That didn't take long. Apparently, the absence of new Two and a Half Men episodes lead to the American Gladiator premiere getting the highest ratings of any new show this season, and an average of 12 million viewers sampling the first two episodes. All of this is enough for "starving-for-a-hit" NBC to sign up the competition show for another season. If the solid ratings continue, I'd look for NBC to go all Who Wants to be a Millionaire? with it and put it on every night of the week, sandwiched around new episodes of Deal or No Deal.

No word yet on when the new season will begin (this debut season is a short one wrapping next month) or how many episodes have been ordered, but this means it's not too late for me to try out to be on the show. Or better yet, if I start working out now, maybe I can be the thirteenth Gladiator. My Gladiator name will be Pudge, and luckily the giant cotton swab is already my weapon of choice in melee combat.

I've had a weird little crush on Steve Carell ever since his correspondent days on The Daily Show, but no one -- apart from a few fellow TDS fans -- has really agreed with my awkward attraction until now.

A few nights ago, Justin Timberlake hosted Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice Awards, which is an annual brightly-colored celebration of slime and burping and all things immature. As Tobey MacGuire and Steve Carell stepped up to present the award for Favorite Animated Movie, there was a collective gasp heard from anyone older than 14 in Nickelodeon-watching households... "The 40 Year-Old Virgin could totally beat up Spiderman". Look at these pictures! Someone has obviously been working out. Carell looks like he could pound in MacGuire's nerdy little face and take his lunch money. Of course, this strange shift in the public consensus on "hotness" was so sudden that it knocked the Earth off its axis and we are currently spiraling into the sun.