TV

I must give props to Kristy Lee Cook, who admitted that at 7, she thought she was a dog. "I had my own dog bowl that I drank out of, and I had these rats that used to ride around on my back," she said. Yikes! There's so much going on with that sentence that I can hardly process it. I mean, rats? REAL ones? So she wins.
Worst embarrassing moment goes to Syesha Mercado. Her story about liking some boy in the second grade and passing him a note with bubblegum -- only to have him tell the teacher and eat the gum -- seemed, well, made up. It just did. As Simon likes to say this season, "Sorry!"

As she strutted through "I Hate Myself For Loving You," my husband said it sounded karaoke-like. I agreed. He added, "She's done this in every biker bar she's been in." I chuckled.

Paula seems more "normal" tonight (at least as I'm watching the first few minutes). As Simon teased her for being responsible for some of the bad clothes and makeup of the '80s, she said, "I caused the pom-pom hairdo. Sorry, everyone."
I know that hairdo well! Too well. Paula, I forgive you.

Carlton Cuse and and Damon Lindelof, aka the writer-producers of Lost, gave their cast members the chance to ask questions about the show, which would then be answered -- or not -- in TV Guide. From their inquiries, it's obvious that the actors have no more idea of what's really happening to their characters than the viewers do.

Jorge Garcia, who plays Hugo "Hurley" Reyes, asks the question on everyone's mind: "Is Ben in the coffin?" Of course his bosses won't tell that, but they do say that we'll have the answer before the season ends. (The current crop of eight pre-strike eps has but three to go, but Season 4 will be back April 24 with five more shows.)

Saw the pilot episode of New Amsterdam on FOX 4 last night, and it was reasonably entertaining. Not great, but fun to watch. Better than Journeyman, let's say.

But it kept reminding me of something.

And that something is Pete Hamill's 2002 novel, Forever. Which involves a man who saves the life of an oppressed person of color during colonial times, is killed for his trouble, but then is brought back to life by a mystical shaman and is rewarded with the gift of ageless immortality. Thus he sees Manhattan's history unfold from colonial days to 9/11. He outlives friends, lovers, wives; he realizes that death is what gives meaning to life. And his only chance for regaining a normal, mortal life is to find the one woman who is his true soul mate.

Which is pretty much exactly the same storyline as New Amsterdam.

Dear Mr. Hamill: You have been ripped off....

Time to head back to school. High School Reunion premieres Wednesday, March 5, on TV Land, featuring graduates of the 1987 class at J.J. Pearce High School in Richardson. Are you going to watch? If you did, did you see anyone you recognize or remember?