GUESS THIS MEANS "THE TRAMPOLINE BEAR SHOW" IS OFF THE SCHEDULE: The Baltimore Sun (reg. required, bugmenot) picks up where Kornheiser and Wilbon left off in a brief "PTI" segment yesterday with this question--should ESPN eliminate their own "shout shows" in response to CNN's elimination of "Crossfire?" I'm perfectly fine with losing "Around The Horn" and "The Sports Reporters," but please, let's not lump "PTI," a sports news and debate show lively enough for even a non-sports-fan like myself to enjoy, in with those. I will note that "PTI" demonstrates the importance of host choice in this sort of show--the show is almost incapable of functioning without the Kornheiser/Wilbon duo both present, something producers seem to have picked up on in recent months, rarely using substitutes but instead arranging for remotes for the travelling half of the pair or just not having a show.

PLEASE, LET THIS BLOG BE "IN:" For those of you, like I, a bit frustrated that this season of TAR is (especially after this week) short on the "likeable," it's not time to abandon TAR (Jonathan's eventual and assured comeuppance is reason enough to keep watching), but it's time to add Project Runway to your viewing schedule (if it isn't already). The early process has eliminated most of the truly egregious and uninteresting candidates, and many truly likeable contestants remain, including Austin Scarlett, possibly the only man who can make Carson Kressley seem straight, Nora, who stands a decent shot at becoming this show's Omarosa, and Wendy, the mother hen of the group, and one of my favorite reality contestants in a long time. Aside from some overly blatant product placements ("Cotton is the official fabric of 'Project Runway'") and an oddball show ending disclaimer that notes that producers and Bravo had input into elimination decisions rather than straight scores determining it (a fact that may have saved Nora and/or Austin this week), it's well worth the TiVo, even with Wednesday nights already being a TiVo overload for me (the "Alias"/"West Wing" conflict is killing me--I watched "West Wing" on one TV while TiVoing "Alias" on the other).

TRADING UP? For those of you who might care, previously announced January 15 "SNL" hostess Jennifer Garner has dropped out due to illness. Her replacement? "That 70's Show" star Topher Grace. IMHO, Grace is a seriously underrated actor, whose goofy charm is one of the few things that's made "70's Show" watchable, who's shown nice chops for self-parody in "Ocean's 11" and "Ocean's 12," and who actually can act as demonstrated in "Traffic." Will be interesting to see how the last-minute switch works, especially since "SNL" isn't going with one of their standard stable of last second hosts (John Goodman, Alec Baldwin, or Tom Hanks).

BUT WHAT HE REALLY WANTS TO DO IS DIRECT: Now, we already knew that Brad Whitford is a damn fine actor, but tonight's nearly note-perfect episode of West Wing (which marked Whitford's writing debut) demonstrates that he's as good a writer as he is an actor--writing great dialogue and scenes not just for his character, but for almost every other character on the show. If Brad's not staying with the show, can we at least get him to write for it?

KEEPING IT REAL: January is here, and with it, a new slate of reality competition programming -- The Will, Project Runway (love it), the Missy Elliot thing, a Bachelorette without a California mansion, questionable changes afoot on American Idol, and, perhaps most anticipated of all, Who Wants To Be The New Martha?, debuting this Thursday in the Survivor slot, which the NYT's Alessandra Stanley just plain lurves.

So, what are you looking forward to?

DANIEL MENAKER IS A DIRTY OLD MAN WHO WANTS TO BEFRIEND THE 'GENEROUS MOUTH' OF NELLIE MCKAY: It's barely even the subtext of Menaker's profile of pop singer McKay in Sunday's NYT Magazine, which is much more about How I, Daniel Menaker, Have Figured Out The Real Nellie McKay much more than it is about, y'know, McKay herself.

While most of the article was merely solipsistic and goofy, one parenthetical floored me:

She is related to Dylan Thomas -- as some press releases say -- or, according to Thomas's daughter, Aeronwy Thomas, she isn't. (Well, we're all descended from one guy in the Caucasus 50,000 years ago.)

Now, I'm no anthropologist, but who's this "we" he's referring to, kemo sabe? Aren't there millions of Americans -- many of whom also read the New York Times on Sundays -- who are not descended from the Caucasus Mountains?

NEVE'S CAMEL TOE: If you, like me, were feeling a little fatigued by the bevy of best of 2004 lists over the last month, then perhaps the Top 20 Nude Scenes of 2004 will cure what ails you. (Unless you work somewhere where they don't frown upon you gazing at still shots of starlets in various form of undress or you are planning on quitting anyway, you may want to wait until you get home tonight to click on that link.) Among the notables this year are several actresses I am guessing that many of the readers here have been curious--from a strictly clinical standpoint--to see butt nekkid, including Natalie Portman, Claire Daines, and Neve Campbell. Sadly, those three make the list based more on the novelty of their nudity than on quantity/quality, but there are plenty of others here for you to cut and paste straight into your Netflix cue.