ISN'T ANYBODY AT FOX RIVER ACTUALLY EVIL? Last night's Prison Break was quite Losty, I thought, in terms of the various pieces of flashback crossover. Sucre/Linc, Dr. Sara/Bellick -- all quite interesting. Some random thoughts:

• I suspect that the relevance of Dr. Sara's backstory has not been fully revealed. Kudos to the makeup people, by the way, who did some fine work on her during both the hospital and the on-the-street scene.
• With all the "good men doing bad things for good reasons" backstories, I'm glad to see that at least one of the convicts is as eeeeevil as he seems. And we are now well set up for that particular character's plot arc during season 2.
• Three points about Michael: (1) he has more than a little John Nash about him, no? (2) glad to see that his actions have been motivated by something more than just man, I feel bad for not taking Lincoln's phone call. (3) I want his office.
• Unsurprisingly, not a peep about Westmoreland's past.
• Any guesses as to what's actually going on with the VP?

TODAY FOR YOU, TOMORROW FOR ME: Both Bill Carter and Howie Kurtz are reporting that the Katie Couric-to-CBS Evening News thing is going to happen, which prompts three sets of questions:

• Even if we'll all concede that this matters in terms of a glass ceiling breaking moment, will this matter in terms of your life? When was the last time you watched a network evening news show? (And relatedly, does the anchor determine which channel you'll watch for breaking news?)
• When Katie Couric is criticized for lacking "gravitas", is it just chauvinism?
• Who would you like to see replace Couric on Today? Can The View's Meredith Vieira get back whatever gravitas she needs to do the news interviews the show requires?

edited to add: More this afternoon on the Vieira-to-NBC angle, including speculation about What It All Means for the three women already at NBC who are apparently being passed over for the Today slot.

THE ROAD TO WASHINGTON BEGINS: Given last night's festivities, I believe it's time to start this blog's fifth straight year of coverage for the Scripps-Howard National Spelling Bee (May 31-June 1), and there's no better place to start than with Shonda Rhimes' favorite speller.

Because ladies and gentlemen, at the age of twelve, Samir Patel has earned a slot in his fourth straight Nationals. Among the words he spelled correctly:

• HUN-dreff: 5250 minutes, as compared to a year
• kore-nuh-KO-pee-uh: a whole wide mess o'stuff
• ESS-kuh-tahl-uh-gee: the study of Duncan Black's website
• uh-FAY-jee-uh: loss of the ability to swallow
• dee-HISS-uhnse: the process of rupturing, releasing an object's contents.

Patel immediately becomes the odds-on favorite to win this thing, but we've got two months to profile his competition.

SO GLAM, IT'S ABSURD: Is Prince going to be the next American Idol judge/theme?

Comments open to speculation as to what each contestant should sing on Hypothetical Prince Night (Ace -- "I Wanna Be Your Lover", Daughtry -- "When U Were Mine" can be guitar'd and anger'd up), as well as tomorrow night's actual Country Competition.

BETTER THAN PALSGRAF: Many phrases for legal standards have made their way into common parlance--"clear and present danger," "fighting words," "reasonable person," and "foreseeable plaintiff" among them. (OK, maybe not the last one.) But is it too much to hope that the British "moron in a hurry" standard is trademark cases makes its way across the water?

HER DEEP DARK SECRET? SHE'S A BRUNETTE! In the comments a couple of weeks back, there was a rousing discussion of the Dora The Explorer stage show in which the question was asked--"who are these people who play Dora, Boots, and Swiper on-stage?" Today's Times doesn't answer that question, but does give us a profile of the 24 year-old who's the first to play Barbie on-stage in an officially licensed show.

THERE SHE IS, AND SHE JUST GOT PAGONGED: I believe we've discussed something like this before: Miss America is becoming (adding?) a reality series component.

It still strikes me as Top Model but with lamer competitors, relentless cheeriness and no one as quirky as Miss Jay or Janice, but still, probably, exactly what they need.