9 PM

[Premiere pick of the night!] “Lost” 503, “Jughead”: Locke finds out the identity of the forces who have been attacking the survivors, and Desmond searches for a woman who could be the key to helping Faraday stop the island’s erratic movements through time. ABC

“Lie to Me” 102, “Moral Waiver”: While Cal tries to determine the truthfulness of a female soldier’s rape accusation against her sergeant, basketball fan Gillian probes a charge that an influential college alum bribed a promising inner-city prospect to attend his school. FOX

10 PM

“Life on Mars” 108, “Take a Look at the Lawmen”: A bank robbery that may be linked to the Russian mob renews a long-standing rivalry between Lt. Hunt’s squad and Lt. Nunzio’s crew. Meanwhile, Sam takes a shine to a pretty, young social worker. ABC

I should have written this last week, but sometimes even I’m a bum and don’t have time for all my TV-related endeavors. Anyway, let’s take a look at one of most successful on TV in recent memory.

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Ratings from last night: “Fringe” did well yet again, pulling in its second best rating of the season [12.1 million, 4.8/11] and “Idol” rebounded from a weak Tuesday last week due to the Inauguration coverage [25 million, 9.6/24]. CBS ran repeats. [The Live Feed]

So supposedly this career change to rap music by Joaquin Phoenix is quite what it seems to be. It looks to be all a big ruse, assisted and filmed by Phoenix’s friend and bro-in-law Casey Affleck. Either way, this is funny and I like where it’s going. [EW]

Wow, this is really great news. Not. WB is in talks to reboot the “Lara Croft Tomb Raider” franchise. Rumors were that Megan Fox was attached, but that’s been debunked. Either way, this is a really stupid idea unless Angelina comes back, and she won’t. Hollywood SUCKS. A fucking reboot of a video game adaptation? Jesus. [Hollywood Reporter]

Speaking of dumb ideas, Joe Carnahan and Ridley Scott are teaming up to bring “The A-Team” to the big screen in 2010. Carnahan will direct, Scott will produce, and we will get to hate it. This is coming from FOX, so it’s not a shocker, but my lord, this is just another horrendous idea. [Variety]

NBC has ordered a pilot from recently nixed “Heroes” producer Jesse Alexander called “Day One,” which follow people after some sort of event has destroyed the planet. Sounds like a riff of “Jericho” with most likely worse writing. Gotta love NBC. [Hollywood Reporter]

So color me wrong. After the Senate passed the bill yesterday, the House took down the legislation that would push back the DTV transition until June. It was taken to a special 2/3’s vote today and could come up again [needing only majority support], but this is a setback for President Obama, who has been pushing for this. I actually changed my mind, and I think this needs to happen. 6.5 million people don’t know what’s going on, and that’s just not cool to leave them out in the cold like that. I don’t care if it is their own fault or not, they need to be better informed or whatever. February 17 is not enough time to do that. [MSNBC]

For most people who watch television, it’s just a passive thing. You watch, you turn it off and that’s it.

But not me. I’m obsessed with television to such an intense level that even my girlfriend of 3.5 years and future wife gets frustrated with me sometimes. And she’s supposed to be the one that understands me!

Anyway, my obsession with the medium leads me to a place where I’m personally invested in shows so much that I look everyone involved – the cast and crew – and try to figure out about their past career moves and such. Not in a creepy way, I just like to respect their work and when I see interviews with them and listen to people talk about them, it’s really cool.

Such is to be said about Kim Manners, a man whose most recent job was as the lead director on one of my favorites, “Supernatural.” Manners clearly shaped the show’s visual direction from season one, and in every interview with the cast and crew I’ve seen, they’ve had nothing but awesome words to say about Manners. In his own interviews, he seemed like a great man who knew his stuff. I really respected his work and always knew it was time for big stuff when Mr. Manners directed an ep of “Supernatural.”

Which is why I’m seriously sad that Kim Manners passed away this week after a battle with lung cancer.

Look, I never knew the guy, probably never knew a guy who knew a guy who met Manners once. But based on what I’ve seen and read about him, everyone loved him. And all his work entertained me to death. That’s enough for me. He made my life better, even if just by a smidgen.

Take a look at some of the kind words people have had for Manners over the past few days. From Warner Bros. and “Supernatural” executive producer Eric Kripke:

“Supernatural” executive producer and director Kim Manners passed away last night in Los Angeles, following a battle with cancer. Below please find a statement from “Supernatural” creator & executive producer Eric Kripke:

“Everyone at ‘Supernatural’ is walking around in a daze, shocked and absolutely devastated. Kim was a brilliant director; more than that, he was a mentor and friend. He was one of the patriarchs of the family, and we miss him desperately. He gave so much to ‘Supernatural,’ and everything we do on the show, now and forever, is in memory of him.”

