With the series finale of "Lost" shaping up to be the event of the May sweeps, it would be a perfect time to declare my love for the show.
But I'm not going to do that now. I've never been a member of the cult, not from the very first season when I tried to watch it. Since then, I've watched a few episodes here and there.
Don't read this as a criticism of those of you following every scene in the final episodes. We all have shows that we glom on to. This one isn't mine, and I won't be a part of all the activity this week, the group-watching, the debating over what this means and what that doesn't mean.
But I hope those of you who are members of the club enjoy yourselves.
If you're a strict adherent, it's going to be a very busy weekend. And a long night on Sunday.
The "Lost" schedule": ABC's programming actually begins Saturday night at 7 on Channel 12, with the two-hour "Lost" pilot from 2004.
Sunday night's prime-time schedule is given over entirely to "Lost," starting at 6 with a two-hour special subtitled "The Final Journey," featuring interviews with cast members and a rundown on plot lines.
The actual final episode, aptly titled "The End," airs from 8 to 10:30 p.m.
But the big night doesn't end at 10:30 p.m.
A special edition of "Jimmy Kimmel Live" is scheduled to air here at 12:05 a.m. on Channel 12 (after the news and Mike Gousha's "UpFront.") Cast members and folks behind the show will be on the one-hour "Farewell to 'Lost'," hosted by Kimmel.
Another goodbye: While veteran Channel 12 anchor Mike Miller anchors his last newscast on Saturday, May 29, Miller's interesting TV career will be the subject of a report on the ABC station's post-"Lost" news on Sunday night at 10:30.
The 58-year-old Miller, the only person to be a regular anchor on Channels 6, 4 and 12, is retiring after more than three decades on Milwaukee television.
He's also my guest on the latest OnMedia television show, available today on Time Warner Cable's Wisconsin on Demand Channel 411. Our conversation is available to watch on-demand starting today.
On TV: Departing "American Idol" judge Simon Cowell told Oprah Winfrey on Thursday's show that he had become "bored" with the show. This year's ratings dip shows a lot of viewers felt the same way.
- Kenosha-born chef Tony Mantuano ended his run this week on Bravo's "Top Chef Masters," after the judges didn't like his pizza crust. He returns to his Chicago restaurant, Spiaggia.
- There's increasing talk that disgraced former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, may become a more frequent face on CNN. He was driven from office in a prostitution scandal.
- Larry David confirms that "Curb Your Enthusiasm" will film at least half the next season in New York City. PopEater.com reports he'd like to get Ricky Gervais on the show.
Spike celebrates a 30th anniversary: Spike TV is marking the 30th anniversary of "The Empire Strikes Back" with a marathon of the first three "Star Wars" movies on Saturday.
It starts at noon with "Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope." "Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back," airs at 3. "Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi," airs at 6.
The cycle repeats starting at 9.
Here's the first 10 minutes of the landmark second film in the only "Star Wars" trilogy worth watching again:
Tim Cuprisin is the media columnist for OnMilwaukee.com. He's been a journalist for 30 years, starting in 1979 as a police reporter at the old City News Bureau of Chicago, a legendary wire service that's the reputed source of the journalistic maxim "if your mother says she loves you, check it out." He spent a couple years in the mean streets of his native Chicago, and then moved on to the Green Bay Press-Gazette and USA Today, before coming to the Milwaukee Journal in 1986.
A general assignment reporter, Cuprisin traveled Eastern Europe on several projects, starting with a look at Poland after five years of martial law, and a tour of six countries in the region after the Berlin Wall opened and Communism fell. He spent six weeks traversing the lands of the former Yugoslavia in 1994, linking Milwaukee Serbs, Croats and Bosnians with their war-torn homeland.
In the fall of 1994, a lifetime of serious television viewing earned him a daily column in the Milwaukee Journal (and, later the Journal Sentinel) focusing on TV and radio. For 15 years, he has chronicled the changes rocking broadcasting, both nationally and in Milwaukee, an effort he continues at OnMilwaukee.com.
When he's not watching TV, Cuprisin enjoys tending to his vegetable garden in the backyard of his home in Whitefish Bay, cooking and traveling.
