Inside Cable News

May 25, 2007

CNBC to air “get rich” special…

CNBC announced this afternoon that it will air “The Millionaire Inside: Your Guide to Retiring Rich” Saturday, June 9th at 9PM ET…

CNBC’s money mentors are back and they’ve got the answers you need to retire rich! David Bach, Barbara Corcoran, Phil Town and Loral Langemeier are some of the country’s top financial pros and they’re sharing their secrets to a comfortable retirement with you. These gurus have made millions and on June 9th, they take you inside the winner’s circle so you can too. The special, taped before a studio audience, is hosted by Erin Burnett, anchor of CNBC’s “Street Signs” and co-anchor of “Squawk on the Street.”

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Donald Trump on Rosie…

Johnny Dollar has the audio of Donald Trump talking to Geraldo on The Big Story abour Rosie O’Donnell’s departure from The View…

Lola Ogunnaike: past conflict of interest?

An astute emailer pointed out something I didn’t know about CNN’s new American Morning hire Lola Ogunnaike. Last year Ogunnaike was embroiled in conflict of interest charges over an appearance on The View while writing on entertainment stories for The New York Times. The L.A. Times’ Scott Collins chronicled the controversy…

Lola Ogunnaike, who covers television and other entertainment topics for the paper, filled in as “special guest co-host” on Monday’s edition of ABC’s syndicated chat fest “The View.” She came across as remarkably poised and telegenic, especially for someone who works at a newspaper, where reporters are not generally renowned for their charming and personable natures. Ogunnaike held her own with her three co-hosts, including the formidable Rosie O’Donnell, who initially flubbed her name (introducing her as “Loga”). Ogunnaike relaxed enough to joke about her personal life, revealing that, for example, she did not live with her boyfriend before marrying him. “My mother — I love her — she has great advice, and she was like, ‘Why buy the cow if you can get the milk for free?’” She added mischievously that her husband has “enjoyed a few milkshakes since then.”

Readers of the New York Times who don’t watch “The View” may be surprised to learn all this, because the paper has not seen Ogunnaike’s on-air moonlighting as news that is fit to print, even though she has recently written about other ABC shows. In fact, two of her three most recent articles concerned ABC. On Sept. 28, she published a long, flattering story spotlighting Shonda Rhimes, creator of ABC’s biggest hit, “Grey’s Anatomy.” And on Thursday — three days after her “View” appearance — she delivered another favorable piece, about how the makeup and costume designers on ABC’s new hit “Ugly Betty” make actress America Ferrera look garish and nerdy. Neither article disclosed Ogunnaike’s association with “The View,” which has evidently been in the works for months. The program says she sent producers an audition tape in July.

Ogunnaike did not return a phone call and email requesting comment. When Channel Island asked whether editors had approved her ABC stint and whether she had been paid for it, New York Times spokeswoman Catherine Mathis emailed back: “These are all fair questions, but since they relate to an individual employee, we cannot comment.”

Page Six also made hay of this story…
(more…)

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Thursday’s Numbers…

FNC had a strong Demo night. MSNBC beat CNN in the primetime Demo. The O’Reilly Factor without O’Reilly led the way in the Demo.

Cable News Ratings for May 24, 2007

P2+ Total Day
FNC – 811,000 viewers
CNN – 423,000 viewers
MSNBC – 242,000 viewers
CNBC – 210,000 viewers
HLN – 220,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 1,540,000 viewers
CNN – 628,000 viewers
MSNBC – 513,000 viewers
CNBC – 283,000 viewers
HLN – 393,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC – 238,000 viewers
CNN – 140,000 viewers
MSNBC – 95,000 viewers
CNBC – 86,000 viewers
HLN – 82,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC – 415,000 viewers
CNN – 148,000 viewers
MSNBC – 181,000 viewers
CNBC – 102,000 viewers
HLN – 140,000 viewers

Morning programs P2+ (25-54)
FOX & Friends – 945,500 viewers (384,000)
American Morning –420,000 viewers (155,000)
MSNBC Live (7-9 AM) – 153,000 viewers (67,500)
Robin & Co. –234,000 viewers (107,000)
(more…)

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David who?

Multichannel News’ Steve Donohue writes that Joe Scarborough may be the one to get the Imus slot permanently. That was a quick turnaround. I thought David Gregory was the “it boy”. There is some pretty blatant spin in this article…(via TVNewser)

“Joe was on a week ago, and he put together a team of people [including African-American screenwriter and frequent National Public Radio guest John Ridley and MSNBC commentator Willie Geist]. And I think he really impressed people with his performance,” MSNBC general manager Dan Abrams said.

Abrams said Scarborough will take over Imus’s old time slot once again this week.

