Random Entertainment Thoughts, Installment #321

24 this week was interesting. Ricky Schroeder joined the cast as the new head of field ops, and after one hour I want him dead already. Also? Wouldn't a field agent want shorter hair? I'm just saying. Remember a few posts ago when I mentioned that having a few great actors can really help this show along? Gregory Itzen, Powers Boothe and Jean Smart really helped this episode. It was oddly comforting to know that First Lady Martha Logan was still unhinged, so much so that she stabbed her husband, Charles! That is totally better than the "I look like a pancake" freakout, and that takes a lot.

I still don't get 24's underground bunker for the DC plot. Is it supposed to be inspired by underwater elements? I still can't figure out what the set designers were going for. And normally, I can catch on to stuff like that really quickly. It still seems very un-Presidential-like.

House was really good this week. Oh, wait...

I'm glad Brandon Rogers is gone from American Idol, but I wanted Sanjaya to go home first. If Sanjaya doesn't go home next week, then that more than likely means that he'll go on the summer tour. Now, I'm more than willing to shell out $70+ to hear Lakisha and Melinda in person, it'll be worth it. But I don't want to hear Sanjaya. Sorry, dude.

Blake Lewis is an interesting performer. He first came on as a beatboxer as a hook, but has tried to move away from that, since, as he has said before, it's a singing competition. But the judges, Randy in particular, want him to beatbox more and more. So he does. And it sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. He picks newer songs and tries to re-mix older ones, making it his own style. And it should get him high praises from the judges, but, it doesn't. And, somewhat understandably, he looks like he doesn't really appreciate what the judges have to say to him. But, he better watch it. Because as fun as it was to see Taylor Hicks shoot death beams from his eyes every week when facing the judges, I'd rather not see that happen again this year from week to week.

It's still early on in the competition, and we don't really know how diverse many of these performers can be, but my early prediction for an AI winner is Melinda. (Of course, about this same time last year I was going for Mandisa to win. Harumph.) She seems to have that "X factor," as it were.

My current picks for the Final Five are, in no particular order: Lakisha Jones, Melinda Doolittle, Chris Sligh, Blake Lewis, Jordin Sparks. (Possible upset: Gina, if she can perfect her rocker feel and get the Daughtry fans to vote for her. But, I don't think it's too likely. But you never know.)

Am I the only one who laughs for the commercials for that horror movie Dead Silence? If you scream, you die. And you scream because there are dolls that are the undead, and so is Lady Ventriloquist, and... yeah, if you scream, you die. Boogie-boogie-boo!

I'm confused by the trailers for Premonition. The premise of the movie sounds an awful lot like Desmond's plotline on Lost, but, it has Sandra Bullock as the lead instead of Henry Ian Cusick...?

Speaking of Lost, that was a good episode last night. I love that they re-visited that whole wanting to get off of the island thing. And that they confirmed that Claire is Jack's half-sister. And next week, we're going to visit the "barracks"! Which, should the Losties stay there, will make for a much nicer set than the Caves in season 1 and the Hatch in season 2. Just wait, though. The episode after Locke's will be pretty fun, I think, based on the promotional photos that have leaked out. (Let's just say that there will be some genuinely fun actors in again...)