Play It Again, Dave ... and Jimmy and Ellen

By Carolina A. Miranda

The dramatic re-enactment was once the province of cheesy documentaries and low-budget crime shows. But lately it seems to be everywhere. In February, the E! Entertainment channel made headlines when it began airing nightly restagings of the Michael Jackson trial (those are the fakers above). E!'s re-enactments are serious--or at least are meant to be--but you can't turn on a talk show without seeing a jokey re-creation of one sort or another. Here's a spin around the dial. --By Carolina A. Miranda

Jimmy Kimmel Live - The ABC late-night host's answer to E!'s Jackson re-enactments? The trial dramatized by a cast of puppies as the pop singer and his legal team

Ellen DeGeneres - She has held contests for the worst school photo ever, and last week she started acting out most embarrassing moments sent in by home viewers

The Late Show - Pat Farmer and Kenny Sheehan, David Letterman stagehands, give Oprah Winfrey Show scripts a deadpan interpretation: "Woo hoo. Woo hoo"

The Daily Show - He wasn't satisfied telling off the Crossfire gang. Now Jon Stewart brings on schoolchildren to impersonate pundits like Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly