They're Coming

• The Monologue:
• I don't think I said anything about the President's "Question Time" last week. It was fascinating and entertaining. He knows his stuff. I haven't seen that many white people go after one black person and get shut down since Passenger 57.
• "We Are The World" is being redone for Haiti. We all know this is a mistake. The big question is: who will be the Dan Aykroyd of this version? Will the music video have a random Bill Hader singing in the background?
• This is really all about the opportunity to link to a picture of an old Rip Torn, but I'll also add: "You want to break into this bank? Broken into it shall be."
• Right, because men want a sex robot for the conversation.
• Random Pop Culture:
• Tonight's How I Met Your Mother was fantastic. It had everything that's right about the show with not-so-obvious pop culture references, Seinfeld-ian social jokes, and even a funny Jim Nantz. Also, a surprisingly obscure Phil Rizutto reference that made me laugh out loud.
• For as funny as that was, the best single laugh line of the TV night was Greg House's "The opossum... was meant for me." Even if the ultimate payoff on the pranks was lackluster, the lead-up was great. I can also see Orlando Jones becoming a semi-regular (I don't know if that's the plan since I've been staying away from TV spoiler blogs in anticipation of a certain season premiere).
• 24? You know. I like the Renee stuff for the most part, but anything CTU is garbage right now. Maybe "garbage" isn't the right word since it's recycled from seasons past.
• Random Lost Stuff:
• I struggled with whether to do a big overarching Lost piece tonight or before the series finale, like I did with The Wire. There's a sense that the entire season is a finale, instead of just one episode, but I don't think that's fair to the producers. Season six will have its own plot that will involve more than just answer after answer, so I'll hold off on overarching stuff for now.
• Instead, I'll focus on the standing questions. Newark Star-Ledger television critic Alan Sepinwall (you should be reading his blog if you love TV) asked people what the one question is that they most want answered and the one question about which they least care. So...
• The questions I think are most important: "Guys, where are we?" Who is the "they" that Jacob said were coming, to the Man in Black's horror? Why were the Oceanic 815 people so important to Jacob? What happened to young Ben when he was taken to the temple for healing? Is John Locke really dead? Who is Richard really and what does he have to do with Jacob's game with the Man in Black?
• The questions I don't care about (and, for the most part, don't expect to be answered): Why are Walt and Miles, among others, special? Who started the Dharma Initiative? How did the Others/ Hostiles come to be on the island?
• More tomorrow, obviously.