Ellen DeGeneres debuts as an "American Idol" judge on Tuesday's episode, joining Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson, Kara DioGuardi as the mean team.

"I'm getting good at actually delivering bad news myself," she said in the clip above. "I'm trying to do it in a tender way."

PAST LIFE
8 p.m. Tuesday, Fox, then 8 p.m. Thursday
Tune in or out? out of four.

Now matter how you dress it up, a police procedural is a police procedural.

On the surface, Fox's new series "Past Life" is about a group of scientists helping people who are haunted by their past lives. In fact, it's a cop drama, and not a very good one at that.

FX launches its new drama series "Justified" on March 16. Add it to your watch list.

If the pilot episode is any indication, this series delivers not only justice, but action, terse dialogue and a whole lot of sexy.

The folks at NBC must want to put the current TV season far behind them. Who could blame them after the debacle of Jay Leno in prime time, the Jay-Conan crisis and the fact that much of its schedule is ratings-challenged. (Which is not to say that I don't love NBC shows such as "Chuck" and the Thursday night comedy lineup.)

"Burn Notice" star Jeffrey Donovan returns to a hot tub this week, a move welcomed by many fans of his--and fans of my Shirtless Man of the Week posts.

In "Enemies Closer," airing at 9 p.m. Feb. 10 on USA, A black ops sociopath played by Chris Vance insists Michael Weston (Donovan) meet in a hot tub to insure no bugging devices are being used.

David Letterman and Oprah Winfrey reprised their famous 2007 Super Bowl party ad tonight, but with a special guest: Jay Leno.

CBS says the spot was taped earlier in the week at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City, but I wonder if Leno actually was there or added later.

The one-time only ad for "Late Show with David Letterman" aired early in the second quarter during CBS' coverage of Super Bowl XLIV on Sunday.

"Cool huh?" That's what "Stargate Universe" director of photography Jim Menard asks the camera during one of the tons of extras on "SGU 1.0" Blu-ray DVD set.

My answer? Hells yeah!

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel returned to "Saturday Night Live" in the form of Andy Samberg's foul-mouthed, funny spoof of the Chicago native.

The sketch outdid anything else during Ashton Kutcher's fourth stint as "SNL" host.

Emanuel this week apologized to the CEO of the Special Olympics for calling progressive Democrats an expletive-laden form of "retards" in a closed-door meeting last summer. The issue surfaced last week when in a Wall Street Journal report that caused Sarah Palin to call Emanuel out in a Facebook message.

Samberg's sketch had Emanuel giving an "even-tempered apology" to Americans that quickly went blue:

"As for the progressive Democrats whom I used the term in reference to, I should never have called you that," Samberg's Emanuel said, turning angry. "What I should have called you was [bleeping] babies, stupid [bleeping] babies who can't keep their mouths shut.

Looks like a does of jealousy is going to mix with all the spy fun on the latest "Chuck." In "Chuck Versus the Mask," airing at 7p.m. Feb. 8, Hannah gets sucked into the spy world. As you can see in the sneak peek here, Chuck and Sarah have some words about Shaw and Hannah. Meow. I added some interview shorts with guest stars Brandon Routh and Kristin Kreuk.