WHAT WOULD JOAN DO? On the off chance we needed more evidence that Christina Hendricks is awesome, let's look at pictures from her Holiday party.

SO IF YOU BELIEVE IN FATHER CHRISTMAS, CHILDREN, LIKE YOUR UNCLE BILLY DOES, THEN BUY THIS FESTERING TURD OF A RECORD: Wagering is now active for this year's UK Christmas #1 Single, with the odds so stacked in favor of Whoever Wins X-Factor This Week that you can also bet on the number two. What's that -- Rage Against The Machine is in the running? Yes, you can do what they told you. Or it could be Muppet Bohemian Rhapsody. Or Robbie Williams, George Michael and Michael Buble, who will all be appearing in the X-Finale.

[Last year's coverage collected here.]

HAPPY HANUKKAH: With tonight marking the beginning of the festival of lights, 11 Points has a list of the 11 Most Badass Jews in History, and no, the imagined offspring of Lenny Kravitz and Courtney Love does not make the cut.

MAN, I CAN'T FIND NOTHING ON THE RADIO: Rolling Stone has its own solid decade in review issue out now, but something of interest is they provide the list of the top 10 songs with the most "spins" on radio during the decade--I'm assuming it's not just pop/Top 40 formats, based on some of the selections, but I still shiver a bit. Here's the list:

1. "How You Remind Me"--Nickelback
2. "Drops of Jupiter"--Train
3. "Hanging By A Moment"--Lifehouse
4. "Breathe"--Faith Hill
5. "Kryptonite"--Three Doors Down
6. "The Way You Love Me"--Faith Hill
7. "I Hope You Dance"--Lee Ann Womack
8. "Wherever You Will Go"--The Calling
9. "Smooth"--Santana f/ Rob Thomas
10. "The Reason"--Hoobastank

Interestingly as well, for all the noise of singles driving album sales in the pre-iTunes era of the early 00s, none of the top 13 selling albums of the decade (a list topped by The Beatles, 1, followed by NSYNC, Norah Jones, and two Eminem albums) contain any of those singles, though Nickelback's All The Right Reasons and Santana's Supernatural are at 14 and 15.

YUKON CORNELIUS: What this season of Top Chef proved, much to my chagrin, is that there does come a point at which consistent excellence and competence only goes so far, and wacky interpersonal nonsense is needed for flavoring. Or maybe it's just that the Brothers Voltaggio were never quite interesting enough, or that once you've seen the Masters this will feel like amateur hour.

So, overall: loved that the eliminations made sense, loved the panel of death episode, thrilled that my Somerton homegirl Jennifer Carroll did so well, hate Toby Young, and just don't know how to feel about all the predictability. (Also, were any of these chefs as good as Hung or Stefan?)

FEEDBACK LOOP: A thought about Glee that's a little too long for comments--the show developed in a way unusual for network TV. The 13 episodes we just finished seeing were substantially complete and in the can by the time the second episode aired. Courtesy of the Internet, it's easier than ever for show writers to communicate with the audience outside of the show (through Twitter, blogs, and the like) and to get feedback directly from the audience. Now, at least one creator has claimed she doesn't make changes based on audience feedback, and we know of at least one incident where involvement with online fans directly got incorporated into the show. HBO also traditionally follows this model, producing a full season of episodes before airing even one.

But the question I want to ask is whether Glee is better or worse off without the feedback the audience would have provided on those first 13 episodes (though we have to assume that the network provided notes). Sure, we might have had some improvements--a quicker end to the fake pregnancy story arc, more singing and more Sue--but we might also have seen more pressure to amp up various relationships on the show, in particular the Rachel/Puck and Puck/Quinn shippers, who are quite loud.

AS IF BOB DYLAN COVERING XMAS CAROLS ISN'T ENOUGH TO BRIGHTEN YOUR HOLIDAY SEASON: It's Neil Diamond covering Adam Sandler. Happy Hanukkah!