Well, Geraldo broke the Time Warner barrier. FNC anchor Geraldo Rivera joined Wolf Blitzer in The Situation Room on CNN today to discuss his new book, “His Panic.”

Earlier this month, Rivera was bumped from an appearance on HLN, with the network claiming a scheduling conflict (more than two weeks in advance). At the time, Rivera told the New York Post, “This reveals a corporate insecurity.”

But today, Rivera enjoyed a six-minute, congenial interview with Blitzer. It began by Rivera saying, “Wolf, I’m delighted to be with my old partner.”

Blitzer responded, “Alright we have a long history, that we go back many, many years.” (Trivia question: Which place of employment did Rivera and Blitzer cross paths at, and serve as “partners”?)

Rivera credited his “classic, infamous confrontation” with Bill O’Reilly as the basis for the title of his book.

He also said he’d be proud to vote for any of the remaining three presidential candidates.

> FNC airs a one-hour special on the life of William F. Buckley tomorrow at 10pmET. David Asman hosts the special, which will include his interview with Buckley, one of the last in-depth interviews with the conservative icon before his death. Also included in the special are interviews with more than a dozen conservative voices.

> FishbowlNY writes about the Bailey House’s 20th Annual Auction & Party last night. One of the top bids of the live auction was for a lunch with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, who attended the event, won by two lucky ladies. GMA Weekend anchor Bill Weir was also in attendance.

> Dylan Ratigan anchored Fast Money today on CNBC live from The Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, Florida, before an audience of 700. Former General Electric CEO Jack Welch and NBA star Alonzo Mourning guested. The program re-airs at 8pmET.

25-54 demographic: (L +SD)

Total day: FNC: 262 | CNN: 205 | MSNBC: 135 | HLN: 125

Prime: FNC: 400 | CNN: 343 | MSNBC: 298 | HLN: 154

	5p:	6p:	7p:	8p:	9p:	10p:	11p:
FNC	ElectionHQ:	Hume:	Shep:	O’Reilly:	H&C:	Greta:	O’Reilly:
	157	236	349	441	437	320	334
CNN	Blitzer:	Blitzer:	Dobbs:	Elec.Cent.:	King:	Cooper:	Cooper:
	217	278	280	238	393	398	184
MSNBC	Hardball:	Tucker:	Hardball:	Countdo.:	Abrams:	Investig.:	Special:
	144	152	244	458	234	203	129
HLN	Prime:	Prime:	Beck:	Grace:	Beck:	Grace:	Showbiz:
	79	107	235	144	117	211	167

Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data.

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TVNewser reported yesterday about the 20th Anniversary celebration planned for 48 hours. Today, The New York Observer’s Felix Gillette writes the recap of the event.

The show’s EP, Susan Zirinsky, served as the master of ceremonies for the festivities, and introduced speeches from CBS Chairman Leslie Moonves and CBS News President Sean McManus.

Zirinsky discussed the competition with Gillette. “I admire 60 Minutes. Would I like to do 60 Minutes at some point? Yeah, that’s not going to happen,” she said. “But I feel incredible pride in what we do…I think we’re a lot happier than 60 Minutes.”

Besides the lengthy list of attendees reported yesterday by TVNewser, including Sony Corporation Chairman and 48 Hours creator Sir Howard Stringer and current 60 Minutes and former 48 Hours anchor Lesley Stahl, Gillette reported that CNN/U.S. President Jon Klein was in attendance as well. Klein is a former 48 Hours producer.

• Update: Click continued to see photos from the bash…

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Janet Jackson was Larry King‘s guest last night on CNN for the full hour, and to close the show, King attempted to learn some of Jackson’s dance moves. In the midst of the struggle, King describes himself as “a struggling Jew.” There’s no way to describe this in words, other than to say that the following minute-and-a-half actually happened:

Johnny Dollar noticed that the FNC schedule for Sunday looks noticeably like its weekday schedule.

From 9-11amET, Bill Hemmer and Alisyn Camerota (in for newlywed Megyn Kelly) host America’s Newsroom, with Jon Scott and Jane Skinner following for two hours with Happening Now.

The afternoon looks the same as well, with Martha MacCallum, E.D. Hill and Shepard Smith from 1-4pmET. At 5pmET, America’s Election HQ airs with Hemmer and guest co-host MacCallum, and Smith is back at 7pmET for Fox Report.

Is FNC gearing up early for their coverage of “Super Tuesday II?” (their name, not ours)

The New York Post’s Page Six reports that “tensions are running high” at The Early Show on CBS, since Senior EP Shelley Ross took over in September.

The Post quotes a “veteran producer” who says, “I can’t stand working here anymore. I can’t stand people being humiliated this way.” 21 staff members have left since Ross came to The Early Show, reports the Post.

CBS spokeswoman Kelli Halyard, tells the Post, “Our focus is on continually improving the content of the broadcast, a strategy that seems to be working.”

• Earlier: TVNewser Gail Shister profiles Ross, who says in the column, “People enjoy working with me. They walk out of my office and say, ‘Oh my God, she was so helpful, so nice, and her notes were great on my script.’”

Some Daily Show ribbing from Jon Stewart last night of his guest, NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams. “I’ve never hosted the Oscars, and you were superb,” said Williams. Stewart responded with, “I’ve never hosted a presidential debate, and…..you did.”

Huffington Post’s Rachel Sklar breaks down the Bri-Wi interview:

While reading his viewer emails last night on The O’Reilly Factor, Bill O’Reilly addressed the remarks he made on Wednesday’s show comparing Arianna Huffington to the Nazis.

An emailer named Israel Gopstein wrote, “I lost many members of my family to the Holocaust and the meaning of their deaths means more than a comparison to a meaningless blog.”

O’Reilly responded, “I appreciate your letter very much,” and he stuck to his guns in continuing the analogy. In fact, he got even more specific in his comparison between Huffington Post’s commenters and Huffington herself and the tactics of the Nazis.

Portfolio’s Jeff Bercovici has the response statement from Huffington.

Click continued to see the video of the segment…

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First he got into it with his own boss, now Huffington Post has the story of Lou Dobbs challenging Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein to, what sounds like, an on-air fight. On Tuesday’s Lou Dobbs Tonight, the CNN host launched into a rant against Blankfein for his comments, reported by Liz Smith, about Dobbs.

Smith wrote that Blankfein, “Gave an upbeat view of the United States while chiding CNN boss (Jon) Klein for making the public put up with Lou Dobbs’ endless immigration harangues on TV.”

Dobbs took offense to that characterization, and challenged Blankfein to come on his show, while using words like “partner” and “hotshot.” So far, the offer is still on the table, as Blankfein has not appeared on the program.

Click continued to see the video of the segment…

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