Where to Tune In on Election Night

It is Superbowl night for cable news and the networks too with a full days preamble ready for the first results when the punditry and gadgetry goes into overload and each network tries to outdo each other.

I have always been a CNN viewer in the US as it always seemed the network closest to the one I grew up with which was the BBC. Fox Noise is just hilarious and frankly there is no way you can call it news, it's entertainment for new Republicans, non-thinking theocrats and something akin to Chinese water torture for everyone else. Unfortunately it is all a ratings game and even CNN seems to have dumbed down it's coverage and entered into the tabloid opinion game with the barely watchable Lou Dobbs. Still they do have a few redeeming features including the excellent weekend shows Reliable Sources with Howard Kurtz and Fareed Zakaria's GPS.

As the election has drawn closer I have changed my allegiance in the evening hours to MSNBC with Keith Obermann's Countdown and the new show from Rachel Maddow. Naturally this is easy TV for me which I know isn't always what's good for the brain but sometimes it is nice to realize you are not alone in this country in thinking the last 8 years have been a political nightmare. I have even mellowed to Chris Matthews whom I lost a lot of respect for after seeing him 'palling around' (thanks Sarah!) with the quite awful Tom Delay. NBC also seems to have my favorite network team with Chuck Todd, David Gregory and Tom Brokaw (in the always excellent Meet The Press).

I have also refused offers of election parties tonight as I love to sit and watch the night unfold with the huge electronic wall maps steadily displaying states as they turn red or blue. Let's be clear this is US TVs biggest night as they are reporting on the election of the most powerful man in the world. The stakes are sky high for TV ratings in the US and countries around the globe as millions of Americans cast their votes and to some extent shape the future of global  politics for the next four years.

Where to Tune In on Election Night