Politics on the dial. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart remains on the list of absolute favourites and obligatory watching along with Keith Olbermann’s Countdown. Both provide a daily and entertaining analysis of the day’s politics. When time allows, Chris Matthews and The Ed Show are two more MSNBC shows worth watching for the political junkie. No more Rachel Maddow however, for an air of insincerity seems to have wafted over the show; as a good friend often says, she’s not wysiwyg.

PBS: Bill Moyers’ Journal remains the most serious of the progressive voices on the air, however some of his interviews wallow in the obtuse world of academic liberalism. The show makes for a great podcast with its though provoking analysis and commentary. The week’s journalistic post-mortem remains in the able hands of Howard Kurtz and his Reliable Sources. Real Time with Bill Maher was once reason enough to get HBO and his show is still well worth considering despite the terrible opening monologues that make Jay Leno sound like Richard Feynman.

Drama. Mad Men. Disturbing, deep, dark and the greatest opening credits ever. Mad Men is back on AMC and will remain one of this season’s best shows. That is until season 3 of Breaking Bad …

Science and debunking. Penn & Teller: Bullshit! Debunking pseudoscience and paranormal claims is a welcome respite from the deluge of junk science and gobbledegook that is now so prevalent it is even embraced by Oprah. Mythbusters is in the same vein, but more polite and in many ways much more effective: the scientific method always trumps sarcastic commentary. Penn & Teller remains the guilty pleasure.

Classic movies? AMC & TCM …

What are your picks?