The savior of otherwise postless days: television recaps.

Reality bites: On American Idol we're in an interesting situation where there's no real stand-outs. The annual competition between talent and image is a push at best. Even more confusing is the run of Scott Savol, who combines a pretty good voice with (what appears to the layperson) as a borderline sociopathic aspect. The sex appeal of Constantine Maroulis - he of the greasy shoulder-length hair and Chiclet-style yellowish teeth - is also hard to get a grip on, other than noting that he looks more dangerous than he actually is.

Over on America's Next Top Model Tyra Banks took a full-on nutty on a contestant last night, the capper to a double elimination. The judges hope this'll get the remaining contestant going, but it may just shake them more. The contestants have also shown an amazing lack of fashion knowledge (not knowing what haute couture is and being unable to pronounce designer names) and general knowledge (similar problems pronouncing 'magenta' and 'chartreuse.'). It's ugly.

Missed The Apprentice last week, though I've gotten the gist of things elsewhere. Big news is of course the arrest of hot-head Chris, which will only be a concern if he makes the finals. I don't see that happening. No real stand-outs here, either. Many more people who seem to be coasting, which will prove interesting now that the small teams should prevent such things.

Missing last week also apparently allowed me to miss an ugly product placement for Domino's new cheeseburger pizza. So much the better.

A modicum of praise be for Revelations, the short-run NBC series about the looming end of the world. The pilot was a little confusing, as it took some time to develop the background. Atmospherically it was all sorts of dramatic, although not so stupidly heavy-handed as Point Pleasant.

Anyway, Bill Pullman (a UMass grad according to a new ad running here; who knew?) plays a Harvard prof whose daughter was killed by a Satanist. He goes to Chile, captures the Satanist, and is now engaging in some sort of Starling-and-Lechter dialog with him (I'm calling pre-emptive shenanigans if they run off together to sacrifice more kids).

Meanwhile, Natasha McElhone plays a British nun with an Italian name who is investigating religious phenomena trying to prove that the end of days is nigh. She, of course, crosses paths with Pullman's character, which has the usual rational scepticism versus higher power face-off. The something happens to rattle the prof's beliefs, and we're off.

There's also a baby who was the only survivor of a ferry sinking. The baby may be the second coming. Or he's been sent to lead us astray. We'll be finding out later.

Smartly, this is only a six-episode run. So if it tanks, NBC can cut and run. If it doesn't, we can expect more eschatalogical wackiness next season. Either way, Aaron Barnhart pretty much nails the show in his review.

And finally I've been enjoying the USification of The Office, possibly because I've not seen the original yet. Tuesdays at 9:30 on your local NBC station.