After being sidelined for more than a week by "special reports," Deborah Norville briefly returned to the 9pm timeslot on MSNBC Thursday night, before saying goodbye on the final edition of her ratings-challenged show. The program premiered 51 weeks ago. On Thursday it featured several NBC correspondents who shared stories from the tsunami stricken region in Asia. Here's her goodbye:

"Tonight marks my last night here on Deborah Norville Tonight. As 2004 drew to a close, I -- as probably many of you did -- took stock of my life and realized that two jobs, three kids and all the juggling that entailed was simply too much. I would come home from this studio to find my family asleep, my ten year old's homework carefully laid across my bedroom doorway for mommy to check. Daddy was there, but some things only mommy can do. That's no way to parent. And I can tell you, while I will miss our nightly opportunity to talk about the day's big events...I wish relish more talking about the tiny events of the day in my own family's life."

Images from some of her DNT interviews floated across the screen.

She continued: "...You kept us honest with your e-mails, gave us feedback we needed to hear, and let us know that most nights you liked our efforts to put smart conversation on TV, without the shotuing that seems increasingly a part of the cable world. To the bosses at MSNBC and NBC, you've been great. To the team here in the studio and in the production offices who've made [DNT] happen, you are so smart! You challenged me everyday. You will continue to do great programs in this time slot. And to the viewers: You matter. At a time when our nation and our world faces such huge issues, your involvement is critical. Stay interested and keep us informed. It keeps 'em honest."

"I'm still doing my day job," she concluded. "So I'll see you over on the broadcast side. Until then, the best to you all. Thanks for watching. And good night."

> A video clip of Deb's sign-off (WMV)

> "I don't know what to think about it," an e-mailer says. "On the one hand, it was direct, well-meaning and high-minded. On the other, it was so middle-western pure and goody-goody it made me a little queasy."

> Was Deb's comment about "shouting" on cable a dig at the person who's expected to take over her timeslot?

On Thursday's show, Paul Begala defended Crossfire from the "Manhattan media mandarins" who have been bashing the show recently. He says he regrets not shouting louder during the build-up to war:

BEGALA: I mean, well, speaking of which, now that the fruitless search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has concluded, I think we ought to ask whether the major media abetted President Bush's rush to war. Coverage of WMD claims was, in my opinion, often too uncritical and too reliant on administration officials and shady Iraqi dissidents. But there was one place in the major media where the very premise of the invasion was questioned every single day. That place was CROSSFIRE. James Carville and I spoke out from the left, Bob Novak and Tucker Carlson from the right. Now, I know it's become fashionable among the Manhattan media mandarins to bash CROSSFIRE. Big shots say that, well, we're nothing but five-second sound bites. But you know what? We served a plate full of healthy skepticism about Mr. Bush's war claims every day before the shooting began. Elites say that we shout too much. Well, sure, we raised our voices. We also raised tough questions. I only wish those whose sensibilities were so offended by a shout show were equally offended about being used as lapdogs for a march to war. As for me, my only regret is that I didn't shout louder. NOVAK: Well, what we had on this program, Paul, was people talking about different views, but critical views, all of us, about the situation in Iraq, whether we should go to war. And I think it was -- it was the kind of comments on the war that you couldn't find anywhere on this network or other networks. BEGALA: I agree. And "The New York Times" has apologized for their lack of coverage, as they should. Good for them. We don't have anything to apologize for on CROSSFIRE.

> An e-mailer who was in the audience said the audience was surprised to see radio talk show host Michael Graham on the show. Before going to air, Graham "commented that the show was being cancelled." Begala responded: 'What? Do you think Dick Cheney is going to come on this show?' Of course, that quote was from memory, but it scored big with audience laughs."

USA Today founder Al Neuharth says "this low point" of Dan Rather's career "likely will haunt him forever, unless...Unless he quits the anchor's chair now, gives up any thought of continuing on 60 Minutes and helps his former co-workers who took the fall for his fumbling the ball find new jobs."(Via The Media Drop)

Fox News Channel promoted Bill Shine to Senior Vice President, Programming, the network announced today. "In this capacity he will oversee all programming and production for the network and will report directly to [Roger] Ailes," the press release says. Shine will replace Kevin Magee, who was appointed the Senior Vice President of Fox News Radio last week.

In an conversation with TVNewser this afternoon, Shine said Fox will continue its successful programming strategy. "Every hour we have is beating every other news channel, so I wouldn't expect any wholesale changes to our programming," he said. "But with that said, in any business, there's always areas for improvement, so we're going to continue to look for areas to improve."

