HBO Panel Ducks Questions About Sex

"Do I understand my character? Yeah, I do understand my character," DeKay says, adding that he will "have to defer to Cynthia [Mort] on this one, because I understand my character, but I think it's more of a writing question."

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TV critics, haunted by What Happened at the End of "The Sopranos" nightmares, got no satisfaction from HBO execs during their suit Q&A. And they were too respectful -- or timid, depending on your perspective -- to ask James Gandolfini about it when he appeared onstage to plug his upcoming documentary about soldiers who returned from Iraq terribly wounded physically and emotionally.

But they seemed finally to get closure from Steven Van Zandt, a.k.a. Silvio Dante on the pay-cable hit, when he came to the tour to promote VH1 Classic's "Seven Ages of Rock."

"Right from the beginning ['Sopranos' creator] David Chase broke every rule in the book and everybody loved him for it," the founding member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band said.

"Literally, he just refused all along to sort of compromise and play that sort of Hollywood-imposed game of fraudulent closure. . . . He's like, 'Life doesn't work that way, it doesn't get wrapped up every 30 minutes or every 60 minutes, and we're not going to play that game.' He's just like, 'This is my last show. . . . I'm going out without compromising.' . . . I thought it was a brilliant ending, myself."

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Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders took time out from their busy schedule of cheering up patients in hospitals, cheering up soldiers in Iraq, cheering up Dallas Cowboys fans and shooting "Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team," a CMT reality series tracking cheerleader tryouts, to bring a little joy into the lives of the TV critics.

The cheerleaders wiggled and jiggled, grinned, kicked and waved pompoms, then bounced offstage. Two den mothers -- a.k.a. cheerleader group director Kelli Finglass and head choreographer Judy Trammell -- came out, joined by one of the cheerleaders and two cheerleader wannabes who were part of the reality series.

Kelli and Judy were Cowboys cheerleaders in the '80s. Their hair is still in the '80s. Kelli and Judy remind us that attractive people spend too much time in the sun -- the only advantage unattractive people have over attractive people.

During the Q&A, a TV critic from Dallas noted the press material used phrases such as "sacred try-outs" and "sacred blue-and-white uniform," which, he said, "seems to be a bit much."

"Anyone that's worn the blue-and-white uniform -- it is sacred," Judy said.

"Kelli and I both started as cheerleaders. I was a cheerleader from '80 to '84, and so we just really protect it. We do not want anyone to ruin our image in any way."

" 'Sacred' to some might seem dramatic," added Kelli. "It is a part of the excitement of the National Football League, and for that, for the people that have worn it, yes, we would say it's sacred."