While he watches Hannah Montana with his daughters, President Obama also logs TV time with Entourage and The Wire. Politico.com is reporting that the President enjoys watching Jeremy Piven’s antics as a hard-nosed Hollywood agent on Entourage. (Piven’s character Ari is widely considered to be based on the real-life brother of the President’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel.)

Demonstrating excellent taste in drama, the President has also named HBO’s The Wire among his other favorites, singling out Omar, the gay, ruthless, and ultimately-dead Baltimore drug dealer who played by his own rules, as a favorite character. Proving he can sensibly distinguish art from life, the President has noted, “That’s not an endorsement. He’s not my favorite person, but he’s a fascinating character.”

Now if we could just get the President to give his endorsement to another HBO show loved by some of us here at EW: the just-announced-for-a-second-season cult show Eastbound & Down. Maybe someone on his staff could slip him a DVD of this show about a down-on-his-luck baseball player? Sounds like the President enjoys rooting for an underdog…

What do you think about the President’s viewing choices?

Hey, remember how yesterday I wondered about the overlap between the audiences for American Idol and my beloved Fringe? Well, that overlap occurred last night, in a couple of ways. Idol viewers saw numerous shots of a serene bald man in the Hollywood studio audience. It was Michael Cerveris, the actor who plays the creepy, he’s-everywhere Observer on Fringe. And since that hoggish Idol spilled over into Fringe‘s time period last night, it was only right that The Observer should be there to patrol this unusual event, as he does so many unusual events on Fringe.

Many of you also responded to my blog entry yesterday asking whether you watch both Idol and Fringe. I’m happy to report (or you can easily see for yourself in the comments section here), that there are indeed Idolators among the Fringees (Fringe-ites? Fringalators? We have to come up with a good nickname, comrades). As one poster, Warren, asks, “Is Idol part of The Pattern?” He’s referring, of course, to the show’s tied-together, largely-unexplained events thus far. And Warren, maybe you’ve hit on the reason Kara DioGuardi exists: She’s an alien sent to subvert Idol!

It was a great episode of Fringe last night; did you enjoy Walter Bishop’s boogie-down to Al Green’s “Love and Happiness”?

For more on American Idol: Simon’s Spontaneous O!

No matter what you think of Keith Olbermann’s political views, you have to admit his farewell last night to his mother, who died on Saturday, was a wonderful segment from a son to his mom:

I’m not a baseball fan, but watching this, I wish I’d caught a few games just to see Olbermann’s mom in the stands. All sympathy to you, Mr. Olbermann.

For some of us, the big Fox attraction tonight isn’t American Idol: It’s the return of Fringe for the final six new episodes of its first season. Trust me: I have seen tonight’s episode, titled “Inner Child,” and it’s one of the show’s best so far. It’s got a lot going for it:

• A serial killer called The Artist, for a very good reason

• Anna Torv’s agent Olivia Dunham bonds with a mysterious boy with empathic powers

• For Fringe mythology fans, you get a nice glimpse of The Observer and a couple of new clues about The Pattern

• For Fringe non-mythology fans, you get genius-loony Dr. Walter Bishop dancing to Al Green’s “Love and Happiness”

What else can I do to make you watch? Oh, yeah: This show does not have Danny Gokey or any of that crappy music!

So will you watch, please, and tell me what you think tomorrow? And are there any Idol fans (sorry if I insulted you) who also watch Fringe? I’m curious if there’s much overlap…

SPOILER ALERT: DON’T READ IF YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED ON HOUSE LAST NIGHT.

The suicide death last night of Kal Penn’s House character Kutner was a jolt in a series whose hero, Hugh Laurie’s House, tries desperately to avoid sentimentality. That’s what makes the outpouring of grief for this character, to read EW’s comments sections in Michael Ausiello’s remarkable reports on this “event” (doesn’t that word sound odd in this context?), all the more interesting.

Fox has set up a Kutner memorial page you can visit here. It includes a montage video of Kutner moments backed by music composed by Laurie. It’s very nice, if a bit antithetical to the artistic ideas behind House. What seemed most House-like about the episode last night was the fact that Kutner’s dead body was found in the first segment of the hour — a lesser show would have built up to the awful act, milking it for melodrama. I also liked a lot of the dialogue. When Cuddy told House, “I’m sorry for your loss,” you just knew House was not going to let that cliche of concern let pass.

“Thanks. It’s not my loss,” said House abruptly. But then Cuddy had to give us the TV-drama-approved additional cliche: “Then I’m sorry you don’t think it is.”

I think Dr. House had it right… about himself, at least. Suicides are not, as the theme song from M*A*S*H had it, painless, and certainly not to the people he or she leaves behind. But for a guy like Gregory House, the loss really isn’t his. In the original concept of this character — who has become more emotional, less assiduously rational and cynical, as the seasons have gone on — the death of a colleague would not be an occasion to idealize or deny the flaws in the departed person.

