seal. Seal was great, but the song didn’t sound like it was in the right key for Syesha. But obviously, when you’re singing with a real celebrity you have to sing it in his key. And anyway, the judging is over.

Now we have Jason singing “Hallelujah.” How come he doesn’t get to sing with a celebrity? I saw Melinda Doolittle in the crowd. I was crying, too, Melinda.

The Ford commercial this week was just outtakes from old commercials. Question: Why don’t we ever see those commercials as commercials? You know, other than just on AI.

Now the chicks get to sing some Donna Summer, “She Works Hard for the Money” and “Hot Stuff” and then Donna Summer comes out and sings her new song. This is hardly ever a good idea. When old people come back with their new stuff, its usually scary. This was just OK. I missed the ending cause the dogs had to go out.

Next up we have Carly and Michael singing “The Letter.” If I recall, Constantine’s group sang this during Hollywood week. I know that doesn’t matter, but I have to talk about something right now and I’d rather not say anything rude about Carly. Or anything about Carly at all. I wish I wasn’t seeing and hearing her now. Her voice totally grates on my ears and her ugly tat is annoying me. Sorry.

Ryan hands the show over to Jimmy Kimmel. Yeah, Sanjaya is in the audience. I love him! And they showed a pic of Chris Sligh. I love him, too!

Now we have the top 6 guys singing some Bryan Adams, “Summer of ‘69″ and “Heaven.” This is turning out to be a great night for me, cause I’m a big Bryan Adams fan. Forget everything I said about old people singing new stuff and how it’s not good. Bryan was amazing. I actually did a little fangirly squeal when he came out on the stage.

Bo Bice sighting. It makes me wonder where Constantine is. I doubt they could have this finale without him, can they?

Now up we have David Cook with ZZ Top singing “Sharp Dressed Man.” Whenever I hear this song I always hear “his shy best man” for some reason. I know the words, I just always think that. And I can’t believe ZZ is on American Idol.

More Mikayla. Then Brooke singing with Graham Nash, “Teach Your Children Well.” Wow, he’s old. And she’s not wearing shoes. What is that all about?

Is that my imagination or was that David Cook in that Guitar Hero commercial? I wish I was taping this on a video, cause I think I’m gonna want to keep this year’s finale for a while.

Ryan says this next group needs no introduction, and maybe that’s true if you’re a teenage girl, but no one in this living room has any idea who they are. I hazard a guess that it’s the Jonas Brothers. I’m right.

Now, Ryan, with his arm around some strange woman from the audience, introduces a tape of the best of the worst. Just when I had finally repressed it all. Then they bring out Renaldo singing his own song, “I Am Your Brother.” Complete with a marching band. They clearly have too much time to waste on this show.

One Republic is up next with “Apologize” and David Archuleta. Laura just shared that Ryan Tedder looks like a guy named Robbie that was stalking her once. But not as cute. Yes, little by little, the living room has been filling up with people to catch the AI finale. I’m sure we’ll have some phone-ins soon, too.

More with Matt Rogers. Next up with Jordin Sparks. I thought she was on voice rest or something. Apparently not any longer.

The stuff they can do with video these days is just amazing. They can even make Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey, Jr. into Pips.

Now we have Carrie Underwood singing some country song. I know everyone likes her, but I really never did. We’re busy discussing her outfit. Its like she put her jacket on but forgot a skirt or pants. So much for sweet and wholesome.

Ashley Tinsdale sighting. I never even mentioned anywhere that the two David’s were given Ford Escape Hybrids.

Oh, look, there’s that Guitar Hero commercial with David Archuleta. Cookie was better.

Another group number with the top 12. George Michael medley. It’s OK, David H, you can say “naked” on TV. And, as is no surprise at this point, we are joined by George Michael. Why is Paula crying? Is she flashing back to some bad experience in the 80’s? We’ve all fallen silent listening to George. Its almost like a spiritual thing. Except for my husband who abruptly left the room when they started singing “Faith.”

OK, so finally, we are down to the end. Finally. It took long enough. And so, the American Idol of Season 7, the best season of American idol, ever, is . . . (drum roll, please) . . . David . . . Cook. Yeah!!!!! We can’t even believe it. I just had to call my sister and be obnoxious. I love it when things work out.

Here we are, finally, at the finale of American Idol. Well, the first night of the finale. All these months of watching this show as it beat us up and dragged us around, are finally paying off.

