THE EMMY AWARDS AND...PALINMANIA?!

Hello, everybody. Well, last night of course was the 58th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, and there were lots of stuff to talk about from them.

First...the opening skit that raised lots of nerves, as a spoof of a plane crash which was meant to parody last year's drama winner "Lost" happened just hours after a deadly Comair Flight 191 crash in Kentucky killed 49 people. NBC (which telecast this year's awards) said in a statement that the timing was unfortunate, while that network's Lexington affiliate's general manager was "stunned and horrifed" over the bit; the "Los Angeles Times" called it "cringe-inducing."

Aside from that ill-fated skit, host Conan O'Brien in his musical number took a jab at his own network buried in fourth place. Of course, this is not new, as late night hosts have swiped at other networks' troubles in the past. Al Franken started all this on "Saturday Night Live" in 1980 when he babbled about Fred Silverman's failure to pry NBC out of then-third place while showing a list of the week's top ten shows in which eight of them were on CBS, two on ABC, and none NBC.

Anyway...other memorable moments of the night included Dick Clark's appearance, Farrah Fawcett, Jaclyn Smith, and Kate Jackson paying tribute to Aaron Spelling, and Bob Newhart clinging on to dear life throughout the show.

Oh yeah, there were Emmys to be handed out inbetween those. "24" took the Best Drama prize with Kiefer Sutherland grabbing Oustanding Drama Actor while Mariska Hargitay, who gave birth to new baby boy August months ago, added another new bundle of joy: Lead Actress Drama for "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit". On the comedy side, "The Office" nabbed the Series trophy, while Julia Louis-Dreyfus claimed Lead Actress ("The New Adventures of Old Christine"). And "The Daily Show" and "The Amazing Race" remained unstoppable in Variety and Reality-Competition Series as they're both now 4-0 in their wins.

Meanwhile, at the Creative Arts awards held the previous weekend, not even that controversial "South Park" episode that poked fun at Tom Cruise couldn't stop "The Simpsons" in getting the Animated Program statue, while former Fairbanksan Ben Grossmann was one of the winners for Visual Effects in the Sci-Fi Channel movie "The Triangle."

The excitement all started on the red carpet of course, as Katherine Heigl and Sandra Oh of "Grey's Anatomy" (which by the way, went home with zero Emmys) were heartstoppers in their gowns. Pregnant Heidi Klum glowed in red, as did Hargitay, Debra Messing, and Louis-Dreyfus.

The best-dressed has to go to Heigl, who flaunted her curves in her flesh-toned Escada. As for the worst? A three-way tie between Ellen Pompeo, Paula Abdul, and one of my favorite entertainment news show ladies even though I love her...Maria Menounos. After four straight years of knockout Emmy fashions from her, she really overdid herself in black. Vanessa Minnillo -- who did the Emmy beat for "Entertainment Tonight" -- looked way better.

The final tally after last night: HBO took 26 awards of the 95 they were nominated, followed by NBC (14), ABC (11), Fox (10), CBS, (9), and PBS rounding out with eight.

Maybe next year, the Emmys should go back to the traditional voting process. That new one nearly made this year's show a turn-off.

Now that this is out of the way...Last week in the primaries, Sarah Palin ended Frank Murkowski's re-election chances when she beat him and John Binkley to take the Republican gubernatorial candidacy.

I have done some deep thinking while going back to some history, but if Palin does get elected, we could not only be seeing both the first female governor and the youngest at 42...but probably the hottest since Pierre Trudeau was elected Canada's Prime Minister in 1968!

Yes, during an extremely heavy time for America (Vietnam, the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, everything blowing out of proportions at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago with Dan Rather getting punked), our neighbors to the North were in the wave of Trudeaumania, as a swinging and very single Trudeau had Canada heading to the polls in droves. At 48 (way too old to be a heartthrob), he was mobbed by screaming teenagers wherever he campaigned; he was like the Johnny Depp of Canadian politics. And since a mosh pit was a generation away, Trudeau was an instant kissing booth as the ladies were all over him.

Now flash forward 38 years later to now and Sarah Palin. Okay, she's happily married with four children, but I don't see any young males running to the polls to vote for her as the issues don't seem to be on their minds. But if she does beat Democrat Tony Knowles in an apparent landslide on November 7 (like hell it'll happen), don't be surprised if she becomes the only piece of eye candy in Juneau. I wouldn't be surprised if we see her among the "50 (or 100) Most Beautiful People" listing or if she makes guest appearances on Leno, Letterman, Daily Show, or Conan as they intro her as "The Hottest Governor in America."

Palin and Knowles (who looks kind of rugged) could be in for fight of their lives...which could result in the sexiest race for governor Alaska's had in a long time. But if Palin wins or loses, I'll always still be fond to the one Sarah I care about: MICHELLE GELLAR!!! (though she's married to, but...) So long!