'Tis the season to be thankful

9. Sarah Vowell. Anyone who's never listened to her on NPR is going to start tuning in just to hear more of the voice that launched a thousand force fields as the super-powered daughter in "The Incredibles".

10. Rob Corddry. Jon Stewart and a crack writing team get much of the credit for the remarkable success of "The Daily Show," as well they should, but what about the hyperactive bald guy who will basically do anything at all for a laugh? What about him? Let's give him a little love.

11. And speaking of hyperactive bald guys - David Cross on "Arrested Development," who, for reasons I'm not at liberty to go into, has spent most of the last few episodes in blue body paint. It must be said that this is not the most flattering fashion choice, but it may be one of the funniest.

12. Straight men. Always an underappreciated category in general, but we're in a wonderful age of them now. Two that stand out in particular are Jason Bateman in "Arrested Development" and Scott Patterson, who plays Luke on "Gilmore Girls".

13. Forensic detection. If there wasn't a group of crime scene investigators who specialized in analyzing trace evidence, what would CBS do at night? Actually, this isn't so much something for us to be thankful for as for CBS...

14. Reruns of "The Family Guy" on the Cartoon Network. The most scabrous animated comedy on television (with apologies to those folks from Springfield) reminds you that there is a place for offensive loudmouths with stupid opinions - and that place isn't necessarily Fox News or CNN's "Crossfire".

15. Movie actors accepting their small screen destiny. Actors like Joe Mantegna, Gary Sinise, Mary Steenburgen, Treat Williams - distinguished feature players all, but never quite making that jump to the A-List - who are carving out wonderful, full and breathing characters for themselves on shows like "Joan of Arcadia," "Everwood," and, yes, even "CSI: New York".

16. Las Vegas. The election may have been taken by the punditocracy as a referendum on moral values - but Sin City is providing a raft of killer storylines, on shows like "CSI", "Las Vegas", and even the now-on-hiatus "Father of the Pride". They say Minneapolis is one of the best cities in the country in which to live, but how many of us would want to see a show set there?

17. The failure of sequels and remakes. "Alfie" hasn't caught fire; neither has "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason" or "Shall We Dance?". Maybe, going into the holiday season, we can hope that America has decided to accept original fare like "The Grudge". Actually, "The Grudge" is a remake, too. Well, I'll settle for the failure of bad sequels and remakes.

18. The Marx Brothers. Not for any particular reason; I'm just thankful that they're there. Go watch "Animal Crackers" or "Duck Soup" or "A Night at the Opera" again; you'll be thankful too.

19. The Mars daughter. Veronica Mars, that is, whose eponymous UPN show has - let's be particularly thankful - been picked up for a full season. That way more people have the chance to get hooked by this mixture of "High School Confidential" and "The Maltese Falcon."

20. "Lost." I know I already said it, but, you know, I'm really really thankful for it.

Have a a great holiday this month.

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