Elena says: What do you think of the VM gossip?

Jen Star says: I don't know anymore. I'm kinda ready to let it go.

Elena says: I haven't liked this season. It's a relief when it's not on. The dialogue is so good though. I have trouble letting go, I always worry it'll get good after I stop watching.

Jen Star says: I wouldn't stop watching, but it's never a good sign if the creator doesn't have it in him to have a solid five-year arc for a series. Scrambling is never a good sign, and they've been scrambling since the end of season one.

Elena says: New writers perhaps? Maybe supporters like Joss and Stephen King should try their hand! That'd be interesting.

I really don't understand the "best show on TV" tag anymore. Wishful thinking?

Jen Star says: Or not knowing when you're beaten. Arrested Development could have gone on on Showtime (and, not to spoil it or anything, but Deadwood is only three seasons, with the creator bowing out), but the creator said, "I think we're done now." And I'd much rather get two-and-a-half seasons of an amazing show, than to get five of a mediocre one.

Jen Star says: VM should have realized after two seasons that the best way to keep the story moving was to kill someone close to her, and give her some baggage to work thru. Sassy teen detective only goes so far. Joss saw it with Buffy; I really don't know why Rob Thomas couldn't see it with VM.

Elena says: Of course there's a difference between reaching a natural end and just running out of steam... VM has more in it to tell, they just can't figure out what that is and how to do it. The college years are always the death of shows. (I did know that about Deadwood.)

I feel this way about Lost. They want to stretch it for seven seasons and it doesn't have it in it. I blame pressure from the networks.

Jen Star says: It's the public, tho, to a major degree. They want new episodes, and with a story like that, you can't do 24 episodes a season and still give things away. You'd run out of things to talk about one-third of the way in! That's why I love Heroes. They just pile it on! They don't even care if it makes sense!

Elena says: You're right. The gen pop has the attention span of a moron.

Heroes is so damn great.

Jen Star says: It really is.

Jen Star says: Hey! Maybe you can start watching BSG, then start watching Deadwood, and when you're done, you'll be ready for Firefly!

Elena says: Stranger things have happened... I wouldn't hold my breath tho!

Holy shit! Not only is MSN streaming every episode of Arrested Development on this schmantzy new website over the next year, but even us plebes in Canada can see it!

Pass it along to anyone who may find Arrested Development even the slightest bit diverting!

All the stalling finally makes sense. Creator Mitch Hurwitz has bailed on Arrested Development.

I'll miss the Hot Cops most of all.

"I'm no scar! Dot com."

I know, I know, Carly. So cliché. So sue me.

Do I even remember how to do this? It’s been a while since I posted, but a snowy, quiet last-day-of-2005-esque day like today feels right for getting back into it.

10. What Not to Wear (TLC). I love this show with every fashionable bone in my body. Unlike other makeover shows, when I’m finished watching WNTW, I feel like the recipient has learned her fashion lesson and will continue along the path of righteousness. Stacy and Clinton aren’t trying to make everyone into clones (though the striped blouse-sweater combo of 2004 was starting to get predictable), which means that there’s something new to learn each week. I keep waiting for a chocolate-eyed, pale-skinned girl to appear on the show so I can get shadow tips from Carmindy.

9. My Name is Earl (NBC). Damned Jason Lee and his damned Scientology. I thought he was so cool in Chasing Amy (even though it was Ben who stole my 20-year-old heart), and was shocked—shocked! —to discover he was a member of The Church. I really didn’t want to love this show, but Jamie Pressly, Ethan Suplee, the guy who plays Crabman, and even Xenu-loving Lee, made me a fan. It’s like having my beloved Roseanne back, it is!

8. The Comeback (HBO). Normally, I am so not a fan of embarrassment humour. I couldn’t watch Meet the Parents or There’s Something About Mary without feeling incredibly uncomfortable and awkward. Friends and family have met with my cold shoulder when they behaved like freaks in public. I just can’t handle scenes like that. Which makes my love of The Comeback just that much more inexplicable. Lisa Kudrow’s Valerie gets shat on, literally and figuratively, for 13 episodes, and I can’t look away. I don’t know that she was meant to be a sympathetic character, but she had me rooting for her from Episode 4. Rot that Paulie G!

7. Survivor/The Amazing Race. I’ve been watching Survivor since Mike fell into the fire in Season 2, but TAR is new for me this year. I started watching because Rob and Amber were on, and was in love. I caught up on the previous seasons over the summer, so even the terrible Family Edition (more milkmaids, you say? Whoda thunk there were so many farms in this vast and apparently boring country of ours? Also, shut up, Weavers.) couldn’t scare me away. Survivor had two very strong seasons this year. I’m thrilled Jeff signed on for more seasons. Stephenie as a host would have been awful.

6. The Block, (HGTV Canada, Channel Nine in Australia). My sister and father say this show is getting too personal and is losing its home renovation roots. I say that Australia’s most popular show ever is freaking awesome, and I can’t wait to see how lovely Jane looks at her and Matt’s wedding.

5. Scrubs (NBC). I almost forgot to add this show to the list, it's been so long since it was on. Come back to me, J.D.!

4. The Office (NBC). See above, re: Embarrassment. I found the British version of this show awkward, but this one is just too funny. As much as I love the principals (Dwight!), it’s the secondary characters that make this show so awesome. I think I have an Angela at my office, and I know I have a few Kevins. Even Creed, who we knew nothing about when Michael tried to fire him in October, is starting to become an integral part of this show. I have to say that I’m worried about Jim and Pam, tho. I just can’t see it happening without one of them leaving Dundler-Mifflin. It will be way too Cheers for my liking.

3. Arrested Development (Fox). I have to say that I had my worries as this season began. I got that Charlize Theron’s Rita was supposed to be slow, but the one thing that keeps this show from becoming farceical is its timing. Hold a beat for too long and the jokes aren’t that funny anymore. I was glad to see her go, and even gladder to see this family close back in on itself (“Hi, Uncle-Father Oscar!”). Last season started out loose and tightened up by the fourth or fifth episode, and this season is gearing up to do the same. If Showtime doesn’t pick this up after Fox finally cancels it, I will be one unhappy pappy. You know, if I were a guy.

2. Veronica Mars (UPN). Like you didn’t see this one coming.

1. Rome (HBO). This show has everything I love. Somewhat-accurate history, warfare, costumes, nakednes—and real, no-fooling, character development. These people love, hate, hurt and find pleasure in everyday things. I can hardly wait until 2007 to watch Octavian and Antony go Gaulish on Cicero and Brutus’s asses.

Honourable Mentions go to Frontline, The Daily Show, The First 48 and Family Plots. Who knew I liked so many shows? Okay, don’t answer that.