WE DIDN'T COME FOR THE ICING; WE CAME FOR THE CAKE: Tomorrow night's Survivor finale caps off a truly top-tier season of castaway competition.

For once, we had a season with many heroes, no villains, and up until this past week, not one ounce of castaway self-righteous complaining about the lying and scheming that too-often has taken the fun out of the show.

The show has been anchored by Skipper and Gilligan, challenge-wise and narratively, and either of them would be the most likeable-and-deserving winner of the show since season three's Ethan Zohn. In short, the difference between a great season and an okay season of Survivor is all in the casting, and this time, they got it right.

One thing I'll say about Ian: he may suffer the curse of the car reward (no castaway has won the car challenge and gone on to win the game, and man, did he misplay last week's episode), but that boy knows how to win a vote.

So: who are you rooting for? and who are you predicting will win?

THE OTHER SIDE OF SUMMER: Oh, dear -- NBC has unveiled its summer replacement series, and there's only one word to describe shows like "Tommy Lee Goes To College" and "The Even Bigger Loser" -- craptastic.

Between this and CBS's already-promised dreck (hey, look! A Wendy Pepper wannabe on a Project Runway wannabe show!), gosh, I might have to learn to read or something. . .

NO JOKING: We don't often talk seriously around here, but I think I speak for my colleagues here in expressing our utmost sympathy to Dave Chappelle and what he's going through right now.

Too many comics have fallen apart and lost their balance upon hitting the big time -- I think about the premature deaths of John Belushi, Freddie Prinze, Sam Kinison and Chris Farley. I hope Chappelle caught himself before it was too late.

BEE SERIOUS: Today, we invite you to speculate: if girls compete in (and win) spelling bees in equal numbers with their male counterparts, why have fifteen of sixteen National Geography Bee winners been boys?

ARRESTED CLEARED? According to at least one source, Arrested Development is "99.9%" certain of a two-year renewal.

Rejoice, celebrate, go out and buy the Season One DVD if you haven't seen it yet (or even if you have), then temper your excitement to reflect exactly how reliable you believe the source to be.

YES, WE STILL MISS ELVIS MITCHELL: But in the meantime, Tony Scott and Manohla Dargis are blogging from Cannes.

THE NUMBERS GAME: Interesting look in Friday's NYT at the fluctuating intra-player market for jersey numbers. For #47, Tom Glavine paid for Joe McEwing's baby nursery; Jeff Feagles has received a one-week vacation in Florida and a new outdoor kitchen at his home for selling numbers 10 and 17 to Eli Manning and Plaxico Burress, respectively.

On the other hand, "In 1991, Philadelphia reliever Mitch Williams got No. 28 from John Kruk for two cases of beer."