Agency power list; McCain & Bush; CW's skinny stars

>> The Knight Rider series reviews are coming in harsh. Current Metacritic score is 21 out of 100. Tim Goodman gave it a zero (and wasn’t the only one). "It manages to be dramatically absurd within moments of coming on your TV screen and never once hints that it's trying to be intentionally ludicrous."

>> TVTracker.com has released its fourth annual Agency Power List. The study found that Endeavor and CAA continue to lead the 10% pack in terms of total number of scripted series clients, with Endeavor enjoying an edge in the TV literary business. Study also found cable has grown to represent 43% of TV dealmaking, among many other findings. Get the full report here.

>> Sell-sell-sell: President Bush to interrupt primetime programming tonight ("Criminal Minds," "America's Got Talent," etc.) with a reassuring speech about the economy.

>> John McCain’s campaign suspension announcement puts Friday’s presidential debate in limbo. Given the way it's backfiring spectacularly, resulting in a man who endured POW camp torture being, in effect, called a chicken, I'm betting the debate will continue as planned. Also: McCain vs. Obama supporters, who has better taste in TV?   

>> CW’s starving stars of “90210.” This will sound callus, but the "controversy" is good publicity. Soaps require off-screen drama that extends the fiction of the show into the real world to help draw ratings. “The Hills” tries to create it with US Weekly stories about bogus Heidi and Spencer fights. The original “90210” had it with Shannen Doherty’s bad behavior. “Gossip Girl” gets it by having lurid content that lures the Parents Television Council to take the bait and denounce the show, thus making the consumption of a product by CBS Corp. seem somehow rebellious. But “90210” is fairly innocent. This she’s-too-skinny stuff provides a controversy that gets viewers talking, yet isn’t going to prevent fans from watching.

>> Denis Leary claims offense at unfunny Emmy hosts: “And I had no empathy for how bad these five hosts were. And after opening I was like, you know what? I want to see them crash and burn on live TV.”

>> Lexus launches online TV channel starring Lisa Kudrow. The stars of NBC's "Lipstick Jungle" must already be committed to driving BMWs or something.

>> Has Tina Fey turned the tide of the election (again)?

>> Have you clicked through The Live Feed's best-and-worst fall TV ads slideshow?

>> And finally, a Letter of the Week from the Live Feed mailbag. From reader Stu:

“A blog on TV is silly
All your content is idle chitchat
vacuous at the best of times
serving no purpose other than to enslave
people to the TV”

Thanks Stu!

Comments

[markg8]

McCain wasn't too busy to go on CBS News with Katie Couric last night. He wants to push tomorrow night's debate to next week and cancel the VP debate entirely because he knows if the public finds out just how ill prepared and downright weird Sarah Palin is he'll lose by 20%.

What does he want to rush back to DC for? To save the economy? Who is he kidding? That's a topic he's admitted and has amply shown he knows little about. His economic policy is the same kind of radical deregulatory nonsense that got us into this mess in the first place. The bailout deal is 98% done anyway and if Bush didn't invite him to the White House he'd be cooling his heels at one of his many houses with nothing to do. You can be sure there won't be any hugs for the cameras with Dubya this time.

Mavericky McCain isn't going to sway any votes in the House or Senate. He's built that image of his by telling off both Republican and Democratic politicians, vowing to make them famous for daring to bring the same kind of federal spending back to their states that has made crooks like Stevens, Young and yes, Sarah Palin so popular in Alaska. On top of that he's shown up less in the senate over the last two years than anyone but Tim Johnson, the guy who had the stroke.

This stunt has more to do with his 180 degree flip flop from being "the great deregulator" to acting like he's Huey Long over the last week. It seems to be a pattern: make a giant grandstanding gesture hoping voters will ignore the scandals swirling around his advisers and running mate, his disgusting dishonest smears and his devastating gaffes. Hurricane Ike is coming? Cancel the first day of the convention! Conveniently that was the day Bush and Cheney were supposed to speak. Russia attacks Georgia? We're all Georgians now! Palin even suggested it may be necessary to start a shooting war with Russia over it. Wall St. is imploding and his "fundamentally strong economy" is ready to collapse? The New York Times isn't fair!

If McCain wants to be president in 4 months he'd better start making his case to the American people instead of flailing around with one excuse after another for not answering questions or allowing his running mate to answer them either. The debate tomorrow night should go on. If McCain isn't up to it he can send Palin.