So, are they going to write this into the show?

I guess this site is becoming my TV blog. Yet more comments about the current TV season ...

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So are the regular doses of syndicated Law & Order: Criminal Intent episodes on two different cable networks -- USA and Bravo -- making my lust for Jamey Sheridan grow? How did I develop a jones for middle-aged guys?

Some comments about the new television seasons ...

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I never did catch the Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode last season that reintroduced Det. Mike Logan. I don't think it ever got syndicated on USA.

So pretty much tonight's (10/02) CI is the first time I've seen Logan back in action. (And no, I didn't watch Exile.)

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Ah, yes -- the fall TV season has begun, and now my VCR is in overdrive.

I just finished watching the premieres of Desperate Housewives and The West Wing. The Gilmore Girls premiere was two weeks ago, and only Law & Order: Criminal Intent is the only premiere of that family I have yet to catch. (I'll watch it on USA.)

So let me get all meta and bore you with my opinions of these premieres.

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Alton Brown did a sushi show!

I was thisclose to sending an e-mail through his website, asking if/when he'd do a sushi show. Not only was I curious about how he would approach sushi, I wanted to see what kind of silly antics he would along the way.

In terms of entertainment, this show didn't crack me up the way new episodes this summer have. I loved the whole Silence of the Lambs spoof with Koko Karl in last week's health food episode, and having W dress up as genie for the jerky episode cracked me up.

The sushi show was, however, packed with information, some of it I knew, some of it I didn't, so in this case, the educational bits squeezed out the comedy bits. The sushi chef they used between sequences, though, was pretty hot. Will he be the new mad French chef? Oh, I hope so.

Two things made me pause, though. In one of the earliest episodes dealing with rice, he goes through this whole routine with W about rice cookers, only to toss it out of the window in this episode. A unitasker? Didn't that earlier episode state rice cookers could be used for other things?

Then he put wasabi in his maki and nigiri. That shit is strong, and little goes a long, long way. Putting it in a roll sits as well with me as putting in mayonaise. (Bleah.)

Still, this episode will go on my must-watch list -- if forced to chose between an episode of Law & Order or The West Wing against the sushi episode, I'd go for the sushi episode. (Unless, of course, it's "Two Cathedrals" were talking about.)

Food Network aired his wonton episode afterward, and it's another on the list mainly for the fact that, um, it's the closest thing AB gets to being barechested.

I'm not sure why there's so much denial and speculation about the death of Rex Van de Camp on Desperate Housewives. (Yeah, I'm being meta about a TV show. Like I don't prattle on about Law & Order all the time.)

He's dead. It's disappointing, but what's so wrong about killing off a main character?

There are so many avenues to take the plot with Rex dead. And with Andrew turning out to be gay demon spawn and George being all psycho-stalker, keeping Rex alive would have painted Bree's storyline into a duller corner. That's assuming the writers do their job next season and really mess things up.

I would prefer that Zach not be Mike's son, and I have a feeling Tom will turn out to be a better parent than Lynette, while Lynette manages to alienate everyone trying to prove she can get back in the workforce game.

And since I do prattle about Law & Order alot -- I can't say I'm terribly disappointed by the cancellation of Trial By Jury. I watched each episode religiously, like a bitch for L&O would. But I just didn't feel it. The pace of the show dragged, and Crime & Punishment already did the exclusive focus on the courts better with real cases.

At the same time, the cancellation seems a bit premature. With another few episodes, I'm sure the writers would have found the right mix of suspense that makes Special Victims Unit the best of the bunch. I think Trial By Jury was aiming to do something along the lines of what the Homicide/Oz creative team did with The Jury last year.

By the way, here's a first-person account from Jamey Sheridan about the Bell's palsy that made him wear an eyepatch for the last few episodes of Criminal Intent.

Looks like Chris Noth and Vincent D'Onofrio are splitting up the caseload on Law & Order: Criminal Intent next season. The featurette on the season two DVDs of the original series all talk around how difficult Noth is to work with. I wonder how long he lasts before he leaves again.