"Are you Jack?"

Oh, joyful night, "Lost" has returned. Let's rewind from the above quote that ends the fabulous season preem, "The Beginning of the End," written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse and helmed by Jack Bender.

The seg dives right back into the flash-foward storyline that was so tantalizing in the third season closer. Oblique references, clues, hints and undoubtedly, red herrings, are dropped all over the place. Once again, Messrs. Lindelof and Cuse give us credit for brains and having the dexterity to roll with story developments that we don't have full context for -- yet. "Lost" fans live for the euphoria of discovery, analysis and interpretation, of piecing together the threads and tidbits that the scribes so carefully lay out. None of us are bozos on this bus.

(Other "Lost" addicts are talking about the firecracker of a season premiere over at the Variety Season Pass blog. Head on over.)

After the long drought of the summer, fall and first half of winter, it was absolutely phenomenally cool to see Hurley emerging from the Dukes of Hazzard-looking Camaro after the car-chase sequence. My first guess was that Sawyer was behind the wheel, just because it looked like his kind of car, and his kind of reckless driving. Is there symbolism to the big pile of lemons (note: an eagle-eyed viewer and On the Air reader reports they were actually papayas) in the opening shot that Hurley drives through? Maybe it's like oranges in the "Godfather" movies, a sign of trouble ahead.

First big clue, of course, comes as Hurley hollers "Don't you know who I am? I'm one of the Oceanic 6" as he's being taken into custody after his romp in the Camaro. Then the cop who's interrogating him mentions that he knew Ana Lucia, that she was his partner. Forgive me, "Lost" fanatics, but did we know she was a  cop? I honestly can't remember.

As we segue to the island, our heroes look great, in their own sweaty, stubbly, dirty-raggedy way. But here's a "Gilligan's Island" issue: How come the women in the group have a never-ending supply of form-fitting undershirts, and how come they never have a hint of underarm hair? Did they find a stash of Daisy razors somewhere in season one?

ID PR mounted an impressive display of force on Wednesday in pressuring "Entertainment Tonight" and "The Insider" to drop plans to air a two-year-old homevid that purportedly showed the late Heath Ledger living in the fast lane at a party at the Chateau Marmont.

The East Coast feed of "ET's" Wednesday telecast featured a lengthy tease for the vid and a full segment planned for tonight's episode. Ledger's longtime publicist at ID PR, Mara Buxbaum, went into war mode. She whipped out a letter that was emailed to the firm's many clients as well as other praiseries, tenpercenteries and sundry other celebs urging them to flood "ET" exec producers Linda Bell Blue and Brad Bessey with calls and emails (their numbers and addresses were included in the letter) demanding that "ET" allow Ledger's family to "grieve in peace" and to resist the ratings-driven clarion call of "shameful exploitation of the lowest kind." Ledger, 28, was found dead in his Gotham apartment on Jan. 22.

The calls and emails must've flowed in fast, because by Wednesday evening, "ET" had yanked the teaser spot from the West Coast feed of Wednesday's telecast. A show rep confirms that "ET" and "Insider" have yanked the segment entirely "out of respect for Heath Ledger's family," though the statement also notes that the vid in question "has been circulating in the world media."

(Pictured above: Heath Ledger tribute segment from Sunday's SAG Awards.)

When you get down to it, the heart and soul of the NATPE experience are people like Elaine Walton of Wilmington, N.C.

Walton, who describes herself as "an entrepreneur who likes adventure," pitched her tiny tent on the exhibition floor this year in the hopes of selling someone on the promise of her "next hit sitcom," a comedy dubbed "Baby Blues," about a competing set of newlywed couples in Wilmington and their parents who are pushing hard for "grandbabies."

Walton and her partner Bud Dowdey have shot a 23-minute pilot for "Baby Blues," in high-def "with three cameras." She's got the whole package ready to be wrapped up in a bow for some network programming exec, "complete with original lyrics and music and future show synopsis," plus plans for ancillary merchandise including a line of clothing.

Walton was showing off her baby to anyone who passed by her shoe box-size booth tucked in between two other unknown shingles in the "independent producers pavilion" housed in the shadow of NBC Universal's fort in the middle of the floor. Walton pressed a "Baby Blues" T-shirt into my hand before I could politely decline.

