It's St. Patrick's Day! I'm never quite sure what to make of this particular holiday, since it immediately brings to mind losers wearing green hats and guzzling green beer — or worse, parades that won't let the gays in. But in an attempt to accentuate the positive, here are seven (that's lucky!) delightful Irish people and things:

1. Carly Smithson

I'm still not entirely sure she can live up to all the hype, but American Idol contestant Smithson was great last week. I hope she'll continue to rock out, though I really don't think the Ann Wilson comparisons are right. There can be only one Ann Wilson. But kudos to Smithson for bringing Heart to the masses.

2. Roisin Connor (Siobhan McCarthy)

If you stopped watching Bad Girls after Helen and Nikki left the show, tune back in to see Roisin and Cassie, another star-crossed couple. Sometimes they wear very nice soooots.

3. Emma Donoghue … continue reading

As Joan Jett sings, "You don't know what you got till it's gone." That's how I've been feeling about TV lately — new episodes seem so very precious because you know each one could be your last.

Yes, I'm exaggerating, and even if there were no strike, I'd be eagerly anticipating 30 Rock. Tonight, Edie Falco makes her last appearance as Jack's Democratic dish.

Meanwhile, on Ugly Betty, "real women" take to the runway and Annie Potts (Designing Women) plays a psychic. … continue reading

As the writers strike proceeds through its second week, I'm faced with the sad prospect of a finite number of entertaining Thursday nights (or Saturday afternoons, really, since I watch TV on my computer, thus contributing nothing to the writers' paychecks — so very wrong). No new scripts means no more Wilhelmina! No more Cristina! No more Meredith! Wait a minute ... no more Meredith? Maybe the strike is just a tiny bit OK. It's also providing all sorts of photos of stars supporting the cause.

No, I know — great pics and lack of Meredith aside, it's really not OK, and for reasons obviously far larger than my need for Saturday entertainment. I truly hope it is resolved soon, and in a way that will allow me to watch online TV without feeling complicit in some larger trend of failing to give credit (and cash) where due.

Until then, I'm inspired by a recent post at Give Me My Remote to give TV the desert island treatment. That's right, for absolute torture pure fun, consider: You're off to a desert island for, say, a year. Conveniently, the island has a TV (don't they all?), but you can only bring along one TV episode to watch during your year — not a series or a several-hour DVD, just one, lonely episode. What do you choose?

How do I choose is my question? The recent "Favorite Lesbian TV Moments" episode of She Made Me Watch This! is a good place to start, but I haven't seen a few of Sarah and Lori's picks, and while I too adored the hand-holding on The O.C., would I really want to watch it for a year running? No offense to Mischa Barton and Olivia Wilde, but not so much. … continue reading

It's not a big revelation to say Simone Lahbib is a favorite in these parts.

We know a fair amount about the characters Simone plays and what they want. For example, you may know that Detective Inspector Alex Fielding (Wire in the Blood) wants to catch the bad guy and be a good mum to her son.

And we all know what Helen Stewart wanted:

(You can read the Bad Girls recaps for specifics.)

But that doesn't tell us what Simone wants. Well, here it is: What Simone wants right now is for you to see her brother Stephen's band, Mama Mayhem, play at the Whiskey-a-Go-Go on L.A.'s Sunset Strip on November 8. … continue reading

As if I didn't already spend too much time following links on IMDb, the site recently introduced character pages, which (as one might guess) track the appearance of characters in and across different movies, television shows and video games (thanks to Pop Candy for the heads up). I've been wanting this feature for about as long as I've been using the site — and not simply for yet another excuse to browse (and browse, and browse). It certainly would have come in handy back when I blogged about Young Victoria; instead of racking my own wee brain for other flicks about the Queen, I could have racked the hive mind.

The character page for Mrs. Brown is impressive, but her 26 appearances seem meager when compared to Queen Elizabeth's 57. Since the pages include photos, you can get all of your Virgin-Queen-in-armor needs fulfilled in one convenient place.

Or not. Character pages, including photos and "bios," are compiled by IMDb users, so they're only as thorough or as organized as the fans. As of now, the Golden Age stills (beautiful though they may be) are the only Queen Elizabeth pictures, and she has no biography at all. The user-driven format also means that it's a bit of a popularity contest yet — [warning: link contains spoilers] Starbuck has an incredibly lengthy bio and a handful of quotes, while everyone's favorite wing governor doesn't have a page at all, let alone a record of her many wonderful Helen-isms. … continue reading