I realize that I’ve already done a post on Heroes previews, but I still find it amazing that that show is still on the air.  It’s been a full seven months or so since we’ve seen a new episode!

Just imagine — in September, not only will we have new episodes of 30 Rock and The Office (the shows that are at the forefronts of our minds), but we’ll have new episodes of shows like Heroes and Pushing Daisies!  It’ll be a bright day and I’ll be able to actually have something to blog about.

In any case, here’s a teaser for the next season of Heroes — this time, subtitled “Villains.”

Do you remember Heroes? Because I barely do.

The last new episode aired in early December of 2007. I seem to recall Veronica Mars showing up and being a sociopath, HRG getting shot in the face then coming back to life and then a season finale where they had life-or-death cliffhangers for almost every character (or, like, three).

Since Heroes went on hiatus, I’ve traveled the world, had dozens of love affairs and earned my master gardener certificate.

In any case, there’s a trailer on Hulu for the new season. It’s a bit of a let-down because there’s no new footage, but it’s kind of fun to remember that Heroes will come back some day. And then we can all sit down, watch and complain about how the first season was better.

• Jezebel James did poorly, and rightfully so.
• The reviews are in: Rachael Rays SXSW party was decent, featured Raveonettes
• Joss Whedon decides not to direct an episode of Battlestar Galactica
• Mayor Bloomberg makes an appearance on 30 Rock
• Did Tim Kring of Heroes plagarize himself?
• Punky Brewster has a second kid and will be starring with Janine Garafolo in a gay nuptials comedy.
• Variety reviews Miss Guided, says it just OK
• Lost conspiracy theories – more than you want to know?
• Eddie Izzard talks about the Riches as well as being a non-cross dressing transvestite

• Kathy Griffin to open Oprah style school in Mexico (seriously)
• TV Guide invites us to help cast Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse
• CBS brings The Office’s Rashida Jones UK show to the US as well as a drama by the writers of Veronica Mars
• Heroes soundtrack to feature Wilco, Imogene Heap, and a bunch of more famous people
• Dexter season 3 spoilers!
• MTV takes 2 steps back… from Paula Abdul’s new music video! Burn! Instead offer up sneak peek of The Hills
• Expect Quarterlife to go back to the internet or basic cable
• No love for Oprah’s Big Give

• Tyra Banks + Ashton Kutcher = a show I never want to see
• Rosie O’Donnell + Fran Drescher = see above
• Alec Baldwin + David Hasselhoff = an episode of Dirt
• Friends + Gilmore Girls = a movie I’d watch half of

Eh, enough of that.

• Tim Gunn mentions they are working on Project Runway season 5!
• Instead of doing something noble like donating to charity, CBS uses Jericho nuts for Big Brother competition
• The Wire fans are tired of their friends with HBO On Demand snitchin’ about next week’s episode
• Heroes to begin filming in the near future

It’s Super Tuesday! Everybody panic!

As a DC resident, I’m trying to think of an analogy of how big Super Tuesday (and other big political events) is around here. You could say gay pride in San Francisco or Mardi Gras in New Orleans, but events like this unique bring out a distinct brand of nerdery that is unique to this city. Not that non DCers aren’t paying attention, it’s just weird here.  Let me put it this way — I’m going to a Super Tuesday party with real life cupcakes. Admittedly, these are blue Superbowl cupcakes that are being repurposed from New York Giants colors to Democratic colors, but I digress…

This all leads me to wonder, who would I vote for if I lived inside the television? I mean, more than I already do. Getting rid of that already tenuous blur between my real life and whatever’s going on on The Biggest Loser.

So who would you vote for given the following options:

Josiah Bartlet (The West Wing)

• Pro: Smart cookie — scored a 1590 on his SAT.
• Con: Won’t remember your name.

Laura Roslin (Battlestar Galactica)

• Pro: Nerves of steel, subtle flirtation.
• Con: Lost to Baius Galtar — didn’t have the resolve to fix the election.

David Palmer (24)

• Pro: Strong leader who can make tough decisions.
• Con: Dead.

The form of Nathan Petrelli inhabited by Sylar (Heroes)

• Pro: Smokin’ hot president.
• Con: Bent on world destruction.

