O'Reilly's Ratings Up: 3 Mil Viewers Tues.

In the three nights that Bill O'Reilly has anchored the Factor since the lawsuits began, his ratings are up nearly 35% vs 3Q 04, Nielsen data shows. He averaged 2.4 million viewers last quarter, but he's been over a million each night since the dueling sex suits (Oct 14, 18, and 19 -- he had a substitute anchor Friday night). The Factor was one of cable's top 40 shows last week -- the only news show to make the list.

Sources point out that FNC's competitors covering the O'Reilly suits continue to fare poorly. 360 averaged 490,000 viewers, Dan Abrams earned 263,000, Countdown had 444,000 and Norville had 234,000 last night...

13 Days: NBC News Announces Specific Changes

NBC has announced its election night coverage will begin at 7pm and end at 2am, or will "continue as long as the presidential race remains in doubt." In a press release today, they outline ten changes, including the following:

> NBC's computer models have been "completely overhauled, modernized and fine-tuned."

> "NBC News will be clearer about its nomenclature during the entire Election Night broadcast. NBC will explain to viewers both verbally and by updated graphics, terms such as 'apparent winner,' 'projected winner,' 'too early to call' or 'too close to call.'"

> "The head of NBC News' decision desk, the decision analysts, and the quality control desk will be isolated from the calls of other networks."

CNBC To Replace McEnroe With Conan Repeats?

Stephen Battaglio breaks the news on TVGuide.com: "Struggling NBC-owned cable network CNBC is currently in talks to get second runs of Late Night with Conan O'Brien." It would likely replace McEnroe at 10pm, starting next month. "Sources tell The Biz that the channel is just waiting for O'Brien to sign off on the deal." More...

C'Mon Lloyd...

Lloyd Grove was really stretching for dirt today. He takes the months-old rumblings about Rick Kaplan and Natalie Allen and pretends it's a scoop. "If the two are no longer an item, they were once romantically involved, I'm told, dating back to when they were both at at CNN." Geez. Lloyd's colleagues Rush & Molloy have a much better item: Campbell Brown is "dating former Bush White House adviser Dan Senor..."

Crossfire Ratings Up Friday & Monday

Crossfire's ratings were boffo during Jon Stewart's appearance on Friday. CNN averaged 867,000 viewers between 4:30 and 5pm, two sources confirm. Their Q3 average was around 550,000. An above-average number of viewers, 681,000, tuned in on Monday, as well. But the more-web-streams-than-TV-viewers theory is still accurate -- the iFilm views have now topped 1 million.

Jennings' Objectivity Comment Stirs Conservatives

"I'm a little concerned about this notion everybody wants us to be objective," ABC anchor Peter Jennings told a local affiliate Monday. Drudge posted a link to the story this morning, and now conservatives are buzzing. How long until we can hear the context behind Peter's comment?...

Crossfire "Is Killing America," Carlson Wisecracks

On Tuesday's Crossfire, Tucker Carlson reacted to Jon Stewart's Monday night monologue about his Friday appearance: "It's not AIDS. It's not Iraq. It's not the deficit. Indeed, it's Crossfire that is killing America," Carlson joked. "Exactly," Paul Begala responded. "We're the reason 138,000 men are stranded in the desert, right?

CARLSON: Yes. BEGALA: It's because of us. CARLSON: I feel personally responsible. BEGALA: Well, you see, Jon, you have united right and left. You have accomplished your mission.

Here's the transcript. On Tuesday night, Stewart joked about it again, and called the Friday segment a "nightmare..."

Without TV Interviews, Kerry Will Lose --O'Reilly

Bill O'Reilly is still pushing for John Kerry to appear on the Factor. "There's no question that the Kerry campaign is staying away from the national press, especially TV," he said during the Memo tonight. TV is the "most powerful tool in the world," O'Reilly said, and if Kerry "continues to avoid TV interviews, he will lose the election."