TVSquad

I want to talk to you about a grass roots campaign to save Eli Stone. You see, I had this idea where fans of the program would send George Michael paraphernalia - CDs, MP3s, T-Shirts, programs, videos - to the executive mugwumps over at ABC in order to express their frustration that they were not picking up the back nine episodes of the series. It would have been similar in scope to the Great Peanut Campaign of 2007 that ending up (temporarily) saving Jericho.

Then I got to thinking, which is always a bad sign. While a campaign such as this could result in programming executives opening their minds for just a minuscule amount of time to the possibilities of continuin the series, I'm not too sure it would be worth it. Not 'worth' in the terms that the campaign would fall on the deaf ears of the tailor-suited wonks. I'm talking about 'worth' in what it would cost the fans of the show to get the materials and ship them out to send a message. We are in a recession, after all.

(S07E42) Forty-two episodes later we're finally ready to find out who is going to take home the crown of the next American Idol. Look at all those faces up there, and now it's all come down to the Davids. The lingering question is if they're going to be Idols the likes of Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson; sales in the millions with mantles full of awards; or will they find mainstream success more of a challenge, like Taylor Hicks or Justin Guarini (I know he came in second but let's face it, at this point first and second are almost interchangeable as far as getting a shot at a career)? The show's an hour early and an hour longer, clocking in from 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM Eastern Time. That means you have two hours to chat live right here with your friends and frenemies about which David should win and how stupid they are for disagreeing with you.

You can join the chat by following this link. Look for the full episode review right here later tonight.

(S01E13) The surgery is done. The brain aneurysm is gone. But Eli's life hangs -- or hung -- in the balance. This was a very trippy episode, a term Dr. Chen uses to explain to Eli why everything seems so out of whack. By the end of the hour, I'm not sure we can say with any certainty that Eli is really back. But it sure seems that when faced with a choice of letting go or letting God, he took the latter and opened his eyes.

(S01E09) Boy, that George Michael cat is one helluva swell guy, isn't he? Now I'm not sure how many celebrities would feel the need to get involved in a newspaper story, but George got all Oprah and put himself out there for this girl he doesn't even know. As for how he wound up picking Eli to lawyer up and take the case? Would you believe it came to him in a vision? Maybe the case was in the vision, too.

In a way, this episode serves as a closing chapter in the first major arc of the Eli Stone story. Sure, dangling threads keep thrusting us forward, like the unresolved issues regarding Patti's old stomping grounds and the earthquake of ... when was that now? Oh, that's right it hasn't happened yet. But this craziness all started with George Michael appearing to Eli in a vision, so there's a nice symmetry in the real deal serving a significant role as well.

The world of primetime TV are primarily set in the real world. The real world based on the fiction they create. So, Law and Order -- in all its incarnations -- is set in New York City, but it's not the real five boroughs. The newspapers they read are not The New York Times, the Post or the Daily News. For contemporary TV fiction, reality is on the margins of the storytelling because you can't really set those characters in a real world. However, when the two worlds intersect, the results can be magic. Here's 8 big-time, primetime examples:

1) Cowboy Up Time
Remember the episode of Lost when Ben wanted to convince Jack that he was in communication with the world outside the island? To prove that he was telling the truth, he showed Jack a video of the Boston Red Sox winning the world series in 2004. You can't get more real than that, right? And yet it was used in one of the most out of this world shows on the air. In fact, using Lost's own terminology, the Red Sox video is a constant truth in a universe that's a complete fiction.

(S01E03) Okay, it looks like we have the formula down pretty well now. Eli's going to have some bizarre visions that will jeopardize his personal and professional life, but those visions will help him make decisions as to what to do. Could it be a brain aneurysm? Sure, if aneurysms can specifically name clients that he hasn't met yet as tonight's does. Instead of creating a compelling long-form narrative, Eli Stone is going to be a typical legal dramedy with a few spot visions thrown in to mess with Eli's life. That's it and it's a shame.

(S01E02) "I'm getting the ass end of this arrangement, man!" -- Eli Stone, concerning his role as supposed prophet.

Ah, now I see the pattern! The titles of all the first season episodes of Eli Stone will be titles or references to titles of George Michael or Wham songs. Next week's title is 'Father Figure' and the week after that it's 'Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go'. It also looks like each week will feature another performer, or set of performers, who sing a piece of that particular week's song. I wonder who'll they'll get to sing 'Wake Me Up' in a few weeks.

(S01E01) "Oh, Did I mention I recently found out I could be a prophet? Yeah, I was shocked too."

What better lead-in could a show about a guy who may be a prophet having visions of the future (or may just be plain crazy) want than the season premiere of Lost? And in this strike-stripped era of reality television and reruns, any new scripted fare is bound to draw the reddened eyes of those sad and pathetic little viewers asking themselves why oh why did they watch the entire season of Crowned.

But while I went into it expecting something different and interesting, I instead found a fairly standard legal drama with a gimmick. Sure, you could argue that Pushing Daisies is nothing more than a standard mystery show with a gimmick, but the characters and charm of Daisies can win out over that. So far, Eli is missing that ingredient.

What's happening on other blogs via the interweb.

• If you missed the video of Tyra Banks talking about her farts, here it is.
• Is Pam Anderson getting married again?
• NBC's Jeff Zucker just bought Kitty Carlisle's place.
• George Michael is going to appear in a few episodes of the new ABC show Eli Stone.
• Our friends at Cinematical have info on the first video from the Sex and the City movie.
• Did ex-Lost star Michelle Rodriguez violate the terms of her probation?
• David Letterman asked Paris Hilton about prison the other night - a lot. Here's the video.
• Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch blog asks: who's the weakest link on Heroes?