TVSquad

John McCain's presidential campaign included images of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton in a television attack ad against opponent Barack Obama. Now, one-half of that duo strikes back and the result is posted on Funny or Die.

At first, I was thinking that it was nice to see Paris Hilton able to take the piss out of herself like this. Then I realized that she was probably serious. I also realized that since was on this site, someone else wrote the sketch for her and she just had to speak the words. Her reference to John McCain as "the wrinkly white-haired guy" was funny, but not nearly as funny as her attempt at intellectual debate toward the end.

Video is after the jump.

TV One, the cable network aimed at African-American viewers, will cover the Democratic National Convention and Barack Obama's nomination, but not John McCain's and the Republican National Convention.

"Obama's nomination as the first black to be a major party presidential nominee is an historic event for African-Americans, so it's important for the network to be there," said Johnathan Rodgers, the network's president and CEO. He continues by stating that while viewers can get convention coverage from any number of networks, they plan to present a uniquely African-American perspective.

I see Rodgers's point. TV One is not a news network and if the network specializes in African-American coverage, then this is pretty much the biggest news story of the century. On the other hand, don't elections require some sort of provision for equal television time? Of course enough networks will be reporting on both conventions to the point that I doubt John McCain will offer any complaints about a lack of equal coverage.

After the first 15 minutes of the HBO movie Recount, I was so upset, so filled with rage that I wondered if I wanted to watch the rest of the movie. Did I want to relive the events of November 7, 2000? Did I want to watch what happened, the craziest election fiasco in the last 25 years? I was compelled to stick with it because I had lived through it and I was dying to know what I didn't know when it unfolded in real time. I thought the HBO movie might teach me something, and, in fact, it did.

For those who don't want to know what happened in Recount, I won't reveal any spoilers until after the jump. Of course, if you don't already know how the election turned out, you've either been in a coma or are woefully out of touch. Suffice to say that Recount doesn't rewrite history. The ending is exactly as it was in 2000.

It seems like Dr. Stephen T. Colbert never stops working. Not only does he lead one of the most consistently funny programs on TV, but he spent 2007 releasing a new book, I Am America (And So Can You!), and running for president. And what was the rest of America doing? Obsessing over Sanjaya's hair. Colbert's brief but exciting 2008 campaign showed us that there are bigger and better ways to have fun.

By now many of you have probably heard about the upcoming presidential debates put on by CNN and YouTube. The first one is on Monday night, where the democratic presidential candidates will debate in South Carolina. CNN is soliciting questions and asking people to upload their questions to YouTube. So far, CNN has received 1,400 questions via YouTube.

Yigal Naor will play Saddam Hussein in a new four-hour miniseries about the Iraq president's reign that lasted from 1979 to 2003.

The miniseries, Between Two Rivers, is being produced by both HBO and the BBC. It will begin shooting this summer in North Africa. It will focus on Saddam's family and his personal relationships. The cast also includes Shoreh Aghdashloo, Christine Stephen-Daly, Said Taghmaoui, Phillip Arditti, Mounir Margoum, Uri Gavriel, Amr Waked and Sasson Gabay.

According to the entertainment reporter over at Fox News, actor Bradley Whitford "almost" got the role as the new Assistant District Attorney on Law & Order. Sam Waterston is vacating that position to play the District Attorney, now that actor Fred Thompson is leaving the show to run for president.

Everybody got that? Good.

Bill Moyers' Journal, a new version of his '70s news program of the same name, "debuts" tonight with an interview with Daily Show host Jon Stewart. I put "debuts" in quotes because the series actually debuted with "Buying the War" on April 25, but tonight marks the first time the new series finally settles into its regular timeslot.

Below is a clip from tonight's show in which Stewart pithily describes The Daily Show as "very serious people doing a very unserious thing." I think that not only describes The Daily Show perfectly, but also describes what makes the best satire, whether it's television (The Daily Show), movies (Blazing Saddles), or Swift's A Modest Proposal. The best satire comes from either a real love of what's being satirized (Young Frankenstein), or the need to twist real anger and frustration into something comedic (Blazing Saddles, The Daily Show).

