Ox Notes: February 25, 2010

Am I the only one surprised by the relative dearth of information about the Dancing with the Stars 10 cast? There have only been a handful of rumors, even though the announcement in only a few days away. Usually celebs are falling all over themselves to spill the beans.

One rumor that seems to be gaining traction regards Kate Gosselin. It makes sense for her to appear on DwtS because 1) she's co-hosted The View and has an existing relationship with ABC, and 2) she's not doing anything else (besides parenting eight kids, of course).

EW notes that gold medalist Evan Lysacek has expressed a desire to compete on DwtS, but I doubt it will be this season. After all, he needs to keep his schedule free for Evan Lysacek Day in Naperville.

By the way, kudos to Evgeni Plushenko for awarding himself the platinum medal after finishing second to Lysacek. I'm going to start campaigning for Naperville to hold a Evgeni Plushenko Day, too.

NBC reports that 174 million people have watched the Winter Olympics during its first 12 days.

Apparently, Melissa Rycroft hasn't secured the DwtS co-host gig after all, despite revealing the contestants during this Monday's Bachelor finale. Mel B did a screen-test for the job yesterday.

I'm setting my DVR now for Kathy Griffin's guest spot on Law & Order: SVU this coming Wednesday.

I'm also setting my DVR for Johnny Depp's appearance on 48 Hours Mystery on Saturday. Depp will speak on behalf of the "West Memphis Three", three men convicted of murder when they were teenagers despite an abundance of evidence pointing to their innocence.

On March 15, HGTV debuts the show Home Rules about a life coach who helps struggling families. Thus continues HGTV's slow metamorphosis from informative how-to channel into a family freak show network like TLC. I assume that series on room makeovers for child beauty queens and women who didn't know they were pregnant are already in development.

Cast your vote in E!'s March Madness-style bracket poll of TV's Top Couples. Riker & Troi from Star Trek: The Next Generation for the win!