Kids today may be spending too much time online and with their gadgets, but at least they can track down the jerks who rob them of their cellphones. Sixteen-year-old Yudelka Polanco managed to find the guy who stole her SIdekick Slide with a little detective work. Polanco was walking home in Williamsburg last month when a guy grabbed the phone. (The Post reports she had "no chance of catching the young thief" because she was......

A look at some of this week's noteworthy television: Desperate Housewives (Sunday, 9:00 p.m., WABC 7) A homosexual male couple moves into Wisteria Lane and wackiness ensues. Masterpiece Theatre: The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard (Sunday, 9:00 p.m., WNET 13) In this 6 part series, Jane Horrocks plays a British supermarket manager who is dissatisfied with the political hacks who are gunning to be Prime Minister and decides to mount her own campaign. BBC 1 aired it......

Save Veronica Mars Campaign Does Not Effect Local Mars Bar Availability A campaign to send the CW’s Dawn Ostroff the entire American supply of the popular British candy bar in an effort to save Veronica Mars has not effected local Mars bar availability, despite claims by organizers that they “bought out all the available Mars Bars in the U.S.A.”. Visiting Meyers of Keswick in Greenwich Village earlier this week, we were able to purchase several......

A look at some noteworthy television this week: The Simpsons (Sunday, 8:00 p.m., WNYW 5) America’s favorite cartoon family celebrates its 400th episode tonight. Not bad for something that started as an animated short on The Tracey Ullman Show twenty years ago. Deal or No Deal (Monday, 8:00 p.m., WNBC 4) Subway hero Wesley Autrey tries his hand at winning a suitcase full of money. We do hope we wins and we guess being trapped......

A look at some noteworthy television this week: Nature - Dogs That Changed the World: Dogs by Design (Sunday, 8:00 p.m. WNET 13; Wednesday 9:00 p.m. WLIW 21) The second and final part of the story of the dog looks at how humans created the various dog breeds and the modern day consequences. Today (Monday, 7:00 a.m., WNBC 4) Another outing of Where in the World is Matt Lauer starts Monday morning. The Mormons (Monday......

A look at some noteworthy televison this weel: Nature - The Best of Nature: 25 Years (Sunday, 7:00 p.m. WNET 13) Don't be fooled by the title, but this is a pledge drive clip show special. http://abcfamily.go.com/dukeboys">The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning (Sunday, 8:00 p.m. ABC Family) If you liked The Dukes of Hazzard, you will probably like this made for TV movie. The Winner (Sunday, 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. WNYW 5) The buzz......

Pela Rocks the Merc, V-Mars Last Friday night, after snagging a standby ticket to the Arcade Fire proved impossible, the second best place to be was at the Mercury Lounge for the sold out headlining set by one of the most promising local bands we've got in this here town, Pela. We got in right before the band started up and are pleased to say that they continue to live up to every expectation......

A look at some noteworthy programs this week: The Morning Show With Mike & Juliet (Monday, 10 a.m. WNYW 5) Fox takes another stab at a morning show. Just the thought of a Fox morning show brings back memories of the insipid Fox After Breakfast from the mid 90s that had Tom Bergeron and Viki Lawremce hosting from a faux Manhattan loft. The new entry is fronted by Mike Jerrick and Juliet Huddy of the......

Over the weekend, the Daily News had a story with the following lede: "Famed as a hotbed of debate over academic freedom, New York's most elite school is also a playpen for sexual hijinks, sophomoric antics and the wacky indulgences of the children of the rich." Ooh, we wondered if it would be about Dalton or some other fancy prep school. But then we took into account the "academic freedom" part and realized, uh,......

With the Department of Education forcing students to give up their cell phones (which makes the students and especially their parents crazy), it seems that kids have been working out ways to keep their cell phones close by during the school day. And Gothamist wants to give them an "A" for ingenuity, as they are resorting to hiding them in trash cans, paying $1 for bodega owners to watch 'em, and even putting them in......

Even though the network media upfronts don't mean anything - except to advertisers - because schedules can be shuffled and shows killed between now and fall, Gothamist is still excited, because it's about hope (Tina Fey's new show to be good, Veronica Mars to be picked up) and new seasons of shows we love (The Office, My Name is Earl...and, heck, we can't help but watch Grey's Anatomy). Anyway, there are a lot of NYC-set......

Tonight is a BIG night, TV-wise, so much so that we can't stand to DVR anything - we need to see it actual time. (Well, we are DVRing it so we can watch it over and over again, but you get the idea and urgency.) There's the Gilmore Girls finale, the Veronica Mars finale, and then a Kathy Griffin special on Bravo! (Okay, the Kathy Griffin special will probably repeat 10 times before the weekend,......

Gothamist understands that it's great for sports fans to see a hometown team in the playoffs. And we love Vince Carter. But WWORTV 9 aka, "My 9," is seriously killing us during the end of the traditional TV season by screwing over us Veronica Mars fans. With three episodes to go, My9 pre-empted VM for a Nets playoff game last week. Instead of replaying VM after America's Next Top Model on Wednesday (and this is......

- Overgadgeted kids beware: your iPods are not welcome at school - Hilarious: Former NY Governor Hugh Carey endorses Eliot Spitzer in Brooklyn, but not without accidentally calling Eliot "Charles Schumer" - Central Park mall will be closed till the mid-summer for repairs - Why Carroll Gardens needs historic districts - Ooh -- Janice Dickinson in the East Village... now, get her back on America's Next Top Model (Twiggy bores) - The Jets may......

