Ratings, Strike Updates

In case you missed it, Sunday's Super Bowl telecast was the second-highest rated TV event ever, behind only the 1983 telecast of the final episode of "M*A*S*H."

The Super Bowl drew in 97.4 million viewers, thanks in part to the Patriots' attempted run at perfection, and the post-Super Bowl episode of "House" drew 29 million viewers, its highest-rating ever. (In case you were wondering, "M*A*S*H" drew 106 million viewers and a record 77 share — meaning more than three-quarters of any TV set turned on that night was tuned to CBS.) Fox is rerunning that episode of "House," guest starring Mira Sorvino, on Feb. 15.

Of course, the TV landscape is different now than it was in 1983. There was no internet to contend with, and cable options were much more limited. Also, many fewer households had VCRs, so TV shows had to be watched live.

The strike has had a major impact on the networks, as ratings are down all over the place while we are in the middle of sweeps week (when networks use their ratings to set ad rates).

Meanwhile, TVGuide.com's Michael Ausiello has updates about the prospects of several shows returning this season or next, assuming a deal between the writers and the studios is hammered out in the next couple of weeks. (What will likely happen is that if the union approves the tentative deal this Saturday, the writers will return to work while the lawyers hammer out the final details.)

Some shows on the bubble: It looks as if we may get the final four episodes of "Scrubs," but Friday's installment of "Friday Night Lights" may be the last first-run episode — ever. That one you can blame on NBC president Ben Silverman, not the WGA strike.

For more about the fates of other shows, click here: http://www.tvguide.com/ask-ausiello.

WEDNESDAY'S BEST BETS: As part of Black History Month, PBS is airing the documentary "African American Lives" at 9 p.m.

There's a new episode of "Cashmere Mafia" (ABC, 10 p.m.) opposite a new "CSI: NY" (ABC, 10 p.m.)

Recapping The Super Bowl, The Strike And The Captain

Well, the best news of the weekend came out of Hollywood, where there looks like there might be some settlement to the writers' strike. Word on the street is that something could be hammered out by as early as this week, which means many shows may be back in production by the end of the month.

What that means in terms of how many episodes of each series we'll get and which shows will return is still up in the air. You can be sure the networks will try to get as many episodes of the big hits like "Grey's Anatomy" and "CSI" as possible, but other shows may not fare as well. For example, "Pushing Daisies" has likely wrapped up its brilliant first season already.

Meanwhile, no real complaints about the Super Bowl last night, except that we will be subjected to the '72 Dolphins for a while longer now that the Patriots lost.

And who the hell was operating the clock last night? Was that the Fox graphics department screwing up all night, or was that the stadium scoreboard which was screwing up? Either way, the constant misfiring on the clock was a distraction all night, and set up that last-second weirdness of everyone having to trot back on the field after the game was over.

Of course, as a friend of mine told me, she was eager to watch the series of Super Bowl commercials which were constantly being broken up by spurts of football. As for the commercials, Pepsi/Diet Pepsi came out strong, as did Bridgestone. Budweiser always does a good job, and I liked the "Godfather" parody. But boy, were there ever commercials that came off as more racist than those done by salesgenie.com?

The "House" episode afterward was great, especially the guest turn by Mira Sorvino, and I love the way the producers have brought back Cutthroat Bitch.

MONDAY'S BEST BETS: So, I watched the pilot for "The Captain," (CBS, 8:30 p.m.) and I realized The Telegraph doesn't pay me enough for this job. Watching it in unison with the return of the always-entertaining "Old Christine" (CBS, 9:30 p.m.) makes me wonder who makes the programming decisions at the network. The former is completely devoid of humor and is drowned out by this incessant rock music track; the latter features an Emmy-worthy performance by the brilliant Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

"The Captain" is about a burnt out writer who moves into his friend's apartment building, where he meets the requisite cast of weird characters. It's utterly predictable and seriously devoid of funny. Save yourselves a half-hour of wasted time. (CBS said this was the revised pilot; I can't imagine how the original pilot could have possibly been less funny.)

"Prison Break" (Fox, 8 p.m.), coming off a brilliant promotional spot during the Super Bowl, is back as the gang tries to escape yet another prison. It's followed by a new "Terminator: Sarah Conner Chronicles" at 9 p.m.

"Dance War" (ABC, 8 p.m.) is back, as is extended versions of "American Gladiators" (NBC, 8 p.m.) and "Deal Or No Deal" (NBC, 9:30 p.m.) On cable, "Kyle XY" (ABC Family, 8 p.m.) is new.

'Lost' Recap

You may want to skip this if you haven't seen last night's season premiere.

*****SPOILER ALERT*****

Still here? Good.

So, I've been reeling since last season's finale about eight months ago, and the wait has seemed interminable. But last night proved to be well worth it.

The episode was Hurley-centric, with a flash forward to what happens to the big guy after he gets off the island.

The episode opens with Hurley leading police on a car chase through L.A. We learn he was spooked by something while at a convenience store, and Hurley is grateful when the cop (Ana Lucia's former partner) sends him to the nuthouse.

Turns out Hurley is being haunted by the ghost of Charlie, who keeps telling him that Hurley has unfinished business on the island.

On the island, after helping to rescue Jin, Bernard and Sayid, the gang met up with Desmond, who passed along the news of Charlie's death and his warning about the boat people. Worried that the boat people would listen in on a radio warning to Jack, Hurley chucks the radio into the ocean.

On the march back to Jack and the rest of the Losties, Hurley gets separated from the group and stumbles upon Jacob's cabin. After seeing Jacob - who shall we say has some sort of connection to Christian Shepherd, Jack's dad - a terrified Hurley is found by Locke, who leads him back to his traveling party.

Meanwhile, Jack has made contact with the boat people. It turns out Naomi, of the boat, isn't dead, only wounded, and she's dragged herself off into the forest. Eventually, Kate finds her and Naomi convinces the boat people to come to the island for a rescue.

When the two groups of survivors finally meet up at the end, Jack beats up Locke and tries to make good on his promise kill Locke - only Locke's gun is empty. Locke convinces a portion of the Losties - including Hurley, Sawyer and Claire - that the boat people are up to no good and the two groups separate.

Meanwhile, in the present (or the future) Hurley tells a visiting Jack (pre-Grizzly Adams beard and pill problem) that he has kept a secret about the rescue so far and that he made a mistake picking Locke over Jack. He tries to convince Jack that they have unfinished business on the island, but Jack makes it clear he won't go back there.

What we learn:
--Hurley is one of six survivors from the crash to return to the real world. The only other ones we know of are Jack and Kate.
--Jacob may or may not be Christian Shepherd.
--Something pretty bad happened to the rest of the group, it would seem, something so bad that the "Oceanic Six" feel compelled to keep it from the rest of the world.

Some questions:
--How did Locke know about Charlie's message? He wasn't on the beach when Hurley found out.
--How or why was Christian Shepherd in the cabin?
--Why do only crazy people see Charlie's ghost, and was it a ghost or just a hallucination?
--If only six people made it back, what happened to everyone else?

The biggest question of all, though, is how am I going to deal with the fact there are only seven episodes left?

WEEKEND'S BEST BETS: Well, it's Super Bowl weekend, but there are a few other things of note on besides the big game.

"Friday Night Lights" (NBC, 9 p.m.) and "Las Vegas" (NBC, 10 p.m.) are both new tonight, as are "Monk" and "Psych" on USA.

On Saturday, "Torchwood" (BBC America, 9 p.m.) is also new.

After the Super Bowl, Fox is airing a new "House," with the time to be determined. Meanwhile, one of TV's best new series, "Breaking Bad" (AMC, 10 p.m.) is also new.