TVSquad

Watching American Idol this season, I've come to the not-so-astute realization that we can't all like everyone who makes it to the top ten each season. There are different musical styles, personalities and, let's face it, some pretty crappy singers who make it through.

So I've begun to fantasize about an all-star AI top ten. Imagine if everyone that you really liked from the top ten of all the past seasons of AI were in the top ten together. I know the top ten can't be all the handsome rocker men I so adore, but it can be a good mix of good music, memorable personalities, and lasting talent.

If memory serves me correctly (and we all know it probably doesn't), these are the contestants that I'd pick, in no particular order:

1. Brooke White, season seven, fifth place
No, I'm not a sucker for a crier. I simply love her singer/songwriter style, something we really haven't ever seen in Idol and something I hope we see more of. When AI started, it was the boy-band voice, then it moved to the rockers; hopefully Brooke has started a new force of no-nonsense talent coming through.

The Hollywood Reporter has always ranked high on my list of entertainment sites, but that might change with the site's new makeover. Or rather, makeunder. It's awful! Let's break it down:

1. The Header. They've ditched the classic logo with "Hollywood" in script font for a blocky, robotic logo (see picture). Say what?! As my TV Squad buddy, Joel, says, "It's like changing the Ford or GE logo ... shouldn't be done." And as my other TV Squad buddy, Bob, says, it looks like the logo for "some generic Internet business newsletter." Agree on both counts.

2. The Colors. Bland, bland, bland. Are they harking back to that old saying, "What's black and white and red all over?" Those colors just don't do it for me. Yes, I realize the old design included those colors, but not in such a "plumbing and heating business" kind of way.

Yes, I still mourn Veronica Mars. We all know season three wasn't up to par, but that is all the more reason to mourn what once was.

Jane's recent post, listing six reasons why we need a Las Vegas movie, inspired me to think about, and now write about, why we really need a Veronica Mars movie.

In some ways, the finale was a shout out to the Veronica Mars of old -- Logan was a downright jerk again, left only to his aggression and baser instincts; Veronica was stable and a goody-goody girlfriend (remember the Duncan days?) and Weevil got some balls and was up to his old tricks again. We liked all of that.

Holy frik! We've only just started to embrace the return of our shows after a shortened strike season. Now, they are almost over. In the next few weeks all of our network favorites will say good-bye for the summer to be replaced with reality shows, reality game shows, reality soap operas, and Regis on primetime (again).

Needless to say, I'm a bit depressed. As I am sure you are as well. But, we will do our duty and press on. Thusly, we here at the sprawling lakefront offices of TV Squad (you choose the lakefront) have compiled list of when your favorite, and not so favorite, shows will be saying good-bye for their summer vacation. As usual, taking the fickleness of the networks, these times and days can change at a moment's notices. We will try to update you of those changes as quickly as our little fingers can type it out.

So, with a leaden heart, here are your season and series finales.

As AOL Television continues their look at the 50 Best TV Comedies -- Ever with their Top 10, we here at TV Squad are also looking at television comedy, but with a slightly skewed difference. Last week, we took a look at the Saturday Night Live cast members from 1996 to 2006 that made it to the big time. This week, we get a bit more serious.

There are those in the industry who say that it is easier to go from acting in a drama to acting in a comedy than it is the other way around. Yet, as you will see from the list we've compiled after the jump, there are plenty of comedic actors who have jumped from the world of comedy films, stand-up comedy, and television sitcoms into the more serious world of drama. In many cases they have had even greater success than they did on the other side of the tracks. There have even been instances where they stayed in the drama genre and never went back to being funny.

Michael Emerson owns season four of Lost. Many of the season's best scenes have featured Ben Linus. From screwing with Locke to obsessing over Juliet, Ben has become one of the show's standout characters. Emerson took the complex role to an entirely new level in last week's episode, "The Shape of Things to Come." I'll be shocked (and furious) if he doesn't get an Emmy nomination this year.

Let's take a look at some of Ben's most unforgettable moments using the mastermind's own words. If we're lucky, Ben will give us a few more to add to the list by the season's end. Spoiler alert: If you're not caught up with Lost, stop reading now.

The fine folks over at AOL Television put together their "11 Biggest American Idol Cliches," but as the self-proclaimed guru of all things Idol, I figured my legions of fan (yes it's singular on purpose) are clamoring for my take. You have to figure that after nearly eight years on the air any show is going to rack up it's long, long list of annoying things.

And yet, I don't get nearly as annoyed when Jeff Probst yells "Come on in guys. [Team A] getting their first look at the new [Team B]. [Contestant Name] voted out at the last tribal council," even though he does it every single week. "[Team members], you're the last team to arrive. I'm sorry to tell you that you've both been eliminated from The Amazing Race." No big deal. So why do Ryan, Simon and the gang at American Idol drive us so crazy week after week?

If you're at this site, that means you love television, and if you love television, you have some pretty strong opinions when it comes to its content, its history, its future. So let's fight about it.

After the jump are five opinions/ideas that I have. You're probably not going to agree with me on some of them (or any of them), but I think they're a great jumping-off point to get some arguments intelligent discussions going. Be warned that the following contains opinions that are probably going to tick you off and maybe even some that will make you think I've lost my mind.

