TVSquad

Last night at 8:56 PM, EST, I was watching American Idol. Host Ryan Seacrest went to a commercial, saying that coming up next would be Adam Lambert, the last performer of the night. Again, I looked at the time. How on earth was Fox going to get this show done by 9:01 as planned?

Well, the answer is that they didn't. In fact, people recording American Idol on DVRs are ticked off this morning.

For those who relied on the DVR and missed those last six minutes, you missed a lot. Kona, who's no Adam Lambert fan, was even impressed with his performance of Tears for Fears' "Mad World."

Last week, I caught some of TV Land's M*A*S*H marathon, and I've got to tell you, my all-time favorite show really hasn't aged much, as far as I'm concerned. If an episode I particularly enjoy is being shown, I'll still stop and watch it, knowing full well what the plot and even some of the dialogue will be. I especially like the episodes from the show's later years, which some felt were overly dramatic and preachy; I just feel they're better written and show more character development than the earlier episodes.

Anyway, as part of the marathon, TVL showed the record-setting finale, "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen," in its entirety. I've got to be honest with you; I probably haven't seen that movie in one shot since it first aired in 1983.

No, it's not the start of a dumb joke. I'm sincerely asking you good folks at TVS the question, because it seems like the answer would be the same since Thomas Edison invented the electric light bulb: about half a second.

Somehow, NBC executives think it takes a lot longer than that: an hour, to be exact. That's how long tonight's special, Christmas in Rockefeller Center, will last. The 74th Rock Center tree-lighting ceremony, hosted by Ann Curry and Al Roker, will be padded with performances Christina Aguilera, Taylor Hicks, Enya, John Legend, Sarah McLachlan, and others. If you live in the New York area, you'll actually get two hours to bask in the tree's darkness; WNBC will begin airing their special at 7, and the rest of the country will join them at 8. And you thought New Yorkers moved faster than the rest of the country.

Anyway, all the performances lead up to the climactic last thirty seconds of the show, when [SPOILER ALERT!] the tree will be lit. Not sure what they're going to do with the last twenty-nine-and-a-half seconds, but I'm sure they'll think of something.