Fancast: Inside TV

For his return to late night TV after a two-month absence, David Letterman returned to work with a beard, Robin Williams as his guest, and -- here's the buzz-worthy moment to talk about at work -- a surprise first joke supplied by Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Taped in Iowa and a smart counter to Mike Huckabee's appearance on NBC's "Tonight Show," Clinton said, “Dave has been off the air for eight long weeks due to the writers’ strike. Tonight he’s back. Oh well. All good things come to an end.”

THE "LATE SHOW" TOP TEN "Signs You're Watching Bad Election Coverage"

10. TV reporters seem to be using the word "dude" a lot.

9. Because of the writers strike, they show reruns of the Reagan-Mondale election.

8. Exit polling question: "Did you have trouble finding the exit?"

7. Three candidates each received 50% of the votes.

6. Top half of screen shows election coverage, bottom half is "American Gladiators."

5. Pundit says it's looking unlikely Bush will be re-elected.

4. It's 3 hours of Dog the Bounty Hunter yelling racial slurs.

3. Correspondent spends most of the evening hitting on Kucinich's hot wife.

2. Wolf Blitzer wanders on set screaming, "Top story - daddy's drunk!"

1. Still haven't projected winner from Iowa.

David Letterman and Paris Hilton patched things up last Friday. Things got a little frosty during her previous appearance last September, as Letterman foraged for details about Hilton's stint in jail. But all is well now, as the two reconciled on air, which concluded with Dave presenting Paris with red roses. "I hope you got the whole jail thing out of your system," said Hilton to Letterman during the interview. Dave bantered back, "I do - sort of. Not entirely, no."