What drives people like Elaine Walton? What makes them write, cast and shoot their vision of what a good family comedy should be (tagline: "Diabolical Nana-wannabees will stop at nothing to have grandbabies"), and then go so far as to book square footage at an industry confab in the hopes of striking gold?

The confab kicks off in earnest today with the opening of the exhibition floor and the exhibit suites here at the Mandalay Bay. NBC Universal chief Jeff Zucker is the keynoter this ayem. The Peacock's PR team has promised that he'll make some news in his remarks. Stay tuned.

Update 10 a.m.:

Well, it was true. Zucker's remarks were provocative. He bluntly stated that "the historic economic model supporting broadcasting is wounded" and he drew a clear line between the disruption caused by the writers strike as an opportunity for NBC to re-engineer how it handles development and production. He called it an "interesting paradox" and compared it to a forest fire - devastating, "but it may leave behind fertile soil and clear ground and opportunity for robust growth."

Zucker amplified his recent comments about pilots and overall producer deals as out of step with broadcasting's challenged economics.

"We're in the middle of a wrenching analog to digital transition that demands a reengineering at the network and the station level," he said.

Going forward, NBC will do far fewer pilots - more like 5 or 6 instead of 20. But he was quick to emphasize that the peacock programmers will also be making more straight to series orders, borrowing a cue from cable and reality tv biz and its reliance on "more instinct and gut."

Zucker reiterated that NBC is unlikely to do a traditional "glitzy" upfront presentation at 30 Rock this year. And he made a big point of hammering the FCC for wrong-headed policy crusades during the past few years, what he called "isolated and disconnected" efforts fueled by "regulatory passions of the moment."

He called for a comprehensive review of communications policy designed for the media landscape "of 2008, not 1948."

More proof that Craig Ferguson is very funny fellow. He can even liven up a tribute clip reel for an exec who's receiving an honorary kudo -- a very deserving exec, I should add in CBS Paramount Entertainment Television Group prexy Nancy Tellem.

(And this just in, yes, Ferguson, the pride of Glasgow, is now a U.S. citizen. He scored 100% on his citizenship test, the results of which were tubthumped on his Monday show, which technically airs on Tuesday. He'll be sworn in on Friday.)

Tellem was one of four industry folks honored Monday night at NATPE's Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Awards. "CSI" creator/executive producer Anthony Zuiker was on hand to present the award to Tellem (pictured below).

Zuiker said some kind and heartfelt words, then cued a clip reel that started out like any other, extolling the successes and achievements of a remarkable career.

Ferguson appeared in a clip talking about Tellem's loyalty and integrity, and he added that she has "the best-smelling office in show business. There's always that slight smell of vanilla...and success."
Not such a surprising quip for a comedian.

A few more talking-head clips go by, including Tellem's boss, Leslie Moonves, speaking highly of the exec  who has been his close confidant and consiglieri for more than 20 years. Then Ferguson's back, only it's a clip of his head imposed on stock footage of someone riding a Lambretta scooter in Rome. And then Tellem's head pops up as if she's riding behind him.

"We first met in 1978," Ferguson's voice over says wistfully. "We had some amaretto. I had a Lambretta."

Just arrived in Sin City to cover my first NATPE confab in five years. Ought to be an interesting to take the pulse of execs, station managers and sundry others during the next few days at this precarious time in the TV biz.

With only a handful of new syndie strips bound for the fall of '08, the big drama of the confab is expected to be whether or not Fox's Twentieth Television decides to greenlight a yakker hosted by Steve Harvey. Word is that BET is interested in the show for simultaneous run in latenight. I'm guessing will know if it's a yea or nay by the time the NATPE exhibition floor opens on Tuesday. I'd also submit that one of the biggest stories this year is the fact that my esteemed Variety colleague John Dempsey is not here, by his own choice. Dempsey's been covering NATPE for longer than most stars of "Gossip Girl" have been alive, so it's about time he got a break! We'll try to do you proud, John....

