Finally, House did get up, but when the building collapsed and exploded, I didn’t feel anything. As Wilson said in his eulogy, it was a selfish death. House had more than enough time to save himself but waited until it was too late. Shrug. And I’m saying this as a former super fan of the show and current fan of Hugh Laurie’s.

So I thought, “That’s that. I didn’t expect a happy ending, anyway.” But when Foreman said the coroner confirmed the identity of the charred body in the building, I thought, “It’d be so easy for House to switch his records with his former patient’s.” Which is what happened, and House appeared quite alive on Wilson’s front stoop.

Finally, we got to see the two in leather and stubble, riding off into the sunset on badass motorcycles. (This was funny in its midlife-crisisness, but Wilson is at his endlife so he’s allowed.) At that moment, I suddenly realized I did care what happened to House, but more for Wilson’s sake, because I didn’t want him to end up being so angry and alone. It’s nice to know Wilson will have his best friend by his side in his last days, and perhaps House will learn to stand on his own after all when his crutch is gone.

What did you think? How did you want the series to end? Did you miss Cuddy?

Photo: Byron Cohen/FOX

Cumberbatch with Andrew Scott as Moriarty

OK, just finished watching the season 2 finale of BBC’s SHERLOCK, and spent some time with Mr. PCN trying to figure out how Sherlock survived that fall. We came up with a reasonable theory, I think.

Holmes tossed a body over the side of the building, probably one that Molly helped him procure from the lab at the hospital because we saw him pay her a visit. Holmes also had assistance from the Baker Street Irregulars (he mentioned a street network earlier in the episode), one of whom, on the bike, knocked Watson down as he ran to Holmes. This gained the other Irregulars time to swarm around the body, blocking it from public view and removing it, while Holmes ran down to the street and took its place, smearing himself with fake blood. And this is what Watson saw when he finally made his way over.

I think Moriarty also used some kind of prop gun and/or blanks and squibs for his “suicide,” because the Moriarty from the canon was definitely not suicidal.

What did you think? I read that filming for season three won’t start until next year so we won’t get definitive answers anytime soon. Arggghh!

Photo: Colin Hutton/BBC/Hartswood Films

CBS announced last Sunday that it had picked up the pilot Elementary, about a modern-day Holmes and Watson in New York City. It stars Jonny Lee Miller as the famous detective and Lucy Liu as his partner, Joan Watson. Below is a first look at the show.

Miller is a decent actor (I enjoyed him on Eli Stone), but I can’t help hearing Benedict Cumberbatch’s voice (Cumberbatch plays Holmes in the current hit BBC version) spouting some of the lines in this clip. The difference is that Cumberbatch’s detective is much more gleeful when he gets to show others how brilliant he is. Solving crimes is entertainment to him and he loves having an audience. Miller’s version seems to be more serious, having just come out of rehab.

Over on Criminal Element, author Lyndsay Faye has a post about what CBS needs to do with this show to keep fans happy. She knows what she’s talking about because she’s not only an expert on the canon, she has seen the pilot.

This Sunday is the final episode in season 2 of BBC’s Sherlock. It’s titled “The Reichenbach Fall,” which should give you an idea of what happens if you’re familiar with the stories. If not, the only thing you need to know is that this series is exceptional and possibly even makes you smarter after watching it. Check your local PBS listings.

On May 22, as my friend Debbie D. informed me (thanks, Deb!), the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles is hosting an event called “Some Favorite Writers: An Evening with Sherlock Holmes and Friends,” featuring Holmes scholar Leslie Klinger, writer/director Nicholas Meyer, crime novelist Denise Hamilton, and real-life P.I. Sarah Alcorn. More information here if you’re in the area and would like to attend the free program.

What do you think of the Elementary clip? Will you watch? Are you excited, or slightly distrustful like Faye?

