Site of the Day: Super Obama World

It turns out that the road from Chicago to Washington D.C. was stranger than we ever suspected. And, yes, those are lipstick-wearing pigs.

'The Daily Show' exposes CNN's terrifying magic maps

I'm feeling a little scared right now. See, I just watched the special investigation that The Daily Show's always-superb John Oliver presented on Tuesday night, wherein he revealed the hidden purpose of those "magic wall" maps that CNN's John King kept using on election night. Because that's the kind of fearless truth-seeker John Oliver is: He'll do an in-depth report on something two full weeks after it ceases to be relevant, all for the greater good. I'm really too shook up even to summarize the sordid conspiracy Oliver uncovered, so why don't you just watch the clip below. Be warned, though — you might end up like me, unable to so much as turn on CNN without looking anxiously over your shoulder for a marauding anchor. (Here is where I note that CNN is, like EW's parent company, owned by Time Warner. Not that that makes me feel any safer!)

I think I can confidently say that this is the best electoral-map-related humor performance I've seen in some time, beating out such worthy contenders as Stephen Colbert's recent adventure with The Early Show's lower-tech floor situation on CBS (click here to watch) and Fred Armisen's own magic-wall skit on SNL a few weeks ago (voila). Disagree if you dare — John King is probably monitoring this post as we speak.

More on The Daily Show and election humor:
The Daily Show writers' eerily accurate Election '08 predictions
John Oliver deserves his own series!
TDS made it onto EW's Top 25 New TV Classics
John Oliver semi-endorsed Snoopy for President

Are you in the mood for more Michael Moore-mongering?

Maybe I'm tipsy from all the Barack Obama "Yes We Can!" Kool Aid, or maybe I've just gotten soft in my post-idealistic-college-kid years (and years...and years), but I caught myself groaning at news of a new Michael Moore film in the works, this time with his sights set on the global financial crisis. I've always been pretty well aligned with Moore ideologically, and I laughed, clapped, and yelled out loud in the theater during Moore's last political documentary, 2004's Fahrenheit 9/11. But in this post-'08-Election period, I'm trying very hard to put my anger and embitterment behind me and hope for "change," as we say nowadays. And as much as I've typically enjoyed Moore's exposés, the one thing they're in short supply of is hope. Apparently, the filmmaker's focus on the economy is already a shift from his original idea, which was to cover American foreign policy, but I'm frankly not convinced Moore is capable of making a movie that doesn't highlight how screwed up everything is -- albeit in a humorous, thought-provoking manner -- and leave us feeling like a bunch of helpless, broke-ass victims. Unless Obama very quickly disappoints this country and causes us to once again give up hope, I'm thinking a new Moore movie will flop just as Oliver Stone's W did.

What about you? Psyched for more Moore? Think he's capable of doing anything that engenders hope? Would you want him to even try?

'Crimson Tide': A metaphor for the election?

You might have been too busy reacting to John McCain’s Nov. 4 concession speech to notice the strange choice of music that swelled in the background: The defeated GOP nominee walked offstage to the score from Crimson Tide. Why is that so bizarre? Well, the hit 1995 thriller centers on a power struggle between a square-jawed hawkish Cold War veteran (played by Gene Hackman) and an upstart black lieutenant (Denzel Washington) who wants to avoid another war at all costs. Coincidence? To find out, we got in touch with McCain’s spokesman Michael Goldfarb, who clarified the selection for us — sort of.

“The music had a naval theme,” he replied. “The Top Gun soundtrack also played. Though perhaps there is some racist dimension to Top Gun as well; Maverick did take Cougar’s spot at Miramar. You should look into that.”

Hmm. Last time we checked, Cougar (played by actor-turned-director John Stockwell) was a white dude. Just sayin'...

More on politics:
John McCain: My Pop-Culture Favorites (the EW interview!)
Obama vs. McCain: The Great Presidential Pop-Culture Debate
PopWatch presents the best election-night sound bites!

Is it safe to make Obama jokes yet?

There's been a lot of hand-wringing over the past few days about whether comedy will suffer under an Obama presidency because comics (especially the all-white corps of late-night hosts) will feel squeamish making jokes about the new president. I find such talk irksome; it assumes that the president-elect lacks the capacity to make or enjoy jokes at his own expense (clearly not true, given his recent remark that his daughters' new puppy should be "a mutt, like me"), and that his presidency will usher in an era of no-fun-allowed political correctness in which dissenting voices will be silenced. I think fears of comedic censorship (or self-censorship) are overblown and unrealistic, but it will be tricky to make Obama jokes, though maybe not for the reasons the hand-wringers expect.

Granted, we've not heard a lot of Obama jokes so far; the ones floating around since the election, as this Gawker post points out, have mostly been about assassination fears. (Of course, that's more a joke about pervasive American racial paranoia than about Obama specifically; in fact, Eddie Murphy was making similar jokes about Jesse Jackson 25 years ago, and Gawker has found the NSFW clip to prove it.) The reason, however, isn't political correctness but rather the difficulty of finding something in Obama himself to make fun of. He hasn't done anything yet, so he can't be lampooned for his gaffes in office, and he hasn't revealed the personal idiosyncracies that would be easy for comics to caricature. (Poor Fred Armisen on Saturday Night Live, pictured, has successfully mimicked some of Obama's oratorical tics, but beyond that, his Obama has been the straight man in sketches about other politicians with traits that are easier to ridicule.) If there's one positive effect that an Obama presidency will have on comedy, as Gawker suggests, it's that it'll force comics to be more creative and clever in order to find something spoof-worthy about Obama; they won't be able to rely, as they have for the past 30 years, on cheap and easy jokes about, say, Reagan's dottiness or Clinton's libido or W.'s dimwittedness.