Apropos of NATPE and syndication, look what just showed up in my inbox. A release heralding the news that "Baywatch" is back -- with repeats airing Monday-Thursday on ION Television starting March 3. With me at NATPE, and Pamela Anderson's masterwork coming back to the small screen, it's 1995, all over again...

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

R.I.P. Proposition Joe — the street just lost a class act.

Sure, Prop Joe was a drug pusher and lived off the misfortune of others, yet, if things had turned differently when he was young, Joe could've easily been an English professor at Johns Hopkins or expert on the economy. The man knew of what he spoke and his "associates" rarely appreciated how much he had to offer.

Unfortuntely, he got caught in Marlo's sights and his end was inevitable. Unlike in season's past, he couldn't talk himself out of this predicament and just closed his eyes and took it in the back of the head.

Joe was old school, when killing was only done out of necessity, not for greed or pleasure, and maybe that's why the Greeks had such an afinity for him — and why Marlo's association with the Greeks seems doomed from the start.

Congrats to "The Sopranos" and "The Office" for taking the SAG Awards for drama and comedy ensemble -- totally deserving. ("Sopranos" mob pictured at left; "Office" workers below)

"Sopranos" stars James Gandolfini and Edie Falco also got another final bow by prevailing in the individual drama categories. NBC's "30 Rock" was hot on the comedy side with wins for Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey.

Kevin Kline lived up to his rep as an actor's actor, taking the SAG-y for longform actor for HBO's "As You Like It." Queen Latifah won the distaff side for HBO's "Life Support." And the high-octane crew from "24" took the inaugural SAG Award for TV stunt ensemble.

Congrats to the all the winners of this year's DGA honors. On the small screen side, winners were all first-time DGA honorees with the exception of Larry Carpenter, victor in the daytime serial category for his work on ABC's "One Life to Live," who now has a matching set of the DGA's shiny round medallions.

Barry Sonnenfeld won the TV series comedy heat for his work on the "Pie-lette" of ABC's "Pushing Daisies." Alan Taylor prevailed on the drama side for the pilot of AMC's oh-so-stylish "Mad Men." Yves Simoneau took the longform honor for HBO's "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee."

Bertram van Munster added to his trophy collection for his work on CBS' "The Amazing Race" in the reality competish. Glenn P. Weiss' navigation of CBS' 60th annual Tony-cast brought him the musical/variety nod. And Paul Hoen looked sharp in the children's programming field for his helming of the hit Disney Channel telepic "Jump In."

(Pictured top left, Barry Sonnenfeld and Debra Messing; top right, Alan Taylor; below, Yves Simoneau. Pics by Steve Granitz/WireImage.com)

This sounds like fun. ABC plans to air an "enhanced" version of "Lost's" two-hour third season finale, "Through the Looking Glass," on Jan. 30, the night before season four begins, at long last.

Per the ABC press release: "The enhanced version of “Lost” will include text on the lower third of the screen and will 'let viewers in' on clues in the show, as well as give back story to catch new viewers up for Season Four."

Hmmmm, maybe they'll clue us in to the deeper meaning of the dearly departed Charlie (played by Dominic Monaghan, pictured left) having to pick out "Good Vibrations" on a computer to stop the underwater Looking Glass station from sending out the signal-jamming beam.

No lie -- Fox's much-touted "Moment of Truth" had some stickiness in its debut Wednesday behind "American Idol." It passed the toughest test of holding on to the vast majority of "Idol's" coattails.

"Truth" -- which challenges contestants answer a string of increasingly personal questions, things they've already answered while strapped to a polygraph machine prior to going on camera, in the hopes of claiming the $500,000 top prize -- wound up with 23.2 million viewers and 10.2 rating/24 share in the key adults 18-49 demo, per prelim Nielsens. "Idol," by contrast in its final half-hour pulled 28.5 million viewers and 11.4/28 in 18-49.

"Truth" also held up well at the half-hour mark -- if "Idol" viewers were gonna bail, they would've bailed by 9:30. Show lost about 3.7 million viewers and three demo share points between at the half, which isn't half bad by any measure.

With "Idol" back on the sked, everything else pretty much paled, but an honorable mention goes to NBC's "Deal or No Deal" (13.8 million, 3.7/10) which managed to put up its best numbers in 13 months despite going toe to toe at 8 p.m. with "Idol."

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

For all the fans who still can't get enough of "Buffy," here's your chance to renew vows with Willow, Xander, Spike and the rest of the gang.

At the upcoming Paley Fest (March 14-27), the cast and producers will gather for a "Buffy" reunion to talk about the good times, the network-changing times and what it's like to be stalked by fans who can't let it go.

No word yet on who'll be on the panel, but it's hard to imagine a "Buffy" get together without Sarah Michelle Gellar, Alyson Hannigan (hey, with "How I Met Your Mother" not taping now, what else does she have to do?) and James Marsters. And one would have to think creator Joss Whedon is a sure thing to show up as well.

Other shows that were announced today to be feted at the Paley fest include "Mad Men," "Dirty Sexy Money," "Chuck" and "Dancing With the Stars."

The full lineup will be announced Feb. 4.

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

The timing seems fortuitous that last night's brilliant episode of "The Wire" was televised the same day James O'Shea was ousted as editor of the L.A. Times.

For me, the best parts of the episode took place inside the fictional Baltimore Sun newsroom, as editor James Whiting gives his speech about "finding ways to do more with less" as he announces the paper is cutting foreign bureaus all over the globe. And then lets his staff know that more "voluntary buyouts" will be necessary.

Interesting, isn't it, that he felt the more important news -- the lede as we would say here in the news game -- was that the worldwide offices would be closed rather than people losing their jobs in Baltimore.

Oh, he's a dog, that Scott Templeton. A pompous dog. On the heels of last week's fabrication of the wheelchair-bound 13-year-old kid who was heartbroken (cue the violins) after failing to get into the Orioles' opening day game, Templeton's back in the fiction biz this week in the third seg of "The Wire," "Not for Attribution."

Mr. Entitlement is pissed off once again that he's relegated to reaction quotes on a big story about a shakeup in the police commissioners office, so he comes up with an incendiary blind quote that he claims is from city council prez Nerese Campbell. One thing that doesn't quite ring true is that Baltimore Sun city editor Gus Haynes, who insists that Templeton tell him the source of the quote, would instinctively question why a political pro like Campell would let loose to a relatively inexperienced reporter that she doesn't know that well -- not even the paper's City Hall beat reporter. But we can let that one go, for now. (Knowing what a dyed-in-the-wool journo "Wire" creator/exec producer David Simon is at heart, we're counting on him to devise some particularly cruel form of punishment for Mr. Entitlement by season's end.)

"Twigg's not the only guy with game around here," Templeton, played to sniveling perfection by Tom McCarthy (pictured above), tells Clark Johnson's Gus.

Rest in peace, Suzanne Pleshette. What a great actress, saucy but always kinda sweet, too. She was so good, she made anything she appeared in that much better. Pleshette, who died Saturday at the age of 70, was the only reason I watched more than 5 minutes of the forgettable NBC sitcom "Good Morning Miami" a few seasons ago. And she was a laugh riot a few months back at "The Bob Newhart Show" reunion held at the Paley Center for Media. (Click here for that post.)

Pleshette had been through a lot in the past year, with the death of her third husband, comedian-actor Tom Poston, and her own cancer treatments, but she was upbeat and funny, letting loose with that famous signature laugh of hers. They way those "Bob Newhart" cast members were gushing about one another that night in September, I know Bob Newhart, Bill Daily, Jack Riley, Marcia Wallace and probably every one else who worked on "Bob Newhart" are feeling a huge loss this ayem, as are Pleshette fans around the world.

The significant progress made in the DGA's tentative contract agreement with the majors stands as a hopeful sign that labor peace may soon be at hand. And it's also provides perfect examples of what's gone wrong to date in the fitful negotiations between the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and the WGA. The lack of communication between the studios and the scribes has been devastating to the creative community, below-the-liners included, and a failure of leadership on both sides of the picket lines.

The DGA rightfully touted on Thursday its victory in achieving big gains in residuals for electronic sell-through (aka paid downloads) based on a percentage of distributor's gross, not the despised producer's gross homevideo formula that took 80% of the distributor's revenue off the table, leaving 20% for the scribes and helmers to take a slim percentage of (1.5% or 1.8%, for sales after $1 million) as a residual. It's understood that the AMPTP wanted to base the deal on some definition "producer's gross" in the deal but the DGA held firm, on the rationale that it's too easy for the majors to move money around to make the producer's gross a lot punier than the distributor's haul.

