Karyn Bryant and A.J. Hammer will host the new CNN Headline News entertainment program "Showbiz Tonight," TVNewser has learned. CNN will announce the news on Wednesday, alongside confirmation about Nancy Grace's new legal show and a 9pm news hour.

Bryant, a former MTV VJ and movie reporter, has hosted several reality TV shows, including "Junkyard Wars" and "For Love Or Money." She has guest-hosted CNN's Talkback Live in the past. Here's her bio.

Hammer, a former VH1 host and radio personality, hosts the weekly Court TV show Hollywood Heat. He has interviewed musicians and entertainers for "Good Day New York" and served as a special correspondent for "EXTRA" and "E! News Live." Here's his bio.

CNNFan.com first reported the names of the hosts earlier today. The announcement will be made at the TV press tour in Los Angeles tomorrow.

> AJHammer.com: "A.J. is currently in pre-production for his brand new show, set to launch in February. Details will be announced on January 12."

> KarynBryant.com: "Keep your eyes open for Karyn's new show premiering in January 2005! It's still under wraps for now...but stay tuned!"

FNC's Greta Van Susteren and MSNBC's Dan Abrams have something in common: They both interviewed Amber Frey on Monday (with Gloria Allred by her side). But Amber had over ten times the audience on FNC: Greta averaged 1,442,000 viewers, while Dan averaged 126,000.

> I liked MSNBC's idea to take questions from viewers, and pose those questions to Amber. Excerpts are on Sidebar.

> "I watched Matt's interview last week and Dan Abrams' earlier this evening," and "your interview was by far superior," an e-mailer tells Greta on her blog.

...As one insider remarked today. At 8pm on Monday, MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann beat CNN's Paula Zahn Now in the 25-54 demo -- 176,000 to 144,000 viewers -- even though Paula interviewed Moonves, Thornburgh and Boccardi during the hour. Countdown is attracting a lot of coveted 25-54 viewers (relative to its total audience).

During the 8pm hour, though, FNC had a 315% advantage over CNN and a 613% advantage over CNN among total viewers. "Jon Klein must be scratching his head wondering 'Where have all the viewers gone?' as CNN has once again dropped precipitously into a battle with MSNBC for second place," one cable insider said. Some other data to pour over:

In Total viewers:

> Total day: FNC: 948,000 / CNN: 440,000 / MSNBC: 219,000

> Primetime: FNC: 1,816,000 / CNN: 696,000 / MSNBC: 364,000

In the 25-54 demo:

> Total day: FNC: 309,000 / CNN: 133,000 / MSNBC: 78,000

> Primetime: FNC: 447,000 / CNN: 189,000 / MSNBC: 135,000

> Keep an eye on 10pm this year: Greta crushed the competition on Monday, with 1,442,000 viewers, compared to CNN's 609,000 and MSNBC's 427,000. (Paula Zahn subbed for Aaron Brown on NewsNight.)

> Larry King booked the cast of NBC's "The Biggest Loser" on Monday night. "The title must have rubbed off, given his stellar .8 rating," an insider joked...

> NBC: With Brian Williams reporting from Banda Aceh, Indonesia, NBC Nightly News "outperformed ABC and CBS in all categories...'Nightly News' was top-rated for all five nights, averaging 12.118 million total viewers, a whopping 12% (+1,310,000) advantage over ABC 'World News Tonight's' 10.808 million, and a 43% (+3,648,000) lead over CBS 'Evening News'' 8.470 million."

> ABC: WNT "reported its best week in Total Viewers since the week of February 2, 2004 and its best week among Adults 25-54 since the week of March 17, 2003. Despite low coverage on Monday and Tuesday due to College Bowl games, 'World News Tonight' was the only evening newscast to gain viewers (+20,000) in the key demo."

From The New York Times on Sept. 23 (via Powerline):

In an interview on Monday, Mr. Rather said that on learning that Ms. Mapes had obtained the documents, he called Mr. Heyward. "This is not verbatim," Mr. Rather recalled. "But I said: 'Andrew, if true, it's breakthrough stuff. But I need to do something unusual. It may even be unique. I have to ask you to oversee, in a hands-on way, the handling of this story, because this is potentially the kind of thing that will cause great controversy.'

