What we read on our 48-hour sabbatical from MSNBC…
- The long wait for Conan O’Brien’s new show ends tonight, with the premiere of Conan on TBS. Jay Leno will probably not be a guest. Speaking of Leno and late-night TV, October saw The Daily Show beat its network rivals in the ratings, while Leno fell behind Letterman. I wonder if Dick Ebersol will call Leno an “astounding failure” now.
- Zach Galifianakis, in his early years, was sort of skinny. Also, a fascinating look at Woody Allen’s early years, including his stint on Candid Camera. Erik Voss at SplitSider, meanwhile, wonders if there’s ever a justification for a comedian to steal material.
- Tim wasn’t the only one spending some time on The Simpsons‘ Treehouse of Horror. In the spirit of Tim’s top nine, IO9 had its top 10 and 11 Points did its top 11.
- Speaking of Jews, one of the “numerous future” New York Times Articles comes to life.
- So, there was an election. Post-Citizens United Narrative Failure # 1: Democrats outspent Republicans on TV ads in House Races (and possibly in everything as well). Perhaps the most redeeming aspect of election coverage is Nate Silver’s incorporation into the mainstream media. He shows how unreliable and systematically biased (towards Republicans) Rasmussen Polls were during the campaigns. Oh, and Buzz Bissinger was clearly responding to John’s argument with this tweet.
- Speaking of fraud, comedian Bruce Baum has some pretty compelling evidence that Bruce Marder and Jerry Seinfeld are unjustly failing to attribute to him co-authorship of the hilarious Letters to a Nut series.
- Joe Posnanski had an even better week than usual, with posts on the weakest World Series winners of all-time, the currently active “certain” Hall of Famers, and the late Sparky Anderson.
- The CFL–you’ve got to love it.
