TV Notes

Two television notes for tonight:

CBS's "60 Minutes" featured a report on Iraq from a very comely young Englishwoman named Lara Logan. It seems like the newsmagazine is finally getting some new blood in its system - I mean, here I am tuning into "60 Minutes," expecting the usual oldsters, and the next thing I know I'm looking at this hot young reporter with movie-star looks and a sexy British accent! :-D CBS finally realized that Generation Xers (like me) watch "60 Minutes!" But then the oldest of us Xers did turn forty this year.

NBC's "the West Wing" featured a live episode in which the candidates in the fictional election, Republican Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda) and Democrat Matthew Santos (Jimmy Smits) toss out the standard debate rules and have a real debate in the Lincoln-Douglas tradition. "Moderated" by Forrest Sawyer (as himself), this fictional debate on real issues proved to be more spirited and informative than the Bush-Kerry debates we were subjected to last year! And if John Kerry had defended the "liberal" label as an honorable title the way Matthew Santos did, he'd have won the election! Alas, real presidential debates will never be this probing and exciting - although this fictional debate, like a real one, didn't offer a discussion on Amtrak either. :-(

And I gotta admit, the sight of a real newsman moderating live theater was kind of creepy. :-O