entertainmentweekly

What exactly is 'Chris Daughtry-itis?' Does it involve a fever and a rash? Does it cause baldness? And most importantly, is it curable?

Simon Cowell complained in this week's Entertainment Weekly that the current batch of finalists just don't want to win badly enough. And this laid-back attitude is effecting their "A Game," or creating a lack thereof.

Simon said, "I think that we suffer from Jennifer Hudson- and Chris Daughtry-itis, which is people who didn't win getting great careers and now a lot of the contestants believing it absolutely doesn't matter."

This is the kind of advertising that I hate. It disguises itself as some sort of pop culture piece, one that's tied into the holiday season, but it's really just a way to mention a lot of products, list the company web site, and get some advertising in. It's Entertainment Weekly's Holiday Gift Guide, where they pick a celebrity or TV/movie character and list items you could get for that person. You know it's bogus because the gifts picked are either ridiculously obvious or don't really make any sense at all.

I've mentioned several times here that I'm getting sick of all the times Lost, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, and CSI have made the covers of both Entertainment Weekly and TV Guide. So it was really great to see the cast of Heroes on the cover this week.

Among some of the tidbits revealed in the article: Masi Oka (Hiro) worked on the special effects for The Perfect Storm; Ali Larter (Niki) bought herself a Porsche when the show was picked up for the whole season, and almost accidentally hit Kanye West with it; creator Tim Kring talked to Lost producer Damon Lindelof, a good friend, about the idea when he came up with it; and the first season finale is going to blow everyone away, especially regarding one major revelation. And speaking of...

Warning! This article contains several spoilers about the rest of the season!

Entertainment Weekly's Dalton Ross gives his list for the best and worst pilots he's seen, and he doesn't really like Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. In fact, he calls it "underwhelming," and he's amazed by the "awfulness" of Amanda Peet.

In other observations, he calls Twenty Good Years "excruciating," Ugly Betty "mindless fun," and The Nine "the best new show."

I don't know, I really liked Studio 60's pilot. Do I think it's at West Wing or Sports Night level yet? No, of course not, it's just a pilot. But it's very good, and with Sorkin behind it and the great cast, I have really high hopes for it.

• Here's a complete list of winners, in case you were wondering who won Best Gaffer on a Miniseries.
• Ken Levine has another fantastic review of the Emmys. Lots of great lines, but my favorite might be, "Why was Charlie Sheen up for Best Actor and Jon Cryer up for Best Supporting Actor? In Two and a Half Men, is Jon the half?"
• TV Guide had minute by minute coverage, a backstage report, and photo galleries.
• Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch blog watched the Emmys too, and they also list their 10 Most Memorable Moments.
• And writer Paul Davidson went to the Emmys last night. He observed many things, including the fact that Paula Abdul's assistant needs deodorant.

• All the hot and cool things EW is looking forward to this summer (and fall...and winter). 
• Some TV-related people and things on the list: Jon Stewart (and The Daily Show dvds), Alan Alda, Jimmy Smits, Felicity Huffman, Kristen Bell, Rachel Bilson, Hugh Laurie, Bradley Cooper, Patrick Dempsey, Profit on dvd, Supernanny Jo Frost, and Jessica Walter.
• Some TV-related people and things not on the list: Nancy Grace.
• A lengthy essay from Stephen King on the media circus that was the Michael Jackson trial. It's not online, unfortunately, but worth reading. 

• Fox says that it's taking Corey Clark's I-had-an-affair-with-Paula-Abdul claims seriously, responding to a complaint Clark had last week to a recent sketch on American Idol that seemed to poke fun at the situation.
• Mariah Carey's new single "We Belong Together" has become her 16th song to top the Billboard charts. Just behind Elvis and The Beatles. That's really depressing.
• Where's Dave Chappelle? In Ohio.
• A summary of all the winners and losers, ratings-wise, this season.
• In the print edition, an article about Lisa Kudrow and her new show HBO show Comeback (which debuts June 5), and why his Desperate Housewives death was a good thing for Steven Culp.

• Both the print edition and the web site have news about Dave Chappelle, though the web site is, of course, more up-to-date. It's old news to TV Squad readers!
• In the print edition, Sela Ward talks about joining House.
• Since I was busy watching the Survivor finale and completely forgot about Desperate Housewives, read their review of last night's episode.
• Also in the print edition, they read Corey Clark's tell-all book and tell you all the juicy parts.
• Print: behind the scenes of the new Muppet movie The Muppets Wizard Of Oz.