Who Needs Fred Thompson More, America or TNT?

TNT has a potential programming problem. If Fred Thompson decides to campaign for president this summer they have a tough choice to make. Thompson is a mainstay on Law & Order, a show that TNT runs 23 hours a day. With equal time laws they must offer every other candidate equal air time or stop airing his episodes thus reducing their inventory to the Juice Man infomercials. Oh, if only the NBA playoffs lasted until October instead of merely June.

The alternative is to air the shows other candidates have starred in. Hillary Clinton played Screech's mom for several seasons of Saved by the Bell but fans will concede those weren't the great years. Congressman Tom Tancredo was a contestant on The Celebrity Fit Club but left after only a couple of episodes following an altercation with fellow dieter, Bizarre.

Who can forget Rudolph Giuliani as the neighborhood crank on Becker? Or Joe Biden tripping the light fantastic with Paulina Porizkova on Dancing With the Stars?

Does TNT really want to show all the never aired episodes of Emily's Reasons Why Not just because Mitt Romney played Heather Graham's love interest? And what kind of numbers could they draw reprising Who's Your Daddy hosted by Wesley Clark?

Al Gore was on the popular Survivor: Pearl Island but was voted off week two because his tribe mates just got so sick of hearing about the environment. Barack Obama recurs in flashbacks on Lost as the brother Kate never talks about but those appearances are sporadic. And John McCain lasted only three weeks on All My Children after his character was killed for sleeping with Babe, Di, Colby, Brooke, Erica, Krystal, Myrtle, and Opal.

But there is some hope for TNT. Considering the amount of residuals Fred Thompson would lose by having his Law & Order episodes preempted he may realize that even if he won and became president of the United States he'd still be taking way too big a pay cut. His agents (always looking at the "big picture") are working feverishly to get him to drop out of the race.

You can read more from Ken at kenlevine.blogspot.com