It looks like Susan Boyle’s got competition as Britain’s new singing sensation. WalesOnline is reporting that last night, a 12 year-old boy named Shaheen Jafargholi, who is said to have “blown away” the judges on Britain’s Got Talent with his performance of a Michael Jackson song, “Who’s Loving You.” The boy from Mount Pleasant, Swansea, sang a rich, gospel-inflected version of the song. An interesting moment occurs early on in this clip, as judge Simon Cowell stops Jafargholi’s initial song-choice and asks him if he’s got something better to sing. He does. Click here to check it out on the Britain’s Got Talent website.

The question is beginning to loom: how quickly can an American TV network start broadcasting the current season of Britain’s Got Talent over here?

What do you think of Shaheen Jafargholi?

I’m getting hooked. Maybe it’s the wave of New Sincerity that Susan Boyle has loosed upon this country, but I found myself really engaged by Southland‘s baby-found-crawling-in-the-street subplot last night. And the rest of the episode — complete with thirteen bleeped curse words, four before the opening credits were finished — was nearly as interesting.

NBC’s replacement for ER shares the hospital drama’s method of focusing on professionals under stress, combined with interesting cases and expected moments of humor. Last night, nearly all the major players, including stars Ben McKenzie and Regina King, were involved in the abandoned-child story line. Written by show creator Ann Biderman, this episode kept us guessing about where that baby would land: in Child Services, or returned to her former-addict mom. Even with a (relatively speaking) happy ending, it was a heart-breaker.

There was an excitingly-filmed suspect chase that ended with co-star Tom Everett Scott shooting the guy… with a “non-lethal” bean-bag gun. (When are we going to get some of the Scott character’s backstory? Southland is teasing us nicely.) I feel as though Southland is trying to cherry-pick the best elements of cop dramas such as NYPD Blue and, especially, Hill Street Blues, while building its own visual style and narrative rhythm. If so, that’s a smart decision: It invites a large audience to enjoy episodes that feel at once familiar and fresh.

The show continues to use Los Angeles and its neighborhoods well. (I’d swear that the motel the cops brought that girl and her grandmother to for safekeeping was the one I stayed in on Sunset Blvd. my first night in L.A.)

And next week — did you catch the coming attractions? Special guest star Tom Sizemore!!

I am so there…

Did you watch? What did you think?

I always enjoy the few CSI episodes every season that feature the supporting players, the “lab rats” — in this week’s case, Wallace Langham’s Hodges and Liz Vassey’s Wendy. The premise of a murder committed at a sci-fi convention wasn’t original, nor was the idea that Hodges and Wendy, as cerebral hard-workers, would be geek fans of a 1960s Star Trek-like show called here Astro Quest.

What was clever was the way the plot mirrored the history of Battlestar Galactica: on CSI, a producer was taking the campy old version of Astro Quest and turning it into a new, grungy, “realistic” Astro Quest. And sure enough, the teleplay was written by two former writers for BSG, David Weddle and Bradley Thompson. In the CSI story, someone kills the producer; the CSI crew assumes it’s a fan outraged at the perceived desecration of a “classic” old show.

Guest stars included one of BSG‘s big-bads: Kate Vernon, who played Cylon Ellen Tigh. CSI added another layer of cleverness by making Vernon’s character here an academic who quotes the deconstructionist philosopher Jacques Derrida and says things like, “Killed by one of the signifiers he sought to subvert!” Ha!

The interplay between Hodges and Wendy was dandy, as well as subject-appropriate-sexist: as an adult fanboy, Hodges had daydreams in which we see Wendy in various skimpy futuristic costumes. (These also stirred memories of Liz Vassey’s superbly witty and sexy performance as Captain Liberty in the 2001 sitcom The Tick.)

I also liked seeing, as one of the suspects, a distinctly non-sci-fi presence: Liza Weil — Paris on Gilmore Girls, always a welcome TV sighting.

But I’m not a super-knowledgeable science-fiction fan, so I’m sure some of you out there will tell me who else appeared on CSI last night from the sci-fi world: I thought I spotted Grace Park (BSG‘s Boomer) in the crowd. Were there other luminaries at that convention I missed?

And in general, did you think this was a strong CSI episode?

You may recall that in 1995, Drew Barrymore’s birthday gift to David Letterman was to flash him, one of the more memorable talk-show appearances. Last night on the Late Show, Barrymore remained fully clothed to promote her new HBO movie Grey Gardens. But her tongue-piercing and her proclamation, “I’m a good-time gal,” both delighted and alarmed the wily Letterman.

“It’ll get infected… and you may lose most of your tongue,” Dave mock-scolded her. Barrymore said she got the piercing to play a movie role as a roller-derby contestant (the upcoming Whip It!). The character’s name? “Smashley Simpson.” Execellent!

More on Drew Barrymore:

Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore Q&A

Clip du Jour: Drew Barrymore in ‘Irreconcilable Differences’

Billing it as “Susan Sings For America,” CBS’ Early Show interviewed Scottish instant-singing-sensation Susan Boyle this morning. The 47 year-old sang an a capella version of “I Dreamed a Dream” via satellite from her hometown of Blackburn, Scotland. It was, of course, lovely.

Watch CBS Videos Online

Dressed in a simple white dress, Boyle was as charming as she seemed on Britain’s Got Talent. “The ones who were mean to me, are now nice to me,” she said referring to skeptics who didn’t think a person not as glamorously packaged as your average pop star could wow audiences with pure ability and emotion.

In an interesting touch, the Early Show had Patti LuPone, who originated the performance of “Dream” in Les Miserables, on the phone to offer both emotional and technical praise to Boyle. LuPone talking about how “difficult” the song is to sing, “especially at the end,” referring to its rafter-shaking climax. LuPone congratulated Boyle on her “pluck.” Asked by co-host Harry Smith what LuPone’s compliments meant to her, Boyle said simply, “That’ll do.”

It is exactly that simplicity and directness that has helped to melt away any cynicism and irony that usually attaches to an instant pop phenomenon. Smith and co-host Maggie Rodriguez had to ask inevitable questions such as “Do you understand” that instant fame, and “Where did the courage come from?”

Boyle said her determination to enter the British TV competition, and her performance, was “a tribute to my mother,” with whom Boyle lived until she died recently.

Once again, there was talk — among the hosts, and by LuPone — of crying at witnessing Boyle’s unadorned, powerful talent. And once again, everyone seemed to be speaking from the heart. Most of all Susan Boyle herself.

Did you watch? What did you think of Boyle’s Early Show appearance?

On South Park this week, young Stan learned the hard way that you shouldn’t cheat: his dad, Randy, helped him win the town’s Pinewood race-car derby by illegally souping up his little auto with a “superconducting magnet” with unintended consequences.

Through the warp-speed storytelling style that is making this season one of South Park‘s best, Stan and Randy’s victory brought a visit from some aliens. Plus the discovery of a mountain of “space cash” that was immediately divvied up by the leaders of the world, and, ultimately, the expulsion of Earth from the “Federation of Planets” forever. Sound complicated? Just remember: don’t cheat in a contest.

South Park was followed by a new episode of Reno 911! featuring a fine, loony guest turn by The Office‘s Rainn Wilson as a “serial murderer” freed from jail in the custody of officers Dangle and Williams. He promised them he’d reveal where he’d buried a body, but would do so only after they agreed to a series of demands that included watching Cold Mountain “with the director’s commentary” and allowing him to “deep throat [Dangle's] pinky.” The lesson learned here? Um, never believe a serial murderer when he says, “I love Jude Law”?

Did you watch South Park and/or Reno 911!? What did you think?

Okay, this morning I asked you who should be cast in HBO’s upcoming movie of the upcoming book Game Change: Obama And The Clintons, McCain And Palin, And The Race Of A Lifetime. Interesting responses from you, readers. So far:

• The Obama-actor vote is split between Will Smith (he’s got the slimness down, for sure) and Dollhouse‘s Harry Lennix (he’s got the direct gaze, for sure).

• John McCain: Surprisingly (to me, anyway), a number of you said James Caan (me, I always think of Caan in two films, The Godfather and Thief, so he’s not an automatic McCain-impersonator in my mind, but there you go).

• Sarah Palin: looks like a Tina Fey landslide — you weren’t buying my Megan Mullally suggestion.

• Hillary Clinton: Annette Bening is pulling ahead of Meryl Streep!

Special thanks to commenter “Meier” for his terrific write-in vote: Michael Chiklis as Joe the Plumber.

These results are not final; there’s still time to vote before the polls close. Thank you and have a nice day.

Does Glenn Beck talk so fast, he uses up all the oxygen in the room? One has to wonder, given yesterday’s startling moment when a guest passed out during the live Fox News show. It was Columbia University teacher David Buckner, who was talking to Beck about the causes of bankruptcy:

Normally this wouldn’t merit a chuckle, but… that’s exactly what Beck did after a few commercial breaks. Laughing a bit, he noted that no one on his staff immediately rushed over to Buckner because “it’s a madhouse here, and… everybody just thought it was part of the show.”

Beck said Buckner was “doing fine” and had apologized to Beck, who then said, “Are you kidding me? The ratings will go through the roof!”