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I wasn’t thrilled about the cliffhanger last June, leaving us with Darren Richmond getting arrested for Rosie’s murder and then shot by Belko, and Holder getting into a car with an unknown person, having just faked a photo that incriminated the councilman. But I also thought not wrapping everything up was a gutsy move, and knew I’d tune in again this season—at least until the creative team exhausts my loyalty.

This isn’t really a recap (I assume you’ve seen it since you ignored the spoilers warning), but some quick thoughts on the two-hour premiere:

• Sometimes Linden is maddeningly uncommunicative. If she’d just talk to people, she might get more work done, or at least avoid distractions. If she’d told Jack not to trust anyone, he wouldn’t have dumped Bible study and left with Holder. Like D.A. Christina Niilsen says, it wouldn’t hurt for Linden to say thanks once in a while; she might have more people on her side that way.
• Linden sucks at surveillance. When she was parked outside Gil Sloane’s place, she was obviously spotted by the cop who stared at her as he drove past. Then she followed Sloane to his rendezvous with Mayor Adams’s campaign director. She didn’t think that the cop might follow her? It doesn’t mean the mysterious person who took her photo was that cop, but she didn’t seem to take any precautions against being seen. And why didn’t she take her own pictures of the two men meeting in a shady manner? She might need evidence to prove they conspired against Richmond.
• Rosie’s brothers desperately need some therapy. Their mom has temporarily bailed on them, and Dad doesn’t talk to them about the terror they must be feeling. The younger, more sensitive boy, Denny, breaks my heart, getting up in the night and listening to his sister’s music box.
• I knew Holder wasn’t all-the-way dirty, just a green detective who went along with stronger personalities because they’d convinced him the councilman was guilty. Mr. PCN and I were debating at the top of show, with him believing that Holder was corrupt while I said Holder just did the wrong thing for what he thought was the right reason. Now that he’s told Sloane about the switched backpack, I wonder what Sloane will do to him, and how Holder will eventually get Rosie’s actual backpack processed for evidence.
• Belko’s meltdown and suicide were awful, but storywise, his death made sense to me. He’s served his purpose.
• It seemed some of the actors were directed to make their faces as inscrutable as possible. When Gwen asks Jamie if Richmond had been faithful to his wife, Jamie gives her a weird look and doesn’t say anything. Later, when Gwen sees that the D.A. has dropped charges against Richmond, she gets an odd expression that looks nothing like relief. I kept yelling at my TV, “What the hell was that look??”
• I got a kick out of being Richmond’s sister. Well, her name is Elyse, anyway. I wonder why she’s incommunicado. When Jamie kept leaving messages for her while Richmond was in the hospital, Mr. PCN turned to me and asked, “Have you checked your voice mail lately?” (No, I was busy watching TV.)

What did you think? Will you stay for the season? Is it a good thing that Stan got back in touch with Janek? Who the Freud killed Rosie??

Photos: Carole Segal/AMC

Bibb and Aspen

Last week’s pilot opened with a man grabbing a whole lotta cash and making a run to Mexico with his girlfriend in his fancy car. She decides to give him some, ah, oral stimulation on the way, which causes him to drive off a cliff, crashing and burning and killing both of them.

The man was Bill Vaughan (Greg Vaughan), a Ponzi schemer who just made his wife, Amanda (Leslie Bibb), a widow, and left his family with nothing. Amanda has to move from California back to Texas to live with her controlling mother, Gigi (Annie Potts), until she can get on her feet again. Problem is, Amanda was a mean girl in high school, and the local girls she used to terrorize, now supposedly righteous Christian women, can’t wait to help her reap what she sowed. It’s like the flip side of Revenge, only the cruel person has repented and we’re laughing at the vengeful people.

As expected, most of this is over the top, but if you accept it for what it is, it’s pretty entertaining. One of the show’s writers is Robert Harling, who wrote Steel Magnolias, Soapdish, and the adaption of The First Wives Club. The man knows about soapy plotlines and saucy women.

