SueTube – Let’s talk TV with critic Susan Young

Yeah, no one is surprised to see “American Idol” dominating again. But who would have thought “CSI” would sneak into No. 3 ahead of “Dancing with the Stars”?

Where does your favorite show rank this week?

1 AMERICAN IDOL-TUESDAY 26120 9.1
2 AMERICAN IDOL-WEDNESDAY 24840 8.7
3 CSI 20580 7.2
4 DANCING WITH THE STARS 20560 7.2
5 DANCING W/STARS RESULTS 17280 6.0
6 CSI: MIAMI 15650 5.5
7 WITHOUT A TRACE 15200 5.3
8 TWO AND A HALF MEN 14500 5.1
9 CBS NCAA BSKBL CHAMP SA-2 14440 5.0
10 CSI: MIAMI – TUESDAY SP 14230 5.0
11 SURVIVOR: MICRONESIA 12870 4.5
12 CSI: NY 12850 4.5
13 CRIMINAL MINDS 12810 4.5
14 OLD CHRISTINE 12570 4.4
15 COLD CASE 11930 4.2
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Here’s a quick rundown of when you all can expect to see your fav CW shows on this spring. Note for the five of you watching “Life is Wild” – it’s gone:

SERIES ANTICIPATED RETURN EXPECTED # OF NEW EPISODES
THE GAME March 23 9

ONE TREE HILL April 14 6

SMALLVILLE April 17 5

GOSSIP GIRL April 21 5

REAPER April 22 5

SUPERNATURAL April 24 4

*EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS completed 22 episodes. The 12 remaining originals will begin airing March 3.

* ALIENS IN AMERICA completed 18 episodes. The 8 remaining originals will air March 2-March 23 and April 27-May 18.

With ratings like these, if the CW was a TV show, it would have been cancelled long ago.

The barely breathing network trotted out its new game plan today, with the family-in-Africa drama “Life is Wild” missing. If you don’t know what show I’m talking about, don’t worry. Very few viewers ever tuned it. In fact, if you gathered all the regular viewers together they probably wouldn’t even make a noticible line in Starbucks.

Penn Badgley as Dan and Blake Lively as Serena star in Gossip Girl on The CW. Photo Eric Liebowitz /The CW

Not that they don’t have some great shows. “Gossip Girl” is a great guilty pleasure, and although “Reaper”never again rose to the level of its fantastic pilot, it’s still not a bad show.

Enough pitching. Here’s the line-up:

Monday

8 p.m. “GOSSIP GIRL” (Beginning January 28)

9 p.m. “PUSSYCAT DOLLS PRESENT: GIRLICIOUS” (Beginning February 18)

Tuesday

8 p.m. “REAPER” (Beginning January 15)

8 p.m. “BEAUTY AND THE GEEK” (Beginning March 11)

9 p.m. “ONE TREE HILL” Wednesday (Beginning February 20)

8 p.m. “AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL”

9 p.m. “PUSSYCAT DOLLS PRESENT: GIRLICIOUS”

Encore

Thursday

8 p.m. “SMALLVILLE”

9 p.m. “REAPER” (Beginning February 28)

Sunday (Beginning February 10)

7 p.m. “CW NOW”

7:30 p.m. “EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS” Encores

8 p.m. “EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS”

8:30 p.m. “ALIENS IN AMERICA”

9 p.m. “GIRLFRIENDS”

9:30 p.m. “THE GAME”

Here’s some buzz for you: the CW just gave “Gossip Girl” a full season order.

The drama about high society teens in a tony New York City prep school became the first new series picked up for a full season of episodes. You can check out my review

Gossip Girl– Pictured: (l-r) Nicole Fiscella, Leighton Meester, Taylor Momsen, Nan Zhang, Blake Lively, Penn Badgley, Chace Crawford, Ed Westwick stars in GOSSIP GIRL on THE CW. Photo Credit: The CW / Andrew Eccles (C) 2007 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

While the ratings haven’t been stellar, the online buzz, the show’s success on iTunes and DVR use all factored into “Gossip Girl” being deemed renewal worthy by the network.

The two most recent episodes continue to rank among the top 5 iTunes downloaded shows on the site.

For more on Blake Lively, check out my earlier blog item from the July Television Critics Press Tour. Scroll down. It’s the second one.

Blake’s promoting her new CW series “Gossip Girl” about the social lives of Upper East Side teens filled with entitlement issues based on the best-selling series of young adult novels by Cecily von Ziegesar executive-produced by “The O.C.”‘s Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage.

