TVSquad

Try this experiment: mention The Simpsons anywhere and see how long it takes for someone to say, "Oh, right, The Simpsons, yeah, they were good for the first ten seasons, but after that, they just got SO UNFUNNY! I don't know why people watch anymore!"

Since Fox decided to release a Simpsons movie (apparently under the radar -- I mean if you're going to release a movie, you should at least market it! you know?), I've been hearing that sentiment approximately once every thirty-four seconds. It annoys me every time I hear it, but it wasn't until today that I realized exactly why this was so.

It's because the people expressing it are confusing their ignorant negativity for intelligent commentary.

Katie Couric can't win, can she? Her version of the CBS Evening News is consistently criticized for being too nice, happy, and morning-show-like. But when Katie gets down to business and does a serious interview with someone, she's knocked for being inappropriately stern.

That's what Couric is facing the day after her 60 Minutes interview with presidential candidate John Edwards and his wife Elizabeth. During the interview, Couric asked the couple tough questions about whether it was wise for the Edwardses to continue on the campaign trail now that Elizabeth's cancer has metastasized and become inoperable. Instead of proceeding in her usual warm, smiling manner, Couric decided to be deadly serious, keeping a straight face and pursuing lines of questioning that started with "Some say," like when she said to the couple, "Some have suggested that you're capitalizing on this."

After CBSNews.com posted the interview and allowed viewer comments, many took Couric to task for not being understanding enough, especially given her family history (her husband died of colon cancer in 1998).

I guess the confidentiality clause that reality TV participants sign only cover the show's results and not how the participants feel about the show's proceedings. If you're in the market for some meta-commentary on currently airing reality programs, look no further than the dozens of MySpace pages, blogs and Face Book entries kept by various shows' competitors.

You can read about why Dasit skipped out of the Egotrip White Rapper Show's 16-bar challenge ("...had to step before it got too corny...") or what Beauty and the Geek's Neils Hoven thinks of the show's editing ("...if anything, people's personalities have been rather understated so far..."). Despite the wealth of competition, the hands-down best blog entry by a reality show competitor on a currently airing program has to be this Tuesday's screed from I'm from Rolling Stone's Krishtine de Leon.

The wheel of publicity spins round and round. On January 18th, Rosie O'Donnell complained on The View that American Idol's judges were too harsh. She described them as "three millionaires, one probably intoxicated." Really, much like her remarks about Trump's hair, that description of the show doesn't seem that far out of line with the general public's perception of American Idol or, at the very least, of Paula Abdul. Nevertheless, Simon Cowell felt compelled to reply. Rosie's remarks "smacked of 'I'll have a go at Donald Trump - good for ratings. That died down, so now I'll do American Idol.' Next week it will be, 'I don't like the dresses on Dancing with the Stars.'"

Now, Rosie is on a show whose entire conceit is to gab it up on the pop culture and current events of the day so it really shouldn't surprise anyone that she moved from Trump's Miss America moralism to American Idol. I just hope Rosie doesn't respond to Cowell with some weird comment. That's one playground news cycle nobody needs. It would be so much easier if he'd just pull her pigtails, and she'd just step on his GoBot.

Lost is losing me. The kickoff to the second half of the season, "23rd Psalm," has accelerated my disaffection. Yet I used to love this thing, devouring it every Wednesday and thinking about it during the week. The shows I think about between episodes are Battlestar Galactica and 24. Both have been in production longer than Lost, and both still have me in their grip. Since all three tell long-arc story lines with "Previously..." clips at the top of each episode, and since all three embody strains of mystery, it's worth comparing them to determine why (in my opinion) Lost is failing.