Legal firebrand Nancy Grace and nice-guy conservative Glenn Beck were on hand to give Time Warner's "Home to the Future" another workout Tuesday night to fete the second anny of "Headline News'" metamorphosis.
It’s been two years since topper Ken Jautz tore a page from the Fox News handbook, taking a just-the-facts news service and stocking it with opinionated hosts talking about the news.
In its second year, the net is distancing itself further from CNN mothership, dropping the name of big sister net from its tagline and branding around "Headline Prime."
The net's aud is younger and more downmarket than CNN, skewed heavily to the southeast, in no small part to the appeal of Grace, the former Atlanta prosecutor.
Her flacks were on hand to peddle the angle that its been 10 years court TV founder Steve Brill discovered Grace and plucked her out of Atlanta. Grace arrived in New York, she said, with an overnight bag and $200.
On a hot night on the crime-and-justice beat she can take down CNN’s Paula Zahn in the ratings. But perhaps a bigger measure of her cultural impact is she's providing regular material to “Saturday Night Live.”
But unlike MSNBC’s Chris Matthews or the senior George Bush, Grace has yet to embrace her tormentor. Amy Poehler was not on the guest list. (M. Learmonth)
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