New CBS News morning VP Steve Friedman says he feels a new companywide commitment to compete with NBC and ABC in the A.M. In a TV Guide Q&A, he also says:

TVGuide.com: You’ve been out of morning TV for four years. Do you think it’s changed over that time? Friedman: Yes. I think the segments are quicker. There are more people on the set, not only at our place, but at the other two. I think the signature element in the ’80s was taking trips, in the ’90s it was the studios. I don’t think there has been a signature moment for morning television in this decade. I think it’s our job to figure out what that is and to try to make it ours. I think morning TV has always been about the people who are on the air, and I don’t see any change in that. TVGuide.com: How long do you look at The Early Show before you make a move to change things? Friedman: I think it depends what the move is. There will be moves quickly from what I call a production point of view. What is on, where the commercials run, that kind of thing. That will be sooner. Overall, it’s going to take some time before I figure out exactly what it is we have to do. You really can’t make changes before you understand the ramifications of what you’re doing.

> It’s official: Zain Verjee is moving to D.C. “Verjee will continue as a contributor to CNN’s The Situation Room and will report on other issues around the nation’s capital,” this press release says…

> On FNC this afternoon: In the middle of a DaySide segment with a specialist on sleeping, two children in the audience asked, “Is it true that if you’re having trouble sleeping you should watch CNN or MSNBC?”

> CNN.com is in the middle of its second free preview day for Pipeline. Dr. Sanjay Gupta‘s Fit Nation will air at 5pm…

> CBS Evening News senior producer Jim McGlinchy doesn’t read many blogs, but he checks TVNewser in the morning, Public Eye says…

25-54 demographic:

Total day: FNC: 242 | CNN: 128 | MSNBC: 96 | HLN: 77 | CNBC: 80

Prime: FNC: 444 | CNN: 171 | MSNBC: 115 | HLN: 87 | CNBC: 132

	5p:	6p:	7p:	8p:	9p:	10p:	11p:
FNC	Gibson:	Hume:	Shep:	O’Reilly:	H&C:	Greta:	O’Reilly:
	257	317	342	466	407	459	307
CNN	Blitzer:	Dobbs:	Blitzer:	Zahn:	King:	Cooper:	Cooper:
	150	229	177	126	202	186	155
MSNBC	Hardball:	Abrams:	Hardball:	Countdown:	Cosby:	Scarborough:	Situation:
	99	110	196	145	130	71	72
HLN	Roberts/Choi:		Showbiz:	Grace:	Prime:	Grace:	Showbiz:
	89	71	87	105	83	73	92

Total viewers:

Total day: FNC: 916 | CNN: 465 | MSNBC: 248 | HLN: 205 | CNBC: 237

Prime: FNC: 1,827 | CNN: 768 | MSNBC: 356 | HLN: 300 | CNBC: 266

	5p:	6p:	7p:	8p:	9p:	10p:	11p:
FNC	Gibson:	Hume:	Shep:	O’Reilly:	H&C:	Greta:	O’Reilly:
	1,012	1,372	1,492	2,476	1,407	1,598	1,088
CNN	Blitzer:	Dobbs:	Blitzer:	Zahn:	King:	Cooper:	Cooper:
	631	888	701	570	1,106	627	383
MSNBC	Hardball:	Abrams:	Hardball:	Countdown:	Cosby:	Scarborough:	Situation:
	317	281	478	410	371	288	175
HLN	Roberts/Choi:		Showbiz:	Grace:	Prime:	Grace:	Showbiz:
	218	203	169	382	292	226	155

“The nationally syndicated series ‘The Wall Street Journal Report with Maria Bartiromo‘ is the top-rated financial news program on television, out ranking over 35 programs on CNN and Fox, among others,” NBC trumpets in a press release today. According to Nielsen, the show “ranks #1 of all financial news programs in households, total viewers and all nine key demos (women/men/adults 18-34/18-49/25-54.)”

> 10:04am: When Maria’s program airs on CNBC once a week, it averages just 49,000 viewers…

“A CNN journalist in Paris on Wednesday described as ‘regrettable’ a comparison made by the US chain’s anchor between jobs protests in Paris and the Tiananmen Square uprising in Beijing,” AFP reports.

“‘Unfortunately I have to say that this reference to Tiananmen was regrettable,’ said Chris Burns during a reception with French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy. ‘It was one small comment by a presenter. Apart from that, for anyone watching yesterday’s coverage, it was very detailed and very balanced,’ Burns said.” Kyra Phillips made the remark on CNN Tuesday. Here’s what she said…

The gap between Today and Good Morning America stands at 1.3 million viewers, up from 830,000 last week. “Excluding the Torino games, this was Today’s best lead over GMA since December 5, 2005,” NBC says. For the week of March 20:

Total viewers: 6,200,000 / ABC: 5,000,000 / CBS: 2,900,000

Household rating: NBC: 4.8/16 / ABC: 4.0/13 / CBS: 2.2/7

> Compare to: March 13 / March 6 / Feb. 27 / Feb. 20 / Feb. 13

A tipster writes: “Notice which network newscasts did the Duke Lacrosse team story on Wednesday night. ABC and NBC did. CBS Evening News did not. Then ask yourself, where did the executive producer of CBS Evening News and the president of CBS News go to college?”

> Rome Hartman‘s bio: “Graaduated from Duke University in 1977 with a degree in political science.”

> Sean McManus‘s bio: “A graduate of Duke University (B.A., cum laude, English and history, 1977).”

Quoting today’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Ted Turner “expressed great disappointment with the way news is presented today, with more focus on the ‘pervert of the day’ than on the issues of the environment, nuclear threats and international affairs, which impact the entire world.

‘CNN International still does that to a large degree,’ Turner said. ‘CNN here in the United States has gotten a lot more tabloid. In all fairness, we didn’t have the competition that they have now.’“

Turner also spoke “wistfully of the past.” More…

Yesterday TVNewser reported that the premiere episode of CNBC’s Conversations with Michael Eisner dumped most of its lead-in and scratched in P2+ and the demo. In today’s Los Angeles Times, CNBC spokesperson Kevin Goldman blows off the ratings blow:

“This is a program that is hosted by a former CEO for an audience of high-powered decision makers who aren’t measured by Nielsen,” he says.

Meanwhile, here are a couple more bad reviews. (But they’re probably not “high-powered” enough for CNBC to care.)

> Bloomberg’s review of the premiere: “Walt Disney Co.’s former chairman and chief executive officer provided moments of candour and insight in his first program Tuesday, but there were plenty of rough edges that need to be smoothed out if his hour-long, bimonthly show is going to survive.”

> A CNBC insider says: “Here’s the problem: Nobody in the real world knows or cares who Eisner is. That still would be fine, except that he doesn’t have the kind of personality anyone would watch. He’s pretty self-centered, and is more interested in hearing his own voice and stories than those of his guest.”

“Primetime Live is shifting to Fridays in April so ABC can burn off the remaining episodes of Commander in Chief on Thursday,” a tipster said yesterday.

Today’s WP confirms the schedule change. Geena Davis as President Mackenzie Allen will move to Thursday starting April 13. Primetime will air Fridays at 9pm…