MAMA, I'M A BIG GIRL NOW: I'm all open to non-traditional casting, but because of injury the role of Tracy Turnblad in the national touring production of Hairspray is being played by an actress who is decidedly not plus-sized, having been cast originally for the role of "nine months!" Brenda.

I'm taking Lucy for the matinee today, and will update this post afterwards, presumably with experience-driven indignation.

e.t.a. 5:10 pm: Okay, more disappointment than indignation. This Tracy just got lost on the big stage, especially on "You Can't Stop The Beat". Because while the internal message of Hairspray is "anyone has the right to be a star," that's just as true as to what the show's external message to the kids in the audience is -- a girl who looks like Tracy Turnblad can be a Broadway star, which is very different from putting an actress who can't hit the lower in a not-fat-enough-fat-suit to make her look like Tracy Turnblad.

That said, the show's book is strong enough to survive this, and Lucy had a blast. One moment that I don't recall from the original -- at the end of "Timeless to Me," Wilbur and Edna traded off "You'll always be at home"/"Shabbat shalom!"/"You're timeless to me," at which point Wilbur said, "I didn't know you were Jewish" and Edna replied, "You can always tell," and then they both lost it laughing for about thirty seconds.

ESPN - Tennessee's Lofton quietly faced and beat cancer - Men's College Basketball

"I THINK GOD WANTED PEOPLE TO HEAR MY STORY": Indeed, you will want to hear the surprising, inspiring story of how Tennessee hoops star Chris Lofton quietly faced and beat testicular cancer over the past year. Guys, no joke: check yourselves.

JOHNNY, ARE YOU NERVOUS YET? Voting is still open in the first annual B.S. Report Awards for the best performances in Bill Simmons' quite excellent podcasts. Even for the non-sports fans out there, episodes like the recent visit of SNL head writer Seth Meyers are well worth your time, and I am so happy that John "JackO" O'Connell (Complex Litigation) is kicking Cousin Sal's ass in the voting.

(All shows available for free via iTunes, and most recent shows via this link.)

Right now, I'm subscribed to that, This American Life, the New Yorker's Campaign Trail, Sound Opinions and KCRW's The Treatment with Elvis Mitchell. Y'all?

TODAY'S SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE: Not only did the FCC spend its time to determine a matter relating to TMZ On TV, but it concluded that the show is a "bona fide news program." Comment from Perez Hilton is awaited.

WHATCHA GONNA DO WHEN HULKAMANIA COMES FOR YOU? In something that sounds like it belongs on VH1, next fall, CMT will present "Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling," featuring "celebrities" (assuredly of a low wattage variety) competing to be named "Celebrity All-Star Wrestling Champion." Perhaps this is a way for Ira Glass to achieve his dream, though (sorry for the cached link--the regular site seems to be frakked). Equally awesome? The show is co-produced by the guy who played Kevin Arnold's older brother on The Wonder Years.

YOU SO CODED: How excellent to have Addison back on Grey's, even if it was only an air-dropped appearance for a single episode. Her presence really underscored the challenges of the character's absence -- it was as if everyone let out a big collective sigh and said "at last, someone I can talk to"/"someone to smack some sense into me"! And now, having established the basic plot arcs for the rest of the season, she can fly back to LA and her aromatherapy candles and whatever else is going on with that other show that I don't watch.

As for the rest of the show -- what's not to like about a show that uses both "penis" and "vagina" in casual non-medical conversation within a single episode (that should get us some interesting google hits)? Equal opportunity anatomy references! My personal favorite moment, though, was the look on Sloan's face when he saw Derek, Meredith, Addison, and that doe-eyed thing all in the elevator at the same time. Priceless.

OH MY DARLING CLEMENTINE: Apologies for the delay in getting a Lost post up, but a lack of both DVR and internet access (cable guy coming today between 2 and 6 to remedy both of these issues) made things a little complicated. Fortunately, Sepinwall seems to have none of my current technical issues, so he was able to confirm a couple of things for me:

• Yes, Sawyer totally called Miles "Donger." O Writers who sit around and concoct awesome names for Sawyer to call people, we salute you.
• Yes, the point of all the mostly-naked Jack shots in the fast-forwards for those of us who don't consider Matthew Fox to be terribly beefcakeworthy was presumably to confirm that there's no appendix scar there. Rose's comment about the island's role in Jack's appendicitis seems awfully likely, no? Up until that moment, I was feeling pretty frustrated about Cuselof's decision to focus one of their five precious post-strike eps on the ongoing saga of Jack's hubris.

As for events outside Juliet's beachside ambulatory surgery center, I think we've now seen the impact of the post-strike truncation of the season. Claire/Miles/Jack/Dad!? would normally have gotten much more screen time, as would the voyage of the Korean speakers to the medical station. I can't imagine that those two events would have shared an episode with both Jack's appendectomy and a significant amount of fast-forward time in a season of regular length. (And either the Ben search party was much bigger initially, or else Smokey isn't actually as deadly as all that.)

Then there's the fast-forward. Jack's transition from the confident, smooth surgeon we saw at Kate's trial to the paranoid, visibly cracking drunk from the end of tonight's episode felt a little forced to me; then again, there are still a lot of holes to fill in the timeline. I do wonder, though, why Jack and Hurley are so fragile while Kate seems so strong. And what's Kate doing for Sawyer? Ain't nothing but daddy issues on this show, so my money is on something to do with Clementine.