TV Newser on Jacko: He must be beat (it)

Our kid cousin at TV Newser has just been kickin’ it since the Michael Jackson verdict came in, logging no less than SEVENTEEN posts about Jacko on Monday night alone. Now that we seem to be in the final throes of mania on the subject (until we figure out who will get the Big Get, although $1000 of Hannity’s charity money says that Geraldo and his unshaved mustache will be a top contender), here are a few of TV Newser’s most interesting tidbits, culled from what appears to be a fes sleepless nights of watching countless talking heads on fourteen channels:

Nancy Grace “eats a little crow”: Hard-hitting tough-talking ex-prosecutor Grace had the whole thing figured out months ago – Jackson was guilty, guilty, guilty. So being wrong, wrong, wrong on Monday night was tough for her. Even so, she got off a few killer lines, i.e. to the jury foreman: “What do you think a grown man up in his 40s is doing sleeping with one little boy after the next, all by himself, locked up in his bedroom, every night? That doesn’t bother you? It bothers me.” Transcript here.

Rita Cosby makes her bones: New-ish-ly hired Rita Cosby scored the first interview with a Jackson family member – Jermaine (who my goodness looks old). She followed up nicely by grilling prosecutor Tom Sneddon: COSBY: “Everybody makes mistakes. What mistakes did you make?” SNEDDON: “Maybe having this interview.” Hee.

Jacko in Numbers: Web: FoxNews.com had a record 15,005,497 page views for the day. Over 630,000 streams of the Jackson verdict were watched on MSNBC.com – the most-watched verdict video in the Web site’s history. Courttv.com logged more than 4.7 million page views Monday (148% increase over the Monday before). Ratings: “Thanks to Michael Jackson, ratings for all the cable nets were above-average on Monday: In total day, FNC was up 55%, CNN was up 99%, MSNBC was up 80% and HLN was up 40% over May 2005 averages.” Totals for Monday: FNC: 1,169,000 / CNN: 733,000 / MSNBC: 338,000 / HLN: 293,000 / CNBC: 131,000. Interesting tidbits: “‘FNC had a 4.3 for the Jackson Verdict. Yikes! Those are war numbers!,’ an e-mailer says.” Also: In the key 4:30-to-5:30pm hour, MTV News beat everyone else out with the 12-34 set. But Jon Klein don’t need no ‘tweens: “In both total day and primetime, CNN delivered the most P18-34 than any other cable news network.”

The best in Tuesday morning headlines:

Once again, a near-exhaustive list from around the country…on Monday night, to boot. How often do we get to hear from Bill Goodykoontz of the Arizona Republic? “It isn’t often you hear ABC’s Charlie Gibson talk about a famous person masturbating, and it’s almost never that you’d want to, but if your set was on Monday you heard it then.”

“The High School Model Of Media Heirarchy:” This is just funny. Charlie Gibson and his network-star ilk? Football players and cheerleaders. Pecking order goes down from there. Sorry, Bill Goodykoontz.

Jacko in pictures: Yeah, I’d be sick of typing, too.

<a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/court_cases/jacko_not_guilty_we_cant_be_above_the_news_brian_williams_says_but_tonight_at_long_last_it_is_time_to_move_on_22525.asp“>…and to all a good night:

And so, after the verdict came down and the news was read and reread, NBC’s resident star quarterback Brian Williams did what the network anchor should: pause reflectively and put all the noise, hoopla and excitement into perspective:

A lot of people, especially those who write to and e-mail us, have wondered about the importance of covering the molestation trial of a 46-year-old pop star, who’s best professional moments may well be behind him.

While we have tried very hard to limit coverage of the Jackson trial to the most newsworthy days in the proceedings, a great man who used to occupy this chair often said: we can’t be above the news, either.

Here’s where the perspective comes in: in the time since Jackson’s arrest, a President’s been elected, a Pope has died and been replaced, a tsunami has changed the world and Iraqis have voted. Also, consider this: Since the Jackson arrest: 1,322 Americans have died and another 11,000 have been wounded, in two armed conflicts overseas.

Tonight, at long last, it is time to move on.

Kudos to TV Newser for his role in helping us do just that…after we’ve finished reading every last detail. Find the whole “Jacko Not Guilty” archive here. Now, beat it.

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