YES, BUT HOW'S HIS RICK JAMES IMPRESSION? Comedy Central is developing a show around Jeopardy! master Ken Jennings:

"What I want to explore is Ken Jennings as Peter Parker or Clark Kent, Spider-Man or Superman -- the normal man-superhero parallax, the normal, meek guy who, put in a competitive situation, becomes a killer," [producer Mike] Davies told The TV Column. "Think 'Price Is Right' with games of skill and intelligence in a multi-game format. Explore Ken against . . . the rest of the world and in national costumes when we can get it."

He declined to discuss any more details, citing "international format theft."

SOMETIMES YOU'VE GOTTA BREAK THE RULES: It only took a decade, but the American Idol recapper on TWoP has finally caught up with what The Baffler's Thomas Frank was saying a decade ago.

First, Frank, from "Why Johnny Can't Dissent":

"Nobody wants you to think they're serious today, least of all Time Warner. On the contrary: the Culture Trust is now our leader in the Ginsbergian search for kicks upon kicks. Corporate America is not an oppressor but a sponsor of fun, provider of lifestyle accoutrements, facilitator of carnival, our slang-speaking partner in the quest for that ever-more apocalyptic orgasm. The countercultural idea has become capitalist orthodoxy, its hunger for transgression upon transgression now perfectly suited to an economic-cultural regime that runs on ever-faster cyclings of the new; its taste for self-fulfillment and its intolerance for the confines of tradition now permitting vast latitude in consuming practices and lifestyle experimentation.

"Consumerism is no longer about "conformity" but about "difference." Advertising teaches us not in the ways of puritanical self-denial (a bizarre notion on the face of it), but in orgiastic, never-ending self-fulfillment. It counsels not rigid adherence to the tastes of the herd but vigilant and constantly updated individualism. We consume not to fit in, but to prove, on the surface at least, that we are rock `n' roll rebels, each one of us as rule-breaking and hierarchy-defying as our heroes of the 60s, who now pitch cars, shoes, and beer. . . . In television commercials, through which the new American businessman presents his visions and self-understanding to the public, perpetual revolution and the gospel of rule-breaking are the orthodoxy of the day. You only need to watch for a few minutes before you see one of these slogans and understand the grip of antinomianism over the corporate mind:

• Sometimes You Gotta Break the Rules --Burger King
• If You Don't Like the Rules, Change Them --WXRT-FM
• The Rules Have Changed --Dodge
• The Art of Changing --Swatch
• There's no one way to do it. --Levi's
• This is different. Different is good. --Arby's
• Just Different From the Rest --Special Export beer
• The Line Has Been Crossed: The Revolutionary New Supra --Toyota
• Resist the Usual --the slogan of both Clash Clear Malt and Young & Rubicam
• Innovate Don't Imitate --Hugo Boss
• Chart Your Own Course --Navigator Cologne
• It separates you from the crowd --Vision Cologne

"In most, the commercial message is driven home with the vanguard iconography of the rebel: screaming guitars, whirling cameras, and startled old timers who, we predict, will become an increasingly indispensable prop as consumers require ever-greater assurances that, Yes! You are a rebel! Just look at how offended they are!"

And TWoP, on Bo's going a capella:

There's a spooky kid that looks like Peter Pan over Ryan's shoulder as Ryan mentions, for the first of one million times tonight, how "courageous" Bo's next choice is going to be. The reason it's "bold" and "courageous," of course, is that he's going to sing a cappella, without accompaniment. . . .

But damn, though. I mean, come on. It's so fucking overselling it. Like now all of a sudden somebody that didn't like Bo is going to like him and start voting? Based on them telling us over and over what a fucking amazing accomplishment it was for him to go up against these two other people -- who are not as good as he is -- with yet another tweak to his position on the show? We get it. Simply by loving and voting for Bo, we are giving the show a certain kind of finger. We also get to take a stand -- courageous of us, isn't it -- against boy bands, and Britney Spears, and the corruption of the entertainment industry, and any time we've been embarrassed because we've been duped by the media and felt like jerks for it later.

But this is a fucking onion, this is like fucking eXistenZ, because inside the bubble is another bubble. It's like The Matrix. How do you know there's not a Matrix outside the Matrix? If they are selling rebellion, then how can it still be 'rebellion'? This revolution is being televised. You're assimilating the transgression back into the spectacle, which means it's not revolution, just a new kind of strategy, and I hate it, because I want him to be famous and not care about the rest of it, but I really hate the way they've chosen to market him. It's like punk. Marissa Cooper listens to punk, and she bought the albums at Virgin records. On CD. Elvis was punk once too. You know?

All we need now is for Thomas Frank to explain why there's only been one blue-stater in four years of AI finals, and for Bo to sing "Dust In The Wind" Tuesday night so that Simon Cowell can resolve, once and for all, what the matter is with Kansas. (And, by the way, who ya got?)

