Yahoo! aggregates the billions of searches performed across Yahoo! properties to give the pulse on what people are thinking and talking about. Searches represent the people, an instant poll every moment of the day, looking into the fleeting moods and entrenched attitudes of Internet users across the world. Each week Yahoo! Web Life Editor Heather Cabot explores these trends on local and national broadcast. With Labor Day on the horizon searches on Yahoo! are spiking, although down compared to last year. Monday Night Football is buzzing this week and Fall TV season has users online searching for their favorite new shows.

Labor Day

With the clean up, back to school and of course, the upcoming anniversary of nine-eleven, it seems labor day is a mere footnote for a lot of internet users.  Normally, the last weekend of the summer spurs tons of searches on Yahoo! for holiday getaways and activities. That’s not the case this year. For the first time in several years, Labor Day related searches have dropped. But even if they aren’t taking off for the weekend, many people are planning to hunt down some Labor Day deals.  Look-ups for tax free weekend are spiking more than 700% this month.  We’re seeing lots of interest in sales and coupons. And some folks are already looking ahead to vacations down the road – cheap all inclusive vacation searches are up more than 4,800%.

The top searched coupons right now are:

• Dick’s Sporting Goods
• Target
• Grocery Coupons
• JCPenney
• Kohl’s

Monday Night Football

One escape that doesn’t cost anything is turning on the tube and watching football.  Monday Night Football returns on September 12^th and Yahoo! users are ramping up for the season.  The Dallas Cowboys, Oakland Raiders and the Chicago Bears rank highest in search right now.  Fantasy Football is a huge topic buzzing on Yahoo! this week. Sign up for a team at: http://sports.yahoo.com/fantasy

Fall TV Season

And with the fall television season almost here, it seems audiences aren’t shedding a tear over Charlie sheen leaving “Two and a Half Men.” They’ll miss Steve Carell on the office and they are very excited to see Simon Cowell and Paula Adbul reunite on the “X-factor”. This according to a new survey of TV viewers by Yahoo! and Entertainment Weekly. Read more of the survey here on Yahoo! TV

Who’s the Boss: Steve Carell

Now that Steve Carell is no longer ‘the boss’ on The Office, only 11 percent of those surveyed said they would “definitely” continue to tune in.

Charlie Out, Ashton In

When asked if replacing Charlie Sheen with Ashton Kutcher on Two and a Half Men is considered a “bad move” fewer than one-third (26%) of viewers choose that option. Most thought it was either “a great move” or “an even swap”’ Women are more likely than men to think the change is “a great move.”

Back on the Small Screen

This season brings Tim Allen (Last Man Standing) back to the small screen with 35 percent of voters excited to see him in a new role. He’s just slightly more popular with men (38%) than he is with women (33%).  Sarah Michelle Gellar (Ringer) is also returning but only 18 percent of voters said they were excited about it.

Multi-tasking TV Viewers

Many adults multitask while they watch TV. More than half (56%) snack during shows and 47 percent check their email. Other activities include posting on social media sites (34%), cooking (33%) and cleaning (31%).

Focus, Focus, Focus

Viewers, particularly those between the ages of 18 and 34, are most likely to ‘Tweet or Post to Facebook’ while watching True Blood, Dexter, and Vampire Diaries. While many viewers say they update their social networks while watching True Blood, 58% of voters said the show requires them to pay attention, followed by Boardwalk Empire and The Walking Dead (with 57% each).

-Yahoo! Search Trends Team