This week on Topic A, Tina takes a complete holiday from reality and sticks with entertainment-focused subjects. Mark Burnett emerges from his Shame Cave to discuss the suicide of a contestant from his latest reality show, Simon Doonan initiates a Laura Bush style-watch, and then there's usual talk of pills and therapy. After the jump, Henry the Intern files his weekly report on Tina's half-ring circus.

Judging by last night's "Topic A," one might that think a dubious reporter with a murky sexual history was restricted from the White House. Perhaps the buzz didn't register on Tina's Richter. Anyway, she also buried the lead: "We're not on the air Oscar night." I should have addressed my plea to the new management.

Tina interviewed fellow NBC property Mark Burnett about the fate of his newest reality show, "The Contender," after a contestant committed suicide: "How will TV's hottest producer cope with this heart-breaking turn of events?" Burnett, visibly shaken, repeated the talking point "unless you walk in [his] shoes, you really don't know" at least four times, deflecting any responsibility. In case that defense wasn't strong enough, Burnett explained "something occurred in his personal life, not his professional life" and said the show was the contestant's "opportunity" for a better life. Tina was touched by the contestant's "zest for the fighting spirit." Burnett said the show will go on as a tribute and a "growing trust fund" will be established for the contestant's daughter.

Tina did squeeze in a question about Martha Stewart, who is currently conspiring with Burnett. He replied: "It's really hard for me to even care about, er, talk about, Martha right now."

Next, Tina asked, "Is America ready for the hipper, hard-charging Laura B.?" Simon Doonan hailed Laura Bush as looking "amazing" but warned, "she needs to stay away from people like me who would love to experiment with her [style]... which is the absolute opposite of what she should be doing." (He also said Laura doesn't want to resemble Zsa Zsa Gabor). While Tina and Doonan pondered what Laura thought of The Gates, biographer Ann Gerhart said her new style reflects the "liberating" aspect of the second term and noted she's been known to slip to the Corcoran or Kennedy Center.

Tina then went seriously high-brow by talking to General Romeo Dallaire, who is portrayed by Nick Nolte in "Hotel Rwanda." Dallaire blamed President Clinton for inaction, saying that even through "the world was peacekeeping-out," he could have rallied governments to the cause. America, he recalled, was busy watching O.J. Simpson and Tonya Harding. For him, "It was like watching a horror movie or watching a scene that is moving at you in slow motion and you can't get in to stop it." Returning was like "going back into hell," and while "pills and therapy did help," he is haunted by the guilt of failure. He thinks the current crisis in Sudan "is like giving me a slap in the face." More than ever, Burnett, Laura B., and Eisner seem like a waste of Tina's time: finally, the old "Topic A" slogan, "signs of intelligent life on television," is proven.

Tina read a viewer mail that slighted her for calling Princess Diana crazy: "Tina Brown would be crawling on her belly like a reptile trying to get an interview with her." Tina's response: "You bet your life I would be." And then she danced in her chair as the camera panned (I hope the theme music plays in the studio, otherwise there is no excuse).

Beware, a two-part editor's desk roundtable is not twice the fun. Arianna Huffington bragged that she "gave up my entire weekend to read" James Stewart's "Disney War" in preparation for the segment, but we know she was dying for Tina's call. Stewart said Michael Eisner "really does take [dishonesty] to a new level."

Tina also wanted to know if the attacks on Harvard's president are "just another P.C. insurrection." Richard Bradley, author of Harvard Rules, said the faculty is more upset about his power vacuum: "People just can't stand him up there."

Hot picks
Charles Gasparino: "Journalism: Power Without Responsibility" by Kenneth Minogue in The New Criterion
 Huffington: "Mad About You" DVD: "Paul Reiser is back." (Sure...)
Stewart: The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst. Tina: "I am going to get that for my plane ride to London next week." (Enjoy.)
Bradley: LCD Soundsystem's self-titled album
Tina: The Big Picture by Edward Jay Epstein

Closing quote by Frank Lloyd Wright: "Harvard takes perfectly good plums as students, and turns them into prunes."

Tina showed a clip of CNN's Lou Dobbs berating a guest about his blue-collar experiences: "Okay, Lou, it's nice to know you've got something to fall back on if the TV gig falls through." Cough, no comment.