The WGA pushed hard in its approach to the studios for a distributor's gross formula, but it was a non-starter, the AMPTP reps repeatedly told the WGA. How come? Because, according to execs from the AMPTP member congloms, they quite weren't sure what the WGA meant by the D- and G-words. AMPTP reps raised the specter of the WGA demanding a cut of advertising revenue from new media exhibition platforms (ABC.com, NBC.com, etc.) if they were owned by the same company that distribbed the program to the Internet (as is more often than not the case in post fin-syn Hollywood).

So why didn't the companies just ask for clarity? Why didn't they demand a simple, declarative sentence, a la the DGA's snappy "Distributor's gross is the amount received by the entity responsible for distributing the film or television program on the Internet." AMPTP says they did; WGA says it was the majors who refused to define their understanding of distributor's versus producer's gross. I can't imagine a first grade teacher accepting such a "did too/did not" explanation for why the entire class flunked the math test.

This is very, very funny....From last night's "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson."

An astute friend who has been through more than one showbiz strike made the observation this evening that in the history of Hollywood labor negotiations, there's never been a situation quite like today, where the membership of DGA, WGA and SAG have as much information about the nitty-gritty details of a contract agreement at the same time as guild leaders. Membership of all three guilds were able to form their opinions in real time along with their respective leaders in the era of insta-communications, websites, blogs and email alerts. Guild leaders don't even have the time to put their spin on it. The devil is in the details, indeed.

Life is better when Tracey Ullman has a sketch comedy series on the air.

Showtime will oblige starting March 30 with five half-hours of "Tracey Ullman's State of the Union," which promises to feature a calvacade of characters, including Tracey's take on everyone from Arianna Huffington (pictured), Nancy Pelosi, Renee Zellweger and David Beckham. Each seg is described as a satirical look at a day in the life of America. In an election year, we're going to need the wit of this Brit to keep us sane and silly. Can't wait.

Now in its eighth year, the ABC DGA TV Directing Fellowship is among the industry's most successful apprenticeship programs.

It's a 36-week paid fellowship designed for minorities and women who already have a little bit of experience, and thus will make the most of a program that calls for participants to shadow directors on Disney-produced shows, have an a Disney or ABC exec mentor assigned to them and attend seminars and workshop presentations from industry heavyweights. Alumni of this program can't say enough good things about it. (Click here for a previous On the Air item on last year's fellows.)

Recent success stories include Seith Mann, class of '05, who's gone on to be a very busy helmer on such skeins as "Friday Night Lights," "The Wire," "Cold Case" and "Brothers and Sisters"; and Dennis Lee (class of '06) who just wrote and directed the Julia Roberts starrer "Fireflies in the Garden," set for release later this year.

Deadline for submissions for this year's program is Feb. 29. Applications and details can be found at http://www.disneyabctalentdevelopment.com/.

It's tough at the top. "American Idol" stormed back on to the primetime sked on Tuesday, bringing along 33.2 million viewers and a 13.8 rating/32 share in adults 18-49 for its two-hour opener.

Nobody would ever sniff at 33 million-plus viewers or a 32 share in the key demo, but it's gotta be noted that this year's debut is off 11% in viewers from last year (when the two-hour preem drew 37.4 million) and 13% in adults 18-49 (15.8/36).

That said, there isn't a network exec on Earth who wouldn't give up several appendages to have "Idol" on his or her air. Welcome back, Simon. And to all you helpless hopefuls -- a la Ben Haar, 24, of Delaware (pictured right), who found a way to get the camera's attention at the Philadelphia audition -- thanks for giving it your all, and then some.

Mundane news about the TV biz is overshadowed by the strike drama these days, but in the late afternoon today I caught up with the fact that Sunday was a pretty good night for business, for all but NBC. I can't believe I missed the rare opportunity to enjoy a primetime oater with part one of CBS' three-part Larry McMurtry mini, "Comanche Moon," a "prequel" to "Lonesome Dove." (That's what screeners are for.)