Who's ready for a new Bruce Springsteen album?

It might already be time to update that inaugural playlist Mick Boogie shared with us earlier in the week! Bruce Springsteen debuted a brand-new tune, "Workin' on a Dream," at an eleventh-hour rally for then-candidate Obama in Cleveland over the weekend — and his venerable fansite Backstreets.com is casually suggesting that the song comes from a whole new album the Boss is recording, which they say is "expected to see release around the time of the Presidential Inauguration" (h/t). Whoa! We should probably be cautious here, seeing as that's just one little sentence on an unofficial site and Springsteen's camp hasn't confirmed or denied anything. Assuming it's true, though, what do you say to the prospect of another album so soon after last fall's masterful Magic?

I say bring it on. Bruce has been experiencing a real creative renaissance these last few years with The Rising and Magic (among others). Both rank among his most powerful albums, and both are ultimately about the country he loves so much — one a cry of mourning after 9/11, the other a crushing rebuke of the Bush years. I'm ready to hear the next chapter in that story. Bruce made it obvious to fans how much he had emotionally invested in Obama's campaign at the rallies he played this fall. And if he's feeling anything like the rush of post-election joy and relief and optimism that I am right now, that sounds like one hell of a record in the making. Go ahead, check out that live performance of "Workin' on a Dream" below, and tell me: Don't you want to hear the rest of this album?

More on the Boss:
His Halloween video about the "Jersey Devil" gave PopWatch the willies
PopWatch was on the scene at his early-October concert for Obama
PopWatch looked forward to his Super Bowl halftime set
Chris Willman gave Magic an A review, then broke it down track-by-track

Will.i.am gets trapped in the hologram at 236.com

As part of PopWatch's Election Night Coverage Sound Bites Spectacular ™, I got assigned to keep tabs on MSNBC (not that I minded because I love me some angry-bemused Keith Olbermann), but as a result, I missed what by all accounts was some INSANE use of holograms over at CNN. One person who appeared to Anderson Cooper in a bitmapped fever dream was the Black Eyed Peas' Will.i.am, and today, the good folks at political humor site 236.com have an entire gallery of how the holo-grammy winner spent his election day. I'm particularly delighted by their caption for the above photo, which explains: "10:40 AM. At a Cleveland area high school pep rally. Will.i.am appeared and for several seconds, he shrieked in agony. Witnesses said it sounded like his flesh was being peeled from his bones. Then the image faded." Click here to see the entire 236.com Will.i.am gallery, and if you missed our recap of the election-night coverage on seven different channels, then by all means click here and ch-ch-check it out!

(Not) Actually live at Comedy Central's Indecision 2008 viewing party

How's your hangover? (Take our poll, after the jump.)

Considering I spent five hours at Comedy Central's open-bar "Indecision 2008" viewing party, mine could, theoretically, be worse. I'll share the highlights of my election night, you share yours.

• CNN calls Florida for Obama, Times Square erupts Annie Barrett and I were in a cab, headed down Broadway when we heard the cheers. And allegedly high-fived. (I should have cut myself off then.)

• Indecision Plinko! Judging by the line to play Plinko at The Park restaurant, I'm guessing Annie (pictured) was the only one who's never heard of the famed Price is Right game. How it worked: Two guests faced off on matching boards. The one who scored the most points won an Indecision 2008 T-shirt and a Subway gift card. Annie was victorious (in her second match, against a Daily Show staffer).

• Celebs... eating! Among the stars we spotted at the party: Ethan Hawke, Seann William Scott, Top Chef's Padma Lakshmi, Flight of the Concords' Kristen Schaal, 30 Days' Morgan Spurlock, and 30 Rock's Jane Krakowski, Jack McBrayer, Scott Adsit, and Lonny Ross. Memorable moments include my colleague Tanner Stransky following a plate of bite-size brownies... right to Hawke's table. (I like actors so much more when I know that they eat dessert; Hawke also enjoyed one of the delicious cupcakes with Barack Obama's face on it.) And, of course, Annie getting her moment with Schaal, whom she was most excited to see: "I said, 'Oh hell no. Said I would stalk ya. Livin' my dream,'" Annie recounted. "She just stared and said, 'Thank you?'" 

A PopWatch Farewell: John McCain's Top 5 pop culture moments

Am I the only one who is actually happy for John McCain that he lost last night and can put this whole campaign behind him? Toward the end, it didn't even sound like he believed what he was saying any more. Presidential campaigns have a way of taking on an ugly, cut-throat life of their own (though neither candidate should be completely absolved of their personal role in this year's venomous election). But now that it's all over and we enter the time for reconciliation, here at PopWatch we'd like to pay tribute to the humble, loyal, and yes, even somewhat humorous John McCain with our list of his Top 5 pop culture moments (including the clip below of his appearance on SNL last weekend, where he outlined his desperate campaign's 11th-hour turn to the "Grandpa Strategy"). So farewell, John McCain the maverick presidential candidate. And welcome back, John McCain the maverick Senator.

No. 5: McCain on SNL's Weekend Update

Check out the Top 4 after the jump, and then let us know what your favorite McCain pop culture moments were.

