TV

One of the first questions for eliminated singer Robbie Carrico in today's phone conference was whether his long hair is, as alleged, a wig.
"Oh, God," he replied. "I've been growing this hair for a very long time and I think it's ridiculous. But they have to come up with something."

Being on American Idol "is a big emotional roller coaster from beginning to end," said Grand Prairie's Jason Yeager in a conference call today. "I don't think I was really prepared to deal with the stress of it all."
Simon Cowell, who has been particularly devilish with his criticism this year, was hard to take, Jason said – especially because he'd once been in the judge's good graces.
During Hollywood week, "I'd had really great auditions and got great reviews; he really seemed to like me," he recalled. "I had actually never gotten a no from him, so it was kind of a night-and-day difference for me. I kind of felt like he wasn't really into me anymore."
Still, the experience was worth it: "I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world," he said. And even though he didn't win the show, "I still think I'm a winner, and I still think something great is going to come out of this."

Another Lost episode reinforcing the idea that time works differently on the Island. And it was awfully nice to see Penny and Desmond reunited at last, reassuring each other of their love, even if it was only by telephone.

I liked the double meaning of the title, "The Constant." The more obvious, scientific definition, of course, was stated by Daniel. But "The Constant" also could allude to the enduring love that exists between Desmond and Penny, in the sense of "constant" as meaning "faithful."

UPDATE: Check out Doc Jensen's first-day EW.com comments re "The Constant"...

Des goes to Penny's new residence in London; she answers the door, but she says she is trying to make a clean break from him. She is obviously very angry and doesn't want to talk.

But he persuades her to listen. He tells her he needs to have a phone number for her that won't change, because he will need to call her in eight years. He won't use the number until then: "December 24, 2004 -- Christmas Eve. I promise." She gives him the number and he memorizes it.

On the freighter, Sayid gets a ship-to-shore patch through, but they only have limited power. Des calls and Penny answers; they are overjoyed to speak with each other. Penny tells him she's been looking for him for three years, and that she got the message from Charlie that Des was alive. "I'll come back, I promise," Des tells her. The connection gives out, but Des gives Sayid his thanks: "It was enough." His constant, Penny, is still there; now he can cope.

Back on the Island, Dan's going through an old physics notebook. One page is filled with a scribbled note to himself: "If anything goes wrong, Desmond Hume will be my constant." This message from his past makes Dan look strangely hopeful.

The five minutes Desmond seemingly spent on the freighter were 75 minutes in Oxford, Dan says. Meanwhile, Eloise has died of a brain aneurysm, and Des is terrified that the same will happen to him. Eloise couldn't take the back-and-forth in time, Dan says, because the brain needs a constant, something that anchors you in both places.

"Can it be a person?" Des asks. He tries to call Penny in London, but her number's been disconnected. However, he finds Charles Widmore at an antiques auction, bidding successfully on the ship's log kept by the mate of the Black Rock. Widmore gives him Penny's new address, but advises that she will only tell Des that she hates him now.

Via sat-phone, Dan gives Des information, numbers for "the device," to tell Dan when Des finds him in 1996. And a code name, "Eloise," to convince Dan that Des is serious.

At Oxford in 1996, Eloise turns out to be a white lab rat. Dan's experiment sends the rat's consciousness into the future, allowing Eloise to solve a just-built maze she hadn't even learned yet. But Dan doesn't seem to know how to help 1996 Des: "You can't change the future," Dan tells him.

On the freighter: George Minkowski recognizes Desmond's name, tells him that he was the ship's communications officer, and that every so often there were incoming calls from Penelope Widmore, calls which they were under strict orders to ignore.

As the helicopter heads into a thunderhead, Desmond starts flashing in and out of the present. One minute he's with Frank and Sayid, who are strangers to him; then he's back in the army, getting in trouble for not following orders because he's having what seem like waking dreams. When they land, Des goes nuts and the men on the freighter lock him in a sick bay. There he meets Minkowski, who's tied to the bed and having similar flashes. "It's happening to you too, isn't it?" Minkowski asks Des.

Sayid is puzzled. How, he asks Frank, can it be that the helicopter took off at dusk, but landed in mid-afternoon? Frank has no idea. Sayid calls Jack on the sat-phone and tells him about Desmond's problems. He is having the "side effects" that Daniel previously warned Jack and Juliet about.

