Writer David Mamet once said that the only real national holidays left in America were the Oscars and the Super Bowl.  Think about that one for a second.  Sportswriter Will Leitch says he hates the Super Bowl, which, as most of you know, is this Sunday.

The Super Bowl, in the eyes of real sports fans, is for the tourists. It’s not just that you must sift through the clutter of all the off-field hype for an interminable two weeks, or that it’s the one sporting event covered by morning talk-show hosts who otherwise have no apparent connection to the world of football today. (Like, say, Tiki Barber.) It’s that the actual game of football, at the moment when it is supposed to be at its glorious peak, is utterly irrelevant.

Leitch bemoans the 10-hour pregame show, the people who only watch for the commercials, and what is inevitably the horrid halftime show.  He’s right about one thing: the Super Bowl has little to do with professional football.  Which is probably why so many people watch it.

Here’s an interesting question: Are Americans more interested in the presidential election because the writers’ strike means there’s nothing else new on TV, or is the presidential election really just more interesting this year, regardless of the strike?  A little of both, I think.

Much of this election’s appeal has nothing to do with the lack of alternatives. History hangs near - both a former first lady and a competitively viable candidate who happens to be black are in the thick of things - and the narrative has delivered a surprise around every bend. It’s not just the Democrats drawing viewers. The best lines this year haven’t come from David Letterman’s writers but from whoever (or Whoever) is whispering in Mike Huckabee’s ear.

I can tell you, when trolling for something new, I’m more likely to find it in a debate than on The Office.  But both can be pretty entertaining.

In Become a Better You, Pastor Joel Osteen wants you to have good posture and smile more.  He wants you to be you, only better.  Stop me if I sound nuts, but I’m going to make the call now: in five years or less, Brother Osteen is going to have his own talkshow, and it’s going to be syndicated, and it’s not going to be on TBN.  He’s going the way of Montel, and going quickly.  He may be preaching the Theology of the Smile to mothers out of wedlock on afternoon TV, telling them to walk tall and be proud and get their teeth whitened.  You know your preaching’s gone south when Slate reproves your theology:

There’s, of course, nothing inherently suspect or dishonorable about seeking uplift and consolation in the Bible. But the point of those “deep theological doctrines” that Osteen seems to deride is to leaven that quest with the less agreeable features of life-pain and suffering, the persistence of evil, the fleeting quality of all endeavor, the cosmic insignificance of the human self, let alone that self’s subordinate chosen modes of expression in body posture or a near-pathological penchant for smiling. After all, the same Bible that Lakewood’s arena full of believers champion as a handbook for what they can do and be also contains these words, in Revelation 3:17: “Thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing: and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.”

Oh, he’s an easy target.  I’m not hating on him.  But how many earnest believers are being confused by this nice man?

As we inch toward the cheery holiday season, lots of old shows and movies and whatnot are coming out in DVD.  This includes Volumes 1 and 2 of Sesame Street, starting with the first episode way back in 1969.  And there is a warning on the DVDs: “These early ‘Sesame Street’ episodes are intended for grown-ups, and may not suit the needs of today’s preschool child.”

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Regarding the writers’ strike, Slate thinks The Daily Show is a terrific case study in just how bad the strike is going to be and to get: “While a Grey’s Anatomy rerun is a bummer only if you’ve already seen that episode, a Daily Show rerun is the television equivalent of a day-old newspaper. It’s birdcage liner.” 

But fear not!  “A five-year-old episode of The Daily Show, on the other hand, is pure gold […]”  I used think all comedy was liable to spoil, like milk, after a while (why classical Greek comedy is no longer very funny, for example), but this article has me thinking otherwise.  Thank you, internet.

I think conservatives like Stephen Colbert because, well, for the same reason conservatives like Ignatius Reilly of A Confederacy of Dunces.  While both Colbert and Reilly seem to be lampooning conservatism with their satire of it, they’re actually revealing what’s good about it, and what’s bad about the other.  When Colbert, on his show, offers a “tribute to the ladies” by inviting Jane Fonda and Gloria Steinem on the show to bake apple pies, he’s not just saying something about sexism.  He’s saying something about the paradox of feminism, too. 

But what’s Colbert really like? 

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People laugh at shows like Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm because Larry David knows something about people and morality.  Comedy is the most moral of literary forms, after all.  And Larry David knows that there’s a Right Way to Behave and a Wrong Way to Behave, and comedy happens when people choose the latter on accident and on purpose.  We laugh because we’re all depraved, and we all do it, and it’s nice to laugh.  It turns out that the benefits of watching Larry David’s comedy go beyond just laughter, though.  Schizophrenic patients, it turns out, identify quite well with Mr. David.  A psychology student, David Roberts, found this out by accident.

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My wife and I recently started having dinner at the table.  Our daughter is a year and a half old and may soon be staying up later and joining us for dinner.  It seemed like the right thing to do.  According to this article, though, we could have stayed in front of the TV, as long as we were together.

Television viewing has long been linked with poor eating habits. So when University of Minnesota researchers embarked on a study of family meals, they fully expected that having the TV on at dinner would take a toll on children’s diets.

But to their surprise, it didn’t make much difference. Families who watched TV at dinner ate just about as healthfully as families who dined without it. The biggest factor wasn’t whether the TV was on or off, but whether the family was eating the meal together.

The easy, conventional answer is, Good families ought to eat at the dinner table, or at least feel guilty about not.  Read this short piece and let us know your take. 

City Journal says Carrie Bradshaw (re: Sex and the City) is now a global archetype.  This writer says she has seen versions of her even in Warsaw.  Single Young Females (SYFs) “spend their hours working their abs and their careers, sipping cocktails, dancing at clubs, and (yawn) talking about relationships. Sex and the City has gone global; the SYF world is now flat.”  So, we wonder:

Is this just the latest example of American cultural imperialism? Or is it the triumph of planetary feminism? Neither. The globalization of the SYF reflects a series of stunning demographic and economic shifts that are pointing much of the world - with important exceptions, including Africa and most of the Middle East - toward a New Girl Order. It’s a man’s world, James Brown always reminded us. But if these trends continue, not so much.

If the story of the 21st century woman is Sex and the City, then what’s the sequel?

Sex and the Childless

Sex and the Angry Middle-Aged Adolescent

Anger and the Baby

Men without women are Brutes.  Women without men are Bradshaws.  Cue your hate and pity for me.