VOICES THAT CARRY: The folks over at Filmcritic.com have picked The All-Time Top 100 Voices in the Movies. No. 1 with a bullet is Clint Eastwood, who ironically is known for playing reticent characters. The list is actually fabulous from top to bottom, highlighting both film icons such as Marilyn Monrone, Al Pacino, and Humphrey Bogart right alongside such memorable voices as Scatman Crothers, Fred Gwynne, Don Knotts, and even Charo and Mr. T.

GENERATION (S)WINE: Vince Neil's getting into the wine business.

MAYBE YOU SHOULD BE FI-AHED: To return to a topic discussed last year, the end of the season has come for cultural institution/comedy show "SNL," and there have been no officially announced depatures for next season. That leads us to a simple question--who's staying, and who's going? More importantly, who should be staying, and who should be going? Season premiere isn't till October, giving Lorne Michaels et al time to plan.

Fred Armisen: Should stay. Will stay. "The Prince Show" and his bits on "Update" (the deaf comedian, at "The Gates") have been pretty much consistently funny, which is far more than can be said for pretty much anyone else on the show.

Rachel Dratch: Should go. Will go. I'd like to begin by thanking Dratch and the writers for not beating "Debbie Downer" into the ground, realizing that just because a sketch is funny, even hysterically funny, once, does not mean that it will be so for all eternity. However, Dratch has run out of stuff--her truly great characters haven't appeared in a while (largely because they played off of people already gone), and her bits have diminished.

Tina Fey: Should go. Will go. The grind of "SNL" is no place for a new mother. Tina, stay at home, work on your next screenplay (the second ever movie that I know of based on a "This American Life" story), and enjoy a quiet life for a while.

Will Forte: Should go. Will go. Completely and utterly bland, aside from "The Falconer," which, honestly, huh?, and Zell Miller, a character that was kind of funny once, but now, just bores.

Darrell Hammond: Should go. Will go. He was needed this year because "Hardball" provided a convenient way of getting into political jokes during an election year. He needs to go off and do something else. His role model should be the late, great, Phil Hartman, who escaped his impressions by creating a wonderfully memorable character on "Newsradio."

Seth Meyers: Should stay. Will stay. At first, I thought Meyers was useless, but he delivered pretty darn well earlier this season as John Kerry and may well provide SNL something it's sorely needed--the ordinary looking straight man, a role previously filled by Hartman and (to a degree) Will Ferrell.

Finesse Mitchell: Should go. Will stay. Hi, Finesse? Tracy Morgan called. He said you're going to have to wait to be a second banana in quality films like "Are We There Yet" a little while longer. Sure, you're not funny, but you fulfill the "obligatory minority" quota.

Chris Parnell: Should go. Will go. He's already got a sitcom lined up, and, well, the only question I have is if he's coming back after that show's almost assured failure.

Amy Poehler: Should go. Will go. With Tina leaving, it's just a matter of time. She'll have a movie career, and will (hopefully) continue to make appearances on her husband's sitcom. Hell, maybe her joining that show would provide it a much needed and deserved ratings boost.

Rob Riggle: Um. Who's Rob Riggle?

Maya Rudolph: Should go. Will go. Donatella Versace was tired two years ago. Now, it's beating a comic dead horse.

Horatio Sanz: Should go. Will go. I repeat the same stuff from last year: "If you cannot keep a straight face during an unfunny sketch, you must go. Also, he wears out his welcome quickly--see, e.g., Gene Shalit. 'I'm fat and Hispanic and stoned!' is not a joke, Horatio."

Kenan Thompson: Should stay. Will stay. Marginally more funny and diverse in his talents than Finesse Mitchell, and the Cosby impression is decent. I'll give him another shot, especially since he works well in conjunction with Armisen.

I think "Update" will have to be handed off, and there's no one in the current cast who I can see doing it effectively. Two thoughts:

1. Bring in an "old guy" to do "Update." A former cast member (Chevy Chase, for instance) could work.
2. Bring in an unknown--hell, I'd be glad to do it, Lorne.

THE BEST ONES AREN'T AS GOOD AS YOU THINK THEY ARE AND THE BAD ONES AREN'T AS BAD. NOT NEARLY AS BAD: Time magazine critics Richard Corliss and Richard Schickel present their own unranked list of the 100 greatest movies of all time, and since the list includes Buster Keaton's Sherlock, Jr. and Dgiza Vertov's Man with a Movie Camera, it's legitimate.

Feel free to compare it with the American Film Institute's ranked list, or, of course, your internal sense of injustice over the fact that Finding Nemo was their lone modern animation choice -- not Toy Story, not Shrek, not Lion King?

YES, WE TAKE REQUESTS: Reader RPH wanted to know -- so, what concert do you most regret not attending?

For me, it's probably that Superchunk/Jawbox/Velocity Girl show down at UConn that various friends went to down in 1991; it gave them a headstart on their music crushes. I wish I had worked it out to see Prince last summer; those shows were supposed to be awesome.

And I wish I had headed downtown with my friend Craig back when we were in high school when he and some friends of ours saw They Might Be Giants, and it had to be before Flood came out ("a brand new record for 1990"), I think, when it was just the two Johns and a drum machine. Like, they all got their t-shirts signed afterwards and everything. It was cool, and I was jealous.