It's still snowing here in New York and we're all starting to get a little stir crazy. If someone says they see creepy twins or messages in a mirror, I'm so out of here. In the meantime, there's some TV news happening in the outside world.

We were so glad to have the local audition and Hollywood Week nonsense finally behind us, but now that we're into the actual performance and voting portion of American Idol, we have to say that we've never been less inclined to pick up the phone for someone as we are this year. For all of the "most talented group ever" hype, we've yet to hear anything that remotely lives up to it. Instead, we've got a dull mess of kids, Ellen trying desperately to be relevant and Simon looking like he's just counting the minutes until X-Factor begins. It's going to be a long season, and here's what we're dreading the most:

I can guarantee that you're a fan of at least one of the actors or TV shows mentioned in today's news. I mean it! If I'm wrong, I will eat this blog.

When news broke today that A&E picked up a scripted series called Sugarloaf, I was excited to see what the show was going to be about. Despite the hilarious title, Sugarloaf sounds like the typical run-of-the-mill drama: "Jim Longworth, a brilliant-but-difficult Chicago homicide detective who is wrongfully accused of sleeping with his former captain's wife and forced into exile. Longworth relocates to Sugarloaf, a sleepy Gulf Coast resort town in Florida where life can be less beautiful than it first seems." What a letdown! Here's what I imagine a series titled Sugarloaf would be like on other channels.

Thankfully, today's TV news doesn't involve any politicians, but, unfortunately, it mentions Kate Gosselin. Can't win 'em all!

It might not be apparent to the casual viewer, particularly those of us who are members of the supposedly cynical Generation X, but MTV is actually gearing its current programming to the "civic-minded" millennial generation. Yes, really, that's what the president of MTV Networks believes. And though at first we had scoffed at his bold claim (we are, after all, grievously jaded), upon closer inspection (extremely close) and much to our surprise, we did indeed discover that shows like Jersey Shore and Teen Mom really are virtuous and educational after all. Here's why:

Worlds collide in today's TV news! I regret to inform you that one of those worlds is Planet Sarah Palin.

The Food Network recently announced that it plans to launch a sister/spinoff network called the Cooking Channel, which makes sense since viewers can't find many actual cooking shows on the regular old Food Network these days, especially in primetime. In fact, this is such a good idea that it prompted us to wonder why other networks can't also have their own spinoffs, narrowly focusing on a particular type of programming.

It's Simon Cowell's last season on American Idol, but he's hoping to go out on a high note with the best season yet. We sat in on a conference call with him and got his take on his rumored replacements as judge. He even told us what a contestant has to do to stand out from the crowd -- future contestants (hell, current contestants) should take note.

There's a solid line-up of DVDs this week. If only I had a late-February birthday... sigh.