The Final Four rounds (men and women) are up on the tournament page. These are very, very, very tough. Vote, and be merry. Merry, I tell you! Merry!

Rounds end on Friday at midnight, and the last rounds will be posted Monday.

Here’s the final four for the men. Guys, let’s just be nice, all right? I know everyone’s all dreamy and stuff, but is it worth it? The name calling? The bitterness? Can’t we all just get along?

We’ll post the updated tournament chart soon. Vote by Friday at midnight, and the final pair will be up by Monday.

These are two seriously tough match-ups. We’ll post the updated chart soon; in the meantime, here are your next competitions. Voting ends on Friday at midnight; the (dum-dum-dum) final round will be posted by Monday.

After catching the first two episodes of the season this weekend, I’ve decided that I’m now obsessed with the show Work Out on Bravo.

There’s nothing you can say to me that will make me feel any worse about liking it, so please curb your hostility. Please.

The show focuses on personal trainer/entrepreneur/lesbian extraordinaire Jackie Warner and her gym full of hard-bodied employees.

The good thing about Work Out is that I actually like Jackie. The closest cousin to this show is Blow Out, starring the utterly ridiculous Jonathan Antin, and that show was sabotaged by Antin’s narcissism and trying-too-hard-ishness. Jackie, on the other hand, is plainspoken and professional, but fun and spunky (as you can tell by her hair).

There cast is rounded out by:

Jesse, the young gay trainer who is actually ‘ha ha’ funny much of the time.

Brian, the young straight trainer who is very southern and a magnet for conflict — particularly with Jackie. Jesse and Brian have that sort of weirdo relationship where they tease each other all the time out of love, but deep down you kind of get the feeling that they hate each other. It’s this sandwich of animosity, comeraderie and then more animosity on top.

Zen, the aspiring comedian and reluctant sportswear model.

Gregg, who used to date Zen, and weirdly asked her to come to his trial for punching a guy. Just seems like a bizarre thing to ask a former romantic interest — as if she’d say “Sounds like fun! I’ll bring the Fiddle Faddle!”

On the finale of season one, we were lead to believe that Jackie had cut all ties with her batshit crazy girlfriend Mimi — a hot Brazilian firecracker prone to biting and throwing glass instead of using her words. The season premiere found them back at square one — having apparently phenomenal sex but hating each other the rest of the time. They did one of those ethically questionable camera-in-the-therapy-session things (a la Breaking Bonaduce) to show just how much it wasn’t going to work out.

Now Jackie’s officially playing the field, with dates ranging from a chick named Tiffany (who beat Jackie’s ass at the batting cages — and I still can’t tell if she was mildly turned on by that, maddened by it or a combination of the two) to trainer Rebecca (a former Amazing Race contestant) who has decided to become a recreational lesbian the way other people might dabble in intramural floor hockey or pottery classes.

Tonight’s episode promises to be quite heavy, though. Back in January, trainer Doug Blasdell died of kidney failure at the age of 44. Doug was the gay father-figure of the gym and I half don’t want to watch tonight’s episode for fear of getting upset — but I know I don’t have that kind of resolve.

First round tournament victim

House had a repeat last night that I hadn’t seen featuring a woefully under-used Amanda Seyfried (she wasn’t even the sick one!). The early episode shone light on how disheartening it is how little changes for House over the years. But, you know, maybe he’ll really learn something tonight. Right?

My big question is, where are Cuddy and House going on this terrifying plane ride of doom? Don’t say some medical conference. My money’s on Sandals Resort. That’s where all the boss-banging men of TV take their lady friends.

You’re killing me here, CW. Tuesdays aren’t complete without Gilmores and Marses.

We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming: Do you drink coffee? Would you like to feel vaguely guilty about it? PBS is airing Black Gold, a documentary about small coffee farmers struggling to get their product sold at a fair price. Or… see Hayden Panettiere get punk’d on MTV.