“Big, big, big cat!” — Shonen Knife

• A co-hort of Dog the Bounty Hunter has been arrested for indecent exposure. On the scandal scale, this is still probably a step up from racial epithets.
• Taylor Hicks follows Ruben Studdard in losing his record deal.
• Will the Golden Globes be canceled?
• Jay Leno and Jimmy Kimmel will do time on each others’ shows. Meanwhile, the WGA is going to punish Leno for writing his monologues.
• E-Kristin has a new video show featuring “Frakked-Up Fairy Tales.”
• Reaper and Gossip Girl are switching times.
• Potential Colbert guests don’t want to cross picket lines.
• Lost shot decoy endings for season four.
• People are doing the “send the network a lot of a certain product” thing to get gay people to kiss on As The World Turns.
• Speaking of the gays, Heroes’ Zach is gay in the graphic novels.

You guys, he may seem nice, but he’s crazy. I’m not talking about Obama.

• People interviews the latest Project Runway castoff.
• The WGA yelled at Jay Leno for breaking its rules.
• There’s going to be another season of The Two Coreys. Because I guess the first one already aired.
• TV Guide has a guide of what to watch during the strike.
• Zoey 101 hasn’t been canceled because of you-know-who’s fetus.
• Law and Order is going to London.
• TV Guide talks to The Wire’s Clark Peters and new show host Carson Kressley.
• Noah from Heroes defends the show’s second season.
• Nick Hornby interviews the creator of The Wire.
• Wallace Shawn surrounded by lesbians.
• MTV is going to air another Gauntlet. I will not watch.
• E-Kristin has scoop on the last pre-strike episode of Grey’s.
• Survivor’s cast has been announced and it includes fan favorites Cirie and Yau-Man.
• Nate Berkus will host Oprah’s Big Give.

Looks like there was something to it when people were sensing the creepy “you can’t date him, he’s your uncle” feeling on Heroes.

Hayden Panettiere and Milo Ventimiglia have been outed as an item.  I really don’t know how to feel about this.  So much pretty.  So much famous.  So much rich.   I can’t figure out if this is weird or cute.

Let’s lay it out:

CUTE: They’re both apple-cheeked and attractive.

WEIRD: He’s 30, she’s only 18.

CUTE: Singing and acting babies.

WEIRD: If they got married and she hyphenated her last name, it would have 21 letters.

CUTE: They can nuzzle on the couch while running lines together.

WEIRD: When he was learning to drive a car, she was four.

Thoughts?

2007 is officially over. Kaput. Done. Smell ya later.

You know what is also dead? All sorts of folks on TV. Thusly, we’ve made a provocative, scintillating top five and bottom five list of dead folks from this calendar year. Among the year’s deaths, we have a drowning, two gunshot victims, massive head trauma and even an explosion or two.

Point of information: the “top five” and “bottom five” are determined by a number of factors — the satisfying nature of the demise, how well it worked to advance the plot/character arc or, quite simply, whether we liked it or not.

For the record, proceed with caution if you are sensitive on getting spoiled by any shows. These shows include Weeds, Dexter and Battlestar Galactica.

Top 5

5. U-Turn – Weeds

The thing I really liked about U-Turn’s demise on the third season of Weeds wasn’t the satisfaction in having a repulsive character get axed. It was the perverse injustice of it all. U-Turn was such an intimidating character, breathing through a clenched jaw and flared nostrils in every scene and using terror to get his way. And then he gets killed by the fat, simple, ne’er-do-well Marvin — whose biggest accomplishment of the season was getting shot in the ass by the Mexicans. It was an understandable, but out-of-nowhere act and I love the idea of such a ridiculous, incompetent figure taking out a prime villain by surprise.

4. Symbolic spot reserved for Pushing Daisies

It seems like it wouldn’t be fair for such a death-centric show to get left out on this list. Perish the thought that any of the lead characters actually die (even Emerson — the show’s dynamics would be ruined without him). But in honor of the exploding secretaries, trampled jockeys and torn-in-half wish-givers, we raise a glass of bubbly to the supporting cast of corpses on Pushing Daisies.

3. Sgt. Doakes – Dexter

Toward the end of season two, it really looked like the creators had written themselves in a corner. There were so many complications that it didn’t seem like the season could end cleanly. I feel like it was pretty obvious that Doakes was going to get blamed for the Bay Harbor Butcher’s crimes, but after Doakes caught him in the act, I didn’t see how Dexter could pin the blame on him without killing him — a violation of the Code of Harry. Enter crazy-pants Lila. Lila’s craziness was what saved Dexter in the end. Furthermore, it was pretty satisfying to see Doakes — crazy and unhinged himself — finally out of the picture.

