Looks like viewers mostly agreed with the critics about Rosie O'Donnell's Thanksgiving eve variety show for NBC.

The hourlong 8 p.m. "Rosie Live" spesh, averaged 5 million viewers and a mere 1.2 rating/4 share in the adults 18-49 aud, per Nielsen prelims. It lost about 400,000 viewers at the half-hour mark. It's not surprising that the viewer turnout would be light around a major holiday, but grabbing only a 4 share of the 18-49 aud that was out there is very surprising, and probably telling about the state of NBC's low overall circulation these days.

I'm guessing there wasn't much of an awareness factor among folks who might be inclined to check out an old-fashioned celebs-and-songs holiday spesh. Critics weren't impressed -- certainly not Variety's Brian Lowry -- but I still say O'Donnell deserves credit for trying to revive a once-proud TV tradition. Maybe she should've worn a cardigan sweater and smoked a pipe.

Friday update: NBC had something to be thankful for on Thursday morning. The 82nd annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was a hot ticket, with its overnight numbers up 8% from last year to 12.6 rating/26 share in Nielsen's metered markets. Peacock's number-crunchers estimate that more than 44 million people watched some portion of the 9 a.m.-noon telecast. Any parade with a giant Kermit the Frog in it is A-OK by me.

Standing before a 40-piece orchestra and gazing out at a sold-out Carnegie Hall, Seth MacFarlane reflected, “I look at this magnificent collection of musicians behind me and I think, Jesus, I’m just doing the world’s most expensive karaoke.”

That was just one of the odd juxtapositions evident at “Family Guy Sings!,” a two-night (Nov.24-25) comedy-and-music extravaganza based on MacFarlane’s animated Fox sitcom. Another was watching him and the show’s cast — Alex Borstein, Seth Green, Mila Kunis, Danny Smith, Mike Henry — read two complete episodes from the stage: The performance suggested a bizarre pastiche of theater, television, and old-time radio.

Front and center, though, was MacFarlane’s two wildly divergent obsessions—ribald humor, and the American songbook. The troupe belted out fan faves like “Prom Night Dumpster Baby” as well as in-character versions of “I’ve Got a Little List” from Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Mikado” and “Shipoopi” from “The Music Man.”

Things got edgier—and more hilarious—when MacFarlane and Borstein explored the dark side of the Frank Loesser standard, “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” and  went downright X-rated with a re-reading of the 1978 Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond hit, “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers Anymore.”

For the pre-holiday Gotham crowd, it was “Family” entertainment at its finest.

--- Mike Flaherty

I can totally see Pete Campbell going whole-hog for something like this.

"Mad Men" players Vincent Kartheiser (Pete), Aaron Staton (Ken Cosgrove) and Alison Brie took (Trudy Campbell) took part in TBS' Comedy Festival festivities at Caesars Palace this weekend.

Specifically they were contestants in Friday's "Celebrity Bagging Contest," held to promote the wacky TBS latenighter "10 Items or Less," a semi-improv skein set in a supermarket.

The "Mad Men" trio didn't win, but from the looks of these pics they had fun, and I'm guessing they all got to spend a weekend in Vegas on Time Warner's tab.

For the record, the winning team was John Lehr, Kim Coles, Robert Valderrama and Greg Davis Jr. from "10 Items." Sound fishy? Nah. The grand prize was a donation of $500 for DoSomething.org, a non-profit outfit that aims to encourage young folks to take action on causes they believe in. And all the food used in the bagging competish went to a Vegas food bank.

Fresh segs of "10 Items or Less," produced by Sony Pictures TV, bow Jan. 6 on TBS.

(Pictured above from left, Aaron Staton, Alison Brie and Vincent Kartheiser)

Bob Clark had a perplexing career in film.

The multihyphenate made one timeless, flawless picture that will run forever -- 1983's "A Christmas Story."

He also made a whole lot of other movies. Some were successful ("Porky's," "Porky's II"), some became notorious over time ("Black Christmas," "Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things"), and some were just plain stinkers ("Rhinestone," "Baby Geniuses," "The Karate Dog").

How could the same guy who gave us a contemporary classic, a perennial holiday fave, also be responsible for talking tots and a Dolly Parton-Sylvester Stallone romance? Well, that was the peculiar, strangely endearing genius of Clark, friends and colleagues say in a new docu on the helmer.

"ClarkWorld," produced and directed by Deren Abram, is set to bow Nov. 29 in Cleveland as part of a two-day, 25th anniversary salute to "A Christmas Story," which was shot in and around Cleveland back when areas of the city could reasonably pass for the 1940 time period of the pic with only a little bit of dressing.

The movie about a 9-year-old Ralphie Parker's determination to secure the Christmas present of his dreams -- a Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle (aka a BB gun) -- is so beloved that the house used as the boy's home in the pic is now a tourist attraction and Cleveland is home to an annual "Christmas Story" celebration.

What makes "Christmas Story" so special? It starts with the source material, a story penned by radio humorist Jean Shepherd that so deftly captures the spirit of the season for a kid -- the good and the bad, the crass and the commercial, the sweet and the saccharine, the nobody-understands-me angst and the nervous excitement that borders on madness as the Big Morning approaches.

Clark's movie captures every bit of the sweetness and the edge in Shepherd's story. Thanks to a stellar cast --anchored by Peter Billingsley as Ralphie and Darren McGavin and Melinda Dillon as his parents -- the movie can completely transport you back in time, not merely to an America on the cusp of World War II but to a time and a place that exists entirely out of time, but in our collective subconscious under the rough heading of "childhood."

It works as a sentimental journey even if you didn't grow up in the Midwest at a time when Dec. 25 was the day "around which the whole kid year revolved," as the narrator puts it in the movie.

Stephen Colbert the thesp-comic loves TV Christmas specials. Never missed 'em when he was a kid: Andy Williams, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, "A Charlie Brown Christmas," "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer," "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," etc.

TV's Stephen Colbert is a reverent Christian and, of course, proud foot soldier in the war on Christmas, fighting the scourge of "happy holidays" and "season's greetings" in public schools, department stores, city halls and wherever else the PC police may patrol.

Put the two sides of Colbert together, throw in seven original songs, a few pounds of fake snow, six notable guest stars and -- shazam! -- you've got a very funny Christmas spesh. "A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All!" bows Sunday at 10 p.m. on Comedy Central.

"We tried to make it strangely sincere, but also sincerely strange," Colbert says.

"The Colbert Report's" frontman is always raving about "how there's a war on Christmas and we've got to do something about it. So how would he fight the war on Christmas? He'd have a Christmas special," Colbert explains.

No surprise here: The Obama interview pulled huge numbers for "60 Minutes" last night. The final figures are still being crunched, because CBS had a roughly 30-minute football overrun in East Coast markets.

But it looks like about 24.5 million people tuned in to Steve Kroft's sit-down with Barack and Michelle Obama, which amounts to the highest score for "60 Minutes" since January 1999.

The Obamas came off as remarkably relaxed, given everything that's transpired in the past two weeks. As always, Barack and Michelle exude love and respect for each other and their family in a way that is inspiring, touching and comforting. You want these qualities in a first family.

The seg, which was devoted to the interview other than the Andy Rooney bit at the end, had a healthy adults 18-49 aud (6.4 rating/16 share) and adults 25-54 (8.2/19), although those numbers are also subject to revision once the finals come in tomorrow.

For "60 Minutes," as important as the ratings harvest is the prestige that the Obamas have conferred by granting this coveted first major interview to the venerable granddaddy of TV newsmags. You can't go wrong by going with the Rolls-Royce of TV news, of course, but Kroft has also clearly earned the trust of the Obamas. He's covered Barack Obama extensively during the past few years, and he did an insightful profile of the then looooooong-shot candidate shortly after Obama announced his presidential bid in January 2007.

Time to make a quick revision to the where-are-they-now info at the end of "Recount."

Ron Klain, the guy who spearheaded the Gore campaign's Florida recount effort and was played by Kevin Spacey in the HBO telepic, has landed the gig as chief of staff to vice prexy-elect Joe Biden, the New York Times reports. Klain served in the same capacity to Gore during the Clinton administration.

The Anti-Defamation League hosted an interesting discussion about how Jews are portrayed on television as part of the org's annual meeting this week at the Bev Hilton.

It was interesting mostly for the caliber of the people who were doing the discussing: Former Los Angeles Times chief TV critic Howard Rosenberg pressed "Mad Men" creator/exec producer Matthew Weiner and Roz Weinman, the former head of standards and practices at NBC and a former producer for the "Law & Order" troika, to go beyond the obvious and really examine the question of how the portrayals of Jews have changed over the years, and why.

The hourlong sesh, held Friday ayem, seemed particularly relevant given the milestone the country has reached in its long and tortured history of race relations with the election of our first black president. It was not, however, the kind of discussion that lends itself to snappy soundbites or easily distillation of main points.

Weiner made the observation that as part of the cultural assimilation process, Jews and every other ethnic, racial or religious minority at some point seek to downplay most of their differences from mainstream WASP culture in the effort to blend in and be accepted. On television it is only in the recent past that shows built around distinct ethnic subcultures have been widely accepted, Weiner said, citing the "The Sopranos" as a prime example.

"When the specificity of who people are is part of the commercial appeal -- that just means we've changed" as a culture, Weiner said. "I was surprised to see ethnic identity come back into entertainment with 'The Sopranos.' I guess it meant the public was ready for it."

Click here for a glimpse of our first couple-in-waiting, from "60 Minutes," which is the envy of all news orgs this weekend for landing the first post-election sit-down with President-elect Obama and Michelle Obama.

They're young, whip-smart, good-looking and they have a sense of humor. What's not to love?

CBS won't let us grab the vid to embed just yet, but they did provide a handy transcript of the clip from the interview conducted today by "60 Minutes" correspondent Steve Kroft.

STEVE KROFT: When did it sink in?

MICHELLE OBAMA:  I remember, we were watching the returns and, on one of the stations, Barack's picture came up and it said, "President-Elect Barack Obama." And I looked at him and said, ‘You are the 44th president of the United States of America. Wow. What a country we live in.” 

BARACK OBAMA: How about that?

MICHELLE OBAMA: Yeah.

BARACK OBAMA: Yeah. Yeah. And then she said "Are you going take the girls to school in the morning?" (LAUGHTER)

MICHELLE OBAMA: I did not. (LAUGHTER) I didn't say that.

Right off the bat, Tribune's innovator-in-chief Lee Abrams wanted to get one thing straight: That 3,000-word memo he wrote about newspapers needing to be more rock 'n' roll? He meant that the business of gathering and disseminating news and information in the Internet age has as much raw potential as Elvis had in his pelvis in 1952. ("America needs a heartbeat, and we can deliver that on 21st Century terms," Abrams opined in March.)

The news biz "has never been more vibrant," Abrams said Thursday night during a Q&A at the Los Angeles Press Club. "It's alive. It's exciting. It's the place to be. Let's get on board this thing. The opportunities are stronger than ever."

To reiterate, "It's an exciting time to be reporting on all the shit that's going on in the world," Abrams observed. Abrams, senior veep and chief innovation officer for Tribune Co., was 50% of a panel on the future of news that also included former Los Angeles Daily News editor Ron Kaye, who has found his blogging calling at RonKayeLa.com since getting fired from the Daily Snooze in April. (Pictured from left, Abrams, Kaye and moderator Ezra Palmer)

Appointed to Sam Zell's extreme Tribune makeover team in April, Abrams is seen as the guy behind all of the redesigns and "rethinking" going on at the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and other Tribune-owned newspapers. He has a long resume in radio and marketing, but none in newspapering, which made journos in and outside of Tribune highly skeptical of his ideas for "reinventing" newspapers.

Abrams stressed on Thursday that he's an idea and inspiration guy, but final decisions on redesigns on content are left to the local management of each paper. ("Until they're not" -- You just could see the thought balloon hovering over the heads of the crowd, which numbered about 50.)

All in all, Abrams came off as affable, smart and well-meaning, though I couldn't get the image of the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers out of my head as I tried to think of the character actor that he resembles.

By Stuart Levine

NBC revisits its once glorious past tonight when Anthony Edwards returns to County General on “ER.”