Shine has served as Vice President of Production since 2003. He has been with the network since 1996, when he was a producer for Hannity & Colmes. In his new position, Shine will be working with shows, talent, and future programming projects.

> Also: When asked if the recent executive staff shuffle has been in preparation for a future Fox business news channel, Shine said: "I wouldn't say that, no. I don't know anything about a business channel. I'm just working on the news channel."

> Dec. 6: "It's 100 variables that make a good TV show..."

My suggestion thst MSNBC was "nipping on CNN's heels" in the primetime 25-54 demo seems to have come too soon. Last night Paula Zahn Now averaged 289,000 viewers in the demo, while Countdown had only 64,000. (In fact, Paula's P25-54 number was higher than MSNBC's overall 8pm viewership number of 288,000.)

Here are the rest of Wednesday's numbers. FNC had (at least) the top five shows, of course. CNN's NewsNight special delivered an above-average number. Show-by-show numbers, in total viewers:

> FNC Hume: 1,375,000 / Shep: 1,321,000 / O'Reilly: 2,514,000 / H&C: 1,900,000 / Greta: 1,295,000

> CNN: Zahn: 550,000 / King: 1,041,000 / Brown: 913,000

> MSNBC: Olbermann: 288,000 / 9pm special: 277,000 / Scarborough: 336,000

> CNBC: Scratches across the board: Conan 7pm: 71,000 / The Apprentice: 100,000 / Dennis Miller: 107,000

In primetime, in the 25-54 demo, FNC averaged 633,000 viewers, while CNN delivered 258,000 and MSNBC had 87,000. Here are some total viewers averages:

> Total viewers, total day: FNC: 869,000 / CNN: 450,000 / MSNBC: 232,000

> Total viewers, primetime: FNC: 1,903,000 / CNN: 892,000 / MSNBC: 300,000

A few interesting snippets from CNN News Group President Jim Walton, from the transcript of yesterday's CNN presentation at the TCA press tour:

> "While CNN/U.S. would like to have the ratings of Fox News, Fox News would like to have the reach and revenue of CNN, the three R's."

> "Jon Klein has some very, very strong plans on ways to grow the ratings for CNN/U.S."

> "We have some big broadband plans which we're going to roll out in the late spring or early summer for our Web site."

> "We won on CNN/U.S. more journalism awards than all of the other domestic cable news networks combined. We spent more money than we have ever spent in our history in 2004, and we also enjoyed our greatest profit growth year over year than anytime in our history, which is a remarkable statement."

Before taking questions at the TCA press tour yesterday, CNN/U.S. prez Jon Klein anticipated the first inquiries:

"If you don't mind, I'll ask the first question which is, 'Okay, the tsunami is over. Now what?' And I'll also handle the answer if that's okay. The answer is we do more of the same in terms of the kind of gang-tackling and intensive coverage of the big important stories, even though we all know we hope that there is not going to be another story on the level of that awful event out there. The CNN name stands for big, impactful, human storyteling, reliable information about news that matters to you. We did it with the tsunami. We're doing it this week with the western weather...We've been doing it on terror and Homeland Security, and we're going to continue to do that."

(Source: The press tour transcript)

An excerpt from CNN's presentation at the TCA press tour yesterday:

Question: "What do you say to the audience that doesn't want programming from Headline News?"

Jautz: "We will continue -- we will maintain the Headline's format throughout most of the day up to primetime and throughout the entire weekend. So this is a matter of changing the format in primetime only. However, we will -- we will maintain the brand promise. We will have a news cut-in each half an hour throughout this primetime block, plus we will have a ticker or a crawl running across the bottom of the screen." One TV critic suggested the programming changes could encourage Fox News to launch a headlines service...

> Also: "This is an entirely new primetime block, the first time ever that 'Headline News' is going for distinctive, in-depth programming in primetime," Jautz said.

Howard Fineman's online column about the "American Mainstream Media Party" has been the subject of countless blog posts and reactions in the last couple of days. Andrew Sullivan called the column "the first crack of self-awareness in the MSM." James Wolcott tore it apart. Howard Kurtz weighed in this morning. Fineman says the feedback from his story has been "surprisingly intense -- because it hit a nerve in the business."

"Timing is everything," Fineman told TVNewser today. "People in our business -- and I include the bloggers in that -- know we are in the midst of a sea change of some kind. I just offered one historical take on the wave hitting the beach now. The piece is obviously a little over the top -- the networks and big papers aren't going away any time soon, and they are holding their own on the web -- but what's the internet for if you can't be a little provocative? One e-mailer told him each paragraph could be the chapter of a book...