Pictured ( back l -r) Executive Producer Josh Schwartz, Stephanie Savage Executive Producer, Blake Lively and Leighton Meester session at the TCA Summer Press Tour 2007 held on July 20, 2007 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles, CA. Photo: Carol Kaelson/THE CW

She’s still tight with her “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” co-stars America Ferrera (“Ugly Betty”), Amber Tamblyn (“Joan of Arcadia”) and Alexis Bledel (“Gilmore Girls”).

“My first instinct was I’m going to call the girls, because I knew they had all been through it. But then I was — they’re so dog-gone opinionated
and they’re all so different,’’ Blake says. “When they get together, I’m like their baby sister. And they sit me down. I was going to get another dog recently, and they’re like, “No. You’re not going to do that.” They, like, wrote a whole list of pros and cons for me. So I thought I’m just going to make this decision on my
own, and then I’m going to talk to them about it, which, I think, was the right decision. I’m very happy.’’

The Sisterhood

Blake and the girls will be filming the sequel soon, she says. By the way, her current maltese/poodle mix Penny, 2, looks like an adorable brown mini-ewok with curls.

As for the gorgeous Vivienne Westwood yummy yellow dress that cinched tightly around her waist with a large belt, Blake says she can hardly wait to get it off.

“It looks great, but just try eating something while you are wearing it,’’ Blake says, rubbing her tummy. “Just trying to eat a couple of bites really hurts.’’

I’m not a fan of the “Pussycat Dolls,” so I could have done without watching them prance around like the girls at the Bada-Bing! today during the CW’s live streaming of their presentation of new fall series.

But I’m pretty excited about the rest of the line-up.

“Aliens in America” was laugh-out-loud funny, about a geeky high school boy with strange parents who decide to take in a hot foreign exchange student to beef up his popularity. Instead, they get a Pakistani Muslim, which opens the series up to some seriously hilarious situations.

The other CW show that looks promising is “Life is Wild,” a family drama set in Africa and centering on a blended family and veterinarian dad.

Hey, it’s got great scenery, animals and good drama. I’m there.

“Gossip Girls” from the best-selling books and from our old “The O.C.” pal Josh Schwartz looks good, and so does “Reaper,” about a 21-year-old guy who discovers his parents sold his soul to the devil and now he’s a bounty hunter for Satan. It’s from Kevin Smith (“Clerks”), so it’s got plenty of laughs in it.

The CW also offers up “CW Now,” blending news and entertainment and “Online Nation,” which features the hottest Web sites,

For those out there still watching “One Tree Hill,” it comes back as a midseason show.

ALIENS IN AMERICA
Dan Byrd as Justin, Adhir Kalyan as Raja star. Photo: Trae Patton/ The CW

Justin is a senstive 16-year-old trying to make it in high school with the help of his well-meaning mom Franny (amy Pietz) and dad Gary (Patrick Breen) and his popular sister Claire (Lindsey Shaw), who is sweetly unaware of how pretty she is. Franny decides to up Justin’s popularity by signing up for a hot foreign exchange student who will help Justin fit in. Instead, she gets Raja, a 16-year-old Pakistani Muslim.

REAPER
Nikki Reed as Andi, Bret Harrison as Sam, Tyler Labine as Sock, Ray Wise as the devil. Photo: Michael Courtney/The CW

For the first 20 years of his life, Sam’s parents always let him get by with everything while keeping the pressure on his younger brother Keith (Kyle Switzer) to over-achieve. Turns out that mom (Allison Hossack) and dad (Andrew Airlie) made a mistake and sold his soul to the devil (Ray Wise). Now Satan wants him, and Sam’s new job is being his bounty hunter for souls who escaped hell.

LIFE IS WILD
Pictured: (Front row) K’Sun Ray as Chase Clark, Judith Hoag as Jo Weller-Clark, Brett Cullen as Danny Clarke, Mary Mouser as Mia Weller. (Back Row) Andrew St. John as Jesse Weller, Leah Pipes as Katie Clarke, David Butler as Art. Photo: David Bloomer/The CW

Veterinarian Danny (Brett Cullen) feels as if his blended family is falling apart, so he brings his wife Jo (Judith Hoag), his teen daughter Katie (Leah Pipes), 11-year-old son Chase (K’sun Ray), Jo’s teen son Jesse (Andrew St. John) and her 7-year-old daughter Mia (Mary Matilyn Mouser) to a lodge in Africa for a year. The lodge is owned by Danny’s deceased wife’s father Art (David Butler).

