Next week: Jeff Probst’s Live for the Moment pilot will finally be broadcast

Though this past week was full of news, there’s not much new on TV next week, as we wait for CBS’ shows to return in February and American Idol keeps burning through its auditions.

The Past

This past week, Survivor lost its first cast member, when Jenn Lyon died from cancer. In far less important or significant news, most of the top 24 were revealed, as was Heidi Montag’s new face. Lots of news about awful things: a VH1 cast member being tried for murder, an MTV cast member was arrested for beating his 2-year-old, and a Real Worlder admitted faking cancer. We also learned about Idol’s audition manipulation, The Hoff’s new show, and the 11 teams who will be on The Amazing Race 16.

The Forward

• Friday, Jan. 22 Tonight, nearly every major broadcast and cable network will air the Hope for Haiti Now telethon.
• Saturday, Jan. 23
  A reality show starring Carmen Electra and judged by Big Brother’s Mar­cel­las Reynolds called Perfect Catch [E!, midnight] “aims to find the hottest men and women from six of Greece’s most beautiful islands,” and apparently aired on the UK’s E!, but the US site has nothing about it, and the midnight timeslot doesn’t bode well, either.
• Tuesday, Jan. 26
  American Idol [Fox, 8 p.m.], heads to Los Angeles, and may find some actual talent instead of just people who need to be handcuffed, though a few more of those would be fun, too. Teen Mom, the spin-off of 16 and Pregnant, wraps up its first season with a 90-minute season finale [MTV, 10 p.m.].
• Wednesday, Jan. 27
  More pre-empting tonight: TV shows will get out of the way of the State of the Union address tonight, but since it airs at 9, there’s plenty of time for American Idol 9’s Dallas auditions [Fox, 8 p.m.].
• Thursday, Jan. 28
  The pilot of Jeff Probst’s Life for the Moment will air [CBS, 8 p.m.] about a year after being produced. It follows a man who has ALS traveling around the country with his family to live his dreams and inspire others. Later, Taking the Stage [MTV, 11 p.m.] is back for a second season, and again follows students at Cincinnati’s School For Creative and Performing Arts.