• Still a survivor? Though it's been winning its Thursday-night time slot for weeks, Survivor had a lackluster finale on Sunday — at least by traditional Survivor standards. The episode averaged 12.9 million viewers, not too shabby in the scheme of things but still the lowest-rated finale ever for the series.
• CBS and ABC tied at 9 p.m. While Grey's Anatomy and CSI essentially tied for first in that timeslot, Grey's was down 7.39 million viewers compared to this time last year while CSI was only down about 2.7 million.
• "Real" gossip trumps fake gossip. Not only did the season finale of The Hills draw almost a million more viewers than Monday's installment of Gossip Girl (3.7 million vs. 2.7 million) — it also had more viewers in the coveted 18-34 demographic than GG and One Tree Hill combined!
• The Britney effect, take two. How I Met Your Mother didn't get quite the Britney bump it got in her first outing on the show, but it still pulled in 9.7 million viewers, over a million more than the previous week.
• Idol chugs along. Wednesday's American Idol did a tiny bit better than last week with 22.9 million viewers but still represents a dip from last year. However, both Idol nights pulled in more viewers than any other show this week.

Photo courtesy of CBS

• We appear to have a mellow movie weekend ahead of us in terms of new releases, but there is still lots out there to keep you busy. Which movie are you headed to this weekend?
• Holy cow, it was a busy week for TV! The network upfronts gave us a lot of good stuff to look forward to this Fall. Fox added some cool-looking sci-fi shows to its roster while the CW charts a clear path forward, littered with rich kids.
• Speaking of the CW's rich kids, are you excited for the new 90210 now that we've got some pictures? And what do you think about the series Surviving the Rich (based on the book How to Teach Filthy Rich Girls)?
• Hooray for Reaper! It will not be canceled, which I assume is a great relief to its star, Bret Harrison, who I had the honor of interviewing!
• There were a lot of trailers out on the Web this week some good, some not so good. I thought Edge of Love looks breathtakingly gorgeous (and so romantic!) and I'm really intrigued by Woody Allen's latest all-star flick.
• Is it just me or does it seem like only people raised in the '80s are running the show down in L.A. right now? They're bringing Fraggle Rock to the big screen and. . . wait for it. . . a cereal box mascot movie (yeah, it's odd, just read the post).
• James Frey, author of the bestselling memoir A Million Little Pieces (which later turned out to be more fiction than anything else) has a new book out and it's getting stellar reviews. Are you open to reading his stuff?
• Definitely make time to check out what's new on iTunes because there's some great stuff out this week, including Duffy and Death Cab for Cutie. And if you're curious about who's singing that sweet little tune on the diamond commercials, I have the entire song here.
• Also, the new Flight of the Conchords video for "Ladies of the World" is. So. Funny.

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• Fox is new with two episodes of Cops and America's Most Wanted
• NBC has repeats of Medium, Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Law & Order, and may have baseball coverage in some areas
• CBS has a repeats of Cold Case and CSI: NY and is new with 48 Hours Mystery
• ABC has Hitch
• TLC has Date My House
• MTV has repeats of So You Think You Can Dance
• VH1 has repeats of Flavor of Love
• Late-night highlights include Steve Carell and Usher on a new episode of Saturday Night Live on NBC and new episodes of Mad TV and Talkshow on Fox

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In Hollywood, despite major examples to the contrary, the general school of thought during the summer (especially when adapting fantasy stories) seems to be to rely on battle scenes and action in order to keep audiences riveted, rather than focusing on just telling a good story. This definitely appears to be the dominating mindset of the filmmakers in charge of the second installment of Disney's Narnia franchise, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Capsian. And I'm confused as to why this approach was taken with Prince Caspian when C.S. Lewis has given us a great, fantastical story to work with that even comes with nice allegorical ties to the real world, offering kids lessons in love, courage and honor.

This is my fundamental gripe about an otherwise entertaining movie. Because, sure, while there are some people who could watch giant armies storm an open field and men sweat and grunt as they battle each other for hours, there is no question the kids at my screening grew tired of all that. In fact, the girl next to me who was no older than 10 spent a good portion of the movie with her head buried in her father's shoulder, as it was just a little too violent and scary to endure (some people are even saying it's too violent for the PG rating).

To read more about why I think filmmakers missed an opportunity to tell a great story, read more

Look out, world (or just Mode) — Wilhelmina is back! Her Evilness and Marc made a triumphant return to power on this week's Ugly Betty after the revelation that she is the mother of an unborn Meade family heir. Again, this entire plot line is so hilariously far-fetched (and just not logical!) that it's always funny to me when they try to explain it to us.

In other news, Betty awakes to the lonely person ballad "All By Myself" as she tries to get over Henry (who we learn is back in Tucson) but she finds herself drawn to Gio and his sandwich shop. She also — surprise! — deals with her pain by immersing herself in work.

Here are some more thoughts:

• I know I have a tendency to gush over Marc and Amanda but there was just so few of them when the season started up again. And come on, how great were they last night together? Their little BFF moments are so tender, yet they are both superficial and mean — it's a mix I can't get enough of!
• Hilda's break-up advice to Betty was perfect: "When I break up with a guy I like to get a little scary so he never forgets me."
• Best descriptions of Wilhelmina first came from Marc: "You are a horror movie I wish would never end." And then Daniel: "She is one third of this company and she has the Devil on her side!"

To read the rest of my thoughts and start chatting about the cuteness that is Gio, read more