TV News & Notes/American Idol Recap

LOST RETURNS NEXT WEEK
The last season of Lost kicks off with a two-hour season premier on Tuesday, February 2. A recap hour airs at 7 p.m. on ABC, followed by the premiere. If you need a quick refresher, Rob Owen of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette sets the stage for the final season:

• What became of Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) when she used a rock to pound on a bomb after getting dragged, tangled in chains, into a pit?

• Presuming the bomb detonated -- the screen did go white -- did the explosion do what Jack (Matthew Fox) said it would: Re-set time and prevent Oceanic 815 from crashing on the island in the first place?

• John Locke (Terry O'Quinn) turned out not to be Locke, who died and evidently was not resurrected. Instead it was some sort of unnamed island entity (the smoke monster's cousin, perhaps?), previously seen as The Man in Black (Titus Welliver), who took the form of Locke.

• Ben (Michael Emerson) stabbed Jacob (Mark Pellegrino), angry at him for allowing faux Locke to meet Jacob the first time he asked, even though Ben was on the island asking to see Jacob for decades.


NBC AND CONAN TOGETHER AGAIN
Well... not exactly. According to Variety.com: “Just days after NBC sealed its $33 million exit deal with Conan O'Brien, the Peacock has greenlighted a drama pilot from O'Brien's Conaco shingle. Untitled drama -- previously known as Justice-- from scribe John Eisendrath, revolves around a former Supreme Court Justice who bails from the Court in order to start his own legal practice. As part of O'Brien's departure last week, Conaco remains set up right now at Universal Media Studios, where it still has a year and a half left on its deal. Other Conaco projects in development include a sitcom starring Paul Rust; a buddy laffer from Steve Tompkins; a dating sitcom from Stephen Engel; a show set in a coffeehouse, from Kevin Cecil and Andy Riley; and a sci-fi comedy from Brian Kelley and Paul Simms.”


CRIMINAL MINDS SPIN-OFF
From TVGuide.com: “Forest Whitaker is in final negotiations to headline the Criminal Minds spin-off, TVGuide.com has confirmed. The Oscar winner will play Cooper, the head agent of a group of profilers who work outside the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit. The mysterious Cooper has been off the grid for the last eight years. CBS could not confirm the casting. The new team will be introduced in a spring episode of Criminal Minds. Minds executive producer and writer Chris Mundy wrote the spin-off, which is based on a story by him and executive producer and showrunner Ed Bernero. Whitaker is no stranger to television, having appeared on The Shield as Vic Mackey's nemesis Lt. Jon Kavanaugh, and as a stroke victim on ER, for which he earned an Emmy nomination.”


HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER NEWS
Remember back in the old days, when we would have to wait until the network upfronts in May to find out if How I Met Your Mother would survive the chopping block? Well, not anymore! CBS announced this week that the series has already been picked up for a sixth season. Meanwhile, the Eye network has also given HIMYM co-creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas a pilot order on their new sitcom, Livin on a Prayer. The new comedy will focus on a young dating couple who are figuring out the next phase of their relationship in Pittsburgh. So basically Marshall and Lilly in Pittsburgh. While there have been plenty of examples of creators leaving a show to go start a new one, Bays and Thomas have remained very involved with HIMYM throughout the first five seasons, so it will be interesting to see where how this new development will affect Ted and the gang in New York City.


AMERICAN IDOL RECAP
American Idol was delayed in the Denver area last night due to President Obama's State of the Union Address and then the Republican Party response by new Virginia Governor, Bob McDonnell (from the it's a small world department: I apparently went to preschool with Governor McDonnell's son). With the 40 billion cable news stations in the world today, it drives me crazy when politics interferes with my regularly scheduled programming.

We gotta have some priorities, people!

I wasn't crazy about the Los Angeles auditions on Tuesday night at all, but the Dallas show last night more than made up for it.

As much as I like the idea of the celebrity guest judges for each of the audition shows, the execution has come up a little short as most of them have failed to make any impact or even an impression on the proceedings (did Joe Jonas say anything more than "yes" to every contestant that passed through?). That being said, with the recent announcement that this is Simon's final season, I'm ready to pass the torch of resident meanie to Neil Patrick Harris based on his stint last night - as long as it doesn't interfere with his day job as Barney Stinson on HIMYM. At times it felt like Neil was running the show and wasn't afraid of stepping on any toes, especially Simon's. In fact, is it too late to replace Ellen?

On to the contestants:

From L.A., Jim Ranger (the worship minister) and Andrew Garcia (sang the Maroon 5 song) were they only two that blipped on my radar, but Dallas provided more than just a couple legit contenders in my book.

1. Todrick Hall - He sang the cutesy song about the audition process and I still really liked him despite that. He's one of the first contestants so far that seems to already have a radio-ready voice.

2. Dave Pittman - the guy from Arkansas that has turrets syndrome. I think America could get behind him and he had a good voice, good vibe, and good look. All very important.

3. Christian Spears - she's the cancer survivor that's only 16 years old, but if everything breaks right I could totally see her going on a Jordin Sparks type run.

4. Kimberly Carver - Simon and NPH were split on this girl's jazzy stylings. I don't know how far she could go, but I liked her style and I liked her.

5. Lloyd Thomas - I don't think the dock working father of two has any chance of winning the whole thing but he has a great personality and I wouldn't mind if he stuck around for a while.

What did you think? Did I leave any of your favorites out? Let me know your thoughts below and don't forget that the auditions that took place here in Denver airs this coming Tuesday night! Can't wait to see what kind of talent (or lack thereof) our city has to offer.