[Televisionary]

Wow. Talk about a shocker of an episode. I'm still a little stunned by the oddness, to be entirely honest. I'm talking, of course, about last night's Desmond-centric episode of Lost ("Flashes Before Your Eyes"), which explained the nature of his precognitive abilities and what happened to him when he turned the fail safe key in the hatch. Well, sort of, anyway. Let's refresh: At the end of last season, Locke forced the computer timer to reach zero, despite the attempts by Eko to prevent this from happening. Desmond has spent three years pressing the button and was eager to escape his purpose, though he realized that the last time he didn't push said button, he caused the crash of Oceanic Flight 815. Still with me? He entered the secret passageway, inserted the key into a certain octagonal lock, and BOOM! the hatch imploded. Somehow, Eko, Desmond, and Locke were all miraculously saved from a fatal, well, squishing inside the hatch. Desmond woke up, naked a

So it seems my little campaign to get Lauren Graham to play the lead in Amy Sherman-Palladino's new comedy pilot, The Return of Jezebel James , didn't exactly get off the ground. But no matter. While Graham's recently been upped to producer over on Gilmore Girls (making the possibility of her signing the contract to do Season Eight more likely), Sherman-Palladino has found a different leading lady for Jezebel James , one that you wouldn't ordinarily expect to sign on to a multi-camera half-hour comedy. Yes, ladies and gents, I am talking about the one and only Parker Posey. Posey ( Best in Show , Party Girl , and a zillion other films I love) will play Sarah, a successful children's book editor who, after learning that she can't conceive a child, tries to convince her hellion sister to carry the baby for her. She joins the already cast Scott Cohen , who plays her boyfriend (and lifelong bachelor) Marcus. "I can't believe it's happening," Sh

Ah, Kiele Sanchez. You might be playing one of the most reviled Lost characters to date (yes, even more so than Ana Lucia) but at least you (or your agent) has got an exit strategy already in place. Sanchez, who plays Nikki on the ABC series, has only showed up in a handful of episodes this season as one of the survivors of doomed Oceanic Flight 815, but producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof suggest that Nikki and her toyboy Paolo (Rodrigo Garcia) come to the forefront of the series in an upcoming episode to become iconic characters. (Hmmm. Perhaps they're the Adam and Eve corpses last glimpsed in Season One? Doubtful, but a boy can dream.) In the meantime, Sanchez has been cast in ABC's drama pilot Football Wives , a US adaptation of the British hit soap Footballers Wives , opposite Lucy Lawless and Gabrielle Union. She'll play the pregnant wife of an up-and-coming football star who has a few secrets of her own. So it's a done deal then, right? Not quite. Sanchez

Just a brief post on Veronica today for a number of reasons, being (A) last night's episode was the first half of a two-parter, and (B) I'm as sick as a dog today. (And on Valentine's no less!) Last night's episode of Veronica Mars ("Postgame Mortem") featured Veronica and Keith working on two separate cases at the same time, one involving the murder of the Svengali-like basketball coach at Hearst College and the other being Mindy O'Dell's investigation of the murder of her husband, much missed Dean Cyrus O'Dell. It also featured Logan hanging out for the better part of a weekend with a precocious tween and Dick Casablancas getting hitched in Vegas. (Ah, young love.) And Wallace even dropped by to grace us with his presence. Well, for two scenes, anyway. Keith and Veronica continue to investigate O'Dell's murder, with Veronica learning from the ever-so-helpful Jeff Ratner at the Neptune Grand (last seen in "Hi, Infidelity") that

Call me a hopeless romantic or a reality TV junkie, but I can't get enough of Beauty and the Geek . And even though this season has been a little lackluster compared to the last two seasons, I've been hooked nonetheless. On tonight's season finale, the final two teams--Scooter and Megan vs. Nate and Cece--will go head to head in the final elimination challenge. But this being reality TV, there's a twist, one possibly involving the former ousted contestants. (One can hope so, anyway.) I really do want Nate to win this competition but half of me hopes he doesn't just so I can see the look on Cece's face when Scooter and Megan walk away with the cash. Cece is, in my eyes, one of the very worst people to ever pop up on a reality TV series (and that's saying a lot when you've got a category already filled by Boston Rob, Johnny Fairplay, and the cast of Real World: Las Vegas ) and I cringe every time she shows up on screen. Her near abuse of that poor Chihuahu

Want a sneak peak at Joss Whedon talking about his experiences directing this week's episode of The Office ("Business School")? Look no further than the NBC-packaged clip below. No, the irony that Joss would be directing an Office episode about bats, vampires, and the pasty undead (sorry, Dwight) isn't lost on me. Is it Thursday night yet?

Marcel's not the only former Top Chef villain making the news these days . Looks like Top Chef Season One's resident scoundrel, Stephen Asprinio , is popping up again, but for a more worthy reason than, say, getting hit over the head with a bottle by an irate viewer. According to site Slashfood (via LA essential foodie site Eater LA ), Asprinio , best known for his coiffed hair and styled suits (along with ubiquitous wine pairings) will open a wine shop called Tastevin in downtown LA later this year. Slashfood has the scoop: A wine boutique aimed at 20-somethings who are increasingly developing a taste for wines, but are put off from seeking out high-quality ones by the old fashioned, pretentious way wine is usually presented. Corks, dusty bottles and wooden crates are not selling points to the under-30 crowd. Stephen is doing away with all the stuffy formality of wine buying and keeping his venture sexy and ultra-modern, with Philippe Starke furniture and beautiful displa