Is MSNBC planning to introduce two new entertainment shows in the first week of February? (Is that why they were hiring staff in October?) Will the Saturday show focus on movies, while the Sunday show focuses on general entertainment news? How will the hosting duties be divided between KTLA anchor Sharon Tay and reality show host Claudia Difolco host the new shows (after they join MSNBC next month)? We're just asking...

(By the way, the two shows are "an attempt to increase our viewership on weekends," an MSNBC insider tells TVNewser. Rick Kaplan hopes to expand weekend programming, and apparently two entertainment shows are the first step...)

> "A little birdie familiar with discussions at CBS News tells me that the network suits will announce Dan Rather's replacement the day they release the report into the fake memos," National Review's Kerry Spot says. "I guess the aim is to distract from the bad news by creating two headlines instead of just the bad one."

> "I love reading the bloggers," Lynne Cheney told Campbell Brown on Tuesday's Hardball. "I think it's quite wonderful. It is a real democratization of information..."

> NY Lawyer looks at how one lawyer is "establishing herself on the legal talk circuit."

> MSNBC's Question of the Day is blunt: "Do you think Iraq is on the brink of civil war?" 81% of respondents are saying yes...

Per the NBC News announcement today, what does an "Internet and technology consultant" do? TVNewser asked Jeff Gralnick today, and he said he'll be exploring how "new technologies" could transform traditional reporting:

"Because of my association with the USC Vitebi School of Engineering, I've been able to see a range of 'coming technologies' in the areas of ultra broadband and wireless that have the potential for altering significantly the way we can and will gather and distribute news and information. That will be one long-term area of focus," he said in an e-mail today.

("Gralnick is a six-year member of the Board of Councilors at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering Integrated Media Systems Center," today's press release noted.)

ABC News veteran and former Nightly News EP Jeff Gralnick will serve as an "Internet and Technology Consultant" for NBC News, the network announced today. "Jeff has been instrumental in a number of critical projects within our division over the past two years," Neal Shapiro said in a press release. "As our business plan sharpens the focus on growth and new business initiatives, technology and the internet has become an increasingly important platform for us. Jeff will work with Rick Kaplan at MSNBC and me to maximize our opportunities in this arena." Among Gralnick's long list of accomplishments in TV news: Launching ABCNews.com. A very interesting, but very vague announcement: What is in the works at NBC News and MSNBC?...

For the first time since Gallup began surveying Americans on their cable news watching habits, more viewers get their news from cable news networks than the nightly network news programs. Here's the study. (Register for the free trial -- it's worth it.)

Both cable and network newscasts lost viewers between 2002 and 2004, the survey says, but network newscasts lost more. In 1999, 52% of those surveyed said they got their news from nightly newscasts on ABC, CBS or NBC everyday. In 2002, the number decreased to 43%, and in the December 2004 survey, it dropped to 36%. In 1999, 39% of those surveyed said they got their news from cable news networks everyday. In 2002, the number jumped to 41% -- just below the network newscast number. In 2004, the number dropped slightly to 39%. But despite the decline, the cable percent (39) is higher than the network newscast percent (36).

Gallup's analysis: "The percentage of Americans tuning into the nightly network news has shown a gradual decline since 1995, reaching an all-time low this year." Cable is one of three sources surveyed by Gallup that is more popular now than in the 1990's. "The percentage using cable news networks every day averaged 24% in four polls conducted from 1995 through 1999. Now, 39% say they use cable news on a daily basis."

> Also: Lost Remote's headline for the study: "TV drops, Internet news grows."

> Editor & Publisher: "Americans are more likely to get their news from local TV and newspapers than national sources, according to a Gallup Poll released today. But of all sources, only news on the Internet is gaining in popularity."

Drudge thought he had good dirt this morning:

"TUES NITE NEWS RACE: ABC 7.3 RATING/13 SHARE, NBC 7.2/13"

He was wrong, though. NBC topped ABC last night, like usual. According to household metered markets, NBC earned a 7.2 and ABC scored a 7.1. (CBS did a 5.1 and 9 share.) Close? Yes, but Brian Williams is still on top during this holiday week...

> Update: 11:40am: Drudge has fixed his mistake, without flagging the correction...

Bill O'Reilly defended himself from attacks by "anti-Christmas people" during his Talking Points Memo last night. He calls LA Times columnist Tim Rutten "a vile character assassinator who defames and then hides" and Denver Post columnist Joanne Ostrow "another scribe hiding under her desk, is being dishonest, flat-out dishonest." His conclusion is golden: "The FOX News Channel and its commentators stand in the way of the secular agenda. Demonizing us sends a message to others who may challenge the secular cabal. Do it and we will slime you badly. So that's what's going on. Another vicious battle in the American culture war. Somewhere Jesus is weeping."

After taking an unfair shot at TVNewser, Joe Hagan suggests 2005 could mark "the return of non-ideological news:" "The sheer success of the Drudge-Fox nexus will reach a tipping point in 2005, one in which straight news -- the kind delivered by professionally stodgy newscasters who continue anchoring as though Bill O'Reilly doesn't really exist -- will start to look novel again, even necessary." More...

"Tom Bettag has resumed his duties as executive producer of ABC's "Nightline," but the outlook for the venerable late-night news program remains uncertain," the Washington Times reports. "We have to sing for our supper," Bettag says...

Bill O'Reilly asked Phil Donahue about his former gig at MSNBC during Monday's O'Reilly Factor.

"So you think you got knocked out of there because you were a liberal?," O'Reilly asked. "I believe it was a political decision," Donahue said. Full transcript after the jump...O'REILLY: You were over on MSNBC, our cable competitor, and I liked you over there. I thought, look, here's Donahue, he's a liberal guy, he's got a point of view, he's not shy. It's like O'Reilly. You know, I mean - - but he's got a different look at the world. They whipped you off the air. They took you off the air.
Now the guy that replaced you on Friday three days ago did the lowest rating I think in the history of that time slot. He's failed across the board. You had, I think, twice as many people watching. Why do they get rid of you and put this guy in?
DONAHUE: I don't know. You know, I'll be -- first, we've got to fix this war. We've got to bring the guys home.
O'REILLY: OK. I want to talk about you. You've said what you said.
DONAHUE: Yes, but I don't want -- look, we've got guys dying over there, and Phil Donahue's at home talking to O'Reilly, oh, they fired me.
O'REILLY: But maybe if you -- maybe if you were on the air...
DONAHUE: I believe that if I had been as passionately for the war as I was against it, I'd still be on the air.
O'REILLY: Really?
DONAHUE: I believe that.
O'REILLY: So you think you got knocked out of there because you were a liberal?
DONAHUE: I believe it was a political decision. I think our numbers allowed us -- and, by the way, an awful lot of nice people put this show on the air. They were smart. They talked back. They were talented.
DONAHUE: I believe it was a political decision. I think our numbers allowed us -- and, by the way, an awful lot of nice people put this show on the air. They were smart. They talked back. They were talented.
O'REILLY: But that's interesting.
DONAHUE: And now here we are. It looks like...
O'REILLY: But most people think it's a liberal media, and you're telling me you got booted because you were a liberal.

Continue reading "O'Reilly Talks About Donahue's Old MSNBC Show"