How crazy is this new Fine Living TV show, Whatever, Martha? In it, Alexis Stewart, joined by her friend Jennifer Koppelman Hutt, makes fun her mother's old shows. According to a New York Times article, Martha's hoping to use her daughter to win a younger group of fans.New York magazine has a big story about Alexis and what makes her tick (the writer's conclusion: rage).

Strollerderby links to this funny Current video by Sarah Haskins about how absurd birth control ads are. She's right: those ads never mention the fact that the pill prevents pregnancy. Instead, they advertise the pill's amazing "period control" and mood-enhancing properties.

Why is birth control's ability to limit unwanted pregnancies for women and families (and so to decrease the abortion rate), still so controversial? Clearly it is, as you can see in this video featuring a leading abstinence activist explaining that she opposes the pill. She wants "more babies." And not just for herself. More babies for everyone!

Check out this list of the 15 Most Sexist Daytime TV Commercials of the past fifty years. This ad showing men terrified of their PMSing wives is a classic, and it only ranks 13th!

Have you seen this (insane? brilliant?) reality show "The Baby Borrowers"? In order to give teenagers a simulation of life as a young parent, they are set up in a house with jobs and a real, live baby, borrowed from another family, for three days. Then they get children of progressively older ages for three days each too. The real parents watch from across the street on monitors and only intervene if they get really, really mad, as when the teen "dad" suggests letting the six-month old cry it out.

Little kids get kind of obsessed with the Feist song "1 2 3 4" (here's an example: the daughter of the band Mates of State performing her own version). So it's only fitting that Feist would take her act to the new season of Sesame Street, performing an extra- kid-friendly version of the song.

Here's the first twenty minutes of Michelle Obama's eagerly anticipated appearance on The View, which we just watched over on Salon's Broadsheet. Talk about a slam dunk. Even if you're not as besotted with the Obamas as we are, you have to admit, she worked that TV show for all it was worth.

Everyone there seemed enchanted by her, even conservative co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck, who Michelle made a point of saying nice things to, like: "This girl is solid. She's got great kids. She's a great mom. She's funny. I can disagree with her on a whole bunch of points, but we can come together tomorrow." They fist-bumped, too!

Anderson Cooper has had some birthday week. On primary night, there was the now-famous punch-drunk exchange on CNN (above): Donna Brazile said, "Anderson, I'm not your boo." To which he responded, "I want to be your boo!" Everyone busted out laughing, prompting him to confess to not knowing what the word meant.

Then last night, there was another awkward moment (video here). Erica Hill played a clip of him calling the Wii (pronounced "whee") a "why-ee," and then gave him one. He half-heartedly stepped up and down on the workout pad, seeming mortified. But cut the guy some slack; he's probably still suffering PTSD from his 2004 birthday, in which he was attacked by clowns. Happy birthday, Anderson!

The New York Times yesterday ran a shocking article about how freedom of the press simply doesn't exist when it comes to Russian television.

This photo, from the article, shows a pundit who was digitally removed (that's his disembodied hand and leg next to the microphone guy) from a broadcast because his opinion was not Putin-approved.

It makes you appreciate the U.S., doesn't it?

The reviews are in for McCain's speech, and they are not good. We admire the man and respect his service, but has he ever looked more wooden and awkward than he did last night? That weird, gawky smile! That stilted, smug grin!

It reminded us of something, but what?

We couldn't put our finger on it for the longest time, but then we realized where we'd seen that look before . . .

Every time we channel surf past Larry King, he's asking someone something like, "So, string beans really cause cancer, huh?" And then not challenging their crackpot theory at all, except by inviting someone equally daffy to half-heartedly beg to differ. The only person we've seen King really press is Denise Richards, whom he scolded for cursing on her TV show. But this interview with a man claiming to have recorded an alien out his window five years ago lacks even more journalistic integrity than most.

The Smoking Gun has all the icky details of a sexual harassment suit against The Weather Channel.

A former anchorwoman, Hillary Andrews, claims her co-anchor, Bob Stokes, repeatedly propositioned her with classy lines like, "Will you lick my swizzle stick?"

Then, says TSG: When she rebuffed his advances, Andrews charged, Stokes's "hostility and volatility became a constant" and he sought to "sabotage" her on-air performance and even resorted to insulting her during live shows.

We missed out on a couple of the major drama shows of the past decade, so we may be wrong, but we strongly suspect Sesame Street is the best series in television history.

Gwynne, our Babble colleague, just came up with a mountain of evidence: fifty of the most memorable moments in the show's history. Check them out here and let us know in comments if we missed any of your favorites.

We're partial to #33:

On "My Damn Channel," comic genius Harry Shearer has distilled the essence of several leading TV personalities into this six-minute series of clips of the talking heads in the moments before they go the air. Watch Ann Coulter chewing her Nicorette gum, Bill O'Reilly muttering "struggle, struggle, struggle," Katie Couric futzing with her scarf, and you just know, suddenly, who they are deep down.

The New York Post has an article about how a lot of striking writers appear to be using their time off to get pregnant:

"Like the New York Blackout of 1977, which produced a little baby boom nine months later, the writers' strike of 2007-08 has inspired a bumper crop of Hollywood pregnancies. Some of the expectant stars are even married."

We've been wondering if that applies also to TV watchers. In 2001, the Indian government encouraged couples to watch TV instead of having sex.

So, is the writers' strike going to have the opposite effect, producing an American baby boom in fall '08?