I don't know what I love more, his billowy shirt or the second picture where it looks like he's set to snap her like a wishbone.

Rumor has it that SNL will be losing six, count 'em, six cast members in the new season. 

We already know that Tina Fey and Rachel Dratch are moving over to "30 Rock."  What's news is that Horatio Sanz, Chris Parnell and Kenan Thompson are likely to be shown the door as well. And talks with Darrell Hammond (who has been on the show since I was in the 10th grade) are still up in the air.

And no one was sadder than Maggie.

Personally, I hate to see Tina and Rachel go, but I'm not really heartbroken about any of the fellas.  Although I'd rather see them lose Finesse Mitchell over any of those three.

The OTHER big news is that Tina is going to be replaced by newbie Jason Sudeikis.  I don't think this bodes well.

This list is very fun. TiFaux readers picked season 6 of Buffy, but I understand where they're coming from with 3.

So I've been trying to think of a way to rationalize my sudden and totally undeserved love of Smallville. There's been a lot of soul-searching, some tough questions asked, and deep thinking about the place of television in my life. And plenty of staring at Tom Welling.

Lately I've been meeting a lot of people who say that they don't watch TV, which, fine, that's cool, but does kind of (okay, always, and immediately) make me go into defensive mode, where I try to explain that Deadwood is the equal (if not superior) to any movie you could name and many books as well and that I do not enjoy Veronica Mars ironically and I'm not just sitting letting the pretty images wash over me and lull me into a consumerist stupor etc, etc, etc.

Unfortunately, my self-righteous "TV is art" argument loses all its steam when it comes to Smallville. Because, and I don't know if you know this, but Smallville… is not that great. The writing is bland and often awkward, the episodes are paint-by-numbers structured, Kristin Kreuk is acting disabled, and massive gaps in logic and sense occur in almost every single episode.

I can't defend it. I wouldn't recommend it. Here's all I've got.

Sometimes, and I'm sure I'm not alone here, I want to watch something that doesn't require my full and rapt concentration. While I'm having a snack, for example. Or painting my toenails. Or just really tired. This is the time that most people would turn on HGTV or Made or whatever Adam Sandler movie is playing on TBS, but I'm spoiled now: I can't take the commercials. So I'll save a couple Smallvilles just in case.

Also, it is occasionally nice to feel smarter than the show that I'm watching. Watching Smallville can make anyone believe they're a freaking genius.

And finally, I don't think we should underestimate the fun of looking at Tom Welling. Looking at Tom Welling makes me happy, releasing endorphins, which reinforce my good mood. I then am able to smile politely at people who try to tell me that all TV is trash, eliminating violence and generally making the world a better place

So what do you keep watching even though you know it's bad and quite possibly making you stupider? And why? 

In days of yore, I remember thinking to myself while watching a Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Battle of the Sexes: "What if they divided up the teams by race instead of gender.  They would never do that — that's kind of messed up."

And then I went on with my day.

Well, leave it to the folks at CBS to make that reverie into a reality.  That's right.  The new season of Survivor, set in the Cook Islands, will be divided into four tribes: Team White, Team Black, Team Asian and Team Latino.

Now, this all seems kind of horrible.  The thing is, I just can't really put my finger on why.  I suppose the past few decades have put such an emphasis on living in a colorblind society that the idea of explicitly segregating people based on race, even in a situation as silly as Survivor, seems abhorrent. 

I can kind of grasp a few solid reasons on why this situation is gross.  Perhaps it's the idea that this contest could be interpreted as an attempt to prove that there is one superior race. Perhaps it's the idea that this will serve as an example to the public about certain stereotypes, that is, how one race can do one thing well and another not (to be crass — Team Asian will ace all the math competitions while Team Black will fail all the swimming competitions).

Here's how Jeff Probst defended the show on The Early Show (from Reality Blurred):

The idea for this actually came from the criticism that Survivor was not ethnically diverse enough, because for whatever reason, we always have a low number of minority applicants apply to the show. So we set out and said, let’s turn this criticism into creative for the show. And I think it fits in perfectly with what Survivor does, which is, it is a social experiment, and this is adding another layer to that experiment which is taking the show to a completely different level. 

He added that the contestants themselves had "mixed" reactions when they learned of the twist. 

Fair enough to all that, I suppose.  In the end, this is just a stunt for ratings and a ploy for controversy.  I don't really think anyone who planned the show is racist.

It's just going to be awkward as all hell. 

Martin Sheen?  Really?  Sure, I guess.  

I guess I'm the only person in DC that never watched The West Wing.  Yesterday's poll is still tight though (another vote and we'll be in double digits!  Exciting!), so let the world know your opinion.

Now — time for best actress in a drama.

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