TVSquad

I'm sure a lot of you were scratching your heads over the weekend, wondering how Tim Russert's passing merited the all-encompassing, presidential-like coverage it got, especially on his home network of NBC. He's only a reporter, right? Why the wall-to-wall coverage? Well, first of all, it seems that by all accounts, Russert was one of the most well-liked people in the news business, so the outpouring might have been a function of people mourning a friend who was taken from them too soon. But, I have another, more off-beat theory as to why NBC did a broadcast version of sitting shiva for Russert: it was because they have no idea how to replace him.

Think about it: he wasn't only the longtime moderator of Meet The Press, where he took the venerable show and rejiggered its format, making him the face of the show. He was also NBC News' Washington bureau chief and the main political voice for the network. "It's going to take four or five people to replace Tim," CBS' Bob Schieffer told The New York Times.

For now, though, the immediate question is who will replace him on Meet The Press. Speculation is already underway.

Back on the night that Stephen Colbert announced that he'd be hitting Philadelphia, taking the show on the road for the first time, I had decided to go to bed early and just catch the rerun in the morning. My friend called me just as I began to doze off and immediately told me that she had gotten tickets for us to see Colbert in Philadelphia. I had no idea what the hell she was talking about, so when I hung up, I just shrugged it off as a late-night half-dream. The next morning, I watched the episode and it finally made sense: We were about to go on another Colbert Report adventure.

According to this fascinating story at The New York Times Magazine (online several days ahead of its Sunday publication), that's what he is worried about.

Matthews has always been outspoken, from his early days when he was involved in several political campaigns to his current stint at NBC and MSNBC. He's worried that the "suits" at the network want him out and even says that several people at the network are wondering why he is being profiled in the Times instead of Keith Olbermann, who seems to be the top ratings getter at the network right now.

I like these "Found Objects" videos that Harry Shearer has at My Damn Channel, even if I'm not surprised by what news people do behind the scenes and during commercial breaks. They fuss with their hair and clothes, they argue with staff, they rehearse segments. All the stuff you'd expect to find on videos like this. Of course, that's not to say that there's something mesmerizing about watching Ann Coulter chew Nicorette Gum.

That's one of the many things you'll see in this variety video after the jump. Coulter is waiting to be interviewed on one of the cable networks. You also see Bill O'Reilly looking into a mirror and sighing heavily because "Dave"couldn't get something right in the studio, Chris Matthews talking about a guest that's coming up, and more shots of Katie Couric and her clothes. There's also some footage from a woman I recognize but who's name escapes me at the moment (maybe from The Early Show?), but she urges us to remember that " 'synonymous' is not a good morning show word."

I'd just like to say that there are a lot of TV sites on the web, but TV Squad is "The Best TV Site That Has Ever Existed Or Will Ever Exist On This Planet Or Any Other." And that's official, by the way.

Now that I've announced that, there seems to be a little battle going on with the cable news channels and even the regular networks when it comes to coverage of this year's Presidential election. CNN reminds us every three and a half minutes that they are "The Best Political Team On Television," almost as much as they remind us that "we're in The Situation Room"), and now CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric has jokingly named her team of Jeff Greenfield and Bob Schieffer "The Best Political Team In The Galaxy." They liked that, especially Greenfield, who used to be the political expert over on CNN.

I wouldn't call myself a political junkie, though I guess I do get that way every four years. The massive coverage the election gets from the news channels is both way overdone and endlessly fascinating.

Last night I watched the coverage of Super Tuesday. My plan was to try to stick to one station, since they'd have the results eventually, but my remote trigger finger got itchy and I was surfing all night. Here are a few random thoughts I jotted down.

1. I couldn't watch CNN, at least not all night.. Those giant screens and all those graphics. At one point Wolf Blitzer was standing next to a massive lineup of 24 different pie charts, and I think he wanted to just throw his notes down and walk down the street to the nearest bar. John King was doing all these fancy things with his fingers on a screen, and it was hard to follow and kind of glitchy. It was the world's most insane PowerPoint presentation.

Here's what on the other blogs via the internets.

