Last week, so I've heard, was a really good episode of "Survivor: Cook Islands." I didn't see it; there was that whole Thanksgiving thing, and the DVR had a meltdown (albeit a rebootable one) that night. Still, I made sure to tune in tonight  and, well, not so great.

I'm not amused by Jonathan's bad behavior (and I keep seeing him through the filter of his sitcom past). I did think the alliance would turn on him and blast him out of the competition, but that didn't happen. Yul was overthinking things, but that didn't go anywhere. So when Candice was voted out instead, it was a letdown in dramatic terms — and probably a function of her slagging everyone else in the alliance during her snarling match with Jonathan.

Now I have to decide if I want to come back for the next show — and, if I come back, it's for a better reason than reruns spread across other parts of prime time.

It was tough enough when TV shows had cliffhangers at the end of their seasons, prompting endless speculation over the summer about what was coming — and endless frustration for fans of shows that did not come back. Now we're getting midseason cliffhangers to keep you coming back after hiatuses or cycles of reruns. "Lost" tried it, in a way that dismayed even diehard fans of the show, and tonight "Jericho" is doing it. I'll file some notes after it's over, but I'm somewhat optimistic since "Jericho" is a lot more linear than "Lost," and more willing to hand out information along the way.

So more later.

"See you soon." A very suitable cliffhanging line. Lots packed in, too: Change in the mayor's office, the more explicit admission that the new mayor has a fascist streak (with the echoes of life after 9/11 getting louder again), a shooting near the end, the return of the old beau, the computer message — plus Sinead O'Connor singing Prince. Pretty fair. See you soon, indeed. Can't wait.

Here's today's announcement from NBC. Note that "Crossing Jordan" is now slated for return on Jan. 21.

NBC will re-shape its mid-season program lineup following the planned departure of  "Sunday Night Football" in January with the debut of the new reality series "Grease: You're the One That I Want" (8-9 p.m. ET) on Sunday, January 7 (8-9 p.m. ET) and the season premiere of the Emmy Award-nominated "The Apprentice" (9-10 p.m. ET) - followed two weeks later by the return of the popular drama "Crossing Jordan" on Sunday, January 21 (10-11 p.m. ET). 

In addition, starting on Wednesday, January 3, NBC's Wednesday-night lineup will have a new look with the popular game show "Deal or No Deal" shifting to the 9-10 p.m. (ET) slot.  Likewise, on Wednesday, January 10, "Friday Night Lights" - the critically acclaimed freshman drama that recently received a full-season order — will now be broadcast from 8-9 p.m. (ET) starting that night.  Both programs will precede "Medium," which continues at 10-11 p.m. (ET).

As a result, "Dateline NBC" will replace "Friday Night Lights" on Tuesdays (8-9 p.m. ET) beginning December 26 and will eventually add a second night on Sundays (7-8 p.m. ET) beginning February 11.

In addition, new mid-season dramas "Raines" and "The Black Donnellys" will also join the NBC schedule in Spring 2007 on a date and time period to be announced later. …

The following includes NBC's new mid-season schedule (all times ET):

Mondays
8-9 p.m. — "Deal or No Deal"
9-10 p.m. — "Heroes"
10-11 p.m. — "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip"

Tuesdays
8-9 p.m.– "Dateline NBC" (beginning December 26)
9-10 p.m. — "Law & Order: Criminal Intent"
10-11 p.m. — "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit"

Wednesdays
8-9 p.m. — "Friday Night Lights" (January 10)
9-10 p.m. — "Deal or No Deal" (January 3)
10-11 p.m. — "Medium"

Thursdays
8-9 p.m. — "My Name Is Earl"
8:30-9 p.m. — "The Office"
9-9:30 p.m. — "Scrubs"
9:30-10 p.m. — "30 Rock"
10-11 p.m. — "ER"

Fridays
8-9 p.m. — "1 VS 100"
9-10 p.m. — "Las Vegas"
10-11 p.m. — "Law & Order"

Saturdays
Drama repeats

Sundays
7-8 p.m. — "Dateline NBC" (February 11)
8-9 p.m. — "Grease: You're the One That I Want" (January 7; first two weeks will run from 8-9:30 p.m.)
9-10 p.m. — "The Apprentice" (January 7; first two weeks will run from 9:30-11 p.m.)
10-11 p.m. — "Crossing Jordan" (January 21)

Not my favorite episode of "Veronica Mars" last night. No big emotional kick, and the shortened story arc — while getting us to the point more quickly — left me feeling as if we had lacked details about the story and the characters. (More Mac! More Mac!) Wasn't crazy about the Logan-gets-revenge bit, either. Yes, we all know that he loves Veronica, but it still felt a bit stagey. On the other hand, the case was solved in a reasonable way, the actual criminals made sense and the setup for the next arc was all right. So I was satisfied. But lots of TV is satisfying. I was hoping for something more powerful.

