hillary clinton

Getting Tina Fey back to appear as Sarah Palin wasn't the only big thing to happen to Lorne Michael's little show this week. The season premiere of Saturday Night Live netted the largest audience for a premiere since 2001. It was a 64% increase over last year's premiere. It was also its largest total audience since Al Gore and Phish were the host and musical guest in December 2002.

It's just too bad that beyond the opening sketch the premiere itself wasn't any good. I won't go into the details of what specifically was and wasn't bad because Annie covered that pretty well. The problem is that when you take away the curiosity factor of Michael Phelps and the incredible buzz of Tina Fey's return, what are you left with?

Watching the coverage of the Democratic convention has caused my old carpel tunnel syndrome to act up. I've been doing so much channel surfing; going from channel to channel to find just the right coverage has been a chore.

Good luck finding a balance between astute punditry, quality reporting, over-hyped production and clear coverage of the activities on the floor and stage by the political party. It's not easy. Here's some things, good and bad, that I've noticed in these first three days:

1) The Obama family are the Huxtables
After Michelle Obama's speech on Monday night, her two daughters -- Sasha and Malia -- rushed onto the stage and Barack appeared via video hook up to speak with them and Michelle, congratulating her for the speech. It was a perfect TV moment. As good as her speech was, the image of the family was even better. In a voice that reminded me of Rudi Huxtable, Sasha talked to her father and chirped, "I love you, Daddy." The Obama's became The Cosby Show. If that doesn't connect to the TV audience, nothing will. (Check out the video below.)

When I spoke to Keith Olbermann at the press tour a few weeks back, I mainly wanted to get his thoughts about the comments that Fox News' Chris Wallace made earlier in the tour. Essentially, Wallace said that MSNBC isn't objective in its election coverage because they have commentators like Olbermann -- who are perceived to be "in the tank" for Barack Obama -- serve as anchors. Olbermann's remarks in response were pointed, to say the least.

But while I had Keith poised in front of my voice recorder, I wanted to ask him some questions about the origin of his Special Comments, how he thinks people determine their perception of each of the news networks, and what it will be like to sit down and do highlights with his old SportsCenter partner Dan Patrick on NBC's Football Night in America. The remainder of the interview is after the jump; we pick up with Olbermann talking about Wallace's "In the tank" line.

Spoiler alert: Barack Obama has scored the Democratic nomination. Of course, with The Daily Show taping around 6:00 in the evening, none of this was addressed in this night's episode. Just, you know, keep that in mind for maximum awkwardness while watching the proceedings.

"Anarchy Under The UK": After London's mayor banned alcohol, rowdy drunkards without cars took to the Tube and got wasted. Yeah, way to show the man that you guys are responsible enough to handle alcohol. Senior Mass Transit Analyst John Oliver drunkenly explained the beauty of subterranean drinking and then promptly urinated on the spot. Well done, good sir.

There's another Bill in Hillary Clinton's life now. Talk show pundit Bill O'Reilly, who interviewed Clinton on his Fox News show, The O'Reilly Factor this week. The interview covered a lot of territory, including the economy, high gas prices, illegal immigrants, the war on terror, and foreign policy.

All the presidential candidates have their strengths and weaknesses, but Clinton made a smart move towards unifying her platform by agreeing to the O'Reilly interview. Although they're on opposite ends of the spectrum politically, O'Reilly and Clinton showed that two diverse personalities can sit down together and have an intelligent debate about the issues without resorting to a screaming match.

If you're sick of hearing about Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, then this should come as welcome news. According to TV Newser, the North Carolina Democratic Party has canceled a scheduled debate between the two remaining candidates. It was set to air on CBS. Katie Couric and Bob Schieffer were scheduled to moderate. It would have probably earned decent ratings, too, since CBS planned to air the hour long debate following an episode of 60 Minutes.

According to the NCDP website, the debate was canceled due to "time constraints and logistical issues." I suppose that makes sense. Both Clinton and Obama are running around like crazy in an effort to secure last minute votes during the final Democratic primaries. Pennsylvania's is today.

What in the hell happened last night on The Colbert Report? Or perhaps I'm really wondering why I attended Monday's taping of TCR in Philadelphia and not the final and certainly most epic one.

In true Colbert fashion, TCR ended its four-night run in the City of Brotherly Love with a big ol' Democratic bang. Thanks to Chris Matthews' big mouth, the nation expected Hillary Clinton's "surprise" appearance, but little did we know both Barack Obama and John Edwards would be appearing as well... On the same night! Despite the fact that this was all a blatantly desperate attempt to get a little Colbert Bump action (Edwards knows it's too late, right? I mean, what with him dropping out of the race and all), there really is no better way to seem hip to that all-important youth vote.

