Ever since Drudge posted this snap of President Obama and French president Nicolas Sarkozy at the G-8 summit seemingly caught in the midst of checking out a girl's behind, the photo's been burning up the Internets. Good Morning America even turned to the video this morning and broke it down so carefully you'd have thought it was the Zapruder film. Their conclusion: Obama was likely looking down and reaching back to help another woman down the steep stairs. Hmm, maybe. But what's Sarkozy's excuse? Cochon!
The blogosphere is already oscillating between whether Palin's planning a run for president in 2012 or whether she's just written her political epitaph. Me, I'm just wondering whether her next act will be, say, going head-to-head against Rachel Maddow with her talk show Sarah Barracuda on Fox News. Or filling the recent Jon & Kate media blackout vacuum with Sarah & Todd Plus Six on TLC. (For those bothering to count: Track + Willow + Piper + Trig + Bristol + Bristol's son Tripp = six.) While Palin may make for a dubious elected official to some, I think we can all agree the woman makes for -- and inspires -- some ridiculously entertaining TV. (Below, I've embedded just two examples.)
So tell me, PopWatchers, do you hope to see more of Sarah Palin once she moves out of the governor's mansion, or less?
I doubt any of you are too hard-up for another ultra-catty summer reality TV series, but I'd like to announce that I have a new favorite. It's called Obama's Press Conferences. It's airing all the time, y'all. Sometimes there are even repeats! Jump to 2:11 in the video below for the good stuff. This is way better than Teresa flipping over a table. Hey, press, ask him about his smoking some more. Do it. Do it!
Thanks to The Daily Show for selecting choice clips from this hot new summer series -- and to Jon Stewart for amending the Z Snap to include an impressive four prongs.
First came Mad Men, then came Breaking Bad, and now AMC has its third drama in the works: Rubicon. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the show "revolves around a secret society that pulls the strings on the world political stage. It centers on Will Travers, a brilliant analyst at a national think tank who discovers that his employers are not who they seem to be."
Count me in times a million for this. Beyond hoping that this is a good show, though, I'm hoping Rubicon can usher in a new era of politics shows because I am the biggest sucker ever for entertainment related to government: West Wing, Spin City, but also The State Within, even Parks and Recreation. My favorite parts of 24 are the parts about subverting entrenched governmental structures and untangling the messy web of politics, not the parts where everything gets blown up. I watched Jack & Bobby, Commander in Chief, I own a VHS version of Dave, and I've probably seen The American President 25 times. Growing up, I read and reread The President's Daughter and its sequels. (So good, yet weirdly underappreciated.)
So...yeah. Please, the more politics shows, the merrier on my end. Who's with me, PopWatchers? Do you crave political entertainment, too? Here's an awesome face-off from Dave to convince you:
I'm not gonna offer too much preamble to this, writer-actor-Colonial surgeon John Hodgman's address to President Obama at the 2009 Radio and TV Correspondents Dinner. I'll just say that it's a nimble, brilliant dissection of what it means to be a nerd and how the Bush administration was staffed by jocks. Oh, and how President Obama may just be the man to straddle that great cultural divide.
By the way, I know the answer to those three Dune questions Hodgman posed at the end. Without doing any research. Because I am a geek. Do you? (I'll pop the answers in the comments.)
Denzel Washington has successfully transformed into many memorable characters over the
years with his portrayals of Malcolm X, Coach Herman Boone (Remember the
Titans), John Quincy Archibald (John Q), and even Humpty Dumpty (Mother Goose: A Rappin' and Rhymin' Special). So who's left for the star of the summer blockbuster Taking of Pelham 123 to play? How about the president?
On Letterman this week, the 54-year-old actor was asked about the rumor that President Obama had said he'd be a good choice to play him on film. And how did the Oscar winner respond? He simply stuck both his ears out with his fingers.
"Now I'm in trouble with the president," he said. "The only reason I did that was because he said maybe Will [Smith], 'cause Will's ears were bigger and closer to his."
While we don't know how well either Denzel or Will would do in accurately nailing Obama's nuances and voice intonation, we do know of one actor who even the president wouldn't approve of: Fred Armisen. If you, fellow PopWatchers, had the diplomatic task of casting the perfect Obama for a future biopic, who would get your vote?
In an MSNBC interview today, Contessa Brewer ferociously batted cat toys around via satellite with radio host John Ziegler, whose on-camera presence is strongly reminiscent of SNL-era Norm MacDonald. Ziegler had interviewed Gov. Sarah Palin in response to a recent Late Show with David LettermanTop Ten List that mocked her typical "slutty flight attendant" attire. (Palin called Letterman "pathetic"; you can listen to the Ziegler/Palin radio chat here.) Right off the bat, Ziegler thanked Brewer for having him on "Barack Obama's Official Network." Zing! "Do you even want to do the interview?" Brewer wondered. Oh, he sure did. Watch the sparks fly in this very special episode of Adventures in Talking Over Each Other. Cut the mic, please! Someone. Anyone.
So Stephen Colbert's long-awaited trip to the Persian Gulf is underway, with from-Iraq episodes of The Report debuting tonight. I only get sort of excited for stunt episodes like this because...well, I'm watching Colbert every night anyway, special guests and locations or no. But I am actually pretty pumped for tonight because Stephen Colbert will be sportin' a new, military-issued 'do, and I have to say: He looks super foxy!
Right? So cute! Holy moly, he might edge past Anderson Cooper on my hunky anchor list.
What do you think, PopWatchers? Is this troop-supporting mop chop a keeper? Whom shall we shear next?
And make sure to check back tomorrow morning to read Ken Tucker's take on his Watching TV blog.
In a world aTwitter, it's nice to be reminded that occasionally, celebs can hold our attention for longer than a second. Exhibit A: Jenna Fischer's latest MySpace blog about her summer in New York City. She's here filming an indie movie -- not that we needed the word "indie" spelled out for us when she describes her character as "a train-wreck of a mother who drinks and smokes and flirts with her brother-in-law." Anyway, she took time out to go see the August Wilson play Joe Turner's Come and Gone -- on the same night as the President and First Lady. Reading her enthusiasm about the tight security -- "There was even a canine unit!" -- I realized that I've been in New York too long. Bomb-sniffing dogs no longer fill me with exclamation points. (Those are reserved for the rare but memorable occasions when I see armed soldiers or helmeted SWAT officers in the Port Authority Bus Terminal. If I ever get used to that, I'm leaving the city!) My favorite part of Fischer's post, aside from her visual aids showing the views that she and her boyfriend had of the Obamas from their crappy seats: "The President and First Lady went to their seats just before the
curtain went up. Everyone in the theater stood and applauded." That's a Manhattan moment worth documenting in more than 140 characters.
