For the third straight week, East-Bay native Kristi Yamaguchi and her partner, Mark Ballas, tallied the highest scores on “Dancing With the Stars,” but this time the solid marks came with some minor criticisms.

Judge Carrie Anna Inaba said Kristi’s tango was technically sound, but lacked the required passion. “I don’t feel much when you dance,” she remarked. And Bruno Tonioli said the routine was “sharp, clean and clear,” but wanted more “emotional engagement.”

“Lust. I want you to be a dirty girl!” he snarled, prompting Kristi to playfully flash some leg.

Despite the criticisms, Kristi and Mark once again garnered scores of “9″ across the board for their third straight 27 of the competition.  

One more dancer will be eliminated tonight.

King Henry VIII (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) is back — and, boy, is he ticked off.

As “The Tudors” (9 p.m. Showtime) returns for its second season tonight, our volcanic monarch is locked in an epic battle of wills with the Catholic Church and his defiant estranged wife. Seems he wants to ditch her, thumb his nose at tradition and marry the saucy Anne Boleyn (Natalie Dormer). Maybe you’ve read about it in a history book or two.

Rhys Meyers and Dormer have amazing chemistry and their Henry and Anne absolutely sizzle on the screen. But something tells us that this relationship won’t last. Just a hunch.

Anyway, you can check out my review of “The Tudors” and the new PBS production of “Sense and Sensibility.”

Former Oakland A’s slugger and Mr. Baseball Tell-All Jose Canseco will make his first visit to the “Late Show With David Letterman” (11:35 p.m., CBS) Monday night.

Canseco will be pimping his latest book, Vindicated, which hits the streets Tuesday. It’s his follow-up to the best-selling Juiced, in which he revealed that he took steroids during his baseball career and alleged that many other notable Major League Baseball players also took them – claims that rocked the baseball world. 

His new book picks up where Juiced left off, looking at the state of the sport since the steroid scandal and at the Mitchell Report, former U.S Senator George Mitchell’s investigation into the use of anabolic steroids and human growth hormone among big-leaguers.

Over the past couple of weeks or so we’ve been hearing from various sources that the sensational small-town drama, “Friday Night Lights” may not be a goner, after all.

This encouraging news was recently solidified by an interview series star Kyle Chandler did with TV critic David Bianculli for NPR’s “Fresh Air.” Chandler confirmed that a deal to spread costs between NBC and another outlet and continue the series had been struck. All that was left, he said, was to “dot the i’s and cross the t’s.” Chandler said he was scheduled to report back to Austin, Texas in June to start filming Season 3.

The interview is scheduled to air on public radio sometime in early April. For more, check out Bianculli’s TV Worth Watching site.

In what was hardly a surprise, Chikezie was eliminated from “American Idol” tonight. Actually, he made it farther than I ever imagined as I predicetd a few weeks ago that he wouldn’t even land in the Top 12.

Several of our judges were right about Kristy Lee Cook, though. They predicted that her decision to go all stars and stripes and Lee Greenwood on us would keep her safe. And it did. For the first time in weeks, Kristy wasn’t even in the Bottom 3. Along with Chikezie, the trio was made up of Syesha Mercado and Jason Castro.

The results show was padded as usual, featuring a performance by Kimberly Locke and lots of plugs for the “Idol Gives Back” show set for April 9. There was also a little East Bay flavor to the proceedings as question from a 16-year-old girl from Danville named Ari was used in the Q&A segment.

 The question: “Simon, what do I have to do to take Ryan Seacrest’s job?”

Simon’s Answer: “The good news is that you don’t need a lot of talent, Ari. Everyone has a chance.”

Now our question for Ari: “How come you haven’t participated on our ’American Idol’ blog posts?” :-)  

David Cook rocks the “Idol” dome.

David Cook brought his own brand of intensity to the Michael Jackson hit “Billie Jean” and Kristy Lee Cook might have prolonged her stay on “American Idol” with some blatant patriotic pandering. Here’s a rundown of what our Readers Judging Panel thought of Tuesday’s performances. Feel free to toss in your own two cents by clicking on the “Leave a Comment” prompt. …
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“The Hills,” MTV’s addictive fake-reality series returned with fresh episodes last night as Lauren and Whitney traveled to the place where several TV gals before have gone to find themselves — Paris.

Oh yes, Carrie Bradshaw. Brenda and Donna of “Beverly Hills 90210.” The women of “The Bachelor” a couple seasons ago. Even the “Facts of Life” girls. They’ve all headed to gay Pa-ree looking for some adventure and a bit of self-discovery. Why should L.C. and Whitney be any different?

Of course, once they landed in France, “The Hills” were alive with the sound of whining. Our gals arrived too late to a store to get shoes for the debutantes at the big ball. Later, L.C. whines because her dress for the ball somehow got stained and/or burned by a curling iron (I blame one of the producers, who was probably looking to inject any kind of oomph he could into the listless plot). And then there’s more whining when L.C. learns that Brody has been hanging with another girl back home in L.A.  Read the rest of this entry »

Britney only has eyes for Ted.

In a performance that is sure to win her better reviews than her “MTV Video Music Awards” disaster, Britney Spears may have taken the first tiny steps in a career comeback tonight.

Commendably playing against type, Spears was a shy, love-struck receptionist named Abby, who falls hard for Ted (Josh Radnor) on “How I Met Your Mother.” Unfortunately, for Abby, Ted only had eyes for her boss — a gorgeous doctor played by Sarah Chalke of “Scrubs.” Read the rest of this entry »

Jake and Emily prepare to say “farewell.”

Well, we could see this one coming. Next Tuesday’s episode of “Jericho” will be the series finale, according to CBS, which made it official today.

“Without question, there are passionate viewers watching this program; we simply wish there were more,” said CBS entertainment chief Nina Tassler in a statement released by the network. “We thank an engaged and spirited fan base for keeping the show alive this long, and an outstanding team of producers, cast and crew that went through creative hoops to deliver a compelling, high quality second season. We have no regrets bringing the show back for a second try. We listened to our viewers, gave the series an opportunity to grow, and the producers put a great story on the screen.”

“Jericho” fans seized the attention of the media last summer when they organized a passionate campaign to save the show from cancellation. The movement included bombarding CBS with thousands of pounds of nuts.

In a rare move, CBS brought the show back from the dead, but also essentially made it compete with one hand tied behind its back. The budget was slashed, some writers and actors were let go and the episode order was reduced to only seven. And while “Jericho” continued to enjoy passionate support from online fans, the broadcast ratings never did take off.

The producers, along ago knowing that they could be facing the end, shot two conclusions to the season. Fans will now see the one that offers more closure.

Here’s your TV Freak take on the latest episode of “Lost.” While reading, try to keep in mind that we’re the good guys:

Thank God the writers strike ended when it did, or last night’s eighth episode of “Lost” would have been the last one of the season (Wow, that went fast). As it is, we’ll have to wait five weeks for a fresh string to begin. Oh, the agony.

But now we at least know how Michael had been spending his time since leving the island. Well, sort of. What was partuclarly frustrating about last night’s flashback-dominated episode is that it joined a distraught, suicidal Michael (Harold Perrineau) in New York. But we never learned, exactly, how he and his little boy Walt got there in their little putt-putt boat. Were they rescued at sea? Did a team of crafty dolphins guide them to safety? Did they take a trip in time? Did the Others help? And tell me this: How did they ever make it through customs? Read the rest of this entry »