There have been a handful of highlights so far in this all-star season of The Amazing Race -- one truly difficult challenge (just like old times!), Mallory's adorableness, the fairly early and utterly humiliating Philimination of Margie and Luke -- but the show is still exhibiting plenty of big problems in its 18th cycle. Some are unique to this season, while others are issues it's had for a while. With the series getting an unsurprising renewal by CBS, there's still time to return it to its past glory. Here's what's been bugging us this spring:

It's early yet, but American Idol is already cleaning house for next season. Not all of it is official, but most of the news seems pretty definite, at least for the time being. Ellen's out (that's been confirmed). Kara's probably out, and being replaced by J.Lo. Randy, easily the most universally hated judge in the show's history, is reportedly staying, for reasons I cannot for the life of me discern. Seacrest isn't going anywhere, of course, and then there's the most baffling of all the news: Steven Tyler may replace Simon. Well, that should be terrifying.

We can't help but feel a little bad for Katie Cassidy at the moment. She was the best thing on The CW, and they knew it, so they delayed officially canceling Melrose Place until after pilot season, essentially leaving her trapped on the network until next year's pilot casting rounds. And as such, she'll be guesting on Gossip Girl this fall, playing a love interest for Nate. Great -- we know what a fantastic opportunity that turned out to be for Joanna Garcia last season. Nothing like showing up on an established show past its prime to form an annoying new love triangle (I know he and Serena are done, but I know this show, so I know they are never going to be done) -- just ask Melissa George how awesome it is! So it sucks, and it just made me think of other, possibly worse ways the CW could have stuck it to Ms. Cassidy for (allegedly!) trying to leave the network last spring. You know they at least considered all of these at some point.

Every TV fan has showrunners and/or writers they just can't stand for one reason or another. Star Trek fans by and large don't adore Brannon Braga, for example. Heroes creator Tim Kring has also become quite frustrating, and Ronald D. Moore divides as many Battlestar fans as the show's finale did. But me? I don't pay much attention to those three (well, Kring I pick on, but who doesn't?), because all my frustration and ire is focused on two people: Monica Breen and Alison Schapker. Haven't heard of them? Let me tell you what they've put me through, and what they'll likely do to Fringe, since they've just joined as co-executive producers.

A moment of silence, please. Or, at least, a moment of not Twittering. That's the same as silence nowadays, right? A Joss Whedon show has been cancelled (probably), which means that another angel has gotten its wings, which is also a metaphor for puberty.

Porn parodies of TV show are all the rage nowadays. In fact, they're so prevalent that 30 Rock has a storyline tonight in which Liz Lemon decides to cut out the middleman and produce a 30 Rock porn herself. However, they fail to mention the fact that there already is a 30 Rock porn. (You can see the SFW trailer here, if you don't mind a few f-bombs.) It actually looks like a pretty good parody, too -- the guy who plays Tracy Jordan actually has some really funny lines, and the Jack Donaghy character is sufficiently raspy. But while this particular parody seems to be faithful to the show, a lot of the porns out there take liberties that cannot be tolerated. If it doesn't work as a porn, just don't do it! Here are a few of the most egregious offenders.

Holy jeebus! New shows canceled, old shows revived, fathers and mothers cast, animated characters stripping for money, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria! Or just mass media. It's hard to tell the difference sometimes.

The unthinkable has happened. After eight seasons, Law & Order: Criminal Intent will be without lead detective Robert Goren for the first time, as Vincent D'Onofrio will be leaving the show to do more film work. And he's not alone, either -- Kathryn Erbe (Det. Eames), Julianne Nicholson (Det. Wheeler) and Eric Bogosian (Capt. Ross) are all leaving the show, as well. Who does that leave? Pretty much just new hire Jeff Goldblum, who just finished his first season as Det. Nichols. While it can't feel good to have all of your fellow cast members quit on you, we're glad Goldblum is sticking around, because now he can be the lead detective in a show cast entirely by us! Well, almost -- they've already replaced Nicholson with Saffron Burrows, formerly of My Own Worst Enemy. But here's who we think should fill the rest of the vacant spots.