STILL DOESN'T EXPLAIN WHAT THE HELL "WINTRY MIX" IS: The AP Stylebook twitter account helpfully explains the difference between "sleet" and "freezing rain," though I'm now confused about how "sleet" and "hail" are different.

LIKE HUGH HEFNER, ONLY WITH MUCH LESS DRY HUMPING AND BABY OIL: After north of 16,000 hours on television, Regis Phibin will leave our airwaves later this year. Any question that Ryan Seacrest is pretty much now the unquestioned go to hosting/emcee figure of our day?

FEARING THE MALACHI CRUNCH:  So I was incredibly excited last night at about 7:55p when, flipping around to see if there was something airing for Lucy to watch, I noticed that the Hub network was just about to re-air the Family Ties two-parter "A, My Name Is Alex" and set my TiVo promptly.

For those too young to remember (or who weren't into Family Ties), this was as Very Special as episodes get.  Alex's "best friend" Greg (I use the quotes because I don't believe we had ever seen him before) is killed in a car accident on a drive Alex himself had opted out of, and we transition from Alex's comic denial-of-grief into 40 minutes of stark drama (staged on a black set, ala Our Town) before an unseen therapist who unpacks all of Alex's insecurities and the pressure of always being seen as the one who had all the answers.  (Or, alternatively, it hasn't aged well, but this plus HIMYM was a nice one-two punch last night.)  Much, much hugging and learning and Emmy-winning ensues.

So here's my question: what's a tv episode you haven't seen in a damn long time which you would be delighted to come across again?

WAWA'S TO THE RIGHT, THEY GOT BEVERAGE INSIDE: The topless green mermaid meets the Big Gulp, as Starbucks will unveil the 31-ounce "Trenta" size for cold beverages this spring.

"OFFENDED" VERSUS OFFENDED:  Ah, yes, that perennial debate reared its head again in the midst and in the wake of Ricky Gervais' hosting (note: not "Gervais's," but we'll get to that later in the week) of the Golden Globe Awards last night, and as to whether he'll (a) ever be invited to host an awards show again, or (b) even be allowed to live.  First, let's review perhaps the three most biting lines, though you can see all the highlights on video:

• Referring to I Love You Philip Morris as “Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor, two heterosexual actors pretending to be gay. Sort of the complete opposite of some famous Scientologists then. Probably? My lawyers helped me with the wording of that joke. They’re not here.”
• “I love this next presenter; he’s so cool. He’s the star of Iron Man, Two Girls And A Guy, Wonder Boys …I’m sorry are these porn films? Kiss Kiss Bang Bang? Bowfinger? Up The Academy? Come on! He has done all of those films, but many of you in this room probably know him best from such facilities as The Betty Ford Clinic and the Los Angeles County Jail. Robert Downey, Jr.”
• His final line of the night: “And thank you to God. For making me an atheist.”

I mean, it's Ricky Gervais.  This is what he does.  No one should have been surprised that this was the route his comedy went, any differently than had they invited Jeffrey Ross.  Was it funny?  Yes.  And it's an entertainment show in the first place -- this wasn't nearly on the bite-the-hand-that-invited-him level of Stephen Colbert at the 2006 White House Correspondents Dinner, though, again (a) what did they expect?, and (b) at least it was funny.  Would they rather have had a yodeling ventriloquist Miss America aspirant host?

FROM THE SAME PEOPLE WHO PREFERRED EVITA PERON TO MARGE GUNDERSON**: Welcome to the 2011 Golden Globe Awards, three hours during which I'm mostly rooting for chaos -- both in terms of the awards choices and the behavior of the celebrities attending.  Ricky Gervais, don't let us down: stir the pot properly.


** Credit: Matt's twitter feed.

HALFTIME REPORT: With us about halfway through the TV season, I wanted to toss together an omnibus post to quick-bullet a few shows that I at least have been watching, but that we haven't blogged about, to give y'all a chance to speak out on the things we don't cover week to week. In Sunday-Friday chronological order:

• Desperate Housewives--Enjoying the Huffman/Williams plotline, if just for giving Lynette something to do other than bitch about her kids, and Longoria is selling the "switched at birth" plotline as best she can, but someone needs to find a storyline for Susan or send her off to Mandyville ASAP. The Bree plotline is meh, but I understand the need for male beefcake.
• Brothers & Sisters--Look, I know you've had budget cutbacks (Emily Van Camp and Patricia Wettig are gone) and cast shifts (Calista Flockhart and Giles Marini didn't want to do every episode), but the abrupt writeouts/disappearances/reappearances are too much. The show's at its best when the characters are clashing over stakes that matter and/or political issues, rather than the umpteenth "William had a secret!" storyline.
• Hawaii Five-0--Like its timeslot competitor, Castle, it's taking some time to balance the elements (procedural, family, and mythology). Based on recent episodes, they're bagging the family stuff altogether and adding more mythology. That seems like a decent idea, since Alex O'Loughlin and Taryn Manning lacked the Fillion/Quinn/Sullivan chemistry that works so well on Castle. Still, an entertaining way to spend 44 minutes.
• NCIS: Los Angeles--For a show that debuted with a massive audience and has held on to it, it's surprising just how much tinkering has gone on. Some are subtle (pushing Chris O'Donnell more and more to the background) and some not (writing out two of the original six cast members, adding 3 new cast members). For once, though, all the tinkering has worked well, and we're getting legitimately fun banter, bromantic (O'Donnell and Cool J), quasi-romantic (Ruah and Olsen), and geektastic (Foa and Felice Smith).
  
• No Ordinary Family--The mythology stuff is way too drawn out and boring, but it's nice to see a superhero show that's not so relentlessly dark. Kay Panabaker has actually proven to be the strongest story-generator, in part because her mind-reading power is easier to hang story hooks on than super-strength, super-speed, or super-brains. The sidekicks (Reeser and Malco) remain the most fun part of the show, but it's a good time as a whole.
• Better With You--Remains an adequate sitcom where the cast is much better than the material it's given. Right now, seems noteworthy primarily because they're using the traditional "hide a pregnancy" methods (laundry baskets, couches, counters, shooting from the chest up) to disguise the fact that JoAnna Garcia isn't pregnant, even though her character is.

I'll also be picking up a few more shows over the next few weeks--Off The Map (like the cast, and it looks gorgeous, even if writing is thus far more than a bit derivative), Harry's Law (primarily for the snark value), and Fairly Legal (which, as best I can tell from the poster, involves Sarah Shahi's legs solving legal problems).