Chase (8pm, NBC) - Annie lets the team in on troubling details about her past when they take on a case that involves putting the life of her estranged father in danger. I feel like this (canceled) show will never end.

It's Me or the Dog (8pm, Animal Planet) - Victoria helps clam three hyper dogs that have caused strife between their owners. In this show's companion piece, "My Cat From Hell" (9pm), a couple are surprised to discover that the cat they're fostering is feral, and another pair deal with a cat that has extreme mood changes.

River Monsters (9pm, Discovery) - In the Australian Outback, Jeremy attempts to catch the endangered freshwater sawfish, which is said to attack boats.

Sinbad and the Minotaur (9pm, Syfy) - Sinbad (Manu Bennett) must steal a relic from a sorcerer before leading his crew in search of treasure on an island inhabited by a minotaur.

Saturday Night Live (11:29, NBC) - For the show's season finale, Justin Timberlake is the host and the music guest is Lady Gaga. Timberlake has hosted SNL four times and this will be Gaga's second appearance. When Gaga was on the show in October 2009 (with host Ryan Reynolds), she took part in several sketches. She is pictured here with Andy Samberg.

Scotty McCreery continued to show his vocal and emotional range on "American Idol" tonight, singing both an emotional Sept. 11 anthem and a fun 1950s song. Plus, he told us how much he misses Garner. He vowed to "kiss the grass" – then find some tea and fried chicken – if he gets to come home for a Final Three visit this weekend.

But the highlight of the night was probably Scotty's encounter with this week's guest mentor, Lady Gaga. Clad in black-and-white hair, makeup and clothes, Gaga looked like some sort of bird, as my colleague Brooke noted. Gaga was obsessed with making sure Scotty didn't pull away from the microphone, even going so far as telling him to think of the mic as his girlfriend and to "make love" to it. "I better have a good-lookin' microphone," Scotty joked. Later, he was shown good-naturedly kissing the cross around his neck and seeking forgiveness after his Gaga encounter.

For the first round of tonight's show, the Final Four were asked to pick songs that had special meaning to them. Scotty chose Alan Jackson's 9/11 anthem “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning).” Of course, Scotty was just 7 on Sept. 11. Still, he gave a strong, emotional performance that the judges loved.

Well, it's down to crunch time on "American Idol" for our Garner hopeful, Scott McCreery. Wednesday night found the four remaining contestants singing for a spot in the top-three, and this weekend's triumphant homecoming trip. The format called for each singer to do one song that inspired them; and one from the Leiber & Stoller songbook, as coached by pop star Lady Gaga.

McCreery, who Ryan Seacrest called "Scotty the Body," began with Alan Jackson's 9/11 ode "Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning?" It was fine, though not revelatory -- the fiddler did him no favors and sounded a bit off, and McCreery himself started shaky. But he finished strong, earning unanimous praise from the three judges.

As for the meeting between McCreery and Gaga, it was a true culture clash that had him kissing his cross afterward. His song was the Coasters' "Young Blood," and she coached him to envision the microphone as his girlfriend. Hmm... But his rendition was fun and personable, and the judges liked it, too.

If McCreery makes the top-three, he promised to "kiss the grass" when he gets here for his big homecoming pep rally. That will happen Saturday afternoon at Garner's Lake Benson Park. More details will be announced if he makes the top-three tomorrow night -- and if you want to vote for him, the numbers are 866/436-5703 or 866/436-5707. And even if McCreery doesn't advance, he'll be at Raleigh's RBC Center on July 27 with the "American Idol" tour. Tickets for that go on-sale at 10 a.m. Friday.

So, what will Garner's Scotty McCreery be singing on Wednesday night's Final Four showdown? Hard to say. The theme/mentor combination is an odd one.

Fresh from last week’s “Now and Then” theme, the Final Four -- from left, Haley Reinhart, Scotty, James Durbin and Lauren Alaina -- will face something old and something new this week. The old? The songs of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who wrote music for Elvis Presley, The Drifters and The Coasters, among others. The new? The guest mentor is Lady Gaga. Her teaching session with Scotty should be interesting.

What should Scotty sing? We still like the idea of him tackling “Stand By Me,” which we suggested for the “then” part of last week’s theme. Other Leiber and Stoller songs that it would be fun to hear Scotty try: “There Goes My Baby,” “Kansas City,” “On Broadway” or “Spanish Harlem.”

If you're a Scotty McCreery fan that likes to plan ahead -- and you're not the superstitious type -- you can go ahead and block off Saturday afternoon. You'll want to be in Garner for the big Scotty homecoming party.

Granted, the party isn't official yet. Scotty, the "American Idol" contestant from Garner, doesn't get a hometown party this weekend unless he makes it to the Final Three. And we won't know that until Thursday at about 8:55 p.m.

Still, town officials need to go ahead and get ready for what will be a huge bash if Scotty makes the cut. Here are the details we can reveal thus far:

It's Me or the Dog (8pm, Animal Planet) - Victoria helps a contentious couple curb their dog's dangerous behavior to ensure the safety of their three kids.

My Cat From Hell (9pm, Animal Planet) - This new show is sort of the counterpart to 'It's Me or the Dog,' just with a way more incendiary title, and the lives of little children aren't in danger here. In tonight's first episode, a stressed out cat comes between a woman and her boyfriend, and a newly engaged couple deal with his dislike of her cats. The host is hipster cat behaviorist Jackson Galaxy, who is not only a zen cat whisperer, but as we see in tonight's episode, a jerk whisperer, too. Read more about the new show.

Lady Gaga Presents the Monster Ball Tour: At Madison Square Garden (9pm, HBO) - The title sort of says it all. Gaga performs with a 10-piece band and 10 backup singers. The show was taped in February 2011. If you can't wait, you can go ahead and check out some extrended previews and behind-the-scenes clips.

Three Weeks, Three Kids (9pm, Hallmark) - A free spirit (Anna Chlumsky) babysits her sister's kids for an extended period, thanks to a plot by her mother. While helping the kids deal with issues like bullying, popularity, and teenage drinking, the woman also connects with a handsome neighbor (Warren Christie).

Almighty Thor (9pm, Syfy) - A timely new Syfy movie about a hero (Cody Deal) from Valhalla who rises up against a demonic god (Richard Grieco) who threatens to obliterate Los Angeles.

Saturday Night Live (11:29pm, NBC) - Tina Fey is back as the host, and the music guest is Ellie Goulding. There's a rumor Amy Poehler may stop by.

This is happening, Little Monsters, so get ready. 

'Lady Gaga Presents the Monster Ball Tour: At Madison Square Garden' debuts tomorrow night, May 7 at 9 p.m. on HBO.

The music! The costumes! The spectacle! If you're a Gaga fan, you don't want to miss this.

Click below for some great behind-the-scenes clips.

Going into Sunday night's Grammy Awards ceremony, conventional wisdom was that Durham-based Merge Records would win one. But almost no one could have predicted that it would play out as it did, with Merge's Arcade Fire losing in two minor categories before unexpectedly walking away with the evening-ending grand prize: album of the year, over a field of nominees including Eminem and Lady Gaga.

Merge co-owners Mac McCaughan and Laura Ballance missed seeing it in-person because their band Superchunk is about to start a Japanese tour. McCaughan was already in Japan by Sunday, while Ballance turned her phone off and went to bed because she had a flight early Monday morning.

But Merge publicist Christina Rentz and retail director Jamie Beck were at Los Angeles' Staples Center to bear witness. And Beck actually called Arcade Fire's victory in advance.

"Maybe I'm naive, but I'm hopeful all the time," Beck said. "We found out Arcade Fire was playing last, and I knew that the album-of-the-year winners are usually panting when they accept because they've just come offstage. So we had theories about them slipping in and surprising everybody."

Still, Arcade Fire seemed like the longest of longshots to take album of the year -- especially after losing to Black Keys for best alternative album, which most observers expected Arcade Fire to win. Things looked even more dire when Black Keys also beat out Arcade Fire for best rock performance by a duo or group with vocals.

Just under five hours after that announcement, Arcade Fire took the stage to play, the last album-of-the-year nominee to perform. Barbra Streisand was the presenter, and she seemed almost puzzled as she called out the winner.

"When Barbra Streisand stuttered out their name, we just screamed at the top of our lungs," Rentz said. "We were up on the second level and everybody around us was leaving -- they had no idea who we were or the band was. We were completely stunned."

After a quick acceptance speech by frontman Win Butler, Arcade Fire went back to their instruments and played a second song as a victory-lap outro while the credits rolled. The band's after-party was a jubilant affair, with bassist Richard Parry declaring, "We robbed a bank!"

"We were saying that it kind of felt like the world tilting a little bit," Rentz said. "I did tell Win that the best way to celebrate this would be for them to come play in North Carolina -- 'C'mon, guys, we'll have a barbecue for you!' They were leaving for England the next day for the Brit Awards and I told them, 'Good luck topping this!' They just laughed and said, 'Don't worry. It won't.'"

ADDENDUM (2/20/11): Dissent!

...Wake Community Network thinks I'm a "class act,"  citing a couple of not-so-recent concert reviews as evidence of...something. I'm still not entirely sure what, beyond disapproval. But thanks a heap, and I'd like to thank all the little people who made this possible...
 

Lady Gaga blew into town Sunday night, with a monstrous extravaganza calculated to shock and awe. Click through to see how it went, with a review and photo gallery.