Cable news ratings; CNN wins NYE; Bayless defends controversial Hamlin tweet

CNN led cable news in their coverage of New Year’s Eve this past weekend, despite the controversial alcohol limit, and that's largely thanks to Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen.
The network's show, hosted by a sober Cooperand Cohen beat Fox News and MSNBC – which did not offer any original programming for the event -- and also raked in a large demo audience.
Across prime time, CNN averaged 806,000 prime time demo viewers, while Fox News averaged 110,000.
MSNBC bottomed out with only 37,000 demo viewers and 200,000 total viewers in prime time.
CNN’s New Year’s Eve Live, four-and-a-half hours hosted by Cooper and Cohen, averaged 2.082 million total viewers, topping Fox News’ All American New Year’s Eve.
In 2021, Cooper and Cohen closed out the year with some alcohol-fueled on-air ranting, drawing an audience of 2.1 million total viewers.
Props to the duo for raking in big numbers despite the prohibition rule!

Fox Sports host Skip Bayless defended his controversial tweet about Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin when confronted by Shannon Sharpe on their show Wednesday morning.
During the Monday Night Football matchup between the Bills and Cincinnati Bengals, Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest and fell to the ground after tackling Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins. He remains in critical condition with reported signs of improvement as of this writing.
After the incident, Bayless tweeted, “This late in the season, a game of this magnitude is crucial to the regular-season outcome," prompting backlash for focusing on the sport rather than on Hamlin.
Sharpe brought up the incident and Bayless' tweet on Wednesday, saying he disagreed with it and that he hoped Bayless would "take it down."
While Bayless previously apologized for the tweet, he told Sharpe he would not delete it, “Cause I stand by what I tweeted.”
The topic promoted a tense back and forth, which concluded with Sharpe aptly noting, the focus should have been on Hamlin and his family -- "and not on a football game."