But the most irksome albeit slightly more watchable part of last night's ep was Sylar's teaming up with Noah Bennet. Why, writers, why? Granted, the pairing made for some humorous moments, but I absolutely cringed when Sylar argued with Noah about wanting to help at the bank robbery. Again, the writers better be building up to some mind-boggling twist, because I don't know how long I can stand good-citizen Sylar. At least he returned to form briefly by slaying that one dude in the end, but the previews for next week's ep, where Sylar's in the kitchen cooking better be a dream sequence.

Funny thing is, the story line I'm enjoying the most -- Hiro and Ando, in their interactions with Ms. Speed Racer Daphne -- seems to be the one that's annoying most of the Heroes fans I know. I do wish their tale would move along already, though -- enough with the "Hiro has the document then loses it to Daphne" stuff. And come on, scribes, you had the entire writers' strike to come up with a gourmet dish -- quit serving us cat food!

Meanwhile, the Cowboys-Packers game on NBC drew a 14.4 overnight rating. Not sure how that number translates into millions of viewers.

Did anyone even make it through to the end of this snooze-fest?? It was my job to watch, but I wanted to flip to the Cowboys game and leave it there for most of the Emmy telecast (OK, I did sneak some peeks at the game -- suck on that, Green Bay!). Here, lowlights and highlights:

• That Josh Groban theme-song bit wasn't as fantastic as hyped. At least he was game, but it just came off as very "so what."

• The Laugh-In skit went on way too long.

• The funniest bits of the show were way too short: Harvey Korman's bit in the "In Memoriam" montage (of all places to find a laugh) had me and a coworker rolling with laughter. And Ricky Gervais' stage time, culminating in a faux tussle with Steve Carell over the Emmy Carell accepted for Gervais last year, was -- like The Office -- uncomfortably hilarious. The Emmy producers should seriously ask one or both of them to lead the Emmy proceedings next year.

• To add insult to the injury of the five hosts already sucking the life out of their Emmy duties, the producers had to drag out, American Idol-style, naming the winner of the reality competition host award (above). They cut off practically every acceptance speech to make time for this crap? Unbelievable.

Overall, this year's show gets a C-/D in terms of entertainment value. Too bad, because so many outstanding-yet-struggling shows could've used great buzz from the Emmys, but the telecast was so bad it was hard even to make it to the end.

But today I've been thinking about Steve Perry, who holds a special place in the video annals of my heart. My first music video memory is of him singing into the camera in Journey's "Separate Ways." And ever since I downloaded "Oh Sherrie" last week (I know, what took me so long?!), it's been blaring from my iPod nonstop. And that video? Vintage '80s cheese. Bon appetit ...

Carrie Fisher, a.k.a. Princess Leia, was on public radio's Diane Rehm Show this morning, and ... oh ... my ... God. Fisher (pictured with her mother, Debbie Reynolds) is a hilarious train wreck who has no problem making fun of herself and her family. Of course, that's to be expected, since Fisher was on the radio show to promote her autobiographical one-woman stage show, Wishful Drinking.

Some girlfriends and I were fantasizing about which three designers on Project Runway we'd love to see make it to Bryant Park. That was the fun and easy part: Leanne, Korto and Terri seem like the strongest contenders so far in the competish.

But it's also fun to dish about why the rest fall so far from the top of the pack:

Jerrell: Although he's a dishy, gossipy diva with a fabulous personality, he might be too hit-and-miss to make it all the way to Bryant Park. So far, when he hits, he soars, but his misses are abysmally bad (see: the polka-dotted Pollyanna hat for his U.S. Olympic team uniform).

Blayne (above): While I love his quirky inventiveness -- the knickers he made for last week's impress-the-mess-outta-Diane-Von-Furstenburg challenge were divine! -- he's sometimes caused us to question his taste (the shorts for Lipstick Jungle? Hellish). And the tacking on of "-licious" onto every other noun? Over it.

Suede: Somehow his frequent referring to himself in the third person has NOT gotten on my nerves. Still, much like Blayne, his coasting in the middle of the pack or near the bottom has me wondering if he'll go very far. Too bad -- he's super-sweet and looks like a living, breathing South Park character. Farah will totes miss that.

Joe: I hope last week's drubbing of his work, despite his blazing overconfidence about it, served as a serious reality check for him. I haven't liked anything of his since his cute U.S. Olympic team ensemble. Maybe he'll make a late surge.

Kenley: She should be Auf'd just for being annoying. If it's not tears of stress we're getting from her, it's her juvenile guffaw echoing through the work room. And will she ever quit interrupting the judges?! Design-wise, I thought she fell short on the DVF challenge, which was a shame, considering the '30s/40s-era theme seemed to be right up her retro alley. Maybe she'll pull something out of her sleeve in the coming weeks.

Now that Sarah Palin has been named to the Republican ticket, do you think Saturday Night Live is trying to lure back Tina Fey?

But Nike is encouraging everyone to run a 10K on Sunday and donate to or raise money for one of their three charities, even if you can't get to one of the race locations. Locally, the Coppell Run On! is sponsoring a 10K for anyone who wants to run with a group.

Winehouse is only one of many others made fun of in the flick, but the filmmakers have singled her out on the movie's Web site with a fun little timewaster called "Escape from Rehab." Emphasis on timewaster.

You get to punch and kick Winehouse through a line of bad guys on her noble mission to rescue hubby Blake from prison. Along the way, she says stuff like "Piss off!" "Bugga off!" and "I haven't taken a crap in a fortnight!" which is pretty funny, considering it's probably true.

Good Lord, don't I have anything better to do?

Robbie Ryan of McKinney was one of the subjects of a story I wrote last year about grown men who still collect Transformers. Apparently, Robbie has a lot of time on his hands. He has created a music video about Ben & Jerry's ice cream and is competing to win a trip to Vermont for the company's 30th anniversary. He needs as many votes as you can muster before Tuesday.

Eisner winning artist John Cassaday, a Fort Worth native and graduate of Springtown High School, has been named the guest of honor for the Wizard World Texas comic book convention.

I think I've finally found a reality show that I can get interested in.

DMN golf writer Bill Nichols reports that Hank Haney -- you might know him as the coach of the world's best golfer -- will reportedly teach Charles Barkley (left) how to swing a golf club. There's a good chance nobody in history has a worse swing than Barkley. The Golf Channel show will be shot in the Dallas area, with filming beginning in about one week.

Witten's tough love: Cowboys tight end Jason Witten doesn't believe in doing any favors for rookie Martellus Bennett, from Texas A&M. "He says it all the time, 'Jason doesn't like me,' " Witten said. "He's got to figure it out first, and when he does, obviously that's when I come along."

No Adrian Peterson: If you were hoping to see the former Oklahoma standout when the Vikings play the Cowboys at Texas Stadium on Thursday, you're out of luck. The Vikings aren't planning on playing any starters. For more Cowboy love, go here.

Want to know what he's done? Bid and win or we'll never know. Current bid is up to $51.

His auction description begins: 'I've done something illegal and I need to get it off my chest. ... Times are hard, and I'm having a difficult time keeping the roof over my family's head. I'm willing to sell my confession to the highest bidder so that my loved ones are taken care of..."