Cashin’ In wins its slot, and 11 other hours too — Saturday, September 20, 2014

The thrill of the Scottish election behind us, Cable News Twitter returned to normal on Saturday.

Cashin’ In won best hour (with a half hour of airtime), and best day. Although I do not normally look at the hourly stats for an hour when a show does not broadcast, it’s interesting to note that Cashin’ In is a juggernaut on Saturday: its mentions topped those of any cable news show broadcast from the 9am through 8pm hours.  Even though it was not on the air throughout the day, people talked about Cashin’ In for 12 hours straight more than they did any other show actually being broadcast.

Maybe Fox News should consider this their “Who wants to be a Millionaire” and give Mr. Bolling more than a half-hour? (Or maybe the show is like a fine bourbon, that you wouldn’t dare dilute — take your pick of bad metaphors!).

Only Up With Steve Kornacki, at 8am, and Judge Jeanine, at 9pm, were able to do better than Cashin’ In’ and put the bookends into its dominance.

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CNNi, I think you won Friday, 9/19/2014

It may have been NO for Scottish independence, but it was YES for Christiane Amanpour, who brought in the best hour in Cable News Twitter on Friday right at midnight (ET) with her coverage of the Scottish election. Which is pretty amazing, given that the coverage was basically “well, No has won, so let’s kill a few hours until people give their speeches.”

Rachel Nichols had a strong day, winning the day overall. It’s been a long time since a clean sweep for CNN.

MSNBC’s Generation to Generation (#GenToGen) did just OK in its slot, but no better than you’d expect a surprise Friday episode of The Last Word to do. I don’t know, but doesn’t it just seem too serious of a topic for Friday evening?

I have a conceit that MSNBC viewers are, by that hour, out at trendy speakeasies, drinking a lovely South African Stellenbosch or artisanal bourbon, rather than at home watching TV. Maybe if Rachel ended her Fridays not with a cocktail moment but an hour of foodie coverage the ratings would rise?  Or maybe toss in a foodie show at 10pm?

Or just have Chris Hayes Instagram whatever freshly muddled cocktail he’s drinking.  He’d probably get more mentions with “Should I order the ginger mojito or the mint julep (with artisanal bourbon)?”. Hell, I’d even watch a “classic bars and dives with Chris Hayes” show.  He could cover the history of the neighborhood, the struggles of the working class people who lived there in the past, and the drinks that are inspired from the place. It’s not like the Food Network is owned by Comcast so who cares if you stomp on them?

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