With all these unexpected and probably untrue rumors about its possible non-renewal, I’ve been thinking a bit about How I Met Your Mother. Despite my occasional ambivalence toward the show, I think it would be sad for it to be canceled.

It’s not mind-blowingly awesome the way my “favorite” comedies are: it doesn’t have elaborate, painstaking continuity and jokes that layer on top each other and build to delightful absurdity, it’s not particularly quirky or unexpected or mean, it’s not re-inventing anyone’s idea of what makes funny television.

It’s relaxed. (Sometimes to the point of not trying very hard.) The characters are likable, and none of them are those awkward plastic hot people you see so often in sitcoms. I mean, you even know what they do for a living, and you see them doing it — architect, reporter, lawyer, teacher, Barney. The show is sincere, often to the point of being very, very cheesy. But it’s a weirdly accurate description of what being 20-something in New York is like.

And at times, it will surprise you — not with a crazy new joke, but with plots that can feel (I hesitate to say it) subversive. The fact that Barney, the rich, superficial, commitment-phobe man-slut, is played by the openly gay Neil Patrick Harris is one of their big, welcome twists. The episode where his brother, played by Wayne Brady, visits him and announces that he’s going to get married — to another man — is a great example of the show teasing your expectations. It’s not that Wayne Brady is black, it’s not that he’s gay, it’s not that Barney’s upset by gay marriage per se. It’s that Barney’s brother would abandon their “lifestyle,” what he thought made them brothers: not getting married. The fact that he can and should be able to get married isn’t even discussed; it’s assumed by the all the characters. For a somewhat staid, conventional show, that’s a good place to ground your characters.

Last night’s episode had another example in Marshall’s bachelor party. Marshall doesn’t want a stripper; the idea of having someone strip embarrasses and upsets him. Because honestly — having people take off their clothes for you while they writhe around? That’s weird and gross. It’s a tired cliche to say that guys love nothing more than a stranger’s pair of saggy boobs shaking in their face, and it’s nice to have a show that doesn’t take the easy “guys-love-strippers” route. (Barney, of course, does love strippers. But he’s clearly wrong. And his misogyny, as always, is tempered by the fact that he’s not a super-buff football-type fratty asshole — he’s Neil Patrick Harris.)

It’s a show that earns its place on the TiFaux line-up. It’s never at the very top of the heap, but I never feel like I’d stop watching, either. To replace it with another monstrosity like “The Class” or “Two and Half Men” would be a shame. For one thing, I doubt you’d get gems like this, when Barney recalls a previous stripper:

Barney: Yeah, you’re right. She’s 15.
Ted: (horrified) She was 15 years old?
Barney: No, no. Like in Blackjack.
Ted: She’s a 15… so… you’re not sure whether you’d hit that?

You don’t have to be Jewish to enjoy it — but it helps.

• The woman who wrote The Physics of the Buffyverse talks about the vampire slayer and science on NPR.
• Apparently, the Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Inferno 3 will debut tonight. I have to admit — I’ve parted ways with the Challenge ever since the tedium of Fresh Meat.
• Jason Wahler from Laguna Beach does what he does best — get arrested using racial and homophobic slurs.
• Andy Barker, P.I. has been axed. Remaining episodes will be burned off on Saturdays. Sorry, Maggie.
• Here’s an article about Thank God You’re Here, which against the official TiFaux recommendation, I caught a little bit of last night. It was just as/even more horrible than you would expect.
• Mario Lopez gets cast in a comedy pilot.
• A TV Guide blind item indicating, perhaps, a Gilmore Girls cancellation. Meanwhile, The Chicago Tribune pleads for the show’s death.
• Kristin from E! has a nice spoiler for Heroes.
• Indians are all over TV or something.
• The Salt Lake Tribune breaks down why everything’s in reruns.
• Television Without Pity is tackling The Wire from the very beginning.
• You never know when this kind of thing will come in handy, I guess. This site features transcripts of every episode of The Office.