Isn't this what American Idol is really about?

Last night, on the premiere of "American Idol," Ryan Seacrest high fived a blind auditioner. And isn't that what this show is all about -- people making fools of themselves? In this case, it was Ryan, most of the time it's Paula or the contestants, but isn't that really why we still watch "Idol" in its eighth season? I mean, is any one out there still taking this seriously as a way to choose new talent, after all the fixed contestants and top 10s featuring people who can barely carry a tune? Here's the moment from last night's show that everyone wants to see.



"American Idol" continues tonight on Fox from 7 to 9 p.m.

Revolutionary Road vs. Mad Men

WARNING: SPOILER SPOILER BIG FAT SPOILER. If you have not seen "Revolutionary Road" yet, though I recommend against it, do not read this post, as I give away major plot points. This is not intended as a review of "Revolutionary Road," only a comparison of it to the stellar AMC drama "Mad Men."

While I was suffering through the overrated drama "Revolutionary Road" the other day, I was thinking about AMC's "Mad Men."
Now "Mad Men" gets more than its share of accolades, so this is not a question of "Mad Men" being underrated or anything. But I could not believe how "Revolutionary Road" botched a subject "Mad Men" tackles so well, and with such a great cast to boot.
I'll have to revisit "American Beauty" to be sure, but I think most of the blame must lie squarely at the feet of director Sam Mendes. Was "Beauty" this hamhanded, though? The major problem I found with "Road" is the need for it to scream its theme out to me to over and over, when "Men" has similar themes - marital discontent, midlife crisis - I mean don't most dramas have these themes without the need to broadcast them so obviously?
Take the character of the neighbor, played by Michael Shannon. There is no such character in "Mad Men," to show up at pivotal moments of the movie to tell us THIS MARRIAGE IS A FRAUD!!!, but we seem to get the point that Don (Jon Hamm) and Betty (January Jones) don't have it all together. "Road" would never have been content with the final scene of season two, which I will not give away, because I respect it too much. Suffice it to say it did not include a long voiceover to tell us what was going on in the character's heads, or a crazy man yelling it at us.
My colleague Josh Larsen of larsenonfilm.com noted when I finally got him to check out "Mad Men" that this was really a show about the women - and these were interesting, developed women. I can't even believe Kate Winslet took the part of April Wheeler, whose idea of true non-conformity is to move to Paris, where I can assure her, they have mortgages, boring neighbors and soccer games as well (only they call them football games). Maybe she was thinking once she got there Jack, er, Frank would just want to draw her naked all the time .... sorry, wrong movie.
If you thought "Revolutionary Road" was deep, check out "Mad Men" some time. It'll blow your mind.

Jack's back!

Hurry Jack! There's not enough time!


"24" came back with a vengeance Sunday and I was surprised at how much I missed it, but the premiere was a reminder of what has always been the best thing about the show. Its ideals are like political comfort food.
In this case, Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) is pulled out of a Senate hearing on his torture methods to essentially do the same thing again. I mean, the agent he's with is begging him to torture a guy in minutes. Then there's the new president, played by character actress Cherry Jones. Her main plot involves stopping a genocide in Africa that bears a striking resemblance to Darfur. Yet, unlike our country, which has spent years arguing over the definition of the word genocide, this president is taking decisive action. Ahhhhh, that feels good....
Janeane Garofalo also joins the cast as an FBI agent who is kind of a Chloe type. She'll do for now, but we want the real thing asap.
Jack has finally found someone who listens to him, Agent Walker (Annie Wersching). He says "that's not the right call," and she actually listens! Who knows what'll come of this , but it's pretty exciting.
I don't know about that ending though. Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard) kind of looked like a teenager who had just been grounded when he was glaring at Kiefer. "I'll teach you for taking away my xBox," he said with his eyes.

"24's" 2-night premiere continues Monday at 7 p.m. Central on Fox.

"Heroes" is back!

After a shortened, and disappointing, second season, "Heroes" is back and better than ever with an hour of clips, and then a two-hour premiere Monday, starting at 7 p.m. on NBC. True, that's not saying much right now, but it's great to be able to say it at all.
We pick up season three after the shooting of Nathan Petrelli (and the video above is great help in bringing one up to speed on that score), but the first scene actually takes place 4 years in the future.
I assume you actually want to WATCH the show yourself, instead of having me recount it all here (don't you just hate when critics do that), so I am offering a SPOILER FREE ZONE here. All I will tell you are which characters return, and which ones have some good moments.
Overall the premiere is very exciting, but a little overstuffed with characters. Still, it was so great to see a major Hiro (Masi Oka) storyline, and that his old pal Ando (James Kyson Lee) is still with him. Nathan (Adrian Pasdar) and Peter (Milo Ventimiglia) also figure prominently, and Mama Petrelli (Christine Rose) stops by to share some of her wisdom. Matt Parkman (Greg Grunberg) is hanging around as well, but he is his usual useless self.
Claire (Hayden Panettierre) has a meeting with Sylar (Zachary Quinto) in her home that does not go very well for her. It's great to see Sylar back to normal; in my opinion the biggest problem with season two was the wasted time when Sylar temporarily lost his powers.
Dragging down the proceedings considerably is Mohinder (Sendhil Ramamurthy), who has teamed up with wonder twin Maya (Dania Ramirez). It seems that the only reason Mohinder is still around is to do those awful voiceovers at the beginning and end of each episode, and Maya, who knows what she's for. They're a good match for sure, each as boring as the other, but they get an unfortunate amount of screen time.
Niki (Ali Larter) is hanging around with another shadowy figure, and as usual, it's a little hard to figure out what she's up to. She's never been one of my favorite characters.
Hiro has a classic scene in his office which was by far my favorite moment of the premiere. See if you can guess which one it was. Almost as good is a goofy scene where Nathan undergoes some sort of, um, experience, I think, is the best word for it.
The ending is explosive, and surprising. Not even a hint will be offered here.

