On HLN this evening, host Vinnie Politan predicted that the Casey Anthony case will be “the biggest trial of 2011.”

He also noted that the case has taken longer to go to trial than Caylee Anthony lived. Casey Anthony is charged with first-degree murder in the death of her daughter, 2-year-old Caylee.

In the latest development today, Judge Belvin Perry ruled that the prosecution and defense must both give information on their experts to the other side.

I didn’t watch the hearing, but I was struck by WFTV-Channel 9’s take that Perry “wasted no time in handing down his order,” that he applied the same rules to the prosecution and defense, and that he “wasn’t going to waste much time on the back-and-forth bickering” between the two sides.

WESH-Channel 2 highlighted “a quick ruling from Perry.”

The case has been long and confounding, yet Perry’s all-business, no-nonsense approach has been refreshing and promising. He is going to make a deadline, and you had better be ready.

On HLN, Politan conducted a panel discussion with three attorneys about the issue of whether this should be a death-penalty case. They agreed it shouldn’t. One stressed that the public doesn’t know how the child died.

Yes, but learning that information keeps many of us coming back. Caylee has become a symbol, a representative for many for other children. She will not be forgotten.

Or as an HLN graphic read: “How little Caylee’s murder gripped the nation.”

Dr. Drew Pinsky, star of “Celebrity Rehab,” will headline a prime-time HLN show that begins in the spring.

HLN didn’t announce a time slot for Pinsky.

In a release, Pinsky said, “I am thrilled to join HLN, and I have no doubt that the natural fit I feel at the network will provide the opportunity to explore the stories behind the story and really explain the choices that people make.”

Nancy Grace and Joy Behar headline HLN series in prime time.

HLN honcho Scot Safon announced the Pinsky program and called the practicing physician “an ideal fit” for the network.

What do you think?

Fox News Channel logged its 106th straight month as the most-watched cable news channel.

Fox News enjoyed a wide margin of victory in prime time. Fox News averaged 2.2 million viewers to MSNBC’s 792,000, CNN’s 561,000 and HLN’s 375,000.

Fox News had the 11 most-watched programs in cable news. The top five were “The O’Reilly Factor” with 3.3 million, “Hannity” with 2.4 million, “Glenn Beck” with 2.1 million, “Special Report With Bret Baier” with 2.1 million and “On the Record With Greta Van Susteren” with 2 million.The best showing by another channel? MSNBC’s “Countdown With Keith Olbermann” was No. 12 with 1.1 million.

In the 25-to-54 age group, which is of greatest importance to news advertisers, Fox News enjoyed another wide lead. The standings: Fox News with 506,000, MSNBC with 246,000, CNN with 164,000 and HLN with 120,000.

In total viewers for the entire day, Fox News was the leader, too. Fox News Channel averaged 1.2 million viewers through the day to CNN’s 410,000, MSNBC’s 407,000 and HLN’s 246,000.

The ratings for the prime-time shows on cable news still trail the evening broadcasts on NBC, ABC and CBS. In those ratings last week, “NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams” delivered 8.1 million viewers. “ABC World News With Diane Sawyer” averaged 7.4 million. And the “CBS Evening News With Katie Couric” pulled in 5.5 million. Here’s how they stood in the 25-to-54 age group: NBC with 2.2 million, ABC with 2 million and CBS with 1.6 million.

The Entertainment Weekly that hit the stands yesterday features eye-catching cast reunions.

Dig thoses shots of Eric McCormack and Debra Messing jumping to celebrate “Will & Grace.”

Look at how happy the “West Wing” actors are to see Martin Sheen.

Note how splitting spouses Courteney Cox and David Arquette are positioned in two photographs saluting “Scream.”

The magazine has also spawned a TV special: “A Special Edition of Showbiz Tonight: Entertainment Weekly’s Great Reunions.” You can catch it at 10 tonight on CNN or 5:30 p.m. Sunday on HLN. AJ Hammer and Brooke Anderson are the hosts.

The double issue magazine celebrates EW’s 20th anniversary.

The magazine also pays tribute to “Northern Exposure,” “Pretty in Pink,” “The Lord of the Rings,” “Gilmore Girls,” “Married … With Children,” “Roots” (note the lovely shot of Leslie Uggams and Cicely Tyson), “Alias,” “The Muppet Show” and “Back to the Future,” featuring Michael J. Fox and Lea Thompson.

