TVSquad

The week before the American Idol gigantic-mahunga-godzilla two-hour-plus finale aired, Simon Cowell predicted it would be a "ding-dong finale." Of course, that brilliant prognostication was hype personified, but Simon did his job. The finale drew 28.8 million viewers. Ironically, the buzz in the biz when those figures were revealed skewed it as a bad thing. It was the lowest-rated American Idol finale ever. But it still drew a tremendous amount of eyeballs, so why is it being characterized as a flop?

The answer is simply this: American Idol is competing with itself. It's expected to exceed its highs year after year, and generally speaking in television, that just doesn't happen. Older shows decline, and yes, even superhits like American Idol can't stay on top forever. Look at ER or CSI.

Attention, Rosie O'Donnell: Simon Cowell promised that next week's American Idol will be a ding-dong finale. Break out the Drake's Cakes! Actually, Simon wasn't referring to Rosie's favorite chocolate cake treat, he was using perhaps the strangest euphemism he could come up with to hype the finale which he anticipates -- and rightfully so -- a great showdown between two singers who could both be deservedly crowned the winner of American Idol.

Adam Lambert vs. Kris Allen might seem like a heavyweight versus a bantam weight, one guy who's already been splashed on magazine covers -- last week's Entertainment Weekly -- as the presumptive champ, while the other was nearly knocked on his butt by the judge's song choice that was so bad that Simon faulted Kara and Randy for setting him up to fail.

And yes, I am probably the 50th person to use that headline for this story. Thank you.

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting (from various sources he has skulking around the television world) that FOX is just about to cancel The Sarah Connor Chronicles. The ratings haven't been great for the sci-fi show. FOX paired it with Dollhouse on Friday nights and there has been no reason to keep the show alive for another season (ratings-wise, anyway - I'll leave it to the fans to judge the quality of the show itself). Things don't look that great for Dollhouse either, but that's another story.

Officially, the network won't announce its fall schedule for another month or so, at their annual upfront presentation. Unofficially, you probably shouldn't look for the show on that fall schedule. Now I guess we'll just have to wait for the premiere of the movie where Christian Bale yelled at everyone.

No one's accused the cast of How I Met Your Mother of having a collectively crummy sense of humor. Quite the contrary; every time I've seen them either in person or in a behind-the-scenes video, they always seem to be goofing around and having fun. At the very least, I'd imagine that neither Jason Segel nor Neil Patrick Harris allows things to get too heavy on the set.

So when Entertainment Weekly asked the cast to pose as various celebrities in a "The Best of 2008" pictorial, I'm sure they didn't need much time to say yes. In the pictorial, the cast portray the Olympic 4x200m relay team, the Jonas Brothers, and the cast of the Indiana Jones and Sex and the City movies. Finally, Segel and Alyson Hannigan pose as Joe Biden and Sarah Palin, respectively, during the VP debate. It might have been more interesting if they reversed roles in that photo, but I guess Segel didn't have the legs for it.

[via Pop Candy]

(Check out part three of this four-part report)

Tired of hearing about Comic-Con? Figured all the talk was over? Sorry to disappoint you, but due to an untimely vacation (vacation untimely? Wha...how?) and a bit of reflection on my first trip to the big 'Con, I was able to get this last bit complete for you.

The Sci Fi / Entertainment Weekly Party

Man did it feel good to have gone to my last panel. I had much sympathy for Rich, who had another nearly-full day ahead of him on Sunday. So, we went out to finally get a decent meal at an actual restaurant downtown before we had to head off to the party. We had no idea at all what to expect from the party -- would there be food? Free booze? Who would be there?

Don't worry, their names aren't Nikki and Paolo.

Michael Ausiello over at Entertainment Weekly has the exclusive news about two new characters that are coming to the Lost world. No word yet on whether these characters will be on the island or off of the island, but they sound intriguing.

One is a man in his late 30s/early 40s named Caesar, who is described as "dangerous, physical, and extremely intelligent" and that he's "as skillful at charming people as he is at killing them." Sounds like an assassin type, no? The other character is Ilanna, a female in her late 20s/early 30s who is described as European, intelligent, dangerous, and "used to getting her own way." Except for the European part, that sounds like a lot of the women I've dated.

Lost starts filming its new season in less than two weeks, so we'll have the answers soon enough. And by answers I mean "more questions." This is Lost, after all.

One of the highlights of the Sci Fi / EW party at Comic-Con was being able to talk to and shake the hand of Joss Whedon. It's no secret that I'm a fan of his work, and with the incredible presence of Dr. Horrible and Dollhouse at this year's Comic-Con, it's no mystery why he was at the 'Con.

Unfortunately for me, I had no idea he was going to be heading down that red carpet, so in hindsight I of course have a ton of questions I would have liked to have thought of at the time. Since my time was limited with everyone anyway, I kept it relevant to what was going on at the 'Con as best I could.

I've got more to add later about the discussion regarding the digital medium, but that will be a different post down the road. As for Joss, he's very easy to talk to and my transcription doesn't really show how good-natured the conversation was. At one point Eliza Dushku stepped in to say hello to us -- you don't see that every day.

