Is she back for good? Has “Private Practice” been cancelled?

No, and no.

“Private Practice” finished its first season before the writer’s strike, so there were no more episodes to film once the strike was settled. “Grey’s Anatomy” producers took the opportunity to bring back Walsh’s popular Addison Montgomery for a few epsiodes in the spring.

Addison will head back to Los Angeles next fall for a second season of “Private Practice.” Which, in the Watcher’s view is too bad. I’m sure it’s nice for Kate to have her own series, but I think her character worked better in Seattle.

What do you say?

*

A few contestants took a calculated risk on one of the two Davids, hoping for a big swing in the standings with a surprising result, but the longshots didn’t pay.

Instead, the top of the standings looks the same as it has for a few weeks, with Cubby and E Likes PIE at the top, separated by a single point.

With 50 poiints to be awarded in the final, Rectangle Head, Jeff K, MandyB, Sharon S, AI Irvine Fan, kk, Tall Elvis, Poopie, Twin Mommy and Jerseygirl all have at least a mathematical shot at winning.

For complete standings, click through to the rest of this article.

(more…)

Fox became the final major network

“Canterbury’s Law,” starring Julianna Margulies, is finished after one season. The show looked promising, but weak writing kept it from standing out from the crowd of legal shows.

“Hell’s Kitchen,” on the other hand, will return for a fifth season.

 What, you didn’t buy your dream house when you were 18? Well, maybe you should have concentrated a leetle beet more on your skateboard and a leetle less on your school.

 In any event, when  season finale kicks off on May 19, Ryan’s offer on a home of his own has been accepted and now all he has to decide is whether or not to invite his bud Tony to move in with him. So he brings Tony with him to Germany to see what Tony is made of. Complaints seems to be the answer.

 Back at home, Ryan packs for his move, his mom Gretchen trying to help make it all homey and such. Nice, but a little too much mom and a little too little Ryan, the kid decides.

See it all at 9 p.m. Monday, May 19, on MTV.
 

Leaving us tonight: Yeesha!

And that’s our show. We’ll see everyone Tuesday for the finals. Have a good night!

Oh, don’t we wish.

Tonight will bring us the most obvious boot since – well, since last week – but it will not bring it quickly. The Watcher does not need to enumerate the reasons. We’ve been over them many times – 13, to be exact.

So set down the remote, pour yourself an extra-large glass of Paula Juice to numb the pain and try to enjoy the pseudo-drama.

You aren’t going anywhere for the next hour.

Because this is “American Idol.”

We begin the evening with some good news: Once again the show started early, so we get to miss what was almost certainly a maddeningly stupid introduction. Something about the votes being counted and someone going home would be my guess.

Still, we’ve captured a full 60 minutes of the proceedings, and I have a feeling there will be stupidity aplenty.

Take for example, Ryan Seacrest’s comments on the evening’s pending elimination: “As history has shown, to get this close and not make it is simply devastating.”

And how has history shown that, Ryan? Is Elliott Yamin worse off than Katherine McPhee or Taylor Hicks? Did we miss Vonzell Solomon’s suicide?

(more…)

As the broadcast networks unveil their plans for 2008-09 this week, the “bubble shows” are bursting right and left.

We’ll have much more about the networks’ plans over the coming weeks, but for now lets look at the bubble shows we were discussing last week.

STILL KICKING
“Boston Legal” (ABC) - Next season will be the last.
“Eli Stone” (ABC) - Seems to be building a loyal audience.
“How I Met Your Mother” (CBS) - The Britney stunt-casting pays off.
“New Adventures of Old Christine” (CBS) - ABC was ready to pick it up if CBS balked.
“Reaper” (CW) - The second chance is well deserved.
“The Unit” (CBS) - I know many readers will be thrilled with this news.

IT ONLY LOOKS DEAD
“Scrubs” (NBC/ABC) - What everyone knew for weeks has become official. The venerable comedy has departed NBC, but will continue on ABC. Filming for season eight is about to begin.

THEY MAY BE UNDEAD
“Back to You” (Fox/?) - Fox axed this show Sunday, but TV Week reports that CBS may be interested.
“Moonlight” (CBS/?) - The vampire series is done on CBS, but reports are that the CW may be interested in picking it up. The show seems a much better fit with “Supernatural” than with “Numb3rs.”

DEAD
“Aliens in America” (CW) - A fun little comedy that deserved better.
“Beauty and the Geek” (CW) - The Watcher was a huge fan, but its time has come.
“Cane” (CBS) - One and done for CBS’s try at a prime-time soap.
“Cashmere Mafia” (ABC) - Cliche characters doomed this from the start.
“Miss Guided” (ABC) - Excellent cast, but terrible time slot. And not enough laughs.
“New Amsterdam” (Fox) - This was popular with the Watcher’s readers. Sorry, folks.
“Notes from the Underbelly” (ABC) - Very funny, but once the baby came, what was left?
“October Road” (ABC) - My least favorite new drama in years. Ratings crashed in season two.
“Shark” (CBS) - All legal shows are unrealistic, but this was unrealistically unrealistic.
“Women’s Murder Club” (ABC) - I thought this would be a hit. I’m sure ABC is even more disappointed.