Yesterday wasn’t exactly a good one for Bill O’Reilly and Joy Behar on “The View.” Angered by his comments, she stormed off the set. And he acknowledged he could have offended people with the remark, “Muslims killed us on 9-11.”

Barbara Walters got O’Reilly to apologize for that comment on the show. And Walters criticized Behar and Whoopi Goldberg for leaving the set.

But by last night, both Behar and O’Reilly were taking a bow on their talk shows.

O’Reilly was patting himself on the back for challenging “liberal sensibilities about Muslims.” He said he enjoyed “jousting’ with the women of “The View.”  “I loved that exposition today, didn’t you?” O’Reilly asked.

On her HLN show, Joy Behar blasted O’Reilly by referring to his new book, “Pinheads and Patriots.” She called him a pinhead — Walters had done so to his face on “The View.” Behar said it is hate speech to lump an entire group with the comment “Muslims killed us on 9-11.”

She had a point. Would it be offensive to say Christians killed the Jews during World War II? Sure it would, when fanatics were responsible.

But in storming off the “View” set, Behar lost her chance to answer O’Reilly.

People have been choosing sides in this controversy — one that brings everyone involved more attention. But why picks sides when they were both wrong?

In the end, the “View” conversation took a back seat to the theatrics. Since then, television has kept replaying the footage. When hosts start behaving badly, television can’t get enough of the drama.  How does the drama help the conversation about issues?

The Chilean miners have done what “Parker Spitzer” could not do: bolster CNN’s ratings.

When the first miner was rescued in the 11 p.m. hour Tuesday, CNN’s audience climbed to nearly 4 million. In the same hour, Fox had 3.5 million viewers and MSNBC drew 1.1 million. CNN had the lead in the 25-to-54 age group in that hour, too, with 1.4 million viewers. In the same age group, Fox News had 1 million viewers and MSNBC had 279,000.

But in prime time, Fox News had a comfortable lead. Fox News averaged 3.2 million viewers to CNN’s nearly 2 million, MSNBC’s 1 million and HLN’s 502,000.

In the 25-to-54 age group — which is most important to advertisers — Fox had the lead with 737,000 viewers to CNN’s 553,000, MSNBC’s 252,000 and HLN’s 206,000.

From 8 p.m. to 2 a.m., Fox News also had the lead with 2.7 million viewers to CNN’s 2.3 million. MSNBC averaged 924,000 viewers in that time.

But there was a bright sign for CNN in the ratings from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m.: CNN had the lead in the 25-to-54 age group with 762,000 viewers to Fox News’ 695,000. MSNBC had 250,000.

Maybe CNN should consider a new show called “The Chilean Miners’ Hour.”

Kathleen Parker and Eliot Spitzer evidently aren’t what the ratings doctor ordered for struggling CNN. The new team, in its premiere week, ran a weak fourth in the 8 p.m. time slot in cable news.

Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly remains the king of the time slot in cable news. He averaged 3.2 million viewers last week. MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann was a distant second with nearly 1.1 million viewers. Nancy Grace pulled in 550,000 viewers for HLN.

And then there was “Parker Spitzer,” which averaged 465,000 viewers, raising speculation about how long CNN would tolerate such poor ratings.

Parker, a former Orlando Sentinel columnist who grew up in Winter Haven, is now syndicated by the Washington Post Writers Group. Recalling her time here, she told me before the debut, “I do remember some people in the newsroom could get irate about what I wrote, but I’ve become accustomed to that. I developed my thick skin in Orlando.”

With those ratings, she will need a thick skin.

“Parker Spitzer” was down 24 percent from the audience that Campbell Brown delivered for CNN in the time slot for the same week last year.

In the 25-to-54 age group, O’Reilly was king as well, pulling in 759,000 viewers. Olbermann was second with 292,000. Grace found 163,000 fans in the age group. Parker and Spitzer ran fourth there, too, with 124,000 viewers.

Pulitzer Prize winner Kathleen Parker says she’s keeping her column even as she jumps to CNN.

Good thing. She’ll need that column if the ratings don’t improve on “Parker Spitzer,” which debuted last night.

Yes, the 8 p.m. time slot is rough in cable news. But after all that promotion, Parker and her co-host, former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, were throwing a party that many viewers avoided. Just 454,000 viewers tuned in.