Shor, Chenoweth, and Aspen

The cast is appealing all around, with each actress imbuing her character with a little more depth than first meets the eye. In the pilot, hotshot businesswoman Cricket (Miriam Shor) tries to prevent Amanda from getting a decent job. In the second episode, she has a moment at home with her husband that makes us look at her differently. Sharon (Jennifer Aspen) drowns her insecurities in food because she’s certain her husband Zach (Brad Beyer), who used to be in love with Amanda in high school, will leave her for the new widow. The MVP is Potts, whose signature drollness can’t disguise how much Gigi loves her daughter.

Potts and Bibb

Bibb is okay as Amanda, but she’s not the most interesting character since she has to be the straight woman. Maybe there will be a flashback episode and we’ll get to see her cut loose as that awful person everyone keeps talking about.

Nerd verdict: Funny Bitches

Photos: ABC

Before I start bashing the girls, I have to dedicate a little rant to dear ol’ dawg Randy Jackson: Stop with the freaking name dropping! Really! It’s becoming annoying. I really don’t care if you worked on a record with the pope! Arrgh.

Now that I got that out of my system, let me give my 2 cents about the girls who fought for the Top 12.

The first one was country girl Chelsea Sorrell with “Cowboy Casanova.” I kept thinking of random girls dressed in shiny outfits in karaoke bars I’ve been to. But then I noticed a cool violinist at the top of the stairs. He was rocking it!

Erika Van Pelt has a very nice old-school sound to her voice. That said, her “What About Love” was good but unimpressive. I expected a little more risk-taking in her arrangement since she’s (allegedly) a DJ.

Next, Jen Hirsh was overpowered by her song. “One and Only” showed she had a lot of trouble keeping her breath and that her range (or control) is not that much. Then, during her post-performance bit, I thought, “Why is this girl trying to play dumb when she’s seemingly a lot smarter than that?”

Fourth was a girl named Brielle Von Hugel singing Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ On) the Dock of the Bay,” and though the song started very rough, she brought it together and I noticed a very cool rasp in her voice. But that’s about it. I was unimpressed overall.

Hallie Day has this too-cool-for-school vibe, and I liked that about her, but I wasn’t “Feeling Good” about her singing. It started well, she had nice moments in her lower register, but when she brought it up, it was so-so. By that point, I was already bored.

But then cool-named Skyler Laine brought me to tears of laughter. The second I saw her I wondered, “What is La Chilindrina doing on American Idol?” Her “Stay with Me” was fine and had a good rock-country feel to it, but I got angry at Randy when he said they have never had that rock-country sound from a girl on the Idol stage. I was like, “Really? What about Allison FREAKING Iraheta on Grand Ole Opry night in season 8?!” I get so angry at that guy all the time sometimes. (BTW, La Chilindrina is a character by Mexican actress María Antonieta de las Nieves, who both had her own show and was part of the ensemble on El Chavo del Ocho.)

Baylie Brown might have to pay for the damages caused by the train she wrecked on stage. I was certainly “Amazed” that she didn’t hit one note.

Next, Hollie Cavanagh rushed through the beginning of “Reflection,” but then controlled it at the middle. The girl has a very beautiful voice, and she knows how to use it. But one could actually see her heart pounding through the whole performance. I want to see her through just to hear her sing without her nerves, and to look at those gorgeous eyes of hers. Other than that, she has a very thick Texas accent so I couldn’t understand one word she said to Ryan.

I think “Sweet Dreams” was not a sweet song choice by Haley Johnsen, though I was liking it at the beginning. Once the band kicked in, the arrangement sucked, the banshees drowned Haley’s voice, and I couldn’t hear the runs and voice acrobatics the judges said she did. All things considered, I think her sweet AI dream has ended.

Shannon Magrane decided to sing “Go Light Your World,” and I snored so hard I woke up everybody in my house.

