TVSquad

After all the excitement from Comedy Central and the web, I must say I was expecting a little more from the O'Reilly/Colbert appearance swap. Don't get me wrong, though, because I was definitely entertained. It's just that I didn't think the whole thing lived up to the hype. When it ended and the dust quickly cleared, I confusedly blinked and looked around. No carnage... Only mild scrapes, light bruises and the sound of my annoyingly exaggerated sighs. I wanted to see blood on those crisp French cuffs, damn it. Oh, well. I guess we can't get everything we want.

In today's Philadelphia Inquirer, three female media figures talk to writer Gail Shister about the high expectations on Katie Couric, who is (altogether now) the first solo female weeknight anchor in network history. All three experts think that people are expecting Couric to turn things around quickly, mainly because of her historic ascension to the CBS Evening News anchor chair. But things don't usually work that way.

One of the experts interviewed was Connie Chung, who knows about this issue more than most; she spent two largely tension-filled years of the mid-nineties co-anchoring the CBS news with Dan Rather. "All this takes an enormous amount of time," she told Shister. "TV viewing rarely changes dramatically, whereas programmers do. I think Katie's holding her own nicely." She goes on to say that experts should stop constantly judging Couric.

I tend to agree with Connie. Yes, Couric's ratings aren't good (in fact, the article states, the November ratings were slightly lower than they were when Bob Schieffer was anchor). But she should be given room to find her legs, no pun intended. She did a pretty nice job on Election Night, which bodes well for her ability to cover breaking stories down the road.

FishbowlDC reports that MSNBC's Tucker Carlson is to participate in the upcoming season of Dancing With The Stars.

... Let me give you a second to process that.

Alright, I originally had no intention on watching this program -- didn't even bother with the first two seasons -- but now, my morbid fascination has compelled me to tune in. Will Tucker sport a bowtie? What if he ends up being a really hot dancer? Will he and Paul Begala re-unite as surprise dance partners? You got me good, ABC. You got me real good.

Gosh. I really can't believe this. It's like Carlson wants Jon Stewart to make fun of him now. Wasn't the infamous Crossfire throw-down enough? I'm going to have to hear the official announcements on Monday's Good Morning America before this really sinks in.

The first stars a fake newsman with a wicked smirk, and the second stars a fake right-wing pundit with a vicious cocked eyebrow. They both skewer all the ridiculous aspects of America's take on democracy. The Daily Show and The Colbert Report share the late night 11 - midnight block on Comedy Central and have a tight-knit relationship (the segues alone are proof of this), so I'm always surprised by how so many people have extremely strong preferences over one or the other.

So, which one do you like better? Read about my personal choice after the jump.