Before we jump right into things, let's take a moment to think about just how amazing these past two weeks of Daily Show have been. The program has always been pretty solid, but both the Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention have provided beautiful fodder for both Jon and the correspondents, who seem to have finally hit their stride. This particular group of correspondents works best when they're all teamed up, and it really showed during convention coverage. From Jason Jones and Samantha Bee sucking face in front of hapless interviewees to Rob Riggle and Wyatt Cenac grillin' up some arugula in an elitist parking lot. TDS is taking another break next week and, boy, do they deserve it.

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.

"Sarah Palin: Vet This!": More of that thrilling Republican National Convention coverage. I think I either underestimated just how super-snarky the right is or I just missed a hefty chunk of all the jackassery from the convention coverage. I mean, Sarah Palin and Rudy Giuliani mocking my community service alone would probably leave me in a serious case of playground tears.

The Republicans have been crying foul about how the media has been unfairly going after vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin. Right or wrong, all that media attention, plus the curiosity about who this little known Alaska governor is, fueled last night's broadcast of her acceptance speech. The results were predictable. The Palin speech was a Nielsen ratings hit, drawing 37.2 million viewers. That's nearly as many viewers as Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama scored a week ago at his Denver stadium event.

As I said, the big number was hardly a surprise, especially if you are at all media savvy. On the net, the name Sarah Palin has become the top draw on every search engine. She's presently a bigger celebrity -- yes, sorry, but that's the word that fits -- than Paris Hilton, Miley Cyrus, Madonna or Barack Obama. She's on the cover of every supermarket magazine this week, as well as the news magazines.

Some correspondents reported on the real reason why Republicans have gathered in Minnesota, and as it turns out, it's just to check out Larry Craig's old Minnesota airport stall. I think most audience members missed John Oliver's sneaky tweaking of the word "clockwork", unfortunately. However, the audience didn't miss any of Jason Jones' stall activities, which were especially disturbing, whereas Aasif Mandvi's handicap stall antics were just fabulous. I wonder if those dancers were just hapless interns roped into a scene. Also, the dancing reminded me of a beautiful moment from one of Stephen Colbert's old Daily Show reports, forever immortalized in this hypnotizing GIF. In other news, The Daily Show must be the only reason why Jimmy Dean Chocolate Chip Pancakes & Sausage on a Stick is still in existence.

The Daily Show team must be exhausted. Last week was Tuesday through Friday on-location coverage of the Democratic National Convention in Colorado, and this week is the same from the Republican National Convention in Minnesota. I can't even imagine how new mommy-again Samantha Bee has been handling this, returning at the busiest time in months.

It was an interesting weekend, news-wise, wasn't it? The Tina Fey look-alike that's the Republican VP nominee announced that her teenage daughter was pregnant, and instead of covering the beginning of the Republican National Convention, all the broadcast and cable news operations sent their anchors to New Orleans, hoping to cover the "devastation" caused by Hurricane Gustav.

One problem: Nothing happened.

Well, that's not entirely true. The storm did hit rural areas west of New Orleans, and hit them pretty hard. But most of the Big Easy was spared. There was some minor flooding, some overflow of the leeves, and Geraldo Rivera bringing us "dramatic" footage of a "person!" in the water ... who was wearing a life jacket and tethered to what looks to be a Coast Guard boat. But that was about it. It makes a person wonder if the networks were disappointed there wasn't more destruction.

• The news channels and CSPAN have coverage of the Republican National Convention all night (the major networks join in at 10).
• Hallmark Channel has a Murder, She Wrote marathon all night.
• At 7, USA has more U.S. Open (switches to CNBC and Tennis Channel at 9).
  
• At 8, FOX has the two hour season premiere of Prison Break.
• ABC has a new High School Musical: Get in the Picture at 8.
• There's a new Deal Or No Deal on NBC at 8, followed by a new America's Toughest Jobs.
• The CW has the season premiere of Gossip Girl at 8, then the season premiere of One Tree Hill.
• At 8:30, Food Network has a new How'd That Get On My Plate?, then a new Unwrapped.
• At 9, TNT has a new episode of The Closer, followed by the series premiere of Raising the Bar.
• USA has a new Monday Night RAW at 9.
• At 10, ABC Family has a new episode of The Middleman.
• Discovery has a new Into the Unknown with Josh Bernstein at 10.
• MTV has a new episode of The Hills at 10.

Check your local TV listings for more.

(S01E09) Okay, we're really into swinging tonight. Everybody seems to get into the action, including the kids. Frankly, the summer of '76 is making everyone in Swingtown hot and horny and just a touch too adventurous. It makes for interesting viewing, but I'm not sure how realistic all this is supposed to be. What is the difference between swinging and cheating?

Brad and Sylvia are back. It's yet another dinner party at the Deckers! The writers really have to find other ways to get these people together. Anyway, after Bruce's admission of his overt flirtation with Melinda -- a couple of kisses and a trip to her apartment -- the Millers accept an invitation to the Pendulum Club. That's an erotic cabaret according to Trina, and yes, the Deckers decide to go along at Susan's behest.