Is it just me, or does it feel like we lost a few potentially awesome singers this week and kept the mediocre talent? Not to be mean, but I wanted Luke Menard gone. Now. Instead, we bid adieu to alleged wig-wearer Robbie Carrico, whose voice is pretty amazing. (Then again, he kept smarting off to the judges. Bad career move!)
On the ladies' side, sweet Alaina Whitaker elicited a few tears from me in my living room. (I'm sure I'm not alone.) It's moments like that -- her initial panic about singing while crying, the other girls stepping up for support -- that make the show a hit.

She's gone, but Amanda lives on. Life: not always fair.

So it's the end of the Idol road for the Grand Prairie native. Sad. But unfortunately expected, after the grilling he's gotten from the judges.

Two observations about the remaining contestants:
- Robbie Carrico is receiving much flack about his hair after Tuesday's performance show. Seems many believe he's sporting a wig. (Tonight he has another bandana on, so it's harder to tell.) It sort of makes sense; if he is wearing a hairpiece, that would explain why the judges keep hammering away at the "authenticity" issue with him. (Then again, maybe he just has weird hair.)
- Kady Malloy has ants in her pants. She cannot keep still during those shots of the gang lined up and facing the cameras. If you haven't noticed this before, watch tonight. She'll be fidgeting.

Tonight's episode of Lost, "The Constant," should feature a little more physical action than last week's "Eggtown" did.

This is a Desmond Hume-centric ep, and the Hot Scot, as you'll remember, has precognitive flashes (one of which propelled poor Charlie Pace to his season-finale doom inside the Looking Glass Station). We can expect to see our Des having the sort of time-out-of-mind experiences that sent him -- and us -- reeling in last season's "Flashes Before Your Eyes."

In that "Flashes" ep, Des took some trippy walks down Déjà Vu Lane. Or maybe it was Presque Vu Lane. Who knows? This time out, it gets even weirder.

Spoilerish stuff ahead, if you prefer to avoid it... otherwise, keep going...

For me, Syesha, Brooke and Ramiele did fine jobs tonight, while Kady Malloy stunk up the place. Plus, we could start a drinking game based on how many times it's brought up that Kady does a Britney impression. Maybe she can parlay that into a lucrative career of some sort. In the meantime, I don't want to hear about it again!

The verdict from my husband on that crazy 'do: "She looks like she grew up to be an old hag."
I'm sorry, but I can't stop laughing at that. Totally right on the money! The hair was so very witch-like, wasn't it?
On the other hand, I love her bookworm tendencies.

The judges may have been disappointed with her rendition of the disco hit "Don't Leave Me This Way," but I think the audience will disagree. It was fun, it had a good beat, and we at home could dance to it.

I like her a lot. She's so pretty, she accessories well with all the scarves, she can belt out a tune with the best of 'em. But maybe she's too perfect?

That was just creepy.

First up: Carly Smithson, sporting a much more flattering hairdo than normal. Not sure I'm in love with her take on "Crazy on You," though. Plus, all I can look at is that lady's face permanently inked on her arm.

Last week, several ladies suffered from bad colds; this week, the guys came down with talkback-itis. Hardest hit: Chikezie, Robbie Carrico and especially David Cook, who had done so well with his performance of "All Right Now" but ruined it with his attitude. After Simon accused him of having little charisma, David shot back with this: "I don't have to win you over with charisma; I've got to win these people over."
Simon was not happy. "David," he said scoldingly, "I think I know by now the rules of the competition."
Yeah. Again, the talking-back stuff just isn't attractive. It wasn't in junior-high, and it isn't now.

I was pretty shocked that the judges came down that hard on him tonight. Seemed to me that he was doing even better than Castro in this particular match-up. Apparently not; Simon lit into him with gusto -- despite him being on the verge of tears. Boo!!

My, someone has a rather thin skin tonight. He's obviously sick of the judges not buying his rocker image, so he's decided to argue back with them. Never a good idea, really. Bad form.

He says he hates doing interviews because he doesn't think he's a good talker, it's awkward, etc. As someone who's interviewed Jason (by phone) before, I say he's being too hard on himself. He was great during our chat -- really relaxed, normal, funny, etc. Lemme just say this: I can think of at least two other Idol finalists (both of whom got very far in the competition) who were far, far more awkward on the phone.
I'll leave you to guess who they were.

OK, wishful thinking on my part. The theme is "70s classics," which is close enough. First up: Michael Johns. What the heck happened to our man Johns? He seemed to have difficulty with many notes in Fleetwood Mac's "You Can Go Your Own Way." But after tonight's show, at least we know he's a tennis player. That opening montage was scintillating!

