'Game Change' premiere scores big ratings for HBO

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That film about a pioneering medical worker at Johns Hopkins was also filmed in Maryland, by the way. It drew an audience of 2.6 million.

In comparing those numbers, it must be noted that the media landscape in 2004 was far less competitive that that of today.

The aggregate audience for four plays of "Game Change" over the weekend was 3.6 million.

I am written out of "Game Change." I have been writing stories on it since the filming started here last summer, and two weeks before its debut I had already called it the most culturally important TV-movie or feature film of the year because of the widespread public conversation it started about media, politics, celebrity and the political process.

It is especially valuable in terms of the questions it raises about the the way we select presidents these days. And if you don't think the process is a mess, check out what's happening with the GOP this season.