Ah, the "American Idol" top 12 performance show: the night that makes women out of girls, men out of boys ... or, rather, the night that makes everyone forget their words and cry. I'll be kind and say it wasn't the most thrilling night ever, and once again, the girls belted the boys right out of the auditorium. I'm going to chalk it up to nerves and to the female soul singers having an advantage on Diana Ross night, but things better pick up next week or I'll be ready to fast-forward to a Melinda / Blake / female-singer-to-be-named-later final three and be done with the whole mess.

Last night, all the fun came from the parts that didn't involve singing: The 'fro-off between Diana Ross, Chris Sligh, and Sanjaya; Simon and Seacrest bantering about high heels; Haley losing it after forgetting her song, then losing it again after Simon said something nice; Paula having her first crying breakdown of the season barely 20 minutes in. Aw yeah. Be sure to vote on who you think will be going home, and to hear my thoughts on the matter, read more

Bryce Dallas Howard is in final negotiations to replace Lindsay Lohan in a film written by Tennessee Williams called The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond. Williams' newly discovered screenplay follows Fisher Willow (now Howard), a 1920s Memphis debutante with a tendency to shock and insult those around her. Wait, they took Lohan out of this role?

Anyway, Fisher falls in love with down-on-his-luck Jimmy (Chris Evans) and pretends he is an upper-class suitor to please her aunt (Ann-Margret, who controls the family fortune. When Fisher loses a diamond, however, it only further jeopardizes her fragile relationship with her aunt. For the other details, read more

I'll admit it: I love to hate Bravo's reality show "The Real Housewives of Orange County," which aired its season finale last night. In particular, I find the "character" of Jo to be deliciously abhorrent. Perhaps it's because she's younger than the other "housewives," but there's a certain self-assured pretension to the older women that Jo has yet to grow into. (Remember how excited she was about being able to see Bloomingdale's from her apartment?) She's so insecure it makes me cringe, and yet her fake confidence borders on delusional.

Ready for the best part? Jo (whose full name is Jo De La Rosa) is now pursuing a "singing" career, and you can listen to her first attempt at becoming the new pop tart on Jo's Myspace page. Called "Falling," the track is basically Jo's TV whininess put to music, along with electronic drums and some rudimentary guitar. Trust me; you have to hear this.

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I'd almost forgotten about the Fox sitcom "'Til Death" until it turned up this week on Variety's list of "bubble" shows that could be canceled. Guess I wasn't the only one who lost track of it.

The sitcom's fortunes could change, however, now that Fox is trying to boost the show about neighboring married couples by airing it right after the "American Idol" results show on Wednesday nights. If you've seen it, let me know if it's worth checking out. Brad Garrett's facial expressions crack me up, and I've missed Joely Fisher ever since "Ellen" went off the air, so I'm tempted to leave the TV on after "Idol" and give it a shot. To watch a clip from tonight's episode, read more

I'm not even in Austin for the South by Southwest Music Festival this year (but oh how I wish I were), and I'm still overwhelmed by the surplus of amazing bands taking the stage at any given moment.

Today marks the kickoff of the music (and most major) portion of this multimedia bonanza, which is known for breaking new indie acts. On day one alone, there'll be performances by Cyann & Ben, Rosie Thomas, Loney Dear, The Mountain Goats, Blonde Redhead, The Pipettes, The Rapture, and Peter Bjorn & John. Whoa. Then, of course, there is everything else, including the Iggy and the Stooges reunion and hotly anticipated performances from Mika and Amy Winehouse.

But don't worry: There are plenty of ways to get a handle on this musical madness, so read more

Right after "Andy Barker, P.I." premieres on Thursday, NBC will show the first episode of a very different kind of cop show: "Raines," Jeff Goldblum's latest project, which focuses on a Los Angeles detective who starts seeing and talking to the dead victims of the cases he's trying to solve. I checked out the first episode, which you can watch online, and I'm not sure I'll watch another. The opening minutes set up "Raines" as a neo-noir, but aside from the occasional trumpet wailing in the background, it could be any other procedural crime drama.

Well, except for the talking dead people. And as gimmicks go, this one isn't as bad as I'd feared. It's worth noting that the victims don't actually give Raines any information; they're just a sounding board for him while he's working through his own clues. But if those chats are meant to take the place of the traditional noir voiceover, I'd rather have the voiceover. While it leaves open the question of whether the people are ghosts, hallucinations or just figments of Raines' imagination, it makes for deadly dull television: Raines proposes a hypothesis, the victim shoots back a "maybe" or a "whatever you say," rinse, repeat. But "Raines" might be redeemable, so read more