FOR YOUR CLIPPING SERVICE: If you commented in the Katie Couric thread, you might well find yourself today in the print version of the Philadelphia Inquirer as part of Dan Rubin's weekly roundup of what all us online folk are talking about.

And just to clarify my basic point: it's not that I don't think the Couric move is unimportant -- it's quite important symbolically, and I'll be interested in seeing how she leads their breaking news coverage -- but that I can't imagine myself ever waiting for a daily 6:30 pm network news show to find out what's going on in the world. Watching the network news is like still using a rotary phone in a cellular world.

REALLY, NOT ONE ANTHONY MICHAEL HALL SELECTION? Ryan Stewart from the Boston Phoenix has attempted to list "which SNLers did the best after leaving the NBC womb (or while they were still on the show), which ones fared the worst, and which ones have reached both ends of the spectrum". Though he limited himself to one "best" and one "worst" role per performer, here's a few SNLers whose "bests" were missed:

• Ben Stiller, Flirting With Disaster. Let's not forget he was briefly on the show; let's also not forget there was a time when we weren't completely sick of him.
• Billy Crystal, When Harry Met Sally. Speaking of which . . .
• Robert Downey Jr., Black and White. So many to choose from for him. Less Than Zero was contemporaneous with his SNL stay; I know Chaplin was supposed to be good, but I never saw it. So I'll take the one with the Mike Tyson scene that you'll never believe if I just describe it to you.
• Michael McKean, Best In Show: we all liked it, right?
• Gilbert Gottfried, The Aristocrats: If you're going to list Sarah Silverman, how about the guy who told the joke the best? Also, Aladdin.
• Joe Piscopo, Johnny Dangerously: My mother let me see that movie once. Once.
• Jay Mohr, Jerry Maguire: Bob Sugar was a perfect use of Mohr's smarmitude.

It's a long weekend. Have fun with the list in any way you see fit.

IT'S ALIVE! Did we really need an entire wiki devoted to Robot Chicken? That said, the folks behind Robot Chicken are putting out sketch comedy that, due to their 15 minute time limit, almost never overstays its welcome on a single joke (a "long" Robot Chicken sketch runs 5 minutes, with most segments clocking in at a minute to a minute and a half), nor does it feel obligated to beat a joke into the ground. Check it out, if you're not doing so already.

HEAVY ROTATION 2: About 30 years ago, Jon Landau famously wrote: "I saw rock and roll future and its name is Bruce Springsteen." I've had two similar moments. The first was when I saw Barenaked Ladies opening for John Wesley Harding in 1992 during what I suspect must have been the band's first U.S. tour.

The second took place on Saturday when I saw Slo-Mo. It's a band unlike any other I know. Picture a jam band. Now picture a jam band with a talented hip hop front man. Now picture that band with a steel guitar as the key instrument. Finally, picture three amazing female vocalists. As one critic put it, the band is "rocking, hip-hopping, swinging and grooving all at once."

Check out their songs "My Buzz Comes Back" and "Shackamoxon". Then buy the CD (look for "Buy It Now"). Then go see the band perform live. You won't be disappointed.

THAT DOESN'T MEAN THE WRITING WASN'T FOUND TO BE HACKISH: Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown has prevailed in the UK lawsuit brought against him by the authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail. IMHO, this was an obvious one--while Brown's book obviously borrows certain theoretical elements from HB,HG, but puts its own novel spin on the subject.

NADIR: Are we at an historic low point for the reality competition genre? Just a month and a half after the glorious end of Project Runway 2, we've got the traditional "big three" of reality tv on simultaneously . . . and I don't think I've ever had less interest in any of them.

For The Amazing Race and Survivor, the problem seems to be predictability. The elite have been established, and there's not enough in the way each game is structured this year to shake things up. For Idol, of course, it's the opposite problem -- good, popular performers are disappearing for no reason at all, while jokes like Bucky, Ace and Pickler not only remain in the game but aren't even threatened.

Let's talk about fixes:

• For Survivor, I just feel like the traditional 16-20 people, 2-3 tribes formula is played out, and when the game is played well by the dominant team, it should be boring to watch. We got lucky the past two seasons -- with Fireman Tom & Ian v. The Tribe That Couldn't Win followed by Judd, Hogeboom, Steph and Danni, we had two drama-filled seasons with great characters and good gameplay, but it's not inherent in the game that it'll always be interesting. (Remember PornBoy Brian? Hell, were it not for the Rupert/Fairplay season, Survivor might be on hiatus right now.) The lack of inter-tribe shakeups pre-merge this season may have been fatal, because there just was no reason for anyone other than Bruce to even consider dual loyalties once united. Maybe it's time for some theme casting -- an all law enforcement or armed forces edition? an all-lawyer edition?
• For American Idol, look: the goal of the show is not to produce the next great superstar. (If that happens, great, but it's not necessary from Fox's or 19Entertainment's perspective.) The goal of the show is to get you to watch the next episode. So from their perspective, unpredictability is good, because if you knew that Bucky and Ace were going to leave in the next two weeks, you'd probably skip 'em and come back later. But seeing potential winners leave early, year after year, is unsatisfying. Two solutions come to mind: first, and most obviously, pick genres of music with contemporary relevance that allow the best singers to shine. Second, consider adding an immunity-like element to the game itself, either by protecting each week's top performer the following week, or by giving the judges the power to "protect" an at-risk singer -- perhaps, each judge gets to use the power once during the season?
• And, finally, the Race, and there, I'm a bit flummoxed. This season is showing that maybe too much bunching is better, from an excitement standpoint, than too little bunching. The top two teams have been so well-protected by the race structure lately (and the teams at the bottom given such little opportunity to gain ground) that the race meritocracy I had long sought turns out to be . . boring. It's surprising -- I had always assumed that the nature of the Race was such that as long as you picked eleven decently interesting teams of two and sent them around the world, it was bound to be compelling television. Ain't so.

Meanwhile, the show that has ended up being indestructible and irreplaceable is America's Next Top Model, in its sixth straight great season. Unlike Idol, the judges are in charge of elimination -- and that means that one's body of work (and not just that week) always matters. It's a show that casts well, features relatively consistent challenges that are fair approximations of the career being sought, and is blessed by two of the greatest personalities in the genre in Tyra Banks and Miss J. Alexander. (I'll say it again: I'd love to see Tyra host Survivor or The Apprentice.)

For Survivor and TAR, there's still hope that once we get down to the last 2-3 episodes and the truly elite teams, that things will be entertaining again. (Idol, however, is dead to me, and the Daughtry/McPhee finale will be a non-event.) In the meantime, let's hope that someone comes up with the next great reality concept, because the old favorites just feel played out right now.

PERHAPS THE ONLY TIME MAJOR NEWS WAS BROKEN ON THE VIEW: So, while Andy Rooney's not too happy about the prospect of CBS Evening News With Katie Couric's Legs, Meredith Vieira is, as she'll be taking over Today. So, this leaves our network shuffle with two questions left:

• Assuming The View survives, who should replace Ms. Vieira? (And Star Jones is getting fired, right?)
• Assuming syndicated Who Wants To Be A Millionaire survives, who should take over as host(ess)?

Discuss, folks.