The hit reality show of the year, "Presidential Smackdown 2008," enters its final rounds now that two weeks of partisan presentations -- first by Democrats, then by Republicans -- came to a close Thursday with U.S. Sen John McCain accepting the Republican presidential nomination a week after U.S. Sen. Barack Obama accepted the Democratic presidential nomination.

Like every reality show, there are heroes and villains -- although who falls into each category depends on one's political point of view -- and the conventions even provided a new character with a nickname.

The rise of Alaska Gov. Sarah "Barracuda" Palin has been greeted like the debut of a new house guest on "Big Brother," albeit one who generates far more interest than that tired reality competition.

Despite the perception of some that conventions are merely P.R. spin sessions, these two weeks produced plenty of grist for the mill, particularly the surprise choice of Palin for the vice presidency on the Republican ticket.

Her acceptance speech Wednesday night -- watched by more than 37 million viewers, about 1 million fewer than Obama's speech last Friday -- was fiery and spiked with snipes at Obama. It was red meat to the GOP base, but will it play with undecided and independent voters that TV pundits keep telling us McCain-Palin need to win?

Palin brandished the words "elitism" and "media" like weapons that again riled the partisan crowd. And while there have certainly been excesses in the Palin coverage, it's not really fair to lump the tabloid press or bloggers in with the mainstream media. They're not the same thing. And many of the questions have had legitimacy.

Maybe the pregnancy of Palin's unwed daughter shouldn't be open to scrutiny, but seeing as Republican Dan Quayle went there first by chastising the fictional, unmarried TV character Murphy Brown in the '90s, it's not hard to see how it becomes relevant. It's also relevant as a policy question with regard to Palin's stated opinion that abstinence-only sex education is the only kind of sex ed that gets her support.

The broadcast network anchors -- ABC's Charles Gibson, CBS's Katie Couric and NBC's Brian Williams -- defended the coverage on ABC's "Good Morning America" Thursday, pointing out it wasn't sexist to question McCain's vetting of Palin and whether or not it was thorough enough. Their bosses also took on a defensive posture, calling the complaints a cynical marketing ploy.

"Every time they bash the media, it means they're not talking about a vision or a plan," CNN president Jon Klein told Broadcasting & Cable magazine. "But the best antidote to cynical marketing is solid reporting."

Even though broadcast networks only covered the 10 p.m. hour of the conventions, there was still more coverage than ever before thanks to the cable networks and online spinoffs.

Some of what's found on the Internet is intended for public consumption, including CBS's Web-only coverage that aired immediately following the network's TV coverage. Wednesday night Couric, looking more relaxed and in her element than she has since her days on NBC's "Today," welcomed comic Mo Rocca, who revealed his obsession with the Palin family, calling their soapy story, "Alaska, 90210."

There have also been moments not intended for the public, like the open mic comments by commentator Peggy Noonan on MSNBC. Heard to say "It's over" -- taken to be a blunt critique of the McCain-Palin campaign -- some viewers and bloggers saw that as a contradiction of the opinion she espoused in print. She later attempted to clarify the open mic comment in a blog post.

But there was no better place to go to see the pomposity of both political parties punctured than Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart." Whether it was revealing hypocrisy or simply mocking Obama hype, Stewart and company teased, mocked and spoofed the proceedings of both parties with intelligence and glee.

Stewart's most pointed moment came Wednesday when he played a clip of conservative Fox News Channel analyst Karl Rove praising Palin as "mayor of the second largest town in Alaska." Stewart juxtaposed those comments with a clip of Rove discussing the possibility of U.S. Sen. Barack Obama choosing Virginia's Gov. Tim Kaine, castigating him for his background as mayor of Richmond and claiming that such a pick would be political and evidence of a lack of "concern about is this person capable of being president of the United States."

Even Palin was shown in a clip from earlier this year saying "any kind of perceived whine about excess criticism" is unbecoming of female candidates -- even though that's how one could characterize the Republican response to coverage of Palin.

While the media narrative this week was all about Palin, pregnancy and vetting, during the Democratic convention early that week, it was about a perceived lack of oomph to propel Obama. At the end of the week, the nominee gave a powerful address that set a new ratings record for convention viewership (38.3 million viewers across multiple networks).

Obama entered the enemy's den Thursday night with a trip to Bill O'Reilly's so-called "No-Spin Zone" on Fox News Channel. As usual, O'Reilly was rude and interrupted his guest's answers, but no one can claim that's a partisan approach. O'Reilly does that all the time, regardless of his guest's political stripes. The exchange was frank but not overly testy and Obama was respectful, taking the high road of polite but firm response. (O'Reilly only played a small portion of the interview and announced plans to dole it out next week on "The O'Reilly Factor.")

For McCain's big show Thursday, Obama's tittered-about "Greek columns" (likely intended to conjure the columns at the Lincoln Memorial) were replaced by a giant video monitor displaying amber waves of grain and an American flag. Showmanship knows no political identity.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was McCain's acknowledgment of Republican missteps, including valuing "power over principles."

"We're going to return the people's trust," he said. "The party of Roosevelt, Lincoln and Reagan is going to get back to basics."

It's a necessary attempt to hit a reset button on the record of the Republican administration's past eight years, and as a TV moment it had the potential to resonate with viewers beyond McCain's base.

Across multiple networks Thursday, McCain drew 38.9 million, according to Nielsen, besting Obama's record draw a week earlier.

Will these TV ratings translate to votes at the polls in November? No one knows. But like any good reality show, there are sure to be twists and turns in the weeks leading up to election day.