YOU GOT FOGALED: Episode two of The Amazing National Treasure Code Chase Thingy was decidedly better than the pilot, if only because we're used to this sort of task-drive-task-drive-etc. pattern for a show. Still, with a final clue that hard, I'd like to be able to play along at home, y'know?

But still, a frustrating episode: because TAR's producers would have known how to wring out all the drama from that final three, and tonight fell short in that regard. Because I'm sick of stereotypical casting in reality competitions: African Americans who just all coincidentally happen to have problems with water-based challenges, "earthy" types who just happen to be really dumb (but, seriously, pay Burger King for the product placement!), "smart" people who aren't as smart as they think they are, etc.

Also, obvs, it seems like tonight's results aren't exactly final, if the previews for next week are to be believed. I call shenanigans.

CARNIVORES, UGH! The one bit of culture I inhaled this weekend that I'm happy to recommend to others is Animal Planet's new reality show, Meerkat Manor. I don't care whether they've completely superimposed a false narrative on the Whiskers family; it's a great concept (let's study a large family of meerkats in the Kalahari Desert and explain their social organization), well-executed.

And they don't shy away from reprehensible behavior; indeed, Youssarian will be vying with ANTM's Jade for Most Loathsome Reality TV Villain in the 2006 ALOTT5MA Awards . . .

'TWAS A NAME KNOWN TO FAME IN DAYS OF YORE: Voicemail message from my alma mater when I came home today, seeking contributions for the Annual Campaign. Here's the odd thing: based on the caller's accent and mispronounciation of my alma mater's name (failing to drop the 'h'), I'm guessing the school has employed an overseas call center for this task.

Is it wrong of me to be a little wigged out by this? Aren't these the kinds of things you have to have done by people on campus in order to be effective, or am I just not donating enough money to receive that kind of treatment any more?

KARMA ANAKINMELEON: Apparently today, or perhaps sometime recently, Boy George was sentenced to community service for the 13 bags of cocaine he had sitting around his apartment in plain view when he called the police to report a (fake) burglary. I think it's really saying something to note that "that plumbs the depths of incompetent criminal behavior" was only the second thought I had when I read the story. The first: "Boy George looks exactly like Darth Vader."

I LIKE THE LITTLE THINGS: Three pop-cultural events hit my radar screen this weekend. Sadly, third prize goes to the only one I hadn't seen before -- Cars. Generally speaking, I think I can summarize Cars in a single word: yawn. Pretty animation, the tractor-tipping bits were cute, and the last 15 minutes were highly enjoyable if rather predictable. But the hour-plus in the middle where Lightning McQueen learns that he isn't the only car on the road? Yawn. (The customary short feature before the movie, One Man Band, kicked Cars' chassis all over the place.) Cosmo Girl spent most of the movie running around the theatre, and has requested that in future, we only see movies at home so that if she gets bored, she can run around and do something else without getting lectured about her inappropriate behavior. I have to say, I feel her pain.

Second prize goes to last night's early Season 2 rerun of Grey's Anatomy -- Deny Deny Deny -- in which we get to know Ellis Grey a bit, Bailey loses it a bit, Cristina loses it a lot, and George gets to announce repeatedly and with increasing futility that he is a surgeon. (Incidentally, promos indicate that starting on Thursday, July 6, ABC will be reairing Grey's from the beginning, in what may be two-episode blocks, for the rest of the summer to get everyone used to their new Thursday night viewing schedule.)

But the big winner of the weekend (or maybe it actually aired earlier in the week, but I watched it last night so it counts as part of the weekend) was Bartlet for America. I miss John Spencer in a way that I never miss dead famous people whom I've never met. Ain't nothing but a family thing.

GUESS HE WANTED IT THIS WAY: In the category of "news absolutely no one cares about, but is still frontpage at CNN.com" we are compelled to note that Kevin Richardson has left the Backstreet Boys. This seems almost as exciting as a Timberlake-free NSync reunion.

ART CONTINUES TO LOSE THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN ART AND COMMERCE: Pants-Off Dance-Off--greatest idea for a television show ever or sign of the inevitable decline of humanity?