The numbers for “ER” have been good this year, the show’s 15th and final season. Credit strong marketing and consistently compelling stories. Audiences who were once glued have come back for a last look.

And expect an even bigger Nielsen turnout when one of the most favored alumni comes back.

Well, Edwards returns but his character, Dr. Mark Greene, who died of cancer, can't. He's shown in flashback, interacting with the icy Dr. Cate Banfield, so adeptly played by Oscar-nominated actress Angela Bassett.

Not to give anything away, but the two characters interact at a time that forever changes Banfield’s life. I’m never been one to fall for the “very special episode” marketing ploy that NBC used with almost every show at one time or another, but this one’s worth watching, especially if you go back to the early days of “ER,” when folks such as Edwards, George Clooney and Eriq LaSalle ran up and down the hallways.

On a conference call with reporters, Edwards said he was a bit hesitant to return to Stage 11 on the Warner Bros. lot, where he’d spent eight years, but felt the timing was right to come back. Yet, he still had butterflies

“You don’t want to screw it up, you know,” he said. “I think there’s a natural respect for this show that you want to, you know, be respectful of.”

And he was confident that if he returned, his character’s hard-earned reputation wouldn’t be tarnished.

“I knew they would take care of him. You know, it’s a funny thing. You feel as an actor that you own the character, but the truth is so do the writers. The writers really feel an ownership of Greene, so they want to do right for him. So, there’s actually more people looking out for you than yourself in the end.

Edwards, who appeared in David Fincher’s brilliant murder mystery “Zodiac” last year, has been heavily involved in charity work. He donated the money he would’ve received for appearing in this “Heal Thyself” episode to Shoe 4 Africa, in which he’s raising money to build a hospital. “ER” exec producer John Wells and Steven Spielberg also contributed.

Posted by Stuart Levine

I happened to check out comedian/actor Jim Gaffigan’s early set Saturday night at the Wiltern Theater, and it was an absolute riot.

Gaffigan was signed up by Worldwide Pants after an appearance on David Letterman’s show about 10 years ago, which led to “Welcome to New York.” The series aired in 2000 and only lasted 13 episodes, failing to didn’t tap into his comedy potential.

Comedy development people or network execs: Take another chance on Gaffigan and, most importantly, get out of the way. Let him turn his act into a show, and don’t note him to death.

Granted, the days where standups — Roseanne, Kevin James, Tim Allen, Ray Romano, Jerry Seinfeld — went from stage to screen and grabbed huge ratings might be waning, but talent is talent, and Gaffigan’s got it. His mostly G-rated riff on topics such as bowling, bacon, Hot Pockets (that barely edible microwavable snack), pillows and the speed of an escalator are a hoot and had the Wiltern audience in tears.

Gaffigan has done a slew of TV ("The Ellen Show," "Ed," "That 70s Show"), but most recently co-starred as the lawyer always complaining about marriage on TBS’ “My Boys,” starring Jordana Spiro. But “My Boys,” which started strongly in season one but tailed off in its second go-around, doesn’t do justice to Gaffigan’s comedic talents.

Miss Ellie would have been so ashamed.

Apparently, the 30th anniversary "Dallas" reunion event, held Saturday at the ranch that starred on the CBS nighttime soap as Southfork, went bad, very bad -- worse than the plots in the show's later seasons. Don't ask me why but I found these reports from the scene very funny. (And yes, it is hard to believe that it's been 30 years since "Dallas" debuted. Even harder to believe that the show ran until the 1990-91 season.)

I can imagine the outrage, and the hairdos, of the ardent fans who forked over real money (in these times?!) but were ultimately denied the privilege of hanging with Larry Hagman, Linda Gray and Patrick Duffy. Here's the AP story on the event and here's a more detailed report with video from Dallas' WFAA-TV.

The island is calling again...“Lost” returns to ABC on Wednesday, Jan. 21.

The fifth season of the fantasy-mystery skein will air Wednesdays at 9 p.m., after airing on Thursdays last season. The current occupant of the Wednesday 9 p.m. berth, ABC’s sophomore season drama “Private Practice,” will be relocated after “Lost” returns, ABC said Friday.

It’s expected that ABC will make more skedding changes on Wednesday in the near future, given the weak perf of 8 p.m.’s “Pushing Daisies” and 10 p.m.’s “Dirty Sexy Money” this fall. “Private Practice,” on the other hand, has been given a full-season order.

“Lost” will bow Jan. 21 with its usual season preem drill: two back to back segs from 9-11 p.m., preceded at 8 p.m. by a clip recap show.

(Sorry, as a reader points out, "Lost" has not previously bowed with back-to-back segs. The screeners ABC sent out at the start of season 4 and the bifurcated season 3 included at least two episodes, so that's the source of my late-on-a-Friday-afternoon confusion.)

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

Clearly, there have been great dramatic moments on TV this year — the finale of “Mad Men,” John Locke ending up in the casket in “Lost” and Vic Mackey’s confrontations with Shane throughout the last season of “The Shield” — but for my money, it’s tough to beat what ESPN is offering up Tuesday night.

For the first time ever, the sports cabler is broadcasting the final table at the World Series of Poker on the same day a winner is declared.

Ever since the poker boom took off in 2003 when amateur Chris Moneymaker took home the title, the tournament has ended several months before ESPN aired it. Meaning that the vast majority of people tuning in already knew who won.

This year, the tournament ended in July as it always has, but Harrah’s Corp. (which owns the Rio Hotel and Casino, where the WSOP takes place) decided that, to build excitement, it would take the nine players remaining and give them a 117-day layoff to think about the $9.1 million that goes to the champ.

Barack Obama looked so ... presidential in his first live televised news conference.

Where was the smirk? The pathetic attempts at humor? The wincing and squinting and squirming at tough questions? The tripping over the tongue?

Obama, sporting a dark suit and baby-blue tie, came off so calm, cool, collected and in charge, and telegenic as all get-out. Goodness knows we never got much of that from "The George W. Bush Show," with all of its bad acting, ridiculous scripts and horrendous plots.

With Obama's resonant voice and natural ease in front of cameras and microphones, he could have had a career in broadcasting had he not gone into politics.

Given the flood of bad economic news this morning, Obama opened Friday's newser in what felt like an appropriately somber tone. At first he seemed to be keeping a close eye on his prepared remarks, but he warmed up during the Q&A period. He also knows how to warm up a room full of reporters, paying respect to the local print journos who covered him when. Obama made a point of calling out for a question from Chicago Tribune's John McCormick ("let's give the home town local guy a little bit of time"), and a few moments later asked Chicago Sun-Times columnist Lynn Sweet "what happened to your arm?"

(Those of us watching on TV couldn't see exactly but I'm guessing she had a brace or cast on. From what we could gather it was some kind of injury she got in the crowd at Grant Park on Tuesday night for Obama's victory celebration. As the prez-elected noted, Sweet's injury "was probably the only major incident during the entire Grant Park celebration.")

Sweet asked the sweet question of exactly what kind of dog the Obamas are planning to get for their daughters, as the president-elect noted in his victory speech on Tuesday night. Obama showed a sense of humor by noting that "this is a major issue for the Obamas" and that there are "two criteria that need to be reconciled" in regard to the procurement of the pooch.

Good for Tina Fey. "30 Rock" was solid in its second outing of the season, indicating that the Emmy and biz darling is finally getting some traction.

Post-election euphoria for at least 52% of Americans probably didn't hurt (I'm convinced Fey-as-Sarah-Palin helped Obama defeat the GOP ticket), nor did a guest shot from Oprah Winfrey probably didn't hurt. "30 Rock" averaged 8.1 million viewers and 3.9 rating/9 share, according to prelim Nielsens. That's an even better retention out of "The Office" (8.4 mil, 4.2/10) than it managed last week in its third season preem.

Goodness knows, the Peacock needed some good ratings news after Wednesday's makeover went over like a lead balloon. "Knight Rider" slipping to a 1.6/4 in the demo, handicapping the rest of the night. The return of "Law & Order" (7.9 mil, 2.2/6) at 10 p.m. didn't do much to improve things, though it did seem to take a notable bite of the aud for CBS' competing "CSI: NY" (11.8 mil, 3.3/9).

I went to the Century Plaza Hotel Tuesday evening looking for reaction from showbiz types to this historic presidential election. I didn't find much of that there, but what I did encounter makes for a better story and an experience that I'll never forget.