GOSSIP GIRL
Pictured: (Back Row) Penn Badgley as Dan, Ed Westwick as Chuck, Taylor Momsen as Jenny. (Middle Row) Leighton Meester as Blair, Chace Crawford as Nate. (Front Row) Blake Lively as Serena. Credit: The CW / Timothy White

No one knows the identity of Gossip Girl, who blogs all about the priviledged prep shcool on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. She’s the one who lets everyone know that Serena (Blake Lively) is back in town. Her former best friend Blair (Leighton Meester) isn’t happy Serena’s back. Oh, the drama…

Here’s the new lineup:

Monday
8 p.m. “Everybody Hates Chris”
8:30 p.m. “ALIENS IN AMERICA”
9 p.m. “Girlfriends”
9:30 p.m. “The Game”

Tuesday
8 p.m. “Beauty and the Geek”
9 p.m. “REAPER”

Wednesday
8 p.m. “America’s Next Top Model”
9 p.m. “GOSSIP GIRL”

Thursday
8 p.m. “Smallville”
9 p.m. “Supernatural”

Friday
8 p.m. “Friday Night Smackdown!”

Sunday
7 p.m. “CW NOW”
7:30 p.m. “ONLINE NATION”
8 p.m. “LIFE IS WILD”
9 p.m. “America’s Next Top Model (encore)”

It’s official: The Gilmore Girls are no more.

Which means our beloved “Veronica Mars” probably won’t be around next season either, since “VM” consistantly falls below “GG” in the ratings.

FAREWELL TO THE GIRLS IN THE SERIES FINALE

In a joint statement from The CW and Warner Bros. Television, which produces the show, they write:

“Announcing the final season of ‘Gilmore Girls’ is truly a sad moment for everyone at The CW and Warner Bros. Television. This series helped define a network and created a fantastic, storybook world featuring some of television’s most memorable, lovable characters. We thank Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dan Palladino, Dave Rosenthal, the amazing cast led by Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel, as well as the producers, writers and crew for giving us this delightful gem for the past seven years. We would also like to thank the critics and ‘Gilmore’ fans for their passionate support and promise to give this series the send-off it deserves.”

The series finale airs at 8 p.m. May 15 on the CW. We’re betting Luke and Lorelai get back together and Rory moves to San Francisco with Logan (have you noticed all the L people in this show?).

Of course, Rory will get a job at the Oakland Tribune...OK, she’ll probably opt for that other Bay Area newspaper. But wouldn’t it be sweet?

Actually, judging by the photo for an upcoming episode, she’s going to work at CNN.

“BON VOYAGE” Pictured (L-R) Christiane Amanpour as herself, Lauren Graham as Lorelai and Alexis Bledel as Rory star of THE CW series GILMORE GIRLS. Photo Credit: Bruce Birmelin / The CW ©2007 The CW Network

The only surprise on tonight’s “America’s Next Top Model” was that Tyra finally let Whitney go.

WHITNEY

Is it the fact that without Whit, Tyra’s obviously the go-to plus size model on the show?

Look, we’re not against women carrying a few pounds, since we obviously have had ample exercise lifting the fork from the plate to our own mouth, but this IS a show about fashion and modeling.

It’s all about looks, baby.

Right now I’m concerned about Jaslene. She started out so strong, but as the judges noted tonight, her pictures just get weaker and weaker.

On the other hand, Natasha keeps getting stronger. That little Russian gets on my nerves, but I have to admit her pictures get more fierce each week. But my favorite is still Brittany, because she actually looks like a model to me.

And she showed up those creepy twins tonight. I never thought the twins were all that, but seeing them fade in the picture with Brittany justified those feelings.

Next girl out has got to be Jael.

She was too young. Too naive. Too quiet to be of real interest to a reality show.

Tonight, we lost our little girl Samantha, who couldn’t believe it when she was told to play the skanky girl from high school and Jay Manuel asked her to act as if she was pleasuring herself.

Sweet Sam says she doesn’t even use that kind of language when she’s back home in Alabama talking to her girl pals. We knew right then and there she wasn’t long for the competition.

“ANTM” likes the nasty girls.

Hasta la see ya, Sam. We think “Seventeen” or “Cover Girl” should be knocking at your door.

SAMANTHA