To some people, George Clooney's affable good nature and sincerity comes off as smug over-confidence. I fall into the former rather than the latter category.

I think George is ambitious and grateful to be working in the business. I think he remembers the years of struggling to become a star -- those years on The Facts of Life and Riptide and E/R (the Elliott Gould sitcom, not the Emmy award-winning NBC medical drama).

Failures like Leatherheads have to keep him humble. Anyway, his efforts to expand as an actor and director and producer strike me as someone who is wisely not resting on his laurels. That said, today it was reported that Clooney's production company, Smoke House, is behind a new pilot for Showtime called The Fall of Bob.

"George Walker Bush: Still President": President Bush recently paid a visit to Eastern Europe to try and recruit some new buddies for NATO... and his fight in Afghanistan. Brian Williams' endorsement of the "'Chess' Kiddin'!" set made up for the cheesiness of that mini-commercial. Senior Political Analyst John Oliver stopped by to share how annoyed top NATO brass feel about certain countries refusing to send troops to Iraq. Of course, the best part was Vice Marshal Jock Stirrup's name and the ridiculous list of Britain's fallen soldiers that followed. I cannot remember the last time I cracked up so badly over a Daily Show segment.

You know, I like George Clooney a lot. Renee Zellweger, well, she is fine too. But I'd have to find out a lot more about this movie to convince me to go see it. It looks like a farce, but I can't get a real take on it, which is a damn shame considering how much they had to pay to get this played during the freaking Super Bowl! Right now, the only thing it has to recommend it is its star power, and it could, frankly, due with more stars or turn out to be a Coen Brothers movie before I'll pay money to watch it. Ugh.