Friday 9.26.08:

ABC:
8:00pm 20/20
9:00pm Presidential Debate [special]
10:30pm ABC News Vote 08: Presidential Debate Analysis [special]

CBS:
8:00pm The Mentalist (R)
9:00pm Presidential Debate [special]

NBC:
8:00pm America's Toughest Jobs
9:00pm Presidential Debate [special]

Fox:
8:00pm Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?
9:00pm Presidential Debate

The CW:
8:00pm Friday Night Smackdown! [sports, network finale]

MNT:
8:00pm 2008 Tour of Gymnastics Superstars [sports]
9:00pm Celebrity Expose (R)

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The Scoop:

-Presidential Debate:
John McCain (R) and Barack Obama (D) debate foreign policy and matters of national security at the first 2008 presidential debate, from the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Miss. Jim Lehrer moderates.

-ABC News Vote 08:
Charles Gibson, Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopolous anchor from New York, with reports by Jake Tapper and David Wright from the debate site. Commentators include George Will and New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman.

-2008 Tour of Gymnastics:
The men's and women's U.S. Olympic gymnastics teams perform in Anaheim. Participants include 2008 Olympic medal winners Nastia Liukin; Shawn Johnson; Alicia Sacramone; Jonathan Horton and Raj Bhavsar, as well as special gymnasts including Paul Hamm; Morgan Hamm and Shannon Miller.

My Friday Prime:

In an ironic twist, tonight's final episode of 'WWE Smackdown' on The CW may garner a record-breaking rating for the network given that it is up against the debate on four networks and a 'Celebrity Expose' repeat on MyNetworkTV.

If that happens, it sets up an enormous carryover audience for MyNetworkTV to gather up next week when 'WWE Smackdown' makes its debut across the country on over 200 new stations.

LATE:
8:00 pm 20/20 (ABC)
9:00 pm Presidential Debate (ABC)
10:30 pm ABC News Vote 08: Presidential Debate Analysis (ABC)

LATER:
8:00 pm 2008 Tour of Gymnastics Superstars (MyNetworkTV)

Smackdown should get a bump up from last week because, as far as I have heard, it won't have any preemptions this week. Also, it looks to be a cold/rainy night for the Northeast. Still, Smackdown won't get any sort of stellar ratings because the audience for wrestling is pretty much capped to a certain segment of the population.

I'll probably be watching the debate tonight...if it really happens. Then again, this looks like a TV night made for the DVD player. My biggest wish right now is that Netflix would start streaming Dexter instead of making me wait for it to show up in the mail. It is a shame the deal with CBS didn't include Showtime offerings.

America's Toughest Jobs
Friday Night Smackdown!

Debate (It's on!)

Stargate Atlantis (SCIFI)

The debate!!!!!!!

9:00 - Presidental Debate on CNN

I could care less about watching two buffoons tonight so I'll be watching the much more entertaining Twins-Royals baseball game.