The Hill’s “Under The Dome” chronicles a he said/he said between Tucker Carlson and Rep. Jeff Flake’s office Tuesday…

Carlson opened his show by saying, “Two Republican congressmen from border states, Ed Royce of California and Jeff Flake of Arizona, have clashed over immigration policy for weeks … Mr. Royce opposes the bill and Mr. Flake supports it. Our plan was to have a debate between the two of them on the set here. Unfortunately, Mr. Flake moments ago flaked out, didn’t come … We are proud to have Ed Royce joining us.”

As of five minutes before airtime, Flake’s office had not gotten in touch with MSNBC, sources said.

Flake’s office said the congressman did not flake out.

CNN announced its Memorial Day coverage plans…

For Memorial Day weekend programming, CNN collects and re-airs some of its best military-themed programming focusing on the troops, their service and their families and puts the spotlight on a foundation dedicated to providing temporary residences for families of patients at military and Veterans Affairs medical centers.

In addition, the network debuts two new documentaries over the weekend: Warrior One for All and Chopper Down.

Warrior One for All, set to air Saturday, May 26, at 12:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. and Sunday, May 27, at 5:30 p.m., tells the story of one of CNN’s Iraq War Hummers from the battlefield to the auction block to public service. After months in Iraq, CNN shipped the vehicle to the states where it was eventually refurbished for TLC’s Overhaulin’ program and auctioned off at the Barrett-Jackson Classic Car Auction with proceeds going to the Fisher House Foundation. Today, “Warrior One” tours military bases and hospitals as part of an effort to raise money for wounded veterans.
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What were MSNBC’s specials last night? They had better than 50% of their audience being comprised of Demo viewers. An audience made up of over 50% 25-54 is a very strong percentage for a cable news program. MSNBC won the Demo at 10pm and the network beat CNN in the primetime Demo. The O’Reilly-less Factor led the way in the primetime Demo. Jim Cramer scratched in the Demo.

Cable News Ratings for May 22, 2007

P2+ Total Day
FNC – 699,000 viewers
CNN – 404,000 viewers
MSNBC – 256,000 viewers
CNBC – 228,000 viewers
HLN – 204,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 1,285,000 viewers
CNN – 635,000 viewers
MSNBC – 477,000 viewers
CNBC – 264,000 viewers
HLN – 302,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC – 195,000 viewers
CNN – 118,000 viewers
MSNBC – 112,000 viewers
CNBC – 85,000 viewers
HLN – 93,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC – 344,000 viewers
CNN – 186,000 viewers
MSNBC – 190,000 viewers
CNBC – 68,000 viewers
HLN – 128,000 viewers

Morning programs P2+ (25-54)
FOX & Friends – 719,000 viewers (263,000)
American Morning – 437,000 viewers (153,000)
MSNBC Live (7-9 AM) – 119,000 viewers (a scratch with 38,000)
Robin & Co. – 220,000 viewers (107,000)
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Grey’s Anatomy star Patrick Dempsey appeared earlier today on FNC’s Live Desk with Martha MacCallum. Dempsey discussed his participation in this weekend’s Indy 500. The subject of his hit series also came up as this season’s run ends…

I’m anxious to see what happens next year. Who comes back and who doesn’t and where the stories go.

GretaWire blogs from the Reagan Library today…

Check out the pictures that I’ve posted today! We are at the Reagan Library in California and took a number of pics for you. My favorite two pics are the ones of the chunk of the Berlin Wall in the back of the library. The chunk of the wall was donated to the Presidential Library because President Reagan was instrumental in that wall coming down. On the west side of the wall you see bright colors… and the east side? Well, click on the pics and see for yourself. There is no doubt a clash of cultures is shown by the two sides.

CNN’s release on the news that Pipeline will go off subscription when CNN.com unveils its new enhancements…

CNN.com this summer will unveil significant enhancements, creating a fully integrated online news experience. As part of the site’s redesign, the live, streaming and archived video content accessible through the subscription-based CNN Pipeline service since December 2005 will be available for free at CNN.com starting on Sunday, July 1.

The goal of CNN.com’s latest evolution is to make it easier for online consumers to get more news in more ways than ever before. After nearly 18 months of offering CNN Pipeline through subscription, CNN.com will begin offering users free of charge even more of the great video they expect – live and on-demand. As with the current CNN Pipeline service, CNN.com will provide access to its video archives and up to four streams of live content but without the need to download a video player.

CNBC announced today that it had been nominated for two Loeb Awards…

CNBC, America’s Business Channel, received two nominations for the 2007 Gerald Loeb Awards. The Loeb Awards honor journalists who make significant contributions to the understanding of business, finance and the economy.

CNBC’s “Big Brother, Big Business”—a two-hour original CNBC documentary that investigated the increasing number of ways ordinary Americans are monitored and affected by the encroaching world of surveillance and how this covert spying has become big business, has been nominated in the Television Enterprise category. Nominated are CNBC anchor and reporter David Faber and CNBC Vice President of Long Form Programming Josh Howard, who served as Executive Producer, CNBC Producer Lori Gordon, CNBC Coordinating Producer Alison O’Brien and CNBC Producer Patrick Ahearn. Faber received a Loeb Award nomination in 2003 for breaking the news of the massive fraud at WorldCom.
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The Hill’s Alexander Bolton writes that members of the CBC have signed letters to Democratic Presidential candiates who withdrew from the CBC Institute/FNC Debate…

By framing their decision to skip the debate as a missed opportunity to communicate to an important Democratic constituency, caucus leaders are ratcheting up the political pressure on the Democratic front-runners.

Thompson said that the CBC Institute, not Fox, would set the debate format and select the questions to be asked. He said Fox merely will broadcast the event.

So far, liberal opinion leaders have praised the Democrats’ decision to snub Fox.

HLN is advertising that Robin & Company will be live from Fort Bragg on Monday…

The New York Observer’s George Gurley profiles FNC’s Red Eye host Greg Gutfeld…

“I feel like I’m a lion tamer holding chain saws,” Mr. Gutfeld said. “Because I want to say something funny, but I’m too busy going, O.K., what do I do next?” The surreal feeling of the show blends into the type of commercials running at that insomniac hour—Vermont Teddy Bears, adjustable beds, giant tomatoes.

“It’s somewhat similar to somebody who’s lost his mind,” Mr. Gutfeld said. “Because I’m a complete maniac. You may disagree with me, but you can’t stop watching …. I don’t even think you have to like the show to get sucked in.”

“You almost feel like you’re going out and not going out,” said VH1 contributor Michelle Collins. “It’s like being at a bar with your friends and hearing all their opinions—while laying in bed eating Snackwell cookies.”

While Mr. Gutfeld tries to keep the show from idling too long on partisan territory (“They get that 23 hours a day”), his own politics are fairly at home on Fox. He dismisses liberalism as “romantic notions that are false, based on the idea of making yourself look good to other people. That’s why most men—Bill Clinton is a good example—are liberal, because they need to get laid. If you look at most left-wing guys, they’ve made a deal with the devil. They don’t really believe that shit—they’re going against their own innate nature, because liberalism is anti-man. If you believe that peace and love work, you’re not a man, because this world works on war. The only people who respect you are people who are scared of you—and that’s why Reagan was a great President. And the idea that you can negotiate with people who want you dead is a complete lie. That’s why the left is the most self-absorbed, vanity-driven enterprise. These are people who would rather feel good about themselves at a cocktail party that actually protect people’s lives. If you’re at a party and you say, ‘The war on terror is the most important thing in the world’—you won’t get a nod. But if you say, ‘Global warming is the biggest threat,’ you will get laid.”

CNN Observations picked up on Robin & Company’s Adriana Costa disappearing from HLN’s bio page website…

Greg Palkot, FNC’s London based foreign correspondent, arrived in Tripoli, Lebanon today to report live for FNC from the battle lines of the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr el-Bared that has been under attack by fighters from the Fatah Islam militant group.