Now just a second…Joe put this team toegether? This team of John Ridley and Willie Geist was first assembed for Tucker Carlson when Tucker did the gig. Now it’s entirely possible that Joe wanted to bring them in again but it’s not like this was the first time they were paired together…

CORRECTION: Tucker brought on Chuck Nice and Willie Geist. Joe did pair Ridley and Geist. ICN regrets the error and apologizes to all concerned.

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E.D. Hill profile…

The Pittsburgh Tribune’s Kim Lyon’s has a mini-profile of E.D. Hill in a piece on former Pittsburgh TV personalities who have moved on and up…

E.D. Hill, formerly Edye Tarbox, was an anchor on WPXI from 1987-89. She’s now the anchor on Fox News Live. “My biggest regret is that I didn’t work and live in Pittsburgh when I had my family, because it’s such a nice, friendly place to live,” said Hill. “It’s just a terrific city to raise a family in.”
Incidentally, Hill switched to her married name after leaving Pittsburgh, and started using the initials E.D. as part of a family tradition.

Hill said she probably spoke at every high school in the Greater Pittsburgh area at some point while she was here, and misses the Steelers and Penguins (although she admits her first love is the Dallas Cowboys). “I’m so envious of people who get to live in Pittsburgh during the Roethlisberger era,” she said.

No Studio B this weekend…

Studio B with Trace Gallagher will not be airing this weekend due to the holiday weekend. In fact the FNC schedule is a little different with War Stories airing at 1pm , Fox News Live at 2pm, and Crime Scene at 3pm on Saturday. On Sunday War Stories runs for an hour and a half at 1pm, Fox News Live at 2:30pm, and V for Valor at 3pm.

747 returns to Dulles…

A United 747 returned to Dulles Airport after losing an engine. That’s not particularly newsworthy. What was newsworthy was the differences in coverage between FNC, CNN, and MSNBC.

MSNBC seemed to have an exclusive live shot because I never saw it on FNC or CNN. FNC stuck with a distant shot of the Dulles control tower. CNN kept spinning a Google Earth map of the airport and I didn’t see any live shot. MSNBC piped in an affiliate’s feed of the 747 landing and heading back to the terminal.

What really surprised me was FNC’s coverage when the big moment came. For like five minutes after that plane had landed, it seemed to me like FNC was still treating the incident as though the plane was getting ready to land. While MSNBC was showing the plane on the ground, Laurie Dhue was talking like it was still on its way in. FNC’s lower third didn’t acknowledge the plane had even landed until minutes after it had indeed landed.

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Palkot on Lebanon…

Greg Palkot turns in a reporter’s notebook on the fighting in Lebanon…

There must be a secret clause in my contract with FOX I don’t know about. It seems I can only cover ugly war zones situated near beautiful nature scenes.

I reported last summer on the fierce fighting between Israel and Hezbollah from a resort that resembled Club Med in southern Lebanon. Now, we’re covering the tense stand-off between the Lebanese military and the al Qaeda linked Fatah al Islam group along a beautiful stretch of Mediterranean coastline, edged by snow-capped mountains.

Correspondents often joke that one day our memoirs will be titled, “Rooftops and Parking Lots We Have Known.” As usual, we’re perched on the roof of a building overlooking the Palestinian refugee camp where the terrorists are holed up. It’s not really a camp, but a grubby two square mile pile of concrete buildings, where in better times (ha!), 30,000 people live. Also in company are approximately 300 Usama bin Laden loving terrorists.

Huckabee on Fox News Sunday…

Mike Huckabee will the next participant in Fox News Sunday’s “Choosing the President” series…

Chris Wallace will sit down this week on FOX News Sunday with Presidential candidate and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee as part of the on-going “Choosing The President” series. Huckabee will discuss Iraq, immigration and how he differs from the rest of the GOP field.

Imus’ Slot: Mancow?

Johnny Dollar has the video from this morning’s Fox and Friends where Mancow says he was supposed to be doing the “Imus slot” on WFAN but it was killed because of an appearance he did on The O’Reilly Factor.

Gretchen Carlson said that that would have meant that he would have been up against them (Fox and Friends) but I don’t think that was a given. Since Imus’ dismissal only six WFAN broadcasts have been simulcast on MSNBC; three by David Gregory and three by Jim Cramer. The rest have not. Given that FNC has some sort of deal with Mancow, he would probably be contractually prohibited from appearing on MSNBC’s air. Even if he wasn’t, it’s doubtful MSNBC would put him on as a tryout given that he’s an FNC regular.

Imus’ Slot: Scarborough returns…

Joe Scarborough will be doing the 6-9 am shift next week for MSNBC…

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