HANDLER WITH CARE: Yesterday's Alessandra Stanley think-piece in the NYT on the white/maleness and overall uniformity of late night talk shows raises the obvious follow-up -- who else is ready? If Chris Rock were prepared to jettison his film career for nightly tv, that'd be awesome, but who else?

Side question: with dime-store mimbo Jimmy Fallon debuting tonight -- excited? intrigued? wait-and-see? or hoping he'll fail? I will, as always, go back to the Tracy Morgan quote:

Laughing and all that dumb s--t he used to do — he wouldn't mess with me because I didn't f---ing play that s--t. That's taking all the attention off of everybody else and putting it on you, like, Oh, look at me, I'm the cute one. I told him not to do that s--t in my sketches, so he never did.

Good luck with that umbrella.

SANDRA DIAZ-TWINE, ANYONE? Occasioned by last week's Top Chef finale, TWoP (yes, they still exist) lists the ten least-deserving reality tv winners of all time. "These people just keep breeding," indeed.

GUESS CLOSEST TO THE ACTUAL AMOUNT OF SNOW WITHOUT GOING OVER, AND YOU'LL WIN: With much of the ALOTT5MA nation snowed in today (indeed, I am suffering the double indignity of being snowed in away from home, where the court is closed and trial cannot begin as scheduled), a topic for discussion--aside from the obvious "play in the snow," what are/were among your favorite activities on sick/snow days? The vast wasteland of daytime television beckons, and I know we have a number of TPIR fans, but what else?

"TOUCH, TUCK AND ROLL," OR "WHERE'S MAMMA ROSE?": Oh, for one shining moment I thought we had the return of Colin & Christie, just ridiculously large airport-based lead combined with an anticipated hours-of-operation in Romania -- really, who runs an all-night gymnastics facility? -- but for once I think we can attribute what happened to something other than producer intervention.

By this point, when [that team] made [that airport choice], you knew how the episode was going to end -- really, the worst such decision since the Groanies decided the best way from Brazil to South Africa was via NYC and London -- so the fun this week was just in seeing the first effects of Killer Race Fatigue, especially on a team that I think a lot of us wanted to see put under such stress. A pretty well-designed leg overall, other than the awkwardness about the exploitation of the nomadic life of the Romani people, but, hey, no worse or weirder than some of the tasks in India or Africa, really.

Teeny-tiny Race update: Fox Reality has been re-airing Season Nine (Fun-Loving Hippies v. Eric & Jeremy), and I am delighted to share some Googling results it prompted: beloved dating/nerds David and Lori, as of October 2008, are now married/nerds. Woot, woot.

WHAT THE FRAK IS GOING ON? I swear, I'm just confused. A few theories -- likely spoilers -- in the comments.

UP UP DOWN DOWN LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT B A START DIDN'T WORK HERE: It's enough of a rarity that it's worth noting that Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li has a 0 rating on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer. A 0% is incredibly rare--The Love Guru scored 14%, and other 0's in recent memory include Roberto Bengini's Pinocchio, Ballistic: Ecks v. Sever, and One Missed Call.

WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT IS CALLED A JACKET: As part of its continuing quest for dominance over all Snuggie-related news, the NYT today sends a reporter to field test the Snuggie's claim that it is "great for outdoors," having him explore Times Square, the Rockefeller Center ice skating rink, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and the subway, all while clad (is that the correct word?) in a "royal blue" Snuggie. And yes, there are pictures.