The ratings for Sunday night's Academy Awards are in, and the only winners are the viewers who didn't tune in. The good news is that since this was the lowest rated Oscars ever, there were plenty of winners.

Get your fill of Jason Castro on neighborsgo.com:

Local Idol: Jason Castro reaches for stardom

Video: Jason Castro’s daydreaming fans

Once again, Lostpedia has the quickest recap of tonight's episode...

This Miles-Ben-Locke power struggle is getting very interesting. Moreover, Locke has accomplished the impossible: He has actually made us feel a little sorry for Miles, even though he is a blackmailer and, apparently, a complete jerk.

And FutureKate -- now officially deemed No. 4 of the Oceanic Six -- is Baby Aaron's mommy?!? What ever happened to Claire? This has got to be a big part of why FutureJack feels guilty... so guilty he can't even look at the poor kid.

Meanwhile, we now know the basics of the Oceanic 815 story that FutureJack has been telling. And we know it is a great big lie. Eight alleged initial survivors? Who were the other two supposed to be? And what was supposed to have happened to them?

NEXT WEEK: Episode 5, "The Constant." Sayid and Desmond hit a bit of turbulence on the way to the freighter, which causes Desmond to experience some unexpected side effects.

UPDATE: And here's EW.com's Doc Jensen, with his take on "Eggtown"...

Locke ties up Miles and gags him with a live grenade. "You're going to keep your mouth shut. ...Enjoy your breakfast."

Kate and Sawyer wake up together in the morning, He gets cuddly, but she resists. "You still think you might be pregnant," he says. "I'm not pregnant," she says. He's a little too happy about that, and she is peeved that he's so pleased. She gets up to go back to the beach; Sawyer's ticked and says she will be back to him in a week, when she gets mad at Jack. She slaps him hard and leaves. "Skaters" everywhere grab Kleenexes and weep bitter tears.

Flash-forward: The DA says her key witness, Kate's mom, has finked out and refuses to testify. She offers time served, 10 years' probation, and Kate cannot leave the state meantime. Kate takes the deal: "I have a child, I'm not going anywhere."

I was 100 percent wrong in my predictions this week. Who among us thought bad-attitude-having Chikezie would have lived to sing another day? But he did. Anybody broken up over seeing Amy, Joanne, Garrett or Colton leave our lovely show? I can't say that I am. (But I do think Colton could have surprised us with better stuff in the future. And he didn't deserve that massive "don't pursue singing" diss from Simon.)

Locke comes to Claire's to talk to Kate, and she tells him that Miles told Ben he would lie to his employer and say Ben was dead, for $3.2 million. Locke then says he wants Kate gone by morning, as she is no longer welcome.

Flash-forward: Kate's lawyer brings her mom to see her. Mom says she doesn't want to testify against Kate because "everything changed when I thought you were dead." She wants to see her grandson. Kate says no.

Kate goes to Sawyer's room, where he is in bed reading. "What, he banished you? Well, I unbanish you. You can stay right here. This is my house. I'll keep you safe," Sawyer tells Kate. Awwww! Sweet. They kiss and fall into bed together.

At the beach, Charlotte conducts a memory test on Dan, using Dharma playing cards. He remembers two out of three cards, and she says he is making progress, but Dan doesn't think so.

Meanwhile, Jack has been unable to use the sat-phone to contact the freighter and make sure the helicopter got there OK; the line keeps ringing, but Minkowski isn't picking up. Jack's worried because Sayid and Desmond took off with Frank yesterday, and he still has heard nothing from any of them.

Charlotte tells Jack and Juliet there's an emergency number they can call on the sat-phone. She calls, Regina answers -- and tells Charlotte that the helicopter never arrived.

So I guess this is a new gimmick, having all the relatives of our gang sit up in the red room during the kickoff show. Then when the booted-off person is announced, the family is told, "You two! Get up, stand over here by the balcony and look down at your loved one with sadness. You may sway and clap, but only with pitiful looks on your faces."
That's how I picture the scene in my mind, anyway.

Kate's lawyer brings in Jack to testify as a character witness. He lies that only 8 people initially survived the 815 crash and that the U.S. marshal died in the crash, and that Kate saved him and took care of all of them. When the DA asks if he loves Kate, he says "No. Not any more."

Kate wants Sawyer to help her bust out Ben, at Miles' behest. But Sawyer tattles to Locke, and they go after Miles and Kate. They find them, but not before Miles gets to Ben and tries to blackmail him for several million dollars. Miles also knows who Kate is and that she is wanted, a fugitive.

Kate wants to see Miles: Locke refuses, but she tricks Hug