The Conclave Means High Ratings

I'm not that surprised at the blanket coverage of the selection of the new Pope. Over a decade ago, when the Priest of Parliament Lights explained the entire selection process and the ritual to me, I quickly realized that this would be a made-for-TV event. I even predicted that CNN would have a tiny picture in the corner of the screen dubbed "Popecam" or something similar.

Well, I'm not watching the coverage, but plenty of people probably are. But the media overkill should kick in by mid-week if the Michael Jackson trial doesn't keep everyone entertained. For example, XM Satellite Radio is running a station dedicated to the conclave right now. I guess if you can't see the smoke, it's always helpful to have someone describing it to you.

Right now, there's a part of me hoping the Cardinals decide to screw with the faithful. Nothing would be funnier than green smoke, or purple smoke, or perhaps strange smoke signals, coming out of the Sistine Chapel's chimney. If they kept that up for a week, we might see Chris Matthews' head explode.

In any case, stay tuned. If they're still going at the end of the week, I plan to blog minute-by-minute coverage of the coverage -- it should be something like... "Look, it's white smoke! Oops, sorry... just a gust of air. Wait... wait... wait... there's nothing... nothing... nothing..."