johnmccain

Everyone's getting bored now. Megyn is running around talking to people all over the set and trying to make love to her "launchpad," while others are handing out cookies and snacks. When the election is turning into a landslide (which is how Fox News would have us think), I guess they're at a loss as to how to fill the time. "We booked the whole night for this coverage. Vamp! Vamp!" For more on why I love Fox News Election coverage, flip to the other side.

I think it's time to shake things up. Go crazy and call the whole election for McCain. Or even Nader. People will look back on it fondly and you'll be infamous in history. Just picture Brit Morgan's dour skull with the skin melting off looking at the camera with the words "McCain Projected to Win Presidency" below him. Legendary!

FOX NEWS - AMERICA'S ELECTION HQ. Not dramatic enough? Maybe we could spruce it up a bit. "Fox News - For Election Coverage that's Guaranteed Right!" Even some of their analysts were reluctant to think that the country could go to the left of center.

Fox News Channel is a part of the new media, running streams of election data along the bottom, including a static corner box tracking projected electoral votes. We get two different bits of election data next to that, changing about every 7 seconds. Above that is an Alert bar with text data "Fox News Projects John McCain has won Kentucky." And, of course, they kept it scrolling through the commercials, too.

(S34E07) Although I have fond memories of Mango and Ben Who-fleck working Saturday Night Live together back in the day, I was pretty disappointed by this episode. I think someone told Ben Affleck that he's pretty all right on SNL and it got to his head, because he was trying way, way too hard. It was almost to the point where it was unbearably awkward. If not for Senator John McCain's appearances, this episode would have been wholly unremarkable. I mean, apart from its super-weakness.

At the rate they're going, the 2008 presidential candidates will have made appearances on every kind of TV program before voting day arrives. No show is too insignificant, it seems. (Seriously, if only we could have seen Obama and McCain do the cha-cha on Dancing with the Stars!)

Therefore, it comes as no big shock that on the eve of the election -- Monday, November 3 -- the presidential candidates are going to appear on ESPN's Monday Night Football.

They will be interviewed -- separately on tape -- by half-time anchor Chris "Boomer" Berman. The anticipated time is 10:15 p.m. (ET), but because of the flow of the game, it could be closer to 10:30.

The folks at our sister site Cinematical are working hard to give you news and reviews of the best -- and worst -- the silver screen has to offer. Here are some of their latest musings on the latest blockbusters, indies, and everything in between:

• When I was younger, I went through weird movie phases. When I was about 10, I decided that I needed to see every single Friday the 13th movie; so I did. Suffice it to say, I'm psyched about An Obsessive-Compulsive's Guide to the Friday the 13th Movies.
• Am I the only one who feels like starring in a movie based on a video game is beneath Gerard Butler? Check out an early review of his upcoming movie, Game, and decide for yourself.
• The film, W., is obviously not a documentary, but while Oliver Stone took dramatic license with the material, he did do extensive research as well. Check out the fact guide for W.
• Do these Hollywood director attack ads make more fun of John McCain, or directors like John Woo and Wes Anderson? More importantly, are they funny?
• Cinematical wants to know what you're wearing. Enter their 4th annual Halloween costume contest, and win a crap-ton of DVDs!

Remember back at the beginning of the season when Senator Barack Obama was going to be on the premiere of Saturday Night Live but had to bow out because of Hurricane Ike? At the time, we were told that the Democratic presidential candidate would be on later in the year. Well, rumors are flying that Obama will appear on SNL a week from this Saturday, November 1 -- just three days before the election.

NBC has denied the rumors, much like they did all those rumors before Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin appeared last weekend. However, SNL boss Lorne Michaels always holds his cards close to his vest when it comes to big name appearances. Even after gossips reported that Sarah was definitely going to be on the show, NBC and SNL didn't confirm it till the last minute.

Now that Senator John McCain is doing the most important thing in his campaign to become the 44th president of the United States, agreeing to appear The Late Show with David Letterman, I think we can say that the Straight Talk Express is on the way to being back on track.

It was inevitable, and really, really necessary, for McCain to fix this problem with Dave. McCain was the butt of the joke for nearly three weeks and it hasn't helped his campaign. Appearing Thursday should do a lot to ameliorate his image and in every way it can only be a win-win for McCain and Letterman.

Okay, 63 million viewers shouldn't be considered 'measly'. It is nearly 25% of the American population after all. Considering a normal show in primetime only garners a few million viewers each week (excluding shows like American Idol) that number is pretty good. And, while it doesn't compare to the whopping 70 million viewers that tuned into last week's Vice Presidential debate, the number is higher than the first debate between Senators Obama and McCain which garnered only 54 million viewers.