Everyone seems to have forgotten about that quote -- expect for ABC's Note, which wondered this morning why the passage is virtually out "of the papers entirely" and out "of the minds of those at CBS."

"What happened to my '60 Minutes?,'" this critic asks. "This crown jewel of CBS News programming used to be essential television." But, he says, "'60 Minutes' has fallen in love with celebrities" -- and "misplaced its backbone and its teeth" in the process...

> Also: On 360 last night, Anderson Cooper announced "in the interest of full idsclosure" that he's currently working on a story for 60 Minutes Wed., confirming Gail Shister's scoop last month. Who wants to bet that it is a celebrity profile?

> Update: Forget that bet. An e-mail forwards a link to this Word document, which describes the story Cooper is preparing for 60 Minutes...

Now this is transparency: Jay Rosen has a recommendation for CBS:

A simple example of a different approach: Sixty Minutes publishes on the Internet (as transcript and video) the full interviews from which each segment that airs is made. All interviews, every frame. Even the interviews that were not used. Producers and correspondents would instantly become more accountable for these interviews and the selections made from them. And in my view that would strengthen the journalism, make for better work; it would also be a revolution in accountability. CBS would be creating more value by publishing more source material, although it would also be more open to criticism and scrutiny.

Read his full essay...

Murdoch's New York Post analyzes the Rather replacement decision: "The network could look outside for a new image." And it could be a woman: The Post floats ABC's Kate Snow and PBS' Margaret Warner as possibilities. Obviously: "Image experts and headhunters think Moonves needs to make sure the new anchor is deeply rooted in hard news, and not associated with talk-show fluff or taking sides."

> Moonves' "next move -- choosing a successor for Mr. Rather -- will be intensely watched both inside and outside CBS," the NY Times says, obviously.

The panel's findings have "already caused damage to third-place CBS 'Evening News' ratings, driving down its appeal to advertisers," the Washington Post says. But the NY Post reports that "advertisers don't seem likely to flee its lineup." Who's right? Read both stories and figure it out...

List of newspaper stories updated: 9:50am. Add an article by e-mailing tvnewser@mediabistro.com or sending the URL via the tip box.

> New York Times: Many CBS News employees expressed "bewilderment that so much had gone so wrong in their midst. Meeting in small groups with supervisors, they debated the merits of various decisions -- including the retention of Mr. Heyward -- and vowed to continue to pursue the kind of aggressive investigative reporting that had long been the network's trademark, albeit through new layers of scrutiny." Also: Josh Howard and Mary Murphy were both said "to be stunned by the decision to force them to resign because they had told colleagues in recent weeks that they expected to survive."

> Newsday: "The 224-page bombshell ended four high-profile careers at the news division and badly tarnished the reputation of one of TV's legendary newsmen. Some staffers were asking how news division president Andrew Heyward preserved his job."

> Chicago Tribune/KRT: "It's one of the saddest days in the history of CBS," said one producer who asked not to be named. "There's a lot of bitter feelings. Most people felt that they shouldn't have been dealt with so harshly. If Mary Mapes did as the report alleges, then she pulled the wool over their eyes. If Mary Mapes and Dan Rather say, 'We think we've got the story,' what do you do? You trust them."

> USA Today: "It was quiet along 60 Minutes row Monday..."It's a sad day" is all [Mike] Wallace would say...So it was left to Andy Rooney, the 85-year-old 60 Minutes commentator, to weigh in. "The people on the front lines got fired while the people most instrumental in getting the broadcast on escaped," Rooney said."

> Washington Post: "Moonves said he was 'shocked' to learn that Mapes was allowed to do the follow-up reporting. 'Not only did CBS circle the wagons, they let people who were driving the wagons do the circling,' said Deborah Potter..."

> Washington Times: "It is time for CBS to take the responsible step and formally retract the story. Certainly President Bush, after four months, deserves an on-air retraction," House Majority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri said.

> Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: A quote from TV prof Robert Thompson: "I'm not out to get Dan Rather. I think he's done some wonderful stuff. He's an important figure in the history of American journalism. But 'Dan was pushed to the limit' is not an excuse for what was done in running with a story like this."

> Los Angeles Times: "Many observers were stunned by the harshness of the panel's report...'It's the sharpest criticism any news organization has ever been subjected to in public,' said Marvin Kalb, a former CBS correspondent..."

> Baltimore Sun: "At a staff meeting yesterday, Heyward promised to meet 'with as many of you as possible' to discuss how CBS News 'can emerge from this ordeal as an even stronger news organization.'"

> Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: "'This story was a political hatchet job, based on forged documents, and it was broadcast to the American public because of the liberal bias entrenched at CBS,' wrote L. Brent Bozell, president of the conservative Media Research Center, in a statement."

> Boston Globe: "The verdict on Rather, who has often been a lightning rod for conservative critics, was mixed...'He asked the right questions initially, but then made the same errors of credulity and over-enthusiasm that beset many of his colleagues,' Moonves said."

> Bill Carter, New York Times: "'We have no juice,' [a production staff member says]. 'We're a dying business, and this didn't help us. Some people feel like CBS News could be out of business in five years.' That is not a position Mr. Moonves agrees with..."

> Verne Day, Newsday: "The import [of the report] is that the heart and soul of CBS News had no clue what was going on, and had put his trust in those who did not deserve it. In the end, it may have been this cluelessness that exonerated him, but it may also be this misbegotten image that dogs him to the day he finally exits stage right in March."

> Eric Boehlert, Salon: "What still remains a puzzle is exactly why either Mapes or her CBS colleagues felt pushed to rush the story on the air..."

> Ed Bark, Dallas Morning News: "CBS News has been down this road before, with a strikingly similar outcome in terms of who walked the plank and who stayed on board. The network found itself on the receiving end of a $120 million libel suit...CBS launched an independent internal investigation -– as it did with the National Guard story -– and eventually concluded that the report was seriously flawed. The principal correspondent on the piece, Mike Wallace, remains at CBS News. But its producer, George Crile, was chastised and fired...

> Tim Rutten, Los Angeles Times: "Their best efforts and good intentions notwithstanding, CBS' investigators failed to answer the most serious and damaging question raised by this affair."

> Tim Goodman, San Francisco Chronicle: "Some inside CBS News may see this as a case where all the assistants were fired but the head coach survived." He calls Mapes "Typhoid Mary:" "And though you may forget her in mere minutes, at CBS News she'll go down in infamy. Everybody else is collateral damage in the scandal.

> Cal Thomas, Town Hall: "CBS sees no bias, hears no bias and speaks no bias. End of story. But the public sees it, which is one reason why CBS News remains dead last in the ratings."

> Howard Kurtz and Dana Milbank, Washington Post: "Although the panel's report found no political bias by anyone at CBS, it was clearly a setback for the mainstream media against an administration that has often stiff-armed or ignored journalists, who Bush calls an unreliable 'filter' between him and the public."

> David Blum, New York Sun: Heyward and Rather "should have resigned...It's impossible to read yesterday's report without feeling that had Mr. Heyward or Mr. Rather functioned as their job descriptions demanded -- as aggressive, tough leaders with an unwavering commitment to accuracy -- the crisis that cost four good journalists their jobs yesterday might never have happened. For that leadership failure, Messrs. Heyward and Rather bear full responsibility."

> Michael Goodwin, NY Daily News: "What's even more true is that Dan Rather has only one agenda. It's not for facts or accuracy and certainly not for truth. It's for Dan Rather. It's time for him to fade to black."

> James Pinkerton, Newsday: "Blogs 1, CBS 0. Or, to put it another way, CBS is down four employees - although it should be down a few more."

> Hal Boedeker, Orlando Sentinel: "The network's efforts to overcome the public-relations fiasco, which unfolded during the 2004 presidential campaign, may have backfired. Journalism experts questioned the report's thoroughness and the way it dealt with anchor Dan Rather and CBS News President Andrew Heyward..."

