Hollywood writers agreed to a contract with producers, ending the strike that essentially closed down Hollywood and separated fans from new episodes of their favorite shows for more than three months:

A devastating, three-month walkout that brought the entertainment industry to a standstill ended Tuesday when Hollywood writers voted to lift their union’s strike order and return to work Wednesday.

The move allows some TV series to return this spring with a handful of new episodes. It also clears the way for the Academy Awards to be staged on Feb. 24 without the threat of pickets or a boycott by actors that would have dulled the glamour of Hollywood’s signature celebration.

So the writers will return and with them (eventually) new episodes of shows like Lost, Desperate Housewives, and House. And let’s not forget that the late night comedy shows will get their writers back, which is definitely good news for Jay Leno. Man, did he stink it up without comedy to read!

All that this three months of drama really did was get writers a little bit more of what they deserve, annoy the hell out of television viewers, and expose TV as a dying medium and delivery method.

Whether the networks like it or not, the future is in Internet television, where true convergence will allow viewers to choose what shows they want to watch, when they want to watch them, and without worry of new shows getting cancelled after two episodes.

TV’s Craig Ferguson went on a rant about Fox News Channel during a recent monologue on The Late Late Show:

There is an entire channel devoted to just making stuff up: Fox News! They just make stuff up. Here it is, here’s stuff. I’m saying it on TV and I’m being very firm about it, so it must be true! YELLING DOESN’T MAKE STUFF TRUE! And that’s the truth.

Craig Ferguson is pound-for-pound the funniest talk show host on television when it comes to his often current events tinged monologues. He’s almost always right-on with his mostly off-the-cuff remarks each weeknight.

Hillary Clinton bested Barack Obama in a very close race on the Democratic side and John McCain beat Mitt Romney and the rest of the Republicans Tuesday:

Sen. Hillary Clinton has won New Hampshire’s Democratic primary, CNN projects.

Sen. John McCain easily won the Republican primary Tuesday, but Clinton and Barack Obama were locked in a tight race much of the night.

Next up, Michigan for the Republicans and Michigan* for the Democrats next Tuesday. (*It will take place, but according to the DNC, it won’t count.)

This post was originally posted on ElectionSquad.com.

The CNN-YouTube Democratic debate in South Carolina was an interesting blend of citizen-submitted questions, CNN editorial control, and all of the Democratic candidates participating.

You might assume the CNN-YouTube Republican debate in September will be similar, but that might not be the case, especially if no one shows up:

Four days after the Democratic debate in Charleston, S.C,. more than 400 questions directed to the GOP presidential field have been uploaded on YouTube — targeted at Republicans scheduled to get their turn at videopopulism on Sept. 17.

But so far, only Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.) have agreed to participate in the debate, co-hosted by Republican Party of Florida in St. Petersburg.

“Aside from those two candidates, we haven’t heard from anyone else,” said Sam Feist of CNN, who’s co-sponsoring the debate with the popular videosharing site.

It seems like Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani aren’t up to the challenge of answering real questions from citizens. It will be interesting to see if Fred Thompson signs up for the debate, considering his television experience, which may help him along. That is, if he ever declares his candidacy.

Likely, we will see more candidates sign up to participate as we get closer to the debate, which, incidentally, is being held in a monster swing-state called Florida. As of now, however, the hesitancy of candidates to join in this debate now shows an overall difference between Democratic candidates and Republican candidates: their proximity to the people.

CNN is set to launch in high definition this September and the network announced it’s first HD documentary, “Planet in Peril”:

“Planet in Peril” looks at four main issues threatening the planet: climate change, deforestation, species loss and overpopulation.

CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta and Animal Planet host Jeff Corwin are all part of the project.

“Some documentaries convey alarming statistics and others utilize stunning cinematography, but ‘Planet in Peril’ brings it all together,” CNN/U.S. President Jon Klein said in a statement. “This is a comprehensive and thorough evaluation of the state of our planet. We bring viewers right to the heart of the issue with CNN’s global perspective.”

CNN will be the first 24-hour news channel to debut an HD version. The idea of providing an HD look into developing news stories is definitely appealing.

Ah, the chance to see Anderson Cooper in high definition. I know a number of female news junkies that will relish that opportunity. But who wants to see Larry King in HD?

Today is a super lucky triplet date: 07/07/07.

I’ve mentioned previous triplet dates in the past, from 01/01/01 through 06/06/06, but this one has got to be the luckiest of them all.

So lucky, in fact, that the Lucky 7’s have induced hundreds of thousands of couples across the world to get married today, from Los Angeles to Belgium.

If they weren’t getting married today, people were packing the casinos in hopes of getting lucky.

And lottery players in Florida, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Maryland, and Virginia maxed out 7-7-7 and 7-7-7-7 combinations for Pick 3 and Pick 4 games.

Triplet dates only happen once per century, and now we’re more than halfway through this century’s allotment.

Next up: 08/08/08, sure to be popular with the Chinese, who consider the number 8 lucky.