Fox's pre-strike decision to hold "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" back for midseason paid off, with a big assist from the NFC playoff game between the Giants and Cowboys. Sure, the football overrun with a gazillion viewers and 35 share in adults 18-49 helped it get off the tarmac but "Sarah Connor" didn't fold in its second half-hour, which was a good sign.

(Pictured left, Linda Cardellini and Steve Zahn in "Comanche Moon.")

POSTED BY JON WEISMAN (Brian Lowry's comments follow)

This is my first season watching "The Wire."  I know that no apology can atone for that sin, so I won’t even try.  I have forever been trying to carve out time to watch the series from the beginning, but 50-odd hours are hard to find. Finally, I decided, it was time to get on board — better late than never.

So I don’t come here as any kind of authority figure on the series, and I offer my opinions only as a perspective on the fifth season from someone who didn’t watch the first four.  I know "Wire" fans are always looking to increase the series’ profile, so I thought you might be interested in how it’s playing to a newbie.

Although it seemed so anticlimatic, there were a bunch of TV honors handed out at the Golden Globe Awards.

The Globes' TV picks have always had the handicap of coming so many months before the September Emmycast that it's hard for them to have an immediate impact on the Emmy race, as the Globes do on the feature side with the Oscars. On the other hand, networks and cablers are only too quick to tubthump their "Golden Globe award-winning" properties these days, so winning a Globe does have meaning for the smallscreen in the context of the cottage industry that is awards season.

To wit, the big Globe TV winner this year is AMC's "Mad Men," the period drama shepherded by "Sopranos" scribe Matthew Weiner. "Mad Men" won for best drama series and for lead actor for star Jon Hamm. It's all deserved, which makes it all the more disappointing that Weiner and Hamm were denied the national platform of gushing about all those without whom "Mad Men" would have been impossible. Oh well, show's already picked up for a second season -- assuming the writers strike ends before the next president of the United States is inaugurated.

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE (Cynthia's comments follow)

Jimmy McNulty, how low will you go?

McNulty's utter contempt for the inadequate resources given to the Baltimore Police Dept. — and the lack of respect given to the mission of the BPD as well — came to a head in the final scene of Sunday's night's episode, when he arrives at an abandoned storefront with Bunk and tampers with a dead body.

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

Yup, it's that time of year again.

Time to find ourselves face to face with those narcissistic posers, self-righteous egomaniacs, and, on rare occasion, someone who actually knows something about what it takes to create a winning song. And those are just the judges.

"American Idol," in all its pumped-up glory, returns Tuesday and Wednesday night and so the seventh season begins. The auditions, the insults, the crying, the tears, the guest performers, "Idol Gives Back," a trip to Hollywood, a final 12 and, when it's all over, another champ standing among the confetti at the Kodak.

Fox arranged a conference call with Simon Cowell Wednesday morning to discuss the new season, his reflections on last year and whether Paula is as crazy as she seemed in her Bravo reality show.

"Yes, she's an emotional girl," Cowell said, "but things were exaggerated in the edit."

Cowell affirms last season was a bad one, in terms on the quality of the competition, but believes this new group of contestants are a cut above from what he's seen at the nationwide auditions.

"This is a much better season. If it was worse, we'd have a problem. We can't guarantee to find a superstar but we're at the mercy of who turns up at the auditions. … I think it's going to be one of the strongest years in a long, long time. The talent is younger, more current and more interesting. I'm going into this season more optimistic than last year. Paula and Randy said last year the bar was risen, but I didn't believe it. I think it's going to be a big year."

Where "Idol" always arrives in January as the 800-lb. gorilla on the TV landscape, this year it's gained a few pounds. There's little, if any, scripted competition and viewers could be salivating for the real-life drama that "Idol" provides.

Cowell discussed this season's heightened ratings expections set against the lack of scripted programming, but the Brit said those raised expectations are nothing new.

"That's happened the last two or three years. We're in the same position as we were last year and the year before. The show has got to look better and be more fun," he admitted. "If it is, people will watch but it absolutely comes down to the content we provide the viewers."