“Parker Spitzer” had even fewer viewers than John King’s 7 p.m. CNN show, which drew 471,000 viewers. And King’s show has been considered a ratings failure.

“Parker Spitzer” ran well behind Fox News Channel’s “The O’Reilly Factor” with 3.1 million viewers and MSNBC’s “Countdown With Keith Olbermann” with 1.1 million. HLN’s Nancy Grace also had more viewers: 468,000.

News advertisers care most about the 25-to-54 age group, and “Parker Spitzer” had few takers in the age group: Just 118,000. “The O’Reilly Factor” drew 722,000 in the age group, “Countdown” had 329,000 and Grace pulled in 149,000.

One bright spot: “Parker Spitzer” had more viewers in the 25-to-54 age group than King, who drew 101,000.

It takes time to build a news audience. But based on the first night, Spitzer and former Orlando Sentinel columnist Parker have a huge challenge ahead of them.

In the cable-news race, Fox News Channel was No. 1 for the third quarter of 2010. Fox News had 13 of the top 15 programs in total viewers. Fox has been tops for 35 straight quarters.

Yet there wasn’t a lot of reason for joy in the cable-news world because most channels lost viewers.

In prime time, Fox News averaged 1.83 million viewers. But that number was down from 2.25 million in the third quarter last year.

MSNBC was second with 687,000 viewers — down from 788,000 last year.

CNN averaged 512,000 viewers — down from 946,000 last year.

HLN averaged 402,000 — down from 510,000.

CNBC was the lone channel that defied the slide: 194,000 viewers, up from 188,000 last year.

Here are the figures in adults 25-to-54:

1. Fox News with 443,000 — down from 583,000 in the third quarter last year

2. MSNBC with 229,000 — down from 271,000

3. CNN with 149,000 — down from 287,000

4. HLN with 128,000 — down from 193,000

Again, CNBC went against the trend. It was flat from last year with 86,000 viewers.

Here are the top five programs in total viewers, all on Fox News: “The O’Reilly Factor” with 2.86 million, “Hannity” with 2.13 million, “Glenn Beck” with 2.04 million, “Special Report with Bret Baier” with 1.90 million and “On the Record With Greta Van Susteren” with 1.74 million.

So what is Nancy Grace’s approach to the Casey Anthony case these days?

“It was a big part of the show,” she told reporters this afternoon in a conference call. “I think it will be a big part of the show when it goes to trial.”

Anthony, who is charged with first-degree murder in the death of her daughter Caylee, will go on trial in May. The Anthony case used to be a regular feature on Grace’s HLN show, which airs at 8 nightly.

“There are other cases,” Grace said. “We’ve moved on.”

But don’t take that to mean that Grace has lost interest in the Anthony case.

“I want to hear all the facts,” Grace said. “But right now I don’t personally know of any new facts we haven’t covered. There are other cases.”

Grace was promoting her daytime syndicated show, “Swift Justice,” which starts at 2 p.m. Sept. 13 on WOFL-Ch. 35.

Another month in cable news ratings, another dominating performance by Fox News Channel.

But before the numbers, some praise for Chris Wallace of “Fox News Sunday.” It isn’t easy to interview a colleague, and that was the challenge that fell to Wallace when he talked to Glenn Beck after Saturday’s rally at the Lincoln Memorial.

Wallace didn’t take it easy on Beck. Wallace replayed footage from last year of Beck, on “Fox & Friends,” saying that President Barack Obama is “a racist.” Wallace got Beck to open up: Beck said he regretted calling Obama a racist, but didn’t want to retract the statement.

In a revealing moment, Beck said, “Racist … first of all, shouldn’t have been said. It was poorly said. I have a big fat mouth sometimes, and that’s just not the way people should behave.”  

Beck said that “race should not be in politics,” but also acknowledged that he wasn’t alive when the civil rights movement was unfolding. Wallace reminded Beck that the 1963 civil rights march was partly about economics and jobs.

“That’s a part of it I don’t agree with,” Beck said in another revealing moment. But can you disagree with that central point? The Wallace interview gave valuable insight into how Beck thinks.

Continue reading Fox News Channel dominates August ratings; Chris Wallace excels in Glenn Beck interview »

NBC’s Brian Williams won the  ratings race last week, and Fox News Channel won the ratings race in cable news for July.

