Her boss, CNN Worldwide EVP Ken Jautz, is a little more specific. “She has a strong point of view, she’s an excellent conversationalist,” he says. “She’s a genuine star.”

The Joy Behar Show debuts tomorrow at 9pmET, part of a primetime lineup dominated by women hosts (think Nancy Grace and Jane Velez-Mitchell) who provide HLN with what Jautz calls “point-of-view programming.”

Opinion, Jautz says, positions the 27 year-old HLN as “something different from CNN” in order to attract “different audience niches.” He’s confident that HLN’s ratings growth — its average of 597,000 prime time viewers this year has more than tripled since 2004, a boost greater than “we had dared hope for”, says Jautz — has not drawn viewers away from its sister cabler. Jautz cites internal research showing “little overlap” among those who watch the two networks.

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And some of the negative reaction came from the African American community. Advertising Age’s Pepper Miller wrote earlier this month, “As it stands now, none of this works for D.L., the CNN brand or the Black community.” But she did have a suggestion: “CNN should keep D.L. I say get a newsy format but allow D.L. to be his authentic self. He’s hot, engaging, raw and relevant when he’s sharing his opinions one-on-one or in a group discussion.”

“If you get what I’m doing and dig what I’m doing, keep watching,” Hughley tells TVNewser. “If not, I hope you check it out and watch us evolve.

“I’m three weeks into this thing. Before people judge me too harshly I’d like a chance to develop and see what it is we turn it into.”

A tipster tells us there are rumblings Hughley is not happy with the state of the show, and that the “relationship with CNN isn’t quite what he expected.”

Hughley calls talk of unhappiness the “silliest thing I’ve ever heard” — although the reason may be because of the unexpected nature of the partnership.

“I don’t have an office, I don’t have craft services I don’t have a writers room, but I’ve never had more fun,” he says. “Never.”

He says the idea of leaving the show is “like leaving a party to go check out another party.”

“I think we’re breaking convention,” he says. “It’s an idea that I would have never conceived of. But it is a seamless transition.”

Hughley says he recently got a call from CNN/U.S. president Jon Klein saying how “great we’re doing.” Last week’s program was the 2nd highest-rated prime time show in the A25-54 demo.

Click continued to see a segment from last night’s show — a discussion with Republican strategist Bay Buchanan…

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