Why the uptick? Well, I'm no political or media analyst but there are probably a few factors. One is that we are one week closer to the election and Americans who are on the fence are now starting to take the race more seriously. Another is the rise in interest after the Vice Presidential debate (which, to me, seemed so rushed it gave me a headache). A third could be the format that the debate took place under -- a town hall style where both moderator and audience were able to ask questions. Unfortunately, moderator Tom Brokaw asked more of the questions than the audience, which made the 'Town Hall' format somewhat pointless.

New York magazine has reported that the Saturday Night Live team is brainstorming some way to involve the real Sarah Palin in one of the upcoming "Weekend Update" episodes. Word is, she might play Tina Fey in a spoof of her American Express commercial. Granted, this will gain Palin some of those much needed cool points with the comedy crowd, but I'm having trouble picturing this actually coming to fruition. It's fun enough trying to picture what the writers would put her through, because they haven't made any attempts to hide how they feel about her.

Now that the confetti has been swept away, all the balloons popped, and the St. Paul cops are stowing their riot gear, it's time to recall the surprisingly eventful Republican National Convention in Minnesota. Is it really only one week ago today that Senator John McCain pulled a rabbit out of his hat and introduced little-known Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate? She's not little-known anymore. In fact, the 2008 Republican Convention is forever more to be remembered for her ascent, whatever her future portends.

Here's some other thoughts from the TV coverage of the RNC:

Media matters
Having the two political conventions back to back was a plus for the TV pros. All the mistakes from Denver were rectified in St. Paul. The MSNBC set ups avoided train stations and noise interruptions. Splitting up Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews worked better, with Olbermann as the point man throwing the coverage to the other news pros. And there was less bickering and fighting, at least compared to the week before.

While the Republicans are gathering in St. Paul for their national convention to confirm the candidacy of Senator John McCain as presiden,t and Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate, Turner Classic Movies is presenting a night of alternative politics.

The cable channel going to present five movies about politics, and if you want to see how the world of running for public office has changed in the 20th century, these films are a fantastic reflection of the times.

On Wednesday, September 3, starting at 8 PM ET, the night begins with The Last Hurrah, and includes The Candidate (10:15 PM), The Best Man (12:15 AM), Nashville (2 AM) and The Dark Horse (1932).

Like I said, these pictures are all really interesting choices. The Candidate, released in 1972, for instance, is not so different from today's campaign pitting Senator Barack Obama versus Senator John McCain.

It's a young candidate espousing change, up against an experienced, wizened establishment candidate. Robert Redford plays Bill McKay, the up and comer, while Don Porter is the popular, long-time incumbent senator. Check out these photos, because Porter even looks like McCain!

Last Friday, Senator John McCain shocked the world by announcing that little-known Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was his choice as vice presidential candidate for the Republican party. If you were like me, you couldn't help but notice that Sarah Palin -- a very attractive, 44-year-old mother of five -- looked an awful lot like some familiar TV faces, like 30 Rock's Liz Lemon.

In fact, at least one Hollywood writer recognized in Sarah Palin's being plucked from virtual obscurity was like one of his creations. Rod Lurie, the writer/producer of Commander in Chief, joked that he and Gena Davis should be asking for royalties if Palin emerges as McCain's VEEP, especially if she becomes president like Davis's character did on that ABC drama series.

Here are the main TV characters that come to mind when you think about Palin:

The reviews from the political talking heads -- right and left -- have been mostly positive. The visuals were spectacular and riveting. History was made at Mile High Stadium in Denver last night when Senator Barack Obama accepted the nomination of the Democratic party as the first African-American presidential candidate. There were 80,000 people packed in the stadium, and now Nielsen has determined that 38 million people tuned in to watch on TV.

How impressive is that number? It's more than the opening ceremonies from the Beijing Olympics. It's also more than the 2008 Oscars and the finale of Fox's American Idol.

The networks cleared just one hour of prime time -- from 10-11 ET -- and the Democratic organizers made sure to present Obama's speech right in that slot, not drifting into the local late news.

John McCain wanted ten town hall style debates with Barack Obama, but after 22 Democratic debates, Barack said, "Thanks, but no thanks." So now the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates will meet three times: two traditional, one-on-one debates with a single moderator for each, and one townhall-style session with questions from the crowd.

The Commission on Presidential Debates announced that NBC's Tom Brokaw, PBS's Jim Lehrer, and CBS's Bob Schieffer will be the moderators, with Gwen Ifill, the host of PBS's Washington Week handling the chores for the one vice presidential debate.

What's interesting here is that of the big three, ABC is not represented. Among the cable news crowd, Fox News and MSNBC were equally snubbed as was CNN.

I can't say why ABC was left out of the loop. However, George
Stephanopoulos and Charlie Gibson were both roundly criticized for their work on the Democratic debate they helmed.

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.