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First prez debate ratings disappoint; First veep debate likely to sizzle
Here’s the debate I’m dying to see: Sarah Palin vs. Tina Fey.
Seriously, wouldn’t that be fantastic? We’d never be able to tell who was making points and who was making gaffes because the two women look like identical twins. But it sure would be entertaining, don’t you think?
The real vice presidential debate, in case you’ve been orbiting Mars, is Thursday night at 8. Palin and Joe Biden will face off in what very well could be a bigger TV event than last Friday’s first showdown between John McCain and Barack Obama.
In spite of all the hysteria surrounding that first debate, the audience Friday turned out to be considerably smaller than anticipated. Nielsen says 52.4 million viewers tuned into the first McCain-Obama debate. So it wasn’t even one of the Top 10 presidential debates. The President Carter vs. Ronald Reagan set-to in 1980 drew a whopping 80.6 million, and the first George Bush vs. John Kerry debate in 2004 drew more than 60 million.
Of course Friday’s debate was still a blockbuster, grabbing the biggest rating since the Super Bowl in February. Considering the McCain-Obama debate was on a Friday night, traditionally a pitiful night for TV, and considering nobody knew if McCain would even participate (remember, he was hunkered down in D.C. monitoring the economic crisis), that’s not so bad.
I bet the Palin-Biden match will be huge — partly because it’s on Must-See Thursday night but also because Palin remains something of a mystery.
All Newman all day on Saturday, Oct. 12
Turner Classic Movies tips its hat to legendary movie star Paul Newman on Oct. 12, with back-to-back films for 24 hours.
Newman, who died of lung cancer last Friday, certainly has enough fabulous flicks to warrant an entire day of watching.
Among those to be featured: “Cool Hand Luke,” “Somebody Up There Likes Me,” “Torn Curtain,” “Exodus,” “Hud,” “Rachel, Rachel,” “Sweet Bird of Youth,” “The Outrage” and, of course, “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.”
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