Things to look forward to this weekend

*The return of "24": I'm looking forward to the show's return, but I have to say I can't believe we'll get another season as entertaining as the last one. I think "24" has been pushing its luck for years now, and it can't possibly top last year's delightful over-the-top fun fest, can it? Plus there's the whole 2-night, 4-hour PREMIERE EVENT phenomenon. The Jack Bauer Power Hour is much more well suited for hourlong chunks, and 4 hours over two nights gets a little wearying. And they always have to do this when there's a ton of other stuff on, too, such as...

*Captain Video and his Video Rangers: THIS JUST IN! My good friends in the U.S. Postal Service just added another item to the agenda by delivering the Alpha Video disc collecting 4 episodes of this seminal ("seminal" mans primitive, juvenile, and stagy, right?) 50s kiddie sci-fi show--with original commercials, no less! All I need is a space helmet and I can enjoy this like Ed Norton. I might have to settle for my daughter's giraffe mask. Close enough.

*The Golden Globes: In a previous blogging incarnation, I felt a self-imposed obligation to watch events like this, if not write about them. Not so much anymore, particularly second-rate affairs like the Globes. Still, Ricky Gervais is host is almost enough to keep me watching. I think I'll likely be more dipping in and out of the thing, but his shtick could be an interesting fit for the ceremony.

*NFL Playoffs: Since the Steelers are out (in the sense of never having been in), I can just "enjoy the games." Except when the games stink, as most of them did last weekend. I'm rooting for the Colts, but other than that, I have too many "root againsts" and not enough "root fors" to get all worked up or anything about football right now. So I just hope for an entertaining quarter or two.

*Criminal by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips: My pal Mike (he's an even better friend than the U.S. Postal Service) loaned me another issue of this great comic book the other day, and this weekend, it's readin' time! In a culture that overuses the words "gritty" and "noir" to comic results, "Criminal" stands out as the real deal.