This is an interesting bit of yin yang for y'all*:

It seems that all the reasons given by Claudio Petruccioli, president of the Italian state broadcaster RAI, not to have reality programming on his channel are the exact reasons why American broadcasters want to have more reality programming:

• "unreasonable if not degrading behaviour"
• "[putting] people into environments that are both unrealistic and coercive"

"President Bush: ¿Dónde Está?": Bush toured Latin America to try and make some friends. And now, Mayan priests are ridding the air of what Bush left behind. Hmm.

Senior New Correspondent Aasif Mandvi was recently made an official Senior Correspondent, as the "New" in his title suggests. Although I still haven't quite warmed up to him, having Mandvi on board may mean even less face-time for Rob Riggle, which is always good news. Anyway, Mandvi touched on the news that Halliburton is moving their CEO from Houston to... Dubai.

Actor and former republican U.S. Senator Fred Thompson is reportedly considering running for president in 2008. Thompson was a U.S. Senator for Tennessee from 1994-2003. He decided not to run for re-election when he was cast as District Attorney Arthur Branch on Law & Order in 2002. He has also appeared in that same role on SVU and Criminal Intent, as well as short-lived shows, Conviction and Trial by Jury. Thompson definitely has that "I could kick your ass, punk"-thing about him.

Thompson has an unusual past that will make him an interesting candidate. Besides appearing in a big ol' pile of television shows and movies, he also has some serious experience in Washington, D.C. Before becoming an actor or a Senator, he was an attorney and was on the Watergate committee. If he does join the race for president, he'll be running against fellow republicans Rudolph Giuliani and John McCain for the nomination. And, in 2005, he returned to politics briefly when President Bush appointed him to be an advisor for U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts during his confirmation process.

Hell. If Arnold Schwarzenegger can do it...

You know, our readers are very good at pointing out our mistakes. Many of them are small: copy edits, grammar issues, etc. Some are bigger: we miss some important part of an episode we're reviewing. Hey, we're human.

But we (and by "we" I mean "me") were deservedly taken to the woodshed last fall when we made one of our biggest whoppers, reporting that NBC Entertainment president Kevin Reilly was about to be fired. Of course, not only did he not get fired, but rumors started swirling about that he was going to sign a new contract. Well, those are the rumors that actually came true, as he signed a multiyear deal to stay at the network.

Tonight, John McCain announced that he is running for president... on the Late Show with David Letterman. McCain reminded Letterman that he had invited the Senator back to the show to announce his candidacy, so that's what he did. Although, McCain also pointed out that it's not his "formal" announcement, which he says he will make in April.

I was a little surprised McCain did it this way, instead of the old-fashioned way, but hey! It worked for Arnold Schwarzenegger (but not John Edwards). I can't help but wonder if he did it on Letterman to avoid questions from the press, just like many of the Democratic candidates did when they announced their candidacy on their webpages.

Interesting factoid: John McCain is now 70 years old. If he wins, he will be the oldest president ever sworn in for a first term. Reagan was 73 when he was sworn in for his second term.

Video is here.

I'm too young to really remember the late Gerald Ford, though he was president when I was born. That's not really significant, I'm just grasping for any kind of connection I might have with the man. The truth is, I don't know a lot about him, other than the basic stuff: he was not elected to the presidency, but rather took over when Nixon resigned, and also pardoned the former president. But then, I've always had what I describe as a "Cliff's Notes" way of retaining history.

If you're interested in learning a little more about Ford, you should check the listings for your local PBS station, because the WGVU-produced documentary, Time and Chance: Gerald Ford's Appointment with History has been made available to PBS stations everywhere. The documentary was based on James Cannon's book of the same name, and chronicles the life of the late president and his political career.

The Kennedy Center Honors were taped this past weekend in Washington DC for a December 26th broadcast on CBS. This year's honorees include Andrew Lloyd Webber, Zubin Mehta, Dolly Parton, Smokey Robinson and Steven Spielberg. The moment making the internet and gossip blog rounds right now features Jessica Simpson flubbing the lines to Dolly's "9 to 5." You won't see that in the broadcast. In fact, what you see in the broadcast is an extremely pared down version of the live awards show.