Dobbs vs. Zahn…
The St. Petersberg Time’s Eric Deggans blogs about the Campbell Brown news and the speculated upon bumping of Paula Zahn Now for Lou Dobbs Tonight…
If Dobbs does get the 8 p.m. gig, CNN will be replacing a show hailed for its in-depth examinations about race with a guy who regularly demonizes illegal Mexican immigrants as criminals and gangsters. Check this New York Times piece for more a most excellent debunking of Dobbs’ most egregious claims.
Thanks CNN….
The only issue I have with Dobbs at 5:00 PM PT is that it doesn’t really allow for variety, we’ll either have Dobbs crying over Immigrants, O’Reilly over sex offenders, Grace having the person she’s interviewing killed, or Olbermann with Countdown.
Comment by Chris — June 16, 2007 @ 7:40 pm
If CNN wants to be competitive at 8pm, they’ll put Dobbs there. Apples to apples. It would be smarter to have Brown at 7pm, and give Wolf Blitzer three straight hours again; it never made sense to me to split it up.
Comment by erljr — June 16, 2007 @ 8:13 pm
I wish they’d at least give Paula a shot at a less difficult time slot. Put Dobbs on at 8:00, put either Paula or Campbell on at 6:00 (or 7:00, as erljr says), and shorten AC360 to one hour and put whichever one isn’t on at 6:00 on at 11:00. A good shake up just might be what CNN needs. Plus while I have no problems with Anderson I don’t see any need for two hours of him. Just my opinion.
Comment by lightswitch — June 16, 2007 @ 8:27 pm
If Dobbs moves to 8pm, I’d say that timeslot will officially win for having the most self-centered, egotistical, opinionated blowshards. But it sure would be fun watching to see whose ratings would end up where in the fray.
Comment by Alison — June 16, 2007 @ 8:48 pm
I think Dobbs, O’Reilly and Olbermann are all too close to make a clear decision on who has the biggest ego, but Nancy Grace would still win for flat out crazy in the time slot.
Comment by lightswitch — June 16, 2007 @ 10:13 pm
Lightswitch, I agree. While I’m doubtful, I hope they give Paula an easier time slot rather than canceling her show all together. I also agree that Anderson dosen’t need two hours. Nor does Wolf Blitzer need three hours imo.
Comment by Lark22 — June 16, 2007 @ 10:20 pm
Adding onto my last post, it would be interesting to see if O’Reilly would lose a little bit of standing running against another conservative in the same hour. At the same time, I wonder how MSNBC would do with the change considering O’lb does alright during the current setup.
Comment by Chris — June 16, 2007 @ 11:03 pm
Dobbs is no conservative, Chris. On immigration yes, but nothing else.
Comment by erljr — June 17, 2007 @ 12:04 am
“Dobbs is no conservative, Chris. On immigration yes, but nothing else.”
Maybe not now, but he sure used to be. I’d be curious to know what turned a corporate shill into such a populist Defender of EveryMan.
Comment by Arthur — June 17, 2007 @ 1:49 am
The best thing to do would be.
3pm - The Situation Room
6pm - Dobbs
7pm - Coopeer
8pm - Brown
9pm - King
10pm - Paula Zahan
Comment by craiggordon — June 17, 2007 @ 8:03 am
All of this will hurt MSNBC, not Fox.
Comment by Cathy — June 17, 2007 @ 10:07 am
#10, disagree. Paula Zahn is done with. CNN had her from morning to night, and she couldn’t prove herself. I hate to say it, but she’s too ‘fragile’ for news. When I watch her, it’s like watching George Bush, I’m on edge wondering what screwed up thing is going to come out of her mouth. I think this shake-up will be good. Wolf Blitzer may get three hours for a while, but a new show is in order. I also agree AC should be cut to one hour. His second hour is like an MSNBC doc block anyway.
Arthur, you’re completely correct regarding Dobbs. He actually IS a conservative at heart. I believe that Dobbs ‘flagship’ topic on illegal immigration will bite into BOR’s audience. Will be fun to see. Olbermann’s timeslot will be moved, or he’ll be crucified, and at this point MSNBC can’t afford to lose their one decent ratings winner.
#4, can’t agree with you more!!! Will be fun to watch!
Comment by Peoplepeople — June 17, 2007 @ 11:17 am
I agree that Dobbs would bite into O’Reilly’s audience. He’d take, at most, 10% of Olbermann’s. He’d take a bigger bite out of O’Reilly’s. What you’re missing is that, between the three, O’Reilly is the centrist on the immigration issue. Both O’Reilly and Dobbs hold some views that are not in lockstep with their main audience; Olbermann, however, is totally in sync with the left-wing blogosphere.
The horserace between the three is what gets us here all excited. When you take the most polarizing figures from the three news nets, and pit them against each other, it’s catnip for us news nuts.
But given Klein’s habit of missing opportunities when they are staring him in the face, he’ll probably give Brown (any relation to Aaron?) the slot.
Comment by erljr — June 17, 2007 @ 11:51 am
Ok ive had a re-think. This would be the best look
06 - American Morning
09 - Newsroom
12 - Your World Today
13 - America Now with Paula Zahan
15 - The Situation Room
18 - Tonight with Dobbs
19 - Anderson Cooper
20 - Brown
21 - King
22 - Nancy Grace
Zahan on the 1&2 hour would beat Jane & Martha. Wolf would make a dent on Shep 3hour and would beat Neil and Gibson. Dobbs is best at 6 as there is no way he would make any difference to BillO´s numbers and he is not to far behind Hume. There was talk of Grace leaving Headline News for the FNC 10pm slot. CNN should give it her.
Comment by craiggordon — June 17, 2007 @ 2:06 pm
what happens to dobbs when the immigration issue has lost its’ luster? which it, ultimately, wil…..
Comment by cas — June 17, 2007 @ 2:40 pm
Dream on DREAMERS, this is not going to hurt BO or Fox. I have seen to many years of so called MSM go to CNN or MSNBC and they do not hurt FNC. Get a grip, they will not be the ones that lose the audience…..
Comment by Cathy — June 17, 2007 @ 2:57 pm
Lots of this has to do with when (or if) any of these programs are re-aired. For example, I will watch Scarborough Country (IF he’s not talking tabloid, or if he’s not acting too smarmy), knowing that I can catch H & C on the re-air at midnight. But if I have to get up early, I’ll certainly skip SC and watch H & C on it’s original run. Same w/other programs. And I’m sure that others out there probably do the same.
Again, I know we can record all this stuff, but I rarely get around to watching any news programming that I record.
Comment by Missy — June 17, 2007 @ 3:33 pm
In a rare occurrence, I have to agree with peoplepeople on this one. If Paula hasn’t found a way to make it work by this point, it isn’t going to matter what time slot she’s in. And Dobbs is nothing more than an opportunistic one-trick pony.
Comment by Caufield — June 18, 2007 @ 7:15 am