Sen. McCain, Off the Floor And on the Carpet

Behrooz Araz, left, and Nestor Serrano in "24." The show's depiction of Muslims has drawn protests. (Isabella Vosmikova -- Fox)

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 14

No one was reduced to tears at Winter TV Press Tour 2005 on Friday. Tammy Faye choked up several times talking about her Women's Entertainment documentary on her latest bout with cancer, but that doesn't really count because Tammy Faye is a regular Mock Turtle of weepdom.

On the other hand, television critics here did embarrass Sen. John McCain, so the day wasn't a total loss.

The Arizona Republican, who has said he's so offended by some programs on cable that he thinks parents should be allowed to choose, à la carte, the cable networks that come into their homes, appeared to plug the A&E flick based on his autobiography, "Faith of My Fathers," and to say how proud he is that it's running on A&E.

Naturally, critics were curious to know if he thought it was appropriate for him to be in business with the cable network given that "a lot of telecommunications regulatory business comes before you in the Senate." McCain said it was okay, because he's giving all the money to charity, "which doesn't make my wife very happy."

Another critic wondered whether McCain was okay with his flick appearing on a cable channel that used to be considered one of the classier ones but recently has tried to attract a younger audience with such fare as "Growing Up Gotti," about mobster daughter Victoria Gotti and her three worthless sons, and "Dog the Bounty Hunter," about the fugitive-chasing exploits of real-life bounty hunter and former convict Duane "Dog" Chapman, his wife and their 12 children, featuring a theme song sung by Ozzy Osbourne.

The critic asked the senator how familiar he is with the two shows.

McCain said he wasn't sure how his flick wound up on A&E but said that A&E, History Channel and Biography (all owned by Hearst with ABC and NBC) are "channels that people like me watch all the time, and yes, they have diversified programming, but I'm very proud that A&E would do this because I think they've done other very high-quality work."

"So what are you watching on A&E these days?" the critic persisted.

After some stumbling, McCain conceded. "You've embarrassed me. I can't think of anything offhand. But I watch it all the time."

" 'Dog the Bounty Hunter'?" asked the critic.

"No, I didn't see that. I have seen the 'Bounty Hunter' promo clips and he certainly is a role model for all of us," McCain joked, recovering somewhat. "I like his wife, too."

Other critics took issue with A&E telecasting a McCain bio-flick because he is a potential presidential candidate. "I certainly would make no decision on that issue for at least a couple years," McCain responded. "I have no political action committee, no organization, nothing associated with a candidacy for presidency of the United States."

"If other candidates emerge, will you do movies about them as well?" one critic asked A&E programming suit Bob DeBitetto.