Quick Notes on Sunday's Oscarcast:

God, I thought it was boring. I know that complaining about the pace and the length of the annual Oscarfest is hardly original, but this year seemed more painful than most. The segment honoring composer Ennio Morricone was absolutely stultifying: Clint Eastwood seemed disinterested and unwilling or unable to read the teleprompter, the honoree was deadening (look, the guy is great at what he does, but public speaking isn't his thing), and then, to add insult to injury -- they bring out the insufferable Celine Dion! And she sang! Who thought any of this was a good idea?

I knew we were in for a rough night when the first segment -- a film honoring "the nominees" -- was about as much fun as a JetBlue flight. The movie seemed to exist only to drive home the point that most people involved in filmmaking are as self-indulgent and pompous as most of middle America thinks they are.

Which brings me to Ellen DeGeneres. I like Ellen DeGeneres. But for me the Oscars have always worked best with a host who isn't afraid to deflate the inflated egos inside the Kodak Theater a little. To that end, I've enjoyed past hosts like Chris Rock, Steve Martin, Jon Stewart, Johnny Carson, even David Letterman -- yes, I liked Letterman as host; if you look past the "Uma, Oprah" thing, there were some very funny bits that night. Ellen was a little too in awe of the stars for me. But I thought her interactions with Martin Scorsese and Clint Eastwood were enjoyable.

And the original song performances? Ugh. I didn't care much for the Dreamgirls tunes, and I guess neither did the Academy, since none of the three nominated songs from that film won. The best song by far -- Melissa Etheridge's "I Need To Wake Up" -- was the winner.

What did I like? The Will Ferrell/Jack Black song was hysterical. Al Gore -- yes, Al Gore -- has a couple of the biggest laughs of the night. And Tom Hanks mocking unctuous backstage host Chris Connelly was great. And I was happy with most of the awards -- particularly Alan Arkin's "upset" of Eddie Murphy (which I predicted right here last week) -- and, of course, Martin Scorsese's long, long, LONG overdue Best Director award. Oh, and seeing Coppola, Spielberg, and Lucas (even though Lucas is a bit of a twit) together was cool.

But, come on, drop the tributes, drop the film montages, and please, please, keep Celine Dion away. Please!

Hey, it's Friday and I haven't even given my picks yet . . .

By picks of course I'm talking about The Amazing Race All-Stars, which started last week and airs 7-8 PM Sundays in the Madison area on WISC-TV. Now Jon Vito and Jill are already gone, but no one in their right mind would have picked them to win anyway. They seemed to be included only as a last-minute substitution, as if a team that CBS really wanted (Flo & Zach?) cancelled at the last minute, and Jon Vito and Jill were the only ones to pick up their phone. I couldn't remember them when I heard they were going to be back for the All-Star edition, and I'm glad they're gone.

There are two other teams that I hope make quick exits -- the bald guys Kevin & Drew were fun when they appeared on the first season, but they seem like they've aged 90 years in the half-decade since they last ran the race. I honestly don't know which one is which, but one of those guys complains more about his physical ailments than either of my grandmothers, who are both well into their nineties. Also tiresomely obnoxious are Charla and Mirna. Me, I'm thinking that as much as it will annoy people that Rob and Amber will pull it off. If not them, then Dustin and Kandace, the so-called "Beauty Queens." They've got the same tough competitive spirit as Rob and Amber without the target on their back that Romber have. And they're still in "race mode," having just ran the last one.

Besides, Rob and Amber don't deserve to win simply for giving the world the reality series Rob and Amber: Against the Odds, which has to be one of the worst shows I've ever seen. Which is why I can't stop watching it. Damn you, Fox Reality Channel!

OK, what about those Oscars on Sunday night? I predict that the Barbara Walters special will be insufferable, that Ellen DeGeneres will make a fine host, and that there will be more jokes made about New York City's first beaver sighting than Britney Spears or Anna Nicole Smith combined. Here's what else I predict:

Hey, Sunday is a big day for TV in Wisconsin. Badger basketball, the Oscars . . . too bad programming will likely be interrupted every ten minutes for snowfall updates!

This week is a week for Wisconsin basketball and non-basketball fans to rejoice.

As I reported in my Sports Blog over at channel3000.com, the Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball team is now ranked number one in the Associated Press poll. (Hopefully the Badgers can beat Michigan State on Tuesday night and remain in contention for the #1 spot.) Reason enough for Wisconsin basketball fans to celebrate.

But non-fans of Bo Ryan's team have reason to celebrate too: As the NCAA college basketball regular season winds down, so have the Wednesday night basketball preemptions on WISC-TV that for weeks have caused rising CBS show Criminal Minds to be banished to 1:35 AM. Last week's preemption -- on Valentine's Day -- was the final one of the season. And just in time, too, as this week CBS's surprise hit Jericho returns with new episodes, which will air Wednesdays at 7 PM and which just missed being time-shifted to late night by Bucky.

Of course, just because the regular season is winding down doesn't mean that those who hate basketball won't have plenty to complain about: We're just weeks away from the NCAA men's basketball tournament, otherwise known as "March Madness," otherwise known as "does WISC-TV air anything besides basketball?" But the difference is that during the tournament, shows are preempted on a national level, so local Madison viewers don't have to tape late-night airings to keep up with their shows.

My Madison TV14 viewers, though, still have to suffer through several more prime preemptions for Milwaukee Bucks basketball coverage, which will affect network prime shows on February 21, February 23, March 5, March 17, April 13, and April 18. But with the Bucks doing as poorly as they are, everyone suffers -- basketball and non-basketball fans alike.

I mentioned Jericho returning after a mid-season hiatus designed to eliminate in-season reruns. I wonder if CBS will try that tactic again next year (assuming Jericho returns, which it almost certainly will); it depends how the ratings after the return compare with the ratings before the hiatus. ABC's Lost -- which is trying the same thing this year -- hasn't fared so well. Some will argue that the ratings slide has more to do with the show's quality, but I don't know -- I think the show's still damn good. I love how varied Lost can be from week to week, although I acknowledge that that irritates some. If you don't care about Desmond, you probably didn't much care for last week's Desmond-centric episode.

So if the hiatus thing doesn't work, what will networks do with some of their more serialized dramas? My guess is that they will follow FOX's lead and hold them back until after the new year and run them for 22 or 24 consecutive weeks, a la the Jack Bauer Torture Hour, also known as 24. But the problem with that strategy is you then have less "event" programming from September-December and too much January-May. Networks can't afford to lose viewers in the fall like they lose them in the summer. I personally like the shows I watch to run September-May with reruns scattered throughout the season. I watch enough shows that I like a week off every now and then. I find having to watch 24 straight episodes of 24 or 16 straight episodes of Lost kind of daunting. I have enough trouble in my life that I don't need not being able to keep up with my shows added to that list! Oh well, guess I just need to put off getting that no-scalpel procedure done that my wife keeps hounding me about.

My Madison TV programming note for the week -- If you're home this weekend getting geeked up for the big Wisconsin/Ohio State game on Sunday, I recommend turning on My Madison TV Saturday night and watching the film Diary of a Hitman at 7 PM. I haven't seen it, but check out this cast: 2007 Best Actor frontrunner Forest Whitaker, Sherilyn (Two-Moon Junction) Fenn, James Belushi in his pre-According to Jim days, when he was illogically trying to retool his image into some sort of out-of-shape balding action hero (guess it worked for Steven Seagal for a while), and kook extraordinaire Sharon Stone, who, according to an Internet review, plays a "kooky sister named Kiki." Don't know what it's about, but with that stellar cast, I don't care. I'm watching, and I encourage you to grab some Green Apple Twizzlers and do the same.

I got an unexpected Valentine's Day gift this year -- just when I thought that my Sirius Satellite Radio couldn't get any better, they went and started a new channel that they're dubbing "90's Alternative." We're talking Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, Soul Asylum, Rage Against the Machine, Nine Inch Nails, Foo Fighters . . . the soundtrack to my college years. Or, more to the point, songs that I've never before heard while sober.

Two products that I would do commercials for without getting paid: Sirius Satellite Radio and TiVo. Other than that, nothing. I'm not a sell out. Well, unless the price was right. Well, the price wouldn't even have to be that good. Seriously, I'll work for gum and lottery tickets. At least that's what they're paying me to write this blog.

Do I need to say anything about Anna Nicole Smith? I feel very sorry for her child. Hopefully somebody sensible will come forth to raise the baby, but I don't think there is anybody sensible involved in any of this. And that includes most if not all of the people covering the story. Let's just not forget that Ms. Smith made a name for herself by being nude and drunk and/or stoned in public. Our crime is that we rewarded her for being nude and drunk and/or stoned in public. And she obviously surrounded herself by people that were happy to continue to let her be nude and drunk and/or stoned in public because that was the only way that they saw that she could keep herself in the news and thereby the only way that they could continue to get their slice of fame and fortune. Being Anna Nicole Smith must have been sad enough, but to be one of the parasites that assisted, however indirectly, in her death? Ghastly.

Naked Gun Curse: First OJ Simpson, now Anna Nicole Smith. Remind me not to be in one of these movies if they make another one. Which they shouldn't. Because they're cursed.

Someone told me that she thinks 24 is becoming "cookie-cutter." By that I guess she meant that the plots are becoming similar. I don't see it. Sure, every year there is a threat to national security and every year Jack Bauer has to torture folks and every year fans worry that Kim Bauer will show up again. But that's the show. Every show creates its own universe and lives by the rules set up in that universe basically in the pilot. You can't tell me that a good hour of 24 (and granted this year has had a couple of lousy hours) doesn't contain more thrills and "Holy Crap" moments that most shows have in a season. Morris getting that drill? That Ally McBeal dude getting involved in possibly doing away with Wayne Palmer? If that's cookie-cutter, I'll take the economy bucket of 100 please. Oh, and keep Walid and the President's sister out of things. I think I'd rather see Kim back than those two.

Welcome to the first edition of my Entertainment Blog for mymadisontv.com!

This would be the place to come for programming news for either My Madison TV or our sister station, WISC-TV, as well as my ramblings on TV and entertainment in general.

I hope to hear feedback from you -- send any comments, suggestions, recipes, or tastefully shot photos to jrobbins@wisctv.com.

Around here at My Madison TV, we're all excited for the March 12 premiere of The International Fight League, which -- like I need to tell you -- bills itself as the world's "first team-based professional mixed martial arts league." The competitions include a mixture of boxing, kickboxing, something called "submission grappling," (perfect for Valentine's Day), and of course, good old-fashioned wrestling. After checking out the IFL's Web site, though, (www.ifl.tv), I've decided the "fights" will be secondary in importance to getting to know the "ring girls" a little better. You can tell the IFL is fairly new, because they only have the means to employ two ring girls (I think Jay-Z keeps two ring girls in his car just to man the GPS navigation system); but what the league lacks in quantity they make up for in quality -- Check out Emily, whose favorite movie is "The Goonies," and who supplements her income as a IFL Ring Girl with appearances in Ultimate Grappling (not to be confused with Submission Grappling) Magazine. But I think my favorite is Lori, if only because she lists her hometown as "Illinois."

I just finished TiVoing through the best parts of this year's Grammys -- which didn't really take me that long. The truest words of the night were spoken by Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith who said, "We need more rock bands!" Rock bands are indeed almost an extinct species in today's music scene, and the Grammys only further proved that point, with the Peppers -- who formed almost 25 years ago -- the newest rock band invited to play on the Grammys. Their only competition would be The Police, who of course are celebrating their 30th anniversary with a worldwide tour. When the biggest bands of the day are also the biggest bands of the 1980s or crappy sound-alike groups like Hinder or Nickelback, the recording industry is in trouble.

But with upcoming tours by the reunited Police and the reunited Van Halen, the tour industry is doing fine. Both shows will undoubtedly sell a lot of tickets, but after seeing and hearing The Police on Sunday night, I think Sting, Andy, and Stewart are going to blow Van Halen away on the stage. David Lee Roth is looking a little too much like Buddy Ebsen for my tastes, while Eddie Van Halen and his massive ego dumped original bass player Michael Anthony for none other than Eddie's 15-year-old son. Maybe the son can take the lead vocals on "Hot for Teacher," because just thinking of David Lee Roth singing that ode to adolescent lust -- probably while dressed in some garish spandex outfit left over from the "Panama" video shoot -- makes me a little queasy.

Other Grammy notes: The voice still sounds good, but oh my god, what has Smokey Robinson done with himself? He's had his face pulled back so tight that the tracks of his tears now go straight down his back. He can't even blink anymore, much less cry . . . Rascal Flatts and Carrie Underwood? I haven't seen that much pure unadulterated excitement on stage since I took my son to Barney Live. Let's see . . . country radio plays Rascal Fats and Carrie Underwhelming at the expense of the night's biggest (and deservedly so) winners The Dixie Chicks? I guess that's reason number 189 why I don't listen to country radio . . . Who invited Lionel Richie on the show? Were the Thompson Twins booked? . . . What's with Scarlett Johannsen giving the award for Album of the Year? Shouldn't someone with some connection however tenuous to the music industry give out the biggest award of the night? And Chris Brown. Last time I saw someone dance like that, it was because he was trying to con a free burger and root beer out of Shirley at Rob's Diner.