Saturday -- a time of rest and relaxation. A time to put your feet up, grab a lemonade, open a book, and let the cool, summer breezes gently rock your hammock as a lazy July day passes. Of course, that's if you aren't attending the San Diego Comic-Con. Then, it's out of your bed, quick shower (if any), breakfast-on-the-go, and right back into the queues to see your particular favorites talking about their television shows.

Like Friday, Saturday at Comic-Con will be packed with television goodness. This is the day that many of the big guns come to play. Shows like The Office, Lost, Battlestar Galactica will be making appearances. They will be joined by newcomers Chuck, Dollhouse, and Pushing Daisies. There will even be an appearance by the recently single Sarah Silverman. There's also a good bit of television animation being featured, particularly by Nicktoons and B.E.T. Animation.

In order to make sure you get the most out of the money you paid to get into the convention, we here at TV Squad are providing you with a complete list of television-related panels for that day. If you are interested in seeing what else is going on July 25th you can review the official full schedule at the Comic-Con website. Remember, times and appearances are subject to change and seating in all event rooms is on a first-come, first-serve basis.

So, hot on the heels of Entertainment Weekly suggesting that Bravo wasn't giving Project Runway -- the new, and last before Lifetime takes over -- season its due, Bravo rolled out a press release today with the names of all 16 designer/contestants, as well as the celebrity judges for Project Runway Season Five.

On the celeb front, the show's landed Diane Von Furstenberg, Sandra Bernhard, Apolo Ohno, Brooke Shields, LL Cool J, RuPaul, Rachel Zoe, Cynthia Rowley and Francisco Costa. I can see potential fireworks from Sandra B and RuPaul. The rest -- eh. I mean, really, is Brooke going to be critical? And have you seen how Apolo dresses?

The new 90210 has yet to air but it's already created a tremendous amount of buzz. The return of actresses Tori Spelling and Jennie Garth from the original series has made news, as well as Luke Perry's words that he won't be coming back and Jason Priestley letting the world know he'd be available to direct.

But what about Brenda?

Well, in his new perch at Entertainment Weekly, Michael Ausiello reports that his sources -- producers Gabe Sachs and Jeff Judah -- have confirmed that Miss Shannen Doherty is in formal talks to join 90210 in her original role, Brenda Walsh.

Another week, another list issue of Entertainment Weekly.

I'm not sure what to make of all of these lists. We do them here too, but it seems to me the more giant lists that are done the more meaningless they become. This EW issue is "The New Classics," the 1000 best TV shows, movies, books, and music of the past 25 years. Since this is a television blog, I won't get into their book, movie, and music picks (but if I can just say as a side note, they pick both Clueless and The Naked Gun before L.A. Confidential?!), but let's talk about their TV choices.

And argue about those choices in the comments, of course.

...seven sites worth linking.

The world wide web is the best place to waste time while learning about anything and everything. Here, at TV Squad, we are masters at finding sites related to TV. During last year's Festivus, Joel gave a good list of cool TV-related sites people may or may not have heard about. As he did last year, I decided to avoid mentioning those big sites everyone knows about (Yahoo, IMDb, TVGuide, Google News, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, YouTube, Television Without Pity, Ain't It Cool News). I also tried to find sites that weren't mentioned in last year's Festivus.

Let's sit around the Festivus tree and open the seven-sites-worth-linking gifts which, I hope, will now find a spot in your bookmarks list as useful and entertaining TV-related websites.

I'm disappointed by this list (I'm disappointed by most lists these days) because they're aren't many TV people on it. Oh, there are some TV execs and producers (J.J. Abrams) and plenty of former TV stars (George Clooney, Will Smith, Will Ferrell), but there's no Tina Fey? She's the first name that popped into my head, TV-wise. I know there are others (readers, that's your cue to comment!). Freaks and Geeks creator Judd Apatow is on the list, as is Tyler Perry. Sacha Baron Cohen is there too.

What's happening on other blogs via the interweb.

• Could this be the end of NBC"s Life?
• Jaime Weinman introduces us to some Italian versions of TV theme songs, including Mork & Mindy, The Dukes of Hazzard, and the original Bionic Woman.
• A look at Teller's house in Las Vegas.
• Five things you should know about Keith Olbermann.
• Will there be a Gilmore Girls reunion movie?
• William Shatner still not happy about not being in that new Star Trek movie.
• Who was named People's "Sexiest Deep Thinker?"
• Which TV celebs made Entertainment Weekly's list of the 25 Top Stars of 2007?

I have to agree with Whitney over at Pop Candy when she says she's confused that Marcia Cross made the list of TV Land/Entertainment Weekly's "Top 50 TV Icons" list. I mean, seriously, Marcia Cross?! Imagine all of the people left off the list that could have gone in that spot. Maybe if Cross had found a cure for cancer she could go on the list. Then again, she'd be on a "Top 50 Scientists" list, not a TV icons one.

Anyway, she's on the list. The full list actually goes up to 100 (Cross is last, but that still doesn't explain anything), and she's not the only head-scratcher.