Last week’s episode of LOST left me underwhelmed and convinced that it had originally been part of a two-hour offering, and after this week’s boffo installment, I’d bet cash money I was right. Given the relative debacle that unfolded after the show introduced the “tailies” last season, I was worried when upon hearing so many new people would be coming aboard in this episode. But each and every one of them were welcome additions, adding to the canvas as opposed to the tailies, who seemed designed as little more than a water-treading plot device. Heck, five minutes after we met Charlotte, I was in love with her… which was extremely important in order for the moment when Ben shot her to have an impact. Now some of the people who take LOST a whole lot more serious than I do tell me that the flashbacks in this episode don’t play be previously established “rules” regarding points of view and such, but that doesn’t bother me. I’m not one of the viewers who looks for hidden meaning or freeze-frames shots to figure out who’s hiding out in that freaky-deaky cabin. All I want is a good, exciting story, and even when I can’t necessarily remember every detail of what’s come before, LOST tends to deliver.

Answer me this, PROJECT RUNWAY fans: Was this week’s outing not the funniest ever? I swear, by the time Christian and Sweet P started arm wrestling, I was half convinced the contestants had been slipped some kind of drug. Even dour Jillian cracked a few smiles! During the runway show, it was obvious that Michael Kors and Nina Garcia had no clue what to think of the spandex numbers being worn by WWE divas. “I feel like the pope at a sex club!” said Kors at one point. Christian was obviously disappointed that his leather-and-lace outfit didn’t win, and rightly so. While he’s usually overconfident to the point of being obnoxious, this week, the kid rocked it and was — as he loves to proclaim — fierce. But I’m afraid the judges made the right call: There was no denying that Chris’ leopard-in-a-cage outfit was a total winner. By the way, is it just me, or should Chris totally be cast as Edna Turnblad the next time Broadway is looking to recast Hairspray? And that’s a compliment, people! Heck, I wish he’d played the role in the movie instead of John Rivolta.

How incredibly pissed do you think the producers of SURVIVOR are that Johnny Fairplay got himself booted the first week? As much as I might hate the guy — and I do — you know he’s great for ratings. Producers brought him back because they expected him to stir things up as only a true reality-tv whore can do. (Think Omarossa, THE REAL WORLD’s Trishelle and PARADISE HOTEL’s Toni Ferrari.) And what does Fairplay do? Get all weepy and ask to be sent home! Meanwhile, over on the fan side of the island, riddle me this, Batman: If Kathleen is such a big fan of the show, how can she not know that going around making idiotic remarks like “I have never had a homosexual male friend” and “I’ve never seen implants before” will get your flame extinguished quicker than one of those torrential downpours soaking the island?

Regular readers could probably guess this, but I am majorly stoked about the new season of BIG BROTHER, which begins next week. While last season’s “twist” — in which supposed enemies secretly wound up under the same roof — turned out to be a big ol’ bust, this cycle’s is promising. Let’s face it, there’s nothing we voyeuristic viewers love more than seeing a showmance develop. By sending 16 singles into the house and pairing them up with potential “soul mates” whom they must work, scheme and — oh, yeah, we almost forgot — sleep with, the producers have pretty much guaranteed this’ll be the steamiest season yet.

Oh my God. Every time I think I can’t possibly hate Bill O’Reilly more, he does something to prove me wrong. What this time? Well, first, let me offer a little backstory: During the final days of John Edwards ill-fated presidential campaign, he made a speech in which he mentioned that thousands of homeless veterans sleep under bridges. The next day, O’Reilly took Edwards to task, denying that vets were sleeping under bridges and basically challenging someone to prove him wrong. Well, of course, someone did by rounding up a group of homeless vets who Bill-O not only refused to meet with, but whom he actually made fun of on his broadcast. He took them to task for not having heard his inflammatory words themselves (apparently not understanding that homeless people under bridges don’t generally have televisions) and then listing a series of statistics about poor people in this country owning their own homes and having televisions, again apparently failing to understand the difference between “poor” and “homeless.” As criticism was fired at him from all directions, suddenly, Bill declared that on Thursday’s show he would be making “a major announcement” about veterans. What was it? Transparent is what it was. In an effort to stem the tide of fury being unleashed at his callous and inane remarks, Bill has “joined forces” with politicians looking to have a bill passed which would provide vets important new benefits. On Thursday morning, Bill’s website proclaimed, “We are proposing a new GI Bill with the help of Senator John Kerry.” Um, yeah, that’s great… except that this proposed Bill had been in the works since May, long before O’Reilly, in a desperate attempt to make himself look better, had even thought about getting involved. And on THE FACTOR Thursday night, Bill-O made clear that his soul involvement would be to criticize those who might try and stand in the way of the legislation being passed. In other words, Bill will do exactly what he always does. Way to put yourself on the line, dude! Look up “shameless” in the dictionary and you will find this pinhead’s picture there.

