If this year's epic presidential primary coverage wasn't enough to put you off politics, rejoice! The next two weeks will be a political wonk's paradise as broadcast and cable networks cover the Democratic and Republican conventions and the presidential nominations of U.S. Senators Barack Obama and John McCain.

In broad strokes, TV will have pretty much the same offerings for the Dems in Denver next week and for the Republicans in St. Paul., Minn., the week after. ABC, NBC and CBS will each offer one-hour reports at 10 p.m. each night of the conventions (up from three nights of coverage in 2004) Aug. 25-28 and Sept. 1-4. PBS will air three hours of coverage each night, beginning at 8 p.m.

For "CBS Evening News" anchor Katie Couric, an hour of convention coverage in prime time will give her the opportunity to do more of what she enjoys most.

"I really miss doing as many interviews as I used to," Couric said by phone this week from her New York home, where she was working while on a pre-convention vacation from anchoring. Although she still does interviews occasionally on the "Evening News," including one last week with the president of Georgia, she'll do more during the convention coverage, including a live 15-to-30-minute Webcast at CBSNews.com and CNET.com each night after network coverage ends.

"I think there's something about the Web vibe, and I know that makes me sound very out of it to use the word 'vibe,' but I'm looking forward to being able to have more casual but hopefully hard-hitting coverage, if that's not too counter-intuitive," she said. "We're booking people as we speak."

I wondered if political movers and shakers were hesitant to do a Web show, something Couric said she worried about, too. But she said she expects politicians to be savvy about the new world of media consumption.

"I don't think [U.S. Sen.] Joe Biden will say, 'How many hits does this get?'" Couric said, relating the story of a time recently when she interviewed Biden using her Flip camera after a lunch panel in Washington. "He was comfortable and fine with it."

On cable, viewers will be able to watch convention coverage up to 20 hours a day (6 a.m.-2 a.m. daily on MSNBC), although that amount of viewing is only suggested for the lunatic fringe of both parties. (They've already gone 'round the bend, so why not let them mainline the coverage?)

Whether or not the cable newsies will use that time for actual coverage or just as an outlet to allow their talking heads to bloviate further remains to be seen. Regardless, viewers lap it up. Political coverage has been a boon for cable news channels, boosting prime-time ratings for third-place MSNBC (up 41 percent year-to-year, according to the Los Angeles Times), second-place CNN (up 40 percent) and first-place Fox News Channel (up 14 percent).

And, of course, Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" will broadcast from the convention cities Tuesday-Friday each week, the better to mock the coverage.

Some highlights:

• The "CNN Grill" will offer Democrats and Republicans "a distinct venue to mix good food and lively political debate," according to the network. It will serve as a broadcast site and takes a cue from the "CNN Diner" at the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City and will be housed in restaurants in Denver and St. Paul. Not to be outdone, Fox News Channel will air coverage from "The Fox Experience," headquartered at a bar in Denver and a tent in St. Paul.

• BBC America's "BBC World News America" will air coverage at 7 and 10 p.m. weeknights during both conventions with Ted Koppel as a contributing analyst in Denver.

• C-SPAN will offer "gavel-to-gavel coverage" beginning at 6 p.m. Monday for the Dems and 3:30 p.m. Sept. 1 for the Republicans.

No local stations are sending reporters to cover the conventions. KDKA will send a photographer as part of a CBS O&O pool; WPXI and WTAE will rely on NBC and Hearst, respectively. WPXI plans to feature local political consultants who are attending the conventions, and WTAE is sending some local delegates from both parties with cameras to send back Western Pennsylvania perspectives.

Of course, after the convention ends, the diet of political news will not. MSNBC is marking Sept. 8 as the beginning of the final countdown to election day, launching a new talk show hosted by Rachel Maddow weeknights at 9. (Dan Abrams' "Verdict" has been canceled, but he'll remain with the network as a legal correspondent and daytime anchor.)

For Couric, the fall will include a series of reports, lasting an average of six minutes each -- an eternity in broadcast news, where most stories run no more than 1 1/2 minutes -- on where the presidential candidates stand on assorted issues.

"We're doing it in a clear, concise, thorough way," she said. "It's very ambitious and a huge commitment of resources. I don't think by the end of fall anybody will be able to say CBS just talked about the polls and the candidates' latest gaffes."

Although Couric was dogged by rumors surrounding her future with the "Evening News" earlier this year, all has been quiet of late. And in Pittsburgh, her broadcast has always outperformed its ABC and NBC competitors, which air a half-hour earlier. Powered by KDKA's news/lottery lead-in, "CBS Evening News" routinely outscores national news on WPXI and WTAE. In May, "CBS Evening News" rebounded to No. 1 after a rare sweeps loss to "ABC World News," which had higher ratings in May 2007.

Couric likely will visit several swing states this fall, possibly including Pennsylvania.

"Talking to real people is one of my strong suits, and hopefully this gives me a chance to get out. It's frustrating sometimes to be behind the desk all the time and not interacting with people and talking to them, making people comfortable and guiding the interview and being a good listener," she said. "This will be an opportunity to do some of that."

The CW said this week it won't send out its new "90210" series for review, calling the move a "strategic marketing decision."

"We're not hiding anything," the statement claimed.

Obviously, I'll believe it when I see the show, which conveniently won't be until premiere night. Until then, given this course of action, I can't help but think the show will be a disaster or, worse yet, a big bore.

Generally a critic's approach is somewhat akin to "innocent until proven guilty," but holding a show back from critics -- an approach more regularly employed by movie studios for craptastic dreck in recent years -- reverses the equation. Now critics and discerning viewers will assume "90210" is a dud until proven otherwise.

WTAE has moved its 50th anniversary special from 8 p.m. Thursday next week to 8 p.m. Wednesday to avoid going head-to-head with a Steelers game. Smart move.

CNBC will begin airing "The Apprentice UK" Mondays at 9 p.m. beginning next week. British multi-millionaire Sir Alan Sugar plays the Donald Trump role. ... Tonight at 10, Elizabeth Vargas reports on what's being done to reverse mortality rates for African-American babies in urban centers on ABC's "20/20."

This week's TV Q&A responds to questions about digital TV, BBC America in HD and Comcast withholding HD channels. Read it online at post-gazette.com/tv.

In this week's Tuned In Podcast, TechMan Ced Kurtz and I discuss preparation plans for TV's conversion to digital on Feb. 17, 2009. Listen or subscribe at post-gazette.com/podcast.