Charlie Rose Is Thorn In Primetime's Side

It's appropriate that the NBA has tipped off this week, because all TV Buzz readers know how much I love a killer cast crossover. But what's the one aspect of primetime serendipity that tickles me even more magnanimously? You guessed it. When two extraordinarily popular evening comedies poke esoteric fun at an iconic journalist within the span of 48 hours.

If you're unfamiliar with Charlie Rose's esteemed, decades-long resume as a socio-political analyst, well, that's why we have Wikipedia. However, he's not exactly easy-target number-one when it comes to non-sequitir lampooning. I guess that's what happens when Sarah Palin's less than timely.

Which made it all the more bizarre that both Tuesday night's penultimate episode of "Greek" (viewable at multiple points, courtesy of mega-nerd caricature Dale, here) and last night's latest installment of "30 Rock" (at about 5:45 into the above clip) de-flowered the art of the comical Rose reference.

And while both were amusing enough, the nod for superior Charlie-horsing around goes to "Greek," since no litany of public television-related one-liners could excuse Tina Fey and Co. from allowing my celebrity enemy number  one, Jeff Dunham, such considerable air time. (I would elaborate, but I'm still processing the most-unfortunate and unredeemable, seemingly cross-promotional guest appearance.)