Not one for the unemployment line, Somerville can now be seen playing Caitlin Dowd on ABC’s Wednesday night guilty pleasure CASHMERE MAFIA. And recently, was kind enough to take some time from her schedule to chat with reporters about her her role on MAFIA, being Darren Star’s unlucky charm and the inevitable comparisons to that other show about four beautiful New York women.

GROSSE POINTE and KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL were two of my favorite shows ever. It quite literally pains me to think that they had such short runs! What happened?
Bonnie Somerville: I’m still not over GROSSE POINTE. The show has such a fanatical fanbase. People just love that show. I’ll never be over it. It was one of the greatest written shows, but clearly ahead of it’s time. Before MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE and SCRUBS single camera half hour comedies were rare. And the WB which aired it, didn’t believe in it.

KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL was also a blast. FOX only aired three episodes. No one got to see it, it was really hard. The cast was so close.

CASHMERE MAFIA is your third Darren Star show. Where are you hiding the incriminating photos?
I don’t know why he keeps hiring me. All of the shows keep getting cancelled! But he’s been very good to me. Most people in Hollywood say they like you, but he puts his money where his mouth is. I’m very lucky.

The success of the show really hinges on the chemistry between your co-stars. Did you know any of the actresses prior to shooting?
None of us knew each-other, but we did spend a lot of time together in New York shooting the pilot. A lot of lunches, dinners, we had so much fun on the set. We definitely had a lot of days where we got into trouble for laughing too much.

You play a high powered New York executive, how did you go about researching the role?
I’m from New York and my Mom is an investment banker, so I sort of grew up in that world. My character is loosely based on Sally Sussman, who heads up the Estee Lauder corporation and I met her and presented her with an award. She is an openly gay woman executive in the cosmetic industry. I got to know her a bit and she’s one of the most incredible people I’ve ever met.

What’s it like wearing costumes designed by Patricia Field?
I definitely love clothes, but not quite to the degree that this show has taken it to. It’s all new for me. Patricia Field (the award winning costume designer responsible for Carrie and the gang’s trend-setting ensembles on SEX IN THE CITY) she just puts these things on you and they work. In real life I’m a jeans girl. But the best part of the show is all the shoes that are sent to us. I’m a shoe addict for sure.

What are your thoughts on the inevitable comparisons to NBC’s LIPSTICK JUNGLE?
Most people want to pit us against LIPSTICK JUNGLE, but we never really talk about it. We knew we’d get the SEX AND THE CITY comparisons because of Darren Star, four woman and New York. But the longer you watch the show the more you realize it has nothing to do with the show. They couldn’t be more different.

Fans won’t want to miss tonight’s season finale of CASHMERE MAFIA (10PM, ABC, E! in Canada) as Somerville promises that, “there’s definitely a cliffhanger ending as far as the whole sex thing and what team my character’s choosing.”

Or for a more up close and personal experience, head on over to the Pebble Beach Invitational on February 9th, 2008. In her spare time (which thanks to the WGA strike, she’s had quite a bit of!) Somerville helps raise money for charity alongside Greg Grunberg, James Denton and Hugh Laurie as part of BAND FROM TV.

The same can’t be said for CASHMERE MAFIA. Critics be damned, I’m loving this show. It’s light, fluffy and the perfect antidote to the grossness of THE MOMENT OF TRUTH. Did anyone else catch Bonnie Summerville’s ‘Nolita’ shout-out to hers and Darren Star’s previous brilliant but cancelled series KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL? And those tired of Caitlin’s is-she-or-isn’t-she lipstick lesbian story, take note. In a recent interview with the TV Addict (to be posted soon) Summerville revealed that the question of her ‘team’ will be dealt with in two weeks. As will Juliet’s status with husband of the year* Davis (*note sarcasm). How much fun was watching Juliet literally kick Davis to the curb? Of course my favorite moment of the night goes to Zoe. Who’s quickly turned into the show’s most entertaining and likable character. Not only did she totally pull off a fantastic birthday for her son, she managed to save an enormous business deal in the midst of all the paintball chaos. Pretty much, the coolest mom ever. I wonder how long until her marriage starts crumbling?

