dawsons creek

(S01E11) After almost a month off, Friday Night Lights is back on a new night. It's great to see a new episode, but will the move give the show a much needed ratings boost? We'll have to wait and see. They did pick a good episode to come back with though. There was a lot of good stuff going on this week.

They tipped their hand with where this episode was going in the previously on segment. Lots of Street and Saracen, and a look back at Saracen talking with his dad. That was driven home with the scene where Henry returned home. At first, I thought it maybe missed the mark a little bit, because it didn't seem to be the happy homecoming it should have been. Of course, as we found out later, it wasn't a happy homecoming.

Almost all of the Saracen story was really good. They've done a great job over the first ten episodes setting up the stresses and pressures on Matt. He's been put in a very difficult position, raising himself and taking care of his grandmother at an age when he really shouldn't have to. Part of what got him through all of that was the belief that with his father's return would come a break from all of it. A chance to just be normal and let someone else carry all the weight. When that didn't come through, he finally snapped. And that was a fantastic scene.

(S01E06) This show just keeps getting better. Episode six brought to a head a few different story lines that have been brewing over the course of the first five episodes, some bigger than others. And some more surprising than others. The episode should have been called Do The Right Thing, as we had a number of characters all struggling with that idea. Would Eric come clean about the Voodoo recruiting? How would he deal with Reyes? Does Saracen stick up for his friend or take one for the team? Will Riggins finally live up to being Street's best friend? Will Lyla finally put an end to the cheating relationship with Riggins?

Katie Holmes is reportedly changing her name to just 'Kate'. That's the name that Tom Cruise has been calling her since he jumped on Oprah's couch, oh, about a year ago. Cruise explained the change in Teen Hollywood, saying, "Katie is a young girl's name. Her name is Kate now that she's a child-bearing woman." Well, she may go by 'Kate' now but her big, toothy grin will always say 'Katie' (or maybe 'Joey' from Dawson's Creek) to me.

Conan O'Brien had a great one-liner about her name change last night: "Next week she's going to dye her hair blonde and join the witness protection program."

Former Dawson's Creek actress Katie Holmes gave birth to a baby girl today, according to People magazine. Katie and her fiance, Tom Cruise, named the little girl Suri, which means 'red rose' in Persian and 'princess' in Hebrew.

Their daughter was 7 pounds, 7 ounces and 20 inches long.

Coincidentally, Brooke Shields also gave birth to a baby girl today. Her daughter's name is Grier.

The one thing that stinks about having an exciting episode where someone dies at the end is that it's typically followed up by a semi-depressing episode where everybody is in mourning. (Remember the Dawson's Creek episode after his dad died?) This episode of The O.C. just happened to fall right before Valentine's Day. As Seth so sarcastically put it, "Death and Valentine's Day -- what a combination."