We've talked a lot here about theme songs and how they just don't make them like they used to. The openings to shows used to be a lot longer, a real part of the show. Today we're lucky if we get a few bars of music and maybe a credit or two. Heck, one show, Lost, only plays one note and shows the logo.

The Popcorn Trick has a list of the Top 25 Opening Credits of '80s Action Shows, and you can't argue with most of the picks. Magnum P.I. is on the list, as is Riptide, Miami Vice, and The A Team. I would quibble a little bit with the choice of The Rockford Files. One of my favorites, but it was really more of a '70s show than '80s (it ended in 1980). I was 13 years old when Vegas premiered (in 1978 - it ran until 1981) and I wanted to be Dan Tanna and live in Vegas and have hot girlfriends and drive around with a lion in my sports car.

Cagney and Lacey shouldn't be on the list though. It should be replaced with one of several other shows from the '80s. After the jump, the five shows they missed.

As AOL Television continues their look at the 50 Best TV Comedies -- Ever with numbers 20-11, we here at TV Squad are also looking at television comedy, but with a slightly skewed difference. Last week, we took a look at the Saturday Night Live cast members from 1975-1985 that made it to the big time. This week, we focus on the SNL casts from 1986 to 2006.

Aside from the first season of Lorne Michaels' return to the show he created and the 1994-95 season, this period was a very successful one for SNL, introducing a slew of characters and sketches that fans of the show still talk about today. It also produced a good number of Not Ready for Prime-Time Players who went on to bigger things in television and the movies (and some theater as well). Sometimes those bigger things were movies or television shows based on characters developed on SNL.

On the last episode of Lost, we learned that the Island won't let people die. Well, some people. Michael, for instance. And we can assume the Oceanic Six--Kate, Jack, Hurley, Sun, Sayid, Aaron--experienced the same inability to die as Michael.

But a lot of people have died. Some of them are missed and some of them... not so much. And there will be a lot more deaths over the final two seasons of the series, which returns with a new episode tonight. It seemed like a good time to look back on some of the island's most notorious deaths. And the strange manners in which characters died:

Since we had so much fun examining the greatest mysteries of Cheers, I've decided to make this a quasi-regular feature. The next classic show to come under scrutiny is The Love Boat, the 1977 - 1986 Aaron Spelling series that involved water, Mexican paradises, and everyone from David Hasselhoff to George Burns getting busy on the Lido deck.

I used to watch the show just about every Saturday night, especially during its early years (it was a big event when Julie went from her bowl cut to the feathered look... I think it coincided with my very first months of pre-puberty). At the time, I just took the show at face value, but as the years have gone on, aspects of life on the Pacific Princess made me scratch my head, starting with a fact of life that just about everyone took for granted:

Reaper's back and I'm excited. If you are too, don't go looking for your fave show in its old time slot, Thursdays at 8:00 EST. It's got an all-new night and time, Tuesdays (tonight!) at 9:00 EST on The CW.

Now, why am I so excited about Reaper's return?

1. The Devil
He's suave, slick, sarcastic, and nasty -- I love him! Ray Wise couldn't have been a more perfect casting choice for this modern-day incarnation of Satan himself. From popping up at inopportune times to manipulating Sam's love life, The Devil wreaks havoc in such a subtle, funny way that you can't help but appreciate the underlying evil with the debonair facade.

Unless you've been hiding under an ozone-filled nuclear waste facility hidden in an Arctic glacier that has recently begun to melt, you know that today is Earth Day. Now, while other Earth Days have been important, this year's is down-right significant thanks to media reports letting us know that global warming is finally here. This is pretty serious, especially to those of us with young children. We certainly want to do anything in our power to stop global warming so all of the planet's resources aren't used up and we need to travel to another planet in a spaceship flown by Joey Tribbiani.

With that in mind, the environmentally-friendly folks at TV Squad (we write all of our articles on recycled toilet paper) have decided to point out those television characters who don't give the environment the credit it deserves. Some are actually trying to harm it on purpose (I'm leering in your direction, Rush Limbaugh), while others don't know that they are doing anything at all. Here are but a few of the most wanted.

We watch a lot of TV around this house -- hey, it's my job, man -- so the kids, ages 11 and 13, get to see a wide assortment of shows. Sure, there's a few I can't get them interested in (hard as I try), like Lost, Heroes, and Grey's Anatomy (probably just as well, with all the bed-hopping). Still, there are lots of shows I've had to recap or review over the years that they've gotten hooked on. Here are a few of our favorites.

1. House, M.D. There's something refreshing about an infectious disease specialist who walks with a limp, pops Vicodin like dinner mints, and has the bedside manner of a schoolyard bully. The kids and I can't wait to gather around the TV and watch the tortured doc hurl insults at colleagues and break into patients' homes looking for mysterious mold or a DNA sample. We like to place bets on how long it'll take somebody to start seizing and spewing blood. Last season broke the record when a drug-addicted rock star started puking blood during the first five seconds of the show. Sure, this show is rated PG-14, but it's still a family favorite around here. My kids especially love the scenes where the camera goes inside the cells and arteries of a patient (not). House, M.D. moves to Mondays at 9/8c, and returns with new episodes on April 28.