"a previous Idol from who knows which season. "
Tatiana del Toro, the crazy one from last year's semis.

Wow.
What a great way to convince people you're no longer crazy. Was "World B. Love" already taken?

Exactly — the uncomfortable joke is that you can call a Jew a "kike" on tv but can't depict Muhammed unless he's in a bear mascot costume.

Danus, play it off this link from a 2000 show which I attended: http://www.archive.org/deta…

One of my favorite blog post titles I've ever written was after the 2003 ALCS game in which the Boston Red Sox manager left in Pedro Martinez one inning too long, leading to a Yankees victory: GRADY LITTLE GOT MUTILATED LATE LAST NIGHT.

Philadelphia, Theater of the Living Arts, 12-2-00:
http://www.archive.org/deta…

"French Inhaler … is that under four minutes?"
"I'll play it fast. Anything but Werewolves."

Y'know, Zulkey, glass doesn't blow itself. Some day, you're going to need a vase, or a light bulb, or a bowl … and it's just not going to be there.

Clerks II, like Shyamalan's The Lady in the Water, is a not-completely-successful-but-still-interesting writer/director's attempt to justify why he makes the movies he does.

Dratch!
I'm glad to see her finding work, because she really got screwed over re: 30 ROCK.

Also skipped
Henry Gibson, producer Dominick Dunne.

The Unbearable Whiteness of Idol
Once more, diversity is the tiebreaker. Not that any of these four were going to win — or had earned the benefit of the doubt — but nor have a lot of other people who sucked this week.

There's also the rights/clearance issue; they can't be calling 71 different publishers at this point for the rights to air each song.

song selection
I'm assuming that because this round was performed with the band, there was a limited number of songs from which they could choose. Hence, the repeats on "Man in the Mirror" and "I'm Yours."

The thing about Sherlock Jr is that not only is it brilliant on a technical level, it's astonishing on a conceptual level as well. There's fourth-wall stuff going on there that feels contemporary still.

So, basically
It's like LOVE ACTUALLY, but with a different holiday, an American cast and a less sophisticated script?

wiki says:

If Daughtry were there, he'd do Huey's lines. But he wasn't.

According to news reports …
… Gaga was a no-show, but — and this is brilliant — Weezy was assigned Bob Dylan's lines.

Finally! The Rock! Has Come Back!
To below-medocrity!