Sanchez

When Jessica Sanchez started to sign “Love You I Do” from Dreamgirls, it was the fastest I’ve ever gone from groaning to picking up my jaw from the floor. I had to run to pick up my socks that had been blown off by that girl’s voice. There is nothing short of amazing about Jessica’s singing. My eyes were out of their sockets when I realized THAT voice comes from such a petite girl. Fantastic, indeed.

Closing the show was Elise Testone with Adele’s “One and Only” (again!), and I thought she was great. The first half was a lot better than the last, but she totally connected to the song and I could feel the emotion coming from her. And I love her voice, which reminds me a little of (Mexico’s) Alejandra Guzmán. And she has a room-service flower on her head!

What did you think? Were you hit any debris in Baylie Brown’s train wreck? Were you blown away by Jessica Sanchez’s huge voice? Did you feel Elise Testone?

Photo: FOX

I have to thank PCN for inviting me again for this year’s Idol. Last year was sort of a disappointment but hey, Scotty McCreery’s selling like bread (or cheese, or cheesy bread…) so who knows, perhaps this year’s winner might oversell Carrie Under-bot (nah!).

As many of you know, I do NOT watch the auditions or the Hollywood rounds. I like knowing little-to-nothing about the wannabes when I first hear them sing, so I can hopefully bash judge them based on their talent and not their backstories.

Tuesday night, the top 13 guys sang for their professional lives a place in the infamous Top 12. This is what I think:

The second Ryan Seacrest said Reed Grimm was opening with “Moves Like Jagger,” I knew who I would give this year’s Spastic Chicken Dancing Award to. And Grimm delivered (the awkward dancing, that is), crowning it by playing timbales! I don’t know if the jazzy arrangement was my cup of tea, but he was really having fun. And I was laughing. A lot.

Then came self-labeled “White Chocolate” aka Adam Brock. And I must say: singing big black diva songs does not a big black diva make(or a white man with a black diva inside). His version of Aretha’s “Think” was nice, and he does have a soulful voice, but that’s it.

I must agree with the judges that Deandre has a (Bracken)sick falsetto. But when you open up your song—Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Reasons—with that many pitch issues, and look THAT nervous, you’ve got serious problems. In the looks department, the guy reminded me of a charisma-less David Bisbal. And then Seacrest topped it with some nutty girls coming upstage to hug him. #EPICfail. Yuck!

I liked the beginning of Colton Dixon‘s performance of “Decode” by Paramore. But I have to say La Lopez was partially right: His place is behind the piano, because as soon as he left it, he sucked!

Jeremy “Jer-Bear” Rosado sang “Gravity” by Sara Bareilles. It was nice and he seems like a very nice guy, but it was forgettable.

When Seacrest said Aaron Marcellus was singing “Never Can Say Goodbye,” I went berserk. Why are these guys picking these vanilla songs when they should be wowing us? But then, Aaron owned it. I wouldn’t give him a standing O, but he outshone the ones before him.

Is it really that Chase Likens’s other talent is whistling? Say it with me: LAME! He sang some country song (I had to Google it and it turned out to be “Storm Warning” by Hunter Hayes). I agree it was good, but again, it wasn’t memorable.

By this time, I was ready to embrace (almost) whoever came next. And it was a weird guy with a funny name: Creighton Fraker. He did a pretty good take on “True Colors,” and had some interesting choices in his arrangement, but otherwise he played it safe. I’d like to see what he does on other songs.

Hey! A growler! Nobody has topped my favorite growler yet, but I’ll give Phillip Phillips a chance. Randy & JLo were right about his “In the Air Tonight”: He should stick a little bit more with the melody. But I like his sound. And the fact he’s so awkward.

About Eben Franckewitz? Franck(ewitz)ly, I thought his choice of “Fire to the Rain” was uninspired. His voice sounded too nasal and he had serious pitch issues. He did nail the final two “let it burn”s but if I were him, I’d wait a couple more years to mature musically. Wait, this doesn’t mean he’s gonna win, does it? Damn…

Heejun Han has a nice voice. I love “Angels” but he couldn’t keep with the tempo. And it’s a ballad. So… seeya!