The reaction from non-pros who were heavily invested in seeing Democrat Barack Obama win this election was beyond intense, and well beyond any kind of collective sense of feeling that I've experienced in a crowd setting. The 10,000-plus who packed into the Century Plaza's Los Angeles Ballroom were a microcosm of the coalition that sent him well over the top in the battle with Republican John McCain.

The revelers were a diverse group from all walks of life, race, ethnicity, gender, social strata and age range -- many of them donors to and volunteers for the Obama campaign. Union members wore shirts boasting of "700,000 Calls" made in battleground states in support of Barack Obama. The high percentage of younger folks (18-34 demo) in the crowd was immediately noticeable. Their engagement and excitement about the prospects for the post-Bush II years was eye-opening. The election returns will tell the tale in the next few weeks, but anecdotally it sure seems like the Obama campaign has finally stirred the sleeping giant of the young adult vote. One measure of the intensity of the campaign was the decibel level in the ballroom as the TV monitors around the room, tuned to CNN and MSNBC, flashed more and more states moving into the Obama win column.

When CNN declared Obama the winner in Virginia, I thought my ears were going to bleed from the volume of the screaming, which had my eardrums vibrating. Only a few minutes later, my head was throbbing as NBC News and CNN in short order called the election for Obama.

Although the emotional current ran throughout the crowd, there was a palpable feeling of shock mixed with pride and perhaps a sense of justice served at long last among many of the black partygoers. "Barack Obama elected president! Barack Obama elected president!" one young woman said over and over as she jumped up and down and hugged her companions. "I never thought I'd see this happen in my lifetime" was a sentiment shared by seemingly everyone in the room.

It's a momentous day.

I've never waited in line for nearly an hour to cast a ballot, even in past presidential elections. The turnout in my neighborhood was very diverse, particularly in terms of age. Maybe this really will be the election that awakens the sleeping giant of the 18-34-year-old vote.

I'll be at the Century Plaza tonight to cover what sure looks like it'll be a Barack Obama-Joe Biden victory party, hosted by the California Democratic Party and Generation Obama Los Angeles.

Aside from all of this historic election business, it's also a big day for television policy wonks. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments this morning (crazy timing) in the indecency case pressed by Fox involving the use of "fleeting expletives," or the kind of colorful expressions that pop stars and celebutants use on live awards shows without really thinking about it.

The Federal Communications Commission wants to enforce a policy that any use of salty language during the 6 a.m.-10 p.m. hours is automatically indecent and deserving of a fine. Fox and other broadcasters have pressed the case by noting that for years the commission tread very lightly when it came to fining stations for fleeting expletives, and they've argued that the FCC didn't give adequate notice or explanation for its change in policy before it started passing out its fleeting fines.

It's the first time the Supremes have heard a broadcast indecency case since the landmark 1978 Pacifica case involving George Carlin's famed routine. The AP reports that the justices were fairly poker faced through the hourlong sesh, but that chief justice John Roberts indicated his support for the FCC's stance with his questions and observations. The AP smartly notes that Roberts is the only one of the nine justices with young kids at home.

John McCain's appearance delivered another big number for "Saturday Night Live."

He wasn't quite as much of a draw as Sarah Palin two weeks ago, but still big -- a 9.0 household rating/20 share in Nielsen's 56 overnight metered markets, compared to Palin's 10.7/24. Palin's seg aside, it's "SNL's" highest number since a holiday compilation seg aired in December 1997.

There was a surreal quality to the cold open with McCain as McCain and Tina Fey as his running mate. You gotta give him credit for trying, but he just looks tired, and like his running mate two weeks ago, desperate. The bit even pokes fun at the rampant rumors of division within the McCain-Palin camp, with Fey/Palin's bid to sell "Palin in 2012" T-shirts on the sly.

Silly as it is, I got the biggest giggle out of the joke about "McCain Fine Gold."

And although it's been made clear in this space that I am a Keith Olbermann fan, I gotta admit that Ben Affleck, this week's "SNL" host, gets him to an indignant T in this seg spoofing his trademark anti-Bush rants on MSNBC's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann."