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Just because the WGA strike has put the cabash on all your favorite primetime dramas and comedies, it doesn’t mean there isn’t anything to watch this year.  Reality television is taking the networks by storm and a recent Yahoo poll shows that these are the front runners.

1. American Idol (Fox)

2. Biggest Loser (NBC)

3. American Gladiators (NBC)

4. The Amazing Race (CBS)

5. The Celebrity Apprentice (NBC)

Do you agree with the list?  See how you compare to the masses…

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.

Just hours before Britney Spears entered the UCLA Medical Center for her mental breakdown, Justin Chambers (who plays Dr. Alex Karev on ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy) was leaving the facility after checking himself in earlier this week.  Apparently the model-turned-actor suffers from a sleep disorder and voluntarily went to the hospital earlier this week seeking treatment for exhaustion.  I’d have a sleeping disorder too if I was 37 with 5 kids.  I will, however, point out that celebrities seem to be the only people who actually check into hospitals for being tired.  Most of us just pull the blinds and take a nap.

It almost doesn’t warrant repeating this story because why give ignorance publicity, right?  It’s just hard to sit back and not respond.  Thankfully, they’re over there in Kansas and I, for one, am not clicking my heels hoping to bounce over that way any time soon (read: ever).  Still, these folks need to stop making public statements altogether.  Shouldn’t they be busy homeschooling their inbred children somewhere?  Frantically teaching Creation theory before the little ones hear about evolution from all those crazy liberal educators?!

A new gameshow aired on Fox last night.  It’s just like Who Wants to be a Millionaire except the contestants know the questions (and answers) before they even begin, they can win up to $500K (rather than a full million), and they are bound to lose much much more (friends, family, spouses).  At first I was intrigued.  Americans have an infatuation with nail-biting drama and we especially love to see it played out by normal people on national television.

The premise here is simple.  Before the show airs, contestants are hooked up to a polygraph (lie detector) test and asked a series of questions, 21 of which are chosen for the “aired show.”  Then, in front of friends and family, they are asked those same questions again and must tell the truth in order to advance.  This is where the show gets two thumbs down for being…well…a pointless game show.  So the more they answer correct, the more money they win. In the meantime, they’re embarrassed and shamed in front of loved ones as they admit to all the nasty little things they’ve done and thought of. Essentially, if they lie they lose the money and look bad (because the secret is already out).  So why, I ask you, would the contestant not just answer everything correctly?  If they’re going to walk away with a shattered reputation no matter what, they might as well do it with $500K in their pocket!

Sometimes we don’t really think of movie/tv stars as people, they’re just celebrities: folks with fatter paychecks and better “weekend clothes.”  We track their robotic perfect lives in gossip magazines and entertainment news blogs.  So why is Heath Ledger’s unexpected death so upsetting?  I’ll tell you why.  It’s because he was a talented actor who didn’t exhibit any of those annoying celebrity characteristics.  It’s because even though you didn’t know him, he just somehow seemed like a genuine human being.  And of course, maybe it’s because he’s leaving behind an adorable 2 year old that will only ever know her dad from the movies she will inevitably watch when she’s older.

Mtv reported today that the initial autopsy was inconclusive and the official cause of Ledger’s death will probably not be known until next month.  It is speculated (because of the way he was discovered) that the death was the result of an accidental drug overdose.

So most everyone has heard that the Golden Globes ceremony (second only to the Oscars in terms of award show popularity) is being replaced this year with a very scaled-down “press conference.”  Interestingly enough, E Online reports that the WGA said it wouldn’t picket the Globes so long as the FHPA didn’t broadcast the ceremony on TV or the internet.  But NBC - the network that has aired the show for 12 straight years - didn’t want to give up its precious millions in ad revenues.

Here is what NBC Entertainment cochief Ben Silverman said about whole ordeal:

“Sadly, it feels like the nerdiest, ugliest, meanest kids in the high school are trying to cancel the prom. But NBC wants to try to keep that prom alive.”

…because Hollywood writers are without a doubt the meanest, ugliest kids in school? What?!  Next to “money-grubbing sleezeball” we can now put “idiotic analogy creator” on Silverman’s resume.  He seems to forget that he’d be nowhere without those mean, ugly dorks.

In any event, can’t wait for this press conference.  I’ll miss the ‘red carpet dos and don’ts’ commentary, but I’ll be glad that funnyman Ben’s blood pressure is still on the rise.

In The Criminal Justice System, The People Are Represented By Two Separate Yet Equally Important Groups, The Police Who Investigate Crime, And The District Attorney’s Who Prosecute The Offenders, These Are Their Stories. Da DUN!

Most of us could utter that little prime-time drama intro in our sleep.  Even though it’s now in its 18th season, we’ve seen most if not all of the episodes, mainly due to the fact that TNT airs back-to-back re-runs at least five times a week.  TNT knows drama and Jack McCoy prosecutes New York City criminals like nobody’s business.  And if you’re a Law and Order fan, you know that this never gets old.

And now it’s getting even better.  Jeremy Sisto, otherwise known as Billy from HBO’s Six Feet Under, joins the cast as Detective Cyrus Lupo, new partner to Detective Ed Green.  From rollin’ with the homies, to playing a bipolar photographer infatuated with his own sister, to smackin’ down criminals on cold concrete - here’s guy who certainly doesn’t need to worry about being typecast.

That’s not the only change in this new season of Law and Order, which premiered this past Wednesday.  Linus Roache (as Michael Cutter) takes Jack McCoy’s place as Chief Assistant District Attorney.  Although we’ll miss McCoy’s powerful closing arguments, he’s not off the show entirely, he just got a promotion.  He is the newly appointed District Attorney, taking the place of Fred Thompson, who left the show, of course, to run for president.

If all law enforcement officers and attorneys were this interesting…

Tuesday night, Mary Delgado and man that proposed to her on the 2004 season of ABC’s The Bachelor, Byron Velvick, made a surprise appearance on special episode of The Bachelor called ”After The Final Rose.”  Along with Ryan and Trista, they were one of the show’s ”success stories,” seemingly still smitten with one another.  A mere 24 hours later, 40 year old Delgado, a former Tampa Bay Buccaneers cheerleader, was arrested on battery charges in Florida.  The victim?  Oh the man she was cuddling up with on national television the night before.  According to Fox News, authorities say that The Bachelor finalist punched “her live-in fiance of three years” in the mouth causing his upper lip to bleed.  Although they don’t name Velvick as the receiver of said punch, it’s safe to assume that he was the one. 

Although I was an avid watcher of the most recent Bachelor that resulted in two broken hearts, a guy that just got free publicity for his bar business, and hopefully next season’s Bachelorette pick, I did not actually watch the 2004 season, so I can’t comment too much more on whether anyone saw this coming.  Maybe she was peeved that wedding bells were all but silent in their never-ending engagement?  A raging alcoholic?  Who knows.  Someone out there must!