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?

Oh man!

Am I ever happy that Jon Stewart is back on the air, it has been an incredibly different world following the news the past couple months without Stewart doing The Daily Show, please understand how big of a fan of Jon Stewart I am, I was one of the few who actually went out and bought a Indecision 2004 DVD. I sincerely hope my American friends to the south can solve this labour dispute "A Daily Show" is nice but world still awaits the return of "The Daily Show." I doubt an election year without The Daily Show writers would be fair. Without further ado here is a snip of the satirical election news American has been missing out on the last two months, breath it in.

I was under the impression that I wasn't going to get my Bill Maher fix until the release of the documentary Religulous this easter. Turns out Real Time will be back on the air January 11th, rest assured I will be posting clips here if you don't have HBO. In the meantime here are a couple Interviews Maher did for NBC and CBS last week.

Bill Maher with Conan O'Brian. Politics and Religion.
via videosift.com

Bill Maher with David Letterman. Politics and Drugs.

On the PBS NewsHour from Friday, December 28, the political round table discussion touched on the reaction of the Presidential candidates to the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan. David Brooks, New York Times columnist and conservative political pundit, stated that four candidates "addressed" the difficult issue: Joe Biden, Bill Richardson, Fred Thompson and John McCain. He then listed the candidates who handled the subject poorly, or "sidestepped" the issue: John Edwards and Hillary Clinton. "Most of the candidates," he said, "and most notably Clinton, have punted on [it]."

So what happened between Friday and Sunday?

And by official, I mean, that's what I've decided. It's hard to unseat Seinfeld because it was so funny, so true for so long. You don't take the king down so easily. But outside of Seinfeld, I am now putting 30 Rock as the best sitcom I have ever seen.

Unfortunately, I don't get to watch as much television as I used to because I am so damn busy (writing blogs like this, I guess; woe is me). But I love television and have loved a lot of sitcoms in my time. So, this is no small thing. 30 Rock is that good.

I only get to watch a couple of hours of TV a week and sometimes I'll watch the same 30 Rock twice. It's that good. In the last episode, I laughed out loud for about five minutes until I started having chest pains.

It goes beyond saying that I totally have a crush on Tina Fey now (and I did her an injustice the other day even comparing her sex appeal to Paula Abdul, you can watch that injustice here). And Alec Baldwin is our finest actor, Really, he is. No one does comedy and drama like Alec Baldwin. I honestly believe he is the most underrated actor in the country (and hence the world, I don't think some Bollywood dude is going to overtake him).

That's it, I'm officially putting Alec Baldwin above John Malkovich as the #1 ranked actor. Malkovich has to act more than once a decade to reclaim the title.

If you're not watching 30 Rock, you're not spending your time right. Straighten your life out, get your priorities straight and get yourself a piece of the Rock!

Watch The Young Turks Here in the Meanwhile

Before Hugh Laurie become Dr. House he did some television work in the UK, here is a scene from the show A Bit of Fry and Laurie which aired in the early 90's. The sketch is titled "It's a Soaraway life" a parody of "It's a wonderful life." Hat Tip to spoco2 for sifting this comedic gem.