Court TV

The AP's David Bauder writes, "...with the new year, Court TV (1991-2007) adjourns." Tomorrow the channel "that burst into public consciousness with the O.J. Simpson trial and other big-name courtroom dramas in the 1990s becomes part of television history."

The network, which is being renamed truTV, will maintain six hours of "legal-oriented material during the day" to be called "In Session." Bauder writes that network execs consulted outside experts to find a new name, even holding an in-house contest for ideas. Some 5,000 suggestions came in.

Frank TV (now a sketch show on TBS) was one popular suggestion as was True Nation, "but truTV tested better with focus groups," Bauder writes.

With the re-branding of CourtTV to truTV less than two weeks away, some changes are already underway. The editor-in-chief of CourtTVNews.com posted a letter to readers about the fate of the site. It is going away.

Now CourtTVnews.com will sit in cyberspace, frozen and unchanging. The fact that the site will not continue does not diminish its accomplishments. Perhaps some day, years from now, someone will do a search on some trial or another, and up will pop a page from CourtTVnews.com. "What is this?" they'll wonder. Then they'll start reading, and think, "Jeez, this is pretty good. Who did this?" We know who did it. That is reward enough.

CourtTV's Ashleigh Banfield talks with mediabistro.com for our So What Do You Do? series. Part of it is excerpted below. TVNewser contributor Diane Clehane asked the former MSNBC anchor and NBC News correspondent about her undoing at the network:

In the months following 9/11 you were being touted as one of NBC's rising stars. The New York Post even mentioned you as possible successor to Katie Couric. Then, just as quickly, it seemed as if you dropped out of sight. What happened?

The Iraq war started to develop and I gave a very controversial speech at Kansas State [University] about the press's responsibility in covering international affairs. I sent out a cautionary note to all my colleagues covering this conflict and chastened the press corps not to wave the banner and cover warfare in a jingoistic way. It didn't sit well with my employers at NBC — who are no longer there. I think they overacted. I was banished. I sat in the outfield for a long time.

When did you officially leave NBC?

I left in 2004 — a few months after my contract expired. I was very much in the warehouse while my contract petered out.

Looking back on that time, what were the biggest lessons you learned?

On one hand you could say, "Keep your mouth shut while our nation is embroiled in war," but I don't think that was a responsible way to behave. If I have been fortunate enough to have risen to level in this business where people would actually listen to me, then I think I have a duty to convey all truths that I encounter. I felt it was my duty at the time. I was a war correspondent who had seen that the hearts and minds of the Arab world were not that easy to win.

The CourtTV folks have sent along the press kit (skinny Star pictures and all) for the upcoming Star Jones show.

CourtTV writes, Jones's program "will be a live, daily talk show that features the day's top stories and top guests from the worlds of law, news, pop culture & entertainment."

The show premieres August 20, at 3pm ET.

Court TV's offices on the 19th floor of a nearby building were evacuated following the steam pipe explosion in New York City yesterday.

"It was ten to 6:00, we heard a loud explosion. It felt like an earthquake," Adaora Udoji said on CNN last night. "I'm a block down. We're on the 19th floor. And it was shaking, we looked out the window. We saw hundreds and hundreds of people running down Third Avenue."

Star Jones's self-titled daily talk show is just a few weeks away from launching on Court TV (soon to be truTV). The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan was in the crowd for the Sunday morning session of the Television Critics Association press tour in Beverly Hills.

Jones didn't talk much about her new show, or about the topic most reporters seemed to want to know about: her extreme makeover. Turns out Star is saving the good parts for a Glamour article she is writing.

She was also asked about "The View's" roller coaster of a year. "I was a part of an amazing pop culture experience. Barbara Walters gave me the opportunity of lifetime," Reynolds said. "So I'm not going to do anything that damages that warm feeling that I had. I'm not going to pile on."

Court TV made Nancy Grace. But now the network and its star host are going their separate ways.

Grace, now best known for her primetime show on Headline News, said goodbye to Court TV yesterday. She signed off from "Nancy Grace: Closing Arguments" at 5pm...

"After ten wonderful years at Court TV, I have decided to leave the network to focus on my Headline News program and my charitable endeavors," Nancy Grace said in a statement today. "Court TV will always hold a special place in my heart, and I will always look back at my time there with great gratitude and affection."

Sources tell Variety that she "had been considering" this change "for some time."

"Grace's show will continue to air between 3 pm to 5 pm through the summer," the site reports...

A Court TV spokesperson says:

"Nancy Grace has been an invaluable part of the Court TV family for over 10 years. It is with great respect and immeasurable gratitude that we have agreed to let her out of her contract. We wish her all the best as she leaves Court TV to focus on her Headline News program and her many charitable endeavors, and we will continue to count ourselves among her biggest fans."

The changes to Court TV -- most importantly, the end of all-day trial coverage with evening analysis -- is the end of an era, outgoing anchor Catherine Crier says.

In a speech in Florida this week, she said: "They have put up a new evening lineup: a lot of explosions, a lot of car chases, a lot of cops, a lot of beach babes.

It is the passing of an era for me, because I do think, despite a lot of its sensational character, there's been some real substance covered, and I think people have been fascinated about the inner workings of the court system."