A “pointless death” — that’s the way Taub described it. And it was, in best sense for effective drama: Kutner’s death was a true TV “event” because the people behind the show had the guts not to take the easy way out and make Kal Penn’s exit from the series mawkish. The only other recent TV-character suicide I can think of that was handled as well was the Dualla character’s demise on Battlestar: Galactica: Can you think of others?

The previews for next week’s episode say that “a tragedy brings everyone closer together.” Ah, too bad: another TV-drama cliche that could be avoided. Sometimes suicides drive people apart, as a character such as House would know.

Still, not many TV series have ever presented a suicide in this realistic a manner. Rather than condolences, I wish House — the show, not the character — congratulations.

For more on House:

‘House’ exclusive: The shocking story behind last night’s big death

‘House’ spoiler alert: They did WHAT to WHO?!

There are times when I watch Breaking Bad that I hold my breath because I don’t want to miss an instant of this series’ utterly original mixture of humor, danger, despair, and thrilling freedom. It seems an odd thing to say about a show chronicling the inevitable death of an ordinary guy, doesn’t it? But that’s what it was like last night, as Bryan Cranston’s Walt completed his first round of chemotherapy and received a fresh round of medical bills that pretty much depleted his meth-stash cash profits. Cranston does desperation as well as any actor alive, and now that his head is shaved, you can almost see Walt’s brain working furiously, trying to figure out his impossibly complicated existence.

Last night it was bad enough (for Walt — great for us as viewers) that Jesse decided to take charge of his and Walt’s drug-making and -dealing. “You need me more than I need you, Walt,” he said, and unfortunately, he was correct.

But even more agonizing for Walt is the continuing alienation felt by his wife. (I swear, if Anna Gunn doesn’t get an Emmy nomination this year, I’m gonna petition big Bad fan Stephen King to put a curse on the nominating committee.) This portrait of a marriage crumbling under the weight of distrust is as good as anything in modern print fiction.

The overarching thrill and tragedy of Breaking Bad is, of course, that Walt is expending what strength he has to help his family after he dies. Last night, once again, we saw some of the consequences of trying to break free from a hopeless life.

Did you watch? Do you think Walt’s marriage can be saved? What do you think is going to happen with Jesse next week?

ER ended as it began, 15 years ago, with a big-scale medical emergency, ambulances roaring up to County General, and doctors rushing out to help bring in the wounded and the dying. The two-hour finale didn’t go in for anything fancy — no dream sequences; no teases for a spin-off — but I liked the fact that the surprises were small but effective.

I’m thinking of the way John Wells, in his final script for ER, worked the daughter of Anthony Edwards’ Dr. Mark Greene back into the episode: Now in her 20s, Rachel (Hallee Hirsh) wants to be a doctor herself, took a tour of the hospital, and ended up going out for drinks and laughs with series stalwarts including John Carter (Noah Wyle), Peter Benton (Eriq La Salle), Kerry Weaver (Laura Innes), Elizabeth Corday (Alex Kingston), and Susan Lewis (Sherry Stringfield).

There were engaging medical cases, chief among them a teenage girl admitted for alcohol poisoning, whose condition rattled John Stamos’ Dr. Gates. This is one of the things ER did very well: for a series that was often more about the doctors than their patients, at its best the show didn’t allow their emotions to overtake any given hour — ER did its best to resist soap-opera histrionics.

ER was always more wobbly whenever it went outside its hospital. I never really thought the story arcs in Africa, starting in the ninth season, were as moving as the smaller-scale ones set in County General. Similarly, on this final night, the scenes involving the opening of The Carter Center, John Carter’s contribution to serving the community, as well-executed as they were, interrupted the urgent flow of the hospital plots.

But that’s a very minor complaint. These farewell two hours did a mostly-excellent job of working in guest stars. It was great to see Alexis Bledel as a new intern. I could have done without the Marilu Henner subplot: all that tedious yelling over a wedding brawl. However, Ernest Borgnine’s fine performance, as a grieving husband to his dying wife, was both moving and a sharp rebuke to a TV industry that doesn’t use great, aging talents like his more frequently.

NBC, I must say, did a disservice to two of its new shows, Southland and Parks and Recreation, by pummelling us with so many repetitive ads, I felt as though I’d seen both shows in their entirety before ER had concluded. But ER itself prevailed. I won’t try to fool you: I haven’t been a regular viewer of the series over the past few seasons. Once I started watching the hour-long retrospective that preceded the final episode, however, I was enthralled by more than nostalgia. I was caught up in the artistry of this show, which managed to combine technical grace (all those swooping, single-camera scenes) with equally graceful characterizations. By the end, I was almost as sorry to see minor characters like grumpy desk clerk Frank (Troy Evans) and nurse Haleh Adams (Yvette Freeman) leave the screen as I was major players like Wyle and Stamos.

That’s one measure of a first-rate series, isn’t it — making you care about everyone in its ensemble?

Did you watch? What did you think of the final episode of ER?