Just curious. We all know the presidential election has been a boom for Saturday Night Live\’s ratings … tonight I was watching to see John McCain\’s guest appearance. Gotta say, he was pretty damn good:
The host was Ben Affleck — real poker player — and in the group farewell, it was like a sincere, conciliatory ovation to the honorable senator. Majillions had to be watching … and from that scene, at least here on Cox cable in Las Vegas, it went right to Poker after Dark. (And a good episode, too! Mike Matusow vs. all previous champs, director\’s cut.)
Certainly at least a few folks (thousand? hundreds of thousands?) had to be drawn into poker for their first time in a while with that fortunate positioning, right?
Interestingly enough, when I finally got bored with the episode (I had seen it before), I flipped to the news channels for some analysis of the McCain SNL appearance. Because really, I saw that, coupled with his most recent ad, as practically a concession speech. Big news! But all the news stations were in stock coverage and rerun mode … CNN was doing a bio of Obama, and on it was more than a mention of Obama\’s Illinois politico poker game. He learned the game in an effort to improve his people/political climbing skills, and eventually it turned into an escape where he and his legislative adversaries could enjoy good friendly times.
Anyhow, lots of poker on TV, and good poker … very close to the election stuff that\’s killing in the ratings these days.
More McCain on SNL: