Holy crap is Lost great this season! Don’t get me wrong, I’ve never been one of those “Lost got so boring” people. It had its share of filler episodes in the 2nd and 3rd seasons, but there was always something great to keep us going, like the spectacular season finales. Last season’s gradual realization that the “flashback” was really the future was one of the best TV show ideas in recent memory. Changing the time structure of the show and turning events on the island into flashbacks has really juiced things up. Now we know that something really bad is going down, and we know that 6 people get off the island. But of course, rather than settling things this just raises more questions. We know Jack, Hurley, Kate, and Sayid make up four of the six, but who are the other two? What the hell is Ben up to, and what was he up to in the past? Ben just keeps getting more and more interesting. It’s amazing to think that he was originally supposed to be a three-episode minor character. Big changes like that make it hard to believe the writers have had a master plan all along, but it makes me glad that they can adapt when the opportunity presents itself.

We don’t have many episodes left in this extra-abbreviated season, so I don’t expect to get any wheel-spinning. I expect nothing but forward momentum, and some real revelations. Maybe even about the smoke monster. But I’m not holding my breath.

Just putting it out there — this is going to be a rambling, pointless post.

I was watching Barefoot Contessa over the weekend and kind of fell in love with Ina Garten again. I really have no idea what her draw is, but Barefoot Contessa is probably Food Network’s single most watchable show.

Part of it is probably envy. The I-really-want-you-to-be-my- friend-ishness of it all. I just want her to center an entire show to her lunchtime date with me and have the whole episode be this labor of love devoted to making it a special affair. Admittedly, Ina always makes her gays work for their keep (they have to bring flowers from their shop or labor in her garden) and although I have no real “skills” to contribute, hopefully poorly-thought-out blog posts will be enough.

This weekend I had one of the gayest moments of my life. I was walking around the city on Saturday with three of my gays, one of whom was carrying a birthday-celebratory banana creme pie he had made from scratch, and I was asked whether I had caught Barefoot Contessa earlier that day. The fact that I was asked this question wasn’t as gay as the fact that I had to respond in the affirmative. The show isn’t a regular talking point amongst my friends, but apparently it is enough of a cultural touchstone amongst my people that it’s a safe bet as to what I did after sleeping in on a Saturday.

And Saturday afternoon/morning’s episode wasn’t necessarily a showstopper, but it was a truly solid effort. Ina was making gazpacho for her friend’s baby shower and the first half of the show consisted of her chopping up a vegetable, pureeing it in the blender and putting it in a bowl. Then chopping up another vegetable and so on and so on. It was hypnotic and, I swear to God, I could’ve watched that shit for HOURS. It was the most relaxing thing I think I could’ve watched.

Who doesn’t love Barefoot Contessa? The answer is no one. Even babies. Babies love Barefoot Contessa. Here’s proof:[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/bEJpdF93EVU" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

In other news, that same morning Giada was making this dessert and now I’m completely obsessed with making it. I’m like a crazy person.

Uh oh! There’s a new cast for Dancing With the Stars. Time to play the C-List Celebrity Realty Show Red Herring Game.

You’ve got to pick the right cast member of the following groups of three. I’ll just tell you now that Marlee Matlin is going to be on it.  Because if I put up a category of “The Deaf Actor,” I don’t think anyone would know any of the other ones.

Ready, go!

The stage thespian: Marissa Jaret Winokur, Jennifer Ehle, Beth Leavel

The radio host: Adam Carolla, Howard Stern, Rush Limbaugh

The pretty girl: Carmen Electra, Shannon Elizabeth, Jenny McCarthy

The Latin actor you’ve never heard of: Juan Soler, Cristian de la Fuente, Poncho de Ando

The Veronica Mars guest star: Patty Hearst, Steve Guttenberg, Lucy Lawless

The magician: David Copperfield, David Blaine, Penn Jillette

The singer: Mario, Bow Wow, Nelly

The Presley: Priscilla Presley, Lisa Marie Presley, Jamie Pressley

The tennis star: Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, Chris Evert

The football player: Jason Taylor, David Martin, Joey Porter

The figure skater: Michelle Kwan, Brian Boitano, Kristi Yamaguchi

Click past the jump to find the answers!

• 30 Rock gets back to work
• 5 years ago Joe Millionaire was rocking our world
• Barring a miracle, Bionic Woman is cancelled.
• An interview with The Office’s BJ Novak
• Apple will be selling tunes from American Idol
• Friday Night Lights might wrap up the series as a two-hour long movie

• Creators of Will and Grace to rip off themselves
• Jimmy Kimmel is fucking Ben Affleck. I knew he was gay!
• No shit, Veronica Mars was thinking about taking a gig on Lost instead of Heroes
• Writing for the new episodes of The Office begins
• The Wire’s Dominic West gives directing a shot
• Newest Save Our Show stunt? Mailing hair to save Cavemen
• TLC’s newest show is about making stay at home mothers feel depressed about their lives

• Buzz is pitting all of this season’s Project Runway looks against each other to figure out which is the most fab. (BuzzSugar)
• Eric came up with the Top 5 TV Villains on television today. (Daemon’s TV)
• With all of this early news about the Fall 08 season, Mikey wonders why How I Met Your Mother still hasn’t found an audience after three years on the bubble. (Mikey Likes TV)
• Marcia celebrated Valentine’s Day by remembering some of television’s greatest kisses. (Pop Vultures)
• After attending the taping of MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew premiere episode, Spads shared tidbits from her conversations with judges JC Chasez, Lil Mama, and Shane Sparks. (RTVW)
• Scooter finally got around to watching the first two episodes of the new season of Lost and, um, well… yeah. (Scooter McGavin’s 9th Green)
• Last week, Vance bawled while watching Friday Night Lights. Now he may bawl at the thought of NOT being able to watch any more new Friday Night Lights. (Tapeworthy)
• Dan took some time to think about whether he actually liked Eli Stone, or whether it was just the best scripted show still in new episodes. Either way, Jonny Lee Miller’s dreamy. (TiFaux)
• Jennifer pondered why everyone falls for Boston Legal’s Shirley Schmidt and gushed about Scott Bakula’s visit to the firm. (Tube Talk)
• Kate came up with a Gossip Girl drinking game. (TV Filter)
• Taking a page from HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER’s Barney and his Hot/Crazy Scale, the TV Addict is proud to introduce the LOST Quality/Question Scale! (theTVaddict.com)

Okay guys, it’s one of those nights where I don’t have a whole lot to offer you, so I may as well just stick with what I know.

Here’s a video by a band called You Say Party! We Say Die! They are a Canadian band that are weirdly aggressive and shouty — a quality I’m not necessarily accustomed to from our Tim Horton’s-loving neighbors to the north.

The video is for a song called “Monster,” and it’s generally a bit more palatable and smooth than the rest of the songs on the album. My favorite songs on the new one, Lose All Time, have this Halloween-y sounding organ and pounding drums. It kind of reminds me of the the “spooky sounds” tapes that people would put on their porches during Halloween when I was a kid. In between organ music, there’d be sounds like a laughing vampire and a bubbling cauldron. Good times — but I digress.[kml_flashembed movie="http://youtube.com/v/-IQKsrXDHrg" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Just so we can come full circle with this week’s worth of posts, Los Campesinos! (the band I featured the other day) has a song called We Throw Parties! You Throw Knives! that one can only assume is directed at this band. You can watch that video here.

Isn’t it weird thinking that TV could actually be watchable? After the past few months, with our bleak outlooks and our dwindling DVR backlogs.

Another bit of good news comes with the fact that Saturday Night Lives first post-strike guest host will be none other than Tina Fey. The episode will air Feb. 23 — that’s a week from tomorrow, folks!

Maybe there is a God after all! (Just kidding. )

And Ellen Page from Juno is also signed up.

Sorry kids I have Fridays off, so here’s your news 16 hours early.

• Schrute bucks? More like Schrute’s butt
• Expect more Americanized versions of British shows in the near future
• Jane Fonda will see you next Tuesday
• Now that the writers strike is over, we can move on to the actors strike
• Stripper from Saved by the Bell to host Project Runway-esque dance competition on Bravo
• Creator/executive producer of My Name is Earl got a job at a fast food restaurant during the strike
• I’m in love! Project Runway in 60 seconds. Last week’s episode is hysterical as well
• The Hillary video was bad, but I’m too scared to even watch Chippendale dancers on the The View

What’re you doing over the long weekend?  I don’t know what I’m doing either.  I’ve seen most of the movies I want to see (Persepolis is so good, guys) and I can really only do one drunken bender per weekend.

If you’re similarly conflicted, why don’t you catch the premire of Dexter on CBS. It begins at 10:00 on Sunday — here’s a “never before seen” clip that a publicist sent us.[kml_flashembed movie="http://youtube.com/v/9klcFfFdqhU" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

It’s dark stuff. They had one clip where he’s all hackin’ up the guy’s face so he can get his “souvenir” blood slide. So much fun.

Oh my god, I just looked up and Roz from Frasier is on one of the Law and Order shows. That is neither here nor there.

But you should watch Dexter — and then Netflix the second season when it comes out.