Missed a bunch of "Gilmore" this season; thanks to the bride, an avowed "Gilmore" fan who cannot go long without it, I've done some catching up via last week's episode and last night's. Regular readers will recall that I am a believer in Luke-and-Lorelai, so I can't say that I'm crazy about Christopher-and-Lorelai. But the story is being told reasonably well and Lauren Graham is certainly trying to make it work. (Although, what's the deal with her hair lately? Seems a little messy for Lorelai.) Still, I am hoping that evolving Luke — who has finally figured out what being a father means — will evolve his way back into Lorelai's heart.

Other points: Alexis Bledel didn't annoy me as much, perhaps because I had not seen her every week, but she's still not as on game as the other actors. The Rory-Logan reconciliation scene was carried heavily by Logan. And, on a fine point, I don't think Emily would refer to a "hunk" of cheese. Just wasn't her kind of word.

Research continues on Christmas tunes. Instead of the John Denver version of "Please, Daddy," I'm going to go with Alan Jackson's. E-mailed with Bill Danoff, who co-wrote the song, and he thinks Jackson nailed it. Jackson's "Honky Tonk Christmas" CD is pretty good generally, by the way, certainly better than his "Let It Be Christmas." Don't know why country singers — Lee Ann Womack also comes to mind — think the way to be novel at Christmas is to go big-band-ish. You're just setting yourself up for comparison with the titans (Crosby, Sinatra, et al.) and you're going to lose.

Something from Twister Sister's "A Twisted Christmas" is going to make it into my story. As has been pointed out, you can sing "Oh Come All Ye Faithful" and "We're Not Gonna Take It" interchangeably, but Twisted Sister carries that idea into other songs; the lyrics and original melody are basically used in service of a crunching sound from the band. Very peculiar, but listenable.

Some other contenders: Ralph Sinatra, "Christmas When You're Dead"; Linda Hughes, "Elvis Won't Be Here This Christmas"; Bush, "Good King Somethingorother"; James Brown's version of "Merry Christmas Baby," because of that Jamesian thing that creeps in at the end — both the relentless beat from the band and James's "bring it a little bit higher" chant-to-scream.

OK, folks, I am working on a followup to last year's look at unconventional Christmas music. (You can find last year's story — and links to some audio — here.)

I'm hoping to showcase some different songs in this year's piece. Thanks to your suggestions, will most likely include John Denver's "Please, Daddy (Don't Get Drunk This Christmas)" and Robert Earl Keen's "Merry Christmas From the Family." Also, Billy Mack's "Christmas Is All Around" (which, on the soundtrack to "Love Actually," is even more hilariously awful than the movie implies).

If you're looking for inspiration and memory jogs, check out www.mistletunes.com.

Any and all new suggestions are welcome, by comments posted here or in e-mail to rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com.

Last night was one of those where the things we know off-camera affect what we see on camera. How many times did the guys on "Studio 60" have to use the word "pregnant" before you began to think, oh, yeah, Amanda Peet? How much did you ponder Neil Patrick Harris's recent coming out while watching "How I Met Your Mother's" riffing on acceptance — only making the riff about Barney's disaste for marriage instead of the usual topic?

Still, "How I Met" was pretty funny, especially with Wayne Brady's spot-on Barneyness. And maybe I missed an earlier reference to it, but what does it tell us about the third season that Marshall and Lily were married in that flash-forward?

"Studio 60," meanwhile, by the week becomes more of a giant, lumbering beast of a show, one that can't even carry the weight it creates for itself. We go through this whole business about getting the remaining writers to write, to the point that they're supposed to be included in writing the replacement sketch ("Spit Take Theater," eh?) — only, as far as I can tell, they weren't. Matt's idea saves the day.

(And my buddy Alan Sepinwall saved me a nagging headache this morning by knowing where the duck-joke bit had come from; it's in "My Favorite Year.")

I keep watching this because it had possibilities in the very early going, and because Sorkin has had moments of greatness in other things, and because some people are so passionate about it that I want to be able to talk to them in detail — if only about the reasons I dislike the show. But I was reading a line from Robert Christgau this morning that gets closer both to why I watch and why I am so unhappy doing so than anything I have been able to come up with on my own.

Reviewing a Jane Siberry album, Christgau said, "Interesting music is the perfect cover for mediocre literature." And I thought, yeah, that's "Studio 60" before I even made the precise parallel. Which boils down to, "Studio 60" is so wrapped up in seeming smart ("Look Back in Anger") that it offers you an excuse to ignore how stupid it can be (Sarah Paulson can't tell a joke, which is just Sorkin's latest woman-as-ninny bit).

