Sunday Shows: Biden, Powell, Grassley and Queen Noor

Vice President Joe Biden

ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos: Vice President Joe Biden.

CBS’ Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer: Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Sens. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).

CNN’s GPS with Fareed Zakaria: David Miliband, British foreign minister; author Dambisa Moyo; author Jacqueline Novogratz.

CNN’s State of the Union with John King: Former Secretary of State Colin Powell; Mullen; Queen Noor of Jordan.

Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace: Mullen; Reps. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and John Boehner (R-Ohio).

NBC’s Meet the Press: Pre-empted by coverage of Wimbledon tennis.

-- Steve Padilla

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Photo: Associated Press

Sunday Shows: Odierno, Sebelius, Romney, Barbour, Axelrod

General Ray Odierno

ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos: David Axelrod, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa). Round table with Michael Dyson, Georgetown University; Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal; Kathleen Parker, Washington Post.

Bloomberg's Political Capital with Al Hunt: Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and interviews with former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger.

CBS' Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer: U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour.

CNN's GPS with Fareed Zakaria: Former Prime Minister Tony Blair and Robert Baer, author of "The Devil We Know: Dealing with the New Iranian Superpower," on Iran and election. Hoover Institute's John B. Taylor on economy and healthcare.

CNN's State of the Union with John King: Gen. Ray Odierno, Commander, Multi-National Force-Iraq and Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-Minn.) on Iraq, Iran and war on terrorism. Mary Matalin and James Carville on healthcare debate and Obama's response to Iran. T. Boone Pickens, chairman and CEO, BP Capital, on energy.

Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace: Topics: Healthcare with Sebelius and Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; Iraq with Gen. Ray Odierno, Commanding General, Multi-National Force, Iraq.

NBC Meet the Press with David Gregory: Mitt Romney, David Axelrod, Sen. Lindsey Graham with roundtable of David Brooks of N.Y. Times, NBC's Mike Murphy and Dee Dee Myers.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Associated Press

Sunday shows: Netanyahu, Feinstein, Lugar, Bayh, McCain (again)

ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos: Sens. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and a round table with ABC's Sam Donaldson, Cokie Roberts and George Will and ex-Labor Secretary Robert Reich.

Bloomberg's Political Capital with Al Hunt: House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio).

Israeli Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu

CBS' Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer: Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

CNN's GPS with Fareed Zakaria: Middle East Forum director Daniel Pipes, New America Foundation's Afshin Molavi, Newsweek's Christopher Dickey, Columbia University's Sree Sreenivasan and "Here Comes Everybody" author Clay Shirky.

CNN's State of the Union with John King: Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Richard Lugar (R-Ind.).

Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace: Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), Reps. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.) and Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's Karim Sadjadpour and a panel with Fox News and Weekly Standard's Stephen Hayes, NPR's Mara Liasson and Juan Williams and Washington Examiner's Byron York.

NBC's Meet the Press: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) and former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.), Nina Easton of Fortune and Chuck Todd of NBC. (UPDATE: NBC warns that normal program broadcast times may change in some U.S. markets due to coverage of the U.S. Open Golf Tournament.)

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Associated Press

'Meet the Press' comes out swinging, back on top on Sunday

After a week's rest, the reigning champion came out and defeated the competition last Sunday.

We're not talking about tennis star Roger Federer but rather David Gregory, the host of "Meet the Press." NBC bumped his show off the air June 7 to show the French Open.

During that Sunday morning broadcast, George Stephanopoulos' "This Week" seemed to pick up the neglected "Meet the Press" fans to claim a decisive victory. But with Gregory back, the ratings battle picked up where it left off at the end of May, and ABC's "This Week" has dropped to third.

NBC's public affairs show had about 3.1 million viewers on Sunday, according to Nielsen Media Research. That widened the gap from a few weeks ago between the Gregory-moderated show and CBS' "Face the Nation."

Bob Schieffer's "Face the Nation" program pulled in about 2.6 million viewers, and "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" came in third with 2.3 million, the Nielsen data said.

Part of the ratings gap between NBC and CBS could have had something to do with the guests.

"Meet the Press" had an interview with Vice President Joe Biden, while "Face the Nation" featured Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin -- not exactly an all-star, high-powered lineup.

