You Know What Tonight Is...

Oh yes. Don't even pretend like you don't know. It's like a rainfall in the desert.

LOST. For real, not like last night's Pop-Up Video episode (although I haven't watched it yet, so perhaps it was a good refresher). Get ready, folks, it should be good.

In celebration and contemplation of the new season, I offer you these 48 questions, courtesy of the LA Times. Please to enjoy and discuss.


48. Will the WGA strike permanently disrupt the original plan to end the series with three seasons of 16 episodes apiece?
47. What is Charles Widmore's association with the Dharma Initiative?
46. Who were those guys in the icebound monitoring station at the end of Season 2?
45. What is the significance of Claire's baby?
44. Will Rose's cancer return?
43. Will Sun survive her pregnancy?
42. What's the meaning behind that crazy mural painted inside the Swan Station?
41. Where exactly is the island located?
40. What gets worshipped at the temple Ben mentions near the end of the third season?
39. Who are the people on the rescue ship?
38. If Penny Widmore didn't send the ship, then where is her rescue crew?
37. Can Juliet really be trusted?
36. How did the Black Rock get on the island?
35. How many more Dharma stations are left to be found?
34. Will we learn more about Libby's connection to Hurley?
33. Are Nikki and Paulo gone for good?
32. What did Jack mean in the flash-forward when he made a reference to his supposedly dead father being upstairs?
31. Will the rest of the survivors learn about Hurley's fortune?
30. Will Jin learn about Sun's affair?
29. How did Locke's father get on the island?
28. Why do all pregnancies result in death on the island?
27. Is Alvar Hanso still involved with the island?
26. What is the sickness Rousseau talked about her crew getting in the first season?
25. How was Walt able to appear to Locke and Shannon?
24. What do the numbers -- 4 8 15 16 23 42 -- mean?
23. Why does the doctor in the Dharma Initiative-orientation films have different names in different films?
22. Who are the bodies dubbed Adam and Eve that were found in the caves?
21. What do the hieroglyphics on the machine inside Swan Station mean?
20. How did the Others get all the names of the survivors?
19. What are the whispers people hear in the jungle?
18. Will we see more of the Other known as Isabel (Diana Scarwid)?
17. Where have the children that the Others took been hiding?
16. Why do so many episodes start with the close-up of an eye?
15. Were the Others really having Sawyer and Kate help to build a runway?
14. What did the psychic that read Claire's future see?
13. Did Jack's dad really come back to life or is that an illusion?
12. Will Desmond retain his ability to see the future?
11. Who besides Kate and Jack got off the island?
10. Who is Kate's unseen mate in the post-island flash-forward?
9. What's the deal with that four-toed statue from the Season 2 finale?
8. In Jack's post-island flash-forward, who was in the coffin?
7. What happened to Michael and Walt after they left the island?
6. What is Walt's power?
5. How did Mikhail (the eye-patch guy) appear to come back from the dead?
4. Why doesn't Richard Alpert age?
3. What is Jacob?
2. What is the smoke monster?
1. What is that island?

TV Catch-Up

I spent a good part of the weekend catching up on lots of TV viewing - what did I do before the advent of DVR? So I'm almost fully caught up to Reaper, which is shaping up to be quite possibly my favorite of the new shows this season. If you haven't checked it out yet, please tune in tomorrow night. Sock, played by Tyler Labine, is one of the funniest slacker sidekicks in sitcom history (I'll get to Joshua Gomez - Morgan from Chuck - in a sec). The first episode was directed by Kevin Smith - what are you waiting for? Will gives Reaper two thumbs up - and yes, I do let my 8-year old watch a show about a slacker whose parents sold his soul to the Devil. So there.

I also caught up with Supernatural, which Will got me hooked on, actually. He stumbled across it somehow last season and demanded that every episode be recorded. I ended up curled up on the couch one night and watched last season's finale with him - and proceeded to kick myself for taking the better part of two entire seasons to check this show out. Brothers who hunt demons? Where have I been? Even my mom was into this show before me. Jeez. Just finally sat and watched the season opener - and man, this is going to be a good season. Fortunately for me, the first two seasons are out on DVD. Santa Claus, are you listening?

Ah, Chuck. I know a lot of people have been turning Chuck off after the first brilliant episode, but I still love my Nerd Herders. And, seeing as how I love a good sidekick (honestly, they make the show - the star is the star, but the sidekick gets all the really good jokes. See Reaper above.), I have to send some love out to Joshua Gomez, who plays Morgan. Morgan could possibly be Sock (Reaper) from a parallel universe. I'm telling you, watch the sidekicks. They get the best lines.

I think Chuck is going to make it. And I think it's going to stay well-written. Let it work out its growing pains.

Do I have to even mention my chick-crush on Katee Sackhoff as an explanation as to why I'm loving Bionic Woman? With the threat of BSG's final season looming in front of me, where else am I going to get my Starbuck fix in? Please, PLEASE NBC - don't kill off the 'original' Bionic Woman.

Other new show I'm still on the fence about: Moonlight

Fave returning show: Dexter (sorry, Heroes)

Show I desperately want to get better because I love it so: Heroes

Shows whose return I'm waiting for: The Tudors, Lost

Lost...

Thoughts on last night's episode? I like that I got an answer to something we'd suspected for a little while now, and a meaningful flashback that provided that answer. Poor Charlie... any bets on whether or not he's making it out of Season 3?

Any commentary on the bit we saw on next week's episode?

It's been a while since Lost hasn't left me pissed off, so let's chat about it.