Joy Behar Exits HLN: Update…
The New York Post’s Michael Starr, and there’s a name I haven’t had to type in too long, has an update on the Joy Behar/HLN news…
While her departure is being described as “totally amicable,” insiders say the well-liked Behar “would have been happy” to continue with the show — but that execs at HLN, CNN’s sister station, want stronger ratings at 10 p.m.
Update: The New York Times’ Brian Stelter has more…
She was hired by HLN in 2009 as part of an expansion of its prime time lineup, and her talk show, “The Joy Behar Show,” helped to propel the channel’s ratings. But it became clear earlier this year that she was not entirely comfortable with the channel’s shift toward crime and tabloid news, in particular the Casey Anthony murder trial. Her show was taken off the channel’s schedule for a full week as that trial neared its end.
“The network doesn’t fit with her enthusiasms and interests,” an HLN executive said on condition of anonymity on Thursday. The executive insisted on anonymity because the channel had already issued a statement on her departure.
November 18, 2011 at 9:51 am
“… HLN apparently wants a more politically oriented show in prime time to keep pace with MSNBC and Fox News Channel”
^I don’t buy this line at all. HLN has shown no interest in political coverage in prime time and a ‘non opinion’ politically oriented show in this time slot would only compete with AC-360. My guess is they have some celebrity doctor, prosecutor/lawyer or talk show host lined up to host a show that will produce better ratings than Joy; maybe even the return of Larry King to prime time.
November 18, 2011 at 10:30 am
They have to be talking to Glenn Beck. The Great Internet TV Experiment has failed miserably for the once-relevant paranoid gasbag. I’m sure he’d take his hour on HLN back.
November 18, 2011 at 10:50 am
I thought Beck was tethered to a contract for a few more years. Not sure where I picked that up.
November 18, 2011 at 10:50 am
Huh? I’d like to know your source for that claim. 230K paid subscribers, even at the lower ($5) of the two monthly rates, comes to approx $14,000,000 of income per year. For a website! One report noted that GBTV has more paid subscribers than Oprah Winfrey’s cable channel has viewers.
The chances that Beck would go back on HLN are Slim and None. And Slim just left town.
November 18, 2011 at 10:50 am
Joe: you can’t be serious. Where’s the winking guy?
November 18, 2011 at 11:15 am
Joe, isn’t it a little early to say “it failed?” How long has GBTV been active?
You gotta stop reading those sites, buddy. It’s obvious your information gathering has taken a… let’s say… bent left-ward turn. There’s a reason they’re not considered reliable sources.
November 18, 2011 at 11:41 am
As long as Glenn Beck has no presence in the current discussion, he will be considered a failure in relation to the position he used to hold. Web numbers don’t mean diddly if your an opinionater nobody cares about. The only people who know what he’s saying anymore are rightwing conservatives. That’s a much smaller pool than he used to have.
November 18, 2011 at 11:46 am
He gets well over 6 million people a day on the radio. That’s more than any cable news program can claim as a regular audience.
If your point is that he’s not relevant unless he has a cable news program, then I don’t understand your insistence that the internet experiment ‘failed’. Because by your rules everything is a failure, even >6M listeners, unless it’s on cable news.
November 18, 2011 at 12:01 pm
My parameter is participation in the national discussion, which he used to have. Rush is radio-only, but everybody knows what he says. You can yammer about subscribers and ratings all you want, but as long as Beck’s voice is contained amongst the True Believers, he’s irrelevant. Howards Stern gets big numbers, too, and nobody cares what he thinks, either. Glenn needs to be back on TV, and HLN could use him.
November 18, 2011 at 12:04 pm
Well that ain’t gonna happen. Isn’t GB supposed to do 4 specials for FNC? There’s apparently some sort of relationship, albeit tenuous, still there. OTOH I wonder if those specials will ever exist or were just window dressing to make one side or the other look good in the separation agreement.
November 18, 2011 at 1:19 pm
Glenn Beck won’t be going back. He discussed HLN on his radio show the other day and basically bashed it. O’Reilly called in to discuss the ruckus over Joy Behar and the guest that lied about O’Reilly.
November 18, 2011 at 1:20 pm
And I’ve been to a taping of his TV show. He likes having full creative control, especially when he’s making more money at the same time.
November 22, 2011 at 9:33 pm
HLN now has another free hour for the same stuff they always do
March 26, 2012 at 8:05 am
Aliya…
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