Chung, Donahue Battling for Second Place

Newsmax.com ^ | July 17

[Conservative Chicagoan]

NewsMax.com

 

Wednesday, July 17, 2002

Chung, Donahue Battling for Second Place

With first place in the 8:00pm ET time slot firmly in the hands of Fox Cable TV superstar Bill O'Reilly, only second place is up for grabs, and that war is being waged by Connie Chung on CNN and aging retread Phil Donahue on struggling MSNBC.

On his first night back on the air, Donahue, got the advantage of the curiosity factor and came in ahead of Chung by 300,000, with a total of 1.1 million viewers, to Chung's 800,000. O'Reilly's 2.3 million viewers, up 300,000 from last week, was more than Donahue's and Chung's viewership combined.

Fox News spokeswoman Irena Steffen told USA Today's Peter Johnson: "This is clearly a battle for second place."

"We expected a spike for Donahue the first night because of all the promotion," CNN spokeswoman Christa Robinson told Johnson. "The question is whether his audience will continue to tune in over time."

In his debut, Donahue clearly topped his predecessor The News With Brian Williams, which had a mere 322,000 viewers last week.

Observers noted that the weirdly liberal Donahue is a stranger to most younger viewers, many of whom they say probably tuned in simply to see what all the fuss was about. They needn't have bothered - the show in the view of many was a crashing bore.

"I don't think you can read anything into one night," MSNBC chief Erik Sorenson assured Johnson. "This is going to be a marathon. But the rocket has launched, and it's nice to be back into the game. We had a rough couple of quarters there."

For many viewers, the rocket fizzled. Look for Chung, a talented reporter, to win the battle for second place before poor old Phil Donahue slinks back into retirement.

[Conservative Chicagoan]

Why is Newsmax backing Chung. Both Chung and Donahue are communists and conservatives should be taking sides in this battle amonst the left. We should be watching O'Reilly every night and nothing more.

[RooRoobird14]

Actually, it's Chung and DonnaWho(?) battling for LAST PLACE.

ROTFLOL!!!

[mombonn]

We should be watching O'Reilly every night and nothing more.

He gives me such a headache I just can't watch any more. I turn the TV off at 8:00, if I happen to be at home.

[Phantom Lord]

A PBS special on the crop rotation techniques of the anceint Sumarians would draw more viewers than Chung and Dona-Who get.

[Leto]

I turn on Kudlow & Cramer at 8pm on CNBC. Good show.

[Conservative Chicagoan]

Why do you support the liberals and not FOX.

[chiefqc]

Between those two, it's not a battle of two has beens but of two people that nobod cares about.

CNN and MSNBC you're doing a great job.

Great, just fuc*ing great

[Paul Atreides]

[Richard Kimball]

Remember the Nike commercial? You didn't win the silver, you lost the gold.

[Paul Atreides]

Hahaha....Phil will only be remembered for wearing a skirt on his talk show and Connie will only be remembered for talking Newt's mom into calling Hillary a bitch.

[mombonn]

Kramer gives me a headache, too. Besides, I work in the financial industry; last thing I want to do is watch cnbc at night.

I do check Biography before turning off the tube.

[RLK]

Donahue is a disease upon the fact of the earth seeking to reinfect himself.

[bigjoesaddle]

He gives me such a headache I just can't watch any more.

O'Reilly is kinda like radio...you cannot be a "passive observer"...its WORK to watch him, which is what we need MORE of on TV.

[hattend]

"I don't think you can read anything into one night," MSNBC chief Erik Sorenson assured Johnson. "This is going to be a marathon. But the rocket has launched, and it's nice to be back into the game. We had a rough couple of quarters there."

Here's a man who has never met a metaphor he didn't like.

[mombonn]

O'Reilly is too abrasive, too inconsistent for me to watch. I listen to talk radio all day - Hannity, Rush, etc. - they don't give me a headache.

Mr. O is too full of himself, and his radio show is just as bad; if not worse.

[Leto]

Kudlow is far more conservative than O'Reilly. I think O'Reilly fancies himself as a bit of a centrist populist. Cramer is interesting, though I disagree with him a lot, he isn't just spouting knee jerk liberal pap, he can actually articulate why he hold a position.

[Minnesoootan]

If the arm grabbing continues,he isn't going to get any guests,they will all want to appear via satellite....I tuned in for a laff,and got one!

[Jackie]

I try to listen to Britt Hume, Neil Cavuto, Lou Dobbs, Aaron Brown, Kudlow & Cramer, Don Imus, Jerry Nachman, and C-Span. They are entertaining IMO; they don't yell and go bananas, except for Cramer.

My Trash Bin includes Geraldo, Greta, Bill Press, Chris Matthews, Connie Chung, Phil Donahue, Carville, and Begala, but whose Trash Bin DOESN'T include those ####?

[alloysteel]

Ah, the death struggle for the bottom....

Connie Chung is BAD, worse, if possible, than Greta van Cistern. Phil is, if anything, even less admirable.