Let’s talk numbers — and numbers alone. In prime time, Fox News Channel was so dominant that it beat MSNBC, CNN and HLN combined in total viewers. Fox News averaged 1.84 million viewers in prime time. It was way out in front of MSNBC with 675,000, CNN with 529,000 and HLN with 452,000.

But all the channels were down from a year ago: MSNBC was down 9 percent, Fox News was down 11 percent, HLN was down 20 percent and CNN was down 53 percent.

The top program in cable news was no surprise. “The O’Reilly Factor” on Fox News continued to lead the pack with 2.95 million viewers. (Bill O’Reilly is shown in this 2008 photo by Joe Burank of the Orlando Sentinel.) Fox News had the top 11 programs in total viewers. MSNBC’s “Countdown With Keith Olbermann” came in at No. 12. The other top programs were Fox News’ “Hannity” (2.13 million), “Glenn Beck” (2 million), “Special Report With Bret Baier” (1.85 million) and “On the Record With Greta Van Susteren” (1.77 million).

Last week, the broadcast evening newscasts commanded far bigger audiences: “NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams” averaged 7.37 million, “ABC World News With Diane Sawyer” averaged 7.01 million and the ”CBS Evening News With Katie Couric” averaged 5.01 million. 

Still, in the cable world, Fox News was a major player for July. It was third in prime time behind USA and TNT. For the total day, Fox News was No. 7 among all cable channels.

Bret Michaels says the worst thing “American Idol” could do is to find a knockoff to replace Simon Cowell. And “Celebrity Apprentice” victor Michaels tells Joy Behar that he wants the job as Cowell’s replacement. “I would love to do it,” he says on “The Joy Behar Show” at 9 tonight on HLN.

Would he be the right choice? Here’s some of tonight’s interview:

Here’s one of the strangest interviews I’ve ever seen. On her HLN show last night, Joy Behar talked to comedian Louis C.K. just three hours after he had a vasectomy. “I did it for me,” said the star of FX’s “Louie.”  Here’s a clip — snippet? — of that interview. Here’s a warning, too: The content is adult. “Louie” airs at 11 p.m. Tuesdays on FX. “The Joy Behar Show” airs at 9 p.m. on HLN.

Among cable-news channels, Fox News was the clear favorite in the second quarter of 2010.

Fox News was the winner for the total day and for prime time. The ratings, however, revealed that all the cable news channels were down from the second quarter last year.

In prime time, Fox News averaged 1.9 million viewers. It had a bigger audience than MSNBC (758,000), CNN (594,000) and HLN (487,000) combined. Fox was down 10 percent from the second quarter last year while MSNBC was off 4 percent, CNN was off 31 percent and HLN was down 12 percent.

Fox News was among the most popular cable channels in the second quarter. It ranked third, behind USA and TNT, in total viewers in prime time.

Among cable news channels in prime time, Fox was the clear winner in the 25-to-54 age group, which is most important to news advertisers. Fox had 468,000 viewers in that age group and outpaced MSNBC (237,000), CNN (174,000) and HLN (158,000). But there was falloff from the second quarter. Fox News had the smallest (down 9 percent); CNN had the greatest (down 28 percent).

Fox News also had the 13 most popular programs in cable news for the first half 2010.

The top five programs were “The O’Reilly Factor” (3.29 million total viewers), “Glenn Beck” (2.42 million), “Hannity” (2.36 million), ”Special Report With Bret Baier” (2.19 million) and “On the Record With Greta Van Susteren” (1.98 million).

Larry King did good last night, but he didn’t do well.

CNN’s “Larry King Live” raised $1.8 million with a star-studded, two-hour telethon about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Yet King ran fourth in the cable-news ratings at 8 p.m. and third at 9 p.m.

King had 547,000 viewers at 8 p.m. He was well behind “The O’Reilly Factor” on Fox News Channel (2.7 million) and MSNBC’s “Countdown With Keith Olbermann” (1 million). Even Nancy Grace, on sister channel HLN, beat King with 787,000 viewers.

At 9, King rose to third with 647,000 viewers. He was behind “Hannity” on Fox News (1.9 million) and MSNBC’s “Rachel Maddow” (871,000). But King was ahead of HLN’s “Joy Behar” with 586,000 viewers.

