• This week you can get four different covers. Actually, each issue comes with all four covers, the one on the front and then the other covers are inside. Also inside: secrets of the Lost finale. Don't read if you don't want to be spoiled.
• EW lists the Top 5 Theories on what's happening on Lost.
• Chris Daughtry says his exit from Idol doesn't make sense, logically.
• Aaron Sorkin reminisces about The West Wing.
• The mag gives The Loop co-creator Will Gluck 30 seconds to convince FOX to renew his show.
• In the print edition only: a guide to the Wisteria Lane neighborhood; Josh Schwartz explains how he intends to save The O.C.; and why did Commander-In-Chief crash and burn after such a promising start?

• ABC has - oh terrific - two hours of American Inventor tonight at 8. It's followed by a new Commander-In-Chief.
• CBS has a new Survivor at 8, followed by a repeat CSI and a new Without A Trace.
• Over on NBC, another new ep of Celebrity Cooking Showdown, followed by repeats of My Name Is Earl, The Office, and ER.
• FOX has two repeats of That 70s Show at 8, followed by a new ep of The O.C.
• The WB has new eps of Smallville and Supernatural, while UPN has new eps of Everybody Hates Chris, Love, Inc, Eve, and Cuts.
• How many cooking reality shows are there? Food Network has Teen Chef at 9.
• At 10:30, Comedy Central has a new The Showbiz Show With David Spade.

• Survivor Panama - Exile Island starts this Thursday. Meet the cast.
• A behind the scenes look at Commander-in-Chief.
• New TV on DVD: they give the first season of Hill Street Blues a B, and a B to The Tomorrow Show With Tom Snyder: Punk & New Wave. 
• In the print edition: Katie Couric, and Ryan Seacrest continues his quest for TV domination.
• A Q and A with Kanye West. Not really TV-related, but he will be at the Grammys and we all remember his telethon outburst with Mike Myers, so I'll include it here too. 

This week, watching Commander in Chief, I felt as if I was in the middle of a lovable Steve Martin movie, one where the children were full of hi-jinks, the sexual escapades were many, the adults were in charge of Very Important Things and, at the end, everyone met over the breakfast table to giggle and eat homemade pancakes. In other words: schmaltz. In other words: saccharine. Gah! And just when we thought Nathan Templeton was going to be evil again.

Speaking of Donald Sutherland's evilness, I was happy to see just a glimpse of it, but it was prefaced by such a terrifically (I almost wrote, monumentally) obvious and overplayed line from Jim. I'll get to that in a minute. But first:

Isn't this show supposed to be award-winning? Oh, right, it was Geena Davis. Well, congratulations sweetie, I think you deserve it. But with dialogue like this, you may not keep the honor for long.

While I'm enjoying this show still, after this episode I had to wonder if I could have just cut-and-pasted my review from the last episode before Christmas and changed a few words. The title: over the top cute (but still far better than "First Act of War" or something). The outfits: better, especially the yummy chocolate silk jammies. The angry teenaged daughter: still angry, still whiny, still want to slap her. Nathan Templeton: no longer evil. Just... not. What's with that?

What did I like? Well, those jammies. The nicely-built cliffhanger. The way Mac answers her phone while wearing aforementioned chocolate-colored jammies. It's soooo Presidential. The developing relationship between Jim Gardner and Rob Calloway - the dynamic works pretty well, sparring but with growing respect for one another. And Gardner with the loyalty? Boy that was a nice (if canned) little speech. I could almost hear the orchestra in the background soaring as he delivered the "I love the Pres" address to the gathered generals and admirals and such. Finally, I am going on record as saying that Ever Carradine's hair was nice this time. It still needs to be shorter but, at long last, it looks like it belongs on an adult. With a job.

Hail to the Chief! Geena Davis (that's Ms. President to you)  is coming to an iPod near you. ABC added hit series Commander in Chief to the lineup of shows - including The Office, Desperate Housewives, and Lost, available through Apple's iTunes Music store for a buck-ninety-nine per ad-free episode. Of course, you could DVR or TIVO them for free if you have that capability at your house, and skip the ads that way, but hey - this way you can pop them on your iPod and watch them on the subway -- once that pesky transit strike is over.

Steven Bochco's presence is writ large all over the new (and improved?) Commander in Chief. All in all, I think the changes are good - the dialogue is a little snappier and doesn't talk down to the American viewing public so much, the wardrobe is better, and the story just seemed to flow well. But I'm having a problem with some of the characters. I can't stand the new guy. He's not believable and just looks like a teen heartthrob (Mark-Paul Gosselaar will always be Saved by the Bell too me), not a polling nerd. Bochco is turning Templeton into a sympathetic character, and Jayne is nothing like her old evil self, appearing now as the nervous schoolgirl in her first lobbying job. I like the new her. It just doesn't fit - at all.

Big changes this week in Commander in Chief make me wonder: is someone at ABC reading TV Squad? If so, welcome, guys! And thank you so much for (a) giving us an interesting title (even though I'm not entirely sure what it means) and (b) updating Geena Davis' wardrobe. THANK YOU. When I saw her in the yummiest-of-all-possible-yummy navy blue oversized glen check pantsuit with a delicious ivory silk shirt, I thought, this is a woman president's suit.

Despite these lovely changes, the writers saw fit to make an even bigger deal of Vince's HIV status. Evidently, despite my beliefs to the contrary, HIV-positive is not over as a political scandal. To whit, a question by a fictionalized member of the press corp:  "does the presence of an HIV-positive man on her staff put the president in any danger?" hahahahahahaha! You're kidding, right? Is this a satire?

This episode was a significant uptick from the previous several; the "scandal" was both juicy and mysterious. Who's the leak? Is it Jim Gardner, Chief of Staff and former loyalist to the dead president? Or is it that shifty Vince? He of the questionable drug test? And thank you for keeping the family drama to a minimum - and giving Rob Calloway a chance to shine. But the shammy blackmail, oh, that's a low stoop.

And oh, just one more thing. Please kill the stupid "First [blank]" titles already! That might be cute. If it was absolutely nothing like that. But, uggh! If you can't even be creative enough to title an episode, why would we TV wonks have any faith in the underlying show? Anyway...