The British motoring series Top Gear (Monday, 8:00 p.m., BBC America) has a world wide following and happens to be one of the funniest shows on television. It's sort of a combination of Monty Python, Mythbusters, Motorweek, and a talk show all rolled into one crazy hour of British madness with three crazy British hosts. This week, they add beautifully filmed travelogue and a bit of road movie to the mix as they journey to......

Starting point map and destination point map viewed side by side on the MTA Trip Planner website. Anyone trying to plot the best subway route to serve their departure and destination points has long since given up on the MTA website, which for years has mostly confined itself to below-ground mapping and shown a remarkable disregard for how the subway actually corresponds with the street level. Sites such as Hopstop and OnNYturf have sprung......

A look at some of this week's noteworthy television: Elmo’s Christmas Countdown (Sunday, 7:00 p.m., WABC 7) It is a brand new Sesame Street Christmas special complete with an all star guest list providing music and voices like ABC News anchor Charles Gibson voicing a news reading reindeer and Ben Stiller voicing an elf. From the sound of it doesn’t seem like it will wind up being an enduring classic like A Charlie Brown Christmas.......

A look at some noteworthy television this week: Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project (Sunday, 8:00 p.m., HBO) A look at America's favorite insult comic and last surviving member of the “Rat Pack”, the octogenarian Don Rickles from director John Landis. Everyone from Chris Rock to Bob Newhart to Clint Eastwood to Sidney Poitier talk about the comic. 1968 (Sunday, 9:00 p.m., History Channel) 1968 was a turbulent and tragic year and Tom Brokaw not......

A look at some noteworthy television this week: Lincoln Center Tree Lighting 2007 (Monday, 5:30 p.m, WABC 7) Good Morning America’s Sam Champion and WABC’s Sade Baderinwa host the first televised tree lighting of the season. There will be some performances by Lincoln Center’s resident companies and some guest’s from channel 7’s owner Disney on hand for entertainment for the 8th annual Lincoln Center Holiday Tree lighting. America at a Crossroads (Monday, 9:00 p.m &......

A look at some noteworthy television this week: 2007 American Music Awards (Sunday, 8:00 p.m., WABC 7) Most awards shows are basically useless and awards shows where people vote on line are even more so. This year this awards show invented by Dick Clark in 1973 gets even more useless. Jimmy Kimmel hosts. Nature: The Beauty of Ugly (Sunday, 8:00 p.m., WNET 13; Wednesday, 8:00 p.m., WLIW 21) A look at some of the strangest......

It's a Halloween Hump Day! We will have more details about the Halloween Parade and other events in the city later, but we thought we'd point you to It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown videos on Youtube (part 1, 2, 3), in case you missed ABC's airing last night. You can also get it on DVD, and there's also the book It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown: The Making of a Television Classic. Halloween......

A look at some noteworthy television this week: Nature: Silence of the Bees (Sunday, 8:00 p.m., WNET 13; Wednesday 8:00 p.m., WLIW 21) The long running PBS nature series Nature takes a look at the recent decline in the honey bee population and the possible consequences of it. Masterpiece Theatre: The Amazing Mrs Pritchard (Sunday, 9:00 p.m., WNET 13) The story of a supermarket manager becomes Prime Minister continues with Mrs. Pritchard facing some hard......

Late October is a the perfect time of the year to eat local zucchini blossoms, those fleshy, pale orange flowers that are often found stuffed or battered on fancy restaurant menus. The first part of this sentence would be true if zucchini plants were flowering now, but they’re not. Instead, consider the pumpkin blossom: Generally overlooked in the culinary world (like zucchini flowers once were before they were trendy), pumpkin blossoms are in incredible abundance......

I Dig Doug, a new production in this year’s Fringe Festival, concerns a status-obsessed uptown debutante who decides she should so get involved in presidential politics. When the farcical story begins, the unnamed teen (Karen DiConcetto, called Girl in the program) and her equally self-absorbed friend Nicole (Rochelle Zimmerman) are coasting along on their parents’ money, only mildly concerned about their imminent college application essays – Girl is smart enough to know that if they......

A yuletide favorite since 1965, A Charlie Brown Christmas, airs tomorrow night at 8pm (as we mentioned in yesterday's tv listing). Seem a little early? Hey, it's after Thanksgiving...so Christmas is only a hop, skip and jump away. We've been prepared for this since the seasonal lights went up on Orchard Street just after Halloween. Remember when that song "Hey Ya" was EVERYWHERE? The above clip is that Charlie Brown Christmas/Hey Ya mashup that......