Agree, Disagree, Post away!

I was wildly uncomfortable with the whole “Bree pimps her son to an older guy” storyline on DH… which means it was wildly successful. Let’s face it… a good, adult-skewed dramedy should, on occasion, make us squirm. And that sure wasn’t going to happen with the ridiculous “Lynette has an epiphany” crap. Although I have to say, Felicity Huffman can make just about anything work. When Lynette was running around that field with Ida’s ashes, how radiant was Huffman? Given the opening sequence in which Edie clasped Karen’s hand, wouldn’t it have been nice if she’d played into that storyline, too? What the hell does Nicollette Sheridan have to do to get a storyline?

Now onto MAFIA: Only a show created by a man (Darren Star) and written by another man (Kevin Wade) could think it was a good idea to have the first five minutes feature Lucy Liu as a girlie-girl. Within the first 10 minutes, this show shoved every stereotype and cliche down our throats, and tried washing it down with a plot that was beyond predictable. How bad was it? The nanny quit, one of the ladies actually said “It’s 2007, she can have it all!”, the newly engaged couple were made competitors, a teen walked in on her mom having sex and there was a “woman with a penis” joke. We’re talking first 10 minutes, kids. And of course, what would a male-conceived show centering on women be without a beautiful gal questioning her sexuality (with her first kiss set, of course, to the tune “You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman”)? And should any of my real-life friends be reading this, a note: If you’re going to tell me that the person I love is cheating, doing so right before the party at which I’m going to be honored is definitely not the right moment. Of course, it all ends with hoisted champagne glasses and a round of “I don’t know what I’d do without you girls.” Were this all even mildly amusing or compelling, these flaws might be forgiveable. Sadly, it’s not. The cast is uniformly excellent and luminous (particularly Miranda Otto’s Juliet, who is sheer perfection as the icy, cheated-upon wife who vows revenge)… too bad nobody thought to give them a script equally sparkly. The last line is, “This is going to be fun,” but I can’t say I’ll be sticking around to find out if that proves true in future episodes. Hopefully, LIPSTICK JUNGLE will show the MAFIA chicks how it’s really done.

For those of you who think I’ll fall for any reality show that comes down the pike, let me just say that I absolutely hated the first episode of MAKE ME A SUPERMODEL. I’ll admit to having had high hopes for this show, seeing as it airs on Bravo, home to favorites like PROJECT RUNWAY and TOP CHEF (which returns with a new season in March). Guess I forgot that this is also the network that brings us THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF ORANGE COUNTY. I’ll give this week’s episode of SUPERMODEL a chance (the premiere was a casting special), but I don’t have high hopes.

Anybody else see the footage of THE O’REILLY FACTOR’s host getting into a scuffle with a 6′ 8″ Obama staffer? That’s comedy gold, kids. Especially when Bill-O, in discussing the incident on his show, said it was a good thing that the guy wasn’t shorter than him or the whole thing could have gone in an entirely different direction. That’s right, folks, Bill-O likes to pick on people smaller than he is. But then, how big a surprise can that really be?

Admittedly, my judgement may be suffering from the likes of “Rerun-itis” or the lesser known “WGA Strike Syndrome,” but creator Darren Star’s not-so-subtle attempt to recapture that SEX IN THE CITY magic worked for me. The all-star cast was incredibly likable and the story-lines were interesting and well-paiced. In fact, this TV Addict’s only issue with the episode occurred during the show’s finale moments when frienemy Priscilla Gray confronted the girls and stated, “The Cashmere Mafia, that’s what they call you, you know.” Oh good, because up until that clarification, audiences didn’t make the connection between our 4 heroines and show’s title. Memo to ABC, we’re not stupid.

Further evidence the TV Addict’s judgement may be suffering: I enjoyed DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES. Susan for once wasn’t annoying (to Teri Hatcher’s credit, she’s far more likable sans the deadweight that’s become known as Mike Delfino). Bree was hilarious as she tried to pimp out Andrew for a new roof (Oh the things one will do for a a 60″ HD TV. Believe me, I’ve been there!) And Lynette and Gaby’s story-lines were genuinely touching (Anyone else think that Gaby is secretly hiding Carlos’ 10 million dollars?) My only complaint — would it have killed creator Marc Cherry to give us a tiny clue — a word even — as to what Adam and Dylan read that made their eyes almost pop out of their sockets? Who knows how long it will be until we get the next new episode of DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES?

Agree/Disagree, You be the critic.