TV check

When it comes to American Idol, I’ve been telling people this for weeks, and I’ll say it once more -- For the girls, I’ll take Lakisha, Melinda and Gina all the way to the end, and I’ll take Blake Lewis and Chris Sligh for the boys. And even if they aren’t finalists, all three of those girls should have recording contracts wrapped up …

And before this week, I would have been begging voters to get Sanjaya off the stage (How he’s still in it, I’ll never understand), but his Kinks performance wasn’t have bad …(Seriously. Who the heck was that crying girl!?!?) … Sanjaya finally brought the umph that made him seem like a true contender during his original audition …

As for the rest of the contenders, Haley’s “Tell Him” was good, but she didn’t sell it … Chris Richardson singing “Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Crying” was smooth, but the fact he doesn’t enunciate his words drives Kates and I crazy … Phil’s “Tobacco Road” rocked, but I seriously doubt he’s the next American Idol …

The dark horse of the night was Jordin Sparks singing “I (Who Have Nothing).” She just sang, which is all you need to do in this competition. She played herself. She didn’t overdo it. Her pacing was perfect. She hit the notes. She performed beautifully.

And that leaves Stephanie Edwards who was voted off and deservedly so. She sang “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me,” a beautiful song … and then she had to go and Beyonce-fy it. Yuck. She ruined the song’s perfect melodies with all her runs.

A good read: ‘American Idol’ has begun its decline

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Tell you what -- You promise to start watching The Class, and I'll try watching that other so-called endangered show titled Friday Night Lights. Deal?

Seriously people. It's the most underrated, under-appreciated sitcom on TV right now. Which is too bad because it has all the makings of a Friends-esque blockbuster. After all, James Burrows (Hello! -- Cheers, Friends, Will & Grace, Frasier) and David Crane (Hello! -- Friends) are behind it. What more cred do you need!?

The lowdown? The Class is a cast of characters who went through the second grade together, lost touch and were reunited as a bunch of twenty-somethings when Ethan Haas, played by Jason Ritter, invited all of them to a surprise birthday party for his longtime girlfriend, who actually dumped him at the party. Now Ethan is left scratching his way back into dating along with newfound pals like twin sisters Kat and Lina Warbler, Richie, Duncan and Nicole ...

Ritter, whose comedic abilities so closely resemble his father's chops, and Lizzy Caplan, who plays the sassy and sarcastic Kat, are a match made in sitcom heaven, and they're both on their way to becoming breakout stars. And Jesse Tyler Ferguson, as the clutzy, dopey, puppy-like Richie, isn't far behind. Often, his hard luck and deadpanned punchlines are the icing on the show ...

The sweet dynamic is rounded out by the storylines of gay school teacher Kyle (Sean Maguire), the budding romance between Duncan (Jon Bernthal) and Nicole (Andrea Anders, who deserves to work on a good show after the train wreck that was Joey), Nicole's hollow-headed husband and football legend Yonk Allen (David Keith), and Lina (Heather Goldenhersh) who is relentlessly optimistic while falling for Richie ...

It's a darn good show full of smart comedy, lovable and relatable characters, and some sweet, sweet moments. The big wigs at CBS would be fools to expel The Class ...

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I think my fascination and lust for Amazing Race has come to an end. I couldn't care less about any of these so-called All-Stars traveling the globe right now and I've been beyond bored ...

And this season's Survivor cast is nowhere near as cool as the last season's. Then again, I'm doubting any future Survivor cast will top last year's group...

I'll stick with Survivor, but I'm officially done watching Amazing Race ...

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So NBC's little stunt allowing America to pick the leads of a Broadway musical ended last night ...

Somehow, I stuck with it for every episode. I think I was the last one watching tonight ...

I couldn't have been happier seeing Laura win the part of Sandy. Yeah, yeah, so I said at the beginning that Ashley Spencer was my girl. But when it came down to it, Ashley had the look but she couldn't equal the talent Laura brought. As the weeks went by Ashley seemed to be only going through the motions; the last couple weeks she seemed robotic. Laura took her place the night she belted out "Jesus Christ Superstar" and never looked back ...

As for the Dannys, I was never very high on any of them. In fact, pretty boy Austin was in the basement of my list. For me, he was the Sanjaya of the Grease try-outs -- week after week, I didn't understand how he was surviving. Thank goodness, scrawny Max grew as a performer and came on strong to win the thing ... Sure, he doesn't have the Danny physique, but I'm pretty sure Kathleen Marshall can get him in on a weight training program to help him bulk up ...

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I think I'm with a good majority of Lost and Grey's Anatomy fans when I say: Thank god they've got their mojo back ...

Finally, Lost has been consistently good -- the way it was during its first season -- since it got off its whole let's-treat-Kate-Sawyer-and-Jack-like-zoo-animals storyline and the show returned from its mid-season hiatus a couple weeks ago ...

And Grey's is moving on from its latest cheese-fest that was Meredith's drowning ...

Just keep it real people.