As for his relationship with Paula and Randy, Cowell says that after being together for so long, there's bound to be fights and disagreements. But that's all part of the natural course of things.

"After seven years, you get on each other's nerves. We're not robots and you can become a bit argumentative or emotional."

Emotional isn't a term one might use to describe Cowell, who seems very calculating in his comments to impressionable would-be stars. Especially the ones who can't sing a lick and are deserving of his wrath. But even Cowell admits there have been instances when he's been unnecessarily harsh.

"There are certain times when you watch a show back and you hate yourself for what you said at the time," he explains. "You don't know their backstory before they walked in the room. Maybe their dog just died. You see their backstory and feel horrible."

"And sometimes you get very bored, but at the end of the day every person has seen 'Idol' and they know what they're in store for."

Not just the horrific singers, but audiences too. We know what to expect as well.

Let the hysteria begin.

Having pitched NBC Universal's tent in the heart of the Consumer Electronics Show exhibition floor in Las Vegas this week, Beth Comstock is off to a running start in what will undoubtedly be an eventful year for all the digital, marketing and television advertising turf she oversees at NBC U.

The conglom's president of Integrated Media has made a number of new media bets, big and small, that will come due in the next year. I'm generally not big on "ones to watch" predictions but in this case I think Comstock qualifies.

The most high-profile bet NBC U has made is Hulu.com, the joint Internet vid venture with News Corp. that is still in beta mode but expected to be ready for primetime in the not-so-distant future. Hulu is stocked with ad supported, free web-streaming titles, from contempo NBC and Fox hits to scads of vintage product from both studios. (If you've just got to see the episode of "WKRP in Cincinnati" where Les Nessman tries to end it all by jumping off a ledge, Hulu is where you outta be.)

Feature film content so far pretty is limited, though it does include cult faves such as "Weekend at Bernie's" and "The Breakfast Club." (Some programmer is doing his or her homework.)

Unlike past studio-backed 'Net efforts, the partners aren't banking so much on making Hulu.com a destination unto itself, but rather the hub from which to syndicate free, ad-embedded content through its formidable distrib partners including MSN, AOL, Yahoo and MySpace, among others. Hulu in October garnered a $100 million equity investment from a major player in the private equity world, Providence Equity Partners.

Smaller bets include a joint venture inked with Procter & Gamble last month on a website, Petside.com, targeting pet owners and the $40 billion they spend on furry friends each year. In between deals the size of Hulu.com and Petside.com are investments NBC U is making in vid game developers and producers, Internet and mobile advertising services and other lifestyle-oriented initiatives. Comstock is working closely with the finance wizards at Peacock Equity, a $250 million investment fund that its parent GE set up earlier this year to make $3 million-$25 million investments in startups and companies with products and services that may be a good fit with NBC U's needs in the new world order.

"The Wire" is justly praised to the skies for its writing and near docu-style direction.

But what jumps out at my from this opening episode is the sheer number of fine actors in this cast. It's a big cast, and it can be overwhelming at first. But to the credit of the actors and writers, these characters are so well-defined that it doesn't take long at all for the viewer to get a sense of their distinct personalities.

One who has only a few minutes of screen time in the episode (written by series creator David Simon and Ed Burns and helmed by Joe Chappelle) but makes his mark is Reg E. Cathay (pictured right), who plays political strategist Norman Wilson to Aidan Gillen's youthful Mayor Tommy Carcetti (pictured above).

To my mind, Wilson has the best line of the episode when he chides his boss for being so politically minded as to refuse a $50 million bailout for the city's fiscal troubles from the state's Republican governor simply because the nakedly ambitious Carcetti, a Dem, wants to be the next governor and it would make his campaign more difficult. Instead, Carcetti scrambles to juggle the bills, starving the police department (despite campaign promises of raises, new equipment, etc.) to scrape together pennies to funnel to the schools. As it stands, Carcetti now is "just a weak-ass mayor of a broke-ass city," Wilson tells him.

There are two types of people in this crazy, mixed up world. Those who get "The Wire" and those who don't.

(Actually there's a third type, those who can identify Little Walter's "My Babe" by within a nanosecond of hearing the first note, and those people also usually fall into the category of "Wire" fanatics.)