CNN is playing with its schedule today. At 1pm, CNN re-aired last night's "Extreme Weather" special edition of NewsNight. The program was great last night, but the "encore presentation" doesn't seem appropriate in the middle of the day. ("It's supposed to be 60 in New York tomorrow," Aaron said; It's 48 right now.) Also, tonight at 8pm, "'Paula Zahn NOW' will be preempted to bring you 'CNN Presents: Reasonable Doubt,'" the Web site says. The documentary first aired on Sunday night.

"2004 should have been a triumphant year for CBS. And it could have served as the beginning of a valedictory lap for Rather," NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik writes in his first Media Circus column on NPR.org. "Yet thanks to the 60 Minutes Wednesday memos scandal, CBS lost its anchor, its moorings and a good chunk of its credibility with the public." Folkenflik answered questions about Memogate in an in-depth Q&A...

It's old news to us, but this cutting-Crossfire story won't die in print. Quotes from Klein, as reported in the newspapers this morning:

> NY Daily News: "Jeez, it's been 22 years. Surely we can think of something else."

> Variety: "We've got a phenomenal team in Washington; we plan to throw open the time period and lay down the challenge to find the next way to talk to the public about politics."

> San Bernardino Sun: "CNN is up for a lot of challenges. We want to think of the next way to talk to the public about the issues, and I'm confident we can find that way. 'Crossfire' has been on for 22 years -- the electorate has changed in the past 20 years, but 'Crossfire' hadn't."

...And a quote from Walton, in the Hollywood Reporter: "We're not going to try to pull the wool over anyone's eyes, but it wasn't doing well from a ratings standpoint. We thought we could do better."

"Anderson Cooper is being groomed as the new face of CNN," Gail Shister reports this morning. "Nobody's talking publicly, but new CNN/U.S. boss Jonathan Klein is quietly exploring ways to significantly raise the profile of the silver-haired newsman, according to newsroom sources. One scenario: Expanding the 7 p.m. weekday Anderson Cooper 360 to two hours, using 8 p.m. host Paula Zahn as a presence in the second hour. Another: Moving Cooper to NewsNight's 10 p.m. slot and relocating Aaron Brown to another part of the day."

Matt Zoller Seitz is skeptical about the coming changes: "CNN Headline News unveiled a new primetime lineup...that looks suspiciously like something that might air on MSNBC or Fox," he writes. "While the ratings value of both shows is obvious (show biz and crime programs draw bigger, younger audiences than an eclectic mix of hard news pieces), their presence on the schedule confirms that CNN is still chasing Fox's ratings shadow while pretending to do no such thing."

> Also: "We are looking not to imitate but to innovate," Klein told reporters.

Headline Prime, overall:

> USA Today notes that "Only Prime News Tonight will be live in both time zones," since the legal and entertainment shows will reair from 10pm to midnight ET.

> "Every half hour, there will be a break for news updates. A news ticker will also run along the bottom of the screen during the three-hour block," B&C notes.

> Digital Spy calls it "the most radical change on the channel since its revamp in August 2001."

> Duh: "Most people know the main developments of the day and they're interested in something" more in-depth in the evening, Ken Jautz said (Via the AP)

> TV Week: "Walton defended the new shows against accusations that the entertainment and courtroom shows represented a watering down of the channel's news content."

"Showbiz Tonight:"

> "Have you noticed that "Showbiz Tonight" is up against ET, Access Hollywood and Insider in many east coast markets during the 7:00 hour?," an e-mailer asks. "Food for thought..."

> AJHammer.com calls it "television's only live, one-hour, prime time entertainment news show."

> Ken Jautz promises the show won't focus on celebrity fluff: "Whatever the subject matter, we would cover news in a journalistic manner," he tells Robert Bianco.

"Nancy Grace:"

> Wendy Walker Whitworth, the senior executive producer of "Nancy Grace," has been Larry King Live's executive producer for 11 years...

> > Back in December 2003, Nancy Grace told Joe Hagan that she wouldn't even consider any offers from CNN, and added that "I miss the courtroom." A must-read, in retrospect...

> "Some Court TV and MSNBC Abrams Report staffers turned down offers to work on Nancy Grace's show on HLN," an anonymous tipster says.

> There are two AP photos of Grace at the press conference.