Ledet

And then Josh Ledet came on stage. And man, THAT’s singing. WOW! He “Pulled Me Through” and I got goosebumps. He doesn’t have the prettiest voice (perhaps that’s why they call him Mantasia)… but WOW! Simply, WOW!

The last one was a big reveal, because the judges supposedly brought him back from elimination. Jermaine Jones sang the overly emotional “Dance with my Father,” and he did it nicely. But coming after Mantasia definitely hurt him, because he couldn’t bring that emotional connection.

I guess you can see who’s my favorite right now, but then, I often change my opinions as the season goes on.

Who did you like? Who did you hate?

Photo: FOX

The episode begins with a car crash involving police detective Michael Britten (Jason Isaacs) and his wife (Laura Allen) and son (Dylan Minnette). Cut to Britten in the office of a therapist named Dr. Lee (BD Wong), trying to explain to him that though Britten’s son, Rex, died in the accident, when he goes to sleep at night, he wakes up the next day in a parallel universe in which Rex is alive and Britten’s wife, Hannah, is dead. The thing is, in that universe, the detective is seeing a Dr. Evans (Cherry Jones), who tells him his existence with Hannah is just a dream, and the life with his son is the real one. “I can assure you, Detective Britten, this is not a dream,” Dr. Evans says. “That’s exactly what the other shrink says,” Britten replies.

On top of this mind-bending puzzle, there are the cases Britten catches at work. In the Hannah world, he’s chasing a man shooting cab drivers in seemingly random fashion. On days he shares with his son, Britten is trying to solve a double murder of a couple during a home invasion and the abduction of their daughter. Things get interesting when details from one case bleed into the other.

Show creator Kyle Killen must have a thing for guys leading double lives because his last show was the short-lived Lone Star, about a man with two wives. Luckily, Awake is much more interesting and Britten is more sympathetic than the other series’ con man. Isaacs, whose tired eyes and lined face make him look like he hasn’t slept in a week, gives Britten a steely determination to maintain both lives, refusing to accept that either his wife or son is gone. How long he can keep that up before unraveling adds tension to the scenario (he has a terrible moment of confusion in the pilot).

We viewers aren’t sure what’s real, either, which means obsessive searches for clues could ensue. I think it’ll come down to which world looks more realistic and which therapist is more convincing in his/her argument (right now Evans has the edge). Or the more realistic life could be the dream. Isn’t the mind unreliable when dealing with grief? I’m intrigued enough to show up for future sessions, as long as writers don’t tell us it’s all a dream.

Note: Awake premieres on Thursday, March 1, at 10/9c on NBC, but you can watch it now here. If you’ve seen it, what did you think? Will you watch again? Which world is real?

Nerd verdict: Dreamlike, mesmerizing Awake

Photo: NBC

Emily VanCamp (Emily) & Josh Bowman (Daniel)

After all the buildup, the big episode, titled “Chaos,” finally arrived, showing us who got shot in the pilot episode. I refused to believe it was Daniel because, well, this isn’t MI-5 so producers weren’t going to kill off a series regular. Plus, removing Daniel from the show would seriously hamper the storyline because 1) the nasty Grayson parents would lose the pawn in their nasty game of one-upmanship (Charlotte doesn’t count; no one cares about her, certainly not her grandfather), and 2) the love triangle between Emily, Daniel, and Jack would turn into…a straight line?

So whose dead body was on the beach? Tyler’s. This is especially satisfying because when we saw he’d returned, I said, “Ugh, I hate him so much!” and Mr. PCN said, “Someone needs to put a bullet through that guy.” BAM! He got his wish. When I saw Hiroyuki Sanada’s name in the credits (Tanaka), I said, “Yay! Give me some ninja action!” Alas, I didn’t get my wish.

