HBO photo: Michael Muller Also debuting on HBO Sunday: the fifth season of Entourage. The last season was a big misstep, diddling about while Vince’s movie Medellin was in post-production and wasting time on dumb plots about she-males and rimjobs. (Um, is that an inappropriate reference? If you actually know what it means, you’re probably [...]

As Maureen Ryan writes, there’s been a flurry of back-and-forth today between The Drudge Report and The Oprah Winfrey Show. A Drudge post this morning claimed “Oprah’s staff is sharply divided on the merits of booking Sarah Palin.” Later in the day, Oprah released a statement that—after having endorsed Barack Obama last year—she had decided [...]

John McCain outdrew Barack Obama’s acceptance speech by about half a million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. An estimated 38.9 million people watched McCain’s speech, compared with 38.4 million for Obama—and 37.2 million for McCain’s running mate, Sarah Palin. (George Bush in 2004 is a mere footnote, at 27.5 million.) Obama (and Palin) may [...]

A reminder that the multi-network fundraiser Stand Up to Cancer airs tonight at 8 p.m. E.T. See the organization’s homepage for more information and performers, or to donate.

While I (and others before me) have been advocating that people writing about politics should disclose their votes, journalism has not exactly followed en masse. But the author of US Weekly’s controversial Sarah Palin “Babies, Lies & Scandal” cover story announces in the Huffington Post that she’s voting—for McCain. Today US Weekly, tomorrow the world!

PRASHANT GUPTA / HBO The new print edition of TIME has my review of True Blood. As you’ll see, I am not crazy about it. And yet—mainly because I had to cut the review down by about a third—my piece ended up being both more and less harsh on the show than I wanted.

* The most awesome campaign theme song ever** has hit a snag: turns out Heart don’t want Sarah Palin playing Barracuda at her events. (Meanwhile, I missed this piece earlier, but EW also has an interesting story on the mixed reactions among Brooks & Dunn and their songwriter to the use of Only in America [...]

In the televisual equivalent of a red-state strategy, the Democratic candidate (finally) ventures on to The O’Reilly Factor. Here’s my writeup.