Marianne Paskowski

Well, I guess you can say the 85-year-old Ed McMahon, longtime sidekick of Johnny Carson on “The Tonight Show,” has become the official poster child of the subprime lending mess, after he defaulted on mortgage loans with the now-notorious Countrywide Financial Corp.

The story made national headlines when Donald Trump got wind of McMahon’s woes and bought the house in order to lease it back to the octogenarian, letting him remain in his house.

McMahon’s home had been on the market for nearly two years and once was valued at $7 million, but now has an asking price of $4.6 million, according to published reports.

Trump, who didn’t know McMahon, was a fan of Carson and his sidekick and stepped forward, asking, “How could this happen,” according to the Los Angeles Times.

Cynics said the publicity-loving Trump did it to get back into the limelight. I say, so what?

Money talks and you-know-what walks. And shame on Countrywide, the lender at the very core of the real estate market meltdown with its questionable mortgage practices.

I can’t believe this: I just tuned in to watch my favorite show, CNBC’s “Fast Money,” hosted by Dylan Rattigan and it’s been preempted with some boxing Olympics event.

Have its parent companies GE and NBC Universal lost their minds? “Fast Money” is one of CNBC’s fastest-growing shows, and given the volatility of this market, I can’t believe they made such a bone-headed blunder here.

Gold hit a two-year low, Russia and Georgia are at war affecting the price of crude, the market is a mess, and I can’t listen to what the “Fast Money” crowd has to say about it all.

NBC has plenty of other cable networks to overkill with its mindless Olympics coverage. I’m so ticked I just called to complain, and you can, too, at 201-735-2622 and ask for an operator. I got a very tired one who answered, sounding weary from what I hope is a host of complaints.

Just goes to show you why GE’s stock is in the gutter: It knows nothing about business.

Should GE sell NBC Universal?

Absolutely, and I have no skin in this game—I don’t own a single media stock.

With the Summer Olympics just two days away, don’t expect to see the real China as NBC broadcasts the controversial events on its various media outlets.

I’m not just talking about the street vendors who have been displaced, the painted walls covering buildings and slums that the Chinese government doesn’t want the outside world to see, or the removal of dog entrees from about 125 restaurants.

Nor am I just talking about how Chinese citizens cannot drive and how the government has shut down factories, both efforts to abate the Communist nation’s notorious air pollution.

I’m talking about how the Chinese government has shut down access to certain Internet sites that it has deemed inappropriate for journalists covering the event. Clearly the Chinese are not living up to certain promises they made that journalists would have unrestricted access during the games.

Bunk. The latest crackdown of media coverage is that reporters now have to make appointments to report and film in Tiananmen.

I hope the International Olympic Committee has learned something from this fiasco. But I doubt that, don’t you?

And I’m double disappointed that our two presidential candidates are spending millions on ad dollars to get in the face of American viewers.

If you live in the Boston DMA, you’ll be a very happy camper at 4 p.m. today. That’s when the revered Boston Red Sox will decide whether they will trade off their All-Star outfielder Manny Ramirez.

Beantowners have been inundated the past 24 hours with every stupid detail of this potential deal and will breathe a collective sigh of relief when it’s over. If you relied on Boston media, you would have no idea that Congress did not pass an offshore drilling bill or that the war in Iraq is still raging.

In a Cape Cod Times online poll today, 73.6% said get rid of the bum. Ramirez, who earns $20 million, is one of the reasons it’s impossible to get a ticket to Fenway Park.

Or maybe, just maybe, they’re getting as bored as I am with this story. With TV and print news departments shrinking, couldn’t they make better use of the reporters they still employ?

I think so.

I used to yawn when I heard people carp about how the media fawned over Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and ignored his Republican opponent, John McCain.

That was until today, when I read a New York Times editorial that took President George W. Bush to the woodshed for remaining silent about China’s human rights policies with the Olympics just two weeks away.

That’s fair—Bush has said absolutely nothing about the subject and he is attending the Opening Ceremonies.

But where is the dialogue in the media about Obama spending $5 million on advertising during the Olympics on NBC? The conversation has focused on his shift from regional swing-state spending to his national buy.

Big deal. I’d like to hear what people have to say about Obama’s tacit approval of China’s policies by spending ad dollars in the controversial Games hosted by China and airing on NBC.

Anyone else have a problem with this?

Now it’s official: Jay Leno’s last “Tonight Show” broadcast is May 29 and Conan O’Brien will inherit the throne.

It’s been widely reported that Leno will land his own show on ABC, and if that’s the case, count on me to be in the audience.

Frankly, I just can’t understand why NBC would let Leno go, given that his show consistently wins the time period. Personally, I think the switch is all about NBC trying to lure younger demos, hence O’Brien.

To me, O’Brien is an acquired taste who just doesn’t appeal to my palate at all. Leno is part of my evening ritual. He makes for a better night’s sleep than O’Brien, whom I find sophomoric.

So if Leno goes to ABC, will you be following him there, like me?

According to an Associated Press article today, 89% of the consumers who are exposed to some 20,000 TV screens at gas stations across the country say they are willing to buy the products being hawked.

PumpTop TV, Gas Station TV and FuelCast are three independent outfits that provide programming ranging from NBC and ABC content to sports scores, news and weather forecasts. Gas stations rent the screens and, in turn, hawk products ranging from car washes to candy bars.

Clearly I’m out of sync with the public here. I would rather see gas stations lower the price of gas than rent TV sets that carry heavy rotations of 15-second spots. Buying gas is already an expensive, unpleasant chore. Who needs to be captive to a bunch of commercials, when you can’t even change the channel or sound level?

And what if the jerk ahead of you gets mesmerized by some numb-nuts sports report? I can hear the horns blowing already as time spent at the station is actually lengthened.

So has anyone out there been to one of the gas stations with TVs?

Feel free to rant, or tell me that I’m a lone voice in this choir.

It’s been about a week since supposed Barack Obama supporter Jesse Jackson apologized on the Fox News Channel about earlier “crude” remarks he had made about the presidential contender.

I have to ask, with friends like this who needs enemies? Jackson, speaking with another guest before his segment appeared, did not realize his microphone was on and accused Obama of “talking down to black people.”

If that weren’t bad enough, right before showtime the mic picked up Jackson saying, “I want to cut his nuts off.”

A week later, Obama supporters are still fuming over Jackson’s comments and wondering if he is really helping or hurting Obama’s chances of winning.

Your two cents?

Here’s one for the books. E! News reports that former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s call girl might land on cable with her own TV show about dating.

Apparently call girl Ashley Dupre, according to published reports, is working on a project with Handprint Entertainment, the folks who work with Nicole Richie and Pamela Anderson.

So which cable network will stoop this low? I’m sure the show will get great ratings if it comes to pass. It’s like watching a car accident on the other side of the road.

But I can’t see this happening at all. Sure, the kid needs a job, but prostitution is a crime in New York, where she was busted, so what cable network would want the bad ink?

And what does she know about real dating? Most people don’t get paid to go on a date, at least in my circle of friends.

Earlier this week several cast members from “Army Wives,” attended a red carpet event at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

They were there—joined by real army wives and military personnel—to screen the upcoming July 6 episode “The Hero Returns,” and to launch a postcard drive that will deliver moral support to military families.

For me, “Army Wives’ is appointment television, but it’s more than that: It’s public service at its best. And the timing couldn’t be better given the Independence Holiday weekend.

Regardless of how you feel about the war, let’s not forget the troops who are fighting to preserve our freedoms. I salute Lifetime for its important public service work here.