25-54 demographic (Live +SD)

• Total day: FNC: 305 | MSNBC: 96 | CNN: 124 | HLN: 263

• Primetime: FNC: 312 | MSNBC: 165 | CNN: 146 | HLN: 273

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ABC’s “Nightline” posted its best Total Viewer ratings since moving to the 12:35 a.m timeslot for the week of May 6.

“Nightline” topped “The Late Late Show” on CBS by +476,000 Total Viewers and “Late Night” on NBC by +11,000 Total Viewers during the second week of the May sweep. “Nightline” was second to “Late Night” in both A25-54 and A18-49 viewers.

The ABC show improved on its prior week performance by +14% in Total Viewers, +4% in A25-54 viewers and +14% in A18-49 viewers.

ABC’s ratings are based on a 25-minute broadcast, while CBS and NBC are based on approximately :50 minutes (prior to the final national commercial break of each program).

• Week of May 6, 2013:

Show	Network	Total Viewers	A25-54	A18-49
Nightline	ABC	1.779M	715K	582K
Late Night	NBC	1.768M	823K	689K
Late Late Show	ABC	1.303M	630K	472K

25-54 demographic (Live +SD)

• Total day: FNC: 329 | MSNBC: 94 | CNN: 123 | HLN: 240

• Primetime: FNC: 407 | MSNBC: 166 | CNN: 153 | HLN: 259

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• ABC News’ latest “Hidden America” report airs Tuesday on “World News.” Diane Sawyer goes inside Strawberry Mansion in Philadelphia, one of the most dangerous schools in the country. In addition to “World News,” Tuesday’s “Nightline” will be entirely devoted to the report.

• CNBC’s latest primetime program, “Crowd Rules,” drew just 47,000 Total Viewers and 12,000 A25-54 viewers in its debut episode Tuesday night. This is CNBC’s latest primetime show: by comparison, the debut of  “Treasure Detectives” drew 279,000 Total Viewers and 62,000 A25-54 viewers, and the debut of “Car Chasers” drew 210,000 and 64,000 viewers, respectively.

• On the “Today” show this morning, the 9 a.m. anchors did their part to follow the UN’s advice to eat more bugs. Spoiler alert: Natalie Morales was not happy. Watch the video after the jump.
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Kurt Davis is joining CBS News as vice president of news services. In his new role, he will oversee CBS’ satellite newsgathering organization, which provides content to the network’s 200 affiliates.

Davis comes to CBS from San Antonio, where he has been executive director of CBS-affiliated KENS for 10 years. He has also worked at local stations in Atlanta, New Orleans and Dallas.

His appointment is effective immediately. He will be based in New York. More in CBS’ official announcement, after the jump. Read more

CBS’ “Face the Nation” was back on top May 12, winning in both Total Viewers and A25-54 viewers. NBC’s “Meet the Press” was second in Total Viewers and ABC’s “This Week” was second in A25-54 viewers.

Compared to the same week last year, Univision’s “Al Punto” grew the most, up +72% in Total Viewers and +56% in the A25-54 demographic. “Fox News Sunday” also grew in both ratings measurements, up +21% and +12%, respectively.

Year-over-year growth was mixed for “Face the Nation,” down -2% in Total Viewers and up +8% in A25-54 viewers, and “This Week,” up +7% and down -6%, respectively. NBC’s “Meet the Press” was down across the board, -5% in Total Viewers and -22% in the demo.

Cable replays of “Fox News Sunday” averaged a combined 2,449,000 Total Viewers and 507,000 viewers in the demo. Rebroadcasts of “Meet the Press” delivered 1,075,000 Total Viewers and 432,000 A25-54 viewers.

“Face the Nation” is based on the first half-hour only, as the full contiguous hour aired in just 66% of the country.

The numbers for May 12:

President Obama and Turkish Prime Minster Erdogan are taking questions from reporters at a joint press conference at the White House this afternoon. NBC, CBS, ABC, MSNBC, CNN and Fox News are all carrying the presser, which started 48 minutes late. The sun in the Rose Garden turned to light rain while the press corps was waiting.

“This will be incentive for the press to ask concise questions and us to give concise answers,” Obama said.

The first question went to Julianna Goldman of Bloomberg TV, who asked Obama about the IRS scandal and Erdogan about Turkish relations with Israel.

Second question goes to a Turkish reporter, who asked both the President and Prime Minister about Syria.

Third question goes to Jeff Mason of Reuters, who asked about the DOJ seizing AP phone records.

Last question goes to a Turkish TV reporter, who asked about a timeline for Syrian President Assad’s removal.

25-54 demographic (Live +SD)

• Total day: FNC: 305 | MSNBC: 86 | CNN: 141 | HLN: 133

• Primetime: FNC: 336 | MSNBC: 123 | CNN: 179 | HLN: 150

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As Barbara Walters gears up for her retirement next year, television critics are beginning to weigh in on the legacy she leaves behind in television. The New York Times’ Alessandra Stanley calls Walters “television personified”:

Intuitively, knowingly or just luckily, Ms. Walters has moved — and is moving — in concert with tastes and audiences and real influence. She defected from nighttime to daytime just as many viewers were doing the same … And now, as more and more viewers leave broadcast television altogether, so does she.

Salon’s Mary Elizabeth Williams praises Walters for being first in “nearly everything about women in television news”:

And if television news is still frequently a hollow, sexist echo chamber, don’t blame Barbara. She showed everything that’s possible for a woman of brains and ambition in an industry that has little use for women with either.

Williams’ Salon colleague Alex Pareene takes the opposing viewpoint, calling Walters’ career “an extended exercise in sycophancy and unalloyed power worship”: Read more

Former NBC and CBS correspondent Ed Gordon is the subject of Mediabistro’s latest “So What Do You Do?” interview. Gordon, the host of a nationally-syndicated radio show as well as an interview series on NBC O&Os, offered some advice about navigating “exclusive” interviews in today’s media landscape:

Well, it’s not as easy as it used to be in what I call the “old days.” I mean, it used to be that you got an exclusive and it was exclusive, and you were the only one who could talk to that person for, let’s say, at least a week, or a month, or during that period. Now, it’s very hard to get an exclusive interview because people just don’t believe in talking to one person. They’ll talk to you, and then Dr. Phil and Entertainment Tonight and everybody else. So, I think what you want to shoot for is getting someone to talk to you in a way they don’t talk to everyone else.