CABLE NEWS RACE NITE OF 8/4/03 (Ratings)

The Drudge Report ^ | 8/4/03

[LdSentinal]

FNC O'REILLY 2.0 [RATING]
FNC HANNITY/COLMES 1.4
FNC GRETA 1.4
FNC SHEP SMITH 1.1
FNC BRIT HUME 0.9
CNN LARRY KING/HOWARD DEAN 0.7
CNN PAULA ZAHN 0.6
CNN AARON BROWN 0.4
MSNBC SCARBOROUGH 0.3
MSNBC ABRAMS 0.3
MSNBC HARDBALL 0.3
MSNBC BUCHANAN/PRESS 0.2
MSNBC OLBERMANN 0.2

[Jabba the Nutt]

Joe Scarborough, a former congressman for Pete's sake, has just started his show and he's already pulling the same numbers as Chris Matthews.

Larry King, CNN's top draw, is now behind FNC's Brit Hume on at 6 o'clock.

The MSNBC squad has almost caught up to Aaron (ex-lax poster boy, when Joe Lieberman isn't available) Brown. Who's watching CNN? Foreigners? And hey, FNC is picking up foreign markets now too, Israel and the Baltics for starters.

[jern]

Atlanta, we have a problem. Go with throttle up.

[Revenge Of Daffy-Duck]

Good guy, great show. Everybody should watch!

[Libertina]

Agreed. The best in the business as far as I'm concerned.

[ChadGore]

[Howlin]

Imagine this: Alan Keyes' ratings were LOWER than Matthews!

[Howlin]

Bump!!!

[exit82]

Chris, next time, don't hold back. Let us know how you REALLY feel!;)

[YaYa123]

"..[Chris Mathews] penis is going to fall off."

Cracks me up because I share your aggravation, and humor is the only way to go with Mathews. It's maddening how FOXNews gets tarred with the partisan brush when Mathews is on television for one reason only, to push his personal point of view, always liberal, always supportive of the DNC. and he's sneaky. He's mean too, spits out bitchy asides and sarcastic insults better than Lady Chablis!

[rwfromkansas]

The evening is mostly commentary, but they should have some more Brit shows during the day.

He is a SERIOUS journalist....this dude's not a pretty face, he is devoted to his job of finding the truth and sharing it. He needs to be cloned to bring back honor for tv news, which if not so consumed with ratings, has an awesome opportunity to show things that can't be shown in a newspaper article.

[swany]

Were you reading my mind?

[concerned about politics]

I can only stand O'Rielly once in a while. He's inconsistant. He flip flops too much. It bugs me.

I like Hannity. He's a good rightous man. An honest Joe.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Ooopsie.

[Timesink]

How does Chris Matthews stay on the air?

His contract. It runs for a number of years, and says that if his MSNBC show is ever cancelled, they have to put it back on CNBC where it was in the first place (and where he got higher ratings). He's not going away for a long time, not unless NBC want to buy out his contract and make him far richer than he already is.

[Timesink]

The bad thing is that if Olbermann wasn't such a schmuck and a flaming liberal, I'd watch him. He has a great television presence and can be rather clever. But he's such a horse's ass I can only keep him on for a few minutes before he pisses me off.

His overt liberalism is a big part of his problem, but it's only a part. The main reason his show is collapsing is that it's just too strange for the average viewer. TV news producers (and critics) love it because it's so wacky and different, but the people that count - the ones watching at home - tune it in and wonder why the most important news isn't even discussed until 10 minutes before the show is over, why big news is shunted aside so Keith can spend more time making snide jokes about goofy marginal news items, etc. And they just tune out.

There's a place for a "Countdown" kind of show, but prime time is not that place. The kind of people that like his sort of schtick will seek him out in other time slots, so to waste the 8 pm hour on it is just insane scheduling on MSNBC's part.

But then, MSNBC has never known any other kind of scheduling as long as it's existed.

[PolishProud]

How can anyone stand Shep Smith? Brit Hume beats Smith hands down. I can't stand Smith. Like Matthews he drop little obnoxious asides, although he has stopped doing it lately, I think, although I don't watch him to find out for sure.

[Libertina]

He is a serious journalist, but I also think he's nice looking ;)

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

Sorry for the thread hijacking but I needed to share this with you libertina.

Below you will see a famous picture. It is a picture if Gen. Eisenhower addressing the paratroopers just before they launched the D-day invasion. If you look just to the left of the the soldier Ike is talking to you will see a young man with dark hair and a set of ears that stick out a little bit.

That man is Ralph "Bud" Thomas.

Who is Bud Thomas you might ask? Why he just happens to be my father in-law. Four days in the hedgerows and a bullet wound. Recovered in England then Operation Market Garden in Holland and a chest full of shrapnel from an 88MM artillery shell and his time in the war was done.

[Libertina]

No hijacking necessary. I'd say this deserves it's own thread and a post on FR Canteen What a great bit of history :) BYW, coming to the FReep tomorrow? If not, I'll ping you to the after-report thread on Thursday :) Cheers!

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

I'm without a car tomorrow because Mary's car has a tire that is split and I have to wait 'til she get's home before I can get a new set put on.

It's always something when you have kids. If I were single I'd just drive on it and put the spare on if it tore through but doing that with a 5 y.o. and a 2 y.o. is a whole different matter.