To make the most of the HBO drama's fifth and final season, which bows Sunday at 9 p.m., Variety's resident "Wire" nuts -- including myself, Brian Lowry, Stuart Levine and any others who care to join in -- will be ruminating and riffing here on each of the upcoming 10 segs. Although we've have had the luxury of screening the first seven episodes (thanks HBO), we're going to be mindful of spoilers, so we'll take go one seg at a time, the Monday after their premiere telecast.

As always, we'd love to hear from readers in this space too about the series that has never been a major ratings success for HBO but does have its fiercely loyal cadre of viewers. "Wire" has always revolved around the life of drug dealers, cops and others in tough neighborhoods in Baltimore, but at its best, it's been more than a gritty slice of life -- it's a unrelenting look at the hypocrisy of the social order, the corruption, bankruptcy and decay of the civic institutions that were once America's pride. To my mind, the upcoming season is more plot-driven than the others, and it's a wild, wild ride, so buckle up.

A huge plus in season five is the addition of "Homicide: Life on the Street's" Clark Johnson (seated in pic below) to the cast, playing a seasoned editor at the Baltimore Sun. The newspaper storyline, as Lowry noted in his Variety review, is visceral and more true to life than any other ever attempted on the smallscreen.

As a warm-up for Sunday's preem, here's a link to a fabulous profile of "Wire" creator/exec producer David Simon by Margaret Talbot that ran in the New Yorker in October. According to HBO, Simon has steadfastly refused to do any press for "Wire" while the writers' strike is going on, so the New Yorker piece is likely to be his last word on the new season for a while.

However, posted below are Q&As with Simon and "Wire" exec producer Nina Kostroff Noble that HBO included as part of its press materials. Also posted are the HBO-provided Q&As with longtime cast members Clarke Peters, Wendell Pierce, Andre Royo and Dominic West. West asserts that season five remarkably "ties up every single story strand of the series."

Also, check out these "Wire" prequel webisodes that are posted on Amazon.com.

"Late Late Show's" Craig Ferguson took a cue from history, sort of, in his first show back Wednesday night after the two-month strike furlough.

Near the top of his monologue he used the line: "As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted." The tale has long been told that when the BBC resumed television broadcasts in June 1946 after a seven-year lapse because of the matter known as World War II, the picture resumed with the same announcer who'd last been heard on the air in September 1939 with the line: "As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted."

Great story. Unfortunately, it happens to be apocryphal, at least according to the Beeb. In 2006, BBC covered the 60th anniversary of its post-war return to the TV in-depth, and as it turns out, the opening words from host Jasmine Bligh were not quite as clever.

"Good afternoon everybody. How are you? Do you remember me, Jasmine Bligh? Well here we are after a  lapse of nearly seven years ready to start again and of course we are all terribly excited and thrilled."

The tall tale had it that the the BBC's picture went dark in 1939 in the middle of a Mickey Mouse cartoon, and that it resumed seven years later at the exact same point in the toon with the announcer's voice-over. In reality, the Mickey Mouse cartoon ran in full, then was followed by test signals. The tale is detailed in this BBC News account from June 2006.

Nonetheless, Ferguson seemed to be giving a nod to the past, at least the more interesting version. (My colleague Brian Lowry also notes in his insightful review of "Late Late Show" that Jack Paar also used the "As I was saying..." line when he came back to "The Tonight Show" in 1960 after famously walking off for a month in a censorship dispute with NBC.) He made his own solemn vow to the viewing public a few minutes later in his heartfelt, but still appropriately cheeky, opening soliloquy. In response to all the speculation that WGA-sanctioned David Letterman and Ferguson will have the advantage in booking top-tier guests over WGA-struck Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Kimmel, Ferguson promised:

"This show won’t change a bit. It will be garbage. I make you this pledge people of America. We will not improve this show. It will not be funnier. It will not be better."

What we really need now is a visit to "The Late Late Show" from Hugh Laurie. When he and Craig go at it, the brogue gets so thick you can cut it with a knife -- and us Yanks can make out about every fourth word. Now that's quality latenight television. Welcome back, Craig.

(Read Ferguson's entire monologue after the jump.)