Variety's headline is "CNN flips formats:" Jim Walton told TV critics on Wednesday "that CNN and Headline News would be programmed as if they were one channel to reduce competition and create additional viewer choices between the channels." "They will be complementary; so if there is a talk show on Headline News, there will be newscasts on CNN," Walton said.

> Speculation: The 7 and 8pm HLN news shows will be "soft," so will Cooper and Zahn go "hard? "Walton declined to say if Cooper and Zahn would remain in those timeslots or how the changes would impact those shows," Variety says.

The best headline ("Ripped From the Headlines") and lead paragraph about the Headline News changes comes from the Washington Post: "CNN Headline News is gutting its headline news format in prime time in favor of live one-hour shows starring two former veejays on MTV networks and Nancy Grace, that kind-of-scary, cliche-spewing former violent-crimes prosecutor," Lisa de Moraes says...

> Also: "Some TV critics here at Winter Press Tour 2005 didn't seem to like the idea much, arguing it was mucking around with the Headline News brand."

I'm not sure what Tina Brown is trying to say in her Washington Post column about television anchormen. But that's okay: She says Dan Rather "comes off in the report as an empty trench coat," and this passage is worth excerpting:

"There has been so much hype over the years about Dan's gritty journalism chops, so much "I'm just a reporter" misplaced modesty, so much implied green eyeshade in that screen credit of his -- not just host or anchor of the CBS Evening News but managing editor -- that everyone bought into it, him included. So he compounded the damage by insisting for 12 days on the accuracy of "his" story...

"It's simply not humanly possible to do properly all the things that Dan does so well and be an investigative sleuth, too," Tina concludes...

In Thursday's Wall Street Journal, Peggy Noonan says "the Rathergate Report is a watershed event in American journalism not because it changes things on its own but because it makes unavoidably clear a change that has already occurred."

She says the "monopoly" is gone, and that the MSM will "evolve:" "Some media organs--Newsweek, Time, the New York Times -- will likely use the changing environment as license to be what they are: liberal, only more so. Interestingly they have begun to use Fox News Channel as their rationale. We used to be unbiased but then Fox came along with its conservative propaganda so now just to be fair and compete we're going liberal." More...

From Wednesday's Factor Talking Points: "Yesterday an analyst from MSNBC blamed part of the CBS fiasco on a Fox News executive. Now we're used to this kind of slander, as MSNBC is a ratings catastrophe, and desperate people say desperate things. We usually ignore them, with the exception of Lester Holt, who is an honest reporter. But then this morning the Los Angeles Times editorializes..." O'Reilly then challenged LAT editorial page editor Michael Kinsley to appear on the program.

It appears that O'Reilly was responding to Keith Olbermann's comments on Monday's Countdown. Ignoring the fact that O'Reilly misidentified Olbermann (an anchor, not analyst) and got the date wrong (Monday, not "yesterday"), here's what Olbermann asked Alex Jones: "To some degree, do you think CBS got caught in this here because they had otherwise played within the journalistic rules? I mean if you look at the swift boat ads last summer, full of distortions, some demonstrably untrue content in there. Yet they were run as gospel by many news outlets, even though they were by definition designed to influence the election. But you're not going to see Fox News appointing an independent investigation into its own journalistic ethics or lack there of over those ads." (Transcript) I didn't hear Olbermann blame the CBS fiasco on Fox News... (Via Johnny Dollar's genius)

MSNBC ran a special report entitled "Nature's Fury" at 9pm. The well-produced live program was anchored by Alex Witt, and focused on the mudslides and the tsunami. Then at 10pm, CNN aired a special edition of NewsNight at 10pm, called "Extreme Weather." Brown said a staff member's "simple observation" led to the show: "The weather, all around the globe, seems to have gone nuts." At 11pm, FNC's Bill O'Reilly did not argue about how "stingy" Mother Nature has been with snow in the northeast...

> MSNBC's primetime "Up To The Minute" updates are great. (And I love the graphics!) At first, the bottom of the hour update was called "MSNBC Right Now." It has morphed into a consistent "Up To The Minute" now, though...

> FNC trumpeted its exclusive interview with Colin Powell, with aired on H&C Wednesday night. Larry King will interview Powell on CNN Thursday.

> Brian Williams is taking Nightly News "on the road" for the rest of the week. He anchored from Dallas, Texas on Wednesday. Today he's in Minneapolis-St. Paul, and tomorrow he'll anchor in Pittsburgh. P.R...

> James Wolcott believes a curse "haunts the green room of Topic [A] with Tina Brown."