The Hollywood writers’ strike has had ramifications in film, TV, music and awards shows. It may also have effected the presidential race.

I’m convinced that the results in New Hampshire, especially the “upset” win for Hillary Clinton, showed that voters are not ready for this election to be over. It’s too early, too important and - dare I say it? - too much fun. As high drama goes, this is heck of a lot more interesting than “The Biggest Loser.”

As for those who believe Hillary Clinton staged those tears…I just don’t buy it. She’s not nearly the actor her husband is. Knowing a little about the candidates’ schedules, it’s not hard for me to believe that someone with that much pressure and that much exposure would get choked up. As for its ramifications on the turnout for her: I still think it had more to do with people not ready to anoint Obama yet rather than falling in love with Miss Vulnerability.

The thing that puzzles me about all the coverage is that I think a lot of the media is missing the point. My curiousity isn’t in the answer. It’s in the question. The woman who triggered Clinton’s response asked: “How do you get out of the door everyday?…Who does your hair?…How do you keep upbeat and so wonderful?”

Think for a minute: Would a MALE candidate ever get that kind of softball question?

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Golden Globe “action” Sunday night - and I use the word “action” liberally. This annual awards show is pretty silly in one sense, since the winners are decided by 100 foreign journalists, most of which don’t work for highly respected newspapers. But the event itself has always been a hoot, primarily because all the celebs are liquored up. Jack Nicholson is even funnier with a few belts in him.

This year, of course, there was no party, just entertainment journalists doing the honors, reading off teleprompters and giving their thoughts on the winners and loser. Love ya, Nancy O’Dell, but don’t really care that you were rooting for “30 Rock.”

The biggest loser of the night had to be Matt Lauer. I know the “Today” show anchors have to take some rough assignments, but hosting a two-hour “Dateline” special on the Golden Globes Sunday night had to feel lower than a decade worth of parade coverage. I’m still shocked by Meredith Vieira’s choice to kiss Mayor Bloomberg on the cheek a couple weeks ago when he appeared on the show. These two need to reevaluate their roles in the journalism world.

From a TV standpoint, it was a huge night for cable. Of the 11 major categories, only one network person was a winner, and that was Tina Fey for her acting. I love “30 Rock” and Fey, but is she really the finest thespian on TV? Hmmmmm….

David Duchovny for “Californication” was probably the biggest TV surprise of the night, with the possible exception of Billy Bush’s hair…

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This week’s Sunday column is on a new eye-popping children’s show called “Animalia,” based on the best-selling picture book and serves as a reminder that children’s television can be a great genre of TV. Unfortunately, it doesn’t often live up to its potential.

That’s particularly true for young people who grew up in in the past couple decades. A few years ago, I was guest speaking at a college campus when one of the students asked me what I thought about the demise of great children’s programming. It triggered a long response from me about how said it was that noone today was creating a new “Sesame Street” and a new “Bugs Bunny.”

“That’s not what I meant,” the would-be brilliant student said. “I mean REAL classics, like ‘Transformers.’

 Ah, youth.

I suppose children of the 80s and 90s can make decent arguments for the strength of more current shows (but not Transformers) but I would challenge any of them to compete with “Sesame Street,” which is still going strong today (with the exception of Elmo. I know Grover. Grover is a friend of mine. Elmo, you’re no Grover).

“SS” is so good, and so important, I often cite it as one of top three shows of all time (”Hill Street Blues” and “Taxi” make up my trifecta, although there are days that I would knock “Taxi” aside to make room for the BBC’s version of “The Office.”)

Other shows that stick out: “3-2-1 Contact,” “HR Pufnstuf” and “Electric Company.” As for more current fare, “SpongeBob” is a treat, although I’m not sure it teaches kids a darn thing.

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My column on Iowa Caucus coverage triggered a lot of phone calls and e-mails, in large part because it’s early in the season and the pundits haven’t all weighed in yet. This was really the first big test at how the major players would be covering the race. The biggest complaint: How come I didn’t give notice to MSNBC? The short answer: I ain’t Superman. On a night where copy was due by 10 p.m., there simply wasn’t time to monitor every single broadcast and weigh them all fairly. We also slighted C-Span, NPR and Nick at Nite. What I have done is include some thoughts below from e-mails I got. Feel free to weigh in here: I watched MSNBC and thought they might be worth commenting on given that Tom Brokow (sp) and Tim Russert were there….and then there was Chris Mathews (sp) (we affectionately call him “slobber mouth”) who had great insights but would trend off into his anti-Hillary rant on occasion… Barbara Apparently you didn’t watch MSNBC throughout the day and evening. ..far better than Fox and CNN, the anchor team of Tim Russert, Chris Matthews, Brian Williams, Keith Olbermann, Andrea Mitchell, and crew did a great job covering the caucus. I watched Fox and found their usual lovefest-gabfest nauseating…and although CNN did a credible job, their graphics of pie charts and cardboard did not do their broadcast any justice. regards, Joe Neal, thank you for responding so quickly. Actually I was unable to watch the Iowa Caucus (or most of it because of a previous commitment). But it is my cable news network of choice simply because of Keith Olbermann who is head and shoulders above the guys on the other channels even though he is cockly and I often disagree with him. He is just more talented than the others. Can’t stand Fox for obvious reasons. How anyone can watch a network that is simply an organ of the administration is beyond me. And I would be saying the same thing about a network that mirrored a Democratic administration if they were in power.Enjoy your writing, I only wish there were more of it. Pat Hi..don’t mean to be on your case but..what I liked about MSNBC’s coverage is that it was nonstop coverage with their top commentators such as Chris Matthews, Keith Olberman, Pat Buchanan and others plus field reporters such as David Shuster, Andrea Mitchell, David Gregory (from an actual caucus site), plus expert panelists, and also Bryan Williams, Tim Russert, and Tom Brokaw.If I was only to watch CNN and Fox, I would probably have found it boring as well. I would take MSNBC over Fox any day. Tom I would agree that the CNN coverage of the Iowa Caucuses was not veryinteresting. What was interesting was C-Span’s coverage of one of the Democratic Caucuses in Des Moines. The other C-Span channel covered oneof the Republican gatherings, but the Democratic one was livelier withpeople gathering in groups for their favored candidate. After watchingit I feel motivated to attend my local caucus this year. Pat

High on my DVD wish list is a collection of the “Best of the Kennedy Center Honors,” an annual show that celebrates the very best of the arts. Airing around Christmas time, this is always a highlight of the holiday season. This year’s event was, once again, spectacular. My fave moments:

1) Steve Carell’s hilarious tribute to Steve Martin

2) Lyle Lovett’s heartbreaking performance of “God Only Knows.”

3) Diana Ross flirting with fellow honoree Brian Wilson in the balcony.

4) Martin Short paying tribute to Martin - between the legs of Bill Irwin.

Why, oh, why isn’t there a best of collection yet????

People magazine doesn’t play fair. Since it started naming the Sexiest Man Alive back in 1985, they’ve only picked three “TV” guys (Mark Harmon, Harry Hamlin and an “ER” based George Clooney). The rest: Movie stars. No musicians. No politicans. No journalists! (well, they did pick JFK Jr. in 1988. What does he got that Sid Hartman doesn’t have? Huh?)

This year, it’s Matt Damon, a terrific actor, but sexy? I mean, the guy is 4′5″ and performed in “Stuck On You.”

With that in mind, let’s give a shout out the sexy men of TV with some of your choices. Here’s mine: Michael C. Hall in “Dexter.” Something about that smirk…

Oh, and on the female side, Jennifer Love Hewitt is a knockout, but her role on “Ghost Whisperer” isn’t exactly sexy. I’m turned on by Jenna Fischer, better known as Pam on “The Office.”

What say ye?