Everyone Choose Sides

Today was just your ordinary run-of-the-mill Super Fat Duper Tuesday. We had our primary here in Massachusetts today, so I voted after dropping Hannah off at school because that happens to be our voting location. Looks to be a real slugfest in the Democratic race, with Obama and Clinton battling it out. On the GOP side, McCain kicked total butt today. If you thought things were heated so far, they're just going to get more intense.

I'm still smarting from the Giants' upset victory over the Pats on Sunday. I give full credit to them, they really stepped up and played a great game. The Pats didn't play great, but they had their chances to win late and couldn't do it. It was just stunning to watch the end of that game. But as brutal a loss as it was, Pats fans, you've still got it made. Your team has won three Super Bowls this decade and went 18-1 this year in just missing a fourth. And they'll be right back in the thick of things next year. Meanwhile, you want it tough? Try being a Toronto Maple Leafs fan. Already mired in a horrendous season and faced with the prospect of having to trade a lot of players with big contracts to rebuild, they went out and got shellacked 8-0 by the equally crappy Florida Panthers tonight. Just awful. They missed the playoffs the last two seasons and seem a shoo-in to miss them again in a league where 16 of 30 teams get in. I'm still watching the games, almost like a spectator at a freak show, waiting to see what new depths the team will sink to. They were like this throughout most of the 1980s, but I didn't have a satellite package then and only read about their exploits in the newspaper. Now I see and read about every minute detail of their hideosity. Lucky me.

Break out the paper bags...

• The Hollywood writer's strike may be over by the end of this week. Geez, I hope so. My TiVo hasn't been this empty since I first got it. Of course, the WGA is saying people shouldn't get too excited because there's no deal yet, so we'll have to wait and see.
• In the meantime, faced with having to fill space without the benefit of a writing staff, late night hosts Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and Conan O'Brien have been engaging in a three-way crossover "feud" that culminated last night in joint appearances on all three shows and a hilarious battle royale on Conan's show. Silly, stupid and awesome stuff.
• The writer's strike has delayed the season 6 debut of "24," but according to this WSJ story, the problem may also be a backlash against the show's formula of "terrorist ass-kickification." Apparently, the producers have been toying with presenting a kinder, gentler Jack Bauer but haven't quite figured it out. Let's hope they don't. The whole reason to watch that show is to see Bauer improbably and singlehandedly defeat terrorist threats (be they Islamic, European, or whatever) through ridiculously violent means. It's an ultraviolent cartoon and a silly one at that, full of clunky dialogue, boneheaded plot points and melodramatic interplay. And yet I love watching it. Wussify Bauer and you might as well cancel the show.
• Word is they're planning an Arrested Development movie. No, not these guys, but rather the awesome but short-lived Fox comedy. If they can get everyone back on board, this could be great.