Al Franken's race still too close to call

Now that we've got all this Obama stuff out of the way, let's turn our attention to another landmark race this election year: Al Franken's attempt to become the first comedian-turned-national politician. As of this morning, it looks like Franken, who is trying to unseat Minnesota's Republican incumbent Senator Norm Coleman, may wind up in a recount, as the two remain deadlocked this morning. For much of the race, it didn't seem like Franken really had a chance, but most pundits say the economic crisis helped the Democratic comedian pull even as October rolled around. While that makes fine sense to me, I can't help but wonder if the fact that Saturday Night Live (Franken's old stomping ground) became such a factor this October also made a difference for Franken. And speaking of comedians going pol, SNL politics, and barrier-breaking elections, anyone wanna buy a "Fey 2016" button?

PopWatch presents the best election-night sound bites!

We voted. We tuned in. And then we took notes on the best and funniest soundbites from election-night coverage on CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox News, MSBNC, CNN, Comedy Central, and BBC America. Here are the highlights:

ABC
Interestingly (amusingly?), the pictures of candidates that ABC used as backdrops for the electoral-vote tallies showed Obama smiling and McCain scowling (even before it was obvious Obama was winning). Plus, plenty of awkward moments from Times Square. Another fun thing on ABC: The team of political analysts (Cokie Roberts, Donna Brazile, George Will, etc.) were sitting behind laptops that had big labels that read "POLITICAL ANALYSIS."

7:25 p.m.

Video cuts to Times Square, outside the ABC News studio: Someone holding a banner saying "Cassoulet Forever." Someone who looks just like Sylar from NBC's Heroes holding a sign saying "Investigate 9/11."

7:31 p.m.

Charlie Gibson has a flashback to those vocabulary drills you do before taking the SATs: He says to Obama campaign manager David Plouffe (who's in Chicago): "You are always the modicum of caution. Modicum is actually not the right word."

George Stephanopoulos (chiming in): "The espitome [sic] of caution."

Diane Sawyer (chiming in): "Riddled with caution."

Charlie: "The epitome of caution. That's the word I'm looking for. You are cautious when other people are exuberant. I wonder how you feel tonight."

Plouffe: "Well, Charlie, it's too early to be exuberant, so I'm cautious."

9:26 p.m.

Sam Donaldson starts to ramble, music goes up, gradually gets louder, video cuts away to the ABC logo. (Reminiscent of when you get played off at the Oscars.)

10:10 p.m.

Democratic strategist Donna Brazile: "Someone's gonna wake up tomorrow and say, 'Honey, I shrunk the party.' And try to figure out what happened to the Republican Party."

Diane Sawyer: "And [Republican] Governor [Tim] Pawlenty [of Minnesota] said it's a Dr. Phil moment."

Brazile: "They need Oprah."

10:33 p.m.

Oprah (!) being interviewed at the Obama rally in Chicago: "It's my town. My town's been vibrating all day...[Gail tells her to tell a story about how she voted.] I was voting across from a drug rehab center. And there were some ladies in there that I was like, 'Well, how long have you all been detoxed?' And they said, 'Just last week,' and I said, 'Okay, that's good. That's sober enough.'...And I thought, 'We will even take the drug addicts' vote.'"

11:00 p.m.

Charlie Gibson: "ABC News is now ready to project that Barack Obama will carry the state of California, carry other states in the West. Barack Obama will be the 44th president of the United States. Barack Obama has been elected president."

NBC
NBC may not have had the most scintillating coverage, but it had some of the coolest visuals, turning Rockefeller Plaza into its chart, with the ice rink as a giant electoral map showing red and blue states, and the wall of the tower at 30 Rock used as a bar graph comparing the red and blue electoral vote totals. Lots of references to the late Tim Russert; everyone at NBC News seemed choked up that the late Washington bureau chief wasn't there to sketch the election's progress on his familiar white dry-erase board.

How did you entertain yourself in line at the polls?

I was prepared for an hour (or more) wait this morning, but I didn't even have time to take the book I brought out of my bag. In fact, I spent more time walking around the school gymnasium trying to find the "I Voted" stickers than I did in line (or behind the curtain).

How long did you wait to vote? How did you pass the time? And am I the only one who didn't get a sticker?*

* Apparently not. My friend Sheila reports that after 3.5 hours in line in Brooklyn, she also got sticker-screwed.

More on the 2008 election:
EW's Great Presidential Pop-Culture Debate with the candidates
Election Night: Any excuse to party?
PopWatch's complete coverage, including celebrity PSAs and SNL

DJ Mick Boogie cooks up an Obama inauguration playlist

When he isn't spinning tunes for Lebron James and Jay-Z, providing music for corporate clients such as Microsoft, or remixing Coldplay into mashup heaven, DJ Mick Boogie (pictured, left) is an ardent supporter of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. Boogie's so excited about his candidate of choice, in fact, that he cooked up an Obama inauguration playlist for PopWatch. Enjoy the full set of songs after the jump, and feel free to post your own McCain- and/or Obama-inspired playlists in the comments section below.

Election night: Any excuse to party?

Congratulations -- you voted! Or maybe you didn't, but hopefully that unwarranted praise will guilt you into going right this second. Just don't vote for the same dude in all three columns, like the befuddled constituents in Josh Lyman's waking nightmare on The West Wing (press play below).

Any of you P-Dubbers have wild election night plans? I feel as terrified as Josh right now, but hopefully the election results will drive me to drink "happily" instead of "with a vengeance." Mandi Bierly and I will be at Comedy Central's Indecision 2008 Election Night Viewing Party, scarfing down fruit kebabs while nonchalantly stalking Kristen Schaal. At least I'll be doing that. Mandi will probably be doing something responsible.

