> One insider put it bluntly today: "The consensus is Norville is unwatchable."

> Norville's ratings continued to stand still (or drop) in November, according to preliminary numbers. On some nights, Norville's lead-in (Countdown) beats CNN -- but then Norville comes on, the ratings are cut in half and MSNBC is ranked #4, behind CNN and Headline News.

> Remember Joe Hagan's revealing profile of Norville last March? "From the start, Ms. Norville was a curious choice to host her own nightly show. And MSNBC insiders have been growling," he wrote. When Rick Kaplan first met with her, he "asked if she could crack the anchor façade and start unleashing more of the real Deborah Norville."

> "That's a load of crap about Norville's personality," an e-mailer says. "She has it. But MSNBC made a mistake in hiring her because of her Inside Edition contract which kept her MSNBC show from being relevant when it needed to be. That's not Norville's fault. It's Sorenson's. Yes, even nearly a year after he got kicked upstairs, MSNBC is still suffering from the mismanagement of Erik Sorenson."

> Joann writes in: "Is anyone really shocked that Deborah Norville's show didn't work out on MSNBC? Did it even have a chance? It was totally out of sync with its competition, and literally out of context with the other, more political and news-oriented programs that surrounded it in MSNBC's lineup."

Only on TVNewser: Deborah Norville's MSNBC disaster premiered on January 21, 2004.

By January 21 of 2005, it may be over.

MSNBC is talking to a "well known" TV personality with hard news credentials to replace Norville and save the network's 9pm timeslot, a source told TVNewser on condition of anonymity. The contract could be signed by the end of the year.

"Norville won't be around for too much longer," the insider said. "She's dragging down the whole primetime" -- literally. While the ratings for Hardball, Countdown and Scarborough Country are improving, Norville's are not; and MSNBC's primetime average is suffering as a result.

Norville's show was cut back from five days to three days a week before the election, and Hardball has continued to air on Wednesdays and Fridays. Two weeks ago, the Norville show's director started "training" on Hardball. "He is a major figure at MSNBC, and you don't move him around needlessly," another source said. Apparently management wants to keep him around, post-Norville.

So what's the CV in Secaucus? Norville's personality didn't shine in at 9pm -- Prime time is all about passion, and she didn't have it.

> January 21: 'Deborah Norville Tonight' premieres

TVWeek readers are getting a kick out of this excerpt from the must-read CNBC/Fox Business Channel story:

Mr. Murdoch recently said the [Fox Business News] channel being planned will offer "more positive programming," which presumably means more upbeat fare than CNBC. Ms. Thomas-Graham told TVWeek that this has an unfortunate connotation. "A news organization needs to be about truth and insight," she said carefully. "We're about the facts. As a viewer, you want business news based on facts. Our on-air people are the best at what they do." A Fox spokesperson responded, "We find it amusing that Pamela Thomas-Graham is waxing philosophical about journalistic integrity. She should really stick to what she does best: Planning launch parties for .1 shows."

Coming this afternoon: What will MSNBC do with Deborah Norville?...

NBC's Matt Lauer and Tim Russert are on a "wish list of outsiders that CBS has considered for successors to Dan Rather," Newsweek reports in today's edition. But "for now, according to senior officials of parent company Viacom, CBS execs have decided to move on to other potential candidates." Did someone leak this -- and if so, why?

> "CBS declined to comment on the Newsweek report," the NY Post says.

> Newsweek's Jonathan Alter: "Goodnight, Dan, Goodnight Tom."

..."Put your head down and do the work, and don't read the many media critics who will be out there with commentary and criticism in the beginning. Your compact is not with them but with the audience." He answers ten questions in this week's Time Magazine...

Drudge, on the radio last night: "I was told that last Monday the preliminary report on the Rather document matter was given to management at CBS. This is before the Rather announcement, and I've got immaculate sources at CBS. So it must not be good. CBS News President Andrew Heyward is now in the bullseye. They can't let too many people go, they don't have that many left." (Johnny Dollar's Place via RatherBiased.com)

LR's Steve Safran's back with a follow-up for Saving MSNBC: Saving CNN! Listen to Jon [Klein], listen to Bonnie [Anderson], focus on the news... Steve also suggests who to hire and who to fire. Check it out...
> Update: Earlier, I thought he meant listen to Jon Stewart.

B&C's J. Max Robins is really, really going to miss Dan Rather. He makes an important point: "It seems a missed opportunity, or lack of imagination that nobody has figured out a truly new, truly vital mass TV news experience. It's sad that Rather's departure from the CBS Evening News comes when that void exists." And he concludes: "No one can replace Dan Rather."

...In his weekly newspaper column. O'Reilly says he believes Rather is liberal, but "holding a political point of view is the right of every American, and it does not entitle people to practice character assassination or deny the presumption of innocence. Dan Rather was slimed. It was disgraceful."
> Update: 2pm: "Is it just me, or is Bill O'Reilly not really talking about Dan Rather in this column?," NRO says. "Anybody else think Bill was thinking about something else when he wrote this? Some recent lawsuit or something?"