Notes on Politics -- Obama Goes Dog-Heavy, Scott Brown's Lucky Shot, 'Scandal' & 'West Wing' Quasi-Reunion

Obama Goes Dog-Heavy at D.C. Dinner

This is how presidential humor is supposed to be done, at venues like the White House Correspondents' Dinner. And while President Obama was very funny delivering his litany of jokes -- my favorite was his "What a snob" Santorum reference -- the dog stuff ... really?

Apparently the Obama people believe that the way to short-circuit the Obama-ate-dog story is to drive hard into the belly of the beast like a linebacker. While I can respect the attempt, several of Obama's "I ate dog" lines were disconcerting, like that joke about the difference between a hockey mom and a pitbull (stealing from Palin, obviously). Punchline: A pitbull is delicious. What's that now? Comparing the taste of dogs and moms? Bad taste.

Mr. Brown from Downtown

U.S. Senator Scott Brown, who's in a tough race against Elizabeth Warren in my home state of Massachusetts, visited the youth center on Cape Cod recently and, just for fun, tried a half-court shot. And made it.

 Despite the hullabaloo over the fact that his adult eldest daughter is on his Congressional health insurance plan, courtesy of the Obama health care law which he vigorously opposed, he's having a better week than Warren who's doing battle with her Native American ancestry flap. Perhaps she should brush up on her outside shot. Couldn't hurt.

Have You Seen Scandal Yet? Give It a Spin.

It's no West Wing. It doesn't pretend to be. But the new Thursday night ABC drama Scandal, the latest product from Grey's Anatomy guru Shonda Rhimes, is one fun ride.

The lead character, Olivia Pope -- played with intelligent, fierce luminescence by Kerry Washington -- is a powerful D.C. "fixer" who tries to help clients deal with, well, scandals. A former White House aide, Pope had an affair with the married president and, although she projects a ferocious I-don't-need-anyone aura, can project vulnerability, but only in private. She's recently taken on the underdog case of a young White House aide who not only said she too had an affair with the president -- which the president confirmed -- but that she's pregnant with a presidential love child, an interesting amalgam of the Monica Lewinsky and John Edwards scandals.

Sure, the show is larger than life in the way it shows Pope and her loyal collection of "gladiators in suits" prevailing more often than not, always happening to uncover the truth and ultimately doing the right thing. It wildly exaggerates. But given the crop of recent real life political scandals -- Weiner, Edwards, Sanford, Spitzer, Clinton, etc. -- it's not entirely off the mark.

I'm covering the show for CliqueClack TV and am having a blast doing so. If you're looking for dramatic escapism, Scandal's been fun thus fun.

Walk & Talk - The West Wing Reunion from Martin Sheen

West Wing 'Reunion'

Speaking of dramas about the president and the White House, several members of the cast of The West Wing -- including Josh Malina (Will Bailey) who's also on Scandal -- came out with a Funny or Die video promoting, hold onto your hats . . . walking. It's mildly amusing, and also makes me hanker to watch some West Wing repeats.

Image credit: Danny Feld/ABC.

'The West Wing' Takes on the Politics of the Debt Ceiling Vote

The Washington Post dug up this clip from The West Wing's sixth season where White House advisor Toby Ziegler explained what the debt ceiling is and the politics of the congressional manuevering on the matter. MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell, who used to consult and write for the NBC drama, was a writer on this episode entitled, "In God We Trust."

Watching the clip reminds me of how much I miss The West Wing because it contained two of my favorite elements: It was smart and it was centered around politics. The Good Wife is the closest currently airing show that comes close to providing an insightful glimpse into the world of modern politics, Chicago style.

If only all of our civics lessons could be taught by the West Wing folks . . .

The Good Old Days: EW's Cast Reunions with 'Gilmore Girls,' 'West Wing' & 'Alias'

The latest issue of Entertainment Weekly, which is on stands now, has this great reunion package where the casts of favorite TV shows and movies (like Back to the Future) were brought together for new photos, interviews and the occasional video.

My favorite video – unavailable for embedding on blogs – was the Jennifer Garner/Victor Garber Alias reunion video where Garner and Garber (sounds like the name of a law firm) sadly, batted down any talk of an Alias movie (Garber said everyone’s too old) while they fondly remembered the hellish long days of filming the pilot episode. Garber, who officiated Garner's wedding to Ben Affleck, said he stays at Garner's house whenever he's filming in Los Angeles. They're so cute together.



Meanwhile, Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel from the Gilmore Girls also addressed the rumor of a Gilmore Girls film and reminisced about the season four episode "The Festival of Living Art" where they both posed on stage as famous works of art.



My other favorite EW reunion was seeing many of the castmates from The West Wing talk about what the show meant to them. I didn’t realize that Elisabeth Moss -- who played Zoey Bartlet and is now Peggy Olson on Mad Men -- was 17 when she started working on the show. And sometimes I forget that Kathryn Joosten was Mrs. Landingham before she was Karen McCluskey on Desperate Housewives.

Suburban Mom's Pop Culture Week: Parks and Recreation, Curb Your Enthusiasm & the Emmys

TV

Aside from watching New England sports (Red Sox, Patriots), I’ve finally caught up on the HBO show Hung and watched the season finale, which, I must say, didn’t thrill me, season finales rarely do. The show, overall, has proven interesting enough that I’ve bothered to keep up with it.

I’ve been thoroughly bored by the Jay Leno Show which premiered this week – otherwise known as “Hey-Let’s-Put-the-Writers-Out-of-Work-and-Hog-Up-Five-Hours-of-Primetime-a-Week-with-Lame-Crap-That’s-Really-Cheap-to-Make.” The set looks like NBC invested exactly $247 in it. The two blue chairs where the interviews are conducted appear to be placed on what looks like a dance floor. The whole show seems awkward and weird to me because when I see Leno, I think that I should be getting to bed because I’ve been trained to think that it must be past 11:30 when I see his face. Maybe he was funnier later at night. Maybe that’s it. Or not.

Despite the Leno mess, I am planning on tuning in tonight to NBC’s slate of Thursday night humor, particularly to see if one of my favorite comedians, Amy Poehler, can make Parks and Recreation work this season.

By the time Sunday rolls around I think my TV is going to explode. Notwithstanding the fact that The Spouse and I will be hosting a belated Rosh Hashanah dinner here for family in which we’ll engage in the age old ritual of putting the Patriots game on TV lest my eldest son’s head explode because he cannot watch it, my poor DVR is going to be conflicted that evening.

Of course, Mad Men is on at 10, as is Army Wives, both of which I write about here in this space on Mondays. Plus there’s Entourage – which I usually watch On Demand but on which I’m a bit behind. But Curb Your Enthusiasm is back with new episodes after a very, very long absence.



However the Emmys are also on at the same time. My pop culture column at Mommy Track’d for next week is on the awards show, so I’ve got to watch live. (If there are still relatives here when the Emmys start, maybe I’ll try to goad them into wagering.) Such the dilemma . . .

DVDs

Still watching The West Wing, season one. Just saw the episode where Toby pulled strings to arrange a military funeral for a homeless vet who got Toby’s coat from the Good Will. Also saw the episode where the president revealed to Leo that he had MS. I thought that happened later, not within the first eight episodes.

Books

Am still in the early part of On the Road, although my progress through it may be detoured because I have to read two other books for some articles I’ve got coming up.

I also just joined a local women’s book club – it’s been eons since I’ve been in a book club – and have got to read The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa by next month.

So, what’s on YOUR Pop Culture slate this week?