Other than being a mecca for our country's finest smartypants, Yale University is also known for its annual list of the year's best/most awesome quotes. And today, the Top 10 Quotes of 2009 was released. It touches upon all the biggies, including Falcon "Balloon Boy" Heene (as seen above, quite bored, on "The Early Show"). But the list left out one key quote. Hit "continue reading" to find out what's missing, and to relive the last year in potent quotables.

Last night, Barbara Walters' "10 Most Fascinating People of 2009" special aired on ABC. She is proud of her selections and calls it the most "provocative" group of people she's ever had. Watch the clip above from "The View" to hear her thoughts on her interview with the fifth most fascinating person, and click "continue reading" to see who else rounded out the list (but maybe shouldn't have).

If you've seen footage of David Letterman explaining his extortion story (and you have, don't lie), you know there were a few times the audience mistook a serious comment for a joke and laughed. Sometimes Letterman went along with it, and sometimes he seemed frustrated. At one point, he even looked into the audience and acted like he didn't understand why people still thought he was telling a joke. But (a) how was the audience supposed to know that "story" was different from any other one of Dave's self-deprecating tales, and (b)  laughter at times when there should be no laughter is hilarious. For proof, watch part of Mark Sanford's speech above without any added laughs, and then click "continue reading" to see how quickly a laugh track turns it into a comedy bit.

Move over, "Law & Order" -- it doesn't get any more ripped-from-the-headlines than "The Good Wife," which premiered last night. Cheating politician, accomplished yet long-suffering wife, icky sexual details, and a hooker with a book contract. Silda, Jenny, Elizabeth: this one's for you. Full recap after the jump:

Julianna Margulies was on Letterman last night, promoting her new CBS show "The Good Wife," in which she plays the spouse of cheating politician Chris Noth. Cheating politician, eh? Wonder how they dreamed up that premise.

Oh, right. Eliot Spitzer slept with a hooker, didn't he? And then, let's see...what about John Edwards? Also the guy who went "hiking" with his Brazilian mistress. And this guy who just got caught! Why make just one series? That's enough material for a "Law & Order"-type franchise!

Here's hoping the actual show is as fun to watch as it is for Letterman and Marguiles to discuss. Tony Blair, you devil!

CBS's freshman drama "The Good Wife," premiering September 22, takes as its subject a phenomenon that's common and getting moreso, it seems, with each passing week: what it's like to be married to a politician when he gets embroiled in a scandal of his own making. Today, series co-creators Robert and Michelle King and star Julianna Margulies (who plays Alicia Florrick, the titular "Wife") told us a little of what we could expect. Like Jim McGreevey and Eliot Spitzer, Peter Florrick (Chris Noth) is a political figure at the center of a humiliating sex scandal -- it won't be long, in the pilot, before we see him sucking a prostitute's toes -- and Margulies is the wife who suddenly has to rebuild her life when (spoiler!) he goes to prison. Margulies admitted this morning that she had certainly judged other political wives who didn't leave their husbands after infidelity was publicly exposed, but that the complications of such a life were what attracted her to the role: playing Alicia reminded her that we don't know what goes on at home for such couples, and while Margulies doesn't condone cheating, "life shifts and changes." Her research playing Alicia also showed her that political wives -- even if they put their careers on hold for their husbands' ambitions -- tend to be extremely accomplished in their own rights. She noted that Silda Spitzer is currently running a successful hedge fund, and obviously little needs to be said about one Hillary Clinton.

Inevitably, the talk turned to Margulies's past successes in TV, and what's changed since then. She commented that when she left "ER" a decade ago, the show routinely got a 44 share, whereas now, with the landscape so fragmented, she has to wonder, "What's a hit?" One thing she is sure of, though, is that she's relieved their show is on CBS and not her former home, since a berth in the 10 PM time slot means they can be "darker." With regard to Jay Leno's primetime talk show, she offered, "I don't know how someone watches three talk shows in a row...But I could be wrong! I just act." The absence of those five weekly hours on the schedule, however, makes her "sad" for "actors, directors, and writers."

Bringing the discussion back around to the show's real-life inspiration, Margulies attempted an answer as to why it always seems like it's high-profile men getting caught cheating, and not women: "I think women are too busy....Women do not have the time. Dear Lord, we're exhausted!" Has there been rumbling from a Silda Spitzer or a Jenny Sanford? "I think all those women are way too classy to rumble about any of it. Really." Not even Patti Blagojevich? "I don't consider her a wife of scandal like this," said Margulies. "He didn't cheat on her; he cheated on everybody else....And didn't she go on some reality show? I mean, God."

Never mind the pundits, Sarah Palin's resignation has made her even more popular with Republicans than ever before. Has it also attracted more of the "politics of personal destruction" that forced her to resign in the first place? You betcha! (sorry). And from none other than formerly-repentant Palin nemesis David Letterman.

The comic kept it classy this time, with no mention of the governor's daughters. However, before you watch the above clip, know that it does contain potentially offensive material. After the jump, a helpful breakdown:

"Reno 911" officers Jones and Williams went undercover at a swingers' party last night to "investigate" suspicious activity, but Jones crossed a line (or several) when he boasted that Williams nicknamed him "the jackhammer." Way to cap off hump day, Deputy Jones! Happy Thursday. Time to look at last night's television, which contained a nice mix of scandalous political confessions and Nigerian rites of passage. More after the jump.