BECAUSE SKATING WITH CELEBRITIES WAS ALREADY DONE: Because of several "13 and out" shows (Private Practice, 666 Park Avenue, Last Resort), as well as the need to fill between cycles of Dancing With People You Might Be Vaguely Familiar With, ABC has a bunch of midseason stuff.  Of particular note:

• Despite the floppage of Last Resort ratings-wise, ABC is sticking the similarly-themed Anthony Edwards-led conspiracy thriller Zero Hour into the Thursday leadoff spot, where it will assuredly be massacred by the mixture of Idol and Big Bang Theory.
• Between-Dancing-cycle fillers on Tuesday include what looks like a Top Chef-type competition (with hosts Anthony Bourdain and Nigella Lawson) and Celebrity Diving, which is exactly what it sounds like.
• Suburgatory, which has had a dynamite second season, loses the plum post-Modern Family slot in April to a Sarah Chalke sitcom.

Good news is that it looks like Happy Endings isn't being touched--I'd been afraid that its low ratings, it might get yanked early.

FAMILIAR QUOTATIONS: Vulture is already in full-steam year-end wrap-up mode, and one of their features is a list of pop culture quotes of the year which covers film, TV, and music.  Sadly, it contains a Zero Dark Thirty semi-spoiler (apparently a memorable Jessica Chastain line, which I can guess the context for, despite not having seen the movie), but it's hard to find flaw with a list that manages to include both Jesse Pinkman shouting about magnets and Tony Stark on Middle Eastern food.

IT WILL NOT BE BETTER THAN BEFORE:  If Christine McVie is not involved, does it really count as a Fleetwood Mac reunion tour?

I'M GOING TO PIG OUT ON ALL I CAN GET FROM UCLA:  Now enrolled as a freshman, Justine Bateman is not receiving satisfaction when her fellow calculus students keep yammering in class.

THE WINTER OF OUR CONTENT: January season premieres: Justified, Cougar Town, Community, Downton Abbey, Girls, plus that singing show. Have Januaries always been this way, or is saving the good stuff for winter a new thing?

Unrelatedly, I just saw on the HBO web site that they're doing a (mini?) series of Neil Gaiman's American Gods. I kind of wish I could sit in on that pitch meeting: "well, it's kind of like a road movie with Henry Rollins and Thor's dad ..."

KEEP ON PUSHING:  Sports Illustrated has named Lebron James as its 2012 Sportsman of the Year. It'll sell more magazines than a Usain Bolt cover would have, which is the only other name which immediately comes to mind, but it's hard to complain about this choice.

WHEN THE LEGEND BECOMES FACT, PRINT THE LEGEND:  Having finally seen Argo, I strongly recommend it on its own terms, but with a big caveat. Lord knows I will love any movie set in 1980 which puts a 2-XL into a kid's bedroom, but there are limits. Spoilers after the break: