So a few months back, EW.com tried out a nifty new feature in which O.C. fans got their questions answered by series creator Josh Schwartz -- and that got us thinking of approaching other pop-culture favorites in the same way. It's a win-win, if you'll excuse the expression: It turns out you PopWatchers have some mad interviewing skillz, and by putting you to work, it allows me to take the occasional two-hour lunch break?spend more time reenacting cherished Arrested Development scenes with Annie "plate or platter" Barrett?brainstorm new adjectives with which to describe the current crop of American Idol finalists.

So anyhow, we're hoping your next interview subject will be Heroes' Masi Oka, whose winning portrayal of Hiro Nakamura has made him one of the biggest breakout stars of the current TV season. Try to be as specific as possible with your questions, and keep in mind we'll be choosing career-related questions over personal ones. (In other words, we're not subjecting him to the old "are you single?" routine.) So go ahead and post your best questions for Masi Oka about his career, his work on Heroes, and the burden of saving the planet -- though don't expect to ask a spoiler-y question and get an answer!

EW.com's revving up for a special package about the best science-fiction movies and TV from the past 25 years (look for it late next week). So we wanna know: Out of any sci-fi creation to date, which character or creature would you most want as your friend, and why? Things to consider: superpowers, language barriers, levels of goo, degrees of separation from William Shatner, etc.

I'm going to be a big nerd/child and go with E.T. I always identified with the little alien. He liked playing dress-up, raided a mean fridge, and would generally rather stare into space than deal with his immediate environment. We'd make great pals -- he wants to call home a lot and I hate cell phones, so he could basically have mine. We'd eat Reese's Pieces and gossip about the earthlings all night long. He would call me "Aaaaaaaa-nnieeeeeeee" and I would eat that up.

Other picks:

Desmond from Lost -- Boyfriend, friend, same diff.

The Thing -- It could annihilate people and restaurant chains I don't appreciate. Plus, it'd get really annoyed when I sang "That thing, that thing, that thi-i-i-iiiing..." to him on a regular basis... but it would have to fight the urge to destroy me... because we were friends.

Michael Caine in Children of Men -- He was hardly involved in the science-fiction-y part of the plot, but I think we'd get along. He plays King Crimson on vinyl!

What about you? 

Which movie are you going to see on May 4 (when Spider-Man 3 is sold out): The father/son drama Lucky You? The romantic dramedy Lucky You? Or the please-think-it's-kinda-sorta-like-Ocean's Eleven Lucky You? Well, it depends on what trailer you've seen. (They all star Drew Barymore and Eric Bana, pictured.) I get that movie studios want as many people to see a film as possible ? and that movies, at least the best ones, are layered ? but when a trailer changes tone this much, isn't someone's butt being tricked into that seat? Perhaps it's not fair to peg this recurring beef on a film that's been sitting on a shelf for two years (after all, they couldn't bandwagon Ocean's Thirteen a year ago). But you can't really blame Spider-Man 3 for playing up Sand Man in one trailer and then pretending he doesn't exist.  Spidey's got himself some enemies, but no matter which one is featured, the genre stays the same. Do I have a point here, or should I fold?

If you read today's News Roundup, you know that the FCC is suddenly in a tizzy over TV violence. Its report, ''In the Matter of Violent Television Programming and Its Impact on Children,'' proposes that instead of selling channels in bundles like they do now, cable providers should sell programming on "an a la carte basis." That way, the government won't have to get involved directly, and the cable industry can be responsible for your kids' nightmares about CSI: Miami.

I'd just like to pause a moment and say I'm so glad TV has become a restaurant! Tonight I'll have the spinach, cornbread, and Game Show Network... fine, and the scalloped potatoes au gratin. Twist my arm, Time Warner Cable of NYC. You a nut!

We have an easier solution for parents: Just make everyone under 18 use a Weemote (pictured). Your bratty teenagers will be so mesmerized by the colorful buttons reminiscient of a cartoon artist's palette that they won't give a damn that you just took away their MTV2!

Would you take advantage of a la carte cable, or do you wish the networks would just make TV less violent? Or both? Or neither -- after all, every 10-year-old's gotta learn eventually about how awesome the New Jersey mafia is. Total milestone, man.

Time.com posted an "Are They Worthy?" list of 200 folks ? politicians, entertainers, authors, Paris Hilton, etc., all thrown in together ? who could potentially make their cut for the magazine's 100 Most Influential People of the Year issue. You can vote for your picks on the site. (Perhaps someone should remind them it's April?)

I'm happy about who's at No. 1 so far, Stephen Colbert ? he's somehow beating second-place Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto by more than twice Miyamoto's votes ? and am pleased to see worthy candidates like TV science teacher Steve Spangler and Bill O'Reilly foil Keith Olbermann. So people really like irony, videogames, test tubes, and opinions. What else? Harry Potter (J.K. Rowling, No. 3), pretty white electronics (Steve Jobs, No. 6), and American Idol. Yes, folks, Sanjaya Malakar's clocking in as the seventh most influential person in the country right now. I understand (and even pseudo-supported) the Sanjaya phenomenon, but it's very scary that the young lad we initially conceived as an ironic fetish might now exemplify a credible, if not influential personality. America also admires John Mayer, celebrity couples who adopt babies, and f---ing Dane Cook (pictured).

After recognizing 7 of the top 10 as entertainment-related, I thought for the first time in months, maybe I don't live inside a tiny little pop culture-focused bubble because of my job. (It's gotten to the point where I don't acknowledge cultural references offered to me unless they include a complimentary shot of YouTube.) Maybe the real world and the entertainment bubble are becoming one and the same. Maybe I am a valuable citizen after all! Maybe Keifer Sutherland (No. 13) is Jack Bauer and is saving all of us RIGHT NOW.

OR maybe too many people like me are voting for Sanjaya.

What do you make of Time's preliminary list?

The sky was clear, the sun golden, the Walt Disney Concert Hall, er, undulating, as the audience line snaked along Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles waiting to pass through security (and Frank Gehry's bowed steel facades) to enter. Even the usual signs for Blake and Jordin were peppered for posters touting One.org, Product Red, and Save the Children. So you would probably be safe in saying this was definitely not your typical Idol results show, right? Well, in some ways it wasn't ?no Ryan, no judges, no finalists, and instead of a stage made of curving brushed metal and glass designed to avoid right angles, a stage made of curving polished wood designed to avoid right angles ? and in some ways it was. For one, the moment I heard "Billie Jean" mashed with "Don't Stop Believin'" playing inside as people moved to their seats, I wondered: Dear heavens, Corey the WUC hasn't invaded the Disney Concert Hall, has he?

Yes, he had. Yes, he stuck to his exact same warm-up script. And, basically, if I didn't bring this up, I would have even less to discuss in this blog post. Because even though most of the musical performances took place at the Disney Concert Hall (outside of Jack Black, the Final Six, and Celine Dion and Elvis' ghost), there was very little off-camera action going down. At least, from what I could gather from my seat waaaaay in the back. No celebs caught my eye, Corey the WUC was refreshingly low-key (he even managed to one-on-one with the peeps in the highest balcony by the end of the show), and before performing, the musical artists all just stood on their marks in the dark waiting for Ellen to introduce them.

Ellen, of course, was the biggest star of the night, winning a welcoming ovation so deafening it gave me a mild headache for the rest of the night. Still, I was bummed that Ms. DeGeneres kept her time on stage to the barest minimum, appearing a scant minute before the cameras went live and then leaving just as quickly rather than staying to watch the show. So it was the audience itself that provided the most entertainment for the evening. Shirley's already explained that the CBS Television City audience was asked to keep things calm and subdued; not so much with the Disney Hall folks. Corey pretty much goaded us to be as loud and energetic as possible to show the CBS crowd who was the better audience. And I think we were?mostly. I'm just grateful the CBSers weren't handed glo-sticks and told to keep time with Il Divo by swaying said glo-sticks in the air, 'cause we sure weren't able to. (There was even a little laughter as the foursome started to sing and we attempted to sway ? was it too much for Corey to stand out of camera range and give us a little direction?)

The Disney Hall crew did take full advantage, however, of the freedom to react to what went down at CBS as if we were still watching at home. Which meant: Some mild titters whenever Sanjaya appeared on screen; silent confusion when Celine and Elvis' ghost stepped on stage to duet; and total shock when Paula and her two best friends (you know which two) appeared next to Ryan to plug the Idol Aid hotline. Seriously, the entire Disney Hall pretty much erupted upon witnessing Paula's impressive décolletage, and the murmuring didn't stop for well over five minutes afterwards. A woman sitting a few seats from me even leaned over and said "You should definitely include that in your notes!" But the biggest reaction of the evening went to the most deserving: As instructed by Corey, we all stood to give the African Children's Choir a rousing salutation as they filed in during the all-star "Stayin' Alive" video. Maybe it was the kids, maybe it was the Disney Hall's acoustics, but I managed to sit through Josh Groban's 3,182nd rendition of "You Raise Me Up" without using my pen to puncture my eardrums (Groban fans, I await your flaming below), and I couldn't help but tear up as the children swarmed Groban at the end. Our Standing O for them was by far the longest of the night.

We would have applauded longer for Kelly Clarkson's fierce and deeply felt duet with legendary guitarist Jeff Beck, but quite literally the moment the show cut to commercial, the one-time Idol champeen skittered out of there as fast as her feet could take her. At least Annie Lennox lingered long enough to bask in our (to my ear, somewhat inexplicable) adulation as the mini-orchestra began filing away and the stage hands tearing down the lights behind her. We all stuck around to watch Ryan give the final results ? and, yes, many were fooled into thinking Jordin was going home ? but then the audience started to leave, skipping Bono's mentoring words and the final group performance lest we all get stuck in the line for checked cell phones and cars waiting to exit the lower depths of the Disney Hall's parking garage. Because Idol may be the biggest television phenomenon in the history of ever, but nothing can keep Angelenos from their BlackBerrys and the chance to beat traffic.

I'm about to make a confession that may finally surprise you: When I'm assigned to write an 80-word DVD review of an entire season of a TV show, I actually watch every episode. Last weekend, I spent quality time with WKRP in Cincinnati's first year, and was still laughing my butt off when I got to episode 21, "Fish Story."

You might remember it: The radio station's ad man Herb Tarlek (Frank Bonner, pictured) dresses up as the WKRP mascot, a carp, and hilarity ensues when he tries to use a public restroom and doesn't have change for the pay stall. He tries to squeeze his fish bones under the door and gets stuck, then ultimately gets into a fight with a rival station's mascot ? a pig. While all that's going on, DJs Johnny Fever and Venus Flytrap are conducting an on-air drinking experiment with a cop to prove that our reaction time gets slower and slower with each passing shot. Of course, Venus gets wasted, while Johnny's reflexes improve.

I swear it's good stuff, which is why I went straight to the featurette about the episode. Turns out CBS thought WKRP had been doing too much heady comedy (news director Les Nessman had been banned from a locker room when a player thought he was gay; Venus, we found out, was actually a Vietnam deserter named Gordom Sims) and wanted some slapstick and sight-gags. Perturbed, creator Hugh Wilson wrote "Fish Story" with every cliché in the book. (This would be a good time to mention that program director Andy Travis was being interviewed by a journalist as the station went to hell.) Obviously, Wilson wasn't thrilled when the episode scored great ratings.

So, here's today's question: What sitcom have you enjoyed, even though you felt ? or got the impression you should feel ? guilty about it? I'll start: I never watched Everybody Loves Raymond until it was in reruns, then didn't miss an episode for three months.

Let?s just get this part out of the way: the "Idol Gives Back" special was a truly amazing undertaking that deserves much applause. Thirty million dollars just from the East Coast feed? That?s astonishing and so very needed. Our hats are off to the Idol producers who took the initiative and the sponsors who kicked in additional funds? respect.

Now, on to more trivial matters. One astute PopWatcher recently commented that it looked as if Melinda Doolittle and Chris Richardson had an extra-special bond. After tonight?s show, I second that with conviction. Sure, it was a tough night for the Justin look-alike. Not only was Chris among the last two standing in the fakeout elimination, but the video clips of poverty-stricken kids were way too much for him to handle. And right there to console him every time the lights went down? Mindy Doo, who kept her hand on his knee while he placed his over it. If it didn?t happen six or seven different times, I?d chalk it up to the hard-hitting images we all had to face (Chris fought back tears with each one), but I suspect there?s more to it.

We?ll get back to Doolittle-Richardson later, but first: the show. As I walked onto the CBS lot, I got the first clues as to who would be there that night. There was a reserved parking spot (the best of the bunch, right next to the talent door) for Rupert Murdoch, another for Seal. I saw Mikalah Gordon making the rounds, and Sanjaya with his gorgeous sister, Shyamali. The two of them were almost the last people to take their assigned seats, which had already been claimed by seat fillers, so there was some people-juggling just before the countdown. Also not in his chair six seconds away from air-time: Simon Cowell. But he did look good in that suit as he casually strolled toward the judges? table. I guess knowing the next two hours of your life will be emotionally draining doesn?t exactly inspire a sprint.

Of course, by then, the audience had been introduced to the all-dressed-in-white chorus line that was ? and remains ? the final six. The Idol who got the biggest cheer? Unequivocally, Blake.

Ryan took his position, then began to deliver his opening lines when he fumbled and decided to start again. ?I can?t see that far,? he snapped at the Teleprompter-cameraman (that?s a rarity in Seacrest world), knowing there?s a delay of just a few minutes. But the consummate pro that he is, Ryan kicked right into gear and it was smooth sailing from there. As the contestants took their seats on the blue wiener couches, Blake made guns-blazing hand signals at the audience, Phil looked confident, and Jordin was her usual giggly self, while Chris, LaKisha, and Melinda were much more subdued.

The audience was asked ahead of time not to lift their signs or cheer too wildly as this was a more somber show, so it was hard to judge the love. But one person who got a ridiculously deafening applause was Ellen DeGeneres, who appeared on the gigantic Idol screen on center stage. Ryan looked relieved to have Ellen take over for a while, after the snafu in the opening. He took a seat off to the side to watch Earth, Wind & Fire?s medley from Disney Hall, to which Blake grooved and LaKisha snapped along.

A quick commercial and it was time for the night?s first group performance. Quincy Jones, who wrote the tune and conducted the orchestra, looked so jazzed up on that Idol stage, blowing kisses to the final six as they hit that last note, almost like a proud papa. Another break allowed hair and makeup touchups for the contestants. Chris steered clear of Melinda?s hairspray spritz in a flirty kind of way and they looked to be off in a world of their own.

Ben Stiller?s bit got everyone laughing, especially Blake and Simon. The audience also got a kick out of the ?Staying Alive? composite, while I was left with just one resounding thought: What was up with Teri Hatcher?s makeup?

It was time to get serious again as Ryan prepared to announce the first fates of the final six. Melinda bowed her head, Phil looked unfazed, and LaKisha seemed nervous. They were all safe, of course, in what promised to be the most shocking Idol elimination ever! But one person was especially thrilled to see Melinda make it through another week: Chris.

Il Divo did their thing and many were left wondering, was that English? Bill the Warm-up Guy thought it would be funny to ask the judges to comment on their performance during the break. Simon wasn?t biting, but Randy was totally down with the bass dude. ?I like that guy,? he said. With more time to fill, Billy moved on to a girl who had earlier confessed her love for Blake, asking her what she sees as the perfect romantic evening. ?A walk on the beach during sunset,? she replied, to which Bill said, ?You?re a cheap date!? Ouch.

At this point, Seal had entered the studio and Simon went over to greet him. At the same time, I spotted Jack Black and Kyle Gass walking toward the middle row to take their seats. Tenacious D never disappoint, so I had a feeling we?d get a funny moment, probably the best of the night. Sure enough, the crowd loved it, and so did Seal, I later heard, who?d seen Black perform his song ?Kiss From a Rose? a few years back and thought it was the best cover of it that he?d ever heard. Seal stuck around through the next reveal, but waved goodbye shortly thereafter.

After that, it was all about Sanjaya, everybody?s go-to punchline. It was all in good fun, though: Sanjaya exploded with laughter at Ellen?s crack and, when asked by Debbie the stage manager if he was okay with all the jibing, he nodded that it was cool. And during the next break, Sanjaya got warm, big hugs from all the judges. Since all eyes were on him, Bill decided to try a little Q&A. What?s Sanjaya been doing, beside being on every talk show? ?I?ve been sleeping a lot,? he said. Sanjaya also added that Kathy Griffin was on his flight earlier that day. ?You know you?ll be in her standup act now,? said Bill. ?I hope so,? Sanjaya shot back. As for what?s next, Sanjaya was suspiciously evasive. ?I have a bunch of stuff right now, but I can?t really talk about it; you?ll just have to watch TV to find out.? Hmmm?

Simon, meanwhile, was fielding questions from the audience. ?Do people get mad at you on the street?? asked one woman. ?All I received is love,? Simon answered. ?[You all] boo, they adore me.? Another asked about his and Ryan?s trip to Africa. ?You don?t feel sorry for yourself anymore,? said Simon.

What came next was a moment that, I think, marred the entire evening. Of course, I?m referring to the Celine Dion-Elvis Presley adventures-in-CGI debacle. Was that really necessary? I don?t think I was the only one sitting there horrified; you could hear the dismay of audience members as they talked through the ?performance.? And did you all notice that the group of dressed-in-white Idols who came in toward the end included Sanjaya? An embarrassment all around.

Performances by Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, and Annie Lennox, on the other hand, were met by more enthusiasm despite some wardrobe misses ? Kelly?s unflattering gown, Annie Lennox?s revealing top (thank God for double-stick tape), not to mention Paula?s constantly falling strap. But the much-hyped elimination changed the focus almost immediately. Jordin sat looking zen, while Chris seemed a tad more confident, and when his name was called, there was an audible gasp from a crowd that feared the worst. Pysch! Still, there was no time for makeup as Melinda and Jordin teared up in a warm embrace. Bono was up on the screen and the Idols had to take their positions for the final group performance. This time, the lyrics to ?American Prayer? (co-written by Dave Stewart) were displayed on the Teleprompter since the group had little time to learn them. And with Randy clapping along and the audience on their feet, it was an appropriate closing to an ambitious and very long show. Even Blake looked beat and started yawning toward the end. But there was one person there with boundless energy: the unstoppable Sanjaya, who signed dozens of autographs as the audience filed out, once again creating a scene.

That's a question NBC apparently had to ponder. According to the AP, which got a sneak peak at the transcript of Alec Baldwin's pre-taped visit to The View (airing tomorrow), the actor asked NBC to let him out of this contract so he could focus on the issues of divorce litigation (he has a book in the works on the topic) and spare the 30 Rock cast and crew any "hurt by the situation." NBC issued the statement: "Alec Baldwin remains an important part of 30 Rock. We look forward to having him continue his role in the show." And though no one's said how long Baldwin's current contract runs, the series ? which airs its first season finale tonight ? has already been renewed for the fall.

The View chat, conducted by Barbara Walters and soon-to-be-departing Rosie O'Donnell, will no doubt raise some interesting questions. But I've got one of my own: Has Baldwin's "situation" actually affected fans' appreciation for him, the show, or anyone associated with it? I'm guessing not, but the ratings will tell.

Another PopWatch HeadScratcher to get you through the weekend:

What do these five actors have in common?

Amy Adams

Zach Braff

Claire Danes

Rob Lowe

Paul Rudd

Your answer should be as specific as possible. Send your best guess to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . Be sure to write "HeadScratcher" in the subject line and include your first and last names in your e-mail. We'll post the most interesting responses Monday afternoon.