Thank you, John McCain, for going ahead with the debate tonight. I know the concept of multitasking is a tough one to grasp for some in McCain's generation, but I think that McCain realizes that to back out of the debate at this point would only make him look foolish. I mean, come on John -- this is it! This is the real, substantive moment of the campaign after months of YouTube ads, sound bytes, and gossip columns. This is the moment to put your agenda on the table for all to hear, and to directly compare and contrast it to Obama's. On the other hand, you could be sitting in a meeting room with dozens of other senators, uttering one sentance in a 45 minute span. Yeah, that's what we need from you right now John ...
I think the reality is - McCain is on his way to being pwned in this debate. I'm not sure if the focus will shift at all from foreign policy to the economy given the circumstances, but on either issue McCain is going to have a very tough time defending his previous positions. I mean, what of substance can he say beyond his usual soundbytes about shaking up Washington and being a maverick? I think in the last few weeks it has become especially apparent - Washington under the reign of George W. Bush is broken. Now, is McCain enough of a maverick to fix that? Is the guy who's voted with George Bush 90% of the time really the one to shift gears and stear the ship in the right direction?
Obama has been thoroughly tested over the last several months - from Hillary, from McCain, from the media. He's now primed and ready to obliterate McCain in their first debate, and I'm happy we'll get to see that moment.
Think about it: McCain's first virtual act as a would-be President was to select Sarah Palin as his running mate. It's now clear that Palin makes George W. Bush like like Stephen Hawking. All one has to do is watch Palin's recent interview with Katie Couric -- Palin is like the kid being called into the principal's office trying to stammer her way through the principal's questions. Palin's performance in the interview was absolutely cringe-worthy. She seemed incapable of intelligent analysis of any of the big issues, either repeating the same old, tired, scripted lines or else talking in circles whenever she didn't have the script to rely on. Just embarassing.
Tonight though is going to be about Obama vs. McCain, and I think it's going to be quite the contrast. It's going to be the beginning of the end for the McCain-Palin ticket.
TV STUFF:
- THE OFFICE: Last night's Office season premiere had a lot going against it, potentially. It was an hour long episode, for one, and it's been established that The Office always struggles a bit when it has to sort of artifically elongate a premise to stretch over the course of an hour. The other potential strike was that last season's finale established a lot of very soap opera-ish threads that this premiere was now going to have to address. Traditionally, I'm an Office fan who much prefers when the character / soapy stuff is kept IN THE BACKGROUND, and most importantly, kept subtle. With the premiere, even going into it, all of this stuff, from Jim and Pam's will-he-won't-he-propose drama to Michaels' love triangle with Jan and Holly - it was all put so front and center that there was the danger of the premiere being all plot and no comedy.
Overall, I thought the premiere had a nice balance. There were plenty of funny moments, and somce classic lines. I particularly liked Ryan's arc of coming back full circle as a temp. His interactoin with Kelly was really funny, and his line about how he had previously just been a dumb kid in his mid-twenties who had yet to fully process 9/11 ... hilarious.
Phyliss had a great line about her jugs, and Andy's hapless quest to woo Angela post-engagement was alternately sad and hilarious. But when he rattled off the name of his Cornell acapella buddies, I couldn't stop laughing.
But yeah, I don't know, I felt the Jim-Pam and Michael-Holly stuff was a bit contrived. I mean, sure, Michael Scott is totally clueless, but is he really so clueless that he'd buy Holly's concert tickets only to rip them up rather than ask her to go with him? It was a moment so random as to be slightly funny, but ultimately it feels like a somewhat forced way to drive even more of a wedge between the two would-be soul mates. Similarly, everyone could see it coming - Pam would go away to school and a rift would form between her and Jim. A slight monkey wrench was thrown into that with Jim's sudden proposal, but still, we were given quite the roller-coaster ride of emotions between the two. And again, I know there are fans for whom the Jim-Pam soap is the highlight of every Office episode. And I do enjoy the characters. In fact, I thought that the whole scene with a virtual Pam beamed into the office via Skype or iChat or whatever was pretty great.
I guess I just prefer my Office episodes in half-hour doses, with each installment loaded up with laughs. Still, last night's premiere was one of the funnier things I had seen on TV in a while, and overall it's great to have The Office back.
My Grade: B+
- I fully expected SMALLVILLE to disappoint after a surprisingly pretty good premiere. All indications were that last night's ep would be a run of the mill, freak of the week episode, and a potentially big letdown following the more epic premiere. While the ep was a fairly formulaic Smallville story, I was surprised to find that I really enjoyed it anyways. The same momentum from the premiere carried over here - everything just felt a little big sharper than it had the last few seasons - better dialogue, bigger drama, and more well-rounded characters. Everything felt more iconic and less cheesy than usual. Even the much dreaded introduction of The Boy Who Will Be Doomsday was handled with a lot more flair than I had anticipated. Was this groundbreaking TV? No. But Smallville once again seems to be good, solid, fun TV - and that's great to see. Plus, next week's Green Arrow secret origin episode looks way cool.
My Grade: B+
- Alright, brace yourselves for the debate tonight - as Obama takes one giant leap towards the White House!
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