Earlier this week, the Environmental Protection Agency broke news about a shocking corporate deception: that Volkswagen, the world's second-largest carmaker, deliberately rigged software for its diesel cars sold in the U.S. so they could pass tough emissions tests -- while, during normal driving conditions, actually emitting up to 40 times more pollution than legally allowed.

CNN's "Battle of the Network Star Republicans /Part Deux" turned out to be an unexpectedly long, and strange, political/pop cultural/TV mashup. So many flashes of this "debate" seemed to suggest other TV moments -- from sitcoms to reality programming -- that I'm just going to riff on all that the show suggested.

It was hardly a perfect 60-something minutes, but I mostly loved Colbert's "Late Show" debut. I know that not everyone did, and some even found it boring and predictable. But I think some of the tension came from the fact that it was a new, post-cable Colbert, on an old, old network, and he and his writers couldn't decide whether to serve or slay (or just lightly satirize) the network beast.

It all started innocently enough: A friend posted an article on my Facebook page about the latest VW ads starring the Golden Sisters. She wrote, "I love these! Have you seen them?"