michelle rodriguez

Well, Ana Lucia is definitely dead. Libby? Maybe not. Yet.

In an interview with TV Guide's Aussiello, Lost producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse explain why they killed off Ana Lucia, played by Michelle Rodriguez. A few highlights:

• Calling herself a 'nomad', Rodriguez insisted that she only be on the show for one season;
• When Rodriguez got her DUI, the producers considered changing her storyline because they were worried it would look like they were punishing her by killing off her character;
• Same for Watros. Libby wasn't shot because Watros got a DUI;
• Michelle Rodriguez plays well with others.

In case you've missed it -- perhaps you were watching the NFL Draft -- here are some highlights from the last week at TV Squad:



American Idol coverage

• Randy's return and Taylor's tics.
• Read some of Randy Jackson's poetry.
• Seacrest was joking about feud with Abdul.
• The night of bad arrangements.
• The initial report of the Seacrest/Abdul freeze-out.
  

Breaking News

• Daniel Baldwin arrested for cocaine possession.
• Michelle Rodriguez chooses jail over community service.
• Michelle Rodriguez is out of jail already.
• A new DA coming for the Law & Order mothership?
• Marlee Matlin joins The L Word.
• Daytime Emmy results.
• Stunt Junkies host arrested at Empire State Building.
• Three more shows renewed by NBC.
• Charlie Sheen sued by someone other than Denise Richards.
• All the Law & Orders renewed for next season.
• Fox picks up Brad Garrett sitcom.
• Kevin Spacey to host SNL season finale.
• Rosie O'Donnell to replace Meredith Vieira on The View.
  
• Anderson Cooper to contribute to 60 Minutes.
• ABC sportscaster Keith Jackson retires.
• BSG prequel coming to the SciFi Network.
• Gay playwright upset with Leno's lame gay jokes (I agree... they are pretty lame).
• New TiVos will now let you record two shows at once.
• Victoria's Secret list says that Jay Leno is a hottie. Probably not to gay guys, though.
• J.J. Abrams clears up Star Trek movie rumors.
• Maury Povich sued for sexual harassment.
  

Discussions

• Adam finds an odd PSA with Jason Priestly and... an eagle?
• Katie Holmes is now... Kate. The world goes on as usual.
• How does Mike O'Malley get to wear a cap in every friggin' role he plays?
• New White House Press Secretary Tony Snow played rock flute... yikes!
• Scrubs transplant story was taken from actual events. Go figure.
• I talk to George Takei about Howard Stern and a new Trek.
• What will a new season of 7th Heaven look like?
  

The Five

• Annie's favorite Food Network shows.
• Shows Bob really wishes he was into, but he isn't.
• Reasons to NOT turn off your TV during "TV Turnoff Week".
  

Opinions

• Annie loved Stephern Colbert's turn at the White House Correspondents' dinner.
• Anna didn't win the HGTV Dream Home.
• Bob misses Something So Right (so do I).
• I can't stand the fact that PTI ends during SportsCenter.
• Anna likes The Chelsea Handler Show.
• Annie considers the rerun Catch-22.

Episode Reviews

• SNL: "Best of TV Funhouse"
• The Office: "Drug Testing"
• Survivor: Exile Island: "Perilous Scramble"
• Invasion: "The Son Also Rises"
• American Chopper: "Celebrity Build (Billy Joel)"
• Alias: "There's Only One Sidney Bristow"
• Scrubs: "My Lunch"
• Veronica Mars: "Look Who's Stalking"
• Prison Break: "The Key"
• The West Wing: "Transition"

Michelle Rodriguez, aka 'Ana Lucia' on Lost, was freed from a Honolulu women's jail on Friday. She spent most of this week there after pleading guilty to drunk driving charges. Rodriguez opted for the jail time, rather than 240 hours of community service because, she said, autograph hounds would hassle her if she did work hours. Did she mean 'taunt'? The warden of the women's prison said she watched TV and read during her stay.

Now, she went to jail on Tuesday. And she got out on Friday. If you're doing the math and wondering how that equals five days... stop counting on your fingers, because it doesn't. Honolulu police waived one day of incarceration for time already served. She was held in custody for a bit when she was originally arrested back in December and, apparently, that counted as one day served.

Next up for Michelle is a movie called Grapefruit Moon and (possibly) another season on Lost.

Heck, the second season isn't even over yet and here we are with news about the DVD set. Buena Vista Entertainment has tentatively scheduled the second season set to be released on September 5.

Which means it will be timed perfectly for you to watch the last episode of the season over and over and over again in slow motion and freeze frame, trying to figure out the season-ending cliffhanger in time for the third season opener that will happen in late September.

Where to begin? Since I posted this photo of the door map from Wednesday's Lost, a lot of people have done a lot more deconstructing and, in some cases, translating of it. The folks over at The Hatch Online deserve a round for translating all of the Latin (although, I don't know any Latin so I can't verify it's authenticity). As you can see in the above graphic, it looks as though five hatches were, at one time, connected to each other and to something in the middle. We see that there is a hatch called The Flame, to the left of The Swan hatch where the Losties are hanging out and washing clothes. We also see The Staff hatch, which is the medical hatch that Claire, Kate and Danielle discovered a few episodes back. There are two more hatches without a label that our castaways have not discovered. Is that where The Others are staying? Also, is the concrete that Sayid and Jack found used to block the tunnel to whatever is in the middle of the hatches? Near The Flame hatch, someone has written 'Alleged location of aborted #7: Each number of Heavy water table.' Yeah... I don't know what that means.

After weeks of idling, Lost finally gave us a juicy nugget in last night's episode. It came in the form of a glow-in-the-dark map on the inside of a blast door. It appears to be a map of all the Dharma Initiative hatches on the island, and something in the middle signified with a giant, pink question mark. It looks as though all the hatches were meant to lead to that middle spot, but they weren't finished or were blocked off (as marked with X's). Maybe that's what the concrete is that Jack and Sayid found.

According to this guy, who evidently stayed up all night decoding the map, it has several phrases, such as "Sursum Corda", and "I Am Here" on the Swan hatch (where the characters are). There are several other phrases that I'm guessing are in Latin.

Here's another, deconstructed version of the map with a lot more text (somebody has Hi Def TV!).

What do you see?

Javier Grillo-Marxuach, a supervising producer and writer on Lost, is leaving the show. He was hired on about two years ago when Lost was just a gleam in J.J. Abrams' eye. On his website, Javi says his gig on Lost was only meant to be a couple of months so he could help create long-term story arcs and basically plan out the series (and write a pilot!). Two years, seven episodes, and "one hanging hobbit" later, Javi said it's the right time for him to leave and let the other writers take the show where it needs to go.

Javi has been one of the most high-profile writers of the show, frequently producing the Radio Free Javi podcasts about Lost and his other interests, including comic books. He also is a frequent contributor to The Fuselage, the ABC-sanctioned forum about the show.

I wholeheartedly disagree with this editorial in the Toronto Star. The writer calls for Ana Lucia's character to be killed off on Lost. He'd like to see her get scurvy, mauled by a polar bear, "vanish into a black cloud", or get shot in a special guest appearance by Dick Cheney. He says that, despite her tragic back-story, Ana Lucia is not a captivating character. He thinks she lacks depth and doesn't like her attitude. He also calls for the "killing-off" of Izzie on Grey's Anatomy, so he may just be completely out of his mind.

Here are five reasons to keep Ana Lucia alive:

5. We love to hate her.  Why does everybody have to get along? So she's abrasive and lacks common sense or civility. She has a management style thats, um, different. That makes for a great, strong character. Even if we do hate her.

Lost producers are denying rumors in US Weekly that Michelle Rodriguez, who plays the unlikable Ana Lucia on Lost, is being booted off the show for her bad behavior. Michelle's poor decisions about drinking and driving made headlines several times during the fall, but Lost producers say that's no reason to vote the girl off the island.

Co-creator Damon Lindeloff told TV Guide Online's Ask Ausiello, "Not a word of it is true. Lost's story is the star, and no actor would ever be killed off for any reason other than supporting the story."

Hmmm. Damon may be speaking a little too early on that one. Rodriguez goes to trial in March on her latest drunk driving charge, where she could be sent to California for violating probation related to drunk driving charges there. I think that'd bring a quick end to Ana Lucia.

[Via Pop Candy]

One of the state legislators of Hawaii invited Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, AKA Mr. Eko on Lost, to deliver the morning prayer to the legislature. The state senator invited Adewale after seeing the episode of Lost that shows how Eko was a Nigerian drug lord who took on the persona of a Catholic priest. The morning prayer of the Hawaiian legislature is the 23rd Psalm, which just happened to be the title of Eko's episode.

Adewale himself is not Christian. He's Buddhist. But he delivered the prayer anyway, saying that his mission on earth is to promote harmony and understanding. The Associated Press quotes Adewale as saying that delivering the prayer was "the pinnacle" of his career.

Cynthia Watros, who plays Libby on Lost, apologized to a judge for drinking and driving. She pleaded guilty to DUI, after being picked up by police in Hawaii on December 1st. Watros had to pay a $370 fine, have her driver's license suspended for 90 days, and attend alcohol counseling. Michelle Rodriguez, who plays Ana Lucia on Lost, was also picked up for drunk driving on the same night. She has chosen to fight the charge and will go on trial in March. If convicted, she could be sent to prison in California for violating her probation for drunk driving charges in that state. Maybe the outcome of that trial will determine whether Ana Lucia lives or dies at the end of this season... or maybe that's already decided.

Michelle Rodriguez, who plays Ana Lucia on Lost, entered a 'not guilty' plea to DUI in court yesterday. Actually, her lawyer entered the plea for her as she did not make a personal appearance. That means, in true Ana Lucia style, she'll be going on trial on March 30th in Hawaii to fight charges that she was driving drunk on November 24th. As we've been reporting, Rodriguez has a long list of speeding charges in Hawaii and she is currently on probation in California for drunk driving and hit-and-run. If a judge decides that Rodriguez was in violation of her probation by driving while drunk in Hawaii, she could go to prison in California for up to 18 months. If not, she could at least spend 14 days in a Hawaiian jail, a $1,500 fine, and loss of her license for a year (shouldn't that happen anyway?).

As for Cynthia Watros, who plays Libby on Lost (and the one who looked the most tanked), her lawyer asked for a new arraignment date for Jan. 12 so she can change her plea to guilty. Her lawyer said, "Cynthia realizes she made a mistake."

The next new episode of Lost isn't until Wednesday, January 11th, so ABC is kindly airing a recap of the season so far. It airs at 8 pm on January 11th, and is called "Revelations," and then the new episode about Eko and his stick, called "The 23rd Psalm", airs at 9 pm the same night. By then, we will have gone for six whole weeks without a new episode of Lost! If you've never seen Lost, but you want to get in on the excitement, I would recommend watching the DVDs for Season One and then watching the recap. You can also read recaps of all this season's episodes here.

And, if you're like Ryan, and you're wondering what all the excitment is over Grey's Anatomy, ABC is also airing a recap episode of that show on Sunday, Jan. 8th at 10 pm. The next new episode of Grey's is a week later. This won't be nearly as hard to catch up on as it will be to catch up on Lost. Basically, Meredith Grey is a really skinny surgical intern in Seattle who had an affair with another surgeon who is married. She has pretty much spent this whole season pouting about it. Yet, I can't stop watching...