All the tube news that’s fit to surf …

– The Dexter season four finale earned the show its best ratings ever (up a whopping 71 percent versus the season three finale), but season five will carry on without longtime Dexter showrunner Clyde Phillips, who quit the show to spend more time with his family.

– More good ratings news: It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia‘s fifth season, which wrapped last Thursday, was the show’s highest-rated season ever.

– The New York Times has scoop on the ninth season of The Biggest Loser, which premieres on NBC on Jan. 5 and will include the first contestant who’ll start the show weighing more than 500 pounds.

– We’re all sick of hearing about Tiger Woods and his ever-growing list of dalliances, but Yahoo! Sports has a fun round-up of video clips of some of the best late-night TV humor related to the scandal. You have to love Jon Stewart‘s “Newzak.”

– Could self-adhesive gift wrap (SUCH a good idea!) be the next big product from the company that gave us the As Seen on TV classic, the PedEgg?

– Tough Love mother-and-son matchmakers JoAnn and Steven Ward are starring in a VH1 spin-off series, where they’ll put couples who are about to get engaged through a boot camp to see if they’re really right for each other.

– Side effect of the recession: Not surprisingly, more people are staying home and watching TV.

– Nickelodeon has ordered 26 new episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants.

– Showtime will debut the final season of The Tudors in April, and they’ll follow it up with another family saga, about shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt and his wealthy relatives. PS – Check out the new Tudors videogame.

– NBC has announced its midseason sked, which includes a premiere date for the new season of Celebrity Apprentice: March 14.

– Is this enough reason to tune in to the painfully boring 90210 remake: Gilmore Girls‘ Luke, a.k.a. Scott Patterson will guest star? Hmmmm … Pretty much any GG alum is tops in my book, but 90210 is a really lame show.

– Two sad cancelations: Flight of the Conchords and On the Air with Alexa Chung.

– Gossip Girl, the comic book? Uh huh, and it actually sounds kinda cool.

– And tonight in primetime: It’s part one of the So You Think You Can Dance season finale at 8PM ET on Fox; The Waltons papa Ralph Waite pops in as Gibbs’ daddy on NCIS (8PM, CBS); ABC replays A Charlie Brown Christmas (8PM); Cookalong live with Gordon Ramsay: Cookalong Live (9PM, Fox), in which the grumpy chef cooks a meal, live, and invites the home audience to cook along with him (recipes and shopping list are at the show’s Website); Kelso says goodbye to Ted and Gooch on Scrubs (9PM, ABC); Linda sells a children’s cook on Better Off Ted (9:30PM, ABC); Natalie continues to be a bee-otch-y hot mess on The Bad Girls Club (10PM, Oxygen); Alicia Keys celebrates the release of her new CD with a concert on Fuse (10PM); New episode of Teen Mom on MTV (10PM); TBS debuts its annual Funniest Commercials of the Year special (10PM), hosted by Weeds star Kevin Nealon; and on The Good Wife (10PM, CBS), has Alicia run into a racist judge?