Heads up, Nation: Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's hour-long election special begins at 10 p.m. ET, and
we'll have an election-night roundup post and accompanying EW.com video (from all the networks, not just the most irreverent one) on PopWatch tomorrow morning. But tell us: How will you spend election night?

John McCain on 'Saturday Night Live'

Who else thought the opening sketch was weak? It probably didn't help that the senator — busy trying to get, you know, elected — wasn't given much time to prepare. We got lame gags based on talking points from his recent speeches. We got a lame McCain-Feingold joke. Even Tina Fey/Sarah Palin was uninspiring. Let's just place the blame for this mess on the writer's room. (His 'Weekend Update' bit was marginally more amusing — and in both bits, McCain showed a genuine, if wooden, capacity for self-deprecation.)  What were your thoughts on his appearance?  And what do we take away from the fact that a late-night comedy show became a strangely significant campaign-trail stop in the most important presidential election of our time?

UPDATE 1: Two quick things. First: Let's please keep the comments free from personal attacks on either candidate. Second: Of course I don't mean to suggest that John McCain lacks a sense of humor: I thought Barack Obama's SNL performance was similarly stiff and clumsy. And that's totally fine with me. What I really want from the next person who sits in the Oval Office is an ability to govern and lead and, hopefully, inspire. I'd rank "brilliant sense of comic timing" somewhere around No. 473 in a list of qualities I'd most want in a president. Okay, I'm stepping off my soapbox. Back to your thoughts on the show. And I agree with some of you: the View bit was unfunny and way too long.

UPDATE 2: It seems that politics and comedy make for comfy bedfellows: Lynette Rice reports on the show's string of landslide ratings wins. We're betting that Lorne Michaels isn't the only one who wishes the campaign were extended for a few more weeks.

Enter the Fray: A week of campaigning, tricks, and treats

Greetings PopWatchers -- it’s time for the Halloween edition of Enter the Fray. While my own week was dominated by watching the Fightin’ Phils win the World Series and trying to plan my Halloween costume (I’m going as the Industrial Revolution. It’s conceptual.), there were plenty of pop culture treats (and tricks) for you to consume.

 10. On the trick front, British comedian and MTV Video Music Awards host Russell Brand played a phone prank that got him suspended from his BBC radio show.

 9. Amy Wilkinson and other PopWatch staffers shared what irrationally scares them. (Seriously you guys, outer space is terrifying.)

8. Joe the Plumber might have a new occupation soon -- Joe the Country Singer.

7. Christina, Mariah, and Hilary threw down in a battle of the video divas.

6. I shared my love of Chuck with the world (or just this blog, either way).

5. A new Harry Potter trailer premiered, and we couldn’t figure out who Ron was snogging (Turns out it’s Lavender Brown. Too bad we still have to wait so long for the film!)

4. You mourned the premature loss of CBS' The Ex List.

3. Aubry D’Arminio mourned the not-really-premature-but-still-sad loss of sexy Scotsman David Tenant as Dr. Who.

2. David Archuleta wrote a novel in the liner notes for his new album.

1. Finally, you had a lot to say about Elisabeth Hasselbeck’s stumping for Sarah Palin (pictured). The election is now only four days away -- and in the name of civic duty, PopWatch encourages everyone to go into work late on Tuesday. After voting, that is. Not, like, sleeping in.

Kenneth the Page for president! (Plus, a missed 'Office' moment)

Because we can't get enough of NBC's Thursday night comedies, here's a campaign ad for 30 Rock's Kenneth the Page. (Seen on last night's episode, but not mentioned here among his qualifications: he can do lots of push-ups!) That's change we can believe in.

After the jump, here's a deleted scene from last night's Office, in which Holly shares an awkward farewell with the Scranton staffers.

Would you listen to a country album from 'Joe the Plumber'?

You know that one dude Samuel "Joe the Plumber" Wurzelbacher (pictured) everyone keeps talking about on TV? He may or may not already be a played-out Halloween costume, but he sure is famous. So famous, in fact, that he's just retained the services of a Nashville-based PR firm, which sent me a press release last night. Said publicity firm has also been quoted as saying that "Joe" is considering launching a country music career. Yep, that's right — "Joe the Plumber" is on the cusp of pulling a Joaquin the Actor. I, Simon the Blogger, am going to refrain from making a hasty judgment on this important matter (as well as from making any further lame "______ the ______er" jokes). So you tell me. Good idea? Bad idea? And wouldn't it make more sense for a plumber to play some good old-fashioned musical pipes than to try and become a country singer?

More on politics as entertainment:
Barack Obama swings by The Daily Show
PopWatch finds out what Synchronized Presidential Debates look like
Ron Howard's campaign video

Check it: Barack Obama on 'The Daily Show’

Last night's full-on Obama TV takeover included a half-hour campaign ad special, a satellite appearance on The Daily Show, and a rally with a certain William Jefferson Clinton in Florida (all scheduled nicely so I could still watch the last three innings of the Phillies' World Series win). During Jon Stewart's hard-hitting interrogation (press play below), Obama admitted "proof" of his socialist tendencies (he shared toys with friends in kindergarten) and the Bradley effect (he's in therapy so his white half won't say he's voting for himself and then change his mind in the voting booth). What about you, PopWatchers? Did you catch any of Senator Obama's TV appearances last night? Which did you prefer?