-- Mark Milian

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Photo courtesy: NBC

Quote of the Day: Mike Pence on government healthcare

Indiana Republican representative Mike Pence

Republican Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana was on CNN's "State of the Union" today, talking with John King about Pres A duckident Obama's demand that healthcare reform include the government as a provider to keep private insurance companies honest in the insurance marketplace.

Pence, who also gave this week's weekly GOP remarks here, fears instead the government option would drive many employers and insurance companies to simply opt out and leave the whole costly business to government.

The Indiana congressman replied:

"The government competes in the private sector the way an alligator competes with a duck."

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: CNN

Sunday Shows: Biden, Romney, Sibelius, Lieberman, Dodd, Collins

ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos": Sec. of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, Former Gov. Mitt Romney and a roundtable with Democratic strategist Donna Brazile, Wall Street Journal's Kimberly Strassel and columnist George Will to discuss the battle over a public health insurance plan, the opposition from Congress over key provisions and how the president plans to rally public support for reform.

Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Democrat president Barack Obama

Bloomberg's "Political Capital with Al Hunt": Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) on the Middle East peace process, Bloomberg's Lizzie O'Leary and Christine Harper report on executive pay issues, Hans Nichols on healthcare reform and Kate O'Beirne discusses Sonia Sotomayor's Supreme Court confirmation process, former Speaker Newt Gingrich and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

CBS' "Face the Nation": Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) discuss healthcare, Guantanamo Bay, Sotomayor and the state of the Republican Party.

CNN's "State of the Union with John King": Sebelius, Sens. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and  Susan Collins (R-Maine) discuss the healthcare debate and the latest on swine flu.

CNN "GPS with Fareed Zakaria": Guest list not made available at publication.

"Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace": Sens. Christopher J. Dodd, (D-Conn.), Charles E. Grassley, (R-Iowa), plus Tom Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

NBC's "Meet the Press with David Gregory": Biden and a roundtable with Republican strategist Mike Murphy and former GOP Rep. Joe Scarborough of MSNBC. .

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Kathleen Sebelius and President Obama. Associated Press (Sebelius and Obama).

'This Week' takes top Sunday TV spot (But 'Meet the Press' was off)

Charles_gibson_george_stephanopoulo ABC News has discovered the secret weapon to defeat "Meet the Press" in the suddenly volatile Sunday talk show ratings battle:

Tennis.

"This Week with George Stephanopoulos," featuring Secretary  of State Hillary Clinton, finally claimed the top Sunday morning spot June 7 with 3.11 million viewers.

It wasn't exactly a fair battle, though, because longtime leader "Meet the Press" didn't even air that day. The peacock's viewers were watching grown men in shorts bat around a little ball.

NBC opted to broadcast its coverage of the French Open, where tennis star Roger Federer claimed an impressive career Grand Slam.

Meanwhile, Stephanopoulos got to revel in the additional 680,000 viewers compared with the week before.

Whereas "This Week" got a major boost from "Meet the Press" host David Gregory getting lobbed off the air, ratings for "Face the Nation" remained at 2.49 million viewers for a second straight week.

What's worse, Bob Schieffer, host of the CBS show, lost ground with the crucial 25- to 54-year-old demographic that week.

Now, let's see how Gregory bounces back after his week off. As every week, The Ticket will post the Sunday show guest list at noon Pacific Saturday.

-- Mark Milian

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Photo: George Stephanopoulos before the Democratic Party debate in Philadelphia in 2008. Credit: Associated Press

Sunday shows: H. Clinton, Gingrich, Axelrod, Lugar, couple of mayors

ABC's "This Week With George Stephanopoulos": Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Roundtable with ABC's George Will and Claire Shipman, Matthew Dowd, and Cynthia Tucker of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Secretary of State HillaryClinton

Bloomberg's "Political Capital With Al Hunt": Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) and Bloomberg's Julianna Goldman, Mike Tackett, Robert Hutton and Kate O'Beirne.