From one of the show’s recurring stars, Jim Beaver:

He was an AMAZING director, who knew everything I can imagine a director might need or want to know about directing television. And he was one of the very best people, one of the very best friends, a person might ever want to have. His illness since the beginning of this, SUPERNATURAL’s fourth season, has cast a pall over the show for months now, and every time I have appeared on the show this season, someone has broken down in tears in discussing Kim’s health or how much we missed him.

I will go to my grave regretting the very real opportunities I missed in connecting with him these last few months. Take a lesson from one who let a dear friend down badly. My only excuse is that I, like all who knew him, never believed anything could take him down. I loved him dearly, and I hope he knows that.

Fire up an episode of “Supernatural” or “The X-Files” [a show he shaped immensely as well and one that I will now be finally getting into in his memory] on DVD that he directed. Kim Manners, you will be missed.

image courtesy of Warner Brothers and the Chicago Tribune

Title: “Lakeview Terrace”

Directed by Neil LaBute

Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Patrick Wilson, Kerry Washington

Rating: 4 stars (out of 4)

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Title: “Pride and Glory”

Directed by Gavin O’Connor

Starring: Edward Norton, Colin Farrell, Jon Voight

Rating: 2 1/2 stars (out of 4)

“Pride and Glory” is the story of corrupt cops in the NYPD. It wants to be about more, and it reminds the audience of that fact, but it really isn’t.

At the start of the movie, four cops have been killed in a drug bust gone bad. Detective Ray Tierney (Edward Norton) is assigned to find the murderer, and he soon suspects foul play when a witness explains that a cop is involved. In truth, Ray’s brother-in-law Jimmy Egan (Colin Farrell) is attempting to stay ahead of the task force because he has to cover up his involvement in the case.

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[Ed note: Brian will be posting his theatrical reviews of films that are hitting DVD each week, just for a fun refresher].

Title: “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”

Directed by Woody Allen

Starring: Rebecca Hall, Scarlett Johansson, Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz

Rating: 2 1/2 stars (out of 4)

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For me, this was a much better episode than last week’s. I’m definitely satisfied with where the season is headed, and I hope we can keep on this track. Like last week, the recap will be divided into three sections based on the three threads going at the moment.

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What another tremendous episode of “House” last night. Great case, great interaction between all the characters. Recap/grade follows.

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So after all that PR and horrible advertising for the past 8 months, it’s getting delayed? The Senate has voted to push back the transition to digital TV until June at the earliest, citing that there are way too many people around the country not ready. Supposedly the budget set aside to provide coupons for the converter boxes is maxed out, leaving over 2.5 million people waiting for their coups. Over 9 percent of people say they aren’t ready! This is pathetic. People should have went to Best Buy months ago and the government should have been prepared; but they never are. Gosh, we can’t even do this right! [TV Guide]

Ratings reporting for Monday: Against weaker competition, “House” delivered its biggest total viewer number and best rating all season [15.6 million viewers, 5.9 preliminary in 18-49] and “24″ had a slight up-tick as well [12.1 million, 4.2]. FOX easily won the night. [The Live Feed]

Rumblings are that Amber [Anne Dudek] could return to “House” in some form later this season. No ghost sex like “Grey’s Anatomy,” so I can only imagine it will be a Wilson [or House?] dream sequence, which the show always knocks out of the park. [Ausiello Files]

ABC continues to find a “Lost” replacement, and have now green-lit a pilot remake of the 80s miniseries “V,” when creepy reptilian aliens come to Earth. It’s being helmed by “4400″ executive producer Scott Peters. I can imagine this will have some modern twist like “The Invasion” TV show ABC should have never canceled in 2006. I’ll at least watch the pilot. [Variety]

Check out a good script review for Terry Gillaim’s new Billy Bob Thorton sci-fi vehicle “The Zero Theorem.” It seems like a smart film that makes you think, and we need more of those. Hopefully it doesn’t get butchered along the way. [/Film ]

It looks like the Super Bowl is headed for an ad sales record. NBC head Dick Ebersol says he’s sold some ads for over $3 million. That’s just nuts. I can’t imagine the return on investment can be that good in this sluggish economy. I guess the buzz is enough. [Hollywood Reporter]