The Top 11 Results

Amanda is out. Not surprised, but I'm disappointed because she could work the stage and was entertaining to watch. The show will only get harder to watch. The other of the bottom two was the forgettable Kristy Lee Cook, the ex-RCA recording artist Carly Smithson rounded out the bottom three. Only the top 10 tour.

Announced "mentors" include Dolly, Mariah, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Neil Diamond. The Top 10 Idols will perform songs from the year they were born and Season 2 alum, Kimberley Locke, will return to perform on the results show.

Listening to the studio-recording clips on iTunes, Michael Johns and Jason Castro (could win it all) sounded best. David Archuleta sounds alright but the a lot of his charm is sucked out by production, much as happened with Clay Aiken. Clay was far better live on Idol than on his albums.

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Sean Astin played a preacher on the original "Law & Order" tonight. I suspect the episode might upset some people since he was cast as a radical "warrior" for Christ in the mold of extremist mullahs. I find it boorish and contrived. On the upside, Carolyn McCormick was back as Dr. Olivet.

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"GRΣΣK" returns soon. The second half "Kyle XY" (Season 2) has ended with Amanda missing, kidnapped either by Latnock organization or Taylor, Jessie XX's "father."

TV Season Winding Down

Spoilers ahead! Be warned!

With the TV writers still out on strike shows have been winding down. On "Desperate Housewives" Andrew (Shawn Pyfrom) moved out of the house which can only mean we'll see even less of him than now I guess. In the tornado episode Bree didn't touch base and we didn't see the gay neighbors at all. Two die. "One loses a husband and everyone loses a friend." I don't know if the second part will actually show this month or if it's being held for the shows inevitable return.

"Heroes" wrapped the second Chapter on Monday and I think I've lost interest in the show. I think they've jumped the shark. If the season wasn't bad enough with the "wonder twins" and the lame diversions with Claire at school and the other story in NOLA. Really my favorite story was Hiro and then, maybe, the Peter mystery but it all came to mean nothing. We know immortality and resurrection exists now in the show's universe so just where's the risk? I've been skeptical since they let Sylar survive in last year's finale and this year proved my skepticism justified. Sad.

January sees the return of "Kyle XY" with the second half of the second season. I don't know when other shows return yet.

"SVU" got me excited last week with the "death" of Eliot's wife. Unfortunately she was alive at the end of the episode. I've never liked that character. "Criminal Intent" is on a slim budget with the four detectives, switching off weeks, and the Captain. No ADA now. I never did find out how or why Jamie Sheridan was replaced. I can't stand the hair on the his replacement.

"House" has his new team. I'll miss "Cut-Throat Bitch."

TV is barely interesting.

Kyle XY Renewal

A third season of Kyle XY has been ordered by ABC Family Channel according to Yahoo News. The second half of season two is in production. When we last saw Kyle he had just seen his female counterpart, Jessi, leap off a cliff after stealing information from Kyle.

Summer TV Winding Down

"Kyle XY" had its season finale on Monday. I can't say this was a great season. The show lost a lot of its appeal for me through the tortured Jesse XX story. I really can't stand the neighbor girl, Amanda, who Kyle has had a crush on. She's moody and an annoyance.

The finale ended with Jesse jumping off a cliff after she betrayed Kyle.

I don't really know if I care about any of the characters at this point. I think it's gone off the rails.

"Greek" has its season finale next week. I don't really know what I think of that show after one season. Perhaps I'll feel more certain after Monday's show.

Due to the "U.S. Open" tennis match, there's no "Burn Notice" for a few weeks.

I'm feeling rather numb about TV and entertainment in general these days. Hopefully something will come along and stir some excitement.

TV Renewals

USA Network's "Burn Notice" has been renewed for a second season of 13 shows. It's a fun show. If it comes to your country, give it a look.

GRΣΣK has been picked up for another 10 shows.

GRΣΣK's doing ok but it isn't as strong story-wise as it could be. Still, it's a bit of light entertainments and I like Cappie. OK. How many characters do you need to like to watch a show anyway?

KYLE XY was good on Monday. It's moved the main plot about Kyle ahead. Next week Kyle reveals to Jesse there's more in common to them both than they knew.

