TVSquad

"I'll trade you my extra Brian Dunkelman cards for your EJay Day. I'm so close to completing my Season One run and I've got like a hundred of these damned Dunkelmans." -- me, April 22, 2009

The American Idol empire hasn't quite expanded its reach enough so it's going to go into the once vast but now slightly less impressive trading card market. That's right, American Idol trading cards are coming your way starting April 21, 2009. The set promises "chase cards" like autographed cards by past Idols as well as face time for rejected favorites like William Hung and even this season's Nick (Norman Gentle) Mitchell.

In the show's eight seasons, we've had six Top 12s, one Top 10 and this year's Top 13, meaning it'll take 95 cards just to spotlight each finalist at least once. Give one to each of the four judges and Ryan and you're down to 38 cards up for grabs in the 138-card set. I wonder if we'll get any of the quirky side shows like Crying-Girl, Super-Clay-Aiken-Fan or David-Hasselhof-Fanatic? Maybe a bonus set of Simon's weird faces and inadvertently rude gestures.

I was going to write something snarky about how Brian Dunkelman told Inside Edition that he wonders whether his career would've been, um, bigger if he had stuck around to host American Idol for more than one season. While the answer is obvious (just look at Seacrest), I changed my mind when I saw that the dude has a sense of humor about the whole thing. He's currently blogging about each episode of AI over at this website. He takes some shots at himself here, comparing himself to Shelley Long and David Caruso, two actors who left television shows after one season and, hey, look at them now! He has some pretty funny comments about the contestants, including the Brittenum twins, who he thinks should get their own show on UPN. And he takes some shots at Simon and of course, wraps up each entry with "DUNKELMAN OUT!" I totally appreciate that.