A look at some noteworthy programs this week: Theater Talk: Prime-Time Spectacular (WNET 13, Sunday, 10:30 p.m.) This Broadway interview show celebrates its 10th anniversary with an hour long prime time special. Lincoln Center Tree Lighting 2006 (WABC 7, Monday, 5:00 p.m.) Channel 7 gives over a good chunk of their 5 p.m.newscast to this annual tree lighting. Expect some Disney corporate synergy in any performances. A Charlie Brown Christmas (WABC 7, Tuesday, 8:00 p.m.)......

Get ready for some helium action! The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons will be blown up tomorrow at 3PM on the Upper West Side. The blow-up is basically all around the American Museum of Natural History - along at 77th and 81st Streets between Central Park West and Columbus. There may be a helium shortage (who knew?), but planners know and have taken that into account. Just be sure to bundle up. The NY......

A look at some noteworthy programs this week: A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (WABC 7, Monday, 8:00 p.m.) The annual showing of this timeless classic Peanuts cartoon is always a must see. Despite being from 1973, the show holds up quite well and is a welcome reminder of simpler times. But would you really eat a Thanksgiving dinner catered by a beagle? He's a Bully, Charlie Brown (WABC 7, Monday, 8:30 p.m.) After the classic Thanksgiving......

The search for Peter Braunstein continues, now into Brooklyn. Cobble Hill residents, be on the lookout! Bernie Kerik is either an idiot or took a huge discount on construction in his apartment, possibly both as renovations for his Riverdale pad were nearly $200k.  The MTA is adding intercoms to some stations. We're thinking the intercoms will sound like Charlie Brown's teacher. Muni meters in Midtown are getting ready to take credit cards. Yay, no......

For some reason, news that 130 of the 468 subway stations don't have public address sytems was shocking. Yes, all subway stations should have PA systems so riders waiting for trains can be alerted of emergencies or even just basically train re-routing issues, but given the crap condition of many stations, it's more a confirmation that the MTA needs to be prodded into doing more. And the truth is, we'd say that of the remaining......

During yesterday's Crain's New York sponsored forum, mayoral candidates tried to stake out their positions in the crowded field people who just wanna beat Mayor Mike. To summarize: Representative Anthony Weiner attacked former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer's plan to tax stock transactions; Ferrer attacked the Mayor's rehaul of the school system; City Council Speaker Gifford Miller talked about transit issues; Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields spoke about education and community-police relations. And all......

Yesterday, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade went off without a hitch. Spongebob Squarepants, Pikachu, Super Grover, and more friends were guided down Manhattan to Herald Square, accompanied by clowns, marching bands, floats, and other performers. In fact, many people were caught with their coats tied around their waists, what with 64 degree weather. And the lovely weather is credited for making sure 2.5 million people turned out for the parade! The NY Times noted......

Nothing says All Hallows Eve quite like candy corn, that left over make up residue left by your hair line and scary movies. While Gothamist is a huge fan of kiddie fare like the classic It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!" (available to rent on DVD via Netflix, no less), most people prefer that sensation of wanting to hide behind their seat in the movie theater at the end of October. A few Halloween movie......

The coolest crime fighters around these days, the Powerpuff Girls, have a Christmas special tonight, 'Twas the Fight Before Christmas, on the Cartoon Network. Zap2it details the plot in a Clement Moore style poem: The villain in this cartoon is a brat named Princess Morbucks Whose sole unmet wish is to be a Powerpuff Girl -- shucks Spoiled to her marrow, she travels to the North Pole With thoughts of computer hacking poisoning her soul.......

The Post lists what New Yorkers can do this Halloween in the city, ranging from various parties at night clubs (Avalon, Maritime Hotel, Suede) and churches (St. John the Divine) to dog parades...even a call to your dentist. Of course, the number one pick is the Village Halloween Parade, in its 30th year. And the grand marshal this year? Why, Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors. But, after some scary incidents, Gothamist will......

Page Six shows its true colors by calling any celebrity who does not support war a "Saddam lover." Gothamist does like the Post for its crazy right wing tabloidism, but this is stupid - we'd like to see proof that these celebrities truly are Saddam lovers, preferably in easily uploadable images. Also, on the note of Dixie Chick Natalie Maines' remarks about being "ashamed of President Bush," read Stephanie Zacharek's thoughtful essay. People never......