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Apart from hockey, the gripping intricacies of the new schedule announcements by the American networks and the suspense about the final episode of 24,there's a new and sizzling drama on TV. Since late last week, when news broke of multiple warnings being given to the Bush administration about terrorist attacks before Sept. 11, it's been fascinating to watch the network news and the American news channels.

Anchors are stepping gingerly into the story. Reporters are twisting and turning as they try to probe the story without seeming to be unpatriotic and irresponsible. Everybody is trying to push the story forward while trying to get out of the self-censorship mode. It's transfixing to watch.

The news about pre-Sept. 11 warnings is clearly a very big story. The subtext is a creeping sense that George Dubya Bush was too lazy, distracted or dumb to understand what he was being warned about. Watching Canadian newscasts late last week it was interesting to see that, as the breaking story was explained, there was footage of George Bush relaxing at his Texas ranch. This was an "establishment" shot, used to visually remind viewers what they were being told. Examined as a story told by visual prompts, the implication was clear -- Dubya was sitting around in Texas, shooting the breeze with his cronies, while specific warnings about terrorist attacks were circulating in his government. No American report that I saw included the footage of Bush relaxing at his ranch.

On CNN, news anchors moved carefully toward any suggestion that Bush was at fault. Instead of asking direct questions of reporters in Washington, anchors asked how the Democrats were reacting to the news. Thus, any implied, unpatriotic criticism of Bush was offered as the opinions of partisan politicians with an axe to grind.

Interestingly, while this played out, Dan Rather gave an interview to the BBC in which he talked about "patriotism run amok" in the American media and the utter failure of American reporters to ask tough questions about the war in Afghanistan. Of course, Rather kind of set a tone when he cried on David Letterman's show in September. While Rather was pouring out his heart to the BBC, White House handler Ari Fleisher was on the phone to the editor of The New York Post complaining about the headline, "9/11 Bombshell: Bush Knew." Over at the all-news channel MSNBC, they're still carrying the on-screen slogan "America at War" and American flags are much in evidence. MSNBC has already decided on the best, patriotic way to handle the Bush-knew story -- it carries the question, "Too Much Bureaucracy?" on the screen as a nifty little summary of the situation. You can tell what side the channel is on.

This is going to be terrific television -- watching American TV news tip-toeing around overt criticism of the President, nervously edging around the obstacle of patriotism and thinking very carefully about the revealing images to be seen by an astonished, nervous public. Ally McBeal (Fox, CTV, 9 p.m.) ends its run tonight without much fanfare. The show faded quickly over the last two seasons and while it was once considered iconic, it's now am embarrassment. I remember Ally McBeal being presented to a mystified group of TV critics in 1997. At the usual sort of press conference in L.A., Calista Flockhart was introduced and the concept was explained by David E. Kelley. No tape of the pilot episode was shown to the critics because it hadn't been finished. When the pilot was finally finished, most critics were unimpressed. A newspaper in Canada said Ally McBeal was "sure to be one of the earliest fatalities of this new TV season." The Washington Post called it a "flimsy show" and, really, hardly anybody in the press liked it except me, but that's not the point.

In fact, as often happens in television, audiences quickly developed an irrational crush on Ally. It was an infatuation -- Ally was tiny, sensitive and lonely. The premise of the show in the early days was very simple -- this Ally gal was obliged to work at the same law firm as her ex-boyfriend and obliged to be polite to his fiancée. Who couldn't love the poor girl? Eventually, the infatuation lost its edge and Ally was seen with all her faults and foibles. She was loathed as much as she was admired. Abuse was heaped on her by women critics who saw her skinny frame, self-absorption and infantile obsessions as demeaning.

Calista Flockhart became identified with her character in a way which was absurd but underscored the importance of Ally as an emblematic figure. The weight issue dominated all coverage of the show and in that context the show's whimsical comedy became much less amusing. Overnight, people had fallen in love with a slight, innocent young woman and felt for her. Then they found that her slight frame was a grotesque affectation, that she wasn't innocent but guilty of shameless whining, and that she was essentially shallow. After an infatuation, people fall out of love with other people, TV characters and actors. They even fall out of love with presidents. It happens. Dates and times may vary across the country. Please check local listings or visit

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