> Tom Dorsey, Louisville Courier-Journal: "The lesson that every journalist can learn from the incident is an old one: If in doubt, leave it out."

> Dallas Morning News: "We will never know what would have happened in last fall's election had bloggers not torn the story to shreds in short order, leading to the exposure of the arrogance and contempt for fairness and journalistic standards detailed in yesterday's 224-page report. Mr. Rather's story might well have turned the election. It is possible that bloggers, who have now toppled some pretty formidable old-media Goliaths at CBS, changed history."

> USA Today: The report is "a reminder of how vulnerable all news organizations are if they let their standards slip, and how carefully they need to listen when the accuracy of their work is questioned."

> Indianapolis Star: "Restoring the network's credibility, however, will take more than a few dismissals...Trust has been broken. Restoring it will require a fresh commitment to standards, a willingness to listen to critics and a clear declaration that accuracy and fairness must never be slighted."

> Arizona Republic: "Even for the panelists...assessing the worst CBS sin was a tough business. Was it the decision to air the original, embarrassingly shoddy report? Or was it the Nixonian follow-up, which arrogantly bashed critics and refused to acknowledge the obvious? As usual, the cover-up is what ultimately gets people fired. In this case, four CBS News staff members were fired Monday."

> Washington Times: "The panel's refusal to connect liberal bias to CBS News' campaign to bring down a sitting president renders their report unsatisfactory...Politics had everything to do with it."

> New York Post: "CBS got what it most wanted -- absolution on the charge of a political motive, despite compelling evidence to the contrary. In that respect, the report will fool no one who doesn't want to be fooled. That's a pity, because the truth would have helped restore CBS' credibility, and that of the mainstream media as a whole. Maybe next time."

> NY Daily News: "Moonves then overlooks the fact that Heyward let his underlings ignore him and allowed them to run amok, broadcasting falsehoods for five days, after the rest of the media not only smelled a rat but presented it to CBS on a platter."

On Monday afternoon Matt Drudge said Les Moonves was close to naming Rather's replacement. But here's what Moonves told the NY Times: "I'm no closer to a decision on that than I was when Dan made the announcement in November that he was stepping down."

"We're not even close to a decision," Moonves told the LA Times. "There's no news on that," he added. Drudge has pulled the item off his site. Meanwhile, here are interesting comments about Bob Schieffer on TVSpy:

> "Not to start rumors or anything, but it seems significant that Bob Schieffer is anchoring the CBS Evening News on the night when the lead story is the report blasting Rather's Bush/Guard story is released."

> "They chose the person most unlikely to take Dan Rather's place to substitute for the Dan."

> "I actually like the idea of asking Schieffer to replace Rather on an 'interim' basis...CBS badly needs a familiar and trustworthy face to right its ship."

Confirming last month's TVNewser scoop, the The Hollywood Reporter's sources say Nancy Grace's new Headline News show will be announced at the TV Press Tour on Wednesday morning.

> Also: Variety says that "the eagerness of Court TV to share the services of Nancy Grace, one of its top anchors, with CNN Headline News has reignited reports that Time Warner will take sole ownership of Court TV."

MSNBC introduced new primetime news updates on Monday night. The 30-second "Up To The Minute" cut-ins occur at :15 and :45, while a 60-second "MSNBC Right Now" update takes place at the bottom of the hour. It seems the network is reinforcing its "fresh headlines" promotion. Interestingly, the cut-ins are not being done with the flashcam, but from the main newsroom...

> What's happening to Conan on CNBC? O'Brien scratched big-time on Friday: Only 12,000 adults in the 25-54 demo bothered to tune in. "This was the lowest rating for Conan since the program premiered on CNBC last November 15," an insider says...

> E! Online: "The devastating southern Asian tsunami has brought George Clooney and Bill O'Reilly back together. For another war of words." TV Week has details...

> Amber Frey made the rounds again today, appearing with Greta Van Susteren on FNC and Dan Abrams on MSNBC. (Dan interviewed Amber from the Deborah Norville Tonight set.)

> Via Scripting News, here's a helpful list of CNN.com's RSS feeds. There are over a dozen...