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Back on the night that Stephen Colbert announced that he'd be hitting Philadelphia, taking the show on the road for the first time, I had decided to go to bed early and just catch the rerun in the morning. My friend called me just as I began to doze off and immediately told me that she had gotten tickets for us to see Colbert in Philadelphia. I had no idea what the hell she was talking about, so when I hung up, I just shrugged it off as a late-night half-dream. The next morning, I watched the episode and it finally made sense: We were about to go on another Colbert Report adventure.

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There's Must See TV this Thursday night and it's called The Colbert Report. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will be Stephen Colbert's guest that night. At least, that's the word according to MSNBC's Chris Matthews. He sort-of blurted out the news last night before Colbert's or Clinton's people had a chance to make the formal announcement. Variety contacted a source with Colbert's show and confirmed the news.

Of course she's appearing on the show as part of her push for votes in next week's Pennsylvania primary, but damn. That's gonna be good. Hillary Clinton is considered the devil by many conservatives such as Limbaugh and O'Reilly, and will probably be treated as such by Colbert. But she's a sharp woman and will probably take him down pretty swiftly. If she does well, it could give her a bump just like hear appearance on SNL did.

Colbert is in Pennsylvania for the primary. So far, Clinton's opponent, Barack Obama, has denied Colbert's request to appear on the show. Instead, Obama's wife Michelle will be a guest tonight.

Jon started off by talking about Monday night's interview with Hillary Clinton. The satellite delay was an obvious problem, and Jon pointed out one of the more awkward moments of the night, that little "No, go ahead" part.

"Mortal Kombat '08": Senior Political Correspondent Rob Riggle, wearing his best sleeveless suit, took the "do-or-die" aspect of the Tuesday showdown a little too seriously. The "Cam-Pain Trail" commercial must have been so much fun to make. Only on Daily Show would someone need to make a graphic of sh*t in people's necks.

"The Ultimate Last Final Showdown": Super Tuesday was highly anticipated but it turned out to mean almost nothing in matters of being a deciding factor. Apparently, this Tuesday is what's truly important. We'll finally get to see the results of the extreme passive-aggressiveness of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton's back-and-forths. Seriously, they're one step away from leaving bitter Post-It notes. I should also note that I chose that tiny mariachi photo to accompany this post before I even watched this episode, because I thought it was hilarious. Everyone should have a tiny mariachi buddy. John McCain, on the other hand, has been working hard on wooing the media with BBQ. He's good, McCain. He's finger-lickin' good.

It wasn't April 1st so it couldn't be April Fool's Day. It was March 1st. Still, there she was, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton saying those famous words, "Live from New York, It's Saturday Night Live."

In an unannounced and potentially savvy political move, Senator Hillary Clinton, appeared on the NBC late night comedy and showed that she can laugh at herself. This surprise appearance, coupled with her agreeing to be on Monday's Daily Show with Jon Stewart, can only help her in Tuesday's primaries in Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont. It's pretty much desperation time for the Clinton candidacy and if Hillary wants to make it to the Denver convention with a chance to beat Barack Obama, she must win Texas and Ohio -- the big states -- decisively.

In today's Washington Post, Saturday Night Live kingpin Lorne Michaels defended his choice of Fred Armisen to play Barack Obama, starting with last week's episode. After the much-publicized search for an Obama impersonator (or Fauxbama, as some are calling it), Michaels decided on Armisen, who is of white and Asian origin. Armisen, who's talented enough to do excellent imitations of people ranging from Prince to Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, did a credible job playing Obama, a man who is somewhat hard to pin down, imitation-wise.

But some critics, including the Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan, have very bluntly wondered why an African-American didn't play Obama. "They couldn't find an African-American performer who was funny enough to play the junior senator from Illinois? They couldn't find one in New York? Not anywhere in the country? Really?" wrote Ryan on her Tribune blog.

Were The West Wing writers psychic or just very clever in their reading of the political landscape?

Several writers, including Stephen Siilver at NorthStarWriters.com, have noticed that the current Presidential election is very similar to the election that The West Wing had in its final season and a half. The show had a Democrat that inspired people by his speeches but didn't have much experience (Matt Santos), a Republican from the West that even liberals liked because he wasn't too far right (Arnold Vinick), and a candidate that had already been in the White House as a VP (Bob Russell). Does that sound like Barack Obama, John McCain, and Hillary Clinton?

Lost is perhaps the ultimate in TV fiction. The storytelling is the stuff of vivid imaginations and it's gotten millions watching and wondering and tuning in for more. Of course, in the midst of all that fantasy, some things we've taken as fact, like most of the technology. For instance, I don't know about you, but I believed those satellite phones they've been using since Naomi parachuted onto the island last season were the real thing. Well, guess what, it's no more of a reality than Mr. Spock's tricorder on Star Trek!