Random Items

Cisco is killing the LinkSys brand. I'll miss LinkSys. Non-US readers probably won't care.

Cisco is apparently going to do yet another branding change. They did one in 2006 to a crappy logo sometimes compared to eye brows or toddler toys.

Casting for the new "Star Trek" film is going OK. The guy who plays the villain Sylar in Heroes (Wiki), Zachary Quinto, is cast as the younger Mr. Spock while Leonard Nimoy has come out of acting retirement to put on his pointed ears one more time. Nimoy has been notoriously difficult to involve in Trek revivals and films. That they got him involved is a huge boost to the film's potential to not completely suck.

Still, I remain quite skeptical at the underlying premise and return to the Kirk and Spock characters and exploration of their early years.

I've been scheduling my meds a bit further apart and it seems to be helping with sleep. I hate waiting for the scheduled time rather than taking them "early" but my dreams are a little less vivid and sleep a less disturbed and thus a bit more restful.

I still need to grocery. I'm in my usual end of the month funk. I hate the act of paying bills so I put it off although I know I feel better once they're paid. I miss having a bill payer.

Dan decided to stay on holiday a week longer which meant a bit of scrambling with the radio gig. I did an extra show and negotiated who would fill when. I might do the show Monday if I get other things done (read as groceries and bills). He's called a meeting for week's end. At this point in life, the very mention of the word strikes terror. No time or agenda is known. Yet.

J, moving from Tues to Fri on air, is now working part time on remodeling a Wal-Mart in addition to his firefighter gig. He needs to slow down, or at least relax. I worry about that boy. Ok, he's 25 but I'm allowed to worry like he's a younger brother, right? Duckie is exchanging his indentured servitude err, I mean he's changing jobs. He needed to climb out of hell err to find a less thankless work situation.

No trip to Comi-Con this year. Brother's decided it's too much of a "zoo" and so that tradition is dead. We were supposed to take my niece for the first time this year. I've been wondering what I'm missing behind the curtain. Go to the films? Nope. Go see the kids play ball? Nope. Host the SIL's surprise bday party? Nope. Connect on Mother's Day? Nope. Mother's birthday? Nope. Close the estate? Not a word. Father used to say I'm paranoid and, well, he'd be right. Of course I am and I probably got it from him. I resist the urge to see conspiracies and plots but, as they say, "my spider-sense is tingling."

Recent dreams have featured my grandmother who passed over 15 yrs ago. I'm not sure where that fits in. Kitty is doing fine. We've been watching "Kyle XY" (Wiki) which has had a bumpy season, the new shows "GRΣΣK" (Wiki) and "Burn Notice."

"Burn Notice," (Wiki) a "dramady," is five weeks in and is the most entertaining of the three we're watching. That said, I've probably just hexed it. I like it so it's doomed.

"Kyle XY" introduced a female counterpart, Jessie XX, and the mystery and exploration of Kyle has taken a bit of a back seat. This past week was an cringe worthy "after school special"-like episode cramming nearly all things gay into the show. We had the drunken homophobic slurring guy, the girl with two mommies, the banning of same sex couples from a school dance, the protest, the alternative dance, the son wigged out by the idea of male couples, straight girls who kiss to show support and the token background gay males who only dance in a three-party group with a girl. None of the principle or supporting characters is gay. It was too heavy-handed.

More as inclination inspires.

Saturday Was Quiet

Kitty and I caught up on sleep. Someone was outside tearing up root systems. I told her, "Better him than me." I did that last year and don't miss it.

Dream was odd: I was naked because I was so tired I hadn't noticed I didn't put on clothes. Oops.

Kyle XY is back already! In fact, there've been two shows! That was earlier than I'd read online it'd return and even more annoying was the thing came back on the major ABC network and not the "ABC Family" cable channel it debuted on last year. I only know Kyle was back because I saw part of the second episode last night while I was looking to see if there was any news about yet another fire. (Aside: the fire was supposedly hot spots from the other day, not anything new.) So, anyway, I'll catch up with Kyle online.

I made food but don't have an appetite. I want to return to bed. *sigh* I told kitty to let me know when she wants to put me to bed and I won't argue.