Top Moments: Real Housewives, Real Problems

Television is usually our escape from the problems of the world, but not this week. Serious stories ruled the screen, from the drama in North Korea to the uprisings in Iran. Somehow reality TV stars also snaked in some airtime. And somewhere between reality and reality TV was a continuing fight pitting governor against comedian. Enjoy our Top Moments, real-life edition.
10. Best Reveal: After teasing us with a familiar-looking dead body in a car, the season premiere of True Blood gives us the good news that Lafayette, ever the survivor, is still alive! The bad news: He's chained up in a dungeon of some sort, and Eric, his vampire captor, has a nasty temper.
9. Why Yes, I Will Do Anything Award: "Hi, T-Pain? This is Country Music Television. We saw that boat thing you did on Saturday Night Live and were wondering...would you open our awards show by performing a song called Thug Story with Taylor Swift? Yeah, I guess it's kiiiiind of making fun of the genre that made you famous, but in an endearing way. You will? Yeee-haw!"
8. Best Slice of Life: In the closing scenes of Pushing Daisies' series finale, Ned the Piemaker realizes that keeping his secret has hurt his beloved Chuck. So he reunites her with Lily and Vivian. The show's ending is the Charles family's new beginning.
7. It's-Not-Over-'til-It's-Over Award: As time expires, Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury fends off a shot from 10-time All-Star Nicklas Lidstrom to hold onto a 2-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings and win the Stanley Cup. Adding to the drama, the Pens lost to the Wings in last year's finals, and were down twice in this series. Want more stats? Cool. Pittsburgh also became the first team in any major league to win a finals game seven on the road since the Pittsburgh Pirates did it 30 years ago. We raise our Iron City to you, Pittsburgh.
6. Best Shot: During the piling-on stage of the Los Angeles Lakers' 99-86 win over the Orlando Magic, for the NBA championship, Kobe Bryant does something that really does seem magical. Leaping into mid-air under the net, he hovers past two defenders and switches the ball from his right hand to his left before banking it in for the Lakers 66th point. He lands hard and glides backward across the floor on his backside, but somehow looks graceful doing it. All in about two seconds. Watch it here, starting at 1:41.
5. Most Tact: Lisa Ling goes on Anderson Cooper 360 to plead with North Korea for the release of her sister and another journalist sentenced to 12 years in a labor camp for the crime of crossing the country's borders with some secret, nefarious intent: releasing information, perhaps. "All we can say is that they are journalists and they were doing their job," Ling explains.
4. Best Use of Twitter: The Daily Show's Jon Stewart calls out CNN for relying on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube videos to cover the hundreds of thousands of Iranians protesting their country's election results. Stewart is especially mocking of the network's decision to label some of the information "Unverified Material." It's a good routine, but what are CNN's other options? Iran has banned reporters from covering the protests and ejected many from the country, but the Internet has undermined the government's attempts at a full news blackout.  We've never loved the web so much. Watch the full episode at our Online Video Guide and follow us on Twitter.
3. Worst Feud: Spencer and Heidi Pratt spar with Today's Al Roker, then fan the flames with dozens of other interviews, plus a ludicrous Twitter war. Take the good with the bad: the same technology that allows Iranians to overcome censorship also allows the Pratts to be annoying across multi-platforms. 
2. Another Lovely Evening Ruined Award: Teresa of The Real Housewives of New Jersey is leading a delightful dinner conversation about her husband's sex drive when Danielle interrupts with an embarrassing breach of etiquette: silently laying on the table a book that details her supposed criminal past. This leads to an unpleasant confrontation between the, um, ladies that suddenly turns totally crazy as Teresa calls Danielle a "stupid b—ch" and a "whore" and flips over the entire table. Also, Danielle uses the wrong fork with the salad.
1. Best Apology: David Letterman apologizes to Sarah Palin, her family, and anyone else in the world who may have been offended by his joke involving Alex Rodriguez, one of the Palin daughters, and pregnancy. This doesn't end the calls for his resignation, of course: The next night two dozen people turn out during his taping to demand his firing, though organizers had predicted 50 to 300. Letterman's job looks safe.

Watch our Top Moments video:

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