BC Beat’s Rebecca Stropoli thinks last night’s revelation on Larry King Live of the paternity of Anna Nicole Smith’s baby seemed rehearsed…

This “revelation” moment is the kind of thing that live TV is made for, and King was obviously thrilled to be a part of this soap-opera-like minute, announcing well before Stern made his announcement that “here, for the first time ever, he will reveal the identity of the baby’s father…” But watching it, the announcement seemed almost canned, rehearsed and manufactured…one could easily imagine the reality show that might spawn from this one (and I don’t think it’s too cynical to think that E! or VH1 would sign Smith for another show in a heartbeat in light of these made-for-TV new twists).

The AP’s David Bauder has FNC head Roger Ailes commenting on the Bill Clinton/Chris Wallace interview and the “controversy” that erupted from it…(via TVNewser)

Ailes said Clinton had a “wild overreaction” in the interview, broadcast on “Fox News Sunday.” Hundreds of thousands of people subsequently watched clips over the Internet, with Fox foes rallying behind Clinton.

“If you can’t sit there and answer a question from a professional, mild-mannered, respectful reporter like Chris Wallace, then the hatred for journalists is showing,” Ailes said in an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday. “All journalists need to raise their eyebrows and say, `hold on a second.’”

Cable News Ratings for September 26, 2006

P2+ Total Day
FNC - 894,000 viewers
CNN - 525,000 viewers
MSNBC - 263,000 viewers
CNBC - 203,000 viewers
HLN - 255,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC - 1,657,000 viewers
CNN - 833,000 viewers
MSNBC - 410,000 viewers
CNBC - 263000 viewers
HLN - 431,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC - 287,000 viewers
CNN - 198,000 viewers
MSNBC - 128,000 viewers
CNBC - 79,000 viewers
HLN - 113,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC - 409,000 viewers
CNN - 287,000 viewers
MSNBC - 156,000 viewers
CNBC - 127,000 viewers
HLN - 223,000 viewers
(more…)

Bill Maher appeared on The O’Reilly Factor last night. Transcript follows…

O’REILLY: Thanks for staying with us. I’m Bill O’Reilly.

In the “Personal Story” segment tonight, a new feature on the CBS News program, Katie Couric is daily commentary by guest analysts. A few weeks ago, Bill Maher started the HBO program “Real Time”. Contacted by CBS, according to reports, to deliver a commentary, but it didn’t work out. Maher joins us now from L.A.

Now, look, I always want to straighten out the record, because I don’t believe anything I read in the press. But it was reported here in New York that you wanted to do something on religion and they didn’t want you. What happened?

BILL MAHER, HOST, HBO’S REAL TIME: I don’t know. And I’m a little tired of talking about it. But, yes.

Look, I think they should drop the segment, because it was billboarded as free speech, and every night I watch it because I am a devotee of the evening news. You know, I love to watch the guys at 6:30 and now the guys and the gal.

But it’s a little disappointing when they say we’re going to have free speech and then every night it’s the most agreed upon speech you could ever imagine. Last night they had someone who took the stand and said it was good to have football back in New Orleans. He did not care who disagreed.

O’REILLY: That’s an outrage.
(more…)

TVNewser notes that Susan Filan has been named Senior Legal Analyst for MSNBC.

In truth, though the announcement was made today, the cat leapt out of the bag on Monday when Filan was interviewed by Chris Jansing and the chryon tagged Filan as “Senior Legal Analyst”. I stared at that for a while and wondered if I missed something on the wires because I hadn’t heard anything about Filan becoming Senior Legal Analyst. Now I know why I hadn’t heard anything. It hadn’t been officially announced…

The Boston Phoenix’s Mike Miliard writes about the full Clinton/Wallace clip pulled from YouTube at FNC’s request. Milliard gets FNC to respond on what happened…

But, in fact, Fox’s answer may surprise you. It certainly surprised me. When reached on Tuesday, a Fox News spokesperson told the Phoenix: “Our Internet division used poor judgment in asking this to be taken down. We’re thrilled the Wallace-Clinton clip has received so many hits on YouTube.” (It’s worth noting, however, that as of Tuesday afternoon, the entirety of the Clinton interview was still not available on FoxNews.com.)

UPDATE: Re-wrote the entry to include the FNC response instead of the backstory

Gretchen Carlson blogged about her new position on Fox and Friends today…

I couldn’t be more thrilled to be joining such a great morning show with two of the best guys around. Steve and Brian have made me feel very welcome, and that means a lot. And Lauren and I go way back. We both hail from Minnesota and share an interest in classical music. Lauren is a gifted classical pianist as you know, and as a child, I was a serious classical violinist. Lauren and I crossed paths many years ago when we were both part of the Miss America system. It truly is a small world!