Clip du jour: Synchronized Presidential Debate

For anyone who watched more than one of the three debates and found something (strangely? unsettlingly?) familiar in all the talking...

[23/6 via BoingBoing]

'Pushing Daisies' vs. 'Barack Obama'

We don't know what the contents of Barack Obama's half-hour prime-time special tomorrow night at 8 p.m. will be (though we can only hope it's as entertaining as what SNL came up with, below). But we do know that it will air on almost all of the four major broadcast networks. (Even Malia Obama was worried that her dad's cross-network airtime buy would preempt her favorite shows, according to mama Michelle, who says she reassured her daughter that her favorite Nickelodeon and Disney Channel programs were safe.) The only one of the four not airing the program will be ABC, which will have to make do with a new episode of its struggling second-year series Pushing Daisies. It's not clear why the senator's campaign didn't buy airtime on ABC as well as NBC, CBS, and Fox; maybe they figured ABC was already airing a show about a young, inexperienced guy who's accompanied by a blunt-speaking older fellow, whose mere touch frightens people, and whose cheery, twinkly, flower-power style many viewers find annoying and weirdly creepy. Or, for the sake of fairness, how about this: Maybe they wanted to give equal time to a show about a guy who wants to grow the pie bigger, whose female companions are a pretty young brunette he can never touch and a brittle blonde with a pasted-on smile, and who is constantly surrounded by death and corruption.

By the way, The CW will be airing America's Next Top Model. Insert your own joke about a show featuring a contest whose fiercely ambitious aspirants must meet arbitrary media-imposed standards that no healthy and sane person could live up to.

More on Pushing Daisies:
TV Review: Pushing Daisies, season 2
Pushing Daisies: Meet the bizarro Emerson, Ned, and Chuck
Pushing Daisies casts David Arquette in recurring guest spot
TV ratings for Oct. 22: Pushing Daisies wilts 10 percent from last week

'Sassy' Elisabeth Hasselbeck believes in Maverick Sarah Palin

So what's a Republican presidential candidate to do when even supporters are saying your hot-but-inexperienced running mate lacks the substance to win the White House? Why, you call on hot reality-star-turned-conservative-talk-show-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck to introduce her at a Tampa rally, of course! To me, this makes about as much sense as Barack Obama answering the radical-anti-American accusations by taking Michael Moore on the trail, but I guess that's why Rick Davis is McCain's campaign manager and I work at EW. Any PopWatchers catch Hasselbeck's pitch for Palin (check out a clip below)? Does this affect you one way or the other?

Clip du jour: McCain Vs. Obama Dance-Off

At last: the two candidates square off in the only forum that really matters. "My friends, it's on!"

Will Ferrell as Bush: Did you miss him? Heh-heh-heh

Much to the gentleman from Arizona's dismay, Will Ferrell's President Bush "super publicly" endorsed the McCain-Palin ticket on Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update Thursday. With Will Ferrell and W.'s Josh Brolin both begging the national audience to "think of this face," I almost forgot what the real president looks like!

How much did you miss Ferrell's Bush impersonation? And who else just declared their own office a "bummer-free zone"?

Ron Howard's campaign video: Changes you can believe in?

Is Ron Howard's deliberately self-abasing, pro-Obama video funny, sincere, or just desperate? Vote below, America.

EW's election poll results: Politics = entertainment!

Wondering why ratings for your favorite TV shows are down this fall? Election coverage -- not to mention the newspapers, magazines, and Palin Bingo cards piled atop your lonely remote control -- could help explain why. A new Entertainment Weekly survey found that Americans age 18-34 spend 34% of their TV time watching election-related programming, and half of all Americans said they are watching fewer primetime shows as a result. As for the recent flux of popular political spoofs, 80% of pollers said they'd watched the spoofs on TV, compared with 15% online. (Here on PopWatch, I'd bet that online percentage is a lot higher. What's a 'TV'?)

• Sarah Palin vs. Tina Fey as Sarah Palin  It’s a tie when Americans were asked who they like better: Tina Fey’s Palin (37.4%) or Governor Palin herself (37%). Among women (39%), Americans age 18-34 (45%) and Democrats (66%), Tina Fey’s Palin is the clear winner.
• Late-Night Talk Shows May Lose Viewers Post-Election  Of the Americans whose favorite spoofs are courtesy of SNL, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report or Real Time with Bill Maher, 3 in 10 say they will watch less of these shows after the election.
• Election Coverage More Exciting Than 90210 and Reality TV?  Among the 18-34 set, 31% said they are watching more election coverage because “it’s a heck of a lot more entertaining than the new 90210.”  In addition, one out of five Americans are watching more election coverage to escape their dissatisfaction with reality TV.
• Talk Show Influence  More than 40% of Americans feel that the candidates’ appearances on talk shows have some influence on their opinion of the candidates.
• Celebrity Influence  More than half of Americans (53%) feel celebrity endorsements can have some influence on the candidates’ appeal. Those 25-34 (59%) and Democrats (64%) are more likely to feel that celebrity endorsement has influence on the candidates’ appeal.
• Celebrity Appeal Decreases When Voters Dislike Celebrity’s Candidate Choice  Overall, more than half of Americans said that celebrity endorsements do not impact their perception of the celebrity whether they like or dislike the candidate the celebrity endorsed.  However, 32% of Americans age 18-24 said they like a celebrity more when that celebrity endorses their preferred candidate, and 41% of Americans overall feel they like celebrities less when that celebrity endorses a candidate they dislike (50% among Republicans).

Thoughts? Concerns? Complimentary baked goods and/or buttons? Leave 'em below.

More on the 2008 election:
Obama vs. McCain: The Great Presidential Pop-Culture Debate
Hollywood conservatives: Come out of the closet and be heard!
PopWatch's election coverage, including celebrity PSAs and 'SNL'

Ellen DeGeneres takes on Sarah Palin: But will she change people's minds?

Multiple snaps in the direction of Ellen DeGeneres, who used her daytime talk show today to argue against Sarah Palin's recent announcement (during an interview with Christian Broadcasting Network) that she'd support a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage, a position that puts her at odds with her own running mate, Sen. John McCain. Ellen's case (the whole speech embedded below) is pretty simple -- "I don't like. I don't like it. I don't agree. And maybe it's because I'm gay that I think we should all be equal. But I feel that we're all equal." -- but it makes perfect sense to me. (Then again, I'm gayer than a tangerine cocktail, so of course it does.) What I'm wondering, though, is this: No matter how much Ellen's socially conservative fans dig her show, do you think her little pep talk will actually change any of their minds? And on a more personal note, has a celebrity endorsement or plea ever made you rethink your position on an important topic?

Hollywood conservatives: Come out of the closet and be heard!

Back in 1996, I was lucky enough to get to interview Charlton Heston, who, at the time, was still a much-in-demand character actor (he made three movies that year) and also at the height of his outspoken political advocacy for the right. He complained to me that conservatives in Hollywood felt besieged and believed they wouldn't get jobs if their politics were known. "There are more conservatives in the closet in Hollywood than there are homosexuals," he said, repeating a line he'd used in many a stump speech. But surely, I said, his implied comparison with the 1950s blacklist wasn't serious; after all, he was there in Hollywood at the time, when some movie-industry leftists actually did lose jobs and were even jailed because of their politics. Nothing comparable to that was happening now, was it? Well, sometimes it feels that way, he said. A couple years later, having heard Heston say that the Oliver Stones of the industry wouldn't hire him, Stone made a point of hiring Heston for Any Given Sunday. So I guess the griping worked.

Cut to today, and nothing's changed: Conservatives in Hollywood are still complaining that they're being shunned in an industry town consisting predominantly of liberals. The latest set of complaints comes via this Hollywood Reporter article about the impending launch of BigHollywood, a blog at breitbart.com that hopes to be a right-wing answer to the Huffington Post, with a group of 40 conservative Hollywood insiders as group bloggers. (Andrew Breitbart announced the planned blog back in August, but it doesn't appear to be live yet.) The gripes in Monday's THR article follow a similar airing of grievances by conservative screenwriter Andrew Klavan a week ago in a Washington Post op-ed. While I'm not buying any of these claims that openly conservative actors and screenwriters can't find work -- people like Klavan, Jon Voight (pictured), Kelsey Grammer, Patricia Heaton, Dennis Hopper, Robert Duvall, Tom Selleck, David Zucker, Clint Eastwood, and Bruce Willis aren't hurting for opportunities in Hollywood, just as they weren't when Heston spoke to me 12 years ago -- but the conservatives are correct that there aren't many overtly conservative movies made in Hollywood. I don't believe, however, that liberal intolerance is to blame.

Sarah Palin on 'SNL': Are your hands up?

Popular TV personality Sarah Palin pageant-walked onto last night's Saturday Night Live to watch Tina Fey impersonate her during a press conference and (I can't believe I'm about to type this) "raise the roof" during a "Weekend Update" rap that blatantly made fun of her. Watch the opener, below.

Palin and Fey really were the media queens this weekend -- to be clear, that's "the liberal elite media as well as the liberal regular media." You betcha! Watch more of this weekend's Palin-related funnies -- from Letterman, Bill Maher, and more -- over at Sound Bites.

More on Saturday Night Live:
Who is your favorite 'SNL' politician?
Watch Fey play Palin on the 'SNL' premiere
Winner of the Week: Tina Fey
'SNL': A week behind the scenes

Vote for your favorite TV president!

Most of the country is still talking about Obama v. McCain after Thursday night's final presidential debate, but here in the halls of EW, we've taken to debating Palmer v. Allen v. Bartlet v. Roslin. So tell us PopWatchers, in honor of Nov. 4's election day, which TV president would you most like to see in the White House?

More on politics and entertainment:
Obama vs. McCain: The Great Presidential Pop-Culture Debate
Why doesn't NBC give us back 'The West Wing'?
'Peanuts' for president? The race heats up!

The week in celeb election PSAs (again)

Every day now, it seems like another unlikely celebrity is speaking out on the presidential election. I understand how these artists must feel — I can't stop reading campaign news and refreshing the latest polls, either. But there's something pretty surreal about seeing, say, Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel remix the classic "D--- in a Box" as a pro-Obama clip called "Vote in the Box." (Yes, this actually happened, and while the video has mysteriously vanished from YouTube during the time I spent writing this post, I swear it was funny.) Meanwhile, you've got cavalcades of mostly apolitical rappers lining up to contribute verses packed with talking points to Russell Simmons and DJ Green Lantern's Yes We Can: The Mixtape. (The mixtape is totally solid and worth a free download, as it happens.) Then there was that fairly hilarious Moveon.org ad directed by Mr. & Mrs. Smith's Doug Liman where, like, Serena van der Woodsen and Dan Humphrey rag on John McCain. (Check it out below.) And those are just the three best examples from the past few days! Put it all together and it's clear that this election cycle is bringing out civic engagement from across the pop-culture map in a way I've never witnessed before.

Of course, I'm biased here. I'm most definitely the kind of guy who loves well-crafted entertainment with political overtones, so of course I'm enjoying all this. (It also helps that I'm a big supporter of Sen. Obama, who's the beneficiary of virtually all these pop-culture PSAs.) But what do you think? What have your favorite celeb endorsements of the season been? Or have you just had enough of all this? Cast your ballot with a comment below...

More on pop-culture and politics:
Leonardo DiCaprio et al. tell you not to vote (?)
PopWatch sorts out Madonna's politically charged tour video
Conservative Hollywood unites for An American Carol
Late Late Show host Craig Ferguson weighs in

David Letterman finally gets John McCain to apologize, and then some

I was a bit disappointed that John McCain actually felt the need to appear on The Late Show and apologize to David Letterman. I mean, the guy endured five and a half years of torture by the North Vietnamese, but after three weeks of ribbing by Dave, he knuckles under? That said, McCain's ritual act of contrition before this particular priest of the entertainment-industrial complex on Thursday night did make for riveting television.

As I predicted, Dave continued to mock McCain for his false excuse for bailing on a scheduled appearance three weeks ago, right up to the moment when the host was finally face-to-face with the senator at his desk. (There were lots of Joe the Plumber jokes, a makeshift magnetic map of the Straight Talk Express bus route that avoided the Ed Sullivan Theater three weeks ago while making various stops across Manhattan at the time McCain was supposedly en route to the airport to fly to Washington to fix the economy, and human prop Keith Olbermann, waiting in the wings in case he needed to sub for the missing candidate a second time.) Once the interview started, however, the mockery stopped, and Letterman was respectful, though not deferential. For his part, McCain got the mea culpa out of the way quickly -- "I screwed up," he said a couple times. (He, too, made the comparison to his POW ordeal, saying, "I haven't had so much fun since my last interrogation.") But the interrogation was just beginning.

Why doesn't NBC give me back 'The West Wing'?

Quick question: Why isn’t NBC taking a page from Bravo's playbook and rerunning The West Wing? Wouldn’t you think that in a time when we the people are consumed by the internecine workings of a presidential election, when America is mindful of both the issues that face our country and the people who make those decisions, when we're on the verge of having a real Commander in Chief who feels like a kindred spirit to the fictional Jed Bartlet—and if you haven't read Aaron Sorkin's imagined meeting between Barack Obama and Bartlet, do so now—wouldn't now be a perfect time for NBC to dip into their library and remind people how good that show was (and maybe prompt some people to pick up the DVDs)? Because, lest we forget, those first four seasons when Sorkin was running the show were among the best seasons of television ever.

I'm not suggesting that NBC shelve any of their current lineup in favor of reruns of a nine-year-old show, but why not give us West Wing Saturdays from here until the election? I can't be the only one who wants to watch more of this:

The Real Loser in Tonight's Debates: 'Project Runway'

Update: Click here to read our 'Project Runway' finale recap!

There’s been a fair amount of blogchatter (some of it right here on PopWatch) about whether or not Bravo is trying to sabotage this season of Project Runway after losing the show to Lifetime. (NBC Universal, which owns Bravo, recently won an injunction that may prevent the show from moving). There was the lack of buildup buzz, the uninspired challenges, the mediocre talent level. But today brings another blow that adds even more weight to the theory that Bravo is throwing its onetime star show under the train: The finale is up against the Presidential debate.

We know, we know. The show had this time slot long before the debates were scheduled. But why is Part 2 of the finale coming right after Part 1? Where’s our reunion episode filled with laughs, tears, and gratuitous Kenley bashing?

A colleague of mine raised the point that much of PR's core fan base cares a lot more about wedge heels than wedge issues. But even so, the debates are bound to take a huge bite out of PR's live-viewing audience, leaving the show with record low numbers for its send-off from the channel that created it. (If only we could combine the two and have, say, Michael Kors moderate the debates while McCain and Obama try on the designers' outfits. How can we know if our candidate can handle the American Empire until we see if he can handle an empire waist?)

Your turn, PopWatchers: Is this just a bad coincidence? Or is Bravo really sabotaging the show? And most importantly, which showdown will you watch tonight?

More on 'Project Runway':
Who should win 'Project Runway': Korto, Kenley, or Leanne?
13 'Project Runway' All-Stars and Their Unforgettable Designs
'Project Runway': Nina Garcia, I love your ring!

'SNL Weekend Update Thursday': Well!?!

Oh my God are you serious!?! You missed Weekend Update Thursday on NBC? REALLY?! No worries. Watch the funniest Seth & Amy part (below), or the full episode (on Hulu). And don't miss McCain's adorable new pet name for Obama on EW.com's daily Sound Bites!

I like this. Take away the "Will this week's celebrity host be a total disaster?" fear and it turns out SNL fits right in as a 22-minute sitcom. All the next two Thursday installments need is some Tina Fey guest spot action, to tide us over until we can finally belt out, "Please welcome...Liz LEH-MONNNNNN," Oprah-style, when 30 Rock premieres October 30.

Is now the right time for 'W.'?

We're only 27 days away from electing a new president, and eight away from the release of Oliver Stone's W. And while on paper, I understand Lionsgate's reasoning for choosing an October 17 release date -- after all, the whole country is experiencing a case of presidential fever; why not capitalize on all the free publicity for a film about our current Commander in Chief? -- if I'm being honest, I'd rather be subjected to a Beverly Hills Chihuahua-Lakeview Terrace-Nights in Rodanthe triple-header (shudder) than shell out $12 to see W.

