As I exited the FOX ufpront presentation and spilled onto 55th Street Thursday, I saw just about the last thing I would have expected in Midtown Manhattan: Cows.

It's been a busier-than-usual week here at Zap2it -- thank goodness for the end of the WGA strike. Between all the announcements of shows returning and American Idol starting for real, a couple things slipped through the cracks.

Super Bowl XLII has a chance to be historic, with the New England Patriots trying to complete only the second perfect season in the Super Bowl era. We're watching that, but we're also very interested in the ads.

Time to come clean: While watching Wednesday's first The Moment of Truth, I sneered at the contestants. That was before I answered the questions. Continue reading »

One year ago, I had only just joined the Zap2it team. "Veronica Mars" was still around, "Lost" seemed like a lost cause and the idea of year-round television was iffy enough that I started plotting the Great American Novel. As for the fall season, well gosh, good thing we had the writers merrily crafting established blockbusters to make up for what would surely be a crop of weak new offerings.

One knows that they are in for a good time watching Kitchen Nightmares because it starts off with a “Viewer Discretion is Advised” warning. It’s a cooking show, and it starts with a warning about the language. Fantastic.

TV viewers have been awaiting Tuesday (Aug. 21) night's finale of FOX's On the Lot with the same degree of eager anticipation as Red Sox fans preparing for an Eric Gagne relief appearance. Dread passed into resignation a long time ago, certainly by the time Zach Lipovsky essentially eliminated himself, but probably several months earlier.

We reevaluate Torchwood, are inspired by Superbad to go back to school with Undeclared and question the reality of FOX 's Anchorwoman.

No one can argue that all four finalists for the third season of So You Think You Can Dance are deserving of their achievement thus far. But how much did technical skill, personality, versatility, overall improvement and popularity figure into determining who America picked as the winner?

Would this be the year that a woman will win So You Think You Can Dance? The Final Four were in their finest form tonight to try to capture the bragging rights in this reality competition show's third outing.

At the outset of tonight's episode of On the Lot, we are told, repeatedly, that this is the first of the two final episodes. We are virtually down to three contestants, but that pesky fourth still remains, so it is quickly time for Adrianna Costa to boot one of our final four gentlemen.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm just of the opinion that nobody should ever lose a reality cooking competition because of an inept, glorified fry cook named Josh.

On this Monday the 13th, it all comes down to who will make the "cruelest cut" for the finale of So You Think You Can Dance. Only four will make it to Wednesday's uber-mondo dance-stravaganza-thon. Who will they be?

With only six dancers left on So You Think You Can Dance, they were trying particularly hard tonight since only four make it to the finals. Yikes!

Tonight's episode of On The Lot starts off with the elimination of Zach in what we are told was one of the most emotional and tightest races of the season. Zach sheds a tear on his way out, but our host, Adrianna Costa is already on to telling the four remaining contestants about their latest challenge.

The penultimate episode of Hell's Kitchen this season starts off with no less than a six minute recap of the season-to-date. This is followed by the opening credits and then the announcer says ominous words about this being a "continuation" of Hell's Kitchen.

Now that these So You Think You Can Dance results shows are all about the country's vote from the previous night, we have to slog through almost an hour's worth of filler chatter and commercials to get to the good stuff. At least Cat Deeley doesn't annoy me like Ryan Seacrest does.

Hairspray director Adam Shankman is back in the guest judge's seat for tonight's So You Think You Can Dance, which paired up the remaining eight dancers and gave the couples two numbers to perform based on styles picked from a hat. Tonight, the genre of dance was just as important as the choreographer in helping or hindering the contestants.

FOX's On the Lot is down to five filmmakers, one of whom is going to receive a million dollar desk in some dark corner of the DreamWorks office. Shouldn't they be better than this?

Does anybody want to put forward an  acceptable scenario in which Bonnie wins on next week's finale of Hell's Kitchen?

Get inside info on FOX's new shows New Amsterdam, K-Ville and Back to You, as well as the next seasons of 24, House and American Idol.

How do the On the Lot costumers succeed in making Adrianna Costa look so bad on the live show each week and so good during her elimination visits with the contestants? And why can't anybody teach her to read a teleprompter?

Every week it becomes more and more ridiculous to me that somebody is going to win Hell's Kitchen this season and that Chef Gordon Ramsay is going to let that person run one of his kitchens.

Less than seven hours after FOX head Peter Liguori declared that the American Idol franchise isn't broken, series producer Nigel Lythgoe admitted that mistakes were made this past season.

On the Lot may be opening the doors for one or two filmmakers, but it sure isn't doing much for the cause of female directors.

There's a limit to how many rigged competitions and eliminations I can tolerate on a reality show and with Monday's (July 16) Hell's Kitchen, I may have reached that limit.

OMG! It's Zac Efron! OMG! It's Hilary Duff! No, this isn't a Disney Channel wet dream, but the latest So You Think You Can Dance results show. Oh sure, it was sad that we lost two more dancers ... but not really since one elimination was long overdue, so we can concentrate on the entertainment without guilt.

Two weeks later and with a national holiday as a buffer, the ghost of Jessi still haunts So You Think You Can Dance. Apparently a petition was drawn up protesting her elimination after she fell to a bout of dehydration, but Nigel (happy birthday!) stood by the judges' decision.

After Melissa's hyper-dramatic flame-out last week, could Monday (July 9) night's Hell's Kitchen be anything other than an anti-climactic disappointment?

Does anybody even remember which movie Shira-Lee Shalit did last week? Oh yeah. The thing with the Ghost Mammy. Why am I not saddened that she was eliminated to start Monday (July 9) night's special On the Lot episode?

FOX gets the preview treatment as we take a look at this fall's "immortal" police drama New Amsterdam, post-Katrina New Orleans police drama K-Ville and dated TV station comedy Back to You.

Two days before the Fourth of July, Monday (July 2) night's Hell's Kitchen featured plenty of fireworks and one truly satisfying meltdown.

For the second week in a row, I confess that while I'm no expert on the machinations of the So You Think You Can Dance judges, I'm just a bit flummoxed.

The couples were generally strong on this week's So You Think You Can Dance, with a few standouts like Jaimie/Hok's interpretation of Wade Robson's hummingbird/flower dance and Shauna/Cedric's powerful Mia Michaels contemporary number. Even guest judge Debbie Allen was hard-pressed to say anything negative.

After her horror film last week failed to take root, it took only three minutes into Tuesday (June 26) night's On the Lot to deservedly eliminate Jessica Brillhart. That left a lot of time to showcase six hastily produced comedies and to showcase host Adrianna Costa's limited grasp on the genre.

Imagine Ryan Seacrest opening the envelope on American Idol and saying "America has voted and Stephanie is going home tonight. But that's ridiculous. Sanjaya? Hit the road." Imagine Phil Keoghan greeting the second to last Amazing Race team to the mat with, "I'm pleased to say you're team number eight, but... Yoink!" and pulling the mat out from under them and letting another team finish first. Well, on Monday (June 25) night's Hell's Kitchen, Chef Gordon Ramsay called an audible of his own.

Bound by pilot preview resrtrictions, we say as little as possible about CBS' Viva Laughlin. Brill retracts most of the mean things she said in May about this fall's "beauty and the geeks" comedy, The Big Bang Theory, while Eric makes comparisons to Weird Science.
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For the second straight week, the So You Think You Can Dance judges prized uniqueness over talent, but on Wednesday (June 21) that choice came with a harsh warning.

This week's So You Think You Can Dance was all about animal themes in the routines, ranging from African birds and strange beasts to sassy bulls.