Truth be told, this past season of America's Next Top Model hasn't been doing it for us, because it pales after Project Runway (and we think most of the wannabe models are not that good-looking). So we're super excited that on Thirteen tonight, there will be a program that goes undercover into the world of cat shows: The Standard of Perfection "Show Cats". It's supposed to show "the training, pampering, bathing, grooming and fussing that......

- Yikes: The retired NYPD officer shot the retired Port Authority police officer to death yesterday because PA-cop was driving too slow - Mark Green is fined for attacking Andrew Cuomo while speaking at a more non-partisan event at Baruch - Two WCBS 2 employees were beaten while in St. Maarten - Good to know that even though NYU is super selective, they make sure things aren't too selective - A driver died when......

- New Yorkers for Parks is having a Daffodil Photo Contest for their Annual Daffodil Project - A look at the lobby of 2 Columbus Circle - and the Museum of Arts and Design wants to think about other things - A traffic cop was hit by a car in the Bronx - Law & Order moves to 9PM, but that's when Veronica Mars and Lost are on! What do we do!!! Oh, yeah,......

Rejoice all you fans of Gilmore Girls / Veronica Mars slash fiction! Your dreams of saphic teen-friendly erotica are one step closer to fruition with the merging of the WB and UPN networks. CNN reports: Warner Brothers and CBS Corp. announced plans Tuesday for the creation of a new broadcast television network, called CW, that would replace the WB and UPN networks in the fall of this year. The new broadcast network will draw......

- A teenager was killed outside a Sweet 16 party in Brooklyn - The FDNY remembers firefighters who died a year ago in a vicious blaze - Borough Park is where the babies are popping - imagine the stroller hell it must be - PBS has appointed someone to succeed outgoing president Pat Mitchell - Coolfer reminds us that Britt Daniel will be on Veronica Mars this Wednesday - set those DVRs - And......

Lots of movement with Gothamist's old, reliable standby, Law & Order. First of all, NBC is moving L&O from Wednesday at 10PM to 9PM. While an hour might not mean much, it actually means our head will explode, with Lost at 9PM on Wednesdays as is Veronica Mars. But this frees up Project Runway at 10PM!! We imagine Dick Wolf is pissed off to have to go head to head with Lost, but maybe that's......

So, our siblings over in the Windy City recently pointed out a really creepy set of businesses that we had kinda hoped only existed on Veronica Mars. What are we blabbering on about? Basically while much of the world is worried about Bush listening in on your phone calls (or those of CNN reporters), the FBI is warning its agents (and pretty much anyone who'll listen) to be aware that your phone records are very,......

Wednesday is now most definitely the new Must See TV night. Not only is there Law & Order, Lost, and CSI: NY on the big networks, there's America's Next Top Model, Veronica Mars, and now Project Runway on Bravo. It is the only night of the week that requires a seriously souped up TiVo set-up, but luckily the UPN and Bravo replay their shows. Project Runway's new season starts with two hours of annoying new......

The Department of Education is going to install satellite tracking in school buses next year. According the NY Post, the DoE thinks that installing GPS tracking will "reduce delays, calm anxious parents and manage fleets more effectively." Because current tracking is done via Ma Bell. The DoE will have to work with about 50 different bus vendors to set up the system over its 6,300 buses. Our question is whether or not the tracking devices......

Tara McPherson, Illustrator...

The other NYC-set cop show, CSI: NY, gets a push from its network's advertising and promotions department: The outside of CBS headquarters (aka Black Rock) is swathed in tape announcing the show's premiere tonight, as Flickr user tschopper's photograph shows. And elsewhere on Flickr, Baby Dove reveals the huge chalk outline in front of the CBS doors. So it's a showdown between CSI:NY and Law & Order: CSI: NY's episode is about someone's death......

- Bob Denver passed away at age 70; Gothamist spent so many hours of our youth watching Gilligan's Island on Channel 5 that we really feel like we've lost a bumbling friend who looked great in the color red - The police have arrested a man in connection with the shooting death of a 10 year-old bystander in the Bronx - Lance Arthur explains why San Francisco is superior to New York City at The......

Desperate Housewives and Will & Grace both received 15 Emmy nominations today, proving that like every other awards organization, Gothamist just doesn't jibe with the voters. Sure, we're happy that Arrested Development, Scrubs, and Lost got some recognition. But there is no love for programs we'll actually stay at home to watch: Veronica Mars, Nip/Tuck, Gilmore Girls. Even The O.C., which faltered last season - you have to give Peter Gallagher some credit. And why......

This is pretty awesome: NYC saved $11 million in various fees because it used the online lawsuit-settling site Cybersettle to handle various cases. NY1 explains: "Lawyers for each side type in proposed settlement figures in three rounds over 30 to 60 days. Each side's numbers are kept secret until Cybersettle sees a match." Has anyone used it? City Comptroller William Thompson (who some suspect may run for Mayor in 2009) noted that more than half......

You might find the History Channel's reenactments of various moments of history scary, creepy, or trippy (the Barbarians series was off the hook), but they are definitely informative. This week, the HC is tackling the Conquest of America, with appearances by Bering, Coranado, and more, but Gothamist is most interested in an Englishman named Henry Hudson whose extensive travels in our part of the country have made sure that the estuary we know as the......

Yes! The New York Observer has TWO articles about how The O.C. is kind of over right now - and they are front page stuff! Gothamist's take on the show right now is that there are good parts (Summer, Julie Cooper, Peter Gallagher's eyebrows) but too many bad (Caleb's illegitimate daughter Lindsay? BORING. Kim Delaney? Yikes. And we want the old Seth Cohen back). Yet we still watch. Anyway, the Observer's Charles Taylor charts......