Oh, puhlease. What is with the announcer guy and the boxing gloves? They didn’t do anything like this for Clay and Ruben, did they?

What’s with showing Chris Daughtry when speaking about the “title” and “superstars?” Did American Idol conveniently forget that Chris didn’t actually win the title?

So David A won the coin toss and chose to go second. Surprise, surprise. If I cared more, I’d go back and check to see how many who went second on this week won.

So they are paying homage to Clive Davis. I thought he was out of it this year.

David Cook
Clive’s Choice - I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, U2. This is one of my most fave songs. There’s a live version on Rattle and Hum with Chicago Mass Choir behind it and it would have been incredible if David Cook had done that version.

He didn’t, but if he had I’d have voted for him. Even so, he did a great job. He totally got the better song, so Clive must like Cook better than Archuleta.

David’s Choice (from songwriting competition) - Dream Big. I just noticed that David’s hair is sticking up tonight. No more badcombover look. This was a good pick for him, since we don’t know the song it’s a little hard to judge, but that was a good catchy tune and he did a good, if somewhat mumbly versed, job. My husband thought it had a little bit of a Van Halen feel to it.

Is it fair to change the competition at this point? I mean all this time they’ve been singing karaoke, and we’ve judged them based on songs we know, and now suddenly, we are supposed to be giving our opinions for songs we don’t know.

David’s Choice - The World We Know, Collective Soul. I love this song, too! Cook is just pulling the better songs for me. He did a great job. He just doesn’t have the strong vocals like Archie. But I will buy his CD.

David Archuleta
Clive’s Choice - Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Me, Elton John. Also a good job. As it turns out, this song was great for his voice. But I still didn’t think he was better than David Cook. He did mostly keep his eyes open and I only saw him lick his lips once. My mom just called to say how wonderful David is. I think that’s what she said, cause she was very loud and excited and then she said goodbye and hung up.

David’s Choice (from songwriting competition) - In A Moment. Another nice, slow, boring ballad for David. It’s OK, but not even as good as his first song and still not as good as David Cook. Sure, his voice is smoother, but its just missing something, if you ask me. My sister just called me to be obnoxious and say how wonderful David is. She kept screaming into the phone. She also told me that she didn’t believe anything she heard about his dad, cause if his dad was so awful, how could David be so sweet? *puke*

David’s Choice - Imagine, John Lennon. Can he do that? Sing a song he already did? Laura says they do that every year. I guess I just don’t remember. Plus, I guess, I don’t really care. Well, it was as good as last time and maybe just a tad less gaspy than usual. Good job, David.

Its clear that the judges want Archie to win. I believe he was hand picked from day one to win. Either that or his dad paid them off for him to win. Whatever. Archie has the great vocal chops and he sounds good, my 80 year old mother and my 59 year old sister love him. They love him. But they won’t buy his CD and neither will I. I will be buying David Cook’s CD, though, no matter what Laura says, cause he’s more my style. Of course, when Jason Castro’s CD comes out, I’m all over that one, too.

As this season is drawing to a close once again (didn’t this just happen a few weeks ago? No, wait, that was a strike) and most of the shows I watch are going into hibernation for the summer, I did a little sleuthing to see what was what. So here’s a really, really, really (and I mean, really) comprehensive list of all the shows on TV right now, what’s coming soon, and what’s never coming back, from the Futon Critic. I’m amazed at this list. It must have taken forever to put that together and I’m glad all I have to do it link to it.

Anyway, I’m pretty disappointed about a couple of things. First of all Moonlight. They promised me it would be back. Well, maybe not promised, maybe I just assumed it would be back. But it was cancelled. Also, Fox kept Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and cancelled New Amsterdam. It’s like no one even listens to me when I talk.

As for sitcoms, Back To You was cancelled, which is no surprise to me. It had been going downhill ever since it came back after the strike. Also cancelled, and no surprise, were Miss/Guided, Welcome to the Captain, Cavemen, Carpoolers, The Return of Jezebel James and Unhitched. I kinda liked Miss/Guided.

Of all those new sitcoms that came out way back last Fall, we did get to keep my fave, The Big Bang Theory. The last few weeks have seen me laughing out loud, not something I do often, and I’m looking forward to the show coming back even funnier next Fall.

So you’ll want to to check out the list to see if your fave shows are returning or if they are going the way of Moonlight. *sigh*