WE’LL KNOW TOMORROW
“Canterbury’s Law” (Fox) - The outlook isn’t brilliant.
“Hell’s Kitchen” (Fox) - Another show that I have loved but am done with.

POSTSCRIPT
Either we knew these were cancelled or they obviously were leaving, but for the record …
ABC: “Big Shots,” “Cavemen,” “Just for Laughs,” “Men in Trees,” “Oprah’s Big Give”
CBS: “Jericho,”Power of 10,” “Welcome to the Captain”
CW: “Crowned: The Mother of All Pageants,” “Girlfriends,” “Life Is Wild,” “Pussycat Dolls Presents: Girlicious”
NBC: “1 vs. 100,” “Amne$ia,” “Bionic Woman,” “Clash of the Choirs,” “Journeyman,” “Las Vegas,” “My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad,” “Phenomenon,” “The Singing Bee”

The show must go on.

I think it was Leo Sayer who first said that, but do you think he had in mind a situation like we have this evening?

Ostensibly, the purpose of this episode is to choose the two finalists from a cast of three. But given that we already know which two guys are going forward and which woman is going home Wednesday, must we go through with it?

I suppose so. There are ratings to be accumulated, bills to be paid, tween screams to be cast David Archuleta’s way.

And who knows? There have been bigger surprises, right? Like Francis Drake over the Spanish Armada in 1588, Upset over Man O’ War in 1919 and … no, I think that’s about it.

So they will sing, and we will watch. That’s how it works.

This is “American Idol.”

Ryan Seacrest opens this oh-so-dramatic episode by telling us how these three regular people took a chance last summer and auditioned for “AI” – a singer, a singer and a singer. Actually, he says “a high school student, an actress and a bartender,” but I thought we’d try being honest for a second or two.

(more…)

Jeff Lewis, the obsessive-compulsive real-estate house-flipper from Orange County

On the first season, which aired last summer, Lewis, who lives in Los Angeles now, let his personality out for all to see, from the way he (mis)treated his assistants to the way he pampered his cats.

The show returns at 10 p.m. on Tuesday, June 17. According to the release from Bravo, the soft real estate market forces Lewis to take on home renovations instead of buy-and-flip deals. He hates working for others — can you imagine? – but also promises that seeing himself on TV in the first season prompted him to look at himself, and sign up for therapy sessions.

“I’m seeing a therapist now, every Wednesday at 10 a.m. and not by court order,” Lewis says. “It’s helping.  My goal is to cut down my ‘flip outs’ from 15 a day to a maximum of five.”

It’s Final Three week on “American Idol,” although the penultimate battle has been overshadowed by the news that David Archuleta’s father has been banned from rehearsals.

Jeff Archuleta’s reputation as an overbearing stage dad preceded him; he had been similarly barred when David was on “Star Search” a few years back. The “American Idol” folks, though, say it’s just to keep young David from getting musical assistance that isn’t available to David Cook or Syesha Mercado.

Both explanations make sense, and both are probably somewhat correct.

TONIGHT’S THEME
The traditional Final Three pattern will be followed tonight. The singers will perform three songs - one selected by the judges, one by the producers and one by the contestants themselves.

Some of the songs have been revealed already; for the spoilers, click at the bottom of this entry.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR
Does Syesha have any chance to survive past Wednesday?

Probably not.

Since David Cook sang “Hello” in the semifinals, the final showdown between him and preseason favorite David Archuleta has seemed inevitable.

Syesha has been called to the elimination spotlight in seven of the nine weeks. Given that and her distant-third standing in every Internet poll one encounters, it would take a miracle - or a major collapse by a David - for her to make it through.

THE STANDINGS
The Watcher’s grade-point-average ratings echo the nationwide sentiment. Cook and Archuleta are separated by a hundredth of a point, while Syesha lags 0.7 points behind.

(more…)

Last night’s semifinal on “Dancing With the Stars”

Out of 240 possible points in the eight dances, 220 were awarded, with poor Marissa Jaret Winokur & Tony Dovolani receiving the only two 8s of the night.

Does that mean Marissa is doomed? Probably, but let’s remember that the judges scores mean less and less as the season progresses. Marissa & Tony need to outpoll Jason Taylor & Edyta Sliwinska by 1.6 percentage points in the fan voting, or more likely, Cristian de la Fuente & Cheryl Burke by 1.9 percentage points.

Only Marissa & Tony and Cristian & Cheryl have been in the bottom two previously. Jason & Edyta had to stand under the red lights last week, but Tom Bergeron noted that they were “not necessarily” in the bottom two.

The Watcher predicts Marissa & Tony will leave tonight.