THERE MUST HAVE BEEN A DEATH STAR CANTEEN, YEAH? An alleged list of the 100 funniest British people**.

** "who became famous for comedy on British tv." (Added)

HEADS (UP), CAROLINA: One of the takeaways from the still-continuing Roll Call thread is that we have many readers in the Carolinas who'd like to meet up. Please indicate your interest here, and/or email reneelipson at gmail dot com to organize a shindig in the land where barbecue involves vinegar or mustard.

THIS IS HER NEW PHILOSOPHY: Kristin Chenoweth is halfway to EGOT, but I don't think her new effort at being a mainstream country star is going to get her the "G" she needs (or be a crossover success), and while it shows that she's more than capable of playing something different from her traditional character, it kind of wastes her voice.

THE HERO OF CANTON, THE MAN THEY CALL WAKA WAKA! I picked up Firefly on Blu-Ray in an Amazon Gold Box special a few weeks back and was rewatching a couple of episodes yesterday, and wow, the Blu-Ray makes a difference. As Kaylee might say, "shiny!" (Though a minor complaint--how about listing which episodes are on which disc on the packaging?) In particular, I rewatched "Our Mrs. Reynolds" and "Out of Gas," and looking back at who won Emmys that year, the "Out of Gas" direction really should have been nominated, because that is just a masterfully put-together and cut episode. (It's tougher to make out an acting case for anyone, since that was the last Sorkin year of West Wing, the glory days of Sopranos and Six Feet Under, and SpyDaddy isn't getting dropped from my list, though Christina Hendricks as guest actress has a case to be made.) Of course, I might have loved it even more if it had starred the Muppets.

FROM THE ALOTT5MA ONOMASTICS DESK:  What ever happened to athlete nicknames? Are we just stuck with First Initial-First Syllable of Last Name, or will we someday again see the return of such monikers as Death to Flying Things, The Freshest Man on Earth, and El Presidente?

THERE IS ONLY ONE THING WE SAY TO DEATH -- NOT TODAY: Back in the heyday of The Sopranos and Deadwood, I was a wreck on Sunday nights. Sometimes even when nothing really happened -- "Pine Barrens," say, or maybe a certain other episode -- I would be wound up as tight as the substrata of a baseball. Game of Thrones tonight made me feel exactly the same way. Everything, and not just Robb Stark and his bannermen, was going south in a hurry today.

And what a great job by Richard Madden, Emilia Clarke, and Charles Dance as the the old general Tywin Lannister, new general Robb Stark, and not-quite general Dany Targaryen brushing off challenges to their authority with sheer resolve. Tyrion was right when he said that Tywin and Robb would like each other, but he could have been speaking of Dany as well. Just an excellent portrait of power in motion this episode.

And for once, the exposition speech was boob-free. Whether that's a plus or a minus is up to you.

TAKE ME TO 30 ROCKEFELLER CENTER, PLEASE:  NBC has signed Cash Cab host Ben Bailey for its upcoming game show Who's Still Standing?, an adaptation of an Israeli show involving trivia and trap doors you can see here.

The last time we imported a game show concept from Israel, FWIW, was Survivor Israel's pioneering of the "Island of the Dead" concept, which became Survivor 22's Redemption Island.