2. Starbuck – Battlestar Galactica

Maggie writes: Starbuck is (was?), arguably, the best character in a sea of wonderful characters from Battlestar Galactica — the frakked up risk-taking pilot with Mommy issues who makes bad decisions in the sack. Not only is (was?) she a fan favorite, she keeps the rest of the characters on their toes — sleeping with them, hurting them, telling them the ugly truth that she can’t face herself. So when her Viper blew up, it seemed impossible that they, the geniuses at the helm of BSG, would actually kill her. But they seemed very serious about it, making us suffer through four Kara-Thrace-less episodes before the last ten seconds of the last episode of this season. Not that those seconds resolved anything, of course. What does it all mean???

1. Charlie – Lost/Phil Leotardo – The Sopranos

This is cheating, but that’s okay because it’s a blog and not real life. I have two number one deaths and they’re both for different reasons. Charlie’s death earned its spot just because it was shocking (in a way), emotionally charged and completed his character’s redemption arc. Plus, the Lost folks redeemed themselves a little bit for killing a real character, not just introducing a bunch of tailies to just pick off one by one.

Phil Leotardo’s death was awesome for sheer bloodlust purposes. Such an awful man, responsible for so much death. To finally see him get whacked was really rewarding for long-time viewers. Furthermore, he didn’t just get whacked. An SUV ran over his head! I mean, what more could you ask for? It was like murder Christmas.

Honorable mention: To Nikki and Paolo from Lost. For real. In the big picture, they were totally useless, but that episode was awesome.

Bottom 5

5. Sheriff Lamb – Veronica Mars

I realize we might get some flack for putting Veronica Mars on the bottom of any list, but I have to admit that Sheriff Lamb’s untimely demise was a bit anticlimactic. No one really cared for him, so on face value this would have been a no-brainer for the top five. But the way it all went down was really unsatisfying. If I’m like most VM fans, I would’ve wanted Lamb to go out in a redeeming blaze of glory — so we can look at his tombstone and reflect that he wasn’t such a bad guy after all. However, that didn’t happen. He got bonked on the head by Richard Greico. Richard Greico, guys. I mean, come on.

4. Bradford Meade – Ugly Betty

Maggie writes: Recipe for instant melodrama: Pick the most boring character on your show. Kill him. Presto! No one liked Bradford, and none of his story lines were particularly convincing. Did anyone really believe he was in to Wilhelmina? Did anyone actually buy him as an evil genius? Then he up and dies, just in time to ruin Wili’s wedding and teach the Meade kids a little something about life. On the other hand, Santos — that one was at least a little teary.

3. President Palmer II – 24

Maggie writes: The sixth season of 24 seems awfully long ago, especially if you’re like me and you didn’t bother watching the last four episodes. But back in the beginning of the season, there was another President Palmer, the brother of the first (who was the victim of a great TV death — shot in the neck!). Prez Palmer II got himself blown up, and then he pumped himself up on uppers to lead the country, and then I think he died. He did die, didn’t he? He isn’t like Ex-Prez Logan in the ambulance, never to be heard from again? It’s a mark of the show’s decline that I can’t even remember.

2. D.L. – Heroes

He got shot by some random dude in a bar? Booooooooooooooooooo!

1. Tony Soprano – The Sopranos

My disdain for the way things went down on the series finale of The Sopranos is no secret. But, even though David Chase thinks I should just worry my pretty little head in an adorably quaint liberal arts classroom, I’m going to operate under the assumption that Tony Soprano got it in the end. All signs point to yes, as many people seem to think (including Jeopardy champ Bob Harris, who seems to have come up with the most comprehensive analysis. Although, now he seems to be wanting to distance himself from it as much as possible. Sigh. Whatever.). But I’m putting Tony’s death at the bottom of the heap — not because it didn’t make sense that it would happen, not because it wouldn’t have been just, but because of that damned fade to black and the “I’m smarter than you” ambiguity.

Honorable mention: For the dream of Studio 60. Emmy-award winning writer, cast of luminaries, the best set money can buy — what could go wrong? Everything, of course.