A political wonk's paradise: convention coverage

If this year's epic presidential primary coverage wasn't enough to put you off politics, rejoice! The next two weeks will be a political wonk's paradise as broadcast and cable networks cover the Democratic and Republican conventions and the presidential nominations of U.S. Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain.

In broad strokes, TV will have pretty much the same offerings for the Democrats in Denver next week and for the Republicans in St. Paul, Minn., the week after. ABC, NBC and CBS will each offer one-hour reports at 10 p.m. EDT each day of the conventions (up from three nights of coverage in 2004), Aug. 25-28 and Sept. 1-4. PBS will air three hours of coverage each night, beginning at 8 p.m.

For "CBS Evening News" anchor Katie Couric, an hour of convention coverage in prime time will give her the opportunity to do more of what she enjoys most.

"I really miss doing as many interviews as I used to," Couric said by phone this week from her New York home, where she was working while on a pre-convention vacation from anchoring. Although she still does interviews occasionally on "Evening News," including one last week with the president of Georgia, she'll do more during the convention coverage, including a live, 15-30-minute Webcast at CBSNews.com and CNET.com each night after network coverage ends.

"I think there's something about the Web vibe, and I know that makes me sound very out of it to use the word 'vibe,' but I'm looking forward to being able to have more casual but hopefully hard-hitting coverage, if that's not too counterintuitive," she said. "We're booking people as we speak."

I wondered if political movers and shakers were hesitant to do a Web show, something Couric said she worried about, too. But she said she expects politicians to be savvy about the new world of media consumption.

"I don't think (U.S. Sen.) Joe Biden will say, 'How many hits does this get?' " Couric said, relating the story of a time recently when she interviewed Biden using her Flip camera after a lunch panel in Washington. "He was comfortable and fine with it."

On cable, viewers will be able to watch convention coverage up to 20 hours a day (6 a.m.-2 a.m. daily on MSNBC), although that amount of viewing is only suggested for the lunatic fringe of both parties. (They've already gone 'round the bend, so why not let them mainline the coverage?)

Whether or not the cable newsies will use that time for actual coverage or just as an outlet to allow their talking heads to bloviate further remains to be seen. Regardless, viewers lap it up. Political coverage has been a boon for cable-news channels.

And, of course, Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" will broadcast from the convention cities, the better to mock the coverage.

Some highlights:

-- The "CNN Grill" will offer Democrats and Republicans "a distinct venue to mix good food and lively political debate," according to the network. It will serve as a broadcast site and takes a cue from the "CNN Diner" at the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City and will be housed in restaurants in Denver and St. Paul. Not to be outdone, Fox News Channel will air coverage from "The Fox Experience," headquartered at a bar in Denver and a tent in St. Paul.

-- BBC America's "BBC World News America" will air coverage at 7 and 10 p.m. weeknights during both conventions, with Ted Koppel as a contributing analyst in Denver.

-- C-SPAN will offer "gavel-to-gavel coverage" beginning at 6 p.m. Monday for the Dems and 3:30 p.m. Sept. 1 for the Republicans.

Of course, after the convention ends, the diet of political news will not. MSNBC is marking Sept. 8 as the beginning of the final countdown to Election Day, launching a new talk show hosted by Rachel Maddow weeknights at 9 (Dan Abrams' "Verdict" has been canceled, but he'll remain with the network as a legal correspondent and daytime anchor).

For Couric, the fall will include a series of reports, lasting an average of six minutes each -- an eternity in broadcast news, where most stories run no more than one-and-a-half minutes -- on where the presidential candidates stand on assorted issues.

"We're doing it in a clear, concise, thorough way," she said. "It's very ambitious and a huge commitment of resources. I don't think by the end of fall anybody will be able to say CBS just talked about the polls and the candidates' latest gaffes."

Although Couric was dogged by rumors surrounding her future with "Evening News" earlier this year, all has been quiet of late. She will likely visit several swing states this fall.

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9021-uh-oh!

The CW announced this week it won't send out review copies of its new "90210" sequel series, calling it a "strategic marketing decision."

"We're not hiding anything ... simply keeping a lid on '90210' until 9.02, riding the curiosity and anticipation into premiere night, and letting all our constituents see it at the same time," the statement claimed.

Obviously, I'll believe it when I see the show, which conveniently won't be until premiere night. Until then, given this course of action, I can't help but think the show will be a disaster -- or worse yet, a big bore.

Generally a critic's approach is somewhat akin to "innocent until proven guilty," but holding a show back from critics -- an approach more regularly employed by movie studios for real dreck in recent years -- reverses the equation. Now critics and discerning viewers will assume "90210" is a dud until proven otherwise. Way to go, CW executives.

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Channel surfing

CNBC will begin airing "The Apprentice UK" Mondays at 9 p.m. beginning next week. British multimillionaire Alan Sugar plays the Donald Trump role. ... Friday at 10 p.m., Elizabeth Vargas reports on what's being done to reverse mortality rates for African-American babies in urban centers on ABC's "20/20" ... Sci Fi Channel's "Stargate Atlantis" will end its run after its fifth season ends in January, according to Multichannel News. The series will be followed by a TV movie.

(Contact Pittsburgh Post-Gazette TV editor Rob Owen at rowen(at)post-gazette.com.)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)