While news outlets are churning out Top Story after Top Story right now, regular network television is being woefully ignored. Indeed the economy is not the only thing plummeting into a seemingly bottomless pit whose nadir is nothing less than the icy waters of the river Styx. Television is also epic failing all over the place, as evidenced by last night's ratings. Every Thursday night show (the busiest night for TV)—every show!—that had its season premiere last night, dropped, some precipitously, from last year's premiere numbers. Grey's Anatomy fell 18%, Ugly Betty 15%, and ER a "ruh roh" 20%. The Office slipped only 6%. But still. Every single show was down! That is not good news. Maybe the writers strike really did ruin television for good. Or maybe it's that people are preoccupied with the catastrophic news stories that dominate the public conversation. I didn't even know that The Office was premiering last night until my TV told me so. Plus, with the circus of the election, I'm sure many more people were either tuned into Maddow or O'Reilly or whoever the hell else, or were avoiding the TV entirely. Though, The Office was still kinda great. I'm going to gush a bit. The rain! And the rest stop! And the smiles and hugs and kisses! Oh Jim and Pam, I'm so happy for you. Though, knowing how these sorts of things work, that cute guy from Mad Men who Pam made friends with at Pratt is going to be some sort of thorn in a side. I just hope they don't go too overboard and like have them break off the engagement or something. Also, I was glad that Phyllis and Stanley got a lot of airtime last night, and actually felt very sad for poor Andy Bernard. And Amy Ryan is adorable. OK, gush over. Back to gloom. TV's dead.