The summer drought continues

Although there's a chance of showers -- "The Closer" begins its season tonight on TNT and NBC's heavily promoted "Bachelor" rip-off "Age of Love" starts.

I hope like heck that it doesn't turn into a hit, because I seriously dread having to spell Mark Philippoussis.

I'm still toying around with this week's column. I'm pondering expanding on last week's kvetching about "Man vs. Wild" and "Ice Road Truckers" into a riff on the role imitation plays in TV.

I use "role" in the same sense you might refer to role oxygen plays in the atmosphere: Not the primary ingredient (Geek alert: nitrogen composes 78 percent of the air we breathe), but certainly the part everyone cares about.

Hmmm... At the moment, I'm really distracted by how awful this picture of Mark Philippoussis is. That's the best NBC's publicity department could come up with? He looks like they caught him wearing a shark's tooth necklace and prowling the bar at the Copacabana. Shudder.