"Two and a Half Men" continues to be the dirtiest show on network television. (One incontrovertible piece of evidence: The Abraham Lincoln joke.) No fear of the FCC around that place. And still a funny show; good to see Conchata Ferrell moved closer to center stage for a change.

"Big Day" premieres tonight on ABC. It's the comedy about a couple getting married, with the wedding day spread across an entire season. It has some people who know how to do funny, including Wendie Malick and Miriam Shor. It works very hard at being funny, jamming jokes, showing off lots of quirks in the characters, trying to keep everything moving. But I don't want to see the sweat in a comedy; I don't want to be impressed by the work ethic; I want to laugh. This show is not as successful by that measure. It has a basic premise that drives everything — stuff goes wrong on a wedding day — and then, tick tock, one thing after another goes wrong. I don't want to hear the tick-tock in a comedy either.

And, wow, let me tell you how good it felt to write this. Nice to spend some time really thinking about TV.

      Pamela Anderson and Kid Rock are divorcing. Story on www.tmz.com, which also has a link to Anderson's divorce papers. They cite "irreconcilable differences," but that doesn't say much. In fact, it's just a box you check off on the legal papers.

     I have long been baffled by Anderson. She has had such a rowdy public image — and a showy way of appearing in public. But when I have seen her at press conferences for sundry TV projects, she seemed pleasant, charming and — I don't want to say sweet, but there was something basically nice about her. That's not a comment on her choice of projects, or her personal choices, just on the personality.

     I'm not sure what conclusion to draw from her professional decisions, since they suggest one of two things: (a) poor choices or (b) a realization that there are limits to what she can do, and she has to confine herself to projects within those limitations.

    Maybe the same logic applies to her personal choices; she figures that she deserves only a certain kind of guy — whether it's Tommy or Kid — and that's what she settles for. Only not even she can settle for it for long — just until the party's over.

Tomorrow night's "Friday Night Lights" landed on my desk about a week ago. I didn't wait long to watch it. My only regret is that I'll have to wait for another new one. I sometimes wish there was no football in the show, since that may have created bad expectations in the audience — about the subject matter, the maturity of the storytelling, the range of the characters and their lives. Even if you don't care about football, even if the Browns' state has driven you away from the game, watch the show. Still great stuff.

Over the holiday, caught the new episodes of "The Office," "Earl," "Scrubs" and "30 Rock" that NBC hopes to use for a comedy comeback on Thursday. Excellent "Office," good "Earl," better than usual "30 Rock" and a "Scrubs" that had me laughing pretty hard, especially when you consider that I'm not that big a fan of the show. It also had me putting "Bye Bye Bye" in the CD player. You'll see why.

More hectic days. Cavs game Tuesday night with the bride. (Cavs beat the Grizzlies but let them get close near the end.) Interesting to see how timely some of the clips on the big-screen were; they had a bit of that terrible "Totally Awesome" '80s-movie parody. But vintage stuff still does the deal. And when they wanted the crowd to be especially hostile, they'd show Michigan and Steelers logos.

Wednesday was finishing up some work things and then the last of the Thanksgiving prep (including the all-important picking up of Hartville Kitchens pies). Target Demo — the daughter, to those of you tuning in late — arrived Wednesday afternoon. Thursday brought more family, including the Western Pa. branch of the family and the elder son. Turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls, tossed salad, sweet potato casserole, pickles/olives/apple rings, pie, dressing with cornbread/celery/onion/other, pumpkin roll … so much stuff, the cranberry/mandarin orange mix and fruit salad ended up being held over for Friday lunch.

TV, in various clusters of people: Football (of course, and dozing durng the post-dinner watching), parade, dog show, a little of "Spider-Man 2" before the reception on the local Fox station began going haywire, "Grey's Anatomy." Sleep semi-early.

And so into the weekend — a kicked-back Friday, save for a late-afternoon shopping trip by Target Demo and the bride. (It was a Mission for Shoes.) Watched "Devil Wears Prada" on a preview DVD. Better, and more serious, than I expected — and Streep so terrifyingly good. Most of "Big" while kicking on Friday night. Couple of minutes of the Cavs; turned off the game when they trailed late. (They lost.)

Good days, in sum. Hope yours have been the same.

The great if uneven director has died. (Associated Press obit here.) There was a time in the '70s when I would go to any movie with Altman's name on it; in various theaters I saw "MASH," "Brewster McCloud," "McCabe & Mrs. Miller," "Nashville," "California Split," "Buffalo Bill and the Indians," "The Long Goodbye," "Popeye," "3 Women" … my reactions sometimes ranging as wide as the content and subject matter of the movies. But he did some remarkable work along the way, and more besides in TV ("Tanner '88," "The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial").