Well, the surprising celebrity death of the past week has to be that of comedian Bernie Mac, who was only 50 when he died of complications from pneumonia. Unfortunately for him, Mac will probably be remembered more for his offensive routine at a recent Barack Obama event than for his eponymous sitcom or any of his stand-up.

What caught my eye more -- and probably the eye of anyone who treasures the original Saturday Night Live -- was the death of agent and manager Bernie Brillstein. Brillstein was a central figure in the birth of SNL, as he managed not only creator Lorne Michaels but also Chevy Chase and John Belushi. Brillstein's dealings with Belushi are particularly interesting showbiz lore, from agreeing to manage him five minutes before the premiere just so a reluctant Belushi would sign the network contract that would allow him to go on air, to his various attempts to help clean up the drug-addicted star late in his life. Unfortunately for Brillstein, any read of the various Belushi biographies paints a picture of a manager who gave the troubled star bad career advice which arguably sent Belushi deeper into drugs when the bad advice resulted in failed projects such as Neighbors or Continental Divide.

Speaking of SNL, it becomes clear after watching the first three seasons of SNL on DVD that the most underrated member of that original ensemble has to be Jane Curtin. Although she didn't have the recurring characters that made Gilda Radner a bigger star -- even though she was "Weekend Update" anchor for four seasons in addition to playing Prymatt Conehead and Mrs. Loopner -- she was always solid in the usually secondary roles she was given.

So Entertainment Weekly has published the pop-culture preferences of the two presidential candidates. Unfortunately, although it shouldn't matter, you know this is going to influence some people's votes. Oh, who am I kidding -- it's going to totally influence my vote! While I was impressed with McCain's television faves -- Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Dexter, The Wire, and singling out Dennis Haysbert's performance on 24 -- ultimately his bizarre appreciation for Usher and ABBA (what, no Haircut 100?) cause him to lose the "pop culture debate" to Obama. The Senator gets points for mentioning M*A*S*H and the Godfather movies and for admitting that SpongeBob SquarePants is pretty funny. Because, frankly, it is. Too bad EW didn't ask more specific questions like: "Leno or Letterman?" or "Beatles or Elvis?" or even "Brandon or Dylan?" Then I would really know who to vote for. Oh well, guess I have to pay attention to the real issues. Crap.

Or maybe I'll be watching too much Big Brother to care. For an embarrassing nine years now, Big Brother has become my summertime romance, which is only slightly less humiliating than the fact that I do actually watch preseason football. For the last couple of seasons, I've been shocked at the utter trashiness at the Big Brother contestants that they've gathered together -- it seems that producers simply scoured Internet porn sites and county jails for their cast of "houseguests." But for this year's BB10, something's definitely missing. The contestants are actually relatable, even -- gasp -- sensible human beings. Which unfortunately makes for somewhat boring reality television. (Not that this group would be confused for a panel of Nobel Prize winners -- there is the requisite bartender and Hooters waitress among the bunch.) And there's no one really to root for. I guess if I had to pick one, it would be Dan, even though he's an incredibly naive dweeb. But please, next year, CBS, bring on the wackos!

Speaking of reality television, the "villain" of last year's reality dud Kid Nation came out and said that producers fed her lines to make her more unlikable. I don't have a moral issue with this, because anyone with a brain knows that all reality television is tweaked and edited and re-shot to make it more interesting, but it just makes me even madder at myself that I wasted 13 hours of my life watching that pile. Thank you, CBS, for not giving us Kid Nation 2: Electric Boogaloo.

All right, got to go. There's a new Randy Newman album out that demands my attention. Hey, the guy only releases about a disc a decade, so you got to take time to enjoy them.