Television

When it comes to watching political conventions on TV, the most telling artifact is the crowd shot. The coverage of this year's Democratic National Convention is full of delegates dancing, wiping away tears, decked either in their party best or in crazy ensembles of red, white, and blue. And then there's the headgear: sequined visors, sparkling cowboy hats, hats shaped like donkeys and deer. Or was that a moose?

Politics is serious business, activists are hardworking and usually heartfelt, and yet. What these conventions really are, besides free commercials for the presidential campaigns, are loud and rarefied gathering places for hobbyists. So it's fair to argue that an hour of coverage every night — as NBC, CBS, and ABC have been providing — is more than adequate to give the parties their due, acknowledge the pomp and strategy, and avoid veering into pointless speculation.

But this is the age of overkill, and viewership seems to confirm a growing interest in the whole loud package. The Nielsen Co. estimates that, across the broadcast and cable networks, nearly 26 million people watched the Tuesday night hour that contained Hillary Clinton's speech. (PBS's coverage drew another 2.8 million.) In 2004, a similar hour of primetime coverage drew 18.5 million viewers — though not on the convention's second night, when ABC, CBS, and NBC didn't bother with coverage at all.

Many, too, have tuned into analysis surrounding the headline speeches, briefly on the broadcast networks or at great lengths on cable. Compared to 2004, the cable channels' primetime viewership has risen sharply. But how enlightened this makes the audience is an open question. Countless hours of speculation about Hillary Clinton's intentions — unity? sabotage? — were rendered meaningless within the first two minutes of her speech.

The sheer volume of punditry is exhausting, and the conclusions vary widely — and largely predictably — by network. Was Michelle Obama's speech brilliant and nearly tear-inducing (CBS's Bob Schieffer, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann) or a missed opportunity of epic proportions (Fox News Channel's Bill Kristol and Karl Rove)? On Fox, the Michelle Obama pile-on grew so relentless that Fred Barnes, of the conservative Weekly Standard, nearly shouted his contrarian faint praise: "She didn't give the Gettysburg Address, OK, but she did what she needed to do!"