The medium shifted into hyperdrive as soon as the story broke. But not everyone was happy with this development. One viewer wrote to ABC to complain that the president's address preempted the conclusion of Brothers and Sisters. "Couldn't this have waited 15 minutes?" she inquired.
Both events wreaked havoc on Steven Tyler's massive promotional campaign in support of his new memoir, Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?
You couldn't turn on a TV or open up a magazine this week without stumbling on an interview with the Aerosmith front man. Since you asked, Steven, yeah, your noise is really beginning to get annoying.
But the antics of the 63-year-old wild man led to a funny punch line in Conan's Wednesday monologue: "Now that Osama bin Laden's dead, we can go back to talking about American Idol. In his new book, Steven Tyler said he spent $20 million on drugs - $5 million on cocaine and $15 million on arthritis medication."
In harmony. This week there were a number of similarities between Glee and American Idol.
Both shows hit musical high points for the season thanks to smart song selection. Fleetwood Mac for the choir kids at McKinley. Montgomery Gentry for Scotty McCreery on Idol.
And in each case, shedding a few tears proved the best way to become the center of attention.
When James Durbin broke down singing "Without You" (Harry Nilsson schmaltz will do that to a guy), Randy Jackson consoled him by bestowing the Idol crown on him then and there. I think that means we can dispense with the competition and just show commercials for the next month until James is officially crowned.
When Sam blubbered on Glee, suddenly people were showering him with gifts. He even got a few lines of dialogue for once. How lucky can a guy get?
