Besides the do-over of the ABC Wednesday night lineup, tonight Friday Night Lights returns on DirecTV's 101 Network. I've seen the first episode, and to the extent that season 2 got away from the show's first season roots—with the Landry killing subplot especially, but more soap drama in general—the premiere gets back to them, focusing on the central characters without histrionics. I don't know if this is a result of the security of the DirecTV deal (a lot of the heightened drama last year probably came from the show's shaky status at NBC), but it's welcome.

I've also made a decision about how to cover the new season, which is—not to make a decision. Essentially, I will probably write about the new season this fall (and definitely when it airs on NBC in the winter), but it won't be a top priority. I don't have DirectTV, and while the network has sent the first two episodes, it may not send them all out. Many FNL fans, of course, will not be watching the season for months. Combine that with the fact that I'll continue to have election media to deal with for another month (at least) and the rest of fall TV—and call me crazy, I have a thing about my kids still remembering my name and face—and I'll probably blog FNL only occasionally, as time permits.

If you're dying for weekly reviews in the meantime, Alan Sepinwall has wrestled with the same dilemma and decided that he will blog every episode, bumming DirecTV from friends if need be, God love him.

The New York Times reports that, for all the buzz generated by Katie Couric's multiple interviews with Sarah Palin, the ratings for the CBS Evening News barely budged, and are down from last year.

For CBS, it's an example of TV's burning question, to which I don't pretend to have an answer: In the multiplatform, multiscreen era, what is "success"?

The Couric interviews have been the talk of the media. They've been watched millions of times on YouTube; they inspired an equally buzzed-about SNL skit. They raised questions about Palin's candidacy itself. They are certainly among the signal artifacts of the general election so far.

But: that and 50 cents, etc. From the standpoint of the network, not a lot of income generated from all those online viewings. And if there are more vague, long-term, ancillary benefits to all that free media, they are not yet showing up in the flagship newscast, i.e., the format that actually makes the money.

The benefits are less ambiguous for Katie: this has to make it harder for CBS to deep-six her after the election, if that was a serious consideration to begin with.

Anyway, since the Internet seems to love itself some Palin and Couric, here's last night's installment. Tonight, Couric poses questions to both Palin and Joe Biden:

Watch CBS Videos Online

A day and a half before the Vice Presidential debate, seemingly the entire conservative blogosphere has, at pretty much the same time, decided that Gwen Ifill is an absolutely unacceptable choice as moderator. (Matt Drudge is presently blaring the news on his Bat-signal.) The reason: she's writing a book, to be published on Inauguration Day, titled The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama.

I, of course, am in the tank for Obama, and so have no business stating an opinion on the matter. But I actually think Ifill's critics have a point—one—though it's not the one they're most emphasizing.

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Craig Blankenhorn/FOX

SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this post, make yourself a raw roast beef sandwich with jalapenos and watch last night's Fringe.

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