On The Record will be broadcasting from Dallas tonight as Greta Van Susteren covers the Terrell Owens story. Also on the show will be Larry Birkhead, the guy who claimed he was Anna Nicole Smith’s baby’s father.

UPDATE: The Birkhead interview has been moved to tomorrow night…

And the reaction keeps coming in. Glenn Garvin in the Miami Herald writes up the story…

Ronald Reagan’s press secretary once shouted ‘’S—w you!'’ at him in the middle of a press conference and didn’t speak to him again for four years. But Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace has never experienced anything quite like the angry on-air tirade Bill Clinton delivered on his show this weekend.

‘’I can only call it spontaneous combustion,'’ Wallace said Monday, after a red-faced, finger-jabbing Clinton accused him of setting an ambush in an interview obtained under ‘’false pretenses'’ in order to do “a nice little conservative hit job on me.'’

‘’I've never had an interview like that, certainly not with a former president of the United States,'’ Wallace added. “No one could have been more shocked than I was.'’

Jay Carson, Clinton’s press spokesman, didn’t return two telephone calls from The Miami Herald about the interview.

From last night’s Hardball…

SHRUM: Well, three things. One, I know why he`s frustrated, because there has been a campaign of right wing lies against him. When he attacked the camps in 1998, he was accused of wagging the dog to cover up Monica Lewinsky. Number two, it`s probably smart politics…

MATTHEWS: What`s this campaign? Who is running this campaign?

SHRUM: I think the right wing`s been running a campaign against Bill Clinton since 1991. Now, I want to be critical of him on one thing. I think it`s smart politics for him to say he is showing Democrats how to fight back, but it`s wrong and it`s not true to say that Chris Wallace is somehow or other a right wing hit man.

He`s unbiased as far I know as a reporter, he`s tough. I`ve mixed it up with him, but he is one of the…

(CROSSTALK)

MATTHEWS: Well, I agree, but do you think that question was a good question, a legitimate question?

SHRUM: Of course the question was a legitimate question. And you know, I think the president just is incredibly frustrated, you know, if he had taken this out on Sean Hannity, it might have been a more
appropriate target. But when he said, when he said, Chris, wipe that little smirk off your face, the real question here is when is George Bush going to wipe that little smirk off Osama bin Laden`s face.

Cable News Ratings for Saturday, September 23
P2+ Total Day
FNC - 657,000 viewers
CNN - 439,000 viewers
MSNBC - 260,000 viewers
CNBC - 533,000 viewers
HLN - 241,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC - 735,000 viewers
CNN - 508,000 viewers
MSNBC - 324,000 viewers
CNBC - 708,000 viewers
HLN - 240,000 viewers

25 - 54 Total Day
FNC - 225,000 viewers
CNN - 181,000 viewers
MSNBC - 123,000 viewers
CNBC - 199,000 viewers
HLN - 86,000 viewers

25 - 54 Prime Time
FNC - 181,000 viewers
CNN - 163,000 viewers
MSNBC - 162,000 viewers
CNBC - 245,000 viewers
HLN - 85,000 viewers
(more…)

Cox News Service’s Jill Vejnoska writes about FNC’s upcoming 10th Anniversary tour stop in Atlanta…(via WHAC)

“We’ll have this lovely view of the CNN building, and I’m sure they’ll have a lovely view of us,” said Thom Bird, Fox’s executive producer of news specials.

Bird chose the park location, he said, because it afforded great views of Atlanta’s “beautiful cityscape.”

But being so close to the powerhouse rival that Ted Turner built is clearly the icing on Fox’s birthday cake.

“I’m sure we’ll be waving at them and they’ll be waving at us and watching to see how news is done,” Bird said.

CNN didn’t take the bait. “We wish them well,” said spokeswoman Laurie Goldberg.

CNN announced this morning that Anderson Cooper will be broadcasting AC 360 from the Congo next week…

CNN’s Anderson Cooper will anchor Anderson Cooper 360º for three nights from the Democratic Republic of the Congo from Tuesday, Oct. 3, through Thursday, Oct. 5, as part of the program’s weeklong emphasis on violence and political turmoil in several African nations.

Ethnic strife and a civil war in Congo have been responsible for the deaths of more than 3 million people since 1998. As many as 1,250 people there die every day, mostly from hunger and disease.

The program also will focus on the Darfur region of Sudan where violence continues to rage. Africa correspondent Jeff Koinange provides updates on the continuing genocide there as well as ethnic and political conflicts. In addition, CNN senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta visits refugee camps along the border of Sudan and Chad to report on the medical conditions of refugees fleeing the brutal fighting between the two countries.

The Somerville Journal’s Ed Symkus puts HLN’s Erica Hill on the same playing field as Katie Couric in a profile of the Prime News Tonight anchor…

In the end, it turns out that Katie Couric - the defection, the build-up, the hype, and the legs - is just another talented person reading the news.

Some credit her with investing the news with a bit of personality, but on that front, she’s not alone.

For the past few months, CNN Headline News has been broadcasting “Prime News with Erica Hill,” a daily hour-long show of international and national news, noteworthy trend pieces, and a little bit of fluff to soften the edges.

Anchor Erica Hill, a summa cum laude Boston University graduate, performs with a style that may be the future of broadcast news. She doesn’t just read the news. She leans into the camera for emphasis; her eyebrows shoot up and down in either fascination or concern; she reveals a gallery of facial expressions, depending on the subject. She always shows a palpable interest in what she’s talking about, coming across as strictly serious on the straightforward stories, light and effervescent on the goofy ones.

And she defines “telegenic.”

Variety’s Michael Learmonth writes about the ratings spike for FNC caused by the Clinton/Wallace interview…(sub req.)

The skirmish between Chris Wallace and former President Bill Clinton on “Fox News Sunday” gave the show its best ratings in nearly three years.

But as the debate continued into a third day over what Clinton and President Bush did or didn’t do to capture or kill Osama bin Laden before 9/11, it began to look like the opening salvo in the 2006 midterm elections.

The contentious interview helped “Fox News Sunday,” normally the fourth-place Sunday show, to victories over at least one of its three network competitors in 35 metered markets.

The show defeated all its competition — ABC’s “This Week,” NBC’s “Meet the Press” and CBS’ “Face the Nation” — in the Washington, D.C., market, where all four shows originate.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Monica Haynes has a profile of FNC’s Catherine Herridge…

Now back on the air, Herridge, Fox’s homeland defense correspondent, is sharing her story as a way of giving hope to other families facing a similar medical crisis.

“I had no idea until I was in this situation that there was such a shortage of organs, especially for small children,” said Herridge, 42. “I look at Peter, and he is pink and he has big fat cheeks and he has five teeth coming in, and I cannot believe that my liver is inside him and that’s why it’s happening.”

Page Six sarchastically dishes…

MSNBC loudmouth Keith Olbermann flipped out when he opened his home mail yesterday. The acerbic host of “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” was terrified when he opened a suspicious-looking letter with a California postmark and a batch of white powder poured out. A note inside warned Olbermann, who’s a frequent critic of President Bush’s policies, that it was payback for some of his on-air shtick. The caustic commentator panicked and frantically called 911 at about 12:30 a.m., sources told The Post’s Philip Messing. An NYPD HazMat unit rushed to Olbermann’s pad on Central Park South, but preliminary tests indicated the substance was harmless soap powder. However, that wasn’t enough to satisfy Olbermann, who insisted on a checkup. He asked to be taken to St. Luke’s Hospital, where doctors looked him over and sent him home. Whether they gave him a lollipop on the way out isn’t known. Olbermann had no comment.

UPDATE: The more I think about it, the more displeased I am with Page Six. Ok, so you guys don’t like Olbermann. Fine. But to make merriment of and to take glee in writing up this story (a lollipop?) shows just how classless Page Six is. A crime was committed here. A threat upon Olbermann’s life was made. And you treat it like a joke? Grow up…

UPDATE 2: Editor and Publisher feels the same way…

One would think journalists might not make fun of a high-profile industry colleague, in this day and age, receiving an envelope — at home — which contains white powder. But that seemed to be the case at the New York Post’s “Page Six” today in reporting on an alleged incident involving Keith Olbermann, host of MSNBC’s “Countdown.”

UPDATE 3: I see that one of the commenters linked this at Kos. That’s fine by me. But what isn’t fine by me is this misimpression being perpetuated by the linker that ICN “gleefully” posted this entry. I thought Page Six was wrong from the beginning. I may not have been as vocal as I could have been at first but I figured that, absent of any signs of glee or approval in the entry, a reader of this entry would not be able to come to the conclusion that I was supporting/approving of it. I was wrong obviously. Someone could come to the conclusion that I was approving of the story just by posting it. So I had to post an update spelling things out for people who see things that aren’t there…
(more…)