Agency power list; McCain & Bush; CW's skinny stars

>> The Knight Rider series reviews are coming in harsh. Current Metacritic score is 21 out of 100. Tim Goodman gave it a zero (and wasn’t the only one). "It manages to be dramatically absurd within moments of coming on your TV screen and never once hints that it's trying to be intentionally ludicrous."

>> TVTracker.com has released its fourth annual Agency Power List. The study found that Endeavor and CAA continue to lead the 10% pack in terms of total number of scripted series clients, with Endeavor enjoying an edge in the TV literary business. Study also found cable has grown to represent 43% of TV dealmaking, among many other findings. Get the full report here.

>> Sell-sell-sell: President Bush to interrupt primetime programming tonight ("Criminal Minds," "America's Got Talent," etc.) with a reassuring speech about the economy.

>> John McCain’s campaign suspension announcement puts Friday’s presidential debate in limbo. Given the way it's backfiring spectacularly, resulting in a man who endured POW camp torture being, in effect, called a chicken, I'm betting the debate will continue as planned. Also: McCain vs. Obama supporters, who has better taste in TV?   

>> CW’s starving stars of “90210.” This will sound callus, but the "controversy" is good publicity. Soaps require off-screen drama that extends the fiction of the show into the real world to help draw ratings. “The Hills” tries to create it with US Weekly stories about bogus Heidi and Spencer fights. The original “90210” had it with Shannen Doherty’s bad behavior. “Gossip Girl” gets it by having lurid content that lures the Parents Television Council to take the bait and denounce the show, thus making the consumption of a product by CBS Corp. seem somehow rebellious. But “90210” is fairly innocent. This she’s-too-skinny stuff provides a controversy that gets viewers talking, yet isn’t going to prevent fans from watching.

>> Denis Leary claims offense at unfunny Emmy hosts: “And I had no empathy for how bad these five hosts were. And after opening I was like, you know what? I want to see them crash and burn on live TV.”

>> Lexus launches online TV channel starring Lisa Kudrow. The stars of NBC's "Lipstick Jungle" must already be committed to driving BMWs or something.

>> Has Tina Fey turned the tide of the election (again)?

>> Have you clicked through The Live Feed's best-and-worst fall TV ads slideshow?

>> And finally, a Letter of the Week from the Live Feed mailbag. From reader Stu:

“A blog on TV is silly
All your content is idle chitchat
vacuous at the best of times
serving no purpose other than to enslave
people to the TV”

Thanks Stu!