I didn’t get to follow the Casey Anthony coverage yesterday. But from your e-mails, I gather the following happened:

The defense team rambled.

Judge Belvin Perry rocked.

Casey Anthony rolled … as she fell down. Or as Jane Velez-Mitchell put it last night, Anthony “took a nasty spill” on her way to the courthouse. The shackled defendant tripped in an elevator, cutting her chin and splitting her lip, Velez-Mitchell said on her HLN show. One Velez-Mitchell guest said Anthony’s absence from court during yesterday’s hearing was the most significant news. Do you agree? 

And what about the defense’s push to keep the list of Anthony’s jail visitors secret? The speakers on “Issues” went at that one heatedly. One side of the argument: Anthony doesn’t deserve special treatment. (She is charged with first-degree murder in the death of her daughter, Caylee.) The other side of the argument: Special cases — such as the Anthony circus — require special treatment.

Do you think this is a special case?

“NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams” last week won a tightening race with “ABC World News With Diane Sawyer.”

On the cable news side last week, Fox News Channel was the big winner in prime time.

For the week, “NBC Nightly News” averaged 7.43 million viewers, and “ABC World News” averaged 7 million. The “CBS Evening News” was a distant third with 4.98 million viewers.

In the 25-to-54 age group, which is most important to news advertisers, “NBC Nightly News” averaged 2.18 million viewers and “ABC World News” had 1.97 million. The “CBS Evening News” was third with 1.53 million.

But ABC noted that “World News” enjoyed a couple of daily victories last week: The Sawyer telecast had the most viewers on Wednesday and the most 25-to-54 viewers on Tuesday.

In cable news, Fox News Channel averaged 2.18 million viewers with its prime-time lineup Monday-Friday. MSNBC placed second with 844,000 viewers. CNN was third with 687,000 viewers. Then came HLN with 574,000 and CNBC with 199,000.

HLN was up 3 percent from the same week a year ago, and CNBC was up 1 percent. MSNBC was flat. Fox News was down 3 percent, and CNN was off 20 percent.

The five most-watched programs in cable news last week were all on Fox News: 1. “The O’Reilly Factor.” 2. “Glenn Beck.” 3. “Special Report With Bret Baier.” 4. “Hannity.” 5. “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren.”

Fox News Channel scored another dominating victory during the first quarter of 2010.

Fox News was tops in prime time and tops during the day. And the channel was No. 1 both in total viewers and in the 25-to-54 age group most important to news advertisers.

Fox News increased its audience while the competition was down from the same time a year ago.

In prime time, Fox News averaged 2.3 million total viewers to MSNBC’s 805,000, CNN’s 690,000, HLN’s 496,000 and CNBC’s 337,000. Fox was up 3 percent while CNN was down 39 percent.

Continue reading Fox News Channel easily wins first quarter; ‘The O’Reilly Factor’ atop cable news rankings »

Fox News Channel was the clear favorite in cable news during the February ratings period.

In prime time, Fox News averaged 2.2 million viewers. It outpaced MSNBC with 935,000, CNBC with 637,000, HLN with 495,000 and CNN with 534,000.

In the 25-to-54 age group, Fox News averaged 531,000 viewers. Fox News outpaced MSNBC with 350,000, CNBC with 312,000, HLN with 162,000 and CNN with 147,000.

The five most-watched cable news programs were all on Fox News: “The O’Reilly Factor” with 3.6 million, “Glenn Beck” with 2.8 million, “Special Report With Bret Baier” with 2.5 million, “Hannity” with 2.5 million and “The Fox Report With Shepard Smith” with 2.1 million.

Fox News had the 13 most-watched programs in cable news. No. 14 was MSNBC’s “Countdown With Keith Olbermann” with 963,000.

In all of cable, Fox News placed third in prime time. USA and TNT were the leaders in viewers.

MSNBC stressed that it was ahead of CNN and HLN in prime time. MSNBC said it outrated CNN by 75 percent in total viewers in prime time. Excluding Olympic coverage, MSNBC beat CNN by 33 percent in total viewers.

For the total day, Fox News scored another victory. It averaged 1.3 million viewers. It was way ahead of CNN (469,000), MSNBC (432,000), CNBC (380,000) and HLN (304,000)