TVSquad

(S05E09) Every episode of The Closer is a puzzle of sorts, and this one surely qualified, especially since it began in court with the case already decided. All that remained was the formality of Russell Clark -- guest star Bruce Davison -- elocuting to the judge. Well, not so fast. There were a few hiccups requiring Brenda's immediate attention.

The moment Cynthia Watros showed up as the victim's widow, anxious to reclaim her husband's belongings from the crime scene, suspicions were raised. But first Brenda had to figure out why Russell Clark had confessed to the crime, if he was covering for his schizophrenic son, James -- if James was capable of the murder in the first place, and then there was the question of what to do with Mama. Yes, Willy Ray was there, along with Fritz and Charlene, Brenda's niece.

According to this article in USA Today, identity thieves are offering people tickets to Oprah via e-mail. The unsolicited e-mails ask for people's personal information and claim they need to verify financial information in order to send the tickets through the mail. The problem is: there are no tickets for Oprah's show. Harpo Studios just takes reservations (months in advance) and it's free to view tapings. Harpo turned over the fake e-mails to the authorities and now the Illinois state Attorney General is investigating the scam. So far there aren't any known victims but once this news gets out, that could change. I can see it now: Oprah does a 'Favorite Things' episode for all the people who were scammed!

I'm not quite sure on the timeline of this story, but it seems that American Idol has withdrawn its invitation for Derrell and Terrell Brittenum to "go to Hollywood". The twins totally rocked the first night of auditions this season, but soon after we learned that one was in jail and there was a warrant out for the other. The identical brothers are accused of stealing someone's identity to buy a Dodge Magnum car. MTV.COM is reporting that both dudes posted bail and, when they went to get on their scheduled flights to Hollywood, they learned they were no longer welcome as contestants on American Idol.

Damn. I really liked these two. Terrell and Derrell Brittenum, 28, are accused of stealing a man's identity to buy a 2005 Dodge Magnum last June in Georgia. Terrell has been sitting in jail since January 10, and Derrell is expected to turn himself in soon on charges of forgery, theft by deception, and financial identity fraud. Wow. That's serious stuff. The brothers are from Memphis but they auditioned in Chicago last September. I wonder if they drove that stolen Magnum up for the occasion?

Such a waste of a good talent. Both of these guys sounded spectacular in their auditions on Tuesday night. And, what I really liked about them was that they "got it". That is, they auditioned together, as twins, but they also belted out separate songs to show off their individuality. The Brittenum boys understood that the twin gimmick wouldn't get them very far in the auditions process. They even told Seacrest that they didn't want to perform together, but against each other. I was really looking forward to a twin face-off.