CBS' "Face the Nation" with Bob Schieffer: White House senior advisor David Axelrod and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

CNN's "GPS" with Fareed Zakaria: Egyptian dissident Saad Eddin Ibrahim, "Engaging the Muslim World" author Juan Cole, Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi, Ben-Gurion University's Benny Morris, former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia Anwar Ibrahim, Iranian journalist Maziar Bahari, the Daily Star's Rami Khouri and "Home Again" author Michael Lewis.

CNN's "State of the Union With John King": Axelrod, Mayor Michael Dinwiddie of Spring Hill, Tenn., and Mayor Michael Brown of Flint, Mich., ex-anchor Bernard Shaw.

"Fox News Sunday With Chris Wallace": Economic roundtable with White House Council of Economic Advisors' Austan Goolsbee, Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.), Eric Schmidt of Google, Fred Malek of Thayer Capital Partners and a panel with the Weekly Standard's Bill Kristol, columnist Charles Krauthammer and NPR's Mara Liasson and Juan Williams and "Power Player of the Week" FCC Acting Chairman Michael Copps.

"Meet the Press" will not appear this week because NBC thinks people playing tennis in France in shorts is more important.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Associated Press

Sunday talk shows race tightening; NBC's 'Meet the Press' still leads

Gregorydavidnbc.jpg

In a tight Sunday morning TV ratings race, "Meet the Press" continues to hold on to its lead.

With 2.62 million viewers for the May 31 airing, NBC show host David Gregory, above, leads the pack. Taking the silver medal is CBS' "Face the Nation" with 2.49 million viewers, and the bronze goes to ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos."

The rankings haven't changed since we looked at the Sunday talk show ratings last month, but the viewership numbers sure have. For some perspective on how close the race is, just 190,000 viewers separate NBC's first-place and ABC's third-place programs versus 410,000 a month ago.

"Face the Nation" is growing a steady following among the 25-54 age group. The CBS show moderated by Bob Schieffer tied with "Meet the Press" for the most viewership for a morning public affairs program in that demographic.

Last week was especially significant for "Face the Nation," which was in its closest competitive position with "Meet the Press" since September, a CBS spokeswoman wrote in an e-mail.

--Mark Milian

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Photo: Getty Images

Sunday Shows: Mullen, Geithner, Ridge, Durbin, Kyl, Boxer

Admiral Michael Mullen chairman of the joint chiefs of staff

ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos: Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Michael Mullen and a round table with Donna Brazile, N.Y. Times' David Brooks and ABC's George Will.

Bloomberg's Political Capital with Al Hunt: Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.

CBS' Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer: Ex-Gen. Colin Powell and Harvard psychiatrist Dr. Alvin Poussaint, as part of the "Children of the Recession" series.

CNN's GPS with Fareed Zakaria: "Foreign Affairs" editor Gideon Rose, "The Far Enemy: Why Jihad Went Global" author Fawaz Gerges, Wall Street Journal's Bret Stephens, "The Geopolitics of Emotion" author Dominique Moisi, "Reimagining India" author Nandan Nilekani and former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni.

CNN's State of the Union with John King: Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) and Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), Mary Matalin and James Carville.

Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace: Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), and Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), Karl Rove and "Power Player" Bugles Across America founder Tom Day.

NBC's Meet the Press with David Gregory: Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and a round table with National Review's Rich Lowry, NPR's Michele Norris and NBC's Chuck Todd.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Getty Images (Mullen). 




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Our Bloggers

Andrew MalcolmAndrew Malcolm's immigrant parents repeatedly stressed the importance of active participation in a democracy. Early lessons included learning the alphabetical list of states by watching televised roll calls of national political conventions. That childhood exposure led to a lifelong fascination with politics, including 40-plus years of covering them and a brief stint practicing them as press secretary to Laura Bush in 1999-2000. A veteran foreign and national correspondent, Malcolm served on the Times Editorial Board and was a Pulitzer finalist in 2004. He is the author of 10 nonfiction books and father of four.

Johanna NeumanJohanna Neuman is a veteran Washington correspondent for both The Los Angeles Times and USA Today, having covered presidents and politics as far back as Ronald Reagan. A former president of the White House Correspondents Assn., she authored a book on media and foreign policy, “Lights, Camera, Wars.” Most recently she was co-author of the Countdown to Crawford blog here at The Times.
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