I was annoyed by the treatment of the “crying rock star” (can’t remember his name) who had never performed in public or worked with a band. He did not have a great voice (he was merely adequate), did not have much stage presence, chose to sing a bad Bon Jovi song, AND cried and begged, but to get on him because he “hasn’t put in the hard work,” to quote Abdul the Fool and Kara not Kahrah, is absurd. Very few of the kids they send to “Hollywood” have out in the kind of work they’re talking about. Furthermore, they didn’t hold that against one of the final contestants they showed, the nerdy guy who “taught himself to sing in his closet.” His lack of “the hard work” didn’t prevent the judges from sending him on, and his voice was not that much better than CRS’s. Maybe it was because el nerdo allowed Cowell to make a crack about “coming out of the closet.”

Which brings up another disappointment: the producers have reined in Cowell. His acid comments during the auditions are worth the price of admission (in this case, 2 hours of over-hyped TV). Ever since Cowell treated that retarded Special Olympian just like he treats everyone else, and Rosie O’Donnell got her knickers in a twist about Simon being “mean”, he’s toned down his comments. We need the old Cowell for the audition shows to work!

One other comment: why doesn’t anyone ever sing “Renegade” (the old Styx song? If you can pull it off, you’ll be in! Or someone could try an old Sam Cooke tune, or something by Southside Johnny (“The Fever” or “Wait in Vain” will work). Anything where the emphasis is on a clear, heartfelt melody and not on vocal gymnastics!

I don’t look forward to the rest of the series, but if I want to see my family on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, I’ll watch with them. Pray for me.

Now, these shows always need a LOT of filler; they can’t just announce the results, ’cause then they’d have maybe 5 minutes of program. One piece of filler was a segment on how professional ballrom dancers are really athletes, and ballroom dancing is a sport! WTF???

I don’t deny that dancers have incredible control of their bodies, and need to have a great deal of stamina. But a sport? Do they really think that? It’s a competition, but not all competitions are sports! To me, a sport direct, one-on-one (or team-on-team) competition,as well as an objective scoring system. No judges handing out scores (no, I do not consider figure skating, gymnastics, diving, etc., to be sports. Just because something is in the Olympics does not make it a sport). Football is a sport. Boxing is a sport. Track and field is a sport. Ski-jumping, not a sport. And ballroom dancing is DEFINITELY not a sport!

Who WOULDN’T watch MILF Island?  I know I would; I’d even subscribe to the Internet feeds a la Big Brother.  NBC needs to put this show on for real!  It could take out American Idol.  I’m serious:  someone needs to get this into production NOW, even if Seinfeld needs to be paid off(you did pause the credits of MILF Island, right?).

The rest of the episode revolved around Jack manipulating Liz into developing a show for the “Omorosa’ of MILF Island.  Seemed that Liz let loose with a barrage of derogatory comments about Jack to a reporter for Page Six.  Among these were “Class A Moron” and “eat my poo”.  Jack came up with a cock-and-bull story about suffering from a childhood stutter, the State of Massachusetts certifying him as a “class A Moron”, and sweeping up sawdust in the boiler room.  A brilliant plan.  We also found out that Liz “ate her twin” and was pigeon-toed as a result.

This is rapidly overtaking The Office for the best show on television (at least until MILF Island premieres).

• Did Michael dump Jan after the deposition?
• Will Angela go out with Andy? How will Dwight handle things?
• What will Frank’s hat say?
• How will Jack “improve” Liz’s life?

I for one can’t wait to find out.