About the only chance MSNBC has is if they adopt the "naked news" format..

BTW..did you see the article last week that CNN's Connie Chung show is also on the way out?..O'Reilly is really kicking butt...what's surprising to me is that the BEST show on at 8PM is CNBC's "Kudlow and Kramer"..yet it never gets talked about....does anyone know where/how to find ratings info on-line?

It's VERY hard to get news channel ratings info anywhere without paying for it, but you might like this article from Business Week dated February 3:

BOOB TUBE

A Bright Spot for Ailing CNBC

With the stock market floundering, it's fair to say business news is in the tank. Financial-news network CNBC saw daily viewership drop 25% in 2002 from 2001, according to Nielsen Media Research.

But one show in the CNBC roster is picking up steam: the often-invigorating, oddly hip Kudlow & Cramer, which airs at 8 p.m. EST. Its hosts are the pinstriped, neo-conservative economist Lawrence Kudlow and the slightly disheveled, hyperbolic journalist, Democrat, and former hedge-fund manager James Cramer. Admittedly, its ratings are small, but viewership jumped 25% in the second half of 2002 vs. the first half, according to Nielsen. "It's an impressive spike," says independent media critic Jack Myers.

Media watchers say Cramer, with his artfully gesticulated, red-faced rants, and Kudlow, who is more reserved, are perfect spokesmen for badly burned investors. "Their anger may fulfill some sort of deep-seated need for those who have been screwed by the market," says Myers.

The two aren't exactly blemish-free themselves. In the early '90s, Kudlow resigned as chief economist for Bear Stearns, later citing cocaine and alcohol use. And Cramer has acknowledged unsavory trading practices in his recent book. Not everyone is a fan, either: Some wags refer to them as "Krudlow and Screamer."

Perhaps, as The American Spectator recently observed, their show is "just the acid bath Washington and Wall Street currently need."

By Marcia Vickers