Sarah Palin's scary new 'SNL' appearance

The black outfit. The burgundy chair. Threats-as-jokes. Sure, we get it. Sarah Palin, on Monday night's "Saturday Night Live: Presidential Bash," played off her recent comment that the media violates the First Amendment by criticizing her. So why isn't the audience laughing?

"The Palin Doctrine"? ... Way to freak out voters on the eve of the election.

And here's John McCain's new video. He's comes off more likable than Palin, yet his script is weirdly NBC-centric (hey look, Marc Graboff!). It's like one of those scripts that celebrities are pressued to read for radio stations, or like something written for the May advertiser upfronts. NBC has been increasingly self-referential lately. But jokes about NBC disappearing amid the broadcaster's low ratings and budget cuts are just not funny.