Big ups to Forest Whitaker, who won the Academy Award for Best Actor last night for his portrayal of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in 'The Last King of Scotland.'

I was wondering whether or not his Academy ego-stroke would carry over to Big John Kavannaugh in the new season of 'The Shield,' but then I realized I'm an idiot, and most, if not all of the new episodes are probably already in the can.

However, it certainly won't hurt the show's ratings to have a Best Actor Oscar winner in the cast. My guess is F/X is going to feature Forest a lot more prominently in the new 'Shield' bumps.

INTRIGUING POSSIBILITY: Is there a way for Vic to PROVE to Kavannaugh that he was totally NOT involved in Lem's death (this is assuming he wasn't, which is my belief as of this moment... he made a lot of inferences about Lem ('...the truth is, this could be goodbye...") that could be construed as planting the seed in the feeble mind of Cletus Van Damme, but I really don't think Vic meant for him to blast him to Kingdom Come with a grenade (by the way, if even a FRAGMENT of that grenade was still intact inside Lem's car, it's got ol' Cletus's police-file prints ALL OVER IT). Anyway, if Vic can prove to Kav that he wasn't involved, it would be something to see them join forces in trying to root out whoever DID do it. Cletus would have to go along with the investigation but try and steer it away from himself.

QUESTION: Is the new Strike Teamer a plant by Capt. Goody-Two-Shoes (Wyms)? We all know how well it worked out LAST time the Barn's captain tried to sneak a mole into the Strike Team, but this time there's no one higher up on the food chain to warn Vic about it. However, since revenging Lem's death is about as righteous a cause as the Strike Team will have taken up in their years together, maybe they won't be cutting corners and stashin' cash. Well, at least not stashin' cash.

MORE QUESTIONS:

- Danny's had the baby... is she going to be back on the road with Julien (BY THE WAY, quick trivia note for all you Movie Game nuts: Michael Jace [Julien] played the leader of the Black Panthers in 'Forrest Gump'... talk about a change in character!)

- Where does Tina's character go after her nuclear meltdown upon seeing Lem dead? I consistently maintained that she was going to get someone killed because of her foolishness last season, and it never happened. Fuckit. I'm stickin' to my guns. Wyms, Billings and Dutch are going to regret keeping her on.

I'm already counting down the days until April 3, when the new season of 'The Shield' premieres. AT LAST! Courtney Cox, you were alright in the Boss's 'Dancin' in the Dark' video back in the day, and you were even pretty hot in 'Ace Ventura.'

'Dirt?' Not so much.

Big respect to F/X for being the most daring network on mainstream cable, but they should have saved 'Dirt' for the summer, and started up the new 'Shield' episodes in January. After what I consider to be a pretty sappy ending to the latest 'Nip/Tuck' season, they needed a boost. I don't know what kind of ratings 'Dirt' is getting, but I'M not watching it, and I don't know anyone who is.

Anyway, I've yet to see the 15-minute extended promo/flashback that's been talked about on so many sites/blogs, but I can only imagine it'll leave me salivating.

What do I want to see?

- Shane GET HIS. Oh yeah. It BEST be comin'.

- The Final Insane Act of The Dutchman. I really can't imagine what is going to happen in the last chapter of the long, strange saga that is Det. Holland Waggenbach (I've never actually SEEN his name in print... GawdDAMN, what a weird name; I'd love to know which writer came up with that), but I can't wait to see what it is.

- Claudette to realize that the right way isn't always the RIGHT way. Now that she's at the top, she may finally see that it may just be impossible to separate politics from the job, and that lesser-of-two-evil decisions come with the territory.

- Whether the new Strike Teamer (the actor, not his character) can keep pace with the high-caliber, total-synergy interaction of the original team members.

- WHAT THE *$&! IS UP WITH MACKEY'S FORCED RETIREMENT? SHOULDN'T THAT BE COMING UP FAIRLY SOON? Lem isn't the only one who was taking one for the badge. Mackey was being served up -- well, he certainly earned it, but -- as a sketchy-jacket case.

- More actors from 'Oz.' This will never happen, but Adewale Akinnouye-Agbaje (Adebisi) would make an AWESOME L.A. gang leader, a Tookie Williams-type, but he'd have to drop the African accent, and that's what gave his character on 'Oz' that second level of scariness. Although Anthony Anderson's Antwon Mitchell can be among the most frightening villains too, at times.

- This sounds really morbid, but I'd really like to see Vic as the only person who makes it out alive, of the team. I've mentioned this before... he has that habit of near-unconsciously manipulating people to his own ends, and I could see him turning Ronnie on Shane or maneuvering some sort of incident between them and the new Strike Teamer.... what I'm getting at is it we're probably all expecting Mackey to die at the end of this series, and I think it would be equally shattering to see him all alone, divorced, the team he assembled all dead -- if not by his hand, largely in ways that can be followed back to his actions -- gun in his hand and no one to kill; no longer a cop and with barely anything to show for it.

Fade to black.

C'MOOOOOOOOOOOOOON APRIL MUTHA&%$!IN' 3RD!!!!!