VanCamp & Madeleine Stowe

Speaking of Tanaka, where was he taking FauxAmanda? Whose blood did she leave on Jack’s hand after she left him on the boat? With all the running around she was doing, she certainly didn’t seem to be feeling the effects of a gunshot wound if she had been hit by Tyler. Who shot Tyler? It was someone wearing a black jacket and gloves, which—I think—eliminates Nolan (love his red jacket) and all the men wearing white. The only people I could see in black were security so…was it Ed, Nolan’s bodyguard? Maybe it’s payback for Tyler stabbing his boss a little while back.

I don’t have the answers but the fun of this show is in the guessing. What did you think of this episode? Are you glad Daniel’s alive or angry because you felt the buildup was misleading? Who do you think killed Tyler? How stunning were those red dresses Emily and Victoria were wearing?

For more info about this episode and where the show goes from here, check out this Entertainment Weekly interview with Bowman and two of the producers.

Photo: ABC/Colleen Hayes

My DVR started recording late so I missed the first singer to audition, whom Blake Shelton apparently snapped up. Here are some thoughts about the rest of them:

• 

  Mann

  Chris Mann not only surprised with his booming, operatic voice, he moved me with what he said about not wanting to shrink his voice down to make it fit the norm anymore. It takes guts to go on a show like this and sing opera, and it was gratifying to see the judges embrace him (except Blake, who said, “I know I’m country, but I couldn’t understand one word he was sayin’!”). Wish Mann had gone with Cee Lo, though, because he’s a savvy producer who could probably do more for Mann’s career than Christina Aguilera.

• Juliet Simms, who performed a gravelly, achy version of The Beatles’ “Oh! Darling” had Adam Levine on his feet singing along with her. I think his rock ‘n’ roll style would have been good for her, but she went with Cee Lo. Why was everyone avoiding Adam when he coached last year’s winner, Javier Colon?
• While fighting for Simms to join her team, Aguilera annoyed the funk out of me when she kept talking over Adam while he was making his pitch. She repeatedly called the Maroon 5 singer a used car salesman and, though she later said she was kidding, was completely charmless about it. She also needs to stop abusing the word “honestly.” Everything was “honestly” this and “honestly” that. Couldn’t she convince the singers and viewers of the sincerity of her comments without having to say that all the time?
• 

  Campbell

  Jesse Campbell has an incredible voice, and I’m glad all the judges fought over him, but I kept thinking he looked like Cuba Gooding Jr. Anyone else think that? And when his wife got tired of his not being able to provide for his family as a musician, why did she leave the kid with him so that the girl had to sleep in the car with her father? That’s cold.

• Former Mousketeer Tony Lucca was fantastic in his rendition of “Trouble.” The first two notes out of his mouth and I was already yelling at the TV, “Push the button! Turn your damn chairs around!” The guy was also adorable, looking like he was having the time of his life playing his guitar and singing his heart out. And he chose Adam! Finally! Aguilera was his co-star on The Mickey Mouse Club but didn’t seem to recognize him at all until after he left the stage. I suspect someone prompted her from off camera, because she went from no recognition to a rather shocked look instead of having a slow dawning realization. She then went backstage to meet his wife and son, telling them Britney Spears used to have a crush on Lucca when they were all working together. The look on his wife’s face at the revelation was…interesting.
• Daniel Rosa, the only wannabe whose entire audition was shown despite his not making it onto a team, was the most painful to watch. His voice actually had a nice soulful tone but he had obvious pitch problems. He performed Neon Trees’ “Animal,” which included the refrain “What are you waiting for?” which poor Rosa kept singing to the backs of the coaches’ chairs, as if begging them to turn around.

Rosa’s audition showed that even those deemed not good enough weren’t train wrecks like they are on Idol. He was also treated with respect by the coaches and producers, not humiliated on national TV. We’ll see whether that holds true as the season progresses, but tonight’s show was a good start, and it’ll have two more hours tomorrow to discover more incredible voices.

Did you watch? Who did you like? Did you think all the singers picked the right coaches for themselves?

Check out Chris Mann’s audition video below: