(S06E06) Oh no! Screwball Mia Michaels was the third judge in Salt Lake City for this final stop in the audition rounds. Adam Shankman can't take his permanent spot fast enough for me. Michaels needs to stick to amazing choreography.

That said, she actually didn't bother me at all tonight as a judge. So I've been unfair to Mia Michaels. Oh, who am I kidding, she's usually horrible.

What wasn't horrible was the caliber of talent in Utah. Granted, the competitors come from all over the country to these destination cities, but I feel confident in saying that we saw the widest array of the most impressive talent right here tonight. No wonder they saved it for last.

American Idol was in Salt Lake City tonight, home of David Archuleta and The Osmond Brothers (more on that later). It's definitely one of the happier places the judges have been, and even (most of) the contestants who bombed out were amazingly polite and good-natured. Still, with a huge crowd of adoring fans flocking around Simon Cowell as he entered the building, you've gotta wonder what's going on out there in Salt Lake City.

Anyway, let's get to it ...

David Osmond, 28, "Something Within Me"
This cutie is the son of Alan Osmond, the oldest member of the performing Osmonds. Alan had to quit the business because of his multiple sclerosis, and he's utterly emotional as he says how proud he is of David, who also has MS. While David was in a wheelchair for a while, he's on his feet now and says the disease has ups and downs. But being a member of the famous clan doesn't stop the judges from critiquing him. Kara doesn't like his runs, and Paula wishes he would have picked a song from a solo artist instead of a group. Still, David gets that Golden Ticket to Hollywood.

The eighth season of American Idol will begin auditions on Thursday July 17th in San Francisco. Other cities that will be holding try-outs for the hit singing competition show are Louisville, Kentucky; Phoenix, Arizona; Salt Lake City, Utah; Kansas City, Missouri; Jacksonville, Florida; East Rutherford, New Jersey; and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Any TV Squad readers going to sing for Paula, Randy and Simon? If I were to audition (and I won't), I think I'd sing something by Stevie Wonder (cause no one ever sings anything by him), or Mariah Carey (cause her songs are super easy), or maybe I'd just do my own composition and dedicate it to Simon (he likes that stuff).

More audition information is after the jump.

Are you kidding me? Cingular is charging customers $1.99 for Big Love wallpaper for cell phones. You know what I'm talking about, right? Teeny, tiny, little cell phone wallpaper pictures. For $1.99. For Big Love? It's a brand new show, on late at night, on premium cable. If HBO wants to promote Big Love, it should be giving away those wallpaper photos for free. Puh-lease.

Cingular also has Muppets wallpaper. Ok, I might consider paying for that one. If I didn't already know how to make my own.

I can't say I'm surprised about this news. HBO is launching a new original series after The Sopranos on March 12 called Big Love. It stars Bill Paxton as a wealthy businessman from Salt Lake City who just happens to be a polygamist. He tries to balance the needs of his three wives, played by Chloe Sevigny, Jeanne Tripplehorn, and Ginnifer Goodwin (hey, that's some good casting!), by popping a little Viagra every now and then. HBO expects the funny to erupt as Paxton tries to juggle his three families, while keeping his lifestyle secret.

One of the athletes to watch tonight is not an American. It's Croatian Alpine Skier Janica Kostelic, who won four gold medals in her sport in Salt Lake City. Her brother, Ivica, won the silver medal in the slalom last night. Americans Julie Mancuso and Lindsey Kildow, who was injured during a training run earlier this week, are also in medal contention.

There are some Americans to watch, too. Apolo Anton Ohno races in the 1000m speed skate and hopefully he'll be able to stay on his feet for this one. Also, gorgeous Jeremy Bloom (seriously, girls, look at him) competes in the moguls.

Here's tonight's line-up on all of NBC's stations:

My favorite athlete from the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City was Sarah Hughes. She wasn't expected to win a medal, but she piqued peaked at exactly the right time. She skated a flawless final program and, thanks to some bobbles and falls by her teammates, she ended up on the top of the medals podium. But, where is Sarah today? She was only 16 when she won gold so she's not too old to skate. Heck, Michelle Kwan has been a part of the Olympics since Lillehammer in 1994 (sadly, she had to withdraw from the games yesterday due to injury).

I did a little nosing around the internet and found Sarah. She's a student at Yale, where studies come first, boys come second, and figure skating is somewhere after that (although she has been hosting some skating events for charity). Sarah will be in Italy for the games, however. She'll be doing some sideline reporting for MSNBC and she'll be cheering on her little sister, Emily, the alternate skater who will take Michelle Kwan's place.

Some big names in competition today. On the slopes, Americans Bode Miller and Daron Rahlves hope they can hold back Austrian hot shot Alpine Skier Hermann Maier, who is on a mission to win since he missed the Salt Lake City games due to a motorcycle accident. Seattle native Apolo Anton Ohno (and his soul patch) go for the gold in the same race that caused controversy in SLC when he won after a South Korean speed skater was disqualified for interfering with Ohno during the race. But, the real spectacle of the night will hopefully be top-rated, red-haired, American snowboarder Shaun White, a.k.a. The Flying Tomato, as he goes for the gold on the half-pipe.

Here's today's Olympic schedule:

The winter Olympics begin this evening with the opening ceremonies on NBC. That means, for the next two weeks, you'll hear a lot of people chanting, "USA! USA!"

Personally, I love the Olympics. I let myself get caught up in the drama and the action, even though I'm definitely not a sports fan any other time of the year. The most popular sport during the winter Olympics by far is figure skating, specifically women's or pairs skating. Here, I'm listing the other sports that I will definitely be watching:

That's 17.3 days of Olympics coverage, people. And most of it is going to be focused on figure skating. The Olympics run for 17 days (from February 10-26), but NBC will not be playing the events around-the-clock. Instead, it will spread its coverage out during daytime, primetime, and late night viewing hours on six stations: NBC, USA, MSNBC, CNBC, NBC HD, and Universal HD. In comparison, NBC had 375.5 hours of coverage during the Salt Lake City winter games four years ago.

Bob Costas will return as primetime host for the winter games, his seventh year with NBC Sports. And, to feed the needs of all those ice skating fans, Dick Buttons will host Olympic Ice, a daily report on the games' most popular sport. NBC is also prominently featuring David Pelletier and Jamie Sale in their coverage. The Canadian couple, who just got married, were a crowd favorite in 2002 when they ended up tying for gold with the Russian pairs skaters.