Seriously, the current race for the White House between Barack Obama and John McCain consumes enough of my time and emotional energy right now -- I don't think I've had a single meal or phone call with family or friends in the last month where the presidential race didn't come up -- so why exactly would I really want to go watch Josh Brolin, Richard Dreyfuss, and Elizabeth Banks (among others) hammily act out the roles of folks who are still (at least peripherally) in the public eye?

Reaction to the most recent W. trailer was mixed among my friends and EW colleagues -- some can't wait to see it, others share my decided lack of enthusiasm -- and it got me wondering about what kind of voter turnout we can expect when the movie hits theaters next weekend. Check out the trailer then vote in our poll and let us know if W. (the movie, obvs) gets your vote.

More on 'W.' and politics:
Entertainment Weekly's first-look cover story: 'W,' Oliver Stone's Bush Biopic
Who is your favorite 'SNL' politician?
How and where did you watch the vice presidential debate? (Or did you?)
People's Choice: 16 Political Films We -- and You -- Voted For

Are David Letterman and John McCain about to bury the hatchet?

Could John McCain and David Letterman be just about ready to kiss and make up? That's what the New York Post is reporting (albeit in a thinly sourced article that attributes the news of the purportedly imminent reconciliation only to "knowledgeable sources"). The scenario the Post spins out certainly sounds plausible: McCain would make his long-postponed visit to the Late Show around Oct. 15, when he's in the neighborhood for the final presidential debate. If it's true, it sounds like what I predicted here will come to pass. No doubt high-level secret negotiations are taking place even as we speak, with the one thorny diplomatic complication being how to come up with a face-saving way for McCain to apologize to Letterman for lying to him without looking like he's knuckling under to the liberal media. (Any workable suggestions for how to accomplish this? Submit them below.) Once that wrinkle is ironed out, however, I'm sure the feud will end in a must-watch TV spectacle on the Late Show, after which Dave will go back to bashing everybody else in politics except McCain, at least until the election. So breathe easy, America, for at last, our long national nightmare may soon be over.

More on John McCain and David Letterman:
The Letterman-McCain smackdown, round 1
The Letterman-McCain smackdown, round 2
PopWatch is there as McCain announces his presidential candidacy on Letterman's Late Show

Who is your favorite 'SNL' politician?

After watching last week's debate, I couldn't help but wonder how much more awesome the VP verbal tango would have been if the real Alaskan governor had been replaced by everyone's favorite funny lady Tina Fey. Well, I sure didn't have to wait long to find out. Saturday Night Live answered my prayers this weekend, sending up the debate in its opening sketch, which featured  Fey, Jason Sudeikis as Joe Biden, and Queen Latifah as debate moderator Gwen Ifill. My favorite part of the clip below? When Fey whips out a flute and asks, "Are we not doing the talent portion?" (And that's not just because I'm a former flautist.)

Fey’s obviously hit comedic paydirt with her spot-on impersonation of the pol, but as much as I love me some updoed, skirt-suited Tina, I can’t help but pine for the days when Will Ferrell brought down the White house on SNL as a bumbling version of our current Commander in Chief. I’ll always remember those squinty eyes, that Texas drawl, and all of that well-thunk strategery. SNL has had its fair share of great (Fey as Palin, Ferrell as both Bush and Janet Reno, Darrell Hammond as Bill Clinton) and not so-great (Fred Armisen as Barack Obama) political impersonators. Time for you to cast your vote, PopWatchers. What's your favorite political impersonation in SNL history? (And what did you think of this weekend's opening sketch?)

More on 'SNL':
Vice-presidential debate scores massive ratings
On a scale of 1 to 10: 'SNL' season premiere
'Saturday Night Live': A week behind the scenes
Tina Fey: One Hot 'Mama'

Leonardo DiCaprio's 'Don't vote' public service announcement

Here's the celebrity register-to-vote PSA to end all celebrity register-to-vote PSAs. As PopWatch's Simon Vozick-Levinson noted yesterday, it begins with a classic head fake, a minute and a half of stars telling you not to vote. Psych! No, really, you should vote because a) there are important issues to be decided during this election; b) it's super-easy for even lazy Web surfers to register to vote, with voter registration information for your state just a couple clicks away at maps.google.com/vote; and c) because Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, will.i.am., Natalie Portman, and about two dozen other youngish stars (and token senior citizen Dustin Hoffman) say so.

I still don't know whether celebrity endorsements of even such non-controversial nostrums as voter registration actually sway anybody's actions, but at least this one is fun to watch, especially for Jonah Hill's funny (and NSFW) comments, and because Sarah Silverman takes off her bra. Ah, the lengths to which even the rich and famous will go just to pimp democracy. It's a beautiful thing.

More celebrity voter registration PSAs:
Stars urge voters to support the Peanuts characters for president
Craig Ferguson's heartfelt, funny get-out-the-vote plea
Daughtry courts first-time voters via Foreigner cover tune

How and where did you watch the vice presidential debate? (Or did you?)

So I don't want to turn PopWatch into a political blog -- you can visit our corporate cousin at Time.com to weigh in on Joe Biden and Sarah Palin's performances in Thursday night's vice presidential debates -- but seeing that this is a place where we talk about what happened on TV last night, I figured I'd post a quick item asking how and where (or if) you