• Is this a sign that the writers strike is about to end?
• Jaime Weinman has episodes of WKRP in Cincinnati at his site, including this one.
• Chris Matthews tries to explain his comments about Hillary Clinton.
• Here's video of Howard Stern's appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman the other night (here's part 2).
• OMG, there are two Hannah Montanas!
• Another celebrity feud in the making: Roseanne Barr goes after Oprah.
• Some gravestones of the stars. I like Merv Griffin's. [via PopWatch]

First off, I'd just like to point out that Chris Matthews is the most annoying political analyst on television.

Now that that's out of the way, did anyone watch the New Hampshire primary coverage on CNN, MSNBC, or Fox News? If Chandler Bing was covering the primary, he'd say "could the networks be more wrong?" (If Chandler Bing really existed and commented on political coverage).

After last night's interview with Chris Matthews, I suppose Jon felt the need to reiterate the fact that he just disagrees with the "life is a campaign" thought. The self-deprecating jokes were a nice touch, kind of a sweet gesture to Matthews to show that Jon is an equal opportunity mocker.

"Private Benjamins": Rob Riggle stopped by to share his script, Dark Liquid, which is alarmingly close to the state of Blackwater right now. This was okay, I suppose. I did quite like the idea of being able to shoot blood diamonds and wear panda fur, though. The historical clip was kind of, sort of funny, but I was mainly distracted by how poorly done it was. Was there no professional graphic designer on hand? Come on!

"Is That Really Necessary?": John McCain wants to have a Christian president. We'll make it happen, McCain, we'll make it happen. FOR YOU.

"Here Comes the Grudge": On the first day of the Supreme Court's return, Clarence Thomas' book was released, chock full of revealing information on how much Thomas really hates everyone and thinks that John Roberts dresses too provocatively. I think Daily Show only brought this up because they wanted an excuse to crack all the "Coke and pubic hair" jokes that they've had stored up since the last time they've had the opportunity to make fun of Thomas. Senior Legal Analyst Jason Jones stopped by to say some things. I honestly lost all memory of everything else he covered when he said "furry pop-top". Eww.

Should MSNBC keep Joe Scarborough in primetime instead of giving him the morning slot?

MSNBC is showing remarkable growth in primetime for the third straight quarter. Scarborough Country was up 36% in the 9pm slot. Hardball with Chris Matthews was up 9% at 7pm, and Countdown with Keith Olbermann was up 54%. The network is up 49% in the 25-54 demographic overall in primetime, and 34% for the day total.

Some quick thoughts on the TV election coverage last night:

1. CNN's coverage was annoying. First, they have that giant screen that looks like a cross between Best Buy and Dr. No's hideout, and they also have Wolf Blitzer as the host. Why does CNN put so much faith in him, with his odd tone and word phrasings? He and Jeff Greenfield looked so ridiculous standing up the whole night, standing in front of the giant screen trying to talk about the results. There were a couple of times where they literally bumped into each other, and Wolf had to tell Greenfield to stand behind him. I felt sorry for Greenfield, really. And their expert guests (James Carville, Paul Begala, J.C. Watts, and William Bennett), when they weren't on the air, were just stuck in the background in chairs. They looked like they were taking phone calls during a PBS telethon.

As an addendum to what Rich reported earlier today, Broadcasting & Cable says something at the end of this piece that I thought was rather odd: NBC Universal might make MSNBC an all taped show/magazine format, and move Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews - the only two people who really have any buzz on the network - over to CNBC.

Hmmm...

Actually, at first I thought this was silly, but if you think about it, it makes sense. MSNBC is going more and more towards the documentaries and taped shows, so moving a lot of the news programs over to CNBC would be a good move. It could build up CNBC to what it once was, make their schedule stronger, and fit in better.

[via Romenesko]

Quick, name a show on MSNBC. Easy, right? Now name a show on MSNBC that isn't either Hardball or Countdown.

Not so easy, is it? That's because, besides Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann, most people ignore the channel; it has consistently come in third among the cable news channels, behind Fox and CNN. And it's more than likely the reason why network president Rick Kaplan has stepped down from his job after two-and-a-half years. Because of Matthews and Olbermann, ratings for the channel have gone up, but some of Kaplan's programming decisions have been a bit questionable, such as the shows he created for Tucker Carlson and Rita Cosby.

Rumors are going around that one of Kaplan's last executive decisions was to force Carlson to get rid of his signature bow tie. Huh. With winners like those, no wonder why he had to step down.