Fringe review

I reviewed "Fringe" for The Naperville Sun. Although "Lost" is my favorite show, I found it a bit too sciencey and out there. Here is my review.

Here's a clip from "Fringe."



I'll give it a few more chances, but I expected it to be better out of the box.

True Blood

I reviewed the HBO series for my job at the Naperville Sun. Here is my review.

Here is a clip of the show, which starts tonight.

More fall premiere dates: ABC, CBS, CW, FOX

ABC

Friday, Sept. 19
9 p.m. "20/20"

Monday, Sept. 22
7 p.m. "Dancing with the Stars"
9 p.m. "Boston Legal"

Tuesday, Sept. 23
7 p.m. "Opportunity Knocks" (new)

Wednesday, Sept. 24
7 p.m. "Dancing with the Stars" results show

Thursday, Sept. 25
7 p.m. "Ugly Betty"
9 p.m. "Grey's Anatomy"

Sunday, Sept. 28
6 p.m. "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition"
8 p.m. "Desperate Housewives"
9 p.m. "Brothers & Sisters"

Tuesday, Sept. 30
8 p.m. "Dancing with the Stars" results show

Wednesday, Oct. 1
7 p.m. "Pushing Daisies"
8 p.m. "Private Practice"
9 p.m. "Dirty Sexy Money"

Friday, Oct. 3
7 p.m. "Wife Swap"
8 p.m. "Supernanny"

Sunday, Oct. 5
6 p.m. "America's Funniest Home Videos"

Monday, Oct. 6
7:30 p.m. "Samantha Who?"

Thursday, Oct. 9
8 p.m. "Life on Mars" (new)

Tuesday, Oct. 14
9 p.m. "Eli Stone"

Coming Midseason: "Lost," "Scrubs," "The Goode Family" (new) and "According to Jim"

CBS

Thursday, Sept. 18
7 p.m. "Survivor: Gabon"

Monday, Sept. 22
7 p.m. "The Big Bang Theory"
7:30 p.m. "How I Met Your Mother"
8 p.m. "Two and a Half Men"
8:30 p.m. "Worst Week" (new)
9 p.m. "CSI: Miami"

Tuesday, Sept. 23
7 p.m. "NCIS"
8 p.m. "The Mentalist" (new)
9 p.m. "Without a Trace"

Wednesday, Sept. 24
7 p.m. "The New Adventures of Old Christine"
7:30 p.m. "Project Gary" (new)
8 p.m. "Criminal Minds"
9 p.m. "CSI: NY"

Saturday, Sept. 27
7 p.m. Crimetime Saturday
8 p.m. Crimetime Saturday
9 p.m. "48 Hours"

Sunday, Sept. 28
6 p.m. "60 Minutes"
7 p.m. "The Amazing Race"
8 p.m. "Cold Case"
9 p.m. "The Unit"

Friday, Oct. 3
7 p.m. "Ghost Whisperer"
8 p.m. "The Ex List" (new)
9 p.m. "Numb3rs"

Thursday, Oct. 9
8 p.m. "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation"
9 p.m. "Eleventh Hour" (new)

CW

Monday, Sept. 1
7 p.m. "Gossip Girl"
8 p.m. "One Tree Hill"

Tuesday, Sept. 2
7 p.m. "90210" (new)

Wednesday, Sept. 3
7 p.m. "America's Next Top Model"

Tuesday, Sept. 9
8 p.m. "Priveleged" (new)

Thursday, Sept. 18
7 p.m. "Smallville"
8 p.m. "Supernatural"

Friday, Oct. 3
7 p.m. "Everybody Hates Chris"
7:30 p.m. "The Game"
8 p.m. "America's Next Top Model"

Wednesday, Oct. 29
8 p.m. "Stylista" (new)

FOX

Monday, Sept. 1
7 p.m. "Prison Break"

Wednesday, Sept. 3
7 p.m. "Bones"

Thursday, Sept. 4
7 p.m. "The Moment of Truth"

Friday, Sept. 5
7 p.m. "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?"

Saturday, Sept. 6
7 p.m. "COPS"
7:30 p.m. "COPS"
8 p.m. "America's Most Wanted: America Fights Back"

Monday, Sept. 8
7 p.m. "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles"

Tuesday, Sept. 9
7 p.m. "Fringe" (new)

Wednesday, Sept. 10
8 p.m. "'Til Death"
8:30 p.m. "Do Not Disturb" (new)

Thursday, Sept. 11
8 p.m. "Kitchen Nightmares"

Friday, Sept. 12
8 p.m. "Don't Forget the Lyrics!"

Saturday, Sept. 13
10 p.m. "MADtv"
11 p.m. "Talkshow with Spike Feresten"

Tuesday, Sept. 16
7 p.m. "House"

Sunday, Sept. 28
6 p.m. "The Simpsons"
6:30 p.m. "King Of The Hill